#And their dynamic in her own words was founded in a lot of secrecy

[please-picturemeintheweeds]

..

[changbunnies]

After The Rain With You (18+)

♡ Pairing: Farm Boy!Changbin x Princess!Reader

♡ Genre: royal au, historical au, fluff, initially intended to be light angst but i got carried away with emotion like i did with the minho fic lol, forbidden love (i cannot help myself with this trope it seems), ending is sad / bittersweet (i'm sorry !!) but also leaves hope that they'll live happily ever after ;v;

♡ Word Count: 13.9k (this was intended to be under 10k but here we are lmao oops)

♡ Summary: Y/N, a princess bored and lonely, craved nothing more than to experience the world outside of the familiar 4 walls of her bedroom in the castle. Conjuring her bravery, she snuck out of the castle walls, eventually meeting a man that would change her life forever. Changbin, a local farmer who didn't realize she's the princess, formed a close relationship with her that ineveitably turned into a budding romance. But now, met with her last moments of freedom, she prepares herself to have one final sweet moment with him before they are torn apart.

♡ Warnings: references to a parent being deceased, discussions of feeling trapped and alone, strict toxic parenting

♡ Smut Warnings (contains spoilers): reader is not a virgin during the smut scene in this but changbin is the only person they've ever had sex with, bin vaguely has a southern accent / speech style because thats how i pictures farmers talking lol, petnames (sweetheart, darlin', gendered language such as good girl), lots of kissing, biting / marking, loose dom/sub dynamics, nipple play, oral (f rec), unprotected piv, multiple orgasms, creampie, pretty self indulgent ngl lol

♡ Notes: i got the title from a short pokemon novel, iykyk. this was intended to be finished before the new year, but instead it's my first fic of 2024 and i hope you enjoy!

♡ Disclaimer: please read responsibly, and remember that this work is fiction and meant strictly for imaginative fun. the idols used in fics are more accurately faceclaims and personality outlines for imaginary characters, and should not be interpreted as factual representations of existing people.

Freedom; something simple in definition, but not in practice, those in high positions of power always holding it out of the reach of those below them who yearn for it. It's intangible in concept, something you will never be able to see with your own eyes or grab with your own hands, but it was something you always yearned for, more than anything– and in the short time you had it, it was pure bliss.

You never considered yourself a rebellious girl, always dutifully listening to your elders, commiting manners and elegance to memory, never questioning the role you'd one day be made to accept. But in the past year, you'd found yourself having a bit of a rebellious streak– in secrecy, of course, because you knew very well that there'd be consequences to pay should your mother find out.

It's not that you ever hated being the princess, or that you dreaded the responsibility you held to your kingdom– you just wish you'd been given more freedoms. Freedom to speak your mind, freedom to feel the grass beneath your feet and the sun's rays on your skin whenever you wished, freedom to explore, to make mistakes, to learn and grow and love the way everyone else in the world but you seemed allowed to do. 

For years, there'd been a blindspot in the castle's defenses, a small patch of broken wall that guards were never ordered to defend or monitor closely, as the country had not seen war or received threat from neighboring countries in your entire lifetime.

"We'll repair it someday," your father always said before his passing, though it never came to fruition. It was not because he passed that the wall never received construction, but simply because your parents always preferred to delegate funds to something more pressing than a relatively small breach in the outer walls of the castle.

Sure, the hole was unsightly when noticed, but it was outside line of sight for the townsfolk, and much too small to accommodate an army through– one person at a time, maybe two if you squeezed, could fit through at most. Apart from that, the fact that your father never used taxes to pay towards selfish things such as unnecessary castle repair gained your family high favor, with most commoners considering your father to be the kindest king the country had in centuries.

During the time your father was still alive, you often walked the streets as a family, talking to the commoners regularly and enjoying your time out on the town together, and you remember how it always felt like you were as normal a family as any other, too young to realize there was any difference between you and them.

You can still remember how your mother smiled then, when she held your hand while your father held the other, the townsfolk always doting on you, and how cheerfully your every day had been spent. Your mother was quite different now; she never smiled anymore, and when she did it felt so.. forced, sad.

Like your father took a piece of her joy with him when he went, and she was unable to reclaim it. And it was at that time, when she took on all of the king's responsibilities by herself, that she'd begun to treat you differently. Stricter on your studies, never allowing you to step foot outside the castle, shutting down any talk of letting you out on the town or interacting with anyone outside the castle's walls.

And now the whole kingdom, who considered you to be the country's most beloved princess, could scarcely remember what you looked like; and even those who could remember would likely no longer recognize you. You were a child when you were last allowed outside, and now you were a grown woman, still confined by her mother's strict rules.

Despite the reclusive life you were forced into, many of the commoners still thought of you fondly– at least according to word of mouth from the castle's maids and knights.

You were the daughter to a king and queen that were practically revered as saints, and many imagined that the reason you were always holed up within the castle was because you were studying dutifully, imagining that when you came to power someday, you'd be just as benevolent, kind, and intelligent of a ruler as your father was.

You certainly intended to live up to those expectations, because as stated, you don't hate being the princess by any means. You recognize that you have privilege, responsibility, and that people put their pride and faith in you even now, before you've ever even come close to touching the throne. But all that being said, it didn't stop your heart from wanting just a little bit more out of your life.

Simply put, you found it incredibly dull sitting inside the castle all day, the same lessons being reiterated day in and day out, as if you didn't already have them memorized by the age of 10. Eventually, your mother realized you had no further need for a tutor, and requested that the woman in charge of your education stop coming, but that didn't mean your afternoons suddenly became enjoyable; quite the opposite in fact. 

The joy you initially held over no longer having to spend your afternoon listening to the same drivel you'd heard countless times from a pedantic old woman evaporated with the realization that even without a tutor to occupy for time, you'd still be stuck in the castle all day long. Your mother never permitted you to leave, even if you promised you'd stay close to the knights that would accompany you, pleaded with her to let you do something other than sitting inside all day. 

But still, her stance on the matter never changed. You'd begun to resent her sentiments, to hate that you were stuck with nowhere to go and nothing to do. The country wasn't under any threat, your fathers death was an unfortunate accident, and as far as you knew you were well loved, so what did she need to be so protective for? Especially now, when you weren't even a child anymore; you just couldn't understand.

You’d spend your days staring out your window listlessly, wondering what the grass on the horizon would feel like beneath bare feet. It’s a shame that you don’t know; you were always scolded for taking your shoes off if you weren’t within your own room, and besides that, the ground is littered with dirt and cobblestone all the way up to the gates of the town, which you had never gone past.

Shouldn’t your youth be full of experiencing things like this? Why couldn’t you explore now and then settle down in the castle later in life? It didn’t feel fair that you were so clueless about the basic truths of the world, and instead had your brain filled to the brim with knowledge of etiquette and politics.

It was with those thoughts in mind that you planned to find the answers to all your questions and sate your endless curiosities by sneaking through the hole in the castle walls that had gone unattended to.

After the first time you successfully snuck out to experience all you’d been missing (which took months of diligent watch and preparation to ensure you wouldn’t be spotted from a distance by patrolling knights), you’d slowly made your way further and further away from the castle, testing the limits of how far you could make it each day, gauging how long it would take for someone to notice your absence.

To your delight, because you spent most of your days alone in your room, no one seemed to notice you’d ever been gone as long as you made it back before dinner was to be served. And so, you'd stay out until sunset, exploring the town you'd grown to only ever see from your window, making sure to wear the least expensive looking gown in your wardrobe, doing your best to blend in with the commoners.

Thankfully, the task was easier than you'd expected given that none of the townsfolk had seen you up close since you were a small girl. You were perhaps strange in behavior as compared to them, given how much you questioned what was around you, but certainly not one person suspected you were the princess– just a sheltered, perhaps eccentric, young woman.  

As you became more comfortable, and got closer to the town gates with each passing day, your excitement would grow exponentially; the world beyond the gates was so foreign to you, even more so than the town itself had been. From your bedroom window, the fields that lied beyond the town gates appeared so miniscule, and you only knew what lied beyond because you’d been told about it, not because you’d seen it for yourself.

It was this determination to discover what lied beyond your limited world view that lead you to meet the man who'd come to hold your heart for the first time. You remember how your heart raced when you first approached the town gates, how your eyes darted to every corner to try to take in every minute detail.

The cobblestone became sparse, leaving nothing but dirt road to walk on, the wheels of countless carriages and horses hooves indented in the path, leading both to and away from town. You’d been told numerous times that beyond this point lies the farms that fueled the town with their food, and resources such as leather and wool to create clothing, blankets, and the upholstery on your furniture.

And for the first time in your entire life, you were about to see it all up close with your own eyes, instead of vaguely from your bedroom window.

You knew their work was vital to the prosperous existence of your country, and you’d always found yourself wanting to know what it was like, to learn about how the world works not from a dull lecture or written text, but to experience it yourself, to truly understand the lives of the people you would one day govern beyond what you’d been told.

To say you had a curious mind was perhaps an understatement; you were always full of curiosity about the world around you, but simply being told about the world wasn’t enough for you to be satisfied. 

To experience with your own eyes, to feel with your own hands– that was what being alive was truly about, wasn’t it? You didn’t feel your life was meant to be spent wasting away in your room until the day you became useful.

If you spent your youth seeing the world, learning about it from your own lived experiences, wouldn’t that make you a better queen some day? To know the plight of the common man because you lived it for yourself? 

That’s what you wanted– the freedom to explore, to learn, to grow, and when the time was right, you’d accept your duty gracefully, and play the role you were meant to. But until then, there was nothing more you wanted than to feel the earth beneath your feet, to understand what a blessing it truly is to feel the warmth of the sun beaming down on your skin, to learn what it is that makes life beautiful to live. 

With a deep inhale to steady your racing heart, you took your first step outside the town gates, trying your best to not appear too nervous and draw undue attention to yourself. You conjured all the confidence you could muster into your steps, your short heels sinking into the pure dirt before you.

It was a clear spring day, the sun welcoming you warmly, as if confirming that this was a decision you were meant to make, that following your heart and exploring the lush earth is what your true purpose was. 

You recall how different everything felt once you were fully outside the town– it was almost unbelievable how green, pretty and vibrant the outside looked when compared to the dull, monotonous grays and dirty browns you'd met with inside the town walls. And even the castle interior, while still pretty and not devoid of color like the town often seemed to be, still didn't compare to the nature that lied before you.

You saw children running through the grass without shoes, freely giggling as they play what you assume to be some sort of game, one you'd never had the chance to play. They were utterly carefree, and so full of life; how you wished you could be the same– just kick off your shoes and prance through the fields and the trees without a care in the world, with nothing to weigh you down. What a joy it must be, to live innocent and free, knowing nothing but laughter and love. 

You took time to admire naturally growing flowers, to lean down to carefully caress the petals, to feel the grass on your fingertips since you’re much too scared to actually take your shoes off despite how bad you’d have liked to. Following the road, past the sprawling fields where the children play, you eventually came to the occupied farm lands, and it was there, just before the fields turned into seemingly endless forest, that you met him for the first time.

His was the last farm for you to observe, and it held a surprise that made you positively gasp in delight; animals! You'd always thought the farm animals you’d seen in your books looked so cute, and you always wanted to feel their fur or feathers, wondering if they were truly as soft or as coarse as they were described to you.

Was a sheep’s wool still soft before it was knit into a blanket, or woven into clothing? How did a chicken's feathers feel before they were stuffed into a pillow? It was something you were endlessly curious about. 

However, you certainly knew better than to just waltz up to an animal that doesn't know you, and especially not one that is on someone else's land. So you settled for quietly observing them from outside the farm's sprawling gate, a huge smile on your face as you watched the animals graze.

Even at your distance, it was still the closest you'd ever been to an animal other than a horse, and you simply couldn't get over how cute and soft they looked. Sheep, cows, chickens, ducks– all impossibly cute, and how you wished you could go and hug them.

You propped your arms up on the wooden fence, resting your head against them as you simply watched. It was almost funny how something so simple and normal to someone else's everyday life could instill such joy and wonder with you. And that's when you saw him; a single man walking out from his quaint cottage towards the back of the land, attending to the animals and filling up what you assumed to be their feed troughs.

His home, you noticed, was put together the same way most of the town was– with stone and clay, a simple but well constructed wooden door, and a decent sized chimney on the left that you were well aware was necessary to funnel out smoke from fireplaces in homes such as his. And it fascinated you how his home could look so different from yours when it was comprised of the same materials.

When put down simply to its parts, there was nothing that separated the castle from a commoner’s home other than the sheer size of it. Your mother would often tell you not to compare yourself, or the splendor of the castle to that of commoners or their homes, but you never saw any harm in doing so. 

You’re all human, and the only difference between you and them is that you were born into a royal family and they weren’t. You think she focuses too much on title, when to you title is worth nothing beyond a name. Still, while you recognize that while you aren’t different from anyone else in a biological sense, you are when it comes to status, and you wanted to use your privileged position for good when the time came.

That is another reason you wanted to see the country for yourself, to put yourself in the shoes of the people and understand them. How can you be a good queen someday if you understand nothing of how the world truly works, or if every decision is fed to you from someone else? 

Really though you have to admit, apart from all the good reasons you had to sneak out, you equally had selfish ones. But was it so wrong to indulge your curiosity? You’ve tried many times to push aside your thoughts and to understand why you must stay solitary in the castle all day, but try as you might, this is all you want.

To see, to experience, to feel; why was it only wrong for you to want that, and not for anyone else? Even if you’re the princess, you should still be allowed basic human freedoms– that’s what you believe, anyways.

You lost yourself in thought for a time, simply staring out at the scene of the man caring for his animals in front of you. You wondered if he was happy doing this everyday; was it monotonous, or did he take pride in it? Did he love his animals, or were they strictly the avenue he'd taken to provide for himself?

You also wondered what you would be doing if you weren't the princess; would you be a farmer's daughter, spending all your days in the fields with the animals like he does? It was oddly fun to ponder on, to picture yourself leading a different life than one you'd led up to that point.

Maybe it was a form of escapism, and maybe you had more grievances with your upbringing than you'd let yourself believe at the time. Either way, a smile once again made its way to your lips as you pictured yourself feeling the fluffy wool of a sheep beneath your fingertips, as warm, soft, and comforting as a blanket in your imagination.

The man took notice of you after only a few moments, because realistically, how can he not notice a girl blatantly propped against his fence, staring at his land? He was sure he didn't know you, didn't recognize you from any of the farming families that have homes adjacent to his, and he didn't go into town nearly enough to have made friends outside his small bubble.

So who were you, and why were you staring at him like that? "Do you need somethin', miss?" The burly man called out to you as he started to approach, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm.

"O-Oh, uh, no, I apologize," you stuttered out, feeling instantly intimidated as he came closer; not because he was an intimidating person per se, because while his eyes are sharp, they also have a unique softness to them.

It was his size that made you shrink back and feel small; you didn’t realize just how large the man was until he was practically face to face with you. Even the knights you’re met with daily, who undergo strict, intensive physical training, pale in comparison to the muscular physique of the man you in time came to know well.

You remember how he looked at you curiously, head tilting to the side as he watched you straighten your posture and take a step back from his fence. “I was just.. curious, about the animals. They’re very cute,” you explained and the man chuckled a bit, wiping his dirty hands on his worn trousers before stepping up to his fence.

“I take it you’re from the town then? Can’t imagine you bein’ that curious about my animals otherwise,” he replied pleasantly, a warm, sort of prideful smile on his face. It confirmed his suspicions as well– you were definitely not someone he’s met before.  

"Yes, I've only ever seen them in books," you explained further, a bit timid now as you suddenly felt a wave of embarrassment wash over you. You were sure a commoner of your age would never be as fascinated by the animals as you were; they see them every day, it's a normal part of life for them.

And you recall scolding yourself, really feeling that you needed to do a better job of hiding your lack of worldly experience when meeting new people so you'd stop having interactions like this. “I apologize again, I must appear very strange..”

“No need for that, sweetheart. I think it’s nice– I’m so used to bein’ around ‘em, that I don’t really stop and take it all in anymore. Reminds me of what I got, so thank you for that,” he replied kindly, his smile spreading an unfamiliar warmth through you in that moment.

He was very, very kind, and you appreciated that he didn't judge you or find you to be a fool for your innocent curiosity. "I could show you around, if you'd like. Let you meet them," he offered, and you positively beamed, though you really should have shown some restraint in the matter.

"Could I really?" you couldn't help but ask eagerly, eyes sparkling with pure wonder and excitement at the prospect of seeing so many things you'd never encountered before up close. “Course, just come ‘round to the front” 

With no hesitation, you eagerly turned and began to sprint (in quite unladylike fashion, you might add) to where you saw the gate to his property some time earlier. You could hear the man's laugh carry even as you ran (not advised in the shoes you were wearing, but you carried on nonetheless), stopping just in front of the small, modest gate.

You waited for the kind man to catch up to you, not wanting to do anything rude or presumptuous by stepping onto his land without being specifically directed inside. "You took off so fast, you didn't give me a chance to introduce myself," he laughed as he approached you again, and your face immediately flushed, embarrassed by your excitability over everything.

"Name's Changbin," he introduced himself warmly after he opened the gate for you. You smiled timidly, giving him your name as well and a polite bow after you crossed the border onto his property. “Pleasure to meet you, Changbin.”

"Likewise," he smiled as he closed the gate behind you, and it was then that your first true friendship began. In hindsight, it occurred to you that you should've given him a fake name; and while he did ponder on why your name seemed familiar to him, he didn't ever appear to put together that you were the princess.

What was clear to him was that you were from a wealthy family; after all, that was the only explanation he could reach to decipher some of your "odd" behaviors.

Your boundless curiosity, your utter excitement for the mundane, an unmatched passion for all the small things in life that he'd never seen before in anyone else. A light in your eyes as bright as the sun, filling him with warmth and adoration, your wonder and inquisitive nature both pure and infectious. 

He asked you once, what it is your family does, if being from the "high society" part of town near the castle is what made you live a sheltered life, why you seemed so (respectfully) clueless about things beyond the scope of inner-town workings and politics.

You were surprised when he asked, and confirmed what he suspected, though you left out some of the very important details. After all, how could you tell him that the girl he's become friends with over the past few months, didn't just live near the castle– her home is the castle.

But you divulged what little you could, confided in him that your mother has high expectations of you, that she doesn't know you spend your days with him at his farm, that if she did know she certainly wouldn't approve, and he seemed to understand.

While he may not be a high born man, he's no stranger to how haughty they can be, what with their superiority complexes and luxury goods, as if it's not working men like him that provide them with what they consume in the first place.

You weren't like that in the slightest– you were good, pure natured, with an infectious zest for life that he couldn't help but find his own joy in. Seeing you interact with the world, the happiness you gained from the simplicities in life, the wonder and curiosity you held for all things, both small and grand– it was a trait of yours he'd come to adore.

You learned from him just as much as he learned from you, and you truly reminded him how beautiful life is, how there is magic even in the mundane, what a gift it is to have, to be, and to feel. Changbin introduced you to so much, shared so many parts of his life, and you were truly the happiest you'd ever been, always looking forward to the next day you could go out and see him again.

"Have you ever ridden a horse?" he asked one summer afternoon when you were in stables together, you sat on a hay bale while you watched him care for Dolly, a beautiful, black and white dappled horse that belonged to his mother, whom she named such due to 'her mane being as beautiful as a porcelain dolls.'

"Does being escorted in a carriage count?" you asked, and he laughed, shaking his head in amused disbelief. "No, darlin', a carriage don't count," he said, smiling as you pouted ever so slightly.

You were still a child the last time you were even in a carriage, given the fact that your mother never permits you to leave. You wondered what's more enjoyable; your memory of your last carriage ride is so faded, you wondered if you could even compare the experiences, were you to ever ride a horse.

As if sensing your thoughts, Changbin made an offer that once again made you beam, radiating joy and excitement. "I could teach you how. Or let you ride with me," he offered and you were eagerly nodding without a second thought, jumping straight to your feet.

"I'd love that!" Changbin returned your smile, promising that once he got Dolly situated in a saddle, he'd take you for a ride while telling you everything he knows and answering any question you may have about it, no matter how small or seemingly silly and "common sense."

He helped you up onto her back, making sure you sat comfortably on the back of the saddle, both your legs dangling over one side of her body due to the fact that you were wearing a dress. Changbin got up onto the saddle with ease, carefully not to accidentally hit you with his leg while making his ascent. After he was settled in front of you, he instructed you to wrap your arms around his torso, as it takes time to become adjusted to the movement of the horse and naturally find your balance.

You wondered if he could feel your heart race when your chest was pressed against his back, how your palms grew sweaty from holding onto him, how your face flushed every time he called Dolly a "good girl." You wondered what it'd be like if he said the same to you, if he praised you after he encouraged you or taught you something new.

The more comfortable you got, the more he allowed Dolly to pick up speed, until she was going around the enclosed pen in a brisk trot, your arms squeezing Changbin as you giggle joyfully, feeling the wind brush by your ears and pull back your hair. It was so fun, so new, another experience Changbin granted you that you wouldn't otherwise have ever had the chance to have.

When you were finished, as the sun was beginning to set and it was time for you to get home, lest your mother send a maid to summon you for dinner and find you absent, he jumped off Dolly first. He then held out his hand to you, offering for you to take it, promising he'd make sure you got down safely.

And he did, letting you squeeze his hand as you made the unfamiliar leap off, his opposite hand coming to your back to ensure you were stable on your feet after you landed. His hand lingered on your back even after it was apparent you were steady, and yours did as well, still holding onto his other hand even though you no longer had need to.

It felt as though there was a shift between you– both staring carefully at one another, a suggestion that you could be something more than this, that there was a connection beyond that of just friendship. Slowly, with the same smile for you he always had, he pulled his hand away from your back, but didn't make you part from his other hand, letting you hold it even as he walked you to his gate.

And you felt a stutter in your heart, unlike any you'd ever felt before then, returning his smiles happily, your cheeks dusted pink as you thanked him for the afternoon and bid him goodbye. Every once in a while you'd turn back just to see him still watching you, offering a soft smile and wave each time your gazes met again.

Then, there was the time you were inside his chicken coops with him, Changbin having taught you much about how to properly care for the animals in your time near him. And after weeks of observation, you wanted to help, to really try your hand at it! You did well, for the most part– your error came when trying to get a hen away from a freshly laid egg.

You tried your best to follow Changbin's instructions carefully, but still, your inexperience was greatly apparent, and you ended up upsetting the poor thing. When she flew up in protest, it startled you so much that you fell backwards. But Changbin caught you, one of his strong arms wrapped around your back and holding you upright as if you weighed nothing at all.

You blinked up at him in surprise, face growing red as he asked if you were alright, your heart unexpectedly pounding. You muttered out an apology, voice much meeker than you wanted it to be, but he simply smiled. He helped you steady yourself again to stand on your own, ensuring you that it wasn't your fault, and that he could tell you were genuinely trying your best.

"No one gets it right on their first try, don't be discouraged. You did good, sweetheart," he said, and the words somehow made your heart race faster, face growing even pinker. You were certain then– you liked him as much, much more than a friend.

You wanted him to always praise you, to console you, to call you sweetheart in a way beyond platonic. You wanted him to look at you romantically, to call you by such sweet names in a moment of love and passion.

When you returned home that day, lying in bed after finishing dinner and washing up, your thoughts were plagued by him– much more than they usually were, and in completely different contexts. How would his strong arms feel under your fingers while he held you up, supporting all of your weight as he took you in every way conceivable, across every surface of his home.

You'd had.. less than pure thoughts before of course, so it's not like this was new to you– what was new was having an explicit object of desire, someone you wanted to lie with, someone you imagined touching you everywhere. And you wanted to touch him too, to pleasure him in all the ways he'd surely pleasure you.

There were many times you watched him work, sweat collecting on his forehead, dripping down his brow, his breath growing heavier with labor, his broad chest rising and falling quickly with exertion– would he look the same atop you, under you?

You could imagine him, his body heavy between your legs, pressing you down against his mattress. And you could imagine him staring up at you, those same grunts of effort he makes while working pouring out for new reasons, for your hands all over him.

God, you were driving yourself crazy thinking about it. Changbin noticed, on another summer day where the sun was high and hot and leaving him sweatier than usual, that your face too was hot and red. What he didn't realize was that it was for reasons beyond that of the sun beaming down on you.

"C'mon sweetheart, let's go inside. It's hot out here, ain't it?" he'd said, deciding it was time, for both your sakes, to take a well deserved break. You agreed, thankful beyond words he thought it was simply the sun making you a heated mess, and not how absolutely divine he looked chopping wood in preperation for when the weather would change in a month.

You sat on his sofa together, sipping on lemonade he made himself by hand, thankful to be out of the unforgiving sun (and to have something to focus on besides how attracted you were to him.) "You seem to be thinkin' a lot. What's on your mind, darlin'?" Changbin asked after it was quiet for a time, your cup of lemonade held in your lap as you stared off at unfixed location.

"I've.. come to like you quite a lot more than I expected. As more than a friend, I think," you answered honestly, though you didn't expect him to do anything with your feelings.

While he was your first real connection with someone, you were sure he's lived a full, experienced life. You felt that there was no reason for him to like you as you like him, but still you told him. You already hid enough about your life from him, and you didn't want your thoughts and feelings to be another one of those things you keep from him.

"I'm fond of you too. More than a friend, and more than you probably know," he replied with a soft smile, setting his empty cup to the side. You blinked, cheeks turning pink as you practically gaped at him. "Do you mean that? Sincerely?" you asked, heart thumping loudly as you too carefully set your cup aside.

"I wouldn't lie to you darlin'. 'Specially not about matters of the heart," he responded earnestly, carefully moving closer to you. You met him halfway, slowly, your eyes timidly meeting his as his hand comes towards you, resting heavy but soft on your cheek.

"Tell me truly," he almost whispers, face coming close enough to yours to feel his breath tickle your skin, "Do you want to kiss me as badly as I want to kiss you?"

"Yes," you breathed out, and not even a full second later, his lips were on yours, plush and soft, butterflies filling your stomach and truly, you couldn't ask for any greater joy than that moment.

You kissed a lot after that– in greeting and in parting, sweetly, slowly, carefully, sometimes even urgently, needily, passionately. You'd help him with as much of his daily work as you could manage, so he could finish faster and you could spend the rest of the afternoon holding one another close.

Hands exploring anywhere and everywhere, both eager, both seeking more and more and more. Both indulging in the feeling of not just pleasure, but of closeness, intimacy beyond just the physical, the love and care you share for one another.

But as quickly as your happiness was obtained, it was taken away; unbeknownst to you, on an afternoon in mid fall, shortly after breakfast, a knight had seen you squeezing through the hole in the castle's wall, eager to spend yet another day with Changbin. He didn't think you were sneaking out at first– he thought maybe he was just mistaken on what he saw.

But when he stepped over, and it became clear that you were now nowhere to be seen, he had to inform your mother, as was his duty. And there are truly no words to describe how devastated you felt when suddenly, as if from nowhere, countless knights were surrounding you, pleading with you to return to the castle, lest they have to drag you back by your mother's command.

It became a spectacle in the street, commoners whispering amongst themselves as they tried to piece together what they were witnessing. Was the sweet, smiley girl they’d seen exiting and returning to town everyday for months really the princess this entire time?

You felt as if your entire world was collapsing as they escorted you back home, your heart squeezing painfully in your chest, knowing your mother would be positively furious when your eyes next met. But no, she wasn’t just furious– she was livid, the angriest you’d ever seen her in all your years.

You pleaded with her to understand, assured her that if you were truly going to run away from home and abandon your responsibility, then you wouldn’t have returned every single time you’d left. You didn’t want to be stuck here all day, every day, bored, alone, depressed, when there was an entire world out there to see, people to talk to, experiences to be had.

You’d do everything expected of you as a princess, and later as queen, but please– just this one thing, allow me this one thing. But no, your pleas fell on deaf ears, your mother completely dismissive of your feelings and unwilling to bend her iron rules.

And so you once again became a prisoner inside your own room, tears streaming down your cheeks as you stared at the edge of town from your window, Changbin so near, yet impossibly far. Your mother didn’t know of him; you didn’t tell her, nor would you ever, as things stand now– but how you wished you could tell her, “I’ve found love, and now I understand how truly a magical thing it is. I don’t want this to be the end of my joy.” 

Weeks passed, and while the pain never left you, you learned to manage it well enough, hopeful that you’d be reunited with Changbin someday soon. But then you saw them– carpenters, working diligently to fill the hole in the castle walls that you had repeatedly used for your daily escapes.

The color drained from your face, your heart sinking into the very depths of your stomach. Your plan to simply be an obedient daughter long enough for your mother to lessen her watchful eyes on you, to one day again leave the castle once her constant vigil had relaxed, was being thwarted before it could ever truly begin. 

You anticipated to be in this act for the long haul, knowing very well it could take months, or even years, to rebuild your mother’s trust in you, but you’d never imagined she’d take away the very source of your hope mere weeks after confining you away to your room. To call a hole in the castle’s defenses your “hope” may seem foolish to most, but it was all you had– a symbol of escape, of life beyond these four walls that had become your permanent home. 

The day it was filled would be the day you’d lose everything; your freedom, your friendships, your joy, your hopes, your dreams, everything. Even as you are now, a canary trapped in her gilded cage, the promise that simple flaw in the walls gave you kept you going– the promise that someday, even if it was years and years from now, you’d be free again, doing what you loved most, being with who you loved most. 

You know your mother cares for you, she wants the best for you, and the loss of your father, the king, much too soon has deeply scarred her. She fears for you, she keeps you ever at arm’s length because she can’t bear for you to part from her, to leave her behind the way your father had, but surely this isn't the answer. Surely there was something better than this, something that didn’t necessitate you being a prisoner in your own home. 

Fear of loss and devastation ruled her life, made her trap you lest you decide to leave and never return, failing to realize that it was her very actions and treatment of you that gave those fears of hers room to become reality. But to know heartbreak is to know truest love, and even should loss plague your life, you will never regret having discovered love.

You had no desire to abandon your family, your kingdom, or run from your responsibilities, but if that was the only way to be free, if there was no other conceivable way to experience life’s joys and warmth, then.. What else was there for you to do?

Ironic, how your mother had unwittingly created a self-fulfilling prophecy when she forbade you from living a life of your own, her own actions resulting in the very outcome she feared most of all.

You have to do something, anything, now, before it’s too late, and you are left with nothing but the fleeting memories of the man you hold so dear. You bide your time, waiting until nightfall when the carpenters have left for the night to make your move.

Your mother has posted knights to the spot now, instructed to keep a watchful eye should you try again to leave the premises, but you think with the right timing, you can slip out unnoticed. There’s a small window of time where, when the knights standing guard rotate shifts, the hole in the castle’s walls will have no one standing in front of them.

It’s risky, and if you’re too slow you’ll be spotted by the new knights taking over for the ones who departed, but it’s the only chance you have, so you need to take it. As soon as the knights previously keeping watch over the area get far enough away, you dart for the breach in the castle.

The hole is definitely smaller than it was before, but you still manage to squeeze past just fine, with seconds to spare. You hear the sounds of the new knights approaching as you begin to sprint away, luckily having not noticed anything amiss.

The streets are much different at night, the subtle illumination from the candles in the surrounding buildings hardly enough to point you in the right direction. You look to the horizon instead, hoping that the dark line of trees on the horizon will be enough to guide you to the gate leaving town.

Some who notice your desperate run call out, concern evident in their voice, but you can’t stop for them, can’t stop until you’ve made it to Changbin’s side. And though it is not without struggle, you do, eventually, thankfully, find your way out of the town.

You’re panting, chest heaving as your heart pounds and your lungs desperately try to suck in air once you’ve made it completely outside the town gates– but still, you aren’t where you need to be, so you can’t stop yet. Pushing yourself to your very limits, even as your legs scream at you and harsh cold pricks your skin, you can finally make out Changbin’s land in the tree-lined horizon.

Reaching the gate to his property, you push it open in haste, taking hardly any steps past the threshold before you collapse to your knees, the ache and exhaustion refusing to be ignored any further. You bring a hand to your heart, taking a few seconds to calm yourself and breathe before you attempt to rise back to your feet.

But your legs refuse the action, much too weak to support you beyond what they’ve already done. It’s good enough, you suppose; they’ve carried far, with much more urgency than you’d ever thought possible. And now you’re right here, so close to where you need to be– and despite being a princess, you’re not above crawling your way over to Changbin’s door if you must.

Once more, you try– and though weak, and unsteady, you are able to rise once more. You can’t run, can hardly even walk as sore and as exhausted as your legs are, but they carry you as far as they can, recognizing the urgency you feel, aiding you as much as it can in your last, desperate effort.

Your throat is dry, it hurts, but you call out Changbin’s name regardless, hoping he’s awake, hoping he hears you, hoping he’ll wrap his arms around you, kiss you, console you, even if it’s just this one last time.

It’s been over a month since the last time Changbin saw you, and there’s so many questions he can’t help but ask himself, that he wishes he could ask you, so he didn’t spend all his hours distracted with worry and self-doubt. There had been gaps in the time you spent together before, but never for this large of a duration of time– a week usually at most.

Did he do something wrong the last time you were together? Or did your strict mother finally learn of your deceit, and now made you keep away, unable to return to his side though you may have wished to? He just wishes he knew for certain what it is, so that even if he was saddened, he did not have to have his mind consumed by what if’s and uncertainties.

There was a time, even, where he considered going into town and asking of you, but he was worried that doing so would only create more problems for you if the wrong person caught word of his inquiries. So all he could was wait– wait, and hope, that you would return again before year’s end, and that he would have the answers he so desperately craves to his questions.

Most of all, he just hopes you’re well; you’d expressed more than once that you loved your life and your family, you just didn’t want to feel trapped. You wanted to have choices, to feel like your thoughts and opinions matter, to be allowed to live as most other people do when they are not burdened with what their future will be.

Whenever you spoke of home, he always found it unfair, and he felt for you. You loved your mother, dearly, but he could see how you struggled with her rules, how sadness lingered in your eyes and resent bubbled up within you despite how you tried to not feel such things. 

And though he understood why you could not, he wished at times that you could simply stay with him– to not have to depart the moment the sun began to sink, to lie in bed with him all night, to have breakfast and dinner together, to live without worry together.

He’d work hard for you, even harder than he does now, and it’d be worth it to see you smile at him as you always do, so bright and full of light, keeping each other company on your loneliest days and nights. Changbin sighs, exhaustion plaguing him as he sits before the small fire he has going in his living room, head falling back against his sofa.

He hasn’t slept well these past few nights– he just can’t help but think of you at all hours, and every time he closes his eyes to sleep, he’s met with the image of you. It keeps him up, though not all his thoughts of you are plagued by unpleasant worry– sometimes it’s simply just the image of you smiling or laughing, and he feels nothing but warmth, even as he is reminded how much he truly misses you. 

Should you never return again, for whatever reason that may be, he doesn’t think he would ever regret having known you and given his love to you. Short-lived though your romance may be in the grand scheme of his life, and all the years he may be blessed to live, it was of the utmost importance.

He’d be remiss to let those memories become tarnished or devalued. You reminded him of how much joy there is in life, how grateful he is to have what he does, how much beauty there is in even the smallest of things. 

Another sigh leaves his lips as he lifts his head, rubbing carefully at his weary eyes– he should probably try to rest soon, though he feels sleep will likely stay out his reach for some time after his head hits the pillows. He stands from the sofa, preparing himself to extinguish the fire and head to bed, when he hears a strange, unfamiliar sound from outside his door.

A thud, almost– as if something with a not insubstantial amount of weight thumped to the ground. It couldn’t be his logs; he knew the sound of falling logs well enough to recognize the distinct sound made when one toppled– and often times when one fell, more followed.

This was unlike that entirely, only one sound followed by silence, and the sound itself was still too dense to be one of his pieces of chopped wood. The sound felt more.. concentrated; an animal perhaps? And if it was an animal, he couldn’t let it go ignored– especially not if it was one of his own. 

As Changbin steps closer to his door to investigate the sound, he hears something else entirely unexpected– a frail voice.. your voice..? Rushing to his door now, he opens it in haste, eyes darting to find the source of what he heard. And there, he sees you, collapsed to the ground before him, looking up at him with a mix of relief, exhaustion, and anguish.

Your name leaves him in a gasp as he leans down to you, concern evident in his voice and expression. His hands reach out to touch you and shit, your body is freezing; you are woefully ill dressed for the late fall chill, and who knows how long you’ve been out in it with nothing but your dress. 

Quickly, he picks you up, carrying you inside and using his foot to kick the door shut behind him. “Just sit here a minute,” he says as he sits you down on the sofa, rushing to his room to grab all the blankets and pillows he can carry.

He prepares a sort of makeshift bed on the floor in front of the fireplace, laying down all the blankets and pillows he collected, his intention being to have you lay by the fire and spread some much needed warmth through your chilled body. Changbin scoops you back up when he’s satisfied with his work, very carefully laying you down a close (yet safe) distance to the fire, nestling beside you after and laying an additional blanket over your bodies.

He has so many questions, his mind is racing, but they can wait– making sure you’re not going to suffer frostbite is of much more importance. He lets you use him for warmth, not complaining a bit when your cold limbs tangle with his, letting you sap his warmth and take it for your own. 

He brings his hands to your face, warming your cold cheeks in his palms, looking you over carefully. You looked unhurt, thankfully– he has no idea what you’ve gone through, but he’s glad you’re here now, and looking well, all things considered.

“Do you want to tell me what’s happened?” he asks softly, pushing the fallen hair away from your eyes, letting him meet your gaze without obstruction. You swallow down your bubbling emotion, wanting to be clear and concise, to leave no room for confusion or error. 

“My mother is very strict, as you know.. She enforced her rules more harshly after she discovered how I’d been spending my time. I had to sneak out again just to be here,” you answer, and his brows furrow.

“Again..? Have you been sneaking out to see me all this time?” he asks, and you nod, tears pricking the corners of your eyes. Changbin knew your mother had strict rules, he knew she didn’t approve of her daughter meeting with those of lower class, but that wasn’t the extent of it? 

This whole time, he thought your lie to your mother was simply that you exited town– not that you left home entirely. He was under the impression that you were still allowed out on the streets, at the very least; not that you were caged up inside all day like some sort of bird. But this.. This was outrageous, cruel. To not let your daughter out of the house at all? That’s what you’d been dealing with this entire time? 

Relationships with parents are complex, but he almost can’t even believe you still love her after all this, that you still want to uphold whatever ambitions it is that she has for you; if it were him, he doesn’t think he could stand it. He followed in his parents footsteps because he wanted to, not because he was forced to.

And he doesn’t imagine you’d be much different from him in that regard. Naive though you may be at times, you had a strong sense of responsibility, and were intelligent in matters he was clueless on, a completely different kind of intellect from his own. Surely she didn't have to be so strict with you.

“You can stay with me,” he wants to say, “I’ll never make you do a single thing you don’t want to do, you’ll always be respected and happy.” But he knows you’d refuse, your sense of pride in yourself and responsibility simply too strong to abandon just because of one obstacle, harsh though that obstacle may be.

In equal measure, you don’t think you could ever ask him to stay with you. How much would he have to give up to be with you? You don’t want to ask that of him– to make him give up his home and all he holds dear just to be stuck in the castle with you. He doesn’t even know you’re the princess in the first place.

And though you love him, it’s painfully apparent that you’re in two separate worlds that may not be destined to converge though you wish them to. “I don’t want this to be the end,” you say, hot tears finally starting to fall as you the emotion unleashes itself from the depths of where you’d pushed them down, “I don’t want this to be the last time I see you.”

God, Changbin feels like his heart is shattering. It’s so painful to see you reduced to this, you who is always so bright and vibrant in her joy, brought low to tears and heartache. Why must you endure this? Does your mother truly not understand how much pain she causes you but not allowing you to simply live?

“Don’t think like that. If you say it’s the end, then it will be,” he whispers, the pain in his own voice evident despite how he tries to hide it behind a mask of strength for your sake. The tears flow from your eyes and you let him rub them away with his thumb, let him fill your head with impossible, sweet promises.

Your whole life was clouded in dreadful, dreary rain, and there’s nowhere you wanted to be more after the rain cleared than with Changbin. What a ray of sunshine he was, even without intending to be– the light that illuminated your otherwise dark existence. And how painful it was to know that come morning, it would all become nothing but a memory from your youth. 

You lean forward to kiss him, tears continuing to leak from the corners despite having your eyes closed now. You want to tell him you love him, but you fear that saying so will only make the act of parting that much harder and painful.

You fear that no matter how much time passes, the name of your first love will forever be written in your heart, that you will never stop loving him even should you lead lives separate from one another. And still, you have no regrets, because for a time you felt truest joy and love, and what a gift it was to share with him. 

Taking his hands from your face, he pulls you closer, your entangled limbs being woven together more complexly, your torsos now completely flushed to one another. His arms wrap around and hold you tight, as if lessening his hold on you would cause you to dissipate.

And you will disappear, but not now– not while he has you like this, not when you are where you long to be most. Your tears slow, eventually receding completely as your lips touch. If this is truly your last moment together, you have decided you will not spend it wallowing in sorrow– you will enjoy all you can, you will memorize every detail, you will etch it in your very soul.

“Are you warm enough?” Changbin asks after he separates from you, though still close enough that his breath lingers on your lips. “Could be warmer,” you answer and he chuckles softly, kissing you again, his hands roaming down the expanse of your body, to your hips. 

“Want me to add more to the fire?” he asks, a playful lilt in his voice as he knows that’s not what you’re insinuating. While you normally speak quite openly and honestly, you become.. meek within intimate moments.

Changbin always finds it incredibly cute, how you dance around what you mean, waiting for him to get the hint and give you what you want. He always gets the hint, but it’s adorable to see your blush grow hotter, to see you stumble with your words when he plays dumb about what you mean, or purposely misunderstands just to make you state what you want clearly. 

“It certainly wouldn’t hurt, but..” you trail off, chewing on your lip nervously as you meet his eyes again. He raises his brow but says nothing, smiling patiently as he waits for you to speak your mind. It makes the blush on your face flare, how he always waits for you to say it directly when you want to be intimate with him.

However, he doesn’t intend to waste too much time making you flustered like this; it’s just.. If this is the last time like you seem to believe, then he wanted to see it again now, before the opportunity was lost to him. 

“I’ve missed you a lot, you know. I want you to touch me,” you finally answer and his smile brightens, furthering the embarrassment you feel as heat rushes to your face. But better than being cold like you were earlier, you suppose; maybe you should welcome the way his reaction makes you feel, since it never fails to make your face and body hot.

“You missed me, darlin’? I missed you too,” he smiles, kissing your face, your lips, your jaw, your neck, “thought about you every damn day.” His low voice near your ear makes you shudder, his soft kisses down your neck, to your shoulder, furthering the feeling.

You never let him mark your skin, afraid of what consequences would come from your mother finding out what you’d been doing, but you’re tempted to let him tonight– if you’re going to be punished regardless, why not be selfish, go out with a display?

“Binnie, leave a mark on me, please,” you shamelessly plead, calling his name in the way you know he loves to hear you speak. Changbin lifts his head from your shoulder, meeting your gaze with uncertain excitement. God, he’d love to, but..

“Are you certain? What of your mother?” he asks carefully, pushing your hair behind your neck to expose more of your skin. He may be apprehensive out of concern, but the minute you make it clear you have no reservations, he’s obliging without restraint, giving you everything you ask– anything you want, you’ll have it. 

“I don’t care what she thinks anymore, I want her to know that I.. have someone I love,” you answer sincerely, and he smiles, his heart feeling like it’s expanding in size. “You love me?” he asks, and you return his smile as you nod, because though you were scared to tell him, you are glad you did. His reaction to the information was completely worth it, his eyes sparkling with deep emotion and fondness for you. 

“I love you too. More than you probably know,” he says, mirroring what he said when he confessed that he liked you too, and he lets you pull him into a kiss, your affection radiating. There’s a soft giggle that escapes him, not being able to help how giddy your love makes him feel, how you love him despite what people in your life expect from you.

If he could, he’d assure them all how well he’d take care of you, how he’d make sure you never suffered a day in your life because of him. He suspects your mother doesn’t care much about your happiness, but if she did, if she gave him the chance to prove it, he wouldn’t rest until he gave you the entire world, until she could see your love as true. 

You lay your head back to the pillows, tilting it comfortably so that Changbin has more access to your skin. His breath warms you, and you all but tremble with anticipation when you feel his lips on you again, knowing your skin will finally bear his mark after all this time.

You’ve seen such a mark briefly on your maids that you know to have lovers, how they try to hide them with their hair or makeup, the sort of shame and embarrassment they feel when they realize you’ve noticed it. You will have no such shame; you will wear them proudly, in a show that is simultaneously of love and rebellion.

"I have and I know love, and that is all that matters." And people will certainly have opinions, but you’ve sacrificed enough to them. If there is only one day you can live selfishly for the rest of your life, you want it to be this day; and even as the marks fade, they will serve as a reminder of what you once had. 

He plants open mouthed kisses to your neck, the feeling of his tongue and teeth grazing you adding to the anticipation you feel. Your fingers tangle in his dark, unruly curls, as he carefully, almost gently, sucks and bites at your supple skin, leaving behind a string of beautiful, red, blue, and purple bruises.

There’s a tinge of pain, yes, but the excitement grows beyond the subtle sting, transforming it almost entirely into pleasure. When Changbin’s finished with one side, he lies you on your back and does the same to the other, your eyes fluttering closed as you tilt your head for him to have more room to work.

You unintentionally tug on his hair when his teeth meet a particularly sensitive spot, and you would’ve apologized had he not groaned in delight from the feeling. You learned something new about him every time you were intimate, and this discovery in particular had your stomach flipping.

“Want you to take it off,” he mumbles in reference to your dress, pulling at the fabric that had begun to bunch up at your thighs. You hum, detangling your hand from his hair and letting him sit up, watching as he lifts his own shirt up and over his head, tossing it aside.

In all the times you’ve seen Changbin’s skin bare, you never stopped being amazed at how divine he looked. He was so big and strong, it always left you breathless, his cute, soft stomach a direct contrast from the bulk in his arms and chest. And then there was the small patch of hair that led from his belly button to the waistband of his trousers that always left you hungry to see the rest of him. 

Still feeling a bit weak from your exertion prior, you ask Changbin to help you remove your dress, which he is more than happy to do. He’s careful with the fabric, though you’ve decided you don’t care about it at this particular moment, and he sets it aside with much more care than he did his own clothing. What a gentleman he is, you think, taking the extra time to care for your clothes even when he’s met with you bare before him.

Well, not entirely bare– you still have your undergarments on, and after deciding you’d see Changbin today no matter what, you purposely wore your prettiest pair. A beautiful, intricate and delicate white lace, one you might aspire to wear on your wedding night. He looks you over in awe, taking in all your details. You were always beautiful, but your choice in clothing somehow enhances it, drives his excitement even further. 

“Fuck, you’re stunning. How did I get so lucky?” Changbin questions aloud and you smile, a soft giggle escaping you as he leans back down to kiss you. “Take your pants off too, otherwise it isn’t fair,” you playfully complain and he grins, letting out a giggle of his own as lifts himself back up.

“Maybe I spoil you too much, giving you everything you want so easily,” he responds to your complaint with one of his own, trying not to smile so that he appears serious– though you are easily able to read that he’s playing around, just as you were. 

“You give me everything I want because I’m a good girl for you though, right?” you ask and he whines audibly; you admitted early on in your sexual relationship that you were curious about being called such things. When he tried it out, it was discovered that he liked saying it just as much as you liked being called it.

It’s not just saying it to you that he likes either– hearing you call yourself one, saying it’s just for him.. that’s what really gets him going. And while he doesn’t want to be presumptuous and say you belong to him, especially not after all you’ve suffered through, he definitely belongs to you.

You don’t anticipate Changbin pulling his underwear down with his trousers, but the sight of his cock is never unwelcome. It’s already hard and leaking, and when he leans down to you once again, you can feel it pressing against your bare thigh, smearing its fluid on your skin. It always excites you how hard he gets from your body, always enjoyable watching him get riled up just from looking at you bare or from saying a few sweet words. 

“You’re dangerous,” he says with a small huff, and before you can come back with more words to make his cock throb, he’s kissing you again, this time with much less softness, quickly shoving his tongue past your lips.

You welcome it, opening your mouth for him, letting his tongue lick yours. The feeling always makes you light-headed in the most delicious way possible– it’s intoxicating to put it simply, and you would kiss him for hours and hours if given the chance. 

His hands come to your bra, unhooking it easily after all the practice he’s had, and though he could easily toss it aside, he breaks away long enough to set it down gently. You giggle at how he’s still treating your clothes with care even while this hard and eager, but that’s what makes you love him so much.

Returning to your mouth, he nips and sucks at your bottom lip, and you mewl at the sting, which Changbin always gladly soothes with his tongue before repeating. His fingers roll, pinch, and tug your nipples, not too hard, but enough to have you whining and squeezing your legs together.

They were always so sensitive in Changbin’s rough, calloused hands, and there were times you felt you could cum simply from the stimulation of them alone– especially when he used his mouth at the same time. And he did just that when he pulled away to stop kissing you, though not right away.

He kissed all over your chest, leaving love bites and sucking small, almost delicate bruises onto the sensitive skin of your breasts, not yet touching your nipples with his tongue and teeth. You told him to mark you, and it seems he was determined to do it everywhere– not that you had any objections. It was a bit strange, seeing your chest bitten and the color of your flesh changed, but you equally enjoyed it, loved the physical proof that Changbin was on you. 

When his tongue finally swirled around one of your nipples, you let out a breathy moan that quickly turned into a drawn out whimper when he used his teeth. He made sure not to hurt you too overtly, to just give you enough of that sweet sting you found so enticing and pleasurable, and in return you gave him that same delicious feeling by tugging on his hair every time you felt good. 

Your panties were soaked by the time he stopped giving your breasts attention, and though you hadn’t reached your peak from the stimulation, you felt so close. Resuming his path down your body, Changbin’s cock throbs and twitches when he’s met with evidence of your excitement, your white panties darkened by how damp they’ve become.

He doesn’t pull them down right away– he kisses your legs first, and then your thighs, leaving behind the same kisses and marks he gave to your chest and neck. Your inner thighs are especially sensitive, and it causes you to jolt and whine when he sinks his teeth into the meat of them.

He’s got you so impossibly worked up, you feel like you could cry when he finally gives your neglected heat the attention it craves. He praises you before he slides your panties down your legs, and there’s a relieved sort of noise coming from your throat that makes Changbin chuckle. 

You keen when his tongue finally slips between your folds, licking and sucking up everything you have to offer him. There’s an enthusiastic hum that leaves his lips when your fingers tangle in his hair again, followed by a moan when you pull and tug. Your legs are trembling and twitching so much, constantly threatening to close around his head, that he has to push them down to keep you how he wants you.  

It’s when his tongue meets your clit that you really start to lose yourself, your hips jolting up and back arching, legs quivering when he wraps his lips around it and sucks. You’re panting, begging him for more, incoherently mumbling and babbling about how close you are, and within seconds you’re seeing white, eyes rolling back as further arousal gushes on his face.

He licks your release up with another eager hum, dragging out the feeling until you’re a quivering, overstimulated mess beneath him. You release your hold on his curls when you finally come down from your high and your body relaxes, opening your eyes to see Changbin grinning at you, evidently proud of the fact that he got you to cum so intensely.

He kisses you softly, quick and chaste, not trying to hinder you from taking any of the breaths you need, just wanting to show his affection. “What do you want next, darlin’? Since I’m givin’ you everything you want,” he asks, rubbing soothing circles on your skin as he awaits your answer.

“W-Want to be on top but.. I’m still feeling pretty weak. Especially after that,” you reply with a slight blush, and he giggles again, cooing at you as if you’re just so sweet and cute (and to be fair, you are– you always will be, at least to him.)

“S’okay sweetheart, I can help you,” Changbin says sweetly, giving you one more kiss before he’s lying down on the makeshift bed and pulling you on top of him. Your legs are on either side of them, his hands on your hips, looking up at you with pure affection. 

“This good? Comfortable?” he asks, and you hum with a nod, smiling just a bit as you lean down to kiss him again. Normally, given how thick he is, Changbin would prep you before having you take his cock, but given how wet and excited you are, he doesn’t think the prep is as necessary (and you might not be patient enough for it after all the build up to this point regardless.)

He helps you line yourself up with his cock, both of you letting out your own shaky noises as you sink down on him. “Atta girl, keep goin’, just like that, sit on me all the way,” he encourages you, and you do just as he asks.

Your hands tightly gripping his biceps to ground and support yourself as you sit flush with his body, the back of your thighs meeting the top of his. He rubs your thighs and legs, trying to show soothing affection as you adjust and settle, listening attentively to all the trembling exhales and noises you make. 

You look so beautiful atop him, illuminated in the gentle, warm glow of the fireplace, your hair having fallen in a way that messily, yet somehow perfectly, frames your face. He can see everything– your breasts, your stomach, your thighs, beautifully painted with all the marks he left behind. You can feel him twitching and throbbing inside you, but he doesn’t rush you along, lets you take all the time you need. 

You feel him twitch again when you lean down to kiss him, and it’d make you giggle if it also didn’t make a wave of pleasure shoot through your body. You move your hands to his chest to support your own weight better, rolling your hips as you coax your tongue into his mouth.

He lets out a moan from deep in his chest as you move, his tongue wasting no time in meeting and dancing with yours, his fingers squeezing at the already tender meat of your thighs. You lift yourself back up to begin moving in earnest, your hands still planted firmly on his chest for support as you slide yourself up and down his length.

The slow pace, while it still feels good, isn’t enough for either of you, and soon enough you find yourself practically bouncing on his cock, the sound of your thighs repeatedly slapping down on his echoing into the room. Changbin curses, biting his lip as he watches you, using his hands to help guide you up and down, trying to ease some of the ache in your legs. 

He thrusts upward into you when your pace starts to stutter and lose rhythm, and you gasp, eyes rolling back as he hits the perfect spot again and again. It reaches a point where his hands simply hold you in the right place while he exerts all his effort, feet planted firmly on the ground while he does all the work from below. Your nails dig into his skin, head falling back as you feel your release building up again. 

Changbin effortlessly flips your positions, though he is careful not to hurt you in his haste. He just wants to make you fall apart again, and it’s easier to do that if he doesn’t have to control your movements– just his own. He resumes the pace he held from below, bringing two of his fingers to your clit and rubbing in quick circles, unable to help the way he moans when he feels you clench around him even tighter in response. 

“B-Bin, please, Binnie, so close,” you babble and whine, your hands twisting the blankets beneath you. “I know sweetheart, let go, be a good girl and give it to me,” he grunts out, and again, you feel white hot pleasure coursing through your veins, your vision blurring and mind growing fuzzy as you let go.

“Good girl, just a little more, just need you to hang on for a little more,” he both instructs and praises, pulling out just long enough to flip you to your stomach, pushing back into your heat just as quickly as he left it. You whimper loudly, fingers clutching desperately at the pillow your head rests on, Changbin bringing a hand around your body to lift your hips ever so slightly.

He was hitting your spot deliciously from this angle, the pleasure so great that tears once again pricked the corners of your eyes, threatening to fall with each gasp and whimper you released. You turn your head back as much as you can, delighted in the visage of Changbin’s head thrown back in pleasure, 

He always got rougher when he started to get close, his hands always tightening their grip, his thrusts, while growing less rhythmic, became harsher and faster, almost desperate, and it was always a treat to experience. You loved watching him lose himself to the pleasure, loved that it was you and your body that brought him there, loved how his grunts and moans transformed into higher pitched whimpers and whines. 

You bring your own fingers to your clit, wanting to let him enjoy and focus on his release since he already spent so much time on your pleasure. He leans forward, his chest pressed into your back, his hot breath hitting your ear, his whines and praises pouring directly into it.

“Fuck, sweetheart, feel so good, ‘m gonna- fuck, gonna fill you up,” he stammers out, and it sends a shiver down your spine, your stomach erupting in countless butterflies, driving you to speed up the motion of your fingers. 

You release again with a strangled cry, gushing around his length and on your fingers. Changbin follows closely behind, the feeling of you clenching and squeezing around him as you cum for the third time sending him over his peak. He releases in long, drawn out spurts, both of you breathless and exhausted when he collapses next to you.

You both know you should get cleaned up, but you’re both too tired to care, and he can always clean up his messes in the morning. For now, he just wants to stay close, here in front of the fire, with you. This very well could be your last night together, but he doesn’t want to believe it is. He wants to believe that the two of you can find a solution somehow, that after all the hardship, you’ll be smiling at him in the end.

There’s a part of you that doesn’t even want to fall asleep at all– you want to stay up all night, to not waste a single moment you have left, to stare and feel and love until the very last second, so that you’ll remember him clearly always. You do your best to not become teary eyed again, having promised yourself you wouldn’t spend your night with him wrapped up in your sorrow and dread.

But oh, how you wish there was more time, how you wish that your mother would understand you, that you could have just this one thing. But you suppose for a girl with immense responsibility, happiness is too much to ask for. You sacrifice your happiness so that others may have it instead– as noble an act as any, but you selfishly wish you could have both; the people’s happiness and your own. 

The idea of running away still leaves you torn, even after all this time. You don’t want to let anyone down.. but still, you have to ask yourself, is doing what’s right for your kingdom and future worth all this heartache? If it’s what is right, why does it make your heart feel as if it’s been shattered like glass? You’ve been told in life that the right thing to do is never the easiest, but you can’t imagine that in this case, walking away from either side is right. 

You want both. Is that truly so wrong? You want to be a ruler worthy of her name and title, and you want Changbin. Why must you choose one over the other? As far as you’re aware, even now, Changbin doesn’t know you’re the princess.

He’ll likely find out soon– every knight in the town will be floundering to find you come morning, once they realize you’re gone. You should slip away before then, lest your lover be met with undue scrutiny and unfair treatment from your mother and other nobles if you're found here. 

But looking at him now, even still.. you don’t want to leave. You’ll never want to leave. “Sweetheart,” Changbin calls softly, his hand reaching up to leave comforting, lingering touches to your head. “I can tell what you’re thinkin’. But don’t be sad yet, not ‘til we’ve said goodbye.”

You blink away the accumulating tears with a nod, swallowing down the lump in your throat the best you can and burying your face into Changbin’s welcoming body. You’re so, so tired, and you know he is too, but he’s trying his best for you. And he’s being the strong one despite how much his heart aches with yours.

He rubs your head, kisses your temple, tells you he loves you. Your heart breaks and mends all at once; how bittersweet this moment is.. If you’re lucky, you'll have about 7 hours until anyone realizes you’re gone. Maybe you can sleep for just a few, just enough to get some of this ache out of your body, and then you can spend the rest with Changbin. 

You’ll cry, you know, as soon as you depart back home. You’ll cry when the hole in the castle’s defenses is completely sealed. You’ll cry when you look to the fields his home sits on from the bedroom window. Still.. you do your best to uphold your promise to yourself, and now to Changbin.

You won’t cry, and you won’t be upset– not yet, anyways. Not until you’ve actually parted ways. For now, you’ll continue to lie in his arms, continue to express your love for him, continue to smile and laugh as if this isn’t the end, until morning comes and reminds you painfully that it is. 

How beautiful it was to love Seo Changbin, to learn and to grow and to really live with his help, patience, and care. How fondly you’ll miss him in every moment, how lovingly you’ll always hold his memory. Brief though your love together is, much shorter than it should have been, it has changed you for the better, and you’ll never regret it, even should your heart ache.

And maybe Changbin is right; maybe there is room for hope, and maybe you’ll see each other again much sooner than you allow yourself to think. But no matter what lies before you, there is one thing for certain; Changbin is and always be will your first love, forever be etched in your heart– your lover, your deepest connection, your closest confidant. And how grateful you are to have known him.

[devilbrakers]

tragic love archetypes

was tagged by @katsigian and @swanfey to take this quiz for my ocs! thank you both <3 i really liked this one

tagging: @numbaoneflaya @time-is-a-lake @envergothash @celticwoman @mrs-theirin @lucien-lachance @quickhacked @dameayliins @opaleyedprince @saratrantoul and anyone else who'd like to join!

03. CUPID'S BROTHER

You have been love adjacent all your life. The faint spill of another story that softly grazed your shoulders when stood too close. Whether by design or not, you have yet to build a clear image of what love means to you. The interlocked weaving of a picture locket bound to strand of hair when hugged to tight, the sunpatch that meets your soles in glaring sun dried fields when running with a friend. You are not far from love, but moving between line of collision and avoidance at all times. A faint glimmer on sea lake surface of what could be. There is time to find what you want, find whether it's enough as is. Love is in you, breathing in another day. Continue as you are, realizing the love that is slowly blossoming in your life as it sharpens and clears in brushstrokes

commentary: throws up and dies abt it. this fits them soooo perfectly, this whole quiz killed me. i probably yell abt it a lot but gray loves love and loves very deeply but avoided it for much of their life out of fear and every time they collided with it, it ended poorly until they met their current circle and with time, they've opened themself up to it more and more and started to heal after everything they've gone through :')

07. FATHER'S SON

Breathe down your own neck, it's the sound of smashing fist against furniture in another room again. The wringing hem of cloth and pattern of an escalating heart. Love is tumultuous to you. There is grief and disguised forgiveness to damp down the yearning. A permanent fear of tender flesh spilling out, still- you must refrain of growing attached to the fear you had installed into you. Let go of the notion that love is still to be cherished with a hole in the head. Scrub crimson ancestry off wooden floors and try again tomorrow when your hands don't shake cold from the blood loss. Love isn't a fist to escape. Fill the hole in your head with cotton and know you are to be adored. You are deserving of an embrace without flinching.

commentary: yeah. yeah. dmitri grew up in a neglectful household surrounded by only unhealthy, chaotic relationships and dynamics so it's all he knew for much of his life. so it's something he sought out for some time, finding a semblance of comfort it in despite not actually ever feeling safe. he's always had one foot out the door and found himself undeserving of any sort of gentleness or long-term commitment despite his arrogant, laid-back facade. genuine love scared him for a long time.

04. SUB ROSA

Love is a game of here and there to you. Whether catching glimpse of another's neckline or grazing a knuckle between knocking shoulders of passing by. You have learned to adore in secrecy, the rawness of an outright confession to be spoken a foreign terror. There is ease in pursuing the unavailable, to remain within the space of possibility and nestle the fuzzy words another could say to make or break your day. Instability spun itself into mysterium and while the certainty of love in aging isn't to be forced upon anyone, there is a miniscule part of you testing the limits of ambiguity. Hold down the feeling and settle in the leather seat of a car, kiss the corner of a mouth and say how you feel. Your affection in its vulnerability is to be seen, lift the veil and do not fret when an honest word turns into all you have secretly yearned for. You are meant to be noticed and openly loved.

commentary: venus had never truly been in love until johnny was forced into her brain. a certain level of fondness for some of her more entertaining flings that was kept safely hidden, sure, but never genuine love. she's never let anyone get close enough. she's flighty, selfish, and a compulsive liar with brick walls around her heart. she wasn't sure anyone could love her. there's always been a comfort in a lack of interpersonal stability until she met jackie and she found it wasn't so bad. of course, that was taken away from her but it set her on the right path and she began to love more openly and kindly, and wants that in return.

05. MOTHER'S DAUGHTER

Being her child was akin to a whispered apology, another wailing hug, another day you repent for complaining about the fact that she hasn't said anything nice to you. You bring her flowers and are met with the inconvenience of a vase that has to be found instead. You bake for her and feel the warmth of fresh cut bread fill the kitchen; but the dirty dishes remain. Even if you were to bring in the mail and lay down the knife next to your plate, she'll cradle another. Love is an endless apology to you. Averting eyes to desperate tears and sunken teeth in lower lip at the dinner table. Do not repent for who you are, as it is enough. Gather your courage to love again and reveal the honeydewed structure of a swelling heart once you feel safe to do so instead. Love isn't a confession booth of all you are not, settle down and unclasp your hands. You're all anyone could want already.

Commentary: results that make ur c.diff kill u instantly. "Love is an endless apology to you" and "you're all anyone could want already"... YEAH‼️. He's the sweetest but he's never been able to see that for himself. He finds it difficult to not see himself and his feelings as an inconvenience so he's always felt the need to apologize to those he loves for everything😔

[ask-healthy-light]

With the box of the boardgame disguised as a book in his claws, Spike quickly flew over to a nearby table to make room, as he wanted to make sure that not a single figurine got damaged or lost, while also delicately depositing the dusty Diamond Dog; and after he spent some time sorting and ordering the pieces and cards on the table, at the bottom of the book, he found the tattered language guide.

Carefully yet hastily flipping through the pages of the booklet did not yield any results, so Spike sat down next to a small desk lamp to read through the list of portmanteaus that were used far more frequently than most others, which included the Stoarders and Gobbers Shining mentioned; but who or whatever the Detonature was, it was not on the list, so he read through the Lord's Lectern of Laws.

Admittedly, 'Lectern' was somewhat of an exaggeration, as the few rules the game did have would all fit on just a couple of sheets of paper, and the majority of these were only meant for the being in charge of guiding the company through adventures of their own creation; but some of the advice that was given to every player was to think broadly, and not to focus on smaller details far in advance.

Not only would the unfolding story grow more dynamically by the hooves and claws of the players, it gave the Lord, the one most involved in the creation of quests that players had to set out on, more space and freedom to make things up on the fly; and some of the knowledge that the booklet gave for any being who wished to pick up the game was how to learn Porkish, the game's constructed language.

So few and such simple rules that granted endless amusement and creativity, apart from this moment, as the gears in Spike's tired mind were all turning to figure out the word that Shining had created seemingly out of nowhere; but unfortunately, his fatigue and increasing frustration towards himself and the word made him get up and walk around, to let everything he read to sink in, far more often.

Eventually, though, just as he gazed out of the window, a thought popped into his mind, and he flew out of the Upper Hall, past the Royal Archives, and headed back to his and Eclipse's room to find a quill and ink; and he made sure to not wake up Eclipse, as they could hear twice as well as others, except for when they were deeply focused on reading, as neither of their heads would hear anything.

To his relief, he swiftly found what he sought, whereafter he softly closed the door, and flew back upstairs, where he sat down at the table, and started writing down the names of every being he knew was with Shining; for he suddenly had a feeling that the warning he gave had to be about one of the others in his company, but written in secrecy once again, just in case someone tried to read along.

But as he wrote down the names, a chill briefly ran down his spine when he realised that he spent a lot of time with most of these beings, save for a few, and he tried not to think about the warning, as he feared what could have happened somebody he cared about, or himself, if the warning was true; and he took a deep breath to calm his mind, before he went down the list to see if he found a link.

However, many of the beings on the list were also the ones he doubted the warnings were about most, such as Ember, since he had personally known her for a long time already, but also Nox, Daughter of Princess Luna, and Light, her close friend; and Captain Inferno, the Dragoness who had joined them, was clearly honourable and respectable, so much so that Nox and Luna trusted her to accompany them.

Although this still left half of the list, Spike crossed off Shining's name right away, as he could not figure out why he would write a warning about himself, and the little Pup, who was no threat to anyone but himself; but he still felt stuck between Summer Typhoon, another Kirin, but who was able to control wind, and not fire, and Boom, with whom he spent a lot of time back in Ponyville Palace.

Only when Spike read the names next to the code did he put his claw to his face, and whisper:

"Oh no… How did I not see this before…?"

(Thanks for reading! And if you enjoyed, please reblog! Thanks in advance!)

Send an ask or request! | Start at the beginning! | Next part!

[3laxx]

A Fate Like This

It hadn’t taken long for the demon to be attracted to her emotions. Strong and dark, a true feast. In the early morning hours, they had slipped into her room, taken Luz’s form, with pointy witch ears, but it had been enough to fool Amity. It wasn’t like she had protested much, though. --- When their relationship hits an abrupt stop, Amity gives in to the dark side. It's just too unfair how tempting it can be.

Yeah, I literally just wanted to write a little Creepy!Luz and Villain!Amity. Kinda inspired by the "Say My Name" animatic on YouTube, by HiroyukiAnimation YT, I just really liked Amity's dynamic with turning evil and imagined Luz getting desperate about her girlfriend to pair them. So, I just decided to chuck out this Oneshot xD Enjoy!

Ao3 / FF.net

---

A sense of confidence immediately filled her.

Amity brushed through her hair and loosened her ponytail before the hairband fell to the floor. Her messy bangs fell into her face.

Maybe she shouldn’t have made a deal with the demon. After all, her parents had warned her about people wanting to profit off her position and wealth.

But their arguments had just been too alluring. They had promised her the confidence to stand up to them, to her bully friends, and to protect Luz. They had said she would finally step out of herself. Reach the potential she was meant to have.

The twins had always belittled her about their skills. How they had excelled at everything before her, better and faster and more impressive than her.

Her parents had always called her the black sheep of the family, behind her back, but she had heard the staff whisper. That she had been an accident, that the twins had been born lucky while she had been lucky that she was born.

She knew all the talk. That she had to study a lot just to be good at school. Her private tutoring to excel. That she was dumb and not worthy to be called a Blight.

It had all just gotten worse when Luz had arrived. Well at first, she had only embarrassed her, but then she had fallen in love with the human, the degenerate wannabe witch and somehow, the elite circles around her had found out.

The twins had looked cool for flirting with Luz, all the while keeping out of reach, but when Amity had started flailing around the human, and blushing, and spending time with her, she had only been downgraded more like a witch, as a person and as one of the Blight heirs.

Fallen in love with a human, such a klutz, too.

She heard that it had to be expected that she wouldn’t keep her head leveled, that she would fall in love like a fool and not keep her emotions at bay. That it served her right to be called a disappointment to her esteemed family.

It had started projecting onto Luz as well. She had been followed, threatened, and even beaten up, without ever being told a reason. Amity knew it was to put a dent into her facade. She was bad news and had tried telling Luz that, but the girl had ignored that and continued to be with Amity.

Even when she had patched Luz up in a dark classroom, softly dabbed the blood from her upper lip, and cried at how badly a beating Luz had taken. Luz wouldn’t back down and Amity knew immediately, that she would be too weak to be with her as well, just like with Willow.

That she would push her away to have her stop hurting. That she would give in to the bullies and the bad voice in her head. That she would give up on Luz just like she did on Willow.

Luz hadn’t let her.

That stupid, stupid human had just kissed her out of nowhere, in that dark classroom while outside, it had been pouring and thundering. Disregarded all the bruises she had received from the bullies and the cuts she had gotten from running away from them. She had just kissed her.

Amity had tried pushing her away but Luz hadn’t let her, instead chased her lips again and at that moment, she had been too weak to resist.

Too weak again.

Tears had flown down her cheeks and Luz had flinched back, asked if it had been her fault when she had felt the salty taste on her lips. Titan, she was so sweet and naïve.

Amity had pulled her back in and desperately pressed their lips together as if Luz had been her oxygen. Outside, it had been thundering, storming, the boiling rain hitting the protective shield around the school, and they had been alone in the classroom while Amity had gotten above Luz, pushed her to sit on her lap and hold onto her, hold so tightly because she had thought she’d lose her again.

For a while, it had gone well.

They had managed to keep their relationship a secret, only getting intimate when they were sure they could not be caught. It had caused them to long for each other, to go deeper each time, to crash their lips together whenever they got the chance.

Amity hadn’t ever anticipated such a fire burning inside Luz, especially with the secrecy surrounding them, but she had explained to her that she never would’ve expected a romantic relationship for herself and had longed for one ever since she had hit puberty.

Even when Luz got beaten up again, they stayed together. Amity patching her up, them assuring each other that they wouldn’t stop, just because some guys had it out for Luz. But Amity knew the truth. They were after her. Hurting her. Showing her that what she was doing was wrong.

Luz hadn’t wanted to hear a word. Every time Amity had tried explaining, Luz had just shut her up and let her hands wander under Amity’s shirt, successfully rendering her a mess. After a few times, the Latina had quickly perfected her technique, learning to be able to take Amity out of commission within a few seconds.

She didn’t exactly know how Luz did it, nor did she care. All she cared about was that Luz was strong enough to be with her.

Until their enemies had gotten stronger.

A picture of them kissing had leaked. The whole school had known within minutes. The whole of Bonesborough within an hour. Her parents had been at school almost immediately, to pick her up. The media had plucked the story apart and the picture had been posted all over social media by the evening.

Not that Amity would’ve gotten the chance to explain herself. Her parents had just locked her into her room, for further notice. And once again, Amity had gotten weak.

To play along, not to fall out of line, to go back into the shadow of her siblings, and to continue to attempt lying to herself, that she was the top student, the most skilled witch and worthy.

When Luz’s light glyph had hovered up to her window, she had been too weak to open it. Even when her twins had knocked on her door and begged her to go to Luz, to be strong enough to rebel, she hadn’t managed to. She was too weak, too caught up in herself, too scared.

Luz had been chased off the property again, and Amity’s heart had broken at her begging, screaming for her.

She had been too weak.

It hadn’t taken long for the demon to be attracted to her emotions. Strong and dark, a true feast.

In the early morning hours, they had slipped into her room, taken Luz’s form, with pointy witch ears, but it had been enough to fool Amity. It wasn’t like she had protested much, though.

The Luz-shaped demon had brushed up to her, voice thick and sweet like honey. They had sympathized with Amity, had whined how unfair it was for her to be born into such a cruel family, such a hopeless situation, and had offered her a deal. Amity had tried to block the demon, locking them out, but her emotions had been too delicious for the demon to ignore.

They had promised things to her.

The necessary confidence to stand up to her parents.

The amazing skills she had trained so hard for but only been able to use a speck of what she had dreamed of.

The power she had sought to have.

The power to herself from ill talking, from her status and her family.

The demon had changed their face, Luz’s face, added bruises and blood. Had tempted her, talked sweet, had promised her that she would never have to see Luz like this again.

She had been weak again.

Too weak to withstand the pressure.

Had shook hands with the demon.

Her back cracked when Amity straightened up, then she grinned. Her eyes changed color, got dyed darker. Until they were redder, darker, less like gold, and more like fire.

Suddenly, she stood taller. Her shoulders weren’t pulled up in self-doubt or hanging like she didn’t care. She kept them squared, asserting her newly established confidence. A grin played around her lips when the demon slipped into her mind and pushed away any doubts. All her emotions were gone in an instant. The demon had sucked them up like a festive meal and only left their control. Amity felt as confident as she had never before.

The smirk that had played around her lips before now turned into a smug grin.

She would no longer let her parents tell her what to do. She was of age and they would not force her to do their bidding anymore.

Her siblings could suck it. She felt the powerful magic surging through her body, enhanced by the demon who feasted on her emotions, and felt that she could do things they would not ever have dreamed of.

And she would teach everyone at school a lesson for beating Luz up.

As for Luz herself, she was better than that. She was a Blight. She only associated with a selected few, and she would not let herself be slowed down.

Rolling up her sleeves, Amity brushed through her hair and mustered herself in the mirror. Suddenly, she showed a whole other self of her and she began to like it. A more confident self, who wouldn’t let others walk around on her anymore. This was going to be fun.

 ---

It began with Amity walking out of her room despite being grounded. She had blasted the door out of its hinges and continued down the hall as if nothing had happened.

She wouldn’t care if her parents would tell her to go back into her room. The world was hers now. She wouldn’t let them torment her any further.

The twins busted out of their own doors, attracted by the explosion, ready to fight, but merely stopped at their little sister sauntering past them, leaving a smoking door behind her. They looked at each other and ran to the railing of the manor’s big staircase, watching Amity descend and march towards the door. Their parents closed the entrance off by standing in front of it and told her to go back upstairs, her ban hadn’t been lifted yet.

But the witch didn’t care. She grinned at them and snapped her fingers to encircle them in fire, so hot and high that their hair started getting singed.

“You can’t tell me what to do. Get out of my way or I burn you alive.”

The twins ran down the stairs, already readying water spells, but Amity merely snapped her fingers again, making the stairs tremble beneath their feet and finally collapse, to trap their feet and then wrap them into the carpet that had formerly covered the stairs.

Horrified at their daughter’s sudden change of behavior, Odalia and Alador Blight stepped away through the little way Amity had granted them in their ring of fire, followed by the flames when their daughter walked past them.

With a slam, the big entrance door opened and Amity walked through, releasing the spells with a wave of her hand. Coughing and spluttering, the twins fell to the stairs and heaved, and the Blight parents just stared at each other when the fire was distinguished.

Amity, on the other hand, never felt better. She wore the smirk on her lips confidently when she sauntered through Bonesborough while heads turned after her. Whispers emerged.

But she wouldn’t pay them any mind. They were not worthy to get a place within her head.

Soon, the people of Bonesborough changed their chatter to something more sinister, talking about her affair with the human, especially some colleagues of her parents, and she made short process of them. One who raised his voice too loud she simply engulfed in flames. It was just for a moment, enough to burn his skin and let everyone see, all the while never even stopping to walk.

From that second, the crowds parted for her and she didn’t even spare them a second glance. They were right to treat her like a queen and she wouldn’t accept anything less.

Arriving in school was no less amusing.

Word hadn’t spread yet that she had set a person on fire, but she was sure they’d see it soon enough. Smirking to herself, she held her chin high and walked past all of them. They gossiped and whispered among themselves, that she had been pulled from school the day before, for what had happened.

But Amity didn’t care. She would prove them today. She would never let them think less of her anymore. She was powerful and she was scary. They would learn to fear her.

Grinning and ignoring all of them, she sauntered past, her appearance entirely changed not by her outfit, but by her posture, by her aura.

Rounding a corner, she finally found the goal of her search. Luz was standing with Willow and Gus, holding her books close. Apparently, she had taken the day before quite hard, if the bags under her eyes were any indication for that. But Amity didn’t care. She’d show her what she really meant to her.

Luz noticed her first of the group and immediately dropped her books to approach her, not sensing the danger cursing through the hallway the closer Amity got.

“Amity, I was so worried, I thought-”, she began, but the witch merely lowered her head while lifting her shoulders and walking faster, never letting her eyes leave the human. As if she was getting ready to pounce on her prey, her fingers parting like claws.

Willow noticed first that something was going on with her, but her warning cry didn’t reach Luz in time.

In a second’s notice, Amity had roughly grabbed Luz’s jaw and pulled her into turning, before pushing her legs out from under her body and letting go, having Luz crash into the ground. Amity stood tall while eyeing Willow, enjoying her face changing to a shocked one.

Then she looked down to her former lover, chuckling while a ring of students gathered around them. Conjuring up an abomination hand from the ground, she lifted the human up to her, but never let her hover higher than Amity’s eyes. She stood over her. The hand wrapped around Luz’s body and she heard a satisfying crack. She hadn’t broken anything, but the grip was so tight, Luz was struggling to breathe.

“Come close to me one more time and I’ll make sure you don’t stand up again, got it, cutie?”, she sang but Luz’s face showed nothing but confusion. That disappointed Amity a little, after all, she wanted her to cower in fear. But Luz had never been the fearful kind.

“A-Amity-… What happened to you?”, she asked, pleading, and Amity brushed through her hair, chuckling at the stupid question.

“I grew a spine. Quit being stupid or I’ll break yours with ease.”, the grip around Luz tightened threateningly and she gulped.

“Amity…”

The witch leaned down to her with an insane grin, then she buried a hand in her hair and clenched a fist, making Luz yelp, before roughly pressing her lips on hers, before straightening up again and pushing her head back.

“What, don’t like it anymore? That’s just a shame.”, with a wave, the abominations hand dropped and Luz coughed, trying to get up, before Amity stepped closer and already lifted her hand, conjuring up a fireball, before Willow stepped in and stopped her with a vine, catching her wrist.

“What the hell happened to you, Amity?!”, she yelled, before kneeling to help Luz. The human accepted the helping hand and got back up to her feet while Amity easily let the vine disintegrate, before mustering her fingernails. “I woke up from a deep slumber. A deep slumber that lasted all my life.”, she explained and Willow squinted her eyes at her, before suddenly, a hesitation went through the students around them, before they stumbled back, staring at their phones. Smirking, Amity supposed they had found her fiery morning action.

One broke from the line.

“Yo, she’s crazy!”, he shouted and ran down the hall. Amity let him. That’d be fun.

By then, word had spread and voices got louder, while Luz kept staring at her. She was so confused and admittedly, a little scared. What had happened to Amity in the twelve hours that she hadn’t seen her?

Even Boscha seemed to hesitate at the power radiating from Amity, Luz noticed, her keeping away from her friend by a few meters, but Amity had finally spotted her.

“Ah, there you are.”, she growled and Boscha sank into herself, stepping back.

“W-What?!”, she tried but Amity just snapped her fingers and caused Boscha’s legs to be frozen to the floor while she approached her.

“You’re one of the many reasons I finally snapped. I wanna thank you!”, unsure, Boscha looked back to Willow and Luz somehow hoping they would help but they were just as clueless as her.

“What are you talking about?! You’re crazy.”, Boscha exclaimed while Amity grinned at her, before cupping her cheek. She did not like where this was going.

“Maybe I am crazy.”, Amity sang in an alluring voice, then she smiled at Boscha, “Hm… I will catch you later. But never forget that you were the one to lick my boots before turning on me, hm?”

She patted her cheek, then she turned and waved her hands, freeing Boscha’s boots before waving again. Suddenly, an abomination grabbed Boscha and threw her against the lockers, leaving her crumpled body on the floor and sinking back into the ground where it came from.

Shocked silence filled the hallway while Amity sauntered away, cackling to herself.

 ---

For the rest of the day, nobody dared to speak to Amity again. They didn’t exactly know why she was that way, but Willow had figured he had finally snapped under the pressure of her parents.

Over the day, the bruises she had given Luz started appearing in blue and purple colors on her jaw, just from gripping her.

Luz didn’t know how Amity had gotten that strong, but when she had looked into her eyes, she had immediately known something was wrong.

This wasn’t Amity.

Something must’ve happened, over the night, something else than her snapping.

Luz softly rubbed her shoulder, where she felt another bruise forming. Something had massively gone wrong. Something that had given Amity unimaginable power and confidence.

Luz doubted that had come from the witch herself, because as much as she loved her, Amity was unsure and always let her own head block her potential.

Cowering behind a corner, she saw Amity confronting some guys who had beaten Luz up a few days back. She caught them in vines and pulled their face close to her, before caving it in with an abomination fist. The students around her flinched back while the second bully tried freeing himself from ice pillars, but Amity was faster. She kicked his middle, then she conjured another abomination and beat him unconscious, before leaving.

Luz held a hand over her lips while Amity came her way and thankfully walked past her, seemingly not noticing her hiding behind a doorway.

She hadn’t once used a circle to do magic. Her magic came from somewhere else. Amity had done the movement, sure, but there had been no conjuring up with a circle. Luz had seen it.

Suddenly, the witch stopped and her ears twitched. Biting her tongue, Luz pressed herself tighter into the doorframe, but it was of no use. Amity stood next to her faster than she could scream. Pushing the human into the door, Luz recognized the classroom they had first kissed in.

“Amity, wh-whatever you wanna do-”, she began, but the witch merely drew her fist back, engulfed it with abomination goo, and punched. The rock-hard, enlarged fist connected with her chest and robbed her of all air. Luz felt her body flying through the air before hitting the blackboard at the front of the room, then she dazedly fell to the floor.

“You’re the human.”, Amity snarled, and Luz immediately felt reassured that Amity wasn’t herself at the moment, “You’re the degenerate who tricked me into thinking she was more than she was worth.”

Luz softly shook her head, then she conjured some vines to dodge Amity’s fist, breaking the abomination. Amity summoned a fireball and Luz finally got to her feet enough to roll out of the way before bringing an ice pillar between her and the witch, feeling the heat of the fire blasting around her shield and melting the ice.

“A-Amity, please-…”

But the witch wouldn’t listen.

Instead, she let an abomination rise up in front of Luz and throw a punch at her, but the human rolled out of the way just in time. Her ice pillar exploded in a thousand pieces when the abomination sunk into itself, only to resurface behind Luz and grab her.

Amity let it throw Luz across the room and a satisfied grin grew on her face when she crashed into some tables, breaking them. The human slapped a plant glyph on the ground and let some vines wrap around Amity’s feet, but she was faster.

With ease, the witchling burned the vines, before conjuring up a fireball to throw after Luz who jumped out of the way and hid beneath a table. A light glyph emerged from there, so big that Amity had to turn away, then he felt some hands grabbing her but she was too strong for Luz. The human was thrown past her when she turned, her hands losing the grip on Amity’s clothes, and crashed against the blackboard. Immediately, Amity followed suit and tried throwing a punch at her, but Luz ducked and the blackboard broke at the force of her fist connecting with it.

Groaning, mity held her hand, then she turned after the human who conjured some ice spikes to keep her on distance, but Amity merely drew another circle and et an abomination rise between them. The creature turned off its head and threw it after Luz who ducked again, the tables and chairs behind her getting crushed in the force.

“Amity, please! Stop!”

The witchling just grinned, another fireball appearing in her hand. “Not interested.”, she hissed, then she threw it after Luz and hit her back when she tried running, making her scream in pain. The human fall to the floor and could only just so roll out of the way when the headless abomination tried stepping on her head.

With quite some effort, Luz got back up again, creating a fireball herself to hit the abomination and make it disappear, before using another plant glyph to try and trap Amity, grabbing her wrists with the branches of a small but sturdy tree, but Amity merely broke free with demonic strength, taking a quick step and grabbing Luz’s hair to throw her to the ground and land a punch in her face. Screaming, Luz broke free and kicked Amity away, conjuring up an ice pillar to stand on so the witchling couldn’t get to her, before searching for another fire glyph. A kick from Amity let her ice pillar crack and she quickly jumped before Amity kicked it again, successfully letting it fall into itself while Luz rolled off the ground and came back up to her feet.

Growling, the girl turned back to her.

“Amity, you have to stop, please!”, Luz cried, but Amity just growled louder, screaming as she drew a big circle and conjured up spikes to trap Luz. She could just so escape them by protecting herself with a wall of vines, then she jumped out on top before Amity could reach her, letting another fireball appear in her hand to stop Amity’s steps as she threw it in front of the witchling, running to the other side. She grabbed after her and caught her uniform, pulling her close and making her stumble, then Luz just so dodged another fireball and freed her shirt from Amity’s grip, kicking against her legs to make her fall.

An abomination suddenly grabbed her from behind and Luz screamed again, feeling herself getting thrown. Thinking fast, she threw a glyph to make an ice slide, coming to her feet somewhat unscathed, before Amity lunged at her and punched her stomach, making the human sink to her knees, completely exhausted and glyph-less. Most of the room was trashed by now and she had nothing else to give She could only hope Amity would get close enough for one last resort.

She groaned when Amity lifted her up with an abomination hand, before using some vines to grab her face, thorns digging into Luz’s skin.

“You’re the dirt beneath my feet.”, Amity hissed and slapped her, before turning away, leaving Luz helpless in her prison.

“Amity, please, just listen to me for a second, please.”, she begged but the witch just cackled, “What happened to you?!”

“What happened to me?”, she asked and turned with a manic grin, “I got some welcome help. I got more powerful than my parents ever planned for me, more powerful than the twins could imagine. I’m the Blight I was meant to be now.”

Luz grimaced at the pain before Amity snapped and left the vines and abomination to disappear, allowing Luz to breathe again.

“It’s not you.”, Luz then stated, just getting to her knees again, brushing some blood off her lips with the back of her hand, growling. At that, Amity flinched, “This isn’t the Amity I know.”

The witch looked back to her and smirked, kneeling as well to grab Luz’s jaw once more.

“The Amity you knew was weak, Luz. I’ve replaced her now.”, she brushed over the corner of her mouth with her thumb, wiping away some blood, “And now, everything will be perfect for me.”

Luz wouldn’t accept this. Something bad had happened and she had to snap Amity out of it.

“If you won’t tell me what went down last night, I’ll be forced to do this.”

Furrowing her eyebrows, Amity finally let go of her jaw again and gave her an arrogant snort.

“What do you seriously want to do to me? You’re pathetic.”

Luz surged forward and caught Amity’s lips, grabbed her head tightly with one hand while her other flew to Amity’s waist, her fingers finding a way to her bare skin before cupping her waist with her palm and slipping upwards softly.

This had usually rendered Amity a blabbering mess in the past, so it should hopefully be enough to snap her out of this. The witch fought back, but not with the power she had possessed before. Luz pressed closer, pulled Amity’s middle to her, and kept her neck in a tight grip, nuzzling closer to her and kissing her lips desperately.

Amity’s fighting died down before something cold wiped over Luz’s face. The witch in her arms collapsed against her, her face falling against Luz’s shoulder. Her body went slack and Luz had to bring up all her strength to catch Amity, roll her off slowly and bring her to a halt on the floor.

The witch was out cold, not necessarily something Luz had planned for, but it was a good sign Amity hadn’t been able to withstand her.

Instead, Luz was facing herself.

The pointy ears and the smug grin on her face were the only things differing from Luz’s appearance, the bruises as well but Luz didn’t count them. Furrowing her eyebrows, she remembered King’s lesson about demons.

There were emotion-sucking beasts, out there to make deadly deals with desperate people. Amity must’ve fallen for a demon like that, and made a deal to exchange her emotions for power. Luz felt a chill running down her spine when the demon laughed.

“Are you surprised?”, they asked smugly while sauntering around Luz and the unconscious Amity, circling them.

“Not that much…”, Luz replied, keeping close to Amity, “But you lost. Now scram.”

The demon merely cackled and gestured to its former vessel on the floor, smirking.

“I haven’t had my payment yet.”

Luz growled, cupping Amity’s cheek.

“You won’t get her back. You better leave or I’ll kick your ass, you understand?”, she tried lashing out but the demon merely let her hand wipe through their appearance and laughed.

“I don’t want her back.”, they cackled, then they focused back on Luz, kneeling and cupping Amity’s other cheek. Luz clenched her teeth at that, “I just want a vessel, not necessarily hers.”

She knew what the demon was playing at. Exchange her for Amity.

Normally, she would’ve taken this deal immediately, out of sheer panic for Amity’s wellbeing. Hell, she would’ve taken it now, if there wasn’t some little problem with that.

“I said leave.”, Luz gritted her teeth, clenching her fist when she glared at the demon, “You used Amity to bring so much pain. I won’t let you do that again, not with her, not with me, not with anybody.”

The demon was almost impressed at that but didn’t back down.

“I could make you powerful, Luz… I could give you native magic. I could make you create a portal to the human realm, see your mother again.”

Luz gulped but merely lowered her gaze.

“I don’t want your empty promises.”, she growled, then she slowly reached for the emergency light glyph she always kept on her person. It wasn’t that useful in a fight, but to scare off a demon, it might just work.

“But Luz, my promises aren’t empty.”, changing forms, the demon now took Amity’s face and stood up, “You could be with Amity. I could help you stand up to her parents and your bullies. I could make you so powerful to mess with them all.”

But she wouldn’t back down.

Luz huffed, then she got up.

“I said LEAVE!!”, she screamed, before pulling the light glyph and conjuring it in the demon’s face to blind them, before getting up in their face, “Or I’ll annihilate you because the Owl Lady is my mentor and she taught me to kick demon ass.”

She was just bluffing, after all, Eda hadn’t exactly taught her how to defeat possessive demons, but they apparently understood. They squinted their eyes at first, but when Luz didn’t back down, they huffed.

“You’re too much effort.”, they growled before leaving in a puff of smoke. Contently, Luz leaned back and smiled to herself. These demons feed off of self-doubt and if Luz didn’t give an opening, they’d give up soon enough. After all, there were weaker targets to go after.

Behind her, Amity groaned and Luz turned, seeing her girlfriend sitting up in the trashed classroom before looking around, her eyes widening.

“… Luz?”

The human kneeled down and softly brushed over Amity’s cheek, smiling.

“Hey, are you okay? Sorry for using that on you.”

Looking around, Amity took in the mess, her eyes asking if they had really done that, but another few things burned on her heart first before she could ask.

“… I-I-… I’m so, so sorry, Luz… I didn’t mean to hurt you, or anyone for that matter! I didn’t know what came over me, suddenly there was so much power and-”

Luz sat down and pulled her closer, sighing against her shoulder.

“It’s okay. We understand. Please don’t feel guilty, you were taken advantage of.”

Amity slowly began sobbing, before full-on wailing into Luz’s shoulder, while the human held her close. She would always be right there to catch Amity, and she would never judge her for something like this. The demon had found her in her weakest moment and hit a sore spot. It hadn’t been her fault.

“I-I hurt s-s-o many pe-eople-”, she cried but Luz shook her head and rubbed over her back.

“We’ll fix this. It’s okay, Amity, we’ll make sure they understand.”, the witch leaned against her and continued crying until there were no more tears left. Luz parted softly and brushed over her cheek, “I’m just glad you’re okay… I really wouldn’t have liked to lose you to a possessive demon.”

Amity groaned, then she tried hiding her face, but instead, Luz nudged her nose and softly kissed her.

“I’m so sorry…”, Amity whispered and Luz smiled.

“I know. That’s a start, okay?”

She nodded before falling back against Luz and keeping her close, sighing into Luz’s shoulder and wrapping her arms around her girlfriend.

“Th-Thank you for staying… A few hours more and the demon would’ve devoured me.”

Luz nodded and weaved her fingers through Amity’s hair, holding her close, making her feel as protected as she could.

“I wouldn’t ever leave you to a fate like this, Amity.”

---

Let me know if you liked it! It's kinda short, I know, but I won't write more for it, it was just to relieve my headcanon x)

[clair-void-ance]

If Only She Knew

Pairing: Cedric the Sorcerer X Wormwood! Reader

Word Count: Roughly 1,516 words

Warnings: None; just yearning and fluff

Notes: Gif, photo, poem, and characters are not mine; only the story is mine! The poem is “If only She Knew” by Kiara Wilson and, honestly, I think it fit pretty well for the story :) The idea was one I found on @merlins-mushrooms​ blog that focused on the reader being Cedric’s familiar instead of Wormwood and them being able to switch between their animal and human form. I had a little bit of time and wanted to write, so I decided why not? It seems more like headcanons than a story but what can you do lmao. Hope you guys enjoy, feedback is always appreciated!

Growing up as an animal-based shape shifter, life had been both difficult and easy going for you. The magical gift you had to change into any animal at will provided you with opportunities and freedom not many people ever got to possess. Especially when it came to sneaking around and getting away with things

What made it difficult though, is that you had immense difficulty finding a job that suited you. Although you had attended Hexley Hall to learn to control and gain your magical abilities, it ended up being something you just didn't want the responsibility of doing.  

Something that you did like about attending there though, was someone who had grown to be quite dear to you over the years: Cedric.

Cedric and you had started off pretty rocky, given you different backgrounds and his stifling parents, but you eventually learned to create a happy medium. After the whole fiasco with his older sister and his falling out with Roland, Cedric ended up not having many people to fully rely on. In fact, he had no one to rely on. That is, until he met you.

You two would work on spells together, duel against each other, rant about your problems to one another, and even began providing physical affection to each other. One form of which, was when you would shift into a stark black cat and curl up in his arms underneath you guys’ favorite tree outside the school grounds.

For Cedric though, his favorite form for you was the raven you would transform into when wanting some alone time or freedom. After all, one of the few things that you adored above all things was your independence. He thought you looked adorable and, after an embarrassing incident that you have sworn him into secrecy about, he dubbed your new nickname “Wormwood.”

When you both began to creep closer to your graduation date though, your time together became thinner and more tense. When your studies started to wrap up, it became clear that you both had to pick your career soon. To Cedric, that choice was easy. His father had been Roland I’s Royal Sorcerer, and it was only natural that he took his place when the king retired. For you though, choosing a career that would define the rest if your life caused you so much stress that even Greylock had noticed. Which said a lot lmao But, like always, Cedric was there to ease your troubles. Since you both wanted to stay together, but there was no need for a second royal sorcerer, Cedric offered the idea that you become his familiar. 

Which…..wasn't actually a bad idea. In fact, it offered every bit of freedom, fun, and intellectual interest that you had desired in a would-be dream job. 

After crushing Cedric in a bone shattering hug, you quickly made your way to the school’s office and began the preparation of registering as a familiar. lmao, we’re just gonna act like it works that way cause I have no idea what else to do

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

Moving to the castle had been an easier transition than you had anticipated, but you assumed that was more your doing than Cedric’s given the fact that people seemed to greet him with more suspicion than warmth. 

An unexpected advancement though, was when you were told that you both had to share sleeping quarters. Not that it really mattered that much; you and Cedric had slept near each other before when bunking and traveling at Hexley Hall, and this time would be no different. 

At least....to you it would. The fact that you had grown up to be rather beautiful made you sleeping in the same quarters rather awkward for Cedric. And though he could hide his affection relatively well, he still slipped up here and there and was caught throwing you yearning glances throughout the day. 

(Cedric was just glad that you had separate beds, cause he knew he wouldn’t be able to handle it if you slept less than ten feet away from him.)

Dynamic wise, you both worked together with so much ease it seemed as though you shared a collective mind. Which, in a way, you did. The only downside to knowing each other so well though, was the fact that you were adopting one another’s personality traits. Cedric, of course, had little downsides, but you were finding yourself becoming a tad more awkward then you remember originally being. But that just made you even more cuter in Cedric’s eyes. Which didn’t help his repressed love for you that he had harbored for the last fifteenish years he had known you.

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

It wasn't until Sofia joined the castle and started to warm up to Cedric that he let it slip that he had the most embarrassing crush on you though. Sofia, of course, thought that this was the most adorable thing in the whole world and made it her life’s mission to help you both get together before it was too late. 

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

After sending you away on ‘work-related’ jobs, Cedric and Sofia began to brainstorm the best possible ways to reveal his feelings and have them reciprocated. This ended with Cedric bringing up the idea of doing it through one of your more favorable interests: Poetry.

When you guys were still young and spent most of your time underneath the great Elm tree at Hexley Hall, you two had jokingly picked up the hobby of writing mushy and cringe inducing poetry. Which meant that his admission of feelings would be even more meaningful and heartfelt. That would definitely aid him in his and Sofia’s plans.

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

While he began writing his love poem to you, Sofia began to set up the location in which he would proclaim his love. With the help of a few animal companions, Sofia had successfully set up a romantic setting in a secluded area of the palace gardens when she saw Cedric leading you down the pathway towards a singular bench.

You were wearing a deep purple pantsuit and, for a minute, Sofia realized that you complemented eachother surprisingly well.

After quickly hiding behind a bush, she got as close as she could without being found.

Grasping both of your hands in his as he stood in front of your seated form, Cedric began the start of confession speech.

“(y/n), to say that you’ve had a tremendous impact on my life would be a tragically large misconception. Unlike everyone else in my life, you have stuck in my corner through thick and thin and have remained, through it all, my closest companion and friend.”

At this point, he began to nervously shift around and cast his eyes down to his polished black shoes. 

“The thing is though, that my feelings as of late have changed. And, to help convey them….I sort of….w-wrote you a poem.”

You let out a snort to this, but looked at him tenderly as if to say “continue.”

Coughing into his fist, Cedric pointed his chin upwards as he sat to face you and started to recite his hastily written poem.

“She has her own special way

Of turning around my terrible day.

She makes all the bad things go away

The second that she says hey.

And when I look into her eyes,

I see pure beauty with no disguise.

Just a glance at her makes my heartbeat rise.

I know for a fact that these feelings aren't lies.

If only she knew

How much my love for her grew,

Maybe, just maybe, we could start something new,

And then I'd never feel blue.

And if beauty were inches, she'd go on for miles.

I'd better catch her before I go out of style.

I'm going to let my heart be my dial

So I can tell her what I've been feeling for a while.”

After finishing, Cedric nervously looked up at you to see what reaction you would show to what he had just revealed. Gazing at your eyes, he finally noticed the rim of tears that surrounded the lower part of your eyes and began to panic.

“Oh no, was that too much? Did...did I just ruin everything? Merlin’s Mushrooms! This always happens,” his tender look deflated into one of distress  as he put his head in his hands and quickly turned away from you. It wasn’t until he heard what, at first, sounded like crying that he hesitantly gazed up at you. Analyzing your facial features, he noticed that your face was not scrunched up in disgust, but rather into one of joy and laughter. You let out an airy giggle and reached to cradle his cheeks in your palms. 

“Oh Ceddy, that was the mushiest and most cringe inducing poem you’ve written yet,” you said with a smile.

“I’m just glad that this one is about me.”

“Does that mea-” 

It was at that point that you connected both of your lips and started to slowly initiate a deep and affectionate kiss. Sofia could be heard squealing behind one of the bushes across from you guys’ bench and that only made you giggle softly against Cedric’s slightly chapped lips. Which made the bumbling sorcerer swoon and lightly bring you into a hug,

Needless to say, that situation led to you both getting real familiar with each other. Only, this time, it lead to one of the most fulfilling chapters of both of your lives.

[silknights]

have you seen JINNY HUANG ? i heard SHE is a OWNER at ATLANTIS. they’re 25 years old and they’ve been living in san verto for 5 YEARS. they tend to be MAGNANIMOUS & PERCEPTIVE, but rumor has it they can also be CAPRICIOUS & RETICENT. 

｡*    ❪       📂   𝐂://statistics.

name: jinny huang

age: twenty - five 

sign: capricorn sun / aquarius moon ( click ) 

sexuality: bisexual 

gender: cis woman ( she/her/hers )

occupation: owner of atlantis 

｡*    ❪       📂   𝐂://biography.

📍   PART 1 - a burning memory  

jinny’s parents had a rocky dynamic. they learned the hard way that a baby doesn’t , in fact , fix a broken relationship. her father left when jinny was merely 2 years old , leaving his recently turned 21 y/o girlfriend to fend for herself as he decided fatherhood wasn’t for him 

with nowhere left to run , her mother moved back in with her parents in brooklyn & introduced them to their granddaughter. while her mother had done everything to escape that place , jinny recalls enjoying growing up there. she found comfort in the city & all it had to offer 

when jinny turned 6 years old , however , her mother left as well. she had a desire to travel & discover the world. unfortunately enough a child didn’t fit that picture. in the following years jinny’s grandparents took her under her wing , taking care of her as if she was their own child 

despite struggling with the thoughts of feeling abandoned in the years to follow , jinny’s childhood wasn’t too eventful. she never stood out , really , having a few good friends at school , receiving mediocre grades , & being comfortable staying on the sidelines in order to observe those around her 

when she turned 18 years old , she decided it was time to leave. at that point her grandparents love had become suffocating , & as they’d gotten older she couldn’t help but feel she was a burden to them. jinny developed a strong longing for freedom ; to finally break free from the mold she created for herself & follow her dreams. she knew it was time to spread her wings 

jinny realized , as she snuck out of the house at 3am with nothing more than a small backpack & a couple of 50 dollar bills , that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree 

📍   PART 2 - San Verto

with no destination in mind , jinny ended up taking the first bus to san verto. she recalled from old childhood stories that it was the place her parents met & had fallen in love. hoping to find a purpose ( or at least some sense of identity ) there , thinking she would only stay there for a week max 

life isn’t too kind to a barely legal teenager in a foreign city , meaning her money got stolen on her second day of traveling </3 KFJDKSDKFGFLDSQ 😭 when she arrived to the town she’d been desperate to find a job & somewhere to stay 

aka thats where the previous owner of atlantis steps in <33 

they took jinny in & allowed her to work as a bartender , & jinny basically never left !! over the years she received more & more responsibilities at the bar until the previous owner decided to retire , leaving the place to her <33

over the years she learned to adapt to the town , & although she never expected san verto to become a home to her , she’s really happy she stayed !! 

｡*    ❪       📂   𝐂://personality.

click here for more insight !! 

jinny is overall a kind person , & she’s likable bc she tends to mind her own business <33 

she’s the type to listen to your muse rant while they’re drunk on a saturday morning & then just keeps it to herself kJDFDKSDKFDLQm 

it takes awhile for her to open up though !! a woman of little words <33

she doesn’t talk about her own emotions either 😭 

with the mommy & daddy issues i do feel like one of her biggest fear is people leaving her </3 aka it’s easier to keep people at a safe distance than be disappointment when they eventually leave her behind </3 she internalizes a lot of that pain , though , she’s not the type to project it onto others !! 

is generally familiar with a lot of people ?? she's good at remembering faces so if your muse visited atlantis she’ll probably recognize them !! 🥺 

jinny is just trying to live her best life honestly lQKFJKDLSKGFLDSMQ

｡*    ❪       📂   𝐂://plots.

💌   ROMANTIC   (   open to m/f/nb muses !   )

current flings 

will they / wont they 

friends with benefits ( one-sided, purely platonic, etc... ) 

unrequited love type of thing ( either jinny or your muse ) 

fake dating au 

exes on bed terms 

exes on good terms 

enemies to friends (?) to lovers (to exes???) we can do whatever we want here >:) 

one of them caught feelings (thinking they had something special) & then the other suddenly ghosted, perhaps leaving behind a bruised ego </3

one night stand / drunken hookups (they could both pretend it never happened) 

💌   PLATONIC   (   open to m/f/nb muses !   )

besties 

good influence 

bad influence 

protective type of friends 

confidants 

secret type of friendship where being seen together in public would somehow damage their reputation, aka them meeting up in private !! 

were set up on a blind date together, hit it off in a platonic way & now they’re really good friends <33

only hang out bc of a mutual friend 

💌   MISC   (   open to m/f/nb muses !   )

general dislike for each other, they don’t vibe </3

atlantis coworkers <33

rivalry type of connections ?? 

have a shared secret where both of them are/were involved in a specific situation & promised secrecy to one another 

( @foolsstarters​​ )

[soybeantree]

pairing: baseball!johnny x reader  genre/rating: fluff. word count: 1.6k    description: you can’t blame a guy for trying. or for paying the game so, so well. 

Baseball has dominated your family’s life ever since your brother first picked up a glove when he was four. Each summer your family would travel around for tournaments. While your classmates shared tales of their vacations, you shared your brother’s average pitch count. During the school year, Jaehyun had his lessons and camps. You spent many nights doing your homework to the melody of shoes shuffling during sprints and the hard crack of leather on leather.

However, your family’s obsession came with certain benefits. The chief one during your early years being your brother’s teammates. A steady stream of young, attractive, and fit guys parade through your life. Your soul crushing insecurities kept you from taking full advantage of this benefit, but they were nice to look at.

During your later years, you appreciated the benefit of having your parents so far up Jaehyun’s ass that they left you in peace. While your friends had their parents dictating their lives and forcing them into every after-school program imaginable, you had the freedom to go and do as you please. As long as you kept your activities under the radar everything was in the realm of possibility. Even when the time came to choose your college, your choice was made without parental pressure.

College offers a reprieve from the constant onslaught of baseball, especially as your university failed to appear on the list of approved universities your parents compiled for Jaehyun. You easily adjust to a life without baseball at the center until you get a phone call from your mother.

“Jaehyun will be playing a series at your university.” Your mother informs you during your monthly call. She beams with the news. The series is scheduled for the end of next month, and she has already booked a hotel room for her and your father. While never explicitly said, the implication remains that she expects your presence. When you politely inform her that your life no longer revolves around your brother’s baseball schedule. She brushes off the remark and bulldozes ahead. While your life does no longer revolve around your brother’s baseball schedule, you are free the weekend of his series, and it has been a while since you have seen your family.

However, baking beneath the midday sun while the metal bleachers burn your thighs makes you wonder how important family time really is. Your mother screams beside you when the commentator announces your brother’s name. You sigh. Somethings never change, but before you drone her out, your attention catches on the next player.

“Johnny’s on Jaehyun’s team?” You ask your mom as she finally settles back into her seat.

“Yes, dear didn’t I tell you?” She beams at you. Of all the things your mother has deemed necessary to tell you about your brother’s college career, the one thing that you would have deemed necessary is the one thing she left out. “I was so happy when I found out. The Dynamic Duo back together again.” She goes on, but now you do drone her out, as your attention shifts completely to Johnny.

Jaehyun first picked up a glove when he was four, but when he was five, he joined his first little league team and met Johnny. From then on, they had been inseparable. They refused to play on a team without the other, and their chemistry as a pitcher and catcher had bloomed until everyone called them the Dynamic Duo. Their future shone before them until Johnny moved right before high school. The memory is a sour one for everyone in your family for different reasons.

For you, Johnny been a constant fixture in your house growing up. Many mornings, you would walk into the kitchen to find him sitting at the breakfast table. He would greet you with a smile and ask about school and how you were getting along.

Talking with him was easier than talking with Jaehyun. It helped that he was in the same year as you while Jaehyun was a year younger. You ended up confiding in Johnny about things you would never share with your family. You swore him to secrecy, and as far as you know, he never shared your secrets. However, on one occasion, you found him waiting for your outside your school. He insisted on walking you home. After that day, the bullies who had bothered all year long stopped. Johnny had been your fist crush, and watching him now those feelings rise along with others.

Your brother’s team wins the game. How could they not when they have the Dynamic Duo, your mom comments several times. You nod along as you follow her and your father to the opposing team’s dugout to wait for your brother. Your parents plan to have a family dinner, and your heart races as you wonder if that includes Johnny.

Jaehyun walks out of the dugout and grins at you. “How’d I do?”

“You played like shit. I’m kind of embarrassed to call you my brother.” You grimace. “I going to go back to my dorm and pretend I don’t know you.”

“Really?” Jaehyun raises a brow as mischief glitters in his eyes. You dart back but are too slow. Jaehyun’s arm warps around your neck pulling you into a head-lock hug. “Why would you say such a hurtful thing?”

Coughing from his stench, you smack at his arm. “Let me go. You smell like shit.”

“Y/N, is that you really you cussing?”

Jaehyun turns you to face Johnny, and your arms go limp at your side. If Jaehyun squeezed a little tighter, you could pass out, but your brother releases you. Staggering back, you clear your throat and attempt nonchalance. “I am a grown ass adult. I can cuss if I want to.”

“Y/N!” Your mother’s scolding heats your cheeks. For half a second, you had forgotten she was here. “Hello, Johnny.” She pulls him into a hug as you attempt to disappear into the crack on the sidewalk. Once greetings have been completed, you head out to dinner with Johnny in tow.

The restaurant you had suggested is within walking distance of campus. Jaehyun walks ahead with your parents talking with them about his classes and his training. Johnny stays back matching his pace to yours. “How have you been?”

“Good.” You pause at a loss for anything to add. “And you?” You offer.

“Good.”

“I remember you as chattier than this.” You quip back as you twist the hem of your shirt.

“Me?” He scoffs through a smile. “You talked non-stop.”

“Wow,” you shake your head. “And here I thought you were a sympathetic ear. The truth comes out now.”

“I was always happy to listen.” He pauses before asking, “How was high school?”

After your struggles in middle school, Johnny had mentioned that he was planning to go to the same high school as you. Then he moved. “It was alright.” You release the hem and smooth the shirt down your waist. “I made friends who made it good. What about you?” You glance up at him.

“We moved around a lot. I ended up going to three different high schools. I’m grateful for my select team; otherwise, I don’t think I would have been scouted.”

“Your parent’s moved you around that much in high school?”

“My dad’s job required it.” He shrugs.

A snort slips out as you shake your head. “My mom would have waved my dad goodbye and told him to live on his own rather than move Jaehyun during high school.”

Johnny chuckles, the sound as familiar as a childhood toy and just as comforting. “I believe that.”

You grow quiet as you approach the restaurant. When Johnny first told you that he was moving, you had retreated into yourself. Any effort he made to pull you out of your shell had resulted in scathing words or bitter silence. So he stopped. If you could go back in time and slap your younger self, you would.

Dinner is loud and full of raucous laughter. Johnny recounts ridiculous stories from his high school years and even brings up secret antics from his and Jaehyun’s past. Had your parents known about them at the time, you would have become an only child. But now, they roll their eyes and shake their heads. The meal comes to an end too quickly.

Your parents insist on walking Jaehyun and Johnny back to their hotel, and you accompany them. As they say goodbye to Jaehyun, you stand awkwardly beside Johnny.

“I’m glad you and Jaehyun ended up on the same team again. It’s good to know the Dynamic Duo is back together again.”

Johnny laughs a full bellied thing which crinkles his eyes. “I forgot about that. Please don’t say that too loud. I don’t want our teammates finding out about it. We’ll never head the end of it.”

“Good to know.” You muse, tapping your finger against your lips. “Might need to keep that card in my back pocket.” He shakes his head. “Well, it looks like my mom is finishing up on her list of instructions for Jaehyun, so it’s my turn to say goodbye.” You give an awkward bob before heading over to your brother, but Johnny’s hand on your wrist brings you stuttering to a halt.

His hand releases you and goes to the back of his head where it ruffles his hair. “I was wondering if I could get your new number, so we could continue to catch up.”

“Yes,” you squeak. Clearing your throat, you repeat “yes” and hold out your hand. He places his phone in yours, and you quickly add your number and hand it back. “Text me whenever.” You hope the words sound flippant but doubt they do. Your heart is racing, and the heat flushing across your body has nothing to do with the approaching summer.

[lunariumarcs]

Espionage AU

Basically: Light Spinner becomes Shadow Weaver through the use of the Obtainment spell but she doesn’t eat ppl and she certainly didn’t defect to the Horde. Instead, she used her new found aesthetic (and powers, i guess) to blend in as a double agent for Mystacor.

The beginning:

In preparation for her coronation, as she ascended to the ultimate title of Supreme Sorceress, she would learn of Mystacor’s best kept secrets. Supreme Sorcerer Norwyn, current ruler of Mystacor, lead his successor to a vault, hidden in the courtyard of the Academy. Castaspella was ecstatic, of course, however, she was worried about one thing.

“Shouldn’t we be patrolling the borders? This is the last night before the new moon cycle - the shields are at their weakest!”

“Worry not, Castaspella, there are other guild members paroling tonight.”

“But we’re the strongest ones!”

“And Mystacor will be fine. Besides, tonight is the only night I can introduce you to Mystacor’s final and deadliest weapon.”

“Weapon? But you said yourself that Mystacor was fine behind the shields - that we didn’t need to fight! You’ll waste the talents of the great wizards in this city yet you go against your own words and build a weapon?”

Norwyn sighed and drew a casting circle into the grass, “If it makes you feel any better, its not a weapon. In fact, the weapon is a she and she has a name for herself. Stand back, now.”

The grass faded to reveal a large, metal door that heaved itself upwards. Beneath the door lay a long set of stairs. Norwyn descended without another word. Casta followed him into the darkness. The door fell back into place silently and Norwyn lit a light spell to guide them down the rest of the way.

One long corridor and several doors later, they entered an underground chamber. The shadows swallowed the feeble light spell in Norwyn’s hand, draping the sorcerers in darkness. Several instruments, unseen, played a gentle ambiance into the room. From their acoustics, the chambers sounded to have high ceilings and widespread walls. This weapon lady clearly had status if her rooms were so big.

“We don’t have much time.” Norwyn barked into the darkness, “Turn on the lights.”

“You brought me a friend, Norwyn?” A deep, smokey voice answered. She spoke from right in front of Casta and the young sorceress barely contained a yelp at the sound of it. Her eyes strained themselves as they searched for even the tiniest pinprick of detail.

“No. This is Castaspella. Effect as of the next moon cycle, she will be the Supreme Sorceress of Mystacor.”

“Castaspella... as in sister to Micah? Now you have my attention.”

Lanterns illuminated themselves around the circumference of the room. Casta had to squint against their brightness after staring so wide into the darkness. The lady stood a respectable distance away, too far for her voice to have sounded so close. She wore asymmetrical red robes that tattered at the hems. A large hood concealed the top half of her face. A beauty spot made a home near pretty lips that eloquently framed a pair of gleaming fangs.

“Castaspella, you are looking at Shadow Weaver, once known as Light Spinner, a great sorceress honored in the Academy’s halls.”

“Pleasure.” She said.

“But... she died! Everyone knows she did - how is she here?” Casta had heard the tale from Micah, who had been there. The Obtainment spell had been cast and the demons consumed her to death.

“Obviously, you were lied to.” Shadow Weaver said.

“We had witnesses complete a binding spell so that they would be sworn to secrecy about the event. Shadow Weaver works now as a double agent, doing dangerous work that none of us can. We fabricated her death to minimize her chances of getting compromised.”

“i see.” Casta put away her feelings of betrayal to be examined later.

“If we’re all finished here, I’d like to sleep while I still have the comfort of luxury. Hordak believes that the height of comfort is a thin mattress and canvass sheets.“

“Not quite, Agent. You must show Castaspella your face, so she knows how to identify you.”

Shadow Weaver sighed and pulled away the hood. An old scar ran across her forehead and through her left eye. The pupil never moved in its socket, unlike its partner leaving Casta to believe that it might be glass. She had her hair pinned in a low bun to the side of her head.

“If I can be honest for a moment - you look a lot more - hmm - distinguished than the legends say.” Casta said.

“Really?” The Agent feigned ignorance.

“Uh... yes.” Casta hesitated, sensing her mistake.

“They described you as a wretched beast, fit only to dwell in the deepest crevasses of this world. If there is a Hell, you’d surely find a home there.” Norwyn interjected for his pupil.

“Norwyn,” Casta protested, startled at his mannerism.

“Hush, Castaspella. She is indeed what the legends say. You must be firm with her, if you want to properly establish your dynamic as Supreme Sorceress. She is a being of pure, dark magics. Not even she can fully control herself.”

“But she doesn’t even bare the deamonscars!”

“My child, look at her. She is lying to you. Before she wove shadows, she spun illusions of light. She wares one now, as a mask. Show her, Shadow Weaver. Show her your second face - the real one.”

“I don’t see how that is necessary.” The agent replied coldly.

“Show her so she can identify you. Deamonscars are like fingerprints - unique to the individual. You are the only one who could look like you - not even a shape-shifter could copy your exact markings.”

Casta watched uncomfortable as the illusion fell away. Gnargled scars marred her face and intersected several times. Two large spots of scar tissue replaced the skin around her eyes and a chunk was missing from her upper lip. Her left eye moved, no longer glass. Before, she looked distinguished in her age. Now, she looked haggard and dangerous. She scowled at Norwyn and a dark power festered within her.

“Identify her, Castaspella. And do it properly this time.”

“Yes, Supreme Sorcerer Norwyn.” Casta affirmed quietly. She drew up a blank identification spell and projected it at the agent.

“How would you like to be identified?” Casta asked.

“Agent Shadow Weaver, faithful to the Sorcerer’s Guild of Mystacor.”

“You have been identified, agent Shadow Weaver, faithful to the Sorcerer’s Guild of Mystacor. Do you have any aliases?”

“Light Spinner, great one of the Sorcerer’s Guild.”

“Noted. Please imprint for our agent.”

The spell scanned a map of Shadow Weaver’s skin and placed it in Castaspella’s long term memory.

“Good. I’m sure you two will do just fine. Casta, with me. We should check on the shield patrols.” He turned and headed back out.

“I’m sorry.” Casta said, after he left.

Shadow Weaver’s laughter came out sharp and wrong, “Are you? What for?”

“For Norwyn’s impotency. Things will be different after the next moon cycle.”

“And what do you plan to do in such a short time?”

“Well,” She said with a grin, “to start we might get you some windows. I’m sure you’d love a nice view on your day off.”

Shadow Weaver finally smiled, “I might like that, yes.”

[aileenjasperprince]

Trans Man Snape

It’s definitely a personal bias why I like this headcanon, but I think there are a lot of great points in the text that it adds a depth of character that there wouldn’t otherwise be.

I like to start out with young Severus wearing female clothes that don’t fit him. It makes a lot more sense that he was given his mother’s clothes if he was AFAB, even if he was presenting himself as a boy to muggles. It also makes Petunia’s comment about the “Snape boy” which emphasizes the fact that his boyhood is suspect (even if it is just gay coded).

Thinking of a trans boy at Hogwarts and how he is completely accepted as a boy and unquestioned is fabulous. The bullying that continues and goes on, not so much, but that might be where the dynamic between the Mauraders and Snape change. The werewolf incident was a discovering of each other’s secret and an unbreakable vow about not sharing said secret (the secret being Snape is trans and the Mauraders are unregistered animagi)...thus why Snape is worried about Black when everyone else isn’t because he knows Black is around but can’t tell anyone because of the unbreakable vow. Of course the Mauraders try and find a back door to this by pretending a harmless prank is harmless when they are really trying to expose what they promised to keep secret in a way that doesn’t break the promise (however, Severus had sought transition help before then so it isn’t as terrible as it might seem).

However, I do think the truth of Snape being trans did make it to the headmaster with the werewolf incident and Dumbledore admired the Mauraders for keeping his secret, making Snape promise to not tell on Lupin to be as honorable as them. I also think that Dumbledore is transphobic and that his opinion and view on Snape changed with that incident and Severus hated him for it. He felt belittled and disrespected and unable to have safety and help from the headmaster because the headmaster saw him as a girl playing with the big boys instead of as a boy growing up into a man.

I think it was this point that had Severus running to Voldemort’s ranks after graduation. Voldemort knew he was trans and supported that and did all he could to make sure no one else in his ranks even doubted Severus’s manhood. I like to think that he took an active roll in the ranks instead of being on the sidelines for this purpose. But as the violence grew, Voldemort started to be transphobic in concern about the growth of the magic population. Severus took refuge in Regulus’s attraction for him (even though Regulus never knew Severus was trans) and began taking the passive role to avoid confrontation.

Voldemort took this opportunity to try and place Severus as a spy, especially if Snape was to fulfill his role in helping the magical population grow. Dumbledore saw right through it when Severus came for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position (with Voldemort’s promise that if he did his part he would lift the curse on the position), and rejected Severus....until he had a prophecy that needed to be heard (stealing this one idea from a post I saw recently). A prophecy where he knew Lily, Snape’s ex-best friend, would be affected, a prophecy where he knew he could turn Snape into a double agent because Dumbledore could see how Snape had gone from being in the front lines to being in the background, knew loyalty was a problem.

The prophecy came at the worst time for Snape, Bellatrix had found out he was trans and Voldemort forced her into secrecy. Regulus had gone missing and from recent talks with Regulus, Severus knew he wasn’t coming back. The pressure was mounting from the Dark Lord to reproduce and get results from the passive role, so much that Severus resorted to potions in order to not lose his position entirely. The prophecy seemed like his redemption. The moment where he could be moved from the passive role to the active. Asking for Lily was not only for his care for his best friend, but to let the Dark Lord know that he had found a way to be fertile as a man through magic and didn’t need to be put back in the female role. In the end, the Dark Lord told him to take the same plea to Dumbledore and become the double agent.

From that moment, Severus knew he couldn’t trust Voldemort to save Lily or to care for him as a person. Names and pronouns was common human decency that even the headmaster gave him even though he patronized Severus. It was all a ploy to get him on their side. The attractiveness of being in control of information, becoming vital to both sides of the war, to having the option to choose what he really felt was right was what led him to the hillside on that windy, windy day. But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t ask for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. At that moment he knew that there was no place in the world where he would be accepted. He wanted to protect Lily and then be dead. He didn’t realize the prophecy was a set-up for him to take the role as double agent.

Dumbledore put him in the feminine position of potions, claiming it was due to the curse even though he was aware that Voldemort would lift the curse. Dumbledore really wanted Snape to remember that he was first and foremost female and planned on never fully trusting him until he reverted into his natural form. Severus did it for Lily and used her memory to keep himself alive. Luckily the staff, including those that had helped him transition, were much more supportive. Their support was what helped him survive Lily’s death. They gave him enough of a will to live that he moved his living to protect Lily to living to protect Harry. He also agreed with Dumbledore that Voldemort would come back due to Regulus’s ramblings, but he never shared anything of that part of his life with Dumbledore because he knew it would only have Dumbledore be more patronizing (Instead of a lesbian who felt she had to be a man to like women, he would be considered a straight woman just causing problems).

No foolish wand-waving are his words to his first years. Snape understands masculinity and its strength and weaknesses. He doesn’t want them to be like the Mauraders who used their masculinity to harm. He wants them to use it properly. He wants to show that masculinity and femininity go hand in hand in both the female and the male magical arts. Lockhart greatly reminded him of that imbalance.

The year with Lupin was the worst. The support from Dumbledore was dwindling because Snape had not forgiven the Mauraders. There were many fights where the truth finally spilled out that Dumbledore didn’t trust him because he wasn’t a woman, maybe not word for word, but Snape got the picture. Snape had done everything asked of him and still he was doubted and mistrusted. It was then that he had to decide whose side was he on. What did Severus really want?

Respect, common decency, and the ability to live his own life. Since he clearly would never have that in his own life he decided he would fight for that. He decided he would protect Harry even when those wanting him to were being cruel. Harry deserved to live and have his own life. It did help that the thought of getting revenge on Black and Lupin was part of that plan.

The support from Dumbledore still was not there the next year started, but Severus was better for he had found his own purpose. The warnings were coming that Voldemort was coming back and Snape was preparing and trying to get Dumbledore and McGonagall to prepare. It was McGonagall who pushed Dumbledore to realize that Snape was telling the truth and that Dumbledore was being unreasonable for expecting a man to stop being a man just because Dumbledore wanted him to. It didn’t really click for Dumbledore until Snape showed Fudge the mark on his arm. It was then Dumbledore started to realize and appreciate Snape and everything that he was instead of wanting him to be everything he wasn’t. He regretted not listening to him earlier because the imposter Moody would’ve been found out sooner if Snape had met support from Dumbledore instead of doubt.

After a year of Snape’s devoted courage, Dumbledore realized he was in the wrong. It didn’t help that he had many instances where he saw Snape’s defense against the dark arts knowledge used to save the day. Dumbledore almost regretted not having his current army more trained by having put Snape in that position to begin with and had Voldemort remove the curse. Dumbledore knew that with a limited life expectancy that he needed to rectify one last wrong and gave Snape the defense against the dark arts position. He knew it was symbolic to Severus as recognition of his manhood. It was the least he could do.

Killing Dumbledore was the last straw for McGonagall for Snape because it felt like Snape had to assert his dominance over Dumbledore for refusing to fully recognize him for so long. She said some fairly hateful and at times transphobic words to him in his reign as headmaster. While the position of headmaster secured his names and pronouns, he found that being expected to be evil while leading the school to be as painful as being expected to live as a woman. There was something painful about living contrary to who you are, but it was a price he was willing to pay for a short time to make it so that people would be free and not live as he had to live. It was the same justification he gave for the need for Harry to die.

Snape had hoped to die after giving Harry the necessary memory by dueling Voldemort as a distraction to give Harry time. As master of the elder wand (another gift from Dumbledore to assert Snape’s masculinity to Voldemort), Snape expected a duel to the death. A time to finally let his power shine and his masculinity be asserted, only losing because Voldemort could not die...perhaps leaving a time bomb of a curse to kill Voldemort once all the horcruxes (for he knew what they were now, no thanks to Dumbledore) were destroyed, including Harry.

But that was not so. Snape never got to Harry because Voldemort wouldn’t let him go and fight like a man. Voldemort was clinging to Snape as a broken woman. It hurt and Snape tried to not let it show because then his loyalty would be questioned, but it hurt enough to not have him fight back as Voldemort used the snake to kill Snape. Voldemort wouldn’t lift his want to kill him and it was the gravest insult. He would fail his feminine role because he wasn’t a woman.

Voldemort left and the relief of seeing someone who never acted like he knew he was trans arrived. It was a relief, it really felt like seeing Lily again. The first person who never questioned the fact that he was a boy. It was his chance to prove mastery of both femininity and masculinity is what wins and gave Harry what he needed before drifting out of a life of lies and deceit because people felt he was lying and deceiving for being who he was. The green eyes were a promise that people like Severus would never be treated this way again.

[neshabeingchildish]

Hensley & Char: Friends or Whatever || Part 3

@just-a-j-reallly @junknstu1f @henryharts I absolutely pushed this bad boy out in a couple of hours, since I’m trying to hold myself to a somewhat organized schedule, with going back to a second job on mornings that I don’t have to work nights. If there are typos and such, please just remember that this is free and that I am busy. Lol. I promise, whenever I’m not pressed for time and energy, I do everything to give y’all my best, but when I am those things, my best has to dwindle a little, in terms of editing, hopefully not content. I’ve been missing Chasper, so this chapter is kind of Chasper heavy, from Hensley’s view of them, and also I wanted to get into the universe that we’re more familiar with, so while I didn’t feel like certain things needed to change - like meeting Ray and getting the job, I wanted to just sort of do the ff thing we do and look at other areas of the world while all of that was happening.

The Danger Befriends

“We’re almost 12. Her issues might strictly be hormones, and maybe that means that she’ll be less mean soon,” Jasper said.

“Shut up about hormones!” Charlotte snapped at him. “You ALWAYS blame women being rightfully angry with you on hormones! It’s NOT hormones, Jasper. It’s YOU. YOU are the reason we’re mad!”

Hensley didn’t want to get in the middle, but these were both her beast friends and she knew that this was all just a misunderstanding. Jasper wasn’t inconsiderate or stupid… Just very, very gullible. This was dirt from Jupiter all over again. “Jasper,” Hensley said, as gently as she could, “I think what Charlotte means is that instead of telling us the reason why you’re holding a filthy cat instead of our carnival tickets, you’re focused on her reaction to the fact that you handed a stranger the money for the tickets and they gave you a disgusting animal.”

“She’s not disgusting. She just needs a bath…” Jasper said, but before he could complete the thought Charlotte lunged towards him and Hensley had to collect her in a restraining hold to keep her from getting her hands on Jasper. Jasper’s eyes widened and Hensley cooed in Charlotte’s ear to try to calm her. 

“It’s okay, Char. It’s Okay. I carried a little extra money and I’LL get your ticket. Okay?It’s all good. It’s ALL good.” Charlotte struggled Hensley’s hold off of her and glared at Jasper, shaking her head, before she marched off and went to stand in line, herself. 

Jasper shook his head, “I think that a good counselor and perhaps even medication will help her with that.” Hensley just sighed. He had a point,  but he also missed the point. But, moments later, a guy in a trench coat really did come back with their tickets and three drinks, because they were waiting out in the sun with his cat. 

Hensley pulled Charlotte from the line, explained that this time, Jasper hadn’t screwed up and Charlotte said, “Well, it still was careless and under normal circumstances would have been a scheme.” Then, they got on rides and all was forgotten for a while. 

The moments where the three of them had fun and enjoyed each other’s company were Hensley’s favorite. She frequently felt like she had to pick sides because they argued so much. Jasper loved Charlotte. He had always liked her as a person and spending the past couple of years around her only accelerated that for him. The three were together everyday and always made plans as a team. No one would be left behind, because to Hensley, that would feel like choosing between them. And she really couldn’t.

Jasper was her yes man. Charlotte was her voice of reason. Those were things that she needed to always receive both of in order to make good decisions. She did not always make them, but she couldn’t comprehend what life would be without the two varying options. They were like the little angel and devil on her shoulders, except Jasper was the clueless angel and Charlotte the all knowing devil. You’re SUPPOSED to listen to the angel, but this particular angel was only right every now and then. The devil was always right, but she was an angry little person and threatening… That made her truth seem like it wasn’t so. Yet, she was usually right, and Hensley only SOMETIMES listened to her.

But, in those moments whenever Jasper couldn’t be around - they flowed better. And in the moments that Charlotte didn’t show her face, Hensley and Jasper made more sense. It was… confounding to Hensley. She NEEDED both of them, but it was so much easier to deal with them separately, usually. She wondered if they were like that too. Did Jasper and Charlotte have a harmonious dynamic whenever Hensley wasn’t there to demand both of their attention? She wondered what that was like. 

She imagined that Jasper was sweet and that in spite of herself, she would soften for him and smile a lot, maybe even giggle… She… kinda felt a little bit jealous about it. WHAT did Charlotte and Jasper do whenever SHE wasn’t there? Sometimes, if they studied together, or Charlotte’s mom gave him a ride home or something, even at times, he stayed the night over there??? WHAT? They could barely get along, WHY would he be able to sleep in the same room as her? AND… He was a boy!

Hensley watched Charlotte reading and Jasper leaning up against her, getting ready to fall to sleep. She made a frowning face at him and he quickly shuffled away and made a makeshift, non-Charlotte pillow of his over shirt and backpack. But, when he drifted off, Hensley noted that Charlotte sighed, grabbed a bandanna out of her bag, wiped his sweat off and tucked the bandanna in his pocket. Why had she done that? Did she LIKE him? Why was Hensley so preoccupied with these details?

Charlotte stared at her and looked confused for a moment, then figured it was because of what just happened. She explained, “Jasper’s medication for his sweating problem has changed. The new one makes him a little more tired. I don’t want him sweating all over me or my carpet.” Rational. Reasonable. Nothing to be concerned about, and even if it WAS… She wouldn’t be concerned, because she and Charlotte were just friends anyway. Just like Charlotte and Jasper were. But then, “He looks different when he sleeps. When he’s shut down and silent - he’s actually cute, right?” Charlotte asked. 

Of course, she meant like a roly poly rodent, but Hensley just heard cute and while she agreed, denied it. “Jasper? Cute?” She laughed. “Why don’t you just kiss him?” 

“I would get sweat on my lips,” she said, cringing, “Jasper sweat. I don’t even want my own sweat on my lips…” She looked at Hensley like she was extremely gross for even attempting such a joke, and Hensley relaxed and didn’t think about it again. 

There was no way that Charlotte liked Jasper. He wasn’t gross, but Charlotte found a lot of his habits to be. Plus, he irritated her very easily and even though she was nice to him sometimes, there was just this… Hensley couldn’t find the right word to describe a disconnect, so she thought of it as a no-no region… Though that sounded like their private parts, so she just simply stopped trying to find words and counted it as “would never happen.” Yet, she spent about a year convincing herself that Jasper and Charlotte were just friends and woul;d always just be friends. 

It was hard though. That Charlotte had two best friends of different genders who both liked girls and she seemed to like both of them sometimes and like neither of them sometimes. All of Hensley’s life, there were people who would say things like she and Jasper would wind up dating someday or that they were probably soul mates/would get married, etc. They made it out to be like boys and girls couldn’t have friendships that were just that and it never moved her before because she knew that Jasper was not her type. She and Jasper had the SAME type, for as long as she could remember thinking about it. But, now… That could/might include Charlotte. 

Charlotte wasn’t really the kind of girl that Hensley tended to be attracted to, but by 13, she definitely had become aware that it was probably because she didn’t see other girls that were like Charlotte, and that she hadn’t for as long as she had been in school, and not because Charlotte wasn’t totally pretty. She absolutely was. But, the more time went by, the more she realized that despite that Jasper had always noticed Charlotte. He knew her name. He knew about her plans and her life. He treated her like  a person who he cared about… and he did this before she became Hensley’s best friend. It wasn’t a competition, but Hensley had a problem not competing. 

.

The feelings were exacerbated whenever Hensley happened upon a part time job… No, Charlotte found her a part time job. Hensley was now, not only a productive member of society, but the actual sidekick to Swellview’s superhero, Captain Man, and that required secrecy and discretion. That required leaving Jasper and Charlotte alone and going to work to keep the city safe, to keep them safe… and she made an oath never to tell them.

“Why aren’t we allowed to stop by your job?” Charlotte asked, while Jasper drank from his bucket thermos as they walked from school. “We aren’t going to ruin anything, and we just wanted to be able to look around and possibly even make a purchase and contribute to your paycheck. You barely let us in the door…” 

Hensley nervously laughed and shook her head, “I… don’t need your money for my paycheck. You two don’t even have jobs..”

“Yeah, upon further research, I found out nobody really hires 13 year olds for anything…” Charlotte started.

Jasper quickly spouted out, “Oh, it’s illegal. It’s one of Swellview’s many stupid laws.”

“It’s not just a Swellview law, though. It’s most places. My research concluded that the jobs available for kids under 16 are generally permissions for entrepreneurial ventures, Internet personalities, highly regulated child celebrity gigs, and family businesses where they aren’t actually on payroll. I wonder why the junk store doesn’t have to follow those regulations…” Charlotte said, suspiciously. The last thing that Hensley needed was Charlotte being suspicious.

Jasper offered, “It may be a historic building, in which case, in Swellview, they are allowed to hire as early as 13, but only in a part time capacity, and if the training for said job is at least one year.”

“That’s gotta be it! Ray’s father bought the place when he was a kid,” Hensley said, unsure of what even constitutes as a historical building, but hoping that Charlotte wouldn’t investigate it. She wasn’t even paying attention to her, though.

Charlotte smiled at Jasper, “You really know Swellview laws.”

“One of Dad’s main rules is if he ever has to get a call that I’ve been arrested, it better be a misunderstanding,” Jasper said with a shrug.

“You almost always get in trouble at every bit of fault of your own,” Charlotte told him.

“Yes, but not illegally.” 

Hensley was happy to have the conversation off of her work. 

Jasper’s dad was a defense attorney, so Jasper knew a lot about laws and ordinances and stuff. Maybe that was why he was so good in social studies and language arts. He knew laws, history, and wordplay. Charlotte was good with sciences and math. Between the both of them, Hensley was able to keep her head above water in school. She would need them now more than ever, because her job as Kid Danger was taking everything out of her and she hadn’t even been doing it for very long. But, whenever she looked at her two friends, who bickered like an old married couple, but also loved on each other, she knew that this job wasn’t just about the money or even the newfound high of fame. It was about what was best for Swellview. For Hensley Hart, Swellview was her two best friends…

“So… Can we stop in sometime, though?” Charlotte asked, not being deterred.

“Oh, my boss Ray is kind of a stickler about it…” Hensley said.

“Probably doesn’t want something to happen where he has a liability,” Jasper said. 

Charlotte looked disappointed as she shrugged her shoulders and tugged Jasper’s sleeve, “Well, I guess that means we’ll see you tomorrow. Jasper gave Hensley a hug and the two walked beyond the store, debating whether they were going to get snacks before heading to Charlotte’s, or trust that her mom had something other than organic/vegan/no added sugars or flavors stuff that Jasper always felt like was a crime against taste buds…

Hensley went into the store. Just another day of Danger, for her. And her friends would be alright.

[toonstarterz]

BECAUSE I’M NOT POPULAR, I’LL READ WATAMOTE: CHAPTER #164

Hey, not dropping the ball actually worked!

We’re just a hair’s length away from summer vacation, but unlike last year when Tomoko approached summer with not much consideration, she’s now taking a proactive role in deciding how to spend her last summer in high school. At first glance, Tomoko appears to have become a responsible, young lady. But as we soon will see, that can-do attitude may not be as refined as it looks on the surface.

Chapter 164: Because I’m Not Popular, I’ll Do My Best Starting From Summer Break 

There’s that time period during the day when most students have already left but school hasn't quite closed up. It’s pretty creepy, even more so before summer break when you’re expected not to stick around.

Have I mentioned Itou is a cute? ‘Cause she is.

It’s usually her looking after Komiyama, so it’s really sweet to see the dynamic flipped around like this. Despite, well, everything, Komiyama is a good friend.

Assuming that cheering for the baseball teams is optional, it’s endearing to see Itou go through with it. Even though baseball isn’t her thing, she’s likely doing it to support her bestie, which I can 110% get behind.

Ah, right. Dude’s in the manga club. That said, I wonder if their plans are for just being attendees, or if they’ll actually be manning a booth and selling their work. With his skills and, er, preferences, I think Hatsushiba could do the latter.

Don’t be so modest, Tomoko. There’s no slouching either when you’re a three-year veteran of the Going-Home Club. 

Studying during summer break? Outrageous!!

It’s intriguing to see just how Tomoko’s study habits have evolved throughout the series. The early days would see her spend summer goofing off on her hobbies, with bare minimum concern for academics. But now, Tomoko is actually considering studying on her own accord. Sure, it’s more-or-less a fallback when she has nothing else planned, but the thought itself is still worth mentioning.

Is that one of those mini-fans that you can carry around in your bag? I love those things.

Study camp, huh? Any other day, Tomoko would be apathetic to the idea, leaning more on the side of brushing it off. But having Katou bring it up makes all the difference, ‘cause let’s be real. Katou could ask her to sign up for a hostess bar at the Red Light District and Tomoko would still seriously consider it.

Miss you, Yuu-chan.

I second that, Komi. Fourteen hours of studying a day is brutal, even if that’s to be expected in what is essentially a boot camp. I’ve always questioned the efficiency of cram schools and the like, mostly because they seem to prepare more for short-term memorization than long-term understanding. But even it actually works in principle...

...I’m not sure Tomoko will be able to handle it.

Perhaps it’s just me, but it feels like Tomoko is overestimating her discipline for studying. She already struggled with Katou’s flashcards and study sessions that a whole training camp feels like it would have a more detrimental effect on Tomoko than a positive one. “Work hard, play hard” was never meant to be that extreme, Tomoko.

That’s...genuinely uplighting. Tomoko has missed out on several of the key “memorable” high school moments, and she usually lets it go with only mild regrets. But here, Tomoko’s actively trying to gain what she once lost. Sure, she’s trying to “game the social system” a little, but what did you expect? She’s a person, not a saint.

This was Yuu’s only line in this entire chapter. My girl deserves more than this.

Will the 2% of Tomoko’s personality that is tsundere ever realize that if you really “didn’t care either way”, then you wouldn’t have asked the question to begin with? Doubt it.  

That romaji tho.

It comes to the surprise of absolutely no one that Komiyama has some pretty...vivid fantasies about Tomoki. But what stands out to me is how deep into the relationship her thoughts go. Most people fantasize about their crush first in their sexual attractiveness, but only a few ever dream beyond that. Ironically, you know your crushing has gone off the deep end if you start thinking about them in domestic, SFW ways. Least Komi’s committed, yeah?

Gee, I wonder what’s that “and stuff” Tomoko’s talking about?masturbating

Nothing like a fresh bowl of Grossi-Os and Gross Juice to start the day!

If what Yuri says is true, then that would mean that she and Ucchi have probably walked to school together several times before–more than the couple of times we’ve seen, at least. And even so, it doesn’t look like they haven’t gotten much closer as friends, if at all. Some people just don’t click, I suppose.

Not sure how blind Ucchi is because anybody with a pair of eyes (beady or not) would see that Yuri has friends, even if you only count Mako. Poor girl just can’t accept the truth even when it's right in front of her face.

Ah, Yuri. Why can’t you just drop the “savior” act and just admit you want to spend time with her?

I’m inclined to agree about Yoshida, but who knows? She’s surprised us before. Mako's a safe bet, though. Especially if the former’s going. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Boy, does that take me back. It still blows my mind that all of Ucchi’s problems originated from one night of misunderstandings. The art nerd in me really appreciates the subtle improvement in Niko’s art style. The character models feel “weightier” and more consistent without compromising the stylization. 

You don’t see it in the previous panel, but Ucchi was totally blushing at the prospect of reliving her trauma/dream. Perhaps she was also looking to live out that ping pong match she never got.

I’m not sure if there was some kind of wordplay in the original text. Either way, it kind of sucks for Yuu-chan that she got such a “flattering” nickname when she wasn’t involved in that scenario whatsoever. Though it sure is a tad classier than Miss Akari “Dick Sister Jr.’ Iguchi.

It’s kind of (read: absolutely) frightening how Katou’s envy towards Yuu feels a lot more intense than Yuri’s. Perhaps it’s because Yuri’s so transparent that you know how to deal with her. But with Katou, that air of secrecy feels like a nuclear bomb about to go off. 

I always wondered where girls picked up that thing where they intertwine their fingers as a sign of affection. It’s precious.

Praise modern technology for convenient storytelling.

Wow, Fuuka’s already made her mark on Tomoko’s “bitch” list. Though exactly why she’s on that list now is kind of odd. I mean, yeah, she asked Tomoko about the whole fondling thing, and she unintentionally presented herself as a pervert for the whole “hair” thing, but Fuuka hasn’t really done anything all that terrible. If anything, Tomoko is probably expressing a rare bit of jealousy towards someone else supposedly perving on Katou besides her.

The most striking part about Fuuka’s inevitably failed plan is that she describes Tomoko’s appearance as “sudden”. It was touched on before, but it further emphasizes that Tomoko’s friendship with Katou was just as unexpectedly quick in-universe as it was for the readers. And in doing so, it brings us one step closer to the real mystery over why Katou is so enamored with Tomoko in the first place. 

Ya’ll know Sayaka’s got her homegirl’s back on this one. Let’s see (hopefully) how Akari screws it up. 

Chapter 58, mothereffers!

I don’t know whether I’d say Nico Tanigawa has been playing the long game, or if they just found a convenient throwaway to capitalize on. But the acknowledgment itself is very much appreciated. Tomoko may have forgotten, naturally, but us overzealous fans certainly never did! 

The chills, man. Chill’s right up the spine.

It’s certainly true that Tomoko’s words can be interpreted in a good or bad way, so it’s pretty telling that Katou’s gut reaction went for the latter. It suggests that Katou may actually have some insecurities that can easily set her off. Then again, a defining part of Katou’s personality is that she takes everything Tomoko says at completely face value, so maybe she’s starting to see Tomoko’s negativity even if it’s not there. Just more of the enigma that is Asuka Katou.  

Not a bad save, Tomoko. Countless battles with shame have made her quick on the fly. Unfortunately, while she’s improved at starting a save...

...she still doesn’t know how to end it.

It would’ve been a clean getaway if Tomoko had just ended about half-way in the above panel. But because Tomoko’s anxiety causes her to try and cover all the bases, she ends up rambling suspiciously. The part about Nemo isn’t even that relevant, but in her burst of defensiveness, Tomoko ends up saying things that could just exacerbate the problem even further.

Fucking shit, Katou is damn scary.

The one fortunate thing about Tomoko’s defensive rambles is that once she starts to cool down, her honesty starts coming out more organically. Self-deprecation becomes self-reflection, and brings to the forefront Tomoko’s endearing side.

Only Tomoko could spout such a cliché moe line and sound so pure of heart. Must be the irony. 

Aha. Ahaha. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

–that totally didn’t happen.

Tomoko, girl, you’re in the CLEAR! Stop trying to fan flames that have already been put out.

But on that note, it does affirm that while Tomoko is honest with Katou about certain things (perversion, laziness), she isn’t quite ready to be honest on anything that would paint Katou in a bad light. I’d say tha’st about 85% due to fear.

Death Flags raised all around.

I had a feeling that Nemo would take the plunge this time and invite Tomoko out somewhere during the summer. It seems like such an insignificant gesture, but considering that this is the very first time a classmate has asked to hang out with her during the summer, it warms my heart.

Hey now, Tomoko. Don’t get cocky when you’re maximizing your own goof-off time by taking a study camp.

The easy guess is that Nemo wants to go to Comiket. But really, it could be anything that Tomoko would have an interest in. And because it’s implied that Nemo is going for research purposes, it could be anything from a seiyuu panel (the last one went so well) to a hot spring to a hentai game company. Hope they bring Okada along...

Mama senses her daughter’s giving in to peer pressure.

Not gonna lie. This hand gesturing from Rena made me think that she was thinking about doing...something else.

Damn mind-in-the-gutter.

Even though Anna doesn’t appear to be the studious type, it’s pretty cool to see that she can respect people who are. Also, I dig the way she wears her tie (or is that a ribbon?). 

Emoji II really has become an honorary delinquent and it fits her perfectly. 

I guess no matter how much more grounded Tomoko becomes, she still thinks reading manga is legitimate practice for playing in real-life (though tabletop games may actually allow for some truth).  

Sub!Tomoko confirmed.

What a way to end a chapter. For the longest, Katou had always viewed Tomoko through a pair of rose-tinted glasses, always seeing the girl’s faults as endearing “quirks”. But as her soul-piercing gaze seems to indicate, Katou has reached a revelation about Tomoko that she can actually disapprove of. Whether or not it’ll shatter her illusion of Tomoko is still unclear, but how she treats Tomoko from here on out may finally give us a deeper look into Katou’s psyche. 

160+ chapters we’ve followed Tomoko, and we’re still learning new things about her. The very extent of Tomoko’s agency has always been a tad murky. She’s good at (poorly) executing short-term ideas, but hardly does she plan out and follow up on her long-term goals. Even her greatest milestone of making friends involved a lot of pushing from outsiders (Ogino, the most obvious case). That said, having to take charge of herself for once is inescapable with college on the horizon. How she goes about it amongst her various mom-friends may end up being Tomoko’s biggest personal challenge yet.  

[comicteaparty]

April 6th-April 12th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from April 6th, 2020 to April 12th, 2020.  The chat focused on  Adventurers’ Guild by Phillip MacArthur.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Adventurers’ Guild by Phillip MacArthur~! (https://adventurersguildcomic.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until April 12th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

What I liked about the beginning of the comic was just the overall pacing. The comic really takes it's time to introduce the world to you and the first set of characters, and it kind of hits that right beat for me where there's a lot of information where I don't feel overwhelmed since the pacing slows to the right tempo to make it work. My favorite moment in the comic so far is probably the battle against Razoku. Without getting too specific, I love just how epic that fight was in general, and also that a character I didn't expect was down for the count for that fight, leaving everyone else to compensate. That is not something you see in stories everyday, plus I liked getting to see Jack do some work since Jack tagged along for the quest. My favorite character at the moment is probably Li, because I have a thing for enigmatic mysterious dudes who I know so little about. Plus, he's a sorceror and I always 1000% support magic classes. As for characters interacting, probably Klaus and Li. I love the hints that they really have some history here, and I like just kind of how they balance each other out. Like sometimes Li is dumb and Klaus is the smart one and then sometimes Klaus is dumb and Li is smart. And it goes on like this for a bunch of different traits, so I like that theyre both kind of on an even footing and that they have this bond and understanding the other characters don't have with them yet. So it's like this warm thing of comfort.

RebelVampire

What I like about the art is just kind of how well it emulates RPG pixel games. Especially how dialogue and other elements are handled to replicate the UI. It's a nice touch that really just kind of sells that whole game feel aesthetic. I liked that the comic explored the moral choice between helping someone vs. fulfilling your obligation. And the tangentially related "Is it okay to lie if it's a stupid noble who wants a thing for aesthetics and frivolous reasons?" Some pretty common themes, yet still important themes always worthy of discussion. I also liked how the noble knew the lie and still just accepted it anyway, since that was 100% now the outcome I was expecting. So it really takes the exploration of that theme a bit differently. What I like about the story is the same thing I like about the art: it really nails the game feel. Like I really do feel I've been watching just an epically long cutscene to some game, but as someone who does like games and RPGs, that really appeals to me. Honestly, I'd be excited to play this as an actual game so I could use Li and cast all the magic. As for the comic's strengths, game feel which I've already discussed. But in general, like the beginning, pacing. I've seen a few comics like this one, but for most the pacing usually isn't that great since pixel art really only allows for so much action to be depicted. So pacing for these things needs to be epically different than it does for most comics. I think this one really nails it, especially with combat. The comic really shows how the combat will be epic, but it doesn't try to pad it out either and just kind of embraces the limitations that come with this specific style.

warriorneedsfood

I am having a hard time engaging in the comic. The layout wasn’t very intuitive for me and it’s very small on my tablet. When I play old school rpgs I look past the interface to get to the story, but this comic embraces the format. It makes me wish the author made a game instead of the comic. However, I didn’t get very far on the first pass. I will be hunkering down with the comic later on this week to read it to get the whole impression of the story.

RebelVampire

Once I adjusted to the layout, I actually found it way easier for mobile personally.

Since I didn't really have to zoom or squint, and the panels were very responsive to touch controls

But it is definitely far from the standard so I can see it as a point of alienation

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Gotta say, never played this kind of game so this comic isn't really for me, but I did think the format was really unique and cool

I don't have any problems reading it on my phone

Feather J. Fern

I think this premise for the layout is really interesting. I actually think it would have done really well as actually an Instagram comic due to it's scroll, square shape.

I do also have to agree if this was an actual game done on RPG Maker or something, it would fit it a lot more. But I do love the feel it is giving me.

I do have to note that the font is making it hard for me to read, since that font isn't really good for me. My own personal problem though.

I can see why they went with that choice for the old RPG feeling

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Why do you think Myra came to Knolton, and why is she hesitant to talk to even fellow Nemians about her backstory? Additionally, why is Jack equally mysterious about his origins? How do you think the truth will change the characters’ relationships with each other?

10. Do you think Klaus will allow Kidd to join the party? If so, how will that change the current group dynamic? Additionally, how will Cedric’s secrecy effect how much trust the other’s put in him?

11. How do you think Klaus and Li met, and for what reason do you think Li joined Klaus’ clan? Additionally, what do you think Li’s backstory might be in general? Do you believe there are secrets that might change how the group sees him, or is it something more mundane?

12. Do you think the group will see Edmund or anyone else they’ve faced against again? If so, what do you think will happen? In general, how will the group’s growing fame affect them and the quests they take on?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

RebelVampire

I feel like Myra probably got exiled or something. If only cause Myra does not seem like she'd have come to Knolton by choice, and you don't conceal your backstory unless you've got embarrassing shit to hide. I assume Jack might be in the same sort of situation. I actually think if Myra and Jack talked about it, though, it'd bring them closer together, as well as the whole group. The truth sets you free and all that. As for Kidd, yes, I think Klaus will let Kidd join. Klaus seems nice like that. As for group dynamic, I think it will simultaneously make Cedric a better and worse member of the group. I kind of feel if push came to shove, Cedric would ditch the others to save Kidd, making him unreliable. But at the same time, if Kidd goes with, Cedric would probably have increased loyalty. As for Cedric's secrecy, I think it'll be a long time before anyone fully trusts him again. I get the impression that Klaus must of met Li when Li was down on his luck, and since Klaus was such a bro and a friend, of course he joined. As for Li's backstory, I actually don't have any theories, although I kind of feel Li is less secret cause of something to hide but more maybe no one asks. Though I'm sure there is at least one secret in there that will make the audience gasp. I do think the group will at least see Edmund again because Edmund seemed an important and noteworthy character who'd come back. I could also see silver lotus noble coming back for silver lotus part 2 only now its a gold lotus. Either way, in regards to Edmund, of course theyre going to fight, though I feel like someone will try to convince Edmund to join their part instead, which Edmund might be convinced somehow. In general, though, their group is definitely gonna attract big baddies and great evil, cause fame comes at a cost.

GuildmasterPhill

Hello, author of Adventurers' Guild here! Just want to chime in and say it's been a real pleasure to read all the analysis of my comic here. It's good to see some of you really getting into it, and I think this whole tea party thing is a wonderful idea. Adventurers' Guild's week is almost up, as I understand it, but I'll be around here for the last bit of it if anyone has any questions for me! (I'm REALLY cagey about storyline spoilers, though, so don't expect any of those!) Thanks again!

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mathtans

Hi! Our modem died, so my internet capabilities are real limited at the moment. But I had a quick look at the start of the week and just wanted to say I think the format is really neat, since I see some back and forth debate about it. All the best with the comic!

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Jumping in late -- the tip about mobile reading helped, it also works on desktop if you put it in a narrow-enough window!

I like the intro, the comedy of "we've only stopped one thief, and technically the quest says it's plural", the awkwardness of Klaus trying to say "I have pointy ears, so that gives me some insight into the discrimination you face as a full-on catgirl" and Myra not having it. Reminds me of the tension in X-Men between the "normal-looking" mutants vs. the ones who are, say, blue and scaly.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Just got to the bit with the cat brothers, and Klaus's reaction is...puzzling. He did all that outreach and effort getting Myra and Cedric to join the party, even getting rejected by Cedric and then following him around until he was talked into joining...but now there's two people enthusiastically volunteering to join, and Klaus is shooting them down?

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I mean, they were obviously shady, but it's not clear why he was so convinced the others weren't. Maybe he just has Hero Plot Senses.

Seconding that I like the outcome of that arc, though! You think the party's just coming up with excuses for why they can slack off and do a second-rate job and not feel bad when they get away with it...and then, surprise, they don't get away with it, but it turns out their excuses were right and they don't have to feel bad about it.

Won't be surprised if it comes back to bite them down the line, though. Say, that noble uses it to make a fake healing potion, then lets a rival die while appearing to make all efforts to treat them.

And on to the next traveling montage! I like the lighting/colors in the campfire effect, but I feel like it should be built with squares and triangles rather than being a perfect ellipse, so it fits with the rest of the tile-based scenery. (Which is very cool and well-done in general.)

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Unrelated to anything, I do love when Myra's sprite does cat-poses.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

All caught up (full disclosure, I skimmed through some of the long battle sequences). One burning question...is there ever going to be more than one female character in this world? Myra isn't just the only woman in the party -- all their other allies are guys, all the enemies are dudes, everyone who hires them for a quest is a man, every random encounter on the street is a bro, every NPC with a speaking line is a fella...

Two of the guys so far have talked about their mothers, but one mom was sick/asleep for her entire on-screen appearance, and the other hasn't been seen at all. (And she was presumed killed...is there some big underground conspiracy to poison and/or murder all the women in this world? That would also be a reasonable Backstory Thing for Myra to run away from...)

RebelVampire

I am most looking forward to learning more about Li's backstory here and seeing all of the components that make Li awesome. My final words are is that I really love how unique this comic is with its presentation. It really stands out against contemporary styles and just overall, was an entertaining read. The comic feels like a true passion project and that really shines through, and while it may not be everyone's cup of tea, it didn't have any of the problems I usually find in most modern comics. So I was glad for that

GuildmasterPhill

To answer your question, @Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn) , yes there will be more woman characters--do not worry. ^^

@RebelVampire Thank you so much for all the comments, you seem very insightful! I certainly hope you will continued reading as I go onward.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Adventurers’ Guild this week! Please also give a special thank you to Phillip MacArthur for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Adventurers’ Guild, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

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[scribeofmorpheus]

Dangerous Liaisons Part 6

Catch Up here!

Pairing: Billy Russo x Reader

Words: 3888 (It’s a long one guys)

Rating: L for Strong language! Is that even a rating?

A/N: Okay, this took me a while to finish because I kept getting distracted. Editing? What editing? Just ignore my errors for now! But! I really enjoyed the dynamics in this one. Writing for Karen and Ward was the most fun I’ve had in a while. Especially, the dark side of our heroine! Not a lot of Billy sadly, but he’s front and centre in the next chapter... and so is the prickly family dynamic! (I also tagged some new people to this update, hope you don’t mind). Don’t be afraid to ask to be tagged! Sidenote: I’ve been waiting forever to use this gif.

***

You made your way through the busy offices of the Bulletin. The room was buzzing with life. Employees in middle-class dress smarts hovered around from desk to desk. Some had files in hand, others typed away brutally at the clunky, old computer keys. The atmosphere was electric… productive. As a kid, your father had spent many hours dealing with interviews and alike, but always in the comfort and security of his own home. He always liked having the high ground, made reporters feel uneasy in unwelcome spaces. Except for this one reporter, Ben Urich.

You had been barely out of your teen years when you had watched through ajar doors as your Father lost his iron-clad composure after being accused of something malicious by the straight-shooting reporter. You had never seen anyone rattle your Father to that extent. Ben Urich had gained your respect in that moment, and it wasn't until this very moment that you realised just how much you admired him for that. The irony of Karen Page working for the same newspaper as the one reporter you respected did not escape you.

"Can I help you?" asked a balding man with a salt and pepper beard and drooping eyes. He was cleaning his glasses using his tie as he stood like a man of authority next to a door labelled:  'EDITOR' with a name underneath written: 'Mitchel Ellison'.

"Mitchel Ellison, I presume?"

"Just Ellison," he extended his hand once his glasses were fixed back onto his face. You shook it. "Still haven't answered my question." He said plainly.

"Ah, yes sorry. My name is Y/N Y/L/N." He raised a brow at the mention of your last name. He recognised you then.

"Ah, the elusive heiress to Armistice Security," he said knowingly.

You shouldn't have been surprised. Your Father was Carl Kurogawa, CEO and founder of one of the leading military contracting companies. The press loved him and after Henry's death… well, more and more people were digging into your family's history. That's one of the reasons you legally changed your last name to your mother's maiden name.

"Since my Father and I don't share the same last name, I'm inclined to correct you on that front. I have no affiliations with Armistice Security," You said rather harshly.

"If that were true you'd have sold your shares a long time ago," he retorted quickly. No doubt Ellison had a hard time trusting people, but at least he called things as he saw them.

You sighed, "I'm here to see Karen Page. I called earlier about giving her an exclusive."

"What about?"

You smirked, "Sorry, that's privileged information. You'll just have to find out about it in the editorial room." Ellison huffed lazily, you amused him a little.

"Her office is right through there," He pointed down the hall and to the right.

"Thank you." You smiled flatly.

You knocked on the door with a sign covered by masking tape with the name Karen P. written on it. It was obscuring the name of whoever owned this office space before her.

"Just a second," a soft female voice spoke out.

Impatient, as always, you opened the door anyway. Karen was about to speak from behind her laptop screen, but upon seeing you, her face had a confused look plastered on it.

"Who?--" She squinted her eyes trying to remember. She didn't seem to recognise you. Being in a room full of reporters who usually could pick you out in a crowd, this was certainly a refreshing first. A laugh tried to trickle out of you but you held it back and instead chose to introduce yourself.

You held out your hand, "Y/N Y/L/N. We have an appointment today..." Karen still had a hard time placing you, this time you did giggle. "The Rand Enterprise exclusive about expansion in Hong Kong."

And suddenly, like lightning hitting its mark, Karen finally put two and two together.

"Of course, sorry," She returned your handshake. "I've been swamped lately, and as you probably deduced for yourself, I'm a little new at this." She gestured to her desk filled with overflowing, loose paperwork.

"Reporting or an efficient filing system?" you joked. She laughed awkwardly.

"Both," she sat down and gestured to the chair in front of her desk for you to have a seat. "Which is why I am a little apprehensive as to why you chose me to handle such a story. In fact, why the New York Bulletin? Isn't the Hong Kong expansion something a business magazine would kill to get an exclusive on?"

You smirked, "Oh, it is. Which is why I'm not giving the exclusive to a business magazine. Also, I read some of your other stories. You tend to be discrete about who your sources are when they want to keep things hush, hush."

Karen pulled out a notepad and pen, clicking it once to jot down something on her notepad.

"Why the secrecy? It's not like you're reporting on anything the company doesn't want the world to know… right?"

"I'm just… beating a colleague to the punch," You felt proud at the prospect of Ward reading this exclusive in a small newspaper after he had spent months preparing to give this exclusive to the Wall Street Journal. The look on his face when he finds out he doesn't have an exclusive anymore filled you with delight.

"Sounds alarmingly ambiguous."

"It sounds like an exclusive."

Karen took hint of your tone and cleared her throat, "Okay, so what can you tell me about Ward Meachum's new merger deal?"

You crossed your legs and leaned back, but made sure not to look too comfortable. "For starters, I can tell you it's not Ward Meachum's merger. He shook hands and posed for photo ops but they were my contacts and it was my project. I worked in Hong Kong for several years before I returned. Suffice to say, I had the means, Ward had the poster boy look."

Without skipping a beat, Karen jotted down on her notepad in shorthand. You were curious to read what she had written down, but this story wasn't what was important right now. You needed to gain her trust and get her guard down before asking about the incident with General Schoonover.

"Why did you leave Hong Kong?"

"I'm sorry?"

Karen plastered on a genial smile, "You mentioned your posting in the Hong Kong offices as being your primary qualification for spearheading this merger. If you managed to accumulate such good connections, why leave such a promising post? Wasn't accepting the post at Rand a step down?"

Karen was a sly one, this explained why someone with no background in journalism got ahead so quick. She was fishing for two stories in one interview. The Rand scoop and why you were offering her the Rand scoop. You made a mental note not to underestimate her. "This story isn't about me, Miss Page."

"Is it not? You’re not a disgruntled employee as far as I can tell. And giving a small newspaper access to such an exclusive doesn't make much sense unless you're trying to gain all the credit, but that wouldn't exactly help moral at the workplace if they found out you leaked the story. And unless you're Mr Meachum's scorned lover--"

You snorted a little at the insinuation of you being Ward's scorned lover. "You want to know what I get out of this. What my angle is."

"To be frank, yes."

"That's easy Miss Page. An ally at a respectable paper. That's something of great value in my line of work."

"In corporate legalities or military law?"

You smiled. Karen had just given away her ace in the hole. She had done research on you, which meant she knew exactly who you were when you walked into her office. She really was a sly one. "In a competitive corporate world."

You both exchanged a look that carried the fake pleasantry smiles not uncommon with most of your social interactions, but both you and Karen's eyes held a glare that spoke volumes. It was a look of respectful rivalry and cautiousness.

"Look, Miss Page--"

"Karen is fine."

"Okay, Karen. We can spend hours going round in circles, continuing this verbal detente with one another, or you can ask what you really want to ask me and save us both some time."

"It's the same question. Why me? And no bullshit. Why come to me, out of all the other more qualified and respected reporters? Why come all the way down to Hell’s Kitchen?"

"To be honest. My father hates this newspaper. And my boss is an ass. So if I can manage to serve a big ol‘ 'fuck you' to the both of them, it's a win-win for me." Karen seemed pleased with your answer. "But, there is one other reason."

"Yes?"

"The Punisher."

Karen froze for a second, you noticed her battling for control to remain unreadable.

"Whatever do you mean?" She asked, trying to seem oblivious to what you were implying.

"You are the one who wrote of his demise, did you not? It was quite the… unexpected angle. You framed his narrative to be more sympathetic than most other news outlets."

"I wrote Frank's story. Everyone else had already written about the Punisher."

"And weren't you assigned his case when you worked for… Oh, what was their name again? Murdock and Neilson?"

Karen's brows knitted together and she straightened her back to appear slightly taller than you, "Nelson and Murdock." Karen huffed. "And here I thought I was the one conducting the interview here."

Strong-arming Karen was proving to be ineffective. It was time to play a different angle. You sighed and stood from your chair, gathering a file from your purse and presenting it in front of Karen.

"Look, Karen. I'm not here to accuse you of anything. If anything I commend you for writing the real story about Frank Castle. It shows your willingness to bring the truth to light. It's the reason I thought you could help. You worked with him and I know you were at the scene of General Schoonover's murder."

"How?" Her eyes skittered between you and the file.

"I also know that you've read up on me. You and me have something in common." Karen broke eye contact for a brief moment. "I just want closure. And I think… I think you knew the Punisher better than you let on. And everything that happened, all the people he killed… I think they were part of something bigger. Schoonover, Frank and… my brother’s death." You had to pause to take a breath. "It's all connected. And I've hit a dead end. You're the last thread I can pull. I know you know something. I'm just hoping..."

Karen looked at the file you gave her. It had your brother’s name printed on the yellow jacket. She sighed and slid it back to you. "I don't know anything. I'm sorry."

You smiled with disappointment, sliding the file back to Karen. "I've got more copies. Keep it." You grabbed your bag and headed for the door. "My numbers on the back. In case you suddenly remember something." As you walked out the door, you caught a glimpse of Karen burying her head in her hands and whispering a soft "Fuck" under her breath. That made you smirk slightly. Now you just had to wait and see if she'd call.

Even though you knew full well that you and Karen had kept your voices more than professional, you couldn't help but feel eyes on you as you walked out of the Bulletin's doors. Specifically, the judgmental eyes of Mitchel Ellis.

***

When you got into your car, you finally let the tough as nails act slide away and suddenly you felt limp. You closed your eyes and looked up at the car's roof feeling particularly aimless. As the seconds turned to minutes, your mind kept trying to make sense of all the puzzle pieces that didn't fit together in your investigation. Then, your phone chimed from inside your pocket. You half expected it to be Cecil and the other half… well, you reprimanded yourself for wishing it was Billy. What you didn’t expect to find was an email from Ward. Not just any email, a letter of notice.

He was firing you.

Over a fucking email.

The damn merger story hadn't even been put to print yet, even if it had, your name would remain anonymous. Which leaves the very probable reason for your contract termination being the result of a hurt ego and rejected advances.

"Asshole!" You swore. Rage bubbling to the surface, you typed away at your phone and sent a message you knew you'd come to regret, but your anger had gotten the best of you.

"Karen. About keeping my name anonymous, don't bother." You hit send and without missing a beat, you dialled Cecil's number. If Ward wanted to play dirty, you had no problem playing it his way.

"Heyyo," Cecil answered in a drowsy tone.

"Hey, I need a big favour."

***

You stormed your way up to Ward's office, ignoring the protests of his assistant clomping after you in heels she wasn't comfortable running in.

"Ma'am!" She whisper-shouted frantically after you as you burst into his office. Ward had turned to you with a shocked expression mid-sentence. A room full of important busy-bodies craning their necks to look at who cause this disturbance. Ward glared at you menacingly and then eyed his assistant who swallowed loudly. "I'm sorry Mr Meachum. I tried to stop her."

"That's quite alright. We're just finished in here," Ward buttoned his three-piece suit-jacket and motioned for the men to exit the room. A fake smile tugging at his lips. When you were finally alone, Ward closed the door behind him before walking over to his desk. He leaned his tall frame against it languidly. When he didn't speak, you did.

"A fucking text, Ward? You don't have the balls to fire me yourself, you had your assistant type up the fucking thing?" You tried to keep a handle on your temper. "What was the reason? Please tell me there's a better reason than your hurt pride!"

Ward gave you a cheeky smile, enjoying your anger a bit too much. "Well, you mean despite you showing up late to the meeting the other day, then feeding me some bullshit excuse of traffic being the reason you were late? And don't even get me started on all the other times you've put off work hours to do God knows what!"

"You're firing me for tardiness? I'm the one who spearheaded this expansion project in the first place. Without me-"

"I'm firing you for unprofessional conduct. You can do whatever you please after office hours, but social calls the same day you're late to the closure of the project you were in charge of? That's unacceptable."

"So this is about your dumb fucking ego!"

Ward's eye twitched and you could all but see his professional disguise begin to crack, "I expect you to remove yourself from the premises immediately before I call security. You can collect your things from rece-"

Before Ward could finish his threat, you took out your phone and pressed send on a video file. In an instant, Ward's phone chimed from his desk. He glanced over at it and saw your name on the email.

"The fuck is this?" Ward asked, an eyebrow arched.

"This is me choosing to stoop to your level, Ward." Your words were saturated in disgust.

"Is this a threat?" He gawked at you, completely surprised.

"Open it and find out."

Ward did as you suggested and his face went pale. The video showed him rifling through his desk drawer and pulling out a small tin, before proceeding to empty it of its contents and snort the white powder that came from it.

"I think that camera angle suits you. Does those cheekbones of yours the justice they deserve." You held up your own phone which played the same video.

"You bitch!" Ward snarled.

You took a step back and held up a single finger, "I'd be very careful about what you do next, Ward. One press of a button and I send this video to a very respectful reporter whom I was just in talks with a few hours ago. Then the whole world will know that the respectable and business savvy, Ward Meachum has a coke problem."

He clenched his fists till they went white, "How the fuck did you get your hands on that? Are you spying on me now?"

You laughed, "I have better things to do, Ward. But don't forget, I'm great at making connections. And this is a video from your security cameras in your office. I just know a guy who's good with computers."

"What do you want," Ward's words came out hesitantly.

"My job back for starters. I've worked too hard for someone like you to get in the way of it. Shouldn't be too hard to do, I'm guessing you hadn't consulted anyone about it. We can just keep your email between you, me and your lovely assistant."

Ward folded his arms and took a tentative step forward. He was trying to reassert his position of power, but you didn't budge. "And how do I know you aren't bluffing? I have a PR department available around the clock. We can spin this video however we want."

"Read tomorrows paper," you said snidely. "And once you realise I'm not bluffing. Add a raise while you’re at it." You added before walking out of his office. Adrenaline soaked your muscles and you felt powerful. As the door closed behind you, you heard a crash coming from Ward's office. His assistant looked at you with wide-eyes.

"Might want to hold off Mr Meachum's appointments for the day. Something tells me he won’t be in a very cooperative mood today." You winked at the assistant and rode the elevator to the carpark.

***

As you walked to your car, your phone rang. You sighed and rolled your eyes. "Jesus, I can't catch a break today." When you saw the caller ID you were pleasantly surprised. "Mom?"

"Honey, hey! I was worried I wouldn't get a hold of you, busy schedule of yours and all that," she rambled quickly in that shaky tone that had become her new default in the last couple of years. "I- Uh…"

Your heart began to race with worry, "Is everything okay?" You interjected.

"What? Oh, oh, yes! Everything's fine. Why wouldn't it be? I'm calling because there's something important I have to… Umm. Why don't you come home for a bit and I'll explain everything."

"Mom, what is this about?"

"See you soon," she said hurriedly, cutting the line straight after.

"What?" You stood dumbfounded and slightly worried. You made your way to your car at a jogging pace and set off for the family mansion.  

When you arrived, you were surprised to find a car parked by the driveway. You didn't pay it much attention, you were more preoccupied with finding out what that weird phone call was about. You rang the doorbell and the house butler answered the door. He seemed baffled to see you. To be fair, you were surprised you hadn't talked yourself out of driving through that accursed gate brandished with your father’s initials.

"Weathermire." You greeted him professionally.

"Miss Y/N. It's been a long time. I last saw you at the--"

"Gala. My mother called me. Do you know where she is?"

"The kitchen I believe, miss."

"Thank you," you made your way through the grand opulent mansion with familiarity.

"Would you like me to inform your Father-"

"No," you said almost instantly. "It’s better he doesn't know."

When you got to the kitchen, you were greeted by the image of your mother and several cook staff preparing food.

"Oh, Darling. You got here quicker than I expected," your mother said gleefully. She walked over to hug you, wiping her wet hands on her apron. She looked elegant as usual. Weathermire entered the kitchen just then and with a simple glance, she instructed him to go off and do something. He complied with a simple bow.

"Mom, what's all this? When you called, I thought…" You didn't know what to say, you honestly didn't know what to make of her phone call. You shook your head. "Why did you call me here?"

"Oh, well I figured we could have a little family dinner. I have been sat at an empty table for weeks now. Your father always has his meetings, you always have yours. I figured today there would be no excuses for you to be antagonistic towards each other."

You snorted, "Whatever brought that idea on?"

Just as your words escaped your mouth, Weathermire opened the doors to your father's study and your father and his guest stepped into the kitchen. Everyone's expression -except for your mother's- was that of being caught unawares.

"Billy?" You asked in shock. But as soon as you said his name, you regretted it.

"Do you two know each other?" Your father asked with a stiff tone.

You shot Billy a look you hoped mirrored 'Don't tell them about us'.

Billy, like the chameleon he was, flawlessly kept his composure and replied, "Yes, we had the pleasure of meeting at your Gala a few weeks ago." He smiled at your parents dashingly.

"You never told me you knew my daughter," Your father said.

"Your daughter?" Billy pretended to be caught off-guard. Now it was Billy's turn to shoot you a knowing look, "It never came up."

"We only talked for a brief moment. There wasn't any polite way to bring up my parentage to a complete stranger." You said through gritted teeth.

Your fathers eyes squinted in your direction and your mother cleared her throat, "Come now, we can all get to know each other better over some food."

Billy and you simultaneously tried to object but your mother interrupted, "Hush, you're both staying for dinner and that's the end of it."

You put on a painful grin. Something in Billy's expression found this whole exchange humorous.

"You two go set up the table, we'll be right over." You mother ushered them out of the kitchen.

You sighed when it was just you and your mother in the room. "How long have you known?" You asked her, not even bothering to deny you were more than acquainted with Billy.

"Since I saw the two of you leaving the Gala together." She had a smile on that showed she was proud of her meddling. "When he came over to discuss business with your father… well, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a reason for the both of you to be civilised and enjoy a meal with your mother while she got to know this very nice man I've heard nothing about, by the way."

"There's nothing to say. We went out for drinks once."

Your mother eyed you for a moment, not believing you for a second.

"Okay, maybe twice. But he's not--"

"I'm not what?" Billy asked.

Chapter Seven!

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[baneismydragon]

How about #2 or #19 (whichever inspires you more) for marichat. I miss your particular flare with those two.

This was SUPPOSED to be a short drabble… but its ok because @ktwesterna has been one of the most supportive and wonderful followers I have been blessed to have! Enjoy your Marichat #19 clocking in at just under 2k words lol.

Marinette had expected many things when she had come up with what was now jokingly referred to as the ‘best friend bonding compromise’. With her identity revealed she knew it would change the dynamic between herself and her partner. Chat had never been all that invested in the secrecy between the two of them, and it was honestly a miracle she had managed to stop him before he had detransformed himself after his first visit after the akuma that exposed her own secret. She had assumed that he would push for an end to his own hidden identity, (he had), that he would want for them to spend more time together outside of protecting Paris, (he did), and that he wouldn’t take no for an answer if she didn’t come up with some way to pacify his desire for them to become closer in light of this revelation. Which is why she was now constantly on the receiving end visits from her black clad companion.

She didn’t mind. In fact, she actually rather enjoyed getting visits from her partner. He was good company, enjoyed a lot of the same things that she did, was a good sport about losing at video games, and was surprisingly useful as a study partner. And again she had expected it.

What she hadn’t expected was how much less flamboyant he was in this new, more domestic setting. He was more often than not perfectly content to curl up and nap or read a book whenever she wanted to work on a project. He was unexpectedly thoughtful and sensitive. Not that she had ever thought that Chat Noir wasn’t kind, but she would not have expected him to be the sort to consistently tidy up after himself much less her as well. In the past month she was fairly certain that he had actually made up her bed more often than she had.

But more than anything, she hadn’t expected him to be quiet.

“What are you reading?”

Marinette shrieked, desperately reaching to close the tab on her computer but instead managing to tilt her chair too far forward and crashing to the ground. 

She had all but forgotten that he was in the room. Last she had looked he had been crashed out on her bed, not hovering over her shoulder as he was now. 

“Nothing!” she cried from the floor. “It’s nothing, you should-”

“Is this fanfiction?” Chat said delightedly, stepping in front of her so that he could read the screen as she struggled to get to her feet.

“I just clicked on it because I was curious to see what it was!”

“So you opened chapter 17?” he grinned, holding her back with one arm as he leaned in and began reading.

This was bad. This was so bad.

She tried to reach past him and grab the mouse but she knew it was too late. She could feel his body tense as he realized what was on the screen, his tail and ears twitching as his mouth fell open in shock.

“My Lady…”

“It’s not what you think!”

“Is this…”

“I was reading it for academic purposes!”

“Is this LADRIEN fanfiction?”

Of course he knew what it was. He was the one who had introduced her to “Ladybug” fanfiction in the first place. He thought the entire thing was hilarious. More than once he had regaled her with admittedly hilarious retellings of some of the more wild interpretations of his character that he had come across while browsing the fan section of the Ladyblog.

Marinette felt her face flush and wondered if she should just crawl into her bed and die.

“It is,” he breathed, scrolling down the page and skimming through the chapter. His eyes got wider as he got further along, his cheeks turning a tell tale pink at whatever he had found later in the chapter.

Damn, she had been looking forward to this update too. If Chat’s expression was anything to go by it was just as heated as the author had promised in last weeks notes.

He turned to look at her, his brow narrowing in confusion.

“Wait, you hate Ladybug fanfiction. You’ve told me yourself that you think Ladynoir fics are, and I quote, ‘a giant waste of time with no truth or value whatsoever.’

“Can we just forget this ever happened?” she moaned.

“So why would you be reading this, unless…”

“Oh my God…”

“Chat-”

“Oh my GOD!”

“I will pay you to forget you saw this!”

“You like Adrien!” Chat cried, bursting into gales of laughter as he whirled around to face her. “YOU like Adrien.”

“Please, Chat, you can’t tell him about this. I would die, I would LITERALLY die if he ever found out. He can not find out, you have to promise me.”

“Yeah, I can’t promise that.”

“Chat come on!” she pleaded, grabbing his hands in hers and trying to give him her most convincing pout.

“Why is this the first time I am hearing about this?” he asked, his expression still lit with a giddy exuberance that terrified her.

“Because I didn’t feel like my crush was a worthwhile topic of conversation,” she said, glaring, “or maybe I didn’t want to rub it in your face that I liked someone else, which you already knew.”

“No I know that, I mean-” he cut himself off, his face scrunching in concentration as his thoughts turned inwards. His fingers twined with hers where she was still holding onto him, and she held her breath as she waiting to see what he was going to say. She could feel a sense of apprehension. Like there was still another shoe about to drop.

“You haven’t said anything,” he said quietly, his head cocking to the side.

She flushed, dropping his gaze at his accurate assessment.

“You’ve never said anything to… to Adrien, about how you feel.”

“I’ve tried a couple of times, but it never goes well,” she admitted.

“But you do like… like Adrien?” he asked, his voice still soft and surprisingly tender.

“Yeah,” she admitted, her eyes falling closed in both embarrassment and relief now that her secret was out. “Yeah I do.”

She felt Chat drop her hands, pulling her into a hug. His warm, quiet chuckle reverberating through her soothingly.

“What a crazy criss crossed life you live, My Lady.”

She snuggled into his embrace, grateful for the unending love and support her partner always offered her. He really was an amazing…

Suddenly she felt the loss of his presence around her.

“You should tell him! Right now!”

“Oh my God! Chat what are you doing?” Marinette cried as she heard the frantic typing of her keyboard.

“I’m messaging Adrien.”

“NO!”

She hurled herself forward, desperately trying to grab at the computer, but her arms were no match for his as the insane cat purposefully blocked her path.

“Don’t worry, it’s perfect.” He ignore her frantic cries even as she jumped up onto his back, leg wrapped around his waist as she desperately tried to pull him away from his new self imposed mission. “I just need to send this message and then everything will- GAAHHHH!”

He shrieked in startled pain as Marinette wove her fingers into his hair and yanked.

“What the hell!”

“You can’t send that message! What did you even write?”

“Relax its not a love poem or anything, it just says: hey Adrien, do you want to go to the movies with me this weekend?”

“That’s… actually not terrible.”

“Good. So now I can just-”

“You still can’t send it!”

“Why not!”

He twisted in circles trying to dislodge Marinette as she alternated between trying to grab his hands and trying to reach over and attack the computer itself.

Unfortunately for her, she was no match for his suit enhanced strength, and after a few more minutes of frantic twisting and clawing on both their ends, he rolled his eyes, reach back and hauled her over his shoulder, plopping her down onto the desk with an inelegant thud.

“Hold still,” he grunted, capturing both her hands and leveling her with his most intimidating stare. “This is in everyone’s best interest.”

“I won’t let you,” she growled, shifting in front of the computer screen and wriggling enough so that he couldn’t release her hands.

“Stop being stubborn!”

“Says the insane cat trying to play cupid!”

“Don’t you want to date Adrien?”

“Of course I do!”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“He could say no!”

“He’s going to say yes.”

“I’m not ready! He’ll think I am insane.”

“I think its a safe bet to say he already does. He’ll still say yes and love you anyways.”

“I’ll never give you cookies again.”

“That is a price I am willing to pay,” he said, leaning forward and bopping their noses together. Her face scrunched in irritation

“Chaaaaaaat,” she whined, without any real malice.

“Sorry princess, this train has left the station and there is nothing you can do to stop me from sending this message.”

For one second Chat’s face filled with terror as he saw her eyes light up with a familiar gleam of inspiration, and then his mind went completely blank as she lunged forwards and planted her lips across his.

His whole body went rigid, his eyes wide as every nerve tingled at the feel of her so close.

Marinette grinned into the kiss as she felt him melt against her, his fingers losing their grip around her wrist as his eyes drifted shut and he let out an honest to god purr against her lips.

But just as she was about pull away and dive onto the computer to achieve victory, his hands reached up to cup her face and his head tilted slightly to deepen the kiss and all thoughts of moving fled.

Her brain dissolved into a pleasant haze as she savored the feeling of him kissing her, worshiping her. Time seemed to stop as their lips pressed and nibbled, exploring each other with delicious intimacy. By the time they finally broke apart, gasping for air, she wouldn’t have been able to tell you how they had even gotten into this position in the first place.

“Wow,” he breathed, nuzzling his nose against her neck, the hot whisper of his breath sending shivers up her spine. “You are absolutely amazing, My Lady.”

He kissed her softly on the hollow of her throat and instinctively she tilted her head to grant him better access.

“But there is one small flaw in this strategy of yours,” he said, even as his lips ghosted across the sensitive skin.

“What’s that?”

She heard a soft click.

Her eyes went wide.

“Now I HAVE to send that message.”

“Chat!”

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[triggeringthehealing]

alpha meet (ch1)

Teen Wolf || Stiles/Derek || E || ~2k || AO3

Summary:  Born a werefox with a magical spark that gives him the ability of a full fox transformation, Stiles’s life is decidedly not simple. Now that he’s in college though, it’s bound to be easier, right? There’s less prejudice, fewer reasons to feel like he’s so different from everyone else... and he gets to spend time figuring out all the aspects of people, supernatural or not.  Now if he only remembered that proper spelling, capitalization of words, and the right alphabet matter when he’s texting. 

Tags/warnings: ABO dynamics, pack dynamics, fraternities, college AU A/N (content): Alpha/Beta/Omega - pack status, alpha/omega - biological disposition.  A/N (personal): Look, once upon a time @bleep0bleep tweeted a thing and my brain latched on. Ever since then I’ve been in a muddy puddle of Alphas, alphas and then some Greek alphabet alphas. Since today is “Previously Unpublished WiP” day at @wipweek , I figured it was about time I set this one free. Or well, the first part of it, at least. *hides*

-=-=-

It's not until college and the courses on gender, sexuality, pack hierarchy, and disposition that Stiles learns more about who he is. The information that he had before, as he was growing up, never really sated his curiosity about it. Not that college gives him all the answers, but it's more than he found out before—from school, from his family and friends, from the research online that sometimes ended up more confusing than helpful.

The world has changed since shapeshifters became known. He can't imagine living in secrecy, hiding that he's different than the average human. Even though he's never been too open about his own ability to shift into a fox—even with shapeshifting being normal, full animal transformation is still rare enough to raise eyebrows—it's at least something he knows he can mention, something that isn't going to shun him from the rest of the world.

Being upfront about being a were is not the norm, not yet, and since the magic that's involved doesn't carry a scent, it's not something that can be discovered without either an accident or a deliberate reveal from the person.

In his hometown, it wasn't easy to keep his ability hidden. Beacon Hills is small, everyone knows everyone. Since his Mom was a werefox, people knew that Stiles was likely to be one too, even though his Dad doesn't have the genes. Stiles knows, he asked his Babcia when he was little, and that was how he found out that on top of his shifting ability, he also had a spark of a different kind of magic. The kind that, had he not been a were, would've probably led him down the path of Druids and spells. As it is, he has a few extra features, as he likes to say—like handling mountain ash that's normally something shifters can't touch.

But his best friend Scott is a werewolf—bitten by a rogue Alpha passing through the territory when they were sixteen—and his girlfriend Kira is a kitsune. Deaton, Scott's old boss from the vet clinic he used to work at is a Druid, the very one who helped Stiles reign in his spark when it messed with Stiles's shift for a while.

Even so, Stiles didn't shift fully until his Mom got sick just before he finished middle school. He later found out that it was the spark he inherited from his dad's side that allowed him to transform into an actual fox. At the time, Stiles did everything on instinct—when he was told about his mom's illness, he spent days in his fox form for the first time ever, refusing to change until she begged him to. Her own ability to change was impeded by her illness, a rare strain of a virus that attacked the were part of a brain, one that to Stiles's dad's relief was not contagious—Stiles couldn't even begin to think what would've happened had his dad lost both of them back then. As it was, after Claudia passed away, Stiles and John found it hard to cope—Stiles spent long periods of time as a fox and curled up on a pile of her old clothes, John became way too close to his bottle of whiskey.

They got through it eventually, with the help of Scott and his mom Melissa, who eventually grew closer to John and is now about to officially become Stiles's step-mom.

Scott and Stiles ended up in the same college, both of them wanting to stay close to home since their parents were the only family left nearby—Stiles's grandparents retired and moved back to Poland, Scott's father never bothered returning after Melissa kicked him out years ago and her own family was living in Florida.

It's during the first year of classes that Stiles dives deep into studying the various aspects of people, along with the history of them all. He learns about the bigotry that still exists but nowhere near as strong as it used to, all discrimination based on inherent traits of a person banned and punishable by law. With were packs being less secretive about their existence, there are a lot fewer hidden sides to dynamics between people, along with a lot fewer feral Omegas like the one who bit Scott roaming the world.

As much as pack status tends to be kept under wraps to outsiders, so does a person's disposition and sexuality. Stiles is of the opinion that unless it matters to his relationship with someone else, there's no need to wave whatever flag it is he should be carrying.

Scott's a were, but outside of their small social circle, he hasn't told anyone other than his first girlfriend, Allison. It was only by luck that the anti-discrimination laws were passed by then because Allison was an Argent, the future leader of a family of hunters who—before weres became a regular part of society—used to hunt magical creatures, good or bad. She ended up being the one to change the family's credo to we protect those who cannot protect themselves. Stiles approved, the new motto a lot less terrifying than their old one which was so easily twisted into unprovoked attacks against anyone who wasn't strictly human. As if humans were never dangerous to others—a few members of Allison's family were proof of the opposite—and having the ability to shift into a wolf, any other animal, or have abilities that were considered supernatural somehow made one inherently a threat.

Growing up, he watched as the world kept changing towards inclusion on several levels, not only when it came to shapeshifters and magic, but also when it came to sexualities, gender, wealth, skin color... anything that once upon a time used to be a reason to marginalize some people and elevate others. By the time Stiles left for college, there was still residual bigotry in the world, but at least in educational areas that sort of discrimination was rare.

It's something that Stiles takes comfort in because he knows how lucky he is to be able to be in college in the first place. Had he been born a few decades earlier, he would've likely been mated the moment he graduated high school, if he'd even be able to do that. He presented as an omega early, in freshman year. The first heat was the wake-up call that his dad needed to sober up and get back on the straight and narrow, back to being a father instead of a mourning husband. For a fleeting moment, Stiles worried that his dad's lack of experience with shifters would mean that he'd fall into old traditions, that he would get bad advice and Stiles would end up in the care of a pack and not allowed to work for the goals he'd had. But instead, John embraced Stiles's eagerness to go into law enforcement and supported him in any way he could.

Here, in college, no one besides Scott—who's on track to step into Deaton's shoes at the vet clinic when he graduates—knows that Stiles is a werefox. Since there's no scent to give it away, he hasn't felt the need to share that information. Unlike werewolves who are still guided by the pull of the moon and need to work on their control once a month, as a fox Stiles has the freedom to choose when he shifts. The same way that he doesn't have to share the fact that he's an omega unless it's relevant to the relationship he's in.

Which he didn’t need to so far, since he's never been in one. Sure, he kissed people, he lost his virginity—not that it was that big a deal to him—in his senior year and had sex a handful of times since. There was never a need to tell anyone about his disposition though because he hasn't thought about the future with anyone. The only exception was a long-standing crush on Lydia—a banshee whom he had an ongoing rivalry with academically and who was now a good friend from across the country, since she was working on conquering the world all the way from MIT. He's never had feelings for anyone that would make him want to try for a steady relationship for anyone else.

Well, maybe one person. Not that he thinks he stands a chance.

From the orientation week onwards, Stiles has been making friends outside of his usual small circle, which was now reduced to only Scott, what with his dad being back home and Lydia on the east coast. He didn't dive right into rush week when he came here, but he still managed to meet people in his classes and in the dorms. That's how he started looking more into fraternities on campus and why he's considering joining one now that spring rush is coming up.

"Come on, Stiles, at least come to the meet," Danny tells him as they walk from the class they have together.

"Look, I don't know," Stiles says, knowing that it's obvious that he's stalling. "I'm not sure if frats are my thing."

"Well, what better way to find out than to check one out?"

Danny's dimples tend to be disarming and Stiles is no exception to that effect. So he shrugs and nods.

"You can bring Scott or anyone else you can think of who isn't already in either Alpha Xi or any other frat," Danny tells him like he hasn't already won the argument. "The meet is on Friday, we'll be in the house over on Willow, you know the one, right?"

"You mean the biggest one on Greek Row?" Stiles asks, grinning. "No, I absolutely do not know the house, not like I've been dragged to it several times last semester for parties or anything."

Danny chuckles.

"Just making sure," he tells Stiles and nudges his side. "Can't ever be completely sure if people have the mental capacity to remember things."

"Oh I remember," Stiles replies, still grinning.

Not only has he never been one for drinking much, not after dealing with his dad's alcohol abuse in the past and also seeing what it did to Scott's family, but the Alpha Xi parties were memorable for several reasons. One of them is walking down the hallway right next to Stiles, dimples still in full force like he remembers exactly what Stiles does. The night they spent together at one of the parties was a good one, even if they never managed to repeat it, not once Danny met Ethan, his current and probably forever partner.

"Right, so, Friday. I'll see you then," Danny says as they come to the front door where they usually part ways. "And seriously, bring friends."

"Oh yeah, will do, the whole one of them," Stiles snorts.

He's not friendless, he's just not really sure who would be up for a pre-rush party like this. Most of the people he's become close to are not freshmen or they're already in frats or sororities after the initial autumn rush. Back then it almost felt like he and Scott were the only holdouts who didn't bother with that aspect of college life.

In the end, he only thinks of one person to ask to tag along and he sends the text message before he can overthink and talk himself out of it.

this weekend is an alpha meet up, do u wanna meet my friends?