#Did I Mention Sexy Ice Cube

[starseneyes]

Romitri - Rose / Dimitri - Vampire Academy - Season 1 - Ep 6

This is a Meta. So, I’m going through the episode just like you, but inserting my thoughts and possible interpretations of what’s happening with Rose and Dimitri in Vampire Academy, S1 Ep6.

This is what happens when you’re an actress AND a writer, and you have a thing for relationships in shows!

I thought I was going to hold off on posting this until I got through episode 10, but episode 6 is too juicy (yeah, it is!) to wait.

You can read Part I of my Romitri Meta for Episodes 1-5 Here.

So, let’s not call this Part II. It’s more like Part 1 1/2. Yes, I’ll make a Master Post with all of these later. For now, I had to do this write-up and it could not wait to be posted.

SPOILER ALERT: I will spoil the entirety of Season 1 up to this point, here. So, if you haven’t already watched the episodes, beware!

Molnija

The Molnija Ceremony

The episode opens with pomp, circumstance, tradition, and expectations. When Rose sees Dimitri, we assume this is the first time they’ve seen one another since his confession in the Novice barracks.

Rose walks into the ceremony on edge. Mikhail was her friend. This isn’t the killing of a random Strigoi. He was family. And now she’s lost her one person who always had her back in the leadership side of the Guardians.

Think about it... In the Pilot, it was Mikhail who knocked boots with her at the party. Mikhail was the one to talk to her before her Tribunal. Mikhail was the one who told her to show the other Guardians that she was not measured by her mother.

And he’s gone.

Side Note: Yes, I know this is a Romitri meta... I’m getting there!

Rose is now in a room full of Guardians who are authority figures. Her friend is gone.

But her eyes land on Dimitri. They plead with him to see her, to give her some reassurance. But he looks away.

WHY!?

This is the man who just last episode crossed into her barracks to tell her that he was distracted from his duty by thoughts of her.

But then the cold shower of Mason appeared. And whether or not he heard any of Mason’s words, it was a proverbial cold shower.

Dimitri has followed a world of logic and rule his whole life. He leans into duty to give him structure. And after that slip up of emotion, he’s bottling everything back up and pushing it down. He needs to do his duty.

He looks past Rose. He’s directing her to what she needs to do—to follow her duty. But it’s not what she needs.

She needs someone to absolve her of her guilt. She needs someone to be there for her and care about her. She needs someone who sees her and not a Guardian.

But Dimitri’s trying hard to push aside what he feels, to push it down, to pretend that little moment of weakness never happened.

But as Rose flees the ceremony, we see that underneath he’s still just as tied to her as ever. In the structure of the ceremony, he could keep it under control. But as soon as she broke from ceremony, he was ready to join her.

But Alberta’s eyes find him, and he resettles in his footing, looking away.

SIDE NOTE: I don’t think Alberta wanted to punish him. Think about the last episode... Dimitri was told to stand down. Alberta said Dimitri would do as he was told.

But he didn’t. He ran off against orders, abandoned his charge (who then got into trouble without her Guardian), and he was comforting Rose after she staked her fist Strigoi.... Mikhail.

Dimitri has already broken so many of his precious rules, but the only person to know that is Alberta. The other Guardians with her when she arrived at the ruins have no idea what she ordered him to do because the last time they were all together, they were ordered out of the room so Victor could speak with Alberta and Dimitri alone.

Alberta knows how Dimitri feels about Rose. She knows he broke rank. She knows he was comforting her in a way that a Senior Guardian shouldn’t comfort a Novice. “We don’t coddle our own”.

So when she looks at him at the Moljina ceremony, I see the warning of a protector, not the judging eye of a superior. She’s telling him he’s being obvious and to get his *ss back in line.

Which he does... reluctantly.

Now, I’m not saying that Dimitri is aware of all these levels and layers. But, I see them.

“Who’s Head Command?” “I am.”

I get the impression these two have been avoiding one another. Dimitri is distancing himself to try to regain some of his control. Rose is avoiding him because she looked for comfort at the Ceremony and he offered her none. So, now she doesn’t know what to think of him, and she doesn’t have time to deal with that right now.

But, of course, fate has other ideas.

We know the Dimitri was tracking her. Why else would he be right there? But, it’s also so indicative of where he is... trying to keep his distance, but still keep an eye on her, still protect her. He’s trying to toe the edges of Duty without going over.

And her face when she sees him. She swallows. She freezes. Her open mouth shuts this time in his presence. Trying to go off-book with Dimitri in charge is going to be tough... and there’s the whole elephant in the room of him being literally driven to distraction by her existence. And them never discussing it, again, and him being cold to her (from her perspective) at the ceremony.

Sh*t. She did not want to have to face this at the same time as Mikhail’s family.

And his face. Oh, this poor boy is so whipped. And he’s not looking forward to this, either. He already knows that he needs to collect Mikhail’s sister on this trip, and he knows how raw Rose is at the moment.

And he’s been trying so hard to avoid her. But now they’re going to be alone. On a mission. With no watching eyes.

To borrow an expression from Rose: Fuck.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

He’s giving her an out. This Duty is ugly... relocating non-royals from their homes. But here, as he asks, she lets him in on her real motivation for joining this mission.

“I can’t sleep.”

The words hit Dimitri. Because, try as he might to pretend he doesn’t, he cares.

“I keep seeing him... Mikhail. So I thought if I come here and see his sister, Sasha, and their father, to ask their forgiveness... maybe it would make my dreams a little better.”

I find this staging fascinating... because she’s pointed away from him, while he’s turned his head to face her. And yet, she’s still opening up to him in a way she hasn’t anyone else. She can still talk to him in a way she can’t anyone else, even when she has no idea where they stand in the midst of the confusion.

She finally looks over to face him at the end. He looks back at her.

There’s a charge.

Because all he wants to do is help her, to comfort her, to be there for her. But he’s trying so hard to keep everything under wraps.

She turns in a little further to him as she feels that charge, questioning him, giving him an opportunity to say something.

But he turns away.

Why does he turn away? So many reasons. So many. But most of all, he’s trying to be there for her in the ways that are appropriate (or that he can convince himself are appropriate) without crossing the line. He’s trying so hard to stay on the line of Duty.

No more slipping.

But, in his rigidity, he’s missing what it’s doing to Rose. He thought he could put the distance back and they’d be fine.

But the distance was never meant to be there.

They work better as a team, as a yin and yang pulling out the different parts of one another until they swirl and meet in the middle. And as he’s busy shutting down, he doesn’t realize that Rose is slowly shutting him out.

She gets out of the car and he nods to himself. Yup. This is going to f*cking suck.

Dimitri Tries to Control His Temper

I know a lot of people see this as hot and no disrespect to that... but as someone who was raised by a parent with a temper and now has to control her own... I can relate to him. It’s so hard to keep it under wraps and under control when things are decidedly not going your way, and there’s nobody else to deal with this, so you have no bloody choice but to calm down and keep moving.

He’s taking his moment to calm down when Rose appears.

Of f*cking course.

He rolls his eyes and squares his jaw. He’s already pissed and trying to keep it cool, and here comes Rose to challenge everything... as usual.

He turns to face her, arms still crossed, completely bottled up and trying to maintain control of his temper.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” “I knew you wouldn’t like it.” “You’re damn right!”

He does know her. It hasn’t taken long, but he’s very aware of her fire, passion, determination, and unavoidable stubbornness. She starts to go off on him, as he expected she would.

But he didn’t expect her to double over in sudden agony.

“Rose. What’s wrong?”

Everything shifts.

Dimitri can keep it together and stay in his “Duty Box” until the moment she veers off-course. His arms uncross faster than you can say, “Something’s wrong with Rose” and he’s grabbing ahold of her. His eyes look to her, searching for a sign that she’s okay, full of concern.

The man even gulps as he tries to hold her upright, searching for the cause of her sudden pain.

“Rose”

When Dimitri comes to tell Rose that Lissa is okay, her positioning is so fascinating to me. She’s leaning against the wall, arms crossed, her view partially blocked by a curtain.

In all actuality, the curtain might have been a strategic choice to not have to show/light/populate a portion of the set. Easier to let us imagine what’s on the other side than actually see it.

But in the camera’s lens, it clearly shows Rose on the edge of something she believes she’ll never have—a loving family.

“Guardian HQ says Lissa is fine.” “I know.”

He thinks he’s bringing her some comfort—something that falls along the lines of accepted ways to do something for her without crossing the Duty line—but she’s nonplussed. She already knew.

And that raises questions for him. But, he’s not going to ask them, now. His mind is back on the task, on what they need to do, on taking Sasha in and getting the stragglers out of there.

“I’m not going anywhere. And neither are they.”

Watch. His. Face.

Another eyeroll. Another clenched jaw. It’s not unexpected, but he was kinda hoping to get through this without Rose throwing out the rule book.

He turns back to her.

“We’re risking lives if we stay.”

Translation: I’m not leaving without you. I already know you’re made up your mind. I’m trying to get you to see reason.

“You don’t want to talk to me anymore, fine.”

OOoooh, burn. Because, if we’re honest, he’s not done a lot of talking to her this episode. He’s trying not to say too much, not to give away too much, to shove everything back inside and pretend he never said anything.

And she’s calling him on it.

“Do your duty. Be the good soldier. But I’m done following the orders of people who don’t put me first.”

It’s not a personal attack, this one. She means in general. Her own bloody leader, Alberta, put all of them in danger with the Strigoi attack. It’s apparent, to her, that the safety of Guardians doesn’t matter, and that they get the short end of everything in life.

Rose has already told Dimitri that she wants more than just to be a Guardian. And she also told him she was questioning if she wanted to do it anymore after Mikhail’s death.

She’s talking about the tendency for orders to not care about people like her.

But it strikes a different cord in Dimitri.

His eyes narrow. He huffs out an annoyed chuckle. It reminds me of their conversation outside the bar. He goes to that place inside of what he wants versus what he thinks he can have. And it hurts.

“Of course I want to put you first, but I can’t.”

Talk about double meanings, here. Yes, he means in terms of the missions and what they need to do. But the Chain of Command is clear, and staying in line with Duty is paramount.

But there’s also the underlying truth that he wants to put her first in all things... in ways he shouldn’t.

“Guardians follow orders, Rose, or the system crumbles.” “The system is broken.”

This is them in a nutshell. Dimitri is trying desperately to maintain order by sticking to what he knows with a tenacity that rivals obsession.

And Rose is an up-and-coming Guardian who sees the cracks in society, and wants to make life better for all, even if she has no idea how to do it.

But this is their dance they’ve been doing all season—Rose closer to the edge of chaos, Dimitri closer to the edge of rote ritualistic obedience. And in this story they drift ever closer to one another...

“I know too much about my father.”

That little knowing nod breaks my heart. It’s slight, but it’s there. You understand instantly that he was abusive. You know more about Dimitri’s childhood in seven words than we’ve learned up to this point.

“I want to be nothing like him. With no rules, I’m afraid I would be. I have to follow orders.” “I don’t.”

This is a powerful exchange. She’s obviously touched by what he’s said, but she’s still on her stubborn crusade.

“And if you don’t like it, you can take me in right alongside Sasha.”

This is a turning point.

It might not seem like it, but as Dimitri looks seemingly from the stone wall to Rose (talk about being between a rock and a hard place), he has to consider that possibility. He knows that Rose is going to follow her own path, here. He knows that he can’t talk her out of it. He can’t control her.

All he can control is how he reacts... what he does next.

We won’t see him again until the perimeter fires burn outside, but in that time I imagine he’s done a lot of thinking. He kept thinking he could be there for Rose without overstepping Duty, that he could somehow have it both—be there for her without overstepping.

But in this conversation, he’s realized that she is shutting him out on all levels because she thinks he doesn’t care. Pretending not to care isn’t helping. It’s wedging them apart, and he can finally see that.

Rose is hurting, and all he’s doing is adding to her pain.

“The perimeter fires were a good idea.”

She stands there, feeling like she’s doing something to help Mikhail’s family by taking Sasha’s watch for the night. Her arms are crossed in one of Dimitri’s favorite positions.

He’s complimenting her. Trying to start the conversation off on a good foot, despite how the last one went. Rose, though, is still on the defensive. Her walls are back up where he’s concerned.

Yes, she thought about lowering them after his little confession of distraction, but after his actions of this week, she’s not sure he meant them. Remember, Rose has been played. Rose has been manipulated. Rose has not be selflessly loved.

So instead of thanking him for his compliment, she’s biting back.

“Shouldn’t you be keeping a careful eye on Sasha.”

He rolls his eyes, again. But this time he’s not upset. He’s more annoyed that he came out here to talk to her, to support her, but he’s met with disdain.

“Yes. But maybe...”

He short-circuits. He switches gear.

“You need this fight, Rose. I know you’re hurting.”

And she looks away. Feelings. She rarely talks about them, anyway, and the two times she reached out to him lately (during the Ceremony and then in the car), he’s been completely unavailable. He’s shut her down, looked away, given her nothing. She doesn’t want to talk feelings with him right now.

But he needs her to hear him. He’s made a very important decision since their last conversation. And tough as it is, he’s realized he can’t go back. He can’t take back his confession. He can’t bottle it back up.

It’s all or nothing.

He leans closer to her eyeline, trying to grab her attention.

“And I’d do anything to make it stop.”

The words do it. Rose looks up to him in surprise. Her lips part.

This is a promise. This is a declaration. This is an affirmation.

Remember, it’s still just words to Rose. She needs action. That’s how she communicates and how she experiences the world. But, these are important words for him.

She looks into his eyes for confirmation that he’s not backing down this time, that he really means it, that he’s not going to bait-and-switch her. He looks back down, letting her see his truth in the raw.

Flickering light illuminates them as they look at one another, the fiery flames fanning the fire within them.

“Thank you.”

The words tumble out of Rose’s mouth. She doesn’t know what else to say. When it comes to others, she can give grand speeches. But when it comes to herself, words often fail her.

He nods to her. It’s barely a nod, but it’s there. This is a promise. He means it. He’d do anything to stop her pain.

“They’re here.”

When Rose doubles over this time, Dimitri supports her, but doesn’t ask questions. He waits for her to straighten, but the question rests on his brow. He’s concerned. He’s worried.

Fighting the Strigois

The fight is objectively hot. Rose and Dimitri fighting back-to-back, Dimitri aware Rose needs help when he’s fighting his own bloody Strigoi and kicking hers off her, the way he looks up at the end of the staking to see if she’s alright.

But, can we talk abut Dimitri’s magic foot? That’s the THIRD Stirgoi he’s yeeted off of Rose with that foot! I hereby decree it shall henceforth be known as Dimitri’s Magic Foot.

“Where’s Sasha?”

He. Knows. Her.

He doesn’t have to ask if she had anything to do with it, or question that Rose knows something.

And can we talk about the positioning? He’s taken a step up the stairs, leaning down on the railing, practically whispering in her ear. He’s more comfortable invading her space than before.

Yes, they don’t want the world to hear their conversation, but Dimitri is definitely getting cozier with being closer to Rose after last night’s promise and fight.

“What did you do?” “I told her to run.”

She takes a step away, to put distance between them. She knows he isn’t going to like this. She knows he’s going to be angry. But she doesn’t regret doing what she thinks is right.

Their conversation last night doesn’t matter. Yes, those were words. Nice words. But still just words.

He spins her back to face him, letting her know this conversation is not over.

“For fuck’s sake, Rose. Now she’s AWOL. Do you have any idea what they’ll do to her if they find her? What they’ll do to you if they find out that you helped?”

He looks away talking about Sasha, but he looks back to Rose when talking about her.

“I’m not sorry.” “You never are.”

This is one point that really gets under his skin. It’s something that tosses him back to his Novice views of her. She’s so bloody stubborn.

Doesn’t mean that she’s wrong.

And that’s something Dimitri starts to realize.

“We risk our lives to keep lowly little shits like that alive. Sasha should be punished for speaking the truth or wanting something for herself. She deserves better. We all do.”

That last line strikes him the hardest.

Does he? Does he really deserve something that he wants?

His head whips away from her. He adjusts away from her. He’s trying to pull it back.

But last night he said he’d do anything to stop her pain. He meant it.

But how far will he go?

“Sir, if I may-” “No, you may not, Novice.”

Watch her mouth close. Watch her snap into what she’s supposed to do, how she’s supposed to act. He called her out. He dressed her down. She has no choice but to be silent.

And watch how she tries not to react to Dimitri’s next words.

“I apologize for the late debrief. Guardian Tanner died doing her duty in a Strigoi attack.”

He stands with his hands folded in front of him, his typical pose when in Guardian mode. He speaks in measured tones. His words are familiar in pattern and form.

But they’re false.

Rose tries not to respond, not to react, but holy shit, is this really happening?

“You can pay your respects at the funeral pyre.”

He gets through it. He and Rose salute and watch as the Guardian proceeds to pay his respects to the burning corpse of Mikhail’s father.

Once he’s out of earshot, Rose turns to face Dimitri, looking for the ulterior motive, for the catch, to find out what he wants in exchange.

But he can’t speak. He can’t say it. And in his silence—that sharp but shuddering inhale—she finds the answer.

He’s choosing her.

It’s an action. It’s so much more than words. Dimitri just stepped so far outside of the lines to protect Rose. To protect her.

He put her first.

And much as she has always wanted that, this is the first time she’s face-to-face with someone who has actually done it.

But she knows him. He’s keeping it together. He’s trying to stay on task. So, instead of saying anything else, she changes gear, saying that they should get going.

She’s giving him back his control.

But... He has another idea.

Dimitri. Rose. A Molnija. And a F*cking Ice Cube.

Rose pulls her hair from her neck to give Dimitri a clear space for the mark. She sits at the desk, her turtleneck discarded, but her jacket draped off her shoulder, zipped up enough to keep her from showing the entire show to Dimitri.

But, let’s be honest, he doesn’t even need that at this point to be in too deep.

He works on the mark itself. He’s making the mark on her... from that night together fighting a Strigoi. Painful as it is, this mark ties her, Mikhail, and Dimitri together forever. She’s honoring her friend.

And instead of a big ceremony with everyone watching while she tries not to hyperventilate, it’s just her and Dimitri... like it was that night she earned this mark.

He blows on her neck to try to alleviate her pain. Her breathing changes as her eyes close, sinking into the feeling of his breath on her skin. He looks to her, noting her reaction. He’s savoring it.

He knows he could stop, that he could take a step back from this moment. But, Dimitri isn’t running from Rose today. If anything, he’s running toward her. He blows on her neck, again, watching her eyes close in pleasure, noting the change in her breathing.

Everything in him is charged, the ache of desire he’d buried for her shifting through him with renewed vigor. He’s not going to stop unless she asks him to.

And we all know she doesn’t want him to stop.

He reaches for the ice cubes and places one on her Molnija mark, a trick to bring down the swelling. But he can’t help himself. He trails down her spine, exploring as he gauges her reaction, the desire in her rising to meet the swelling want in him.

But Rose Hathaway isn’t one to passively react. Rose Hathaway follows through.

She can’t take anymore. She has to touch him. To kiss him. To return some of the pleasure he’s given and receive more for herself.

Rose looks up at him, lips parted, eyes seeking. Do you know what you’re doing to me!? Oh, honey. He knows. He definitely knows.

As she stands, she keeps her eyes locked on his, locked on him. He’s her destination and now it’s his turn to say “stop”.

But we all know he doesn’t want her to stop.

He straightens to make space for her—but he doesn’t step back. He doesn’t want to step back anymore. That didn’t work. The only way through this is forward.

Once she’s standing, her eyes wander from his lips to his eyes and back again. He joins her in the dance as they inch ever closer. The air around them crackles with energy as their auras meet and mingle, ignited by the fire within.

Her body sways to an invisible song that he’s already been playing on her body. She’s aching for the crescendo.

She’s been driven insane by him. First, he puts her first by protecting her. Then, she has to deal with his breath on her body, his fingers on her skin, that ice cube down her back. Everything within her is bursting with desire and there’s no distance close enough for her.

She wants it all.

Dimitri is barely contained. It’s taking every ounce of his control to not be the first one to make a move. But, honestly, Dimitri, honey... the ice cube!? That was all you. You knew what you were doing. You were trying to drive her mad and savoring every second of it.

But Rose Hathaway isn’t one to sit demurely while on the brink of pleasure. No, she goes after it.

And he wants it.

Dimitri watches her, not moving forward himself, but not stopping her. The vein on his neck pops with the strain of restraining himself from touching her, kissing her, enveloping her in his arms. He’s on the last threads of the cord of control, and he knows it.

But he’s ready to let go.

Rose and Dimitri finally stop their dance and commit to the motions—eyes connecting. They look to one another’s lips in concert, the gap between them near nonexistent. As her nose settles against his, she closes her eyes. His skin touches hers and his eyes close last—at peace.

That’s what drives me mad about that moment. Dimitri is no longer in conflict with himself over Duty vs Love... at least not in this moment. As he closes his eyes, there’s no trepidation. No worry. No anxiety.

He’s releasing completely into living this moment with Rose.

The world blurs, and when it finds itself again, Rose and Dimitri are devouring one another. There’s no holding back. His hands touch her face, her chin. Her hands pull him closer before she threads her fingers into his hair, wanting to pull him completely into her.

Lips meet with abandon, Dimitri’s tongue daring to seek hers as their bodies press closer and closer.

It’s not close enough.

Rose wraps her arms around his neck and shoulders and he matches her movement instinctively, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer. Everything with them screams for one another, simultaneously releasing into this moment and aching for the next.

He can taste her for the first time, and it’s everything he was too afraid to imagine. His thirst is now insatiable—forever marked by Rose and the taste of her tongue on his.

Rose sinks into his longing and love, no longer doubting his words. He showed her with his actions that he was putting her first against everything within him. And that’s a man to whom she can give all of herself. All he has to do is ask.

They can’t let go... and they can’t go back. No matter how the rest of the season turns out for these two, this is a point of no return that will mark their future. No more doubts. No more fear. No more pretending. No more avoiding.

Rose and Dimitri find themselves alone... and they’re not wasting another minute.

Side Note: When all we had were guesses about the context, I, too, was wondering why Rose chose to practically undress for the Molnija mark. Seeing her in the turtleneck helped explain it, but I still bloody believe it was strategic because nobody could blame Dimitri for being able to resist Rose Hathaway in that condition...

As if he had any chances of resisting her at all!

Side Note #2: This is my favorite episode thus far not just for the Romitri, but for everything else. I loved the movement on Mermia. I thought the Christian/Mia friendship was something I never knew I needed, but I totally do, now. And Adrian is a GEM. I see why so many book lovers adore him. He has amazing chemistry (not necessarily ship-jumping here, folks, just talking great chemistry) with Lissa.

As always, thanks for reading. I’ll likely do episodes 7-10 as a batch... but we shall see. Have a great day!

[callsignthirsty]

I'll do #9 "I don't care how good it feels you'd better not cum until I tell you to." With Bradley 😏

hey girl, hey —

so I’m finally getting around to the smut prompt fills from forever ago. please enjoy my first crack at writing Rooster. I had a fun time writing him, so hopefully it translates.

Pairing: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x F!reader Word Count: 1005 Warnings: sex toys, slightly under-negotiated kink (kind of), in public, overstimulation (mentioned) Minors DNI

Smut Prompt #9

The last thing any of the Daggers had expected after the uranium mission was to be granted time off. Not that you were going to look a gift horse in the mouth when it meant that your boyfriend would be home for two whole months. The time off was a gift, and you were determined that you and Bradley would make the most of the unexpected time together.

All over his assigned housing.

After three weeks, the endorphins had you in a good—if slightly loopy, dick-drunk—mood, and when the Instagram algorithm struck while Bradley was in the shower, who were you to say no?

Which is how you ended up with your newest toy for $39.99 plus shipping and handling.

Frankly, you’d thought it would be hot. Sexy. Something to spice up your already adventurous sex life. The ad made it seem like a good time, and the premise was simple enough: a remote-controlled vibrating egg tethered to an app on your boyfriend’s phone.

You’d managed to keep hush-hush about it while it shipped, entertaining visions of Bradley activating the toy while you made dinner or watched a movie. Maybe, if you were both feeling up to it, you’d wear it out while the two of you were out on a date. A trip to enjoy sunbathing on the beach. So once your package had arrived, it was fair to say that when Bradley had invited you out to the beach, waggling his eyebrows as he offered you the toy and an opportunity to take your play outside, all from his open palm, you’d said yes with a smile.

What you hadn’t expected was for his squad mates to be there. Your fate sealed when a weak mechanical vibration made itself known between your legs as Phoenix pulled you into a hug.

Dogfight football, you’re sure, is a lot more fun to watch or ignore when you aren’t being tortured. You grab an ice cube from a nearby cooler and cup it to the back of your neck, but it does nothing to cool the fire raging inside you. You whine, face tilted up toward the sun. If anything, the shock of ice against your heated skin makes everything worse. Skin tingling. Senses heightened.

“Rooster!” you squeak, grabbing more than just your boyfriend’s attention to the point that you must remind yourself that no one else knows. “Can you c’mere real quick?”

Rooster smirks, all broad shoulders and glistening tan as he passes his Nerf ball off to Coyote and makes his way toward you. “Yeah, babe?”

“Please,” you whine when he’s close enough. You’ve already crimped your beer can, toes curling in the sand as you try desperately not to writhe for all his friends and other beachgoers to see.

“Please what?”

You don’t see his hand disappear into his pocket, but you feel it. This time, you can’t help but arch your back, a gasp tumbling from your lips. “I need to cum. God, just–” He cuts you off with his lips against yours, pressing you into sun-warmed sand, and you drag him with you. You open your mouth and welcome his tongue with your own as you press your chest to his, overeager to feel his body against yours. Every touch sends a zing straight to your core. You don’t care that you’re on the beach. You don’t even care that his friends can definitely see you. You just. Need. to cum.

You’re almost there when the vibrations cut out completely.

This time your groan is from frustration. Because what the hell? Did it just die on you?!

You’re contemplating a refund when Bradley parts from you with a nip to your lower lip. “I don’t care how good it feels,” he murmurs, close enough that his mustache tickles your lip when he speaks. The toy pulses once, then goes still again. “You’d better not cum until I tell you to.”

“Bradshaw!” Bradley’s head whips around to where one of his squad mates is heckling him back to their game.

“Be right there!” He presses a wet kiss right below the crux of your jaw. “Don’t worry, this game’s almost over.”

You heave a sigh of relief. “Thank god.” The sooner you can drag Bradley back to his housing assignment, the better.

“Best two out of three.”

You pout. “Bradley.”

“Then maybe some drinks. Wouldn’t want to leave if everyone’s sticking around.”

“If you really think I’m sticking around for you t–” You’re cut off as the vibrator kicks up again, this time settling into a pattern that is just light enough that you know it’ll drive you mad.

“Bradshaw! Let’s go!”

Rooster stands up, idly brushing sand from his shorts, sunglasses snug on his stupidly handsome face. “Be good.”

What follows is the longest, most tortuous game of dogfight football probably ever. It feels like Bradley purposefully lets the other team win the second game to force a tiebreaker, all while fiddling with his phone. By the time the third game wraps and everyone makes their way to the cooler, you’re flushed and covered in beads of sweat.

Ever observant, Phoenix clocks the shake in your hand as you pass her a water bottle. Her brow furrows. “You feeling alright?”

You open your mouth to tell her you’re okay, but nothing comes out.

“Hey, Roo!” someone echos, “your girl’s looking a little flushed. She okay?”

Bradley takes a knee at your side, offering you his water like that’ll help. “You okay, baby?” And because talking hadn’t worked for you so well last time, you glare. Or try to. You’re unable to hold it. There’s no real fire behind the look—desperation and oversensitivity set in a while ago.

“Might be heatstroke,” Fanboy suggests. “Have you been drinking enough water?”

“Yeah, I just–” you cut yourself off, eyes slamming shut as the rhythmic pulsing switches up again. Blindly, you smack Bradley’s hand away from his phone. “Take me home.”

“Alright, baby,” Bradley smiles, gathering you in his strong arms. “I’ve got ya.”

[fuckmeyer]

What about a snippet? As a treat. (You can and should say no if you aren't comfortable doing that. I'm just sooooooooo excited and curious to see the next book.)

sure! lil sniglet. as a treat. i always delete stuff, so i'm happy to share. though you might see a version of this make it into the final...

Eclipse AU

[a deleted draft in which Edward & Bells are getting tacos together on their first third-first date. warning: Come Nightfall spoilers.]

“I suppose, in keeping with the theme of our first dates, I should probably confess something to you.” Edward's smoldering amber eyes captured mine. “Isabella, I and my family are vampires.”

I feigned a gasp of surprise.

“What a coincidence,” I said. “I’m a vampire slayer.”

“I’ve killed. I’ve stolen. I’ve cheated. I’ve lied.”

“Me too. Except the stealing and the cheating.”

“Yes, but you’re a terrible liar, so the latter doesn’t count, either.”

I sipped my Coke. “The Volturi didn’t seem to think I was a terrible liar.”

After a beat, Edward burst into laughter.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this lightheartedness from him - another change of Edward’s during our separation, I supposed - but it set a grin on my face.

“How very sexy of you,” he purred.

“I know you’re a sucker for women who break the law.”

“I’m a sucker in general.”

My turn to laugh. “Good one.” He winked. “Y’know, all things considered, this night turned out better than I thought.”

“Seeing as how you stayed through the appetizers this time, I’m inclined to agree.”

Blushing, I glanced down at my remaining tacos. “In keeping with the theme of our first dates, does this mean I get to ask questions?”

“Ah, what is legally referred to as our One Conversation, wherein I disclose potentially sensitive information?” he said. I nodded. “You know I loathe this game.”

“I know.”

“But I’ll do it for you. Because I adore you.”

“Ditto.” I wiped my mouth with my napkin and threw it down on the plate like a gauntlet. “Ten for ten?”

“All right,” he said. “Hit me.”

We leaned back in our seats, studying each other.

I cleared my throat. “We’ll start off easy. Besides breaking the law, tell me, Mr. Cullen, what else do you enjoy doing in your free time?”

“Well,” he said, “I’m a musician. And a composer. You might be familiar with my work.”

“You write lullabies.”

“Among other things, yes. I also play the organ, harp, clavichord, harmonica, hurdy-gurdy—”

“The what?”

“A string instrument operated via hand crank. Similar in timbre to the bagpipes.” I blinked. “That counts as one of your questions, by the way.” Before I could protest, he added, “Recently, I picked up the violin.”

Poking the ice cubes in my Coke with my straw, I brightened. “You started playing violin?”

“Part of my emergency preparedness plan. If I ever need to challenge the devil to a fiddle contest in exchange for a soul, I need to be able to play something more advanced than ‘Hot Cross Buns.’ More importantly, performing has been helping me retrain my gift.” He paused. “Oh. I’m a mindreader, by the way. Did I mention that?”

“A vampire and a mindreader?”

“I know it’s a lot to process.”

“I’m processing. Go on.”

“Besides that,” he said, “I enjoy reading, listening to music, going to art museums, and constructing pyres using the torn limbs of my enemies.”

“Hot.”

“I know you’re a sucker for men who kill.”

“I’m a sucker in general,” I said, and sipped my Coke.

It took several beautiful moments for Edward and I to stop laughing.

[what-if-nct]

hi hi hi today's reminder is your last post reminded me of something that i wanna brag about but it's wayyy too much information so all I'll say is i love my boyfriend very much lol

and if i were to allude to something slightly i might say the aftershocks when you're cuddling after a particularly good night are my favourite part and now I'll stop talking about this

Hii, I absolutely love that for you. Cuddling after a really nice evening is the best. Starting with cuddling and ending with cuddling is always a great night. I've mentioned this before but it's literally the cutest thing that has ever happened. But I was laying in this guy's lap and his new kitty who was so tiny laid on me for so long and was just the sweetest kitty. And this was after you know what ever happened then it kinda happened again. I'll take the blame I do not play fair when cuddling. But I felt so bad cause he had two kittens and I know they don't know but like still the kitties.

Also okay so last night, cause honey I was so tired I was dancing all night. It was so good. Firstly it was a girls, gays and theys event. And everyone looked amazing with all their cute looks. There were so many cows, so many sexy club outfits. The rhinestones, the glitter, I went for all hot pink cause duh and The hot pink album which is like the sister to scarlet. My bestie was kinda mixing ice spice and Doja she wore a moo shirt with cow ears and a pleated skirt where her butt was out how ice wear hers. And her wife was like a little apprehensive about her skirt but her hair covered anything. It's okay my skirt was really short too we were both the same. But I never felt safer in a mini skirt than I did last night. Also I just love women so much cause we walked into the bathroom to see our other friend hyping up and helping a random girl take pictures. And we're all telling her how cute she was. And these two girls behind us when the show ended I turned to tell them how cute they look they immediately were like "your gorgeous "to me and it was just us calling each other cute. And the way the whole stadium went so hard for Ain't Shit, like, so hard. A little too hard. Also went hard for Tia Tamera, Demons, Go Off and Paint the town red And all the completely in unison "aye, aye" during dance breaks. And Doja's smile when the whole audience kept screaming and chanting Doja when she was speaking. It was just so much fun and I but my feet still hurt and after getting to the hotel and eating a piece of rotisserie chicken breast out of my hand with cheese cubes I absolutely passed out. And me and my bestie as always spent an hour just talking in the car twice once at the gas station then again in my driveway. It was so much fun.

[ilovewhiteroses]

You cast a spell on me - Part 3.

Pairing: The Corinthian x Female Witch Reader

Genre: Smut

Warnings: sexy time, adult themes

Rating: 18+

Notes: - This chapter is mainly smut with minimal story, because Reader can’t get enough of Corinthian and I don’t blame her 😄

After revealing him your naughty fantasies, Corinthian decides to fulfill one of your desires with you…  

It has been a few days since you slept at Corinthian’s place. You went home the next day late in the afternoon and you felt really good. Not only because you realized that Corinthian, in addition to being a fantastic sex partner, you can also have a great conversation with him about anything. You ate pizza while he told you that he hates politicians, but he can imagine himself to be president (obviously!), you discussed funny things like what kind of talking animal you would turn into to troll people (you into a border collie dog, him into a lion or some other predator) while watching the Kevin Bacon movie, Hollow Man. Then you fell asleep in each other's arms... so that you can start the morning with another "physical exercise".

Of course, you also talked about sex. You said that the last time you really liked it when he licked the champagne off your breasts and you mentioned to him what and where you wanted to try. It didn't take you long to convince Corinthian, because, as he said ”he's the kinkiest man you have ever met”.

You are spending the night at his place again. Corinthian asked you to wear something comfortable because you won't be wearing it for long anyway, so you put on a white top and jeans. You could already see from the taxi that he was waiting at the gate of his home. You paid the fare and got out.

"Hi baby, how are you?" he asked as he kissed you.

"Good! I always feel good with you!" you gave the answer excitedly, to which he smiled and you entered the house.

"I am very happy to hear that. I have planned something for the evening that I hope you will like.” he said suspiciously.

"Really?" you asked as you put your bag down and slipped out of your shoes. What could it be?

"You said that one day you would like to have sex in the kitchen, with an ice cube stimulating your body as foreplay." Corinthian said. He took off his light brown shirt and dark pants, which he then placed on the edge of the sofa, indicating that he wanted you right now, despite the fact that you had arrived just a few minutes ago.

As soon as he said that, you felt like your body was almost on fire and your pussy was throbbing. Until now, for some reason, you have never done it in the kitchen, even though you have wanted to try it for a long time. Of course, he had already done it, in fact, maybe there wasn't a place where he hadn't been naughty.

"Hmm, that sounds really, really good!" you said in a sexy voice while running a hand through your hair. Corinthian walked up to you and kissed you and whispered in your ear.

"Get undressed, while I make some mood lighting in the kitchen."

In no time, you took off everything and by then the kitchen was in a pleasant dim light. He was standing at the kitchen counter.

"Come here. I would like you to sit on the counter.” he kindly instructed you and you did so. The counter was cold at first, but your body quickly warmed it up.

Corinthian opened the freezer and removed an ice cube from an ice cube holder.

"Now I'm going to slide this ice cube all over your body, but be careful, it will be cold at first!" she said mischievously, then changed to a deeper, sexier voice. "Lie on your back and close your eyes."

You lay down with your knees bent and your butt near the edge of the counter, then you closed your eyes, which you regretted a little because you wanted to see him. He first carefully touched the cube to your lips, then slowly guided it along your chin, down to your neck. There, he stroked it along both sides, and then gently down to your breasts. He gently rubbed it against your nipples, while you let out soft sighs. It was a sign to him that you were enjoying it, it was an insanely sexy feeling as the cold touched your hot body.

"You like that?" Corinthian asked in a satisfied voice.

"Hmm, yes. I love how you do this to me!” you replied and felt your pussy getting wet.

He continued downwards from your breasts, the ice cube slowly slid down your navel and then your stomach, then your inner thighs. Meanwhile, in your mind, you couldn't wait for your private part to come, you were already so horny that you wanted to touch yourself.

The ice cube had almost melted, but that didn't bother him, in fact! He took the rest in his mouth and then leaned over to your pussy. He breathed on it, which almost made you cum. He carefully licked into you with his cold tongue, moving it slowly and sensually up and down on your folds, while stimulating your clitoris with the tip of his tongue. You couldn't keep your eyes closed any longer, you opened them and watched him work on you down there while you gently ran your fingers through his hair, and he moaned, he knew you liked it. You didn't have to wait long for the orgasm, which hit you with such force that you thought you were going to fall off the counter, but luckily you didn't.

"I see you liked the icy pleasure." Corinthian said in a seductive voice.

"Oh my God, yes! It was one of the most erotic experiences I have ever had!” you said after catching your breath. He hummed smugly, he loved being praised.

"Now, it’s my turn!" you said and climbed off the counter. You looked in Corinthian's fridge to see what you could use. Your eyes lit up when you saw a bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup. You took it out.

"Baby, what are you going to do with that? Are you going to pour it on me then lick it off?” He asked with a wide grin.

"Exactly. But I would like you to stay standing, so I can get to your body more easily." you said and in the process you pressed a little of the syrup on your middle finger and licked it off. He licked his lips, apparently liking the sight. Standing, he leaned his back against the counter, and you gently, slowly poured the syrup onto his chest. You put the bottle aside and started to lick it off, first between his pecs, then one nipple, then the other. When you reached them, Corinthian let out a loud groan. After you licked the chocolate off of him, you kissed his neck and then looked deeply into the dark lenses of his sunglasses. You bit your lip, caressed his previously smeared chest and knelt down in front of him. You started stroking his erection and took it in your mouth because you couldn't wait any longer. You slowly began to suck, moving it in and out of your mouth, while he carefully guided you by the head. This went on for a while, then you stopped and said. "I want you to lie on the floor!"

He obediently did so, and you sat on him in a riding position, placed his cock in your wet pussy and began to ride him with sensual hip movements. You placed your hands on his chest and he held on to your hips, enjoying you being in control. You leaned forward to kiss him, while he also started moving in and out of you. Corinthian sat up with you, holding your back with one hand, supporting himself with the other, you clinging to his shoulders and moving your hips more and more intensively. Both of you enjoyed the feeling, the pleasure with your eyes closed and your head tilted back, and when you couldn't 't take it anymore, you reached your climax amid loud moans. You both sprawled on the floor.

"This was amazing, thank you for letting me try it with you." you said between deep breaths.

"You welcome. It was fantastic for me too.” He said after he caught his breath and stood up, then helped you up like a gentleman.

You didn't want to leave the kitchen in this state, so you said a magic spell related to cleaning and the kitchen came to life: the mop mopped up the floor which got messy from your sweaty bodies, the chocolate syrup returned itself into the fridge, and the paper towel cleaned up the counter nicely. If someone had looked through the window, they would have thought that the ghost of a cleaning crew had taken over the kitchen. Corinthian was very amused by the magical sight, he was a little sorry that he didn't have the same abilities as you. A few minutes later, everything was as clear as if nothing had happened. You went to shower together and discussed what sexy thing you should try next...

Tags: @thecorilove86​

[rinsoap]

˚ ༘ ♡⋆｡˚ ﾐ the big inarizaki three's favourite artists! (remastered)

✿²˖ ࣪ ➣ includes : suna rintaro. atsumu miya. osamu miya.

note : HEYYY IT'S BEEN A HOT MINUTE LMFAO my bad y'all... i'm hyperfixated on haikyuu again + i've been real fixated on music 4 the past year so i thought i should revisit this lol

SUNA RINTARO:

!!? of course he likes playboi carti. who do u think he is?! he found most of his favourite artists from tiktok or his friends and the one exception is playboi carti. he's BEEN a fan since his self titled debut album. he's so annoying about disliking carti's new era. def went as vamp carti for halloween. he was really into the corny ass opium aesthetic when it first became popular until his friends had to tell him it wasn't hard 😭 once he discovered real alternative like metal, he chilled out lol.

his favourite songs by playboi carti are:

★ lean 4 real (ft skepta) on the die lit album.

★ flex on the playboi carti album.

★ not pLaying on the whole lotta red album.

!!? i still believe he's a kpop fan and his favourite group is new jeans. don't talk to me. he loves all that melodic kpop like bibi and IU. don't worry though, he's not a weirdo about it, he just loves the mv lore. he's watched the ditto mv a hundred times over and TRUST the new ep had him geeked. he even has a stan twitter account but it's private and only the miya twins and iwaizumi are following it YES him and iwa r bffs YES iwa put him on most of favourite artists

his favourite songs by new jeans are:

★ get up on the newjeans 2nd EP 'get up'.

★ right now on the supernatural EP.

★ attention on the newjeans 1st EP 'new jeans'.

⌗ HONOURABLE SONG MENTIONS: LOOP (ft lil cherry) by yves. jennifer's body by ken carson. be quiet and drive (far away) by deftones. true romance by pinkpantheresss. I THINK by tyler, the creator.

OSAMU MIYA:

!!? he's been into metal since forever. he's the coolest deftones fan as in he's not fucking annoying about 🙏 he likes a lot of alt rock he might even be an honourary goth. he's still mad at anthony fantano for only rating koi no yokan a 6/10. has a big around the fur poster in his room that definitely has scared atsumu when he gets up in the middle of the night.

his favourite songs by deftones are:

★ 7 words on the adrenaline album.

★ dai the flu on the around the fur album.

★ rx queen on the white pony album.

!!? average MF DOOM lover... he started listening to him after hearing him on the gta 5 radio him n suna n atsumu play all the time and he was immediately obsessed. the orgin story to him being rap snob. it's not as bad as it was for suna with carti but he's big into old school alternative/underground hiphop and to the right crowd it can come off dorky which is who he is at heart!!! but mostly it just comes off sooo pretentious lol. "did you know mm... food is an anagram of mf doom 🤓" they faces killing me why no one gaf 😭

his favourite songs by MF DOOM are:

★ raid on the madvillainy album.

★ vomitspit on the MM...FOOD album.

★ go with the flow on the operation: doomsday album.

⌗ HONOURABLE SONG MENTIONS: survival tactics by joey bada$$. love will tear us apart by joy division. through the wire by kanye west. pretty by korn. you know how we do it by ice cube.

MIYA ATSUMU:

!!? ooh i just KNOW he's a brent faiyaz stan. look at his stupid face and then look me in my eyes and TELL ME he's not blasting larger than life 24/7. he loves stereotypical rnb him n oikawa will literally arrange cry sessions to ctrl by sza... but anyways. the way he turns into the most conceited and insufferable mf when he listens to brent's music must be studied... bro he'll turn on role model and start winking at himself in the mirror like SOMEONE STOP HIMMM

his favourite songs by brent faiyaz are:

★ ALL MINE on the WASTELAND album.

★ upset on the larger than life album.

★ talk 2 u on the sonder son album.

!!? he loves his sexy rnb but he also lovesss his pop girlies and the bridge between that is doja cat. he's an og fan of course he was bumpin say so BEFORE it got big or so he says he's a big fan of the hiphop elements of her music. and ooh best believe he is LIVING for her scarlet era he is a demons defender till he dies. "you guys just didn't understand what she was going for" right..

his favourite songs by doja cat are:

★ bottom bitch on the hot pink album

★ go off on the scarlet album.

★ options (ft JID) on the planet her album.

⌗ HONOURABLE SONG MENTIONS: never lose me (ft SZA and cardi b) by flo milli. espresso by sabrina carpenter. feels like summer by childish gambino. ex for a reason (with JT from city girls) by summer walker. mrs. officer by lil wayne.

[go-learn-esperanto]

[Passerine Spoilers please scroll fast and don't read if you haven't read Passerine yet]

Ok, I decided to go to Twitter to search for a Tweet that I like (I'm almost never on Twitter) and I stumbled through Thcscus tweet explaining she wrote Phil's wife as the Samsung Smart Fridge.

Now I already knew she had done this —It's not the first time she revealed this detail —but I read the replies to her Tweet and I can't breathe

[ID:

Tweets by Kyle (@thcscus):

so um is this a good time to say that i wrote the passerine mum not as mumza but as the. the samsung smart fridge

BECAUSE I DIDNT KNOW WHAT MUMZAS BOUNDARIES ARE REGARDING FANFIC SO I JUST *VAGUELY GESTURES*

THATS ALSO WHY SHES NEVER MENTIONED BY NAME LOL

Comment by Ender Mama (@EnderPandoran):

Sorry brain just thought of that scene where she cups Techno’s cheek and I just saw him getting smacked with a fridge door...

Comment by EM�� • Subscribe to Technoblade • 80% (@sleepybl4de):

I CANT FUCKING STOP LAUGHING. FUCKER JUST GETS HIT BY A FUCKING FRIDGE DOOR. I cant take this anymore 😭💀

Comment by CanonicalChaos (@BadlamBound):

Are you... Are you telling me I spent 15 minutes crying iver the death of a Samsung Smart Refrigerator??

Comment by dani 🇧🇷 🏳️‍🌈 ( ranboo art 📌) (@danithemoth):

i mean id also cry if one of them died. they're pretty expensive 😔

Comment by kae ✡ (@endrwalkr):

so does this make pass!tommy and pass!wilbur part fridge or

Comment by Sara :D (@Clayotic_):

Half-god half-kitchen-appliance hybrids

Comment by dolsu (@dandybrew):

so youre telling me pass!philza spent 10 years away from his family to figure out how to turn a samsung smart refrigerator back on?

Comment by prom🤡⚡ (@promsofa):

you’re telling me pass!phil abandoned his kids for ten years because his favorite sexy fridge stopped working

Comment by Dino (@dino_invisible):

One you said that I thought of the death scene and all I can image is

[Screenshot of Sad-is Sunsprite's Eulogy animatic where Tommy is crying at his mother deathbed. A photo of a Samsung Smart Fridge was put above the drawing of the mother.]

Comment by parker b. peter (@antifajasontodd):

the voices in wilburs head wasnt dream. it was bluetooth

Comment by chloe (0/9) (@mellqhis):

when she died did the light go out on the inside? did ice cubes fall from the water dispenser on the door? OH MY GOD.

Comment by Garzaa (@_AGweirdo):

"no... they take after their mothers[...]" tommy opens his mouth and a light turns on

wilbur randomly starts doing a sound similar to HMMMMMMM at random hours of the night

End ID]

[radiorenjun]

eine kleine || h.rj

¤ pairing : huang renjun x reader

¤ genre : fluff, angst, slight humor, romance, drama, slight fantasy!au, royalty!au, arranged marriage!au, slight unrequited love!au, 1880!au, enemies to lovers!au, prince!renjun x princess!reader. 

¤ synopsis : your selfish, ignorant parents had sent you off to be wedded with a stranger you’ve only met once to save your kingdom from falling into poverty. Fortunately for you, the Huangs welcomed you into their family with open arms, except for their stone-hearted son (alias your fiance), Huang Renjun, who believed that you were just after his family’s wealth and fortune.

Will you manage to finally live the happy life you’ve been craving for all these years of neglect?

Will you manage to thaw his heart like an ice cube in the summer heat?

Or will you crumble under the pressure of being wedded to the cold hearted prince?  

¤ warnings: the reader is often described to wear a dress here, mentions of murder, mentions of alcohol, falling from a great height bcuz magic, MAJOR character death, HEAVY angst, child neglection, toxic parents, financial problems, mentions of blood, loss of family member, historical inaccuracies is sexy, heartbreak, the reader gets sick, mentions of being overworked, mentions of war, slight swearing, execution, death, despair,  renjun is a dick, renjun is a tsundere, threatening to behead someone *looks at renjun*, arguments, hISTORICAL INNACURACIES, crying. probs yangyang slander.

¤ word count : 27.6k

¤ a/n: this fic features a few of my moots hehe. also, special thanks to @chicksung​ for proof reading some of this lmfao IM SORRY THIS FIC WAS TOO LONG

¤ DISCLAIMER: PLEASE LISTEN TO THIS PLAYLIST TO SET THE MOOD WHILE YOU’RE READING -> here

"Do you think Renjun and I would like each other?"

The way your voice carried your words was quite similar to a pin dropping in a silent classroom : unexpected but soft and calm. Your personal maid slash nanny who has been taking care of you since the start of your pre-teen years, Gwen, grunted as she tugged on the strings to tighten the corset around your upper body.

Gwen let out a soft "huh?" In response, pushing her spectacles up to the bridge of her nose as she stood up straight to grab the brush that was placed on your dressing table. "L-like?" She stammered out nervously, you could almost hear the gears working inside of her head, desperate to fish out a response. "I'm sure you will eventually, it's impossible to dislike one forever, your highness," she responded, she didn't even know if she was telling the truth or not. And neither did you.

"He's such a grumpster, it's preposterous how a human being could be that cold- no! Stone! That's the word, stone-hearted! It’s like the man has never experienced joy in his life before!" You exclaimed, putting your chin on your palms as you looked back at your reflection in the mirror, softly admiring the light make up Gwen had applied on your face moments prior to this conversation. 

"I'm sure you'd thaw his heart out, my lady," she chuckled softly, turning to some other maid behind her to go fetch some hair clips from the other room. “Like ice!” one of your other maids exclaimed with an enthusiastic nod, you couldn't help but let out an incredulous laugh at their words. "Thaw? I appreciate the encouragement. I really do, but I can't thaw out something that's made out of literal stone! I swear, Medusa stared into his heart at birth or something," you grumbled under your breath, rolling your eyes. 

You leaned forward to set one of your arms on the dressing table, groaning miserably. "It's almost been a year since we've started this engagement, his coronation is coming up next summer, we’re going to get married a few months afterwards too! I can't believe he's still treating me as if I were a miserable peasant pathetically begging for crumbs for a living," you uttered under your breath with a heavy sigh, closing your eyes for a small moment. 

"I couldn't even care less about wealth at this point."

Your frown deepened at your own words. You couldn't even put into words how your kingdom was falling into poverty. Your parents had very high social reputations, therefore they spent most of their time on raising tax prices to appear as wealthy as possible in front of the other nobles and royals. They weren't even present in most of your childhood, and to them? You were merely an investment in their lives, just like everything else that had been so graciously bestowed upon them by the citizens of your kingdom. They have been counting on you to be wedded off once they begin to lose their fortune.

This was their plan all along.

Your parents were infamous for their snobby behaviors as royals, pretending to be oblivious to how the kingdom was slowly crumbling down to their knees. They may be ignorant people, but they certainly aren't dim-witted. They were involved in many social circles, especially your mother, who had a pristine reputation considering she was known to be one of the most popular and sociable queens known in history. 

And so, they wedded you off to the richest kingdom they (more specifically, your mother) could find in their nearest social circles, and thankfully for them? Their "precious" princess was the perfect item to send off so that they could live a good life while you had to work hard on becoming the next Queen to rule, not only one, but two kingdoms with a stranger you've never even met in your life. Hell, they didn’t even mention once that they had the contract signed, they would send you off and run away to a place where no one could find them. You were beyond grateful that your new family(in-law) was way better than your biological one. 

The Huangs.

Fortunately for you, the Huangs were lovely people. Kind Hearted, generous, soft-spoken, loved by everyone around them. Except for their only son, their only child, Huang Renjun. Infamous for being at the top of his all-boys private academy, ravishingly handsome, (they say) he owns the voice of the purest angel in existence, yet heart cold-stoned. You were the unlucky-yet also quite lucky- princess who got betrothed to him. Unlucky for having to spend the rest of your life in a loveless marriage because as far as you know, he sees everyone he deems unworthy of his presence a complete nuisance. 

But fortunately, once you’re married, there will be an increase in your popularity. Hence, more royals will look up to and respect you (or feel pity on you, that could be a possibility as well. It works either way, though)for being the intimidating Prince’s wife. If you survived long enough until the wedding ceremony, that is. You never know if (or when) Renjun will execute you behind doors before the reception out of annoyance or anger.  

“Don’t say that, your highness. His highness might be outside of the door listening,” Kai, your butler, snickered softly in a quiet tone, earning a soft smack from Gwen. “Don’t listen to her, your highness. Think of how you'd be living at ease once you get wedded off and settled down with the Prince," she grabbed your shoulder to pull you back against your seat so she can have an easier access to brush your hair. 

“Yes! You’d have plenty of bonding once the current King and Queen sends you off to some romantic honeymoon to bond, not to mention the first night,” Kai nodded in agreement, giving you a suggestive smirk at the mention of the first night, causing you to roll your eyes at her, sticking your tongue out. “Calm down, Princess. You’ll feel more at ease once you get closer to the Prince,” she reassured, patting your shoulder somewhat comfortingly with a firm nod from Gwen. You scoffed gently, crossing your arms against your chest as you watched your other maids scurry around your room to prepare your new dress for the dinner meeting. 

“Ease, huh?” you mumbled almost inaudibly, your mind drifting back to the words your parents told you before sending you off to live with the Huangs. 

-

“Mother, Father, do you think Renjun and I would like each other once I start living at the Huang’s Palace?” you asked softly, the soft sound of metal scraping the plate filling the spacious dining room. Both of your parents paused the joyous conversation they were having before you spoke up, their expressions darkened, growing annoyed at the realisation that your presence had disrupted whatever was going on between them as they tried their best not to roll their eyes at you. 

Your mother cleared her throat, putting on a calm and collected facade. “Like?” she sputtered out with an incredulous laugh. “ As if that has anything to do with marriage, marriage is a partnership between two individuals,” your father exclaimed, shaking his head at you as if it were an obvious statement, taking another bite of the wagyu steak on his plate. You gulped, looking down at your own plate to avoid eye contact. “That, I know, father. But-” you were cut off before you could even finish your sentence with a small huff from your mother. 

“Y/n, my dear. Do you suppose your father and I.. like each other?” she asked, lifting a brow at you, her face contorting with disgust at her own words. “Surely, you must. Just a teensy bit?” you gave them a nervous smile, putting your index finger and your thumb close to each other before earning an incredulous and offended gasp from the two adults in front of you. “How preposterous! Of course not! You’ve been reading too much of those fictional novels,” your mother placed a hand on her chest in offense. 

She shook her head in disappointment. “This engagement doesn’t need like or love, or whatever your ridiculous self is pointing at. Remember why we’re sending you off to the Huangs in the first place, Y/n. You two aren’t engaged to like each other, this is just to save our kingdom from falling and crumbling into poverty. To save us, your own parents, from the poor house,” your father told you in a stern and strict tone, furrowing his brows as he pointed his fork at you almost threateningly. Your mother nodded in agreement with an affirming hum. 

“Your sole purpose here is to be an investment for us! You know this. You are to marry the Prince once you turn 18 and manage to stay by his side as his fiance until his coronation on the boy’s 18th birthday then you are to marry him a few months afterwards and take your seat on the throne as Queen. It’s not a hard task, you shouldn’t be stressing over such useless topics!” Your mother lectured, her tone growing annoyed as if you were a bratty child throwing a tantrum in the middle of the local market. You could feel yourself visibly deflated as your parents continued to lecture you on how you’re supposed to live your life for the next four years. 

Your father started spewing out nonsense out of anger. “In this world, we must store up for ourselves and leave nothing behind once we land ourselves in heaven. We must store treasures up and work hard to land a good role on this earth, for where your treasure, there your heart will be also. You know this, we’ve told you this countless times! There should be no questions,” he barked, slamming his hand on the table in anger as you stared emotionlessly at the two people you call ‘parents’ as they continued on and on for the next few minutes or so. And you were forced to look them in the eye and listen to every single word like some obedient dog. 

“Leave us. We’ve had enough of your nonsense this evening,” your father hissed, rubbing his forehead in distress with one hand and waving you off with the other. “Kai! Take her to her room,” your mother called out as your butler came up towards you to remove the napkin from your lap and place it back on the dining table with a sympathetic smile stretched across her face. You didn’t say anything as you bowed at your parents before leaving the dining room, leaving your plate, which was almost full, on the dining table as you didn’t turn to look back. 

-

“Princess, are you ready?” 

The soft voice of one of your maids snapped you out of your thoughts, causing you to hum softly in surprise, pulling your cheeks away from your gloved hands. You turned to the entrance of your room to see one of your maids, whose name you’ve already forgotten, smiling gently at you. You took a deep breath, standing up from your chair to save up whatever energy you have inside of you to face your fiance at the dinner table. 

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” you chuckled softly as you exited your room and headed towards the dinner table, your heart beating erratically in your chest as you passed the grand clock standing a few meters away from the dining hall. With every tick tock it makes, you felt your anxiety spike up and crawl beneath your skin as you spotted your personal butler, Kai,  who gave you an encouraging smile, her expression silently asking you if you were ready to face the Huangs once again. 

You gave her an affirming nod and a reassuring smile before she and the knight beside her, whom you assumed was named Lucas, opened the grand doors for you to enter. You took in a deep breath as the light from the dining room illuminated the dark hallway you were previously walking through, causing your eyes to squint to adjust to the bright, shimmering yellow light. Your eyes widened slightly to see the prince eating at the other end of the table all alone in silence. His parents were nowhere to be seen. 

Gulping at the awkward silence already settling in the atmosphere, you took a seat on the chair across the table from his, clearing your throat lightly as you placed your napkin on your dress. “Where’s everyone else?” you asked almost quietly, tightening your fists anxiously under the table as Renjun made no effort to look up at you or greet you. He cleared his throat, as if he hadn't spoken in a while. 

“Mother has a meeting with the nobles in town and Father has some business with the Grand Duke in the council room,” he replied shortly, an annoyed expression placed on his face as you mouthed a small ‘oh’ as you nodded. You waited a few seconds, expecting him to say something else, but you weren’t surprised when he chose to stay silent. You purse your lips as you try to muster a small smile to appear on your face. 

“So-I-” you stammered, trying to find the right words to spew out your mouth. “Uhm, how was your day, your highness?” you grimaced at how awkward you sounded, knowing how your parents would’ve sent you a terrifying death glare if they caught you speaking without a single hint of confidence in your tone. You couldn’t read his expression very well, but you could see a small glint of surprise in his pupils when you decided to speak up once again. 

“It was well,” he responded firmly, the sound of his fork tapping on the plate as he chewed was almost mocking you for the lack of mutual communication. You swore Renjun and his fork was making more conversation than the both of you have in the past year. You took a deep breath, deciding to throw away your own shame and pride just for a brief moment to turn on whatever social battery you have left from today to muster up a long conversation with your fiance. Without his parents to keep the atmosphere bright and busy, you couldn’t help but suffer under Renjun’s intimidating aura. 

You grabbed a fork and knife and began munching on your food, mustering up a genuine smile as you tried to make eye contact with the boy across the table. “You know, I just realised that we’ve never had an actual dinner with just the two of us,” you spoke up again, swallowing down the saliva that was building up at the back of your throat. Renjun let out an uninterested hum, placing his cheek on his palm as he made no effort to contribute to the conversation. “Do the afterschool tea times not count as ‘dinner with just the two of us’?” he asked with a dull expression, finally glancing up from his plate to look at you with a lifted eyebrow. 

You gulped once again, internally motivating yourself as you shook your head at him. “That’s different! Tea time is for tea and small snacks and treats? This is dinner, is it not? A good feast is set in front of us in a spacious room, indoors-I mean, it’s sort of different,” you spluttered out, fighting the urge to facepalm yourself considering you’d be embarrassing yourself even more if you did that in front of Renjun. 

Renjun squinted his eyes at you, his gaze darkened at your words as a scowl formed at his lips. “My, my, so you aren’t that much different than your parents. So you do see this as some sort of money making negotiation,” he spat, glaring daggers at you as he tightened his grip on the utensils he was holding. Your eyes widened at his statement, terrified yet also confused on how he got to that conclusion. You shook your head vigorously, aggressively waving your hands around in an attempt to say that he misunderstood your words. 

“If it wasn’t obvious, which it already is, I am not fond of you, Y/n.” 

You felt a shiver run down your spine as he made no effort to listen to your small rambles. “Considering our parents are putting us in this miserable engagement to save your kingdom, I suggest you start using that brain of yours to try and not piss me off. You should be grateful I’m even talking to you considering you’re nothing but a mere peasant begging for money sitting on the same table as I am,” he spat, causing your frown to deepen at how familiar this situation felt. 

“Oh how if it were up to me, I wouldn't even spare a glance at your direction. If you wish to survive here, I suggest that you make sure you spend as little time as possible with me. I don’t care if you’re my wife or my fiance, I won’t hesitate to talk down on you considering you’re here for my parent’s money and nothing else,” he spat as he placed his hands on the table and stood up from his seat, the sound of the wooden chair grinding against the marble floor causing you to wince slightly. 

Throwing the fork on the table as hard as he could, causing you to flinch at the sound. “Piss off,” he barked before stomping out of the dining room, gulping down the juice that filled his golden cup before wiping his lips with the back of his hand. The loud booming voice of the grand doors closing behind him was enough to cause you to sigh heavily into your palms in exhaustion, biting your lips to prevent yourself from screaming in frustration. 

Who was he to say that you were only doing this for money? Despite what others say, you didn’t mind having him as a friend. You may be here under your parents’ wishes but it wasn’t like you had any other choice! You didn’t want to get engaged either, it wasn’t your fault your parents were two selfish bastards that resulted in the financial destruction of your kingdom. Couldn’t he be at least a bit more understanding? it ‘s not like you even want to be here. 

Nonetheless, you swallowed your frustrations down like the princess you were, taking a deep breath before proceeding with your dinner to keep yourself calm. You recited the words your father had always told you over and over before you were handed over to the Huangs as you proceeded to bitterly swallow down the food on your plate. 

‘For where your treasure is, where your heart will be also’

-

"Blessings and glory upon the Huang Dynasty."

“Peace and fortune upon the L/n Kingdom.”

You and your parents bowed before the Huangs, earning a bow from the two adults in return with a welcoming smile etched across their faces. You tensed up when you felt your mother lay her hand on your back: a warning to make sure you keep your mouth zipped shut until they leave the palace. You bit your tongue as you watched the contrast between the Huangs’ genuinely welcoming expression to your parent’s fake ones. 

“Ah, so you’ve arrived, Y/n!” The Queen exclaimed, raising her hands up in the air before walking towards you to give you a big hug. “We’ve been looking forward to your stay, I just know you’re going to love it here!” she placed her hands on your cheeks, patting your head softly with a motherly smile. You felt your chest lighten at the soft gesture, letting out a breath you didn’t even know you were holding as you gave her a sincere smile. 

You gave her a small bow, “thank you, your majesty.” 

“I’ve been looking forward to being in your presence,” you clasped your hands behind your back, a form of habit you had developed to deal with your anxiety. “I am so delighted such a beautiful and bright princess would join in the family, a worthy partner for my son,” she turned her back to Prince Huang standing intensely beside the King. You almost let your smile falter at the sight of Huang Renjun, your fiance, standing a few meters away from you with the most menacing frown you’ve ever seen in your years of living. 

You gulped as you tried to give Renjun a kind smile, earning a deep scowl instead from the young Prince. “Of course she is,” your mother giggled, her smile so wide you swore her cheeks were going to tear apart by how she was forcing it into her face. It almost made you sick to your stomach. 

“Well, we must be off now. My husband and I have other errands to attend to.” 

‘Ah, leaving already?’ you couldn’t help but think to yourself. However, you weren’t even surprised in the slightest. 

“We understand. Princess Y/n will be safe and sound in our hands,” the King nodded with an understanding smile, coming up to lay a hand on your shoulder. You bit your lip from saying how they won’t care considering you’d be transferring them money every month to keep them wealthy and stable. Wherever they decide to escape to? You don’t know. All you knew was there was going to be some secret ‘nursing home’ they had set up so you can stock in a "few goods" for them to spend on at every end of the month. 

Your father gave them a light laugh, your mother joining in. “That’s a relief to hear, we wouldn’t want anything to happen to our little princess,” the expression your parents had sent you was almost uncomfortable, it was sinister and sly. And you knew that they were only doing so to use you as their little money maker. You didn’t even know what was going through the Huangs’ minds when they agreed to this engagement.

Do they not realise that your parents are practically using you to slowly rob them off their fortunes? Do they not realise that once your parents step a toe out of this palace, they’re never going to return? You knew better than to expect them at the wedding, if you even survived that long that is. Nonetheless, you didn’t say anything. You couldn’t. All you could do was grip onto the mask you were putting on and proceed to smile in front of everyone. 

“We must take our leave now. It was such a pleasure seeing you again,” your mother giggled, wrapping her arm around your father’s, giving him a knowing look. You couldn’t even turn your face to look at the Huangs, your eyes fixated on your parents who were just aching to leave the palace. You felt your heart beating rapidly, something dark clawing deep inside of your chest like a cat scratching on silk curtains with its freshly sharp claws.  

It was the terrible realization that they were finally getting rid of you like they always wanted but still being able to benefit from it. 

You wanted to scream, to plead, to let your rage and despair out for them to not be selfish for once and stay with you. But you knew it wouldn’t be worth it, you weren’t a child anymore. You’re sixteen years old and you’re about to be wedded off to this stranger once you turn 18. You knew even if you get on your knees and beg, they would all just laugh at you and continue to play you off like some kind of marionette. 

“I assume our next meeting will be soon?” the King chuckled. 

Oh how envious you were of the Huangs. How innocent they were, how oblivious they were to the strings your parents were using to tug you around. Envious of how perfect of a family they were. Envious of how they didn’t have to feel their hearts plunging down into their stomach as the people who were your personal knights were now escorting them out of the castle with emotionless expressions on their faces. Your parents gave each other another knowing look, a bittersweet smile stretched across their faces. 

“Only time will tell,” your father exclaimed with a bright smile. 

“Blessings and glory upon the Huang Dynasty.”

-

You had just returned from your daily studies at the princess academy when you decided that you were going to walk around the vast garden the Huangs owned behind their palace. You swore you spotted three different carnation gardens in the past few months and you even heard from Kai and Gwen that Renjun was especially fond of yellow flowers. You couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of the menacing prince being all soft and nice when it comes to flowers. 

‘I wish I were a flower, they seem to have a great relationship with their fellow flowers and insects,’ you thought to yourself, kneeling down to pluck a yellow carnation from the row of flowers. Smiling softly as you recalled the true meaning behind the pretty plant: rejection and disappointment. It almost seemed as if the flower was mocking you, the bright and pretty petals making you wonder if you were any prettier, would people like you more? Would your parents consider you as their own child instead of an investment? Would your fiance be kinder to you? 

All life taught you was disappointment and rejection. Your own parents had rejected your affections and ignored your needs, disappointment spreading through their sinister aura whenever you came into their line of vision was evident to anyone who was standing in the same room as they were. Shaking those thoughts away, you tucked it above your ear, smiling lightly at the feeling of the plant’s soft petal grazing your temples. However, a small sparkle in the distance caught your attention. You turned your head to your right to be faced with a rose wall, something was sparkling in between the leaves. 

Curious, you walked towards it, your hand reaching out to it only to feel something round and smooth. You realised it was a door handle, nervously biting your lip, you decided to turn it open. After hearing a small clicking sound, you pulled the door with your heart beating anxiously in anticipation. You were surprised to see that inside was a secret garden, you couldn’t help but laugh to yourself at how ironic it was to find a secret garden in a garden. You didn’t even know if that made any sense. 

What surprised you the most was that this garden, unlike the others, wasn’t filled with yellow carnations, petunias or buttercups. The garden was fairly large, for it had two benches, a set of swings, a grand piano, a large willow tree and a small pond with a few orange lilies gathering around the perimeter. Not to mention the massive rows of erica flowers blooming around the garden. It almost felt like you were intruding on someone’s secret safe place. 

It was spacious, it was a good place for your thoughts. 

You slipped off your shoes, feeling the blades of grass below you as you picked up your shoes with your fingers, deciding to explore the garden. You noticed how this place wasn’t as dusty as you figured, which meant that there’s someone who’s cleaning as they walk in and out of this place. There were some vines wrapped around the benches, which also indicated that this was a pretty old garden and the benches and the swings have been here for quite a while. 

Walking towards the massive row of erica flowers, you furrowed your brows as you reached your hand out, hesitant to touch them. You remembered reading a book about flowers and their meanings not too long ago at the Huang’s royal private library (which you may or may not have snuck in whenever you realised Renjun wasn’t inside) and you remembered how you’ve seen these flowers somewhere in between page 167 to page 172 of the limited edition book. But you couldn’t remember for the sake of your life what the flower meant exactly. 

You turned your head around to the pond a few meters away from you, furrowing your brows at the orange lilies surrounding it. You stood up straight, gripping on your shoes tightly as you recalled the meaning of said flower. 

Hatred. 

Pride. 

Contempt. 

You didn’t know why such a pretty flower held such depressing meanings. You wondered if the person who had planted them here knew about it. Yet you were quite interested in the erica flowers right in front of you, you knew they had something similar to the orange lilies. You couldn’t lie, it was a fresh sight from all the yellow flowers blooming everywhere in the kingdom, they aren’t classified as the ‘Huang’ Dynasty for nothing. 

As you leaned in to pluck one out of their stamens to take back to your room so you can examine them even further with your book in hand, you were abruptly interrupted by a familiar voice not too far behind you. The loud sound of the door opening caused you to flinch as you quickly turned around to see none other than your oh-so-lovely fiance, Huang Renjun, himself. 

“What in the bloody hell are you even doing here?” he exclaimed, crossing his arms over his chest. 

You felt thorns prick yours as you tried to keep yourself from deepening your frown, gulping nervously as you mentally prepared yourself for another scolding. “How the hell did you even find this place?” he hissed, walking towards you with his eyes blazing with anger. You assumed he was done with his afternoon fencing practice considering his hair was slightly wet from sweat, it appeared that  he had taken off his blazer earlier, leaving him in a white button up shirt with long sleeves folded up to his arms. 

“I felt tedious and I happened to stumble upon this garden,” you answered truthfully, putting your shoes behind your back so that he does not notice the fact that you were in his(??) private garden barefoot. You weren’t one to tell lies unless it counts on your survival but it seemed that your answer had angered the prince even more, his darkened glare had effortlessly made your heart sink into the pits of your stomach like a boulder falling off of a cliff. 

You could practically hear his teeth clenching despite the fact that you were standing meters apart from each other as he gritted out the words “under whose permission?” under his breath. You pressed your lips together in a tight line, gripping on your shoes even tighter you almost swore that the fabric was going to tear by how hard you were digging your nails. “Forgive me, in the nine months I’ve been staying here, I didn’t realise that this was a private and restricted area.” 

“Hell, did you forget what your position is here?” he barked, taking a few steps closer to you as he spoke. 

You took a deep inhale as his face got closer to yours, trying to maintain eye contact with him for as long as you could muster. You could almost feel yourself crumbling under his intimidating glare, his jaw clenched, eyes dark and gloomy, filled to the brim with hatred and disgust. Did he despise you that much? 

“No, I did not. I just thought-”

“Well then, you thought wrong! Remember your position, princess, you’re nothing but a mere beggar who happened to crawl their way here and managed to deceive everyone in the kingdom that you’re on the same level as I am,” he spat, venom lacing his words as he balled his hands into tight fists. Your lips parted as you tried to come up with a response, but chose to decide upon it and stay silent. 

“Your highness!” a familiar voice exclaimed, causing you to turn your head to the entrance on instinct. The head of the guards, Lee Taeyong, stood in the doorway, panting in exhaustion as if he had been running everywhere to search for someone. “There you are, I-” the poor man couldn’t even finish his sentence when Renjun silenced him with a single glare. He then turned to you with a heavy sigh, rolling his eyes as he waved his hand. “Taeyong, escort the princess to the dining room. Tell my parents I can’t attend tonight’s dinner,” Renjun ordered, his eyes glaring daggers into your head.

“Leave the room, I don’t want to waste any of my time.”

-

“Your highness! What a pleasure,” Joanne, your friend slash mage in training exclaimed as you came down to her chambers at one of the towers in the castle. Joanne and her lover, Sungchan, were born from noble families who happened to be descendants from powerful mages in history. Therefore they have been taken under your Royal Wizard’s wing and trained as his apprentices until they’re both at a legal age to be your personal wizard and witches. 

You gave her a sweet smile as you spotted Sungchan waving at you from the back of the room, stirring a small pot filled with ominous pink liquid. “It’s been so long since you’ve last visited, do you need anything?” she invited you in, closing the door afterwards as you walked in and took a look around the messy yet dim room. Shaking your head you gave her a light smile, gripping on your dress nervously as you spoke. “I felt tedious so I decided to pay a small visit to my two favorite mages in the Huang Kingdom,” you giggled, earning a soft scoff from the taller boy.

“Mages in training! We aren’t allowed to do this magic business legally until we’re 18, remember?” he pursed his lips at you as Jo walked over to the small pot, sprinkling a few bits of red petals into it. The action caused the liquid to turn purple for a small period of time before Sungchan added small dust-like particles and mixed it for another few seconds before it turned back to its original pink state. 

“What are you two doing this afternoon? Where’s Sir Jungwoo?” you asked, furrowing your brows when you saw the messy bed in the other room completely empty. You couldn’t even call your Royal Wizard a wizard considering all he does is snooze around all the time and tell his apprentices to make potions for the King and Queen whenever they catch a random illness. Nonetheless you couldn’t complain about it to his face before he fell asleep in the middle of your sentences. 

“Jungwoo’s out to find the Eden Tree for a couple of weeks, he mentioned something about a fruit blooming there? Once every 500 years? I’m not sure,” Sungchan shrugged, his hand raising up to scratch the top of his head as Joanne held up a spell book, you could practically hear the gears running in her head as she read through the instructions thoroughly. “What are you two even making?” you asked curiously, carefully walking over the books and papers scattered all over the stone floor to head over to the small pot on the table. 

“Jungwoo told us to try making this new potion he came up with,” your friend replied briefly, scratching her cheek with her wand in her hand as she furrowed her brows in concentration. “He said it was a flying potion of some sort? I don’t understand what these ingredients have to do with flying, though. Most of these ingredients are just ominous,” Sungchan added, leaning over his partner’s shoulder to take a closer look at the book. Their confusion made you furrow your brows. 

You crossed your hands over your chest. “Why do you two sound as if you don’t know what you’re doing? That’s a spell book, I’m assuming, couldn’t you just read the items written?” you asked, attempting to take a peek at the book before Joanne shut it close and placed it back on the table with a deep frown. “You know how Sir Jungwoo is sometimes, he likes to… experiment. This is one of his homemade spells,” she sighed heavily, shrugging her shoulders hopelessly. 

Letting out a small ‘ah’, you nodded in understanding. Being an apprentice of a lazy wizard was hard work and you needed to understand that. 

Then, a sudden thought entered your mind which made you perk up. “Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask you two this for a while but I never got the time to. I almost forgot,” you exclaimed, placing your hands excitingly on the table as you watched Sungchan stir the pot a bit more. “Do tell, your highness,” Joanne nodded with a small giggle, it was a rare sight to see you this excited in person and she was quite surprised when you suddenly perked up like a light bulb lighting up. 

With a clap of your hands, you gave them a hopeful and excited expression. “So, I’ve been looking through the books in the library and I’ve discovered some sort of traditional message sending method in the Huang Kingdom?” you said almost questioningly, putting a hand on your chin in thought. “I’ve heard how if you put something, like a handwritten note or some sort of message, in a glass bottle and send it out to the sea at the nearby beach. It said you could send messages to the dead or something?” you exclaimed. 

“Oh, that old thing!” Joanne caught on with a nod, raising her index finger at the mention of the traditional method. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever tried that method before, but legend has it that if those bottles never come back that’s a sign that the person you were trying to reach has received it!” she added enthusiastically, a wide smile stretching across both of your faces. “Imagine sending a bottle out to sea, that seems like a very endearing action,” you said with a soft expression on your face. You’ve always wanted to try it ever since you’ve even heard of it.

“Do you honestly believe in such fairytales? I figured you were a fool but I didn’t know you were such a fanatic.” 

You turned to face your fiance standing at the door, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned his back against the doorway. An emotionless expression spread across his face as his eyes darted from yours to the mages behind you, unimpressed and unbothered. Sungchan and Joanne gasped at the sight of his highness in the doorway, quickly halting all of their actions to bow respectfully to him. 

“Blessings and Glory upon the Huang Dynasty!”  

He clicked his tongue, waving them off to indicate that they didn’t need to greet him so respectfully as he walked over to you with a brow raised in suspicion. “I can’t believe I’m getting wedded off with someone as delusional and foolish as you are,” he tsked, crossing his arms back against his chest as he tutted slowly while shaking his head in disappointment. You fought the urge to roll your eyes as you sat down at one of the arm chairs in the middle of the room with a heavy sigh. 

“One can dream for happiness, your highness,” you muttered under your breath, trying your best to make your words as inaudible as you could muster. But sadly, Sungchan overheard you, which made him chuckle as Renjun walked over to the pot in curiosity. “Ominous looking potion you have there,” he commented with a tone void of emotion, picking up the ladle in the pot and giving it a little stir. 

“You know, your highness. Maybe if you’d let yourself live a little, you’d be half as lively as the princess,” Sungchan snickered, towering over the older boy as he placed his hands on his hips, earning a small nudge from his lover in response. Renjun raised his brow at this, his frown never leaving his lips, not even a bit. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand why I need to be as lively as someone who believes in pointless old tales. And frankly, I don’t care,” he deadpanned, his sharp response causing Sungchan to visibly shrink in his stance. 

“I don’t think it's pointless,” you exclaimed in offense, earning an incredulous glare from the fellow mages as Renjun turned his head to look at you, unfazed by your sudden retaliation. “Oh?” he said, surprised that you were talking back to him for once. 

You nodded at him. “I think it’s quite intriguing. Sending something to the dead, it gives grieving families some sort of comfort,” you shrugged, putting your hand over the other on your lap as you looked up at him with the calmest expression you could muster, knowing full well that he’s probably going to comment on it afterwards. “Well then, your highness,” his tone was almost sarcastic when he addressed you as so. 

“It doesn’t even work. It gives false hope for imbeciles like you,” he took a step forward to poke your forehead. You pressed your lips together, crossing your arms over your chest as you looked up at him from your seat. “How do you even know if it works or not? It’s not like you’ve even tried it before, your majesty. You can’t just call it false hope when it’s a traditional method,” you huffed, blowing a puff of air in annoyance, earning a grunt from the Prince in front of you. 

“I just do, it’s a silly old tale elders tell children to give them false hope that they have a way of contacting them once they pass away. You can’t be that ludicrous, can you? Princess?” he furrowed your brows, slowly beginning to grit his teeth in frustration as you opened your mouth to snap back at him for calling you synonyms of ‘idiot’ for simply believing in something you’ve read in a book. 

You two were too engrossed in your little argument you didn’t even hear Joanne’s sudden scream as Sungchan accidentally stirred the pot too aggressively to crush the crystals they added in the pot that the liquid came splashing out of the container and onto the Prince’s clothing. Your eyes widened as the back of Renjun’s shirt was almost completely drenched in the pink liquid. 

“Bloody hell, watch it, Sungchan!” 

Before you knew it, the short, low-tempered Prince in front of you, whose hair was originally a dark woody brown slowly turned into a bright pastel pink, like a water on fabric. Your jaw dropped as Renjun stood there, unfazed as everyone else was internally gulping for their lives. You almost swore Sungchan was wetting himself by how pale he became as Renjun looked around in confusion with his bright pink messy hair. 

“What’s with the face?” 

You couldn't help but let out a laugh. A loud, genuine one. Wrapping your arms around your stomach as you doubled over laughing with your whole chest as Renjun stared at you in confusion, his cheeks growing pink in embarrassment and confusion. “Why are you laughing!?” he exclaimed, his hands balled up into fists as he looked around for a mirror to find out what you were laughing over. You couldn’t help but find it quite endearing to see the prince so normal, so harmless. 

You weren’t one to lie but you couldn’t help but admit how adorable and pretty the prince was when his cheeks turned flush, the way he yelled for a mirror as he stomped out of the room and out of the tower in pure confusion and embarrassment as you continued to laugh it all off was purely adorable. 

At that moment, you didn’t even know if the man who despised you so much was the same person as the person whose cheeks flushed as pink as his hair.   

Disclaimer: after Renjun had found out about his hair and how it’s basically irreversible, Sungchan was sent on probation for a whole week for damaging his quote unquote ‘aura’. It took you a whole month to stop laughing at how much he looked like someone had plopped a pink rose on top of his head whenever you saw him. You didn’t know if Renjun got used to your random laughing or if he chose to ignore your existence as usual. 

But what you did know was that that was the most you had laughed in your whole time of living with the Huangs.

-

“Your highness, how have you been faring?” Yeji exclaimed, reaching over the table to pick up one of the red velvet cupcakes her servants had prepared beforehand. Another day, another tea party with the princesses from your academy. You gave her an encouraging smile, putting the cup filled with hibiscus tea to your lips. Your friends let out an enthusiastic gasp, eyes now on you as questions bombarded and filled once was a calm and serene atmosphere. 

“I heard you and Prince Huang are going to get wedded in a year, do tell what’s it like to live with his highness!” 

“A year? My, wasn’t it a year and a half? Do be specific on your time, Lady Brooklyn.” 

“Marriage already? We’re all barely 17 years old!” 

“Oh hush, you! Your sister got married when she turned 18 as well, you have no right to comment on that.” 

“At least she wasn’t stuck in a marriage by force.”

“Ladies, one question at a time! The poor lady can’t answer all of them if you’re going to gawk at her like a bunch of seagulls!” 

You let out a light laugh, shaking your head. You were the one of the few princesses who’s already betrothed to someone else in your academy, so it didn’t surprise you very much once the questions started rolling off of their tongues once you got to the table. However, they were your closest friends in the kingdom, therefore you didn’t mind the constant questions considering you’ve asked them similar ones. 

“Don’t be silly, I’m still very young. I’ll be getting married when we turn 19,” you had to bite your tongue to keep yourself from mentioning how fast time was passing by. It had almost been a year since your parents had left you under the Huangs’ care and you couldn’t be more grateful for the immense love and support you’ve received from the King and Queen. But you couldn’t say much about your ‘beloved’ fiance, however.

“That’s still a very young age! Don’t you have other dreams? I know that you’re going to have etiquette queenly trainings until Prince Huang’s coronation but that’s a lot to handle for someone, I can’t even imagine being betrothed to some stranger,” Lacey shook her head with a sympathetic sigh, waving her pink fan in front of her face. “That’s because you still have your eye on Prince Guanheng,” you commented with a light chuckle, earning a few giggles from your friends. 

“I can’t imagine thinking about marriage at this age when I’m still having trouble finding a suitor,” she snapped back jokingly at you, turning her head up dramatically before joining in your little fit of giggles. “Though, I can’t help but feel bad for her highness,” someone commented with a bittersweet tone, the faux sympathy basically rolling off of her words as you all diverted your attention to Lady Yundong, who was the daughter of the Marquis. She had recently made her debut to society, she was quite infamous for sticking her nose in other people’s businesses in the academy. 

“Pardon?” you furrowed your brows, not exactly liking where this conversation was heading. 

“It’s unfortunate that someone like her highness is getting married to someone like Prince Huang,” she explained, a mocking frown stretched across her face, lips forming into a pout. “I’m sorry, I am not understanding,” you frown briefly as you tighten your hold on your cup. She let out an exasperated sigh, putting her cup down on her saucer. “Pardon me for speaking so rudely of the Prince but I don’t think someone that menacing is worthy of marrying such a kind-hearted soul like you, Princess,” she explained, shocking most of you with her bold tone. 

“Menacing? Prince Huang has the face of an angel as far as I’ve seen,” Lady Ningning exclaimed with a surprised gasp, putting her hand over her lips in shock. The daughter of the Marquis nodded eagerly. “Haven’t you heard how cold hearted the Prince is? I heard that he didn’t even greet the princess when she first arrived at the castle,” she gossiped, watching as the other ladies’ eyes widened before their eyes turned back to you. 

“Is that true, your highness?”

“So rude!” 

“I can’t believe it, he looked so kind in the papers.”

“I-” 

Before you could get a word out, Yundong had beat you to it to continue bringing up your fiance. “Oh, and I’ve heard that the Prince would also look down on people he didn’t seem worthy of his presence. Going as far as to calling them peasants even if they came from a family of high nobels with great reputations,” she added with a deep frown on her face, earning a few agreeing nods from the other girls. “The lady isn’t wrong! I’ve even overheard my brother saying that the Prince threatened to slice his tongue off or something,” one of the princesses at the table nodded in agreement, joining in the conversation. 

You couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable in this situation. Sure, Renjun had treated you equally as bad as these girls were saying but for some reason, it didn’t feel right to talk badly about your fiance like this. Especially when he was going to be the future king of both of your kingdoms and your life partner, it didn’t feel right to be talking about him in the first place. He was the last thing you wanted to think about. 

“I’m so thankful I wasn’t the one who got betrothed to the prince, that would be unfortunate,” Yundong exclaimed, putting a hand on her chest as she fanned herself dramatically. “I agree, I feel so sorry for the princess for having to put up with someone that rude and uncouth for the rest of her life. Royal marriages are almost impossible if you don’t have some extreme reason,” another lady nodded in agreement, you didn’t even know who this lady was and suddenly she had the right to remind you that you’re stuck in this loveless marriage?

“Ladies, that’s quite rude of you! Do I need to remind each and every one of you that the Princess is literally sitting on this very table, listening to every word that spills out of your mouths?” Lady Yeji exclaimed, hissing in between her words as she glared at all of the ladies in the table. They gasped, indicating that they truly were so engrossed in their little gossip that they forgot they were talking about you in your face. 

“Your highness, forgive me! We do not mean to look down on the Prince!”

“We were just being honest and careless of our words, we completely forgot that his highness is your fiance, do forgive us.”

“You’re making this even worse! Your highness, I-”

“It’s alright,” you smiled sadly, pressing a napkin to your lips as you looked down at your hands so as to not show any specific expressions to show how uncomfortable you felt. “I understand you all have opinions, but I suggest that you all do try to watch your tongues when you open your mouths around my fiance,” you didn’t even realise you were defending him until you replayed your own words in your own head after the ladies’ faces turned pale. Clearing your throat to cover how awkward you sounded you clasped your hands on the table before continuing. 

“As the future Queen of both the Huang and the L/n kingdom, I am opposed to hearing lowly insults of the Prince in front of my own face. It is very disrespectful and rude. Nonetheless of what you think of the Prince, he is still the heir to the throne and he has been working very hard to prove himself worthy for the position,” you didn’t even know why you were so determined to defend him after all of the mean things he’s said and done to you throughout your whole stay at the Huangs. 

There was a pregnant pause. You couldn’t take the tension in the atmosphere anymore as you coughed softly to remain in your composure, standing up from your chair as the royal guards who were in charge of you for the day came rushing back in at the sound of your chair grinding against the tile floor. “I think this is where I draw the line. Lady Yeji, a splendid party, as always. Forgive me for ruining the mood, this is where I shall take my leave, thank you for inviting me,” you placed a hand on your chest as you bowed slightly. 

“Your majesty, I-”

“I look forward to your next party, Lady Yeji,” you said with a genuine tone, picking up your handkerchief as you gave all of the ladies at the party an apologetic smile before turning to leave. 

“Peace and fortune upon the L/n Kingdom!”

-

Ever since your parents had fled the country, your citizens are now handed over to the Huangs via your engagement to the Prince. Your parents and the Huangs had been planning to gather your people together and make an empire once your marriage is finalized, an empire for you and Renjun to rule together. Since your parents had called for a retirement before you reached a legal age, you were the unofficial Queen of your subjects, hence you weren’t granted a proper coronation even after your marriage with Renjun. 

At least, that’s what your parents had informed you before sending you over. 

You didn’t mind very much, you weren’t ready for the official title of being Queen. At least, not alone. Considering you’ve been dealing with more things behind the scenes with your parents’ quote unquote “retirement”. Sometimes, it would be too much for a teenager like yourself to deal with education, social statuses, personal financial issues and the future of your Empire all at once. And sometimes, you couldn’t help but break down every once in a while. 

Earlier today, you received a scolding by one of your Headmasters for not reaching the minimum requirement for one of your examinations. You couldn’t study much for said test as your parents had ordered you to send them more money(via gold) and you were too busy making arrangements for the transportation of the items all week in private to study for your exam. Then, you received another letter from your parents saying that 2000 pieces of gold weren’t ‘enough’ for their weekly budget, which brought more stress upon you. 

You were doing your nightly walks in the garden before you went to bed when it all hit you like a brick. Your parents’ letter crumpled up in your hands as you made no effort to wipe your tears, squatting and facing downwards to hide your face as you squeezed the life out of the letter like it did to your heart. You were beyond exhausted, you even received a scolding from Prince Renjun earlier for spacing out during dinner, he told you how you were acting ungrateful in front of his parents for idly playing with your food. The fact that he told you how you didn’t even deserve the food on the table made you even more upset than you previously were. 

Crying even harder into your palms, you tried your best to keep your cries as inaudible as possible but it didn’t stop the pain in your chest from increasing drastically as the seconds went by. You were overwhelmed, stressed, anxious. Eyes were on you at every second of the day, high expectations burdening your back, your parents living their best life out there with you as their money-making marionette was enough to make you breakdown for the first time in a few months. Everything was becoming too much and you didn’t know or have anyone to trust. 

You just wanted your head to stop spinning, your heart to stop aching, to stop acting like the Queen you’re expected to be when you’re not even at a legal age to be one yet. 

“What the hell are you doing here this late?” 

You froze, gulping down the lump in your throat as you wiped the tears away as best as you could. “Your highness,” you quickly stood up, turning your back on him as to not let him see you in this pathetic state. “What were you doing? Squatting there like some kind of idiot? Are you lost or something? I thought you knew better than to be lost here considering you wander around the palace more than I can count,” Renjun spat, clicking his tongue as his scowl deepened. 

“Forgive me,” you mumbled, your voice cracking as you couldn’t stop your heart from hurting. Of all people, why did HE have to find you in this state? 

“... Are you crying?” he asked hesitantly after a pregnant pause, his strict tone going soft in an instant, you could hear a tint of guilt lacing his words. You sniffled, looking up to keep your tears in as you shook your head vigorously. “Crying? That would be pathetic of me, why would I-” you couldn’t hold back another sob that escaped your throat, raising an arm up to cover your eyes. You felt fingers wrap around your free arm, pulling you to turn you around, which caught you off guard. 

Your eyes met Renjun’s soft ones, his pink hair fluffy and messy as he had just gotten up after tossing and turning around in bed. He was wearing his nightly attire, which was a size too big for him, you might add. The tips of his ears grew pink at the sight of your tearful face, eyes growing wide as they bore into your bloodshot ones. His hold on your wrist was soft yet firm, reassuring you that he wasn’t going to let go of you anytime soon. 

“See, your highness? I’m not crying,” you chuckled sadly, sniffling as you used the back of your hand to wipe your wet cheeks. 

Judging from the sad look on his face, you knew that he didn’t believe you. You watched Renjun bite his lip nervously before turning away, tugging your wrist to indicate that you should follow him. “Come with me,” he said softly, his tone almost angelic as the two of you jogged towards a familiar area in the garden. He fished out a key from his chest pocket as you came in sight with a familiar rose wall, watching the Prince in front of you unlock the door and open it. He gently coaxed you to get inside before closing the door behind him. 

He let you sit down on one of the benches, where you tucked your knees to your chest immediately, pressing the crumpled letter to your chest. The fresh scent of flowers easing your senses as you continued to cry your heart out, squeezing the fabric of your nightgown as you leaned your forehead on your knees. You didn’t care anymore if the Prince was watching you, it was getting too much and you couldn’t keep it in anymore. 

You heard him sit down right beside you silently, yet you paid no mind as you cried silently. Suddenly, you felt a hand patting your head, fingers caressing your hair, stroking it gently. You looked up slowly, turning your head to the only person who was in the secret garden with you, Renjun. HIs face was glossed over with an expression which was what you could identify as sadness and concern, two emotions you’ve never witnessed before from the boy. Yet, you didn’t question him when he proceeded to caress your head. You didn’t tell him to stop either. 

“Do you wish to speak about it?” he asked in a hushed voice. 

Hugging your knees tighter to yourself, you shook your head, refusing to speak even more. Renjun nodded in understanding, kissing his teeth as he sucked his lips in, trying to think of something to break the awkward silence that had settled in between the two of you. With a click of his tongue, he began to speak. “My grandfather got me this secret garden back when I was merely a young child,” he started, looking around the garden with a soft expression, leaning back against the bench with a heavy sigh. 

“Not long afterwards, he passed away from a terminal illness,” he turned his head away from you to look at the small pond a few meters away from you. You didn't say anything in response, letting him do all the talking to keep the atmosphere less awkward than it already was. He took a deep breath, "he loved orange lilies and erica flowers, it silently symbolized how he felt inside waiting for his passing ever since my grandmother passed a few years prior to his." 

"Loneliness? Hatred?" You sniffled, pulling away from your knees to set your chin on them instead, looking down at the green grass with an empty expression mirroring his. 

He let out a soft chuckle, confirming your words. "A few months later, I still couldn't stop grieving. He was a good man, he always thought of others before himself. Even when he was just on the brink of knocking on death's door," the way his voice carried his words was like music to your ears. You turned your head to face the prince, mesmerized at the sigh of the light from the moon that had illuminated his face, capturing his facial features in the most breath-taking way possible. 

His empty eyes staring off at the distance, his lips parted as his mind wandered to look for his next words. Pink hair disheveled and messy like the candy flosses from the village fair, his eyes shimmering under the moonlight like diamonds you couldn't even tell if they were reflecting the stars or getting glossy with tears. You couldn't express how ethereal Huang Renjun was to you at that moment, it was a moment that made you ponder if you've thought wrong about this engagement being similar to a never ending torment.

"My parents took me to a beach not long after. My grandfather told me if I ever needed to tell him anything, I should deliver him a message by the sea."

There was a small, sad smile stretched across his pink lips. "I was a foolish boy. A quite miniscule boy, in fact," he chuckled sadly once again, leaning over to pluck out one of the erica flowers from its stem, looking down gently at the flower that was facing downwards in between his fingers. "I didn't know if it was because I threw the bottle from the shore or if the traditional message sending method truly was a weak coping mechanism for grieving families but I found the bottle a few months afterwards," Renjun smiled thinly, his dimples protruding from his cheeks as he spoke.

You couldn't help but feel guilty over your argument at the tower a couple of weeks earlier. Biting your lip, you felt your heart sink for the Prince. Choosing to go against your pride, you mindlessly leaned your head against his shoulder, ignoring the burning feeling inside of you as your mind scolded you for your unprofessional actions. "The book I read earlier informed me that you should at least be waist deep in water for it to deliver. Perhaps you should do that instead of throwing the bottle as if you were a human catapult," you muttered in a weak attempt to comfort him.

He let out a small laugh, “perhaps.”

Letting out a sigh, you looked up at the moon. The stars were a rare sight in the Huang’s palace; it was so scarce that you thought you were imagining the two shimmers on the blanket sky beside the moon. “I want to send someone a message through the bottle one day,” you mumbled, almost inaudibly as you continued to lean against the Prince’s shoulder. Renjun let out a soft hum, his eyes never made an effort to meet yours. “To whom?” he asked shortly, earning a soft shrug from you. 

“I don’t have anyone to send to, but I would like to send one someday. Even if it were just some kind of fake tale, it would be nice to send a message through the sea,” you mumbled, your swollen eyes grew heavy, eyelids drooping slowly as the exhaustion began to take over you. All that crying really took a lot of energy out of your body, you couldn’t help but feel sleepy in the Prince’s presence. “Maybe we should do that together someday,” he suggested after a long pause. You couldn’t see the smile that stretched across Renjun’s face because you had fallen asleep on his shoulder while waiting for his response. 

“Where your treasure is where your heart will be also as your father liked to say,” he whispered into the quiet night. 

The next day, you assumed Prince Renjun had carried you back to your quarters considering Gwen had no idea you even went out before bed when you asked her who carried you back into your room after midnight. When you asked Kai, all you received was a sly grin which told you everything you needed to know. Your day proceeded with your usual morning routine, dinner with the Huangs with Renjun giving you that same scowl on your face. 

You’d like to think that Renjun only felt guilty for you last night, you’d like to think that Renjun was internally disgusted with you when he found you crying in the middle of his precious garden. You’d like to think he still hated you, no-you can confirm that he still hated you. The dark glare he gave you after you greeted him a pleasant morning was enough to tell you that the nice Prince who comforted you that night was nothing but a facade he put up as pity. You can lie to yourself that you were used to this. You could lie to yourself that you wished he was as nice as he was that nice.  

You were terrible at lying to yourself. For something bloomed in your chest like a flower after that night.

“Your highness?”

“Oh, forgive me, I got lost in my thoughts. It’s tea time, isn't it?” 

-

“Your highness! We’ve finally perfected the potion!” Sungchan and Joanne ran up to you enthusiastically, carrying a small glass tube filled with ominous sparkly purple liquid as you sipped on your tea. You lit up at this, a smile stretching across your face at the news as you clapped your friends enthusiastically to congratulate them on their success. “Congratulations! I knew you could do it!” you beamed with a wide smile stretched across your face. 

Jo and Sungchan shared a knowing look, cheshire grins stretched across their faces as they popped the lid open and lifted their brows up in suggestion. “Your highness, would you do the honors of trying out our magnificent flying potion?” Jo asked, getting ready to pour the liquid in your almost empty tea cup. Your eyes widened at this, fear creeping up your spine as you gulped down the remains of your tea. “Me? You want me to try on your potion?” you asked, nervously pointing at yourself as you stared at them incredulously. 

They nodded enthusiastically in unison, causing you to be even more flabbergasted than you already were. You clasped your hands together as you tried to come up with the right words to say no in the most polite way possible considering you didn’t want to ruin their mood. You were more than happy to help people but after that incident that ended with Renjun’s hair turning bright pink, you weren’t sure if you were ready to face the consequences if their so-called ‘potion’ goes wrong. 

“I am honored that you think I am a good candidate to try this potion but shouldn’t you ask one of the maids or something?” you asked, raising your brow at them as you observed the suspicious liquid from your seat. “Well, we were going to test it on Kai but she was too busy writing letters to Donghyuck from the Matahari Kingdom,” Sungchan went on before gulping nervously, knowing how he would’ve been roasted alive if he were to interrupt Kai’s special letter writing session. “So we decided upon her highness! Plus it’s perfect timing as well considering you’re having tea time on the balcony today,” Joanne nodded in agreement, sucking her lips in. 

You took a deep exhale, you weren’t one to deny one of your closest friends considering they were the ones who had to listen to your countless rants about the Prince being a complete jerk. Sighing, you gave them a somewhat genuine smile as you stood up from your chair and walked towards them. “I would love to try your potion,” you nodded nervously, hands gripping on the fabric of your dress as Joanne and Sungchan cheered in glee. You then watched as Joanne poured the liquid into your cup, filling it halfway. 

“So I just gulp this down? Just as I usually would when drinking tea?” you asked nervously, wrapping your fingers around the handle, not forgetting to lift your pinky up as you swirled the liquid around in your cup. “Yes, your highness,” the young wizard nodded with a small bow as his partner screwed the cap on. You internally cursed before downing the liquid without a second thought, ignoring the terrible tea infused taste that came afterwards as Joanne let out a loud gasp. 

“You were supposed to fuse it with more tea, don’t just gulp it all down, your highness!” she exclaimed, almost dropping the glass tube in the process as she cupped her mouth in shock. Your eyes widened at this as Sungchan’s eyes widened in fear. “You didn’t tell me that? It wasn’t specified in the book either!” he exclaimed, turning his body around to face his partner as Joanne bit her lip nervously. “I know but Jungwoo told me so a couple hours prior to his departure!” she exclaimed, causing the both of them to look at you with equally terrified expressions. 

You gulped as you felt a funny feeling run down your body. 

“What’s happening-”

You didn’t even know what happened but in a blink of an eye, you were high up in the sky, falling through the clouds. Your eyes widened as you started yelling and shrieking for your life, cursing Joanne and Sungchan’s names as you wrapped your arms around yourself and closed your eyes to prepare yourself for the impact of your body hitting whatever or wherever you were falling on. You felt the harsh wind blowing against your face as your legs kicked and moved around in panic.

‘Oh god, I’m going to die! I’m going to die! I haven’t even finished my brioche! I haven’t even gotten my first kiss! I thought I was going to have my head chopped off my fiance but clearly God has other plans!’ you cursed, squeezing your eyes shut as you began to desperately pray that you landed on something soft, you prayed and begged that some mythical creature would scoop you up from the sky and into safety like some kind of guardian angel. The ones you read about in story books and novels in the library. Then suddenly, just then your back finally landed on something, something hard yet soft.  Your body didn’t ache as much as you think as you groaned in pain, you were sure they weren’t broken considering you could still move without feeling too much pain. 

But then, you heard another soft groan of pain. One that did not belong to you, one that you were sure was too familiar. You gulped as you prayed to whatever God was listening to you that it wasn’t who you think it is as the Prince below you began to curse under his breath on how his body ached. You turned around to see that your face was merely inches apart from your fiance’s, butterflies began to flutter inside of you as if something had triggered it. The prince’s pained face caused you to sit up, rolling off of him as you began to fear for your life. 

“Your highness! Are you alright? Oh my god, I didn’t even- are you okay?” you asked frantically, tripping over your own words as the Prince sat up, his brows furrowed as he glared at you. “What the bloody hell were you even doing? How the hell did you end up in the sky?” he snapped, silencing your annoying rambling as an annoyed expression spread across his face, leaning his neck from side to side to crack his bone, groaning in pain afterwards. You couldn’t even reply as you continued to stare at the Prince’s messy attire, how he was wearing a white button up top with light brown trousers. 

How the sunlight shone upon his bare face, his hair slightly messy and how his cheeks were red under the heat, paint smearing across his cheeks, indicating that he was painting before you had to unfortunately land on him. “Hey! It’s rude to not answer the Prince when he’s asking you,” he snapped his fingers right in front of your face, attracting your attention before leaning back against his palms behind him. You didn’t know if it was just you (it probably was) but it appeared that he wasn’t as mad as you expected him to be. (To tell you the truth, you expected him to execute you on the spot with his paintbrush)

“I- I swear I didn’t mean to fall and land on you- in fact, I didn’t even know how I got there, I was just drinking this potion Joanne and Sungchan made and-” you stood up abruptly, brushing the dirt off of your dress. You were so panicked that you didn’t even realise Renjun was holding your waist as you both stood up, his hands slowly retracting back to his sides as you both got to your feet. “What did I tell you about consuming whatever suspicious trinket those two came up with? Stay out of it,” he hissed, his jaw clenched. 

You gulped, nodding softly as you took a step back, only for one of the heels of your shoes to snap off and break. Stumbling as you tried to regain your balance, you didn’t know whether to thank the Prince for his reflexes when you felt Renjun grabbed your arm tightly. You winced as you felt a sharp sting on the back of your foot, right above the fabric of your shoes. Looking down you saw that your foot was bleeding, the sharp rock not even an inch behind you practically laughing at you for embarrassing yourself in front of your fiance. 

You heard Renjun click his tongue at this, letting out a groan of annoyance before taking a deep inhale. “God, why are you so clumsy today?” he hissed, bending down to swing his arms behind your back and behind your knees, lifting you up bridal style before walking back to the palace with an emotionless expression on his face. “Your highness, I can still walk, you don’t have to carry me,” you yelped, hesitantly wrapping your arms around his neck nonetheless as you sucked in your bottom lip nervously. 

“I can’t have you further embarrassing yourself in front of me and getting injured, I can feel second hand embarrassment too, you know,” he clicked his tongue stubbornly as you felt heat flush through your chest, choosing to nod instead and let him carry you back to the entrance, where a tall guard stood in alarm. “Lucas, carry her to the royal infirmary, I don’t have the time for this,” he bellowed to the taller boy, handing you to the guard without a second thought. The action had effortlessly caused your heart to plunge into your stomach as you speechlessly looked at the prince. 

Renjun sighed, furrowing his brows as he rubbed his temples. “Try to use that idiotic brain of yours and at least keep yourself alive, I don’t want a useless, clumsy Queen by my side on the throne,” he spat at you, turning away from you and Lucas as he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “My cousin, Yangyang, from the Liu Island is coming to pay us a visit until my coronation, do keep yourself in line until then,” he informed, tugging on the collar of his shirt before walking away. 

You didn’t say anything as Lucas asked you if he should put you down or carry you to the infirmary. Choosing to shake your head with a slightly sad smile, indicating that you could walk by yourself. “Thank you, Lucas. You’re always so kind,” you said, mustering up a smile on your face as Lucas slowly placed you down on your feet. “Of course, your highness. Forgive me, the Prince was never one to show his emotions and affections,” he nodded with a light-hearted smile. 

“I don’t even know if he has those,” you muttered under your breath as you walked side by side with the older knight with crossed arms, ignoring the stinging pain in your foot as you both made your way to the Royal Infirmary. Lucas let out a light chuckle, “the Prince is quite stubborn. He’s always treated everyone like this. Please do not take any of his actions or words to heart,” Lucas placed a hand on his chest as he knocked on the door before grabbing the handles and pulling it open. 

How could you not take his actions to heart? After that night in his secret garden, the way his warm tone had melted your tainted heart like ice on a summer afternoon? The way he opened up to you about his family, a sign that you were making progress in your relationship? The way you two shared a touching moment together on that bench as if you were two souls who had happened to find into each other’s presences like fate had told you to? You were sure as hell that he was the one who carried you back into your quarters considering none of the staff even knew that you two were out of your rooms after curfew hours. 

After the sparkle of concern that glossed through his eyes for a split second when you both stood up after you had unceremoniously landed on top of him? The way his touch was soft but firm when he held you to his chest as he carried you into the castle? How were you not supposed to take his actions to heart when all he does is give you hope that he might be feeling the same things you have been?  

The knight’s words failed to lift your spirits, the ugly feeling that came with Prince Renjun’s scowl never leaving your chest as you let out a light nod. “Thank you, Lucas,” you said as you walked into the room, where Gwen was innocently sitting at her desk, waiting for patients to enter the infirmary. 

“Blessings and Glory Upon the Huang Dynasty.”

-

“Dear cousin, your favorite member of the Liu family has finally arrived!” a loud unfamiliar voice boomed as the doors of your study room bursted open unceremoniously. 

You flinched at the loud sound, not used to the loud noise in the castle considering your life here was equivalent to living in a castle made out of glass, as if a single sound would tear this place apart. You looked up from your study desk, finally taking your eyes off of the endless amount of papers the Huangs have given you a couple of weeks ago. The Huangs had received information from your parents that they have given you some documents to read over to grasp more information on the poverty that’s currently building up in your kingdom. 

Causing you to overwork yourself for weeks just to deal with each and every single individual document your parents had handed you from afar. You didn’t even know when was the last time you got any sleep, you haven’t touched your bedroom in days and you were sure as hell that you wouldn’t be able to do so in the next couple of days considering the documents have been piling up on your desk drastically as the days go by. 

“Oh? Am I in the wrong room, perhaps?” 

The voice snapped you away from your thoughts, causing you to furrow your brows at the stranger who had barged into your study room with no permission or warning. He seemed to be a boy your age, maybe even a bit younger than you. He was tall, definitely taller than Renjun, and unlike the people in the palace, this boy held a large gummy smile on his face as if he had carried news that even the Heavens couldn’t grant. 

“Pardon me, I think you must be mistaken,” you stood up from your desk, rubbing one of your eyes as you dropped the quil you were previously using into the ink bottle on the table. “Forgive me, is this not Prince Huang’s study room? The last time I visited, I’m pretty sure I kicked down enough doors to remember which room is which,” he laughed teasingly as the boy’s eyes wandered around the room as if he owned the place. 

And that’s when things clicked into place. 

“Ah, forgive me for my informality. You must be Prince Liu Yangyang from the Liu Islands,” you bowed before him, lifting the edges of your dress as you gave him an exhausted smile in an attempt to give him a good first impression. You heard that Prince Liu was very much close with your friend, to the point that he was even considered one of the Prince’s best friends. Which was very hard to believe considering the boy in front of you resembled that of a 5 year old toddler who had just found out his parents’ weren’t his boss. 

Oddly specific, I know. 

“Yes I am! Though I prefer to be known as just Yangyang. Judging from your elegant attire, I’m assuming you must be the lucky Princess who happened to get the Golden Ticket to marry my uptight cousin! How’s that going out for you, Princess..?” He placed an arm before him and in front of his body, bowing in front of you with a playful smile, earning a genuine smile from you. “You can call me Y/n, no formalities here considering we’re both going to be family and we’re of the same rank,” you shook your head, waving your hand off at him casually. 

“Ah, of course! I like you already, so the rumors have been true. Frighteningly menacing Prince Renjun of the Huang Dynasty betrothed to the angelic and soft-spoken Princess Y/n of the L/n Kingdom, I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head when I read ‘soft-spoken’, ‘angelic’, and ‘Renjun’ in the same sentence,” Yangyang placed the back of his hand on his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut as he wailed dramatically. “I pondered the health and sanity of the unfortunate soul who had to be betrothed to my cousin,” he added, placing a hand on your shoulder. 

“I’m sending you my prayers, your life will be equivalent to climbing Mount Everest after your wedding reception,” Yangyang patted your shoulder sympathetically, earning a soft laugh from you as you shook your head profusely at the male in front of you. “My, you’re quite entertaining. I contemplate how a funny fellow like you could get along so well with the Prince,” you shook your hand, pushing his hand off of your shoulder as you placed your hands over the other in front of you. 

Yangyang gave you a wide grin, turning his head up as he waved his hand off at you. “Who doesn’t want to get along with a charming fellow such as I? The Prince practically begged me to be his friend back when we were young, he was such a quiet and shy boy,” he bragged, jokingly and almost narcissistically as you let out a small giggle, shaking your head. “I would appreciate it if you do not make prude jokes and spread misleading information around the Empire during your stay, Yangyang,” Renjun’s voice sent shivers down you and Yangyang’s spine. 

You could see Yangyang visibly gulp his nerves down as he turned his body around to face the doorway, where a stone-faced Renjun was leaning against the door with his arms crossed against his chest firmly. “Renjun! I have been looking for you all over the palace, my good friend!” Yangyang spread his arms open welcomingly as he walked towards his cousin with a mischievous grin, ignoring the older boy’s comment. “You’re almost King now, how does it feel? Oh dear, you’re going to get married as well, time flies by so fast, doesn’t it?!” Yangyang beamed, letting out a fake sob as he wrapped his hand around Renjun’s shoulders, patting his back loudly. 

“Stop being so dramatic, you’re going to be wedded off too sooner or later. Auntie said she even has candidates ready,” Renjun rolled his eyes, using a hand to pat his cousin’s back in return before Yangyang pulled away from the hug. “But hey, at least I won’t be king. I have Ten to do that for me,” he grinned, nudging the boy’s sides with a sneaky wink, earning another groan from the boy. “Don’t make me feel even more envious than I already have,” Renjun grumbled, rubbing his face with his hands. 

Kai walked up towards you as the two boys got lost in their own little world, the atmosphere growing light as you watched Renjun interact with his cousin, a small smile tugging at his lips with every word that spluttered out of his old friend’s mouth. It was almost endearing, seeing the boy act like other Princes his age instead of preparing himself to be the next king. You couldn't help but smile at the sight, sighing heavily as Kai placed a hand on your shoulder. 

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” she asked in a hushed tone to keep the two princes from hearing you. 

You turned to her, giving her an easy smile before shaking your head. 

“Sometimes it feels better not to say anything.” 

-

“Do you have a minute?” 

Your eyes shot wide open as you glanced up from your papers to see your fiance standing in the doorway with his brow raised questioningly. You refrain yourself from yawning impolitely in front of him as you nodded, rubbing your eyes as you let out an ‘of course’ under your breath. Renjun closed the door to your study room, looking around the slightly messy room with an unimpressed expression. “I didn’t know a princess would be this messy when it comes to taking care of her own kingdom,” he commented without hesitation, causing you to frown as you looked around the room. 

Books were scattered here and there, documents and papers filled the corners of your room, you swore you could see a few broken quills on the floor after the tip frayed from being used too much. Letting out a heavy sigh, you refused to meet his eyes, internally hoping that he would say whatever he wanted to say to you and get it over with so you can go back to your miserable schedule. “Do you need anything, your highness?” you asked with an exhausted tone, keeping the formality between you even though you knew very well he won’t even take a second to consider doing the same. 

There was a small pause, awkward silence filling the atmosphere as Renjun hesitated on saying his next few words. “I have something for you,” Renjun asked, his tone growing awkward and embarrassed. Looking back up at the prince in front of you, you had to keep yourself from dropping your jaw to the floor as he glanced down at his two feet rather bashfully. As if he were some shy introverted 10 year old boy wanting to give his loved ones a flower he had picked in the garden. 

“Oh?” you sat up straight, putting your hands over the other as you scooted your chair closer to your desk to hide your surprised expression. Coughing to clear your throat, you tried your best to conceal the curiosity bubbling within you. “What have you brought me?” you asked, leaning your head towards him a bit as he slowly glanced back up at you, taking a deep inhale before walking towards your desk and plopping down a neatly wrapped gift on the surface right in front of you. 

The orange bow that was keeping it all together was also tying what you could identify was a yellow acacia branch. You haven;t seen any of these in the kingdom, which indicated that Renjun must’ve gotten these while he was out running errands in town with Yangyang the other day for a ‘pre-coronation gift’. (at least that’s what Yangyang said after Renjun told him he wouldn’t go to town with him) Nonetheless, it was a sweet gesture. 

“Open it, I don’t have much time on my hands. You’re not the only one being overworked here,” Renjun placed his hand on the table, leaning against it as he observed your reaction with an unreadable expression spread across his face. You pressed your lips together, nodding as you leaned your body forward to pull at the bow to unwrap it from the small box on the desk. Pulling the lid of the box off, your eyes widened at the sight of a large brooch, which looked exactly like a chrysanthemum flower with red jewels scattered in between the empty space, gently placed inside.

You felt a surge of happiness bursting through you like some kind of strong wind had knocked every single hint of exhaustion in your body. Your stomach began to feel peculiar, almost fuzzy and warm. You felt a strong heat wave through your face as you suppressed the urge to smile, an expression of disbelief spread across your face as you delicately lifted the brooch up to inspect it even further. “You brought me a brooch?” you said almost questioningly, you still couldn’t believe the cold hearted Prince in front of you was shyly standing in front of you with a frown displayed on his face, his eyes staring directly at the window to your right. 

“If you aren’t fond of it, you can just say so. I’m not ludicrous. You don’t like it, do you? I knew this was a silly idea, I shouldn’t have listened to Yangyang. Give it back, I’ll return it-” Renjun clicked his tongue as he started to ramble bashfully, reaching over to grab the box and brooch back from you. “No! I love it,” you exclaimed, snatching the box out of his hand and raising your arm behind you so that he couldn’t reach it from across your study desk as you shook your head profusely at him. 

Renjun furrowed his brows in confusion, placing both of his hands at the edge of the desk as he glared daggers at you. “Give it back, I can tell you’re not fond of it. There’s no point in faking it, just give it back,” he ordered sternly, eyes boring into yours to make you heed his words. But alas you were too stubborn and determined when it comes to things like this.  “No, I love it! I didn’t mean to offend you or make you upset, it wasn’t my intention! I promise you in the L/n Kingdom that I’m not lying! I really do appreciate the gift you have bestowed” you shook your head desperately, going against your anxiety as you glared back at him with the same determined glare he was giving you. 

“I am not giving this back to you. It’s a gift from his highness, it must be treated with care. It’s rude to ask for a gift back once you gave it away, your highness. You must've misunderstood my reaction, I was just flabbergasted and awed that his highness had given me a gift,” you exclaimed, deciding to go against your previous thoughts as you let your emotions out, giving him the widest smile you could muster as you stared at the small brooch in your hand with adoration and disbelief. 

Renjun couldn’t help but stare at you speechlessly, surprised to see you so worked up over a small piece of jewellery yet also confused at the same time. You, just like him, had all the wealth and fortune you could ever ask for. Why were you so happy when he gave you a small brooch that wasn’t even worth 1% of his daily allowance? He wasn’t going to lie to himself, seeing you happy like that sparked something foreign inside of him, a spark that made him feel uncomfortable. It felt ominous. 

“Do you like it that much? Such little things please you,” he asked, his frown slowly disappearing as his eyes never moved away from yours once your pupils moved to make eye contact, his hard glare never wavering as you gazed up at him almost innocently. “Well it is a gift. A gift is meant to be cherished, is it not?” you asked, easing your smile as you realised that you were probably acting too out of character in front of him. He was still your fiance, after all, you had to be professional. 

Renjun rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. “Yangyang made me buy it, I’d say it wasn’t 100% a gift,” he commented under his breath as he turned his head away to tear away his gaze from you to the beautiful scenery from your window. You let out a small chuckle, shrugging softly as you placed the brooch back in it’s box, putting the box at the edge of your desk, right beside all of the papers that were stacking up. “It’s still a gift from his highness, therefore I am delighted,” you said with a genuine tone, leaning your cheek against your palm. 

He didn’t know why, but his heart was beginning to beat too loudly against his chest that it made him feel as if he couldn't stand to be in your presence any longer.  “Now that I have given you the stupid thing, I should return to my study room. I have a meeting with the nobles next week to discuss my coronation,” he coughed, clearing his throat to prevent himself from sounding any more awkward than he already felt, scratching the back of his neck bashfully. You couldn’t stop yourself from smiling despite the fact that your heart ached slightly at the realization that he’s probably here because Yangyang wanted him to. 

You pressed your lips together nervously, looking down at your hands before nodding at him. “I wish you the best of luck for the meeting,” you encouraged him weakly, your smile faltering as he turned away from you without saying another word. You weren’t sure if Renjun didn’t hear you correctly or if he just chose to not respond back to you, either way you didn’t mind. The gift on your desk that he had given you was enough to cause your heart to flutter and soar for the rest of the week. 

One thing’s for sure, he may be the prince but he was the thief that had made you realise that your heart was no longer yours. 

-

“Your majesty!” 

The sound of the doors bursting open interrupted the serene atmosphere the two princes had as they engrossed themselves in a complicated conversation. The head of the royal knights stood in between the doorway, arms spread open to keep the doors from closing in on him as he panted to catch his breath as if he had been running around the castle for the past few hours. Yangyang let out a soft squeal at the loud, alarmed tone, figuring that they were under an attack as he reached for the red pillow on the chair he was sitting on. 

“Taeyong?” Renjun furrowed his brows in confusion, his heart rate picking up as his nerves began to mess with him at the sight of his personal guard looking so worried and scared. He stood up from his chair, placing his cup of tea down on the table before walking towards him. “What happened?” he asked, he was almost afraid to even know the answer. But his parents were out for the day, leaving him in charge of the castle until they returned from their meeting. 

“I have been looking for you all over the castle for the past fifteen minutes,” Taeyong gasped out, taking a step forward towards the younger boy only to put his hands on his knees. “I specifically told Lucas that I was going to be busy for the day with Prince Liu in the meeting room,” Renjun mumbled under his breath as he crossed his arms to calm himself down, taking a deep breath to maintain his composure. 

“Are we under an attack?!” Yangyang exclaimed, peeping through the cushions he was hiding in as if he was a five year old child.

Just as Renjun was about to snap back a snarky comment at him, he felt a hand on his shoulder, gripping it tightly as Taeyong finally managed to catch his breath. “Your highness, it’s the princess,” the older man told him in a strict and worried tone, his three last words inevitably making the young Prince’s heart drop to his stomach in an instant, his body tensing up at the mention of you. 

“What happened?” he asked, his gaze hard as his heart rate picked up drastically as the milliseconds went by, ignoring how worried he sounded in front of his cousin. “She fainted during a tea party with the duchess this afternoon. Head maid Gwen is currently looking after her in the Royal Infirmary,” Taeyong explained, causing Renjun’s eyes to widen, an ugly and ominous feeling sinking deep into his chest like a drop of black ink falling into a jar filled with water. 

“Forgive me, but Head Maid Gwen informed me that you should not enter her room as of now but I couldn’t help but at least inform-”

“Where is she?”

-

“Who are you to tell me if I can or cannot enter this room?” 

“Your highness, she is ill. If you enter this room now there's a high chance that you might catch it, she hasn’t been eating or sleeping properly for the past few weeks. We’re lucky nothing severe happened considering she only has a fever,” Gwen informed the stubborn prince with a deep exhale, rubbing her temples with her fingers as Renjun kept going on and on about wanting to see you. “You have no right to tell me what I can or cannot do, you’re just a maid,” Renjun crossed his arms at the older woman, who gave him a speechless expression.

The middle aged woman took in a deep breath, trying to remain professional in front of the prince. “Your highness, I know you’re worried about the princess but please calm yourself and be reasonable. What is the public going to say if you get sick as well with no one to keep the throne occupied?” Gwen furrowed her brows at him seriously, putting her hands on her hips in a motherly way, earning a small grimace from Kai, who was standing not far behind the Prince. Renjun let out a soft scoff, rolling his eyes before scurrying out of Gwen’s private office without another word. 

Gwen took a deep inhale as Kai began to burst out laughing at her friend for getting so worked up. “I finally get why Brooke resigned from this job, that boy is more stubborn than a mule!” she exclaimed incredulously as she sat back down on her chair with her forehead in between her fingers as Kai continued to snicker playfully. “I was honestly quite shocked when she said she was going to resign considering her Head of the Royal Guards husband is walking around with a metal armor twenty four seven,” Kai laughed lightly, closing the door as soon as she saw the Prince out of plain sight. 

A few hours after Gwen’s little lecture, the Prince was in your room, having a small conversation with you after telling his guards to heed his command and let him through your bedroom. He didn’t want to admit to himself that he was worried but dear god, hearing you collapse had elicited the worst feeling in his chest that his subconscious was desperately begging him to check on you. His heart was itching to make sure that you were okay. And honestly, it scared him. 

The way his heart dropped and sank into his stomach was nothing like the excruciating feeling of finding out his beloved Grandfather’s passing, it felt as if the pain had increased tenfold. He didn’t know what to do when he found out that he couldn’t even enter your room considering he had documents and tasks to handle himself, he didn’t even know you had been skipping meals and staying up late doing the work his parents had handed you. 

“I made you tea,” he mumbled, bringing over the tray from the nightstand beside your bed towards you as he sat on the bed next to you, placing the tray on his lap. You perked up at this, the mere thought of the cold hearted boy in front of you making tea felt like a myth, the sight of him handing you the tea he actually made himself (at least that’s what he had proclaimed before) was almost like a fever dream. 

“I hope you like earl grey,” he mumbled bashfully, gently lifting the saucer and delicately handing it to you. You gave him a soft smile as butterflies began to flutter inside of your stomach, giving you a warm feeling amidst the fever you were enduring. “I can’t even imagine Prince Huang himself has made me tea, single handedly. This feels very much surreal,” you laughed softly, earning a soft smile from the boy but it quickly faltered when your words sank into him. 

“What’s that supposed to bloody mean?” he asked, furrowing his brows in a rather adorable manner, his lips pressed together almost in an endearing pout. 

You didn’t know if it was the fever getting to you but you couldn’t help but notice how adorable the prince is when he isn’t treating you as if you were mud staining his new shoes on a rainy day. You shook your head as you chuckled. “I didn’t mean to offend you, you’re so short tempered, your highness,” you laughed lightly. “I meant that I never thought I’d see the day Prince Huang himself would show up at my room, without being told to by his parents or cousin, on his own accord. With a tray carrying a tea cup filled with tea in which he had brewed himself,” shaking your head profusely at him before lifting the cup to your lips to taste test. 

Renjun moved to sit down on the chair beside your bed, looking at you in anticipation as you popped your lips a few times after tasting it, furrowing your brows in confusion. “Your highness, is this iced tea?” you asked, letting out a small giggle as you turned your head to the boy with an amused expression. Renjun raised his brow, nodding in response with a small “indeed” escaping from his lips. 

“Your highness, I have a fever. I’m not supposed to drink iced tea,” you laughed lightly, putting the cup down on the saucer as Renjun’s eyes grew wide in realisation. “Oh,” was all he could say as he avoided your eyes from pure embarrassment, causing you to laugh lightly as you placed your cup back on the nightstand, regretting it a bit as your head began to spin the moment you leaned over the bed. 

Letting out a small chuckle at the bashfulness of the prince in front of you, you leaned over towards him to pat his hand gently. “It’s okay, it’s the thought that counts. The tea was delightful, I swore I felt flowers blooming in my mouth,” you complimented with a smile, clapping your hands together to cheer him up from his sulky state, causing him to lift his brow at you suspiciously. A small pout appeared on his lips as you held yourself back from pinching his cheeks in glee. 

“That was humiliating,” he muttered with a soft scoff, earning another fit of giggles from you as you laid back down on your bed, relaxing as you laid down on your side to look at him. “You should go back to sleep, no one wants you to be sick for too long. It’s worrisome,” he muttered, hesitantly putting his hand on your head, caressing your head and stroking your hair with his fingers as your eyes began to droop. You were getting sleepy but at the same time you didn’t want to end your conversation with the prince. 

Not when he’s acting like this. 

“Your highness?”

“Hmm?” 

“Could you sing for me someday? I heard from a few nobles that the infamous Prince Huang Renjun holds a melodious voice given by heaven,” you words were slurred as your eyelids grew heavy and half-lidded. You knew it was the fever getting to you considering you wouldn’t normally have the guts to talk like this to his face, however your whole body was feeling fuzzy so you couldn’t find it in you to care at the moment. 

Renjun could swear he was going to scream if you kept speaking nonsense, immediately wishing for you to get well as his heart skipped a beat at your compliment. “Whatever you want,” he mumbled, feeling his face heat up as he watched a loopy smile spread across your lips. “Anything else? You’re more unbearable to be with when you’re sick, you better get well soon,” he mumbled as you closed your eyes, the sleep finally taking over you. 

“One day, I just want to hear you say that you like me,” you mumbled almost inaudibly before dozing off on the spot, snuggling closer to your pillows as you gripped the blanket that was wrapped around your body even tighter to keep your body warm. 

Renjun swore he was about to have a heart attack when he realised you had fallen asleep the moment you finished your sentence, he was sure he wouldn’t have survived if you didn’t fall asleep on the spot. Nonetheless, something moved in his chest that made his mind blur as he let out a soft smile, kneeling down on his knees to lean his head forward towards yours. Feeling his heart race as his eyes examined your features with a soft expression, admiring how innocent and harmless you appeared as your breathing evened. 

With a soft smile spread across his face, Renjun pressed a soft, almost feather-like kiss on your forehead, stroking your hair before standing up to his feet and heading out of the room with a small smile on his lips. 

-

“Coronation party is in two weeks, are you nervous, dear cousin?” Yangyang grinned with a raised brow, leaning back against his chair as Renjun sipped on his tea, his eyes never tearing his gaze away from the book in his hand. “Why should I be nervous? It’s just a ceremony,” Renjun replied shortly, tone void of emotion, licking his lips as he placed his cup down on the saucer. Eliciting an incredulous and loud ‘huh?!’ from his cousin, Renjun scrunched his face at the sudden loud tone. 

“How are you not nervous? Renjun, are you sure you didn’t use black magic to get rid of whatever emotions you have left in your body?” Yangyang asked rather jokingly, raising his brow as he swung his arm to the back of the chair with a light laugh. Renjun let out a small chuckle, shaking his head at the younger boy across the table as he heard his cousin take another loud bite off of the freshly baked pastries prepared in front of them. “I would be rotting in bed all day  if I were you, to think that time is passing so fast. Next thing we know you’re already king and married to Y/n, raising whatever demon child you two created,” Yangyang shivered in disgust, shaking the thoughts away. 

Renjun paused in the middle of a page turn, Yangyang’s words echoing in the back of your mind. His heart almost stopped at the mention of getting married to you, has a year passed already since he first saw you? For once, Yangyang was right. Time was flying fast, a little too fast in his opinion. He pondered how he even got himself in this position, why was he treating you as if you were truly one of his loved ones? 

“Don’t speak nonsense, it’s going to make my ears bleed,” Renjun snapped, glaring at his cousin as Yangyang continued to ramble on about how miserably single he was compared to his beloved cousin. Yangyang rolled his eyes at his cousin, knowing how oblivious he is to his own feelings. “Speaking of y/n, I just noticed how you never address her by her name or anything. Why so?” Yangyang asked, leaning forward to lean his chin on the back of his hand, his elbow supported on the table as he grinned mischievously. 

The pink haired prince raised his brow questioningly, looking up from his book once again with a heavy sigh. “Why do you keep bringing her up? Are you in love with her or something, Prince Liu?” he asked, gritting his teeth through his words slightly as he spoke. Yangyang’s eyes widened slightly, putting his hands up beside him as he raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Hold on there now. We’re on honorific terms? Since when?” he teased once again, enjoying the glint of anger flashing through his cousin’s pupils. 

Renjun was on the verge of snapping at his cousin before Yangyang let out an amused laugh. “Calm down, your highness! No need to get your corsets in a twist, I have no interest in taking your lover,” he shook his head, waving his hand off as he wrapped his other free arm around his stomach as his shoulders shook in laughter. He watched his cousin let out a puff of breath, possibly of relief as he relaxed back in his chair, swinging his leg over the other as Renjun went back to reading his book. 

“I am serious about my previous question, though. Why don’t you address her like a normal fiance would? By her name? You two are too professional with one another,” Yangyang asked, furrowing his brows as he examined the trees and yellow acacias growing around them in the gazebo they were having tea in. Renjun let out another sigh, turning his head to pinch the bridge of his nose considering this idiot of a relative doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut considering he’s already pretty stressed out with the coronation preparations. 

“Must we talk about this now, Yangyang?” he asked with an incredulous sigh, earning an affirming nod from the younger boy. 

The pink haired prince sat up straight, shrugging briefly. “I don’t find it necessary to call her by her name,” Renjun said simply, reaching an arm back to rub the back of his neck in confusion, earning a soft scoff from the boy in front of him. “What’s with the scoff?” he asked in offense, furrowing his brows slightly as Renjun leaned forward to glare threateningly at the other prince. 

“I’ve known you since we were young. Come on Renjun, I know you too well. That’s not the reason why you don’t want to address her by her name. After all, you didn’t start calling me ‘Yangyang’ three years after we became friends,” Yangyang chuckled, shaking his head as he reached over to drop more sugar cubes into his tea, playfully stirring the liquid in his cup with one of the golden teaspoons prepared on the handkerchief beside the plates. 

Renjun rolled his eyes. “Stop speaking in gibberish and finish your bloody tea,” he said, smacking the book on top of the boy’s head as he clicked his tongue, earning a small yelp from the younger prince as Renjun rolled his eyes. “Y/n received a letter from her parents earlier, they told her they have something important to discuss with her or something,” Yangyang decided to change the subject considering he could lose any more IQs than he already has throughout his whole 18 years of living. 

“Is that so?” Renjun asked, his face unbothered as he picked up his own tea cup once again, placing his book down in front of him as he looked up to pay attention to his cousin’s words. Yangyang hummed, nodding in affirmation. “They require her presence somewhere around your coronation, if I recall properly. I’m not sure when she’s actually going to go though,” he added with a hum, tapping his finger against his lips in thought as Renjun let out another awkward hum, not knowing what to say in response. 

Yangyang suddenly perked up, leaning forward to lay his arms improperly like a toddler against the table, a wide grin spreading across his face. “Are you not going to bid her a goodbye? Parting is such sweet sorrow, you know, cousin,” he snickered teasingly, earning another roll of Renjun’s eyes as the pink haired boy crossed his arms across his chest. “Why would I do that? It’s probably a two day trip, we see each other every day. I’ll finally have a break from seeing her all the time,” Renjun answered, his tone unwavering as he nodded towards the maid standing behind them to refill his cup. 

“It’d be nice of you to say goodbye to your fiance, do you not read those romance novels? And here I thought you were the smarter cousin,” Yangyang tsked in disappointment, crossing his arms against his chest before shaking his head at his cousin. Renjun let out a soft scoff as he raised his cup to let the maid pour the tea into his cup. “Why are you even scoffing? I’m serious! You always act so coldly towards the poor girl, dear cousin!” Yangyang furrowed his brows in confusion. 

“Lighten up a bit, let yourself live a little and forget about professionalism. You’ve known each other for more than a year already, you’re about to tie the knot and be blessed by church bells soon after your coronation. You should at least call her name in a soft spoken voice considering she’s already living in the palace as if she were part of the family,” Yangyang exclaimed incredulously, disbelieving that his cousin wasn’t fazed in the slightest at his words. He loved his cousin but he could be so stubborn he wished he was the one who had the authority to smack a book on top of his head. 

Renjun grew quiet, the gears in his head working like a machine as he thought over the younger’s words in his mind. Biting his lip as he furrowed his brows, Yangyang let out an annoyed groan. “Come on! Wouldn’t it be nice if you even shared your coronation dance with her? Call her by her name in the middle of the crowd and ask for her hand to dance instead of sitting on the throne for the rest of the ceremony?” Yangyang groaned, he clearly read too many of those romance novels he had mentioned earlier. 

The prince got lost in his thoughts, looking at his cousin with uncertainty, who only gave him a pleading look in response. With a heavy sigh, Renjun slumped his shoulders. 

“Give me time to think,” he muttered under his breath. 

-

“Your highness?” 

You turned away from the letter in your hands, eyes wide to see Lucas in the doorway with a comforting smile spread across his face. You quickly folded the letter your parents had sent to you and tucked it in between the cushions of the chair you were sitting on as you told Lucas to come in. The young knight walked in with an uneasy expression that made you feel quite worried. Lucas has been nothing but a good friend to you and you couldn’t bear the thought of your friends being upset. 

“Blessings and glory upon the Huang Dynasty,” he greeted with a bow, a sympathetic expression spread across his face. “Your highness, I have come to deliver news,” he informed you, his sad expression never wavering as you furrowed your brows in confusion, intertwining your hands together nervously on the desk in front of you. “Please take a seat, Lucas. I’m all ears,” you said in a concerned tone, gesturing to the chair across the desk, earning a shake of the knight’s head. 

“It is not about me, your highness. It’s about you, orders from the future King-to-be,” he informed, taking a deep breath as your heart rate started to increase rapidly at the mention of your fiance. These days, you didn’t know if Renjun has been avoiding you or if it was because you both were immensely busy with preparing for his coronation, you haven’t seen each other in days. And when you were in the same room, one of the two of you would be too busy to look up from whatever you were doing to greet the other. 

You’d like to think it was because of the coronation, it was tomorrow, after all. You had been meaning to talk to Renjun on how you had gradually harbored feelings throughout the years you’ve been living in the same palace. You were almost sure (by observing his own actions) that he felt something rather similar considering he took care of you when you were sick. Gwen even let you in on the details of how he practically argued with everyone just to go check up on you. You weren’t going to lie, the information made your heart do somersaults whenever your mind wandered back to it. 

“His majesty had ordered me to tell you this personally as he is too busy with rehearsals to tell inform you in person,” Lucas was stalling as best as he could, you could tell by the uncomfortable glint in his expressions as he tried his best to explain whatever Renjun wanted to tell you into his own words. You couldn’t blame him, Renjun was a complicated person and you were sure that whatever he wanted to tell you wasn’t that easy to convey. You gave him a soft, encouraging smile. 

“Lucas, you don’t have to stall. Just tell me, I won’t get upset,” you coaxed him gently, feeling your skin crawl as you were anxious to find out what he was trying to say. Lucas gave you a soft chuckle, shaking his head. “I have no words to make light of the message but the prince would like you to do him a small favor?” he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, fidgeting with his fingers as he swallowed. 

“Lucas you can spit it out, you don’t need to stall,” you laughed lightly, getting a little uncomfortable with how the atmosphere was thickening the more Lucas attempted to explain whatever he was meaning to say. “What favor?” you asked, furrowing your brows, a spark of hope igniting inside of you like fire at the older boy’s words. Renjun has never asked you for a favor, the thought of him asking for your help made you figure that your relationship was finally improving. 

“His majesty has asked you if you could not attend the coronation ceremony.” 

Your heart dropped, just with a few words, the fire that was just ignited was soon wiped out. 

"Excuse me?" You couldn't even hide the disappointment in your voice as you furrowed your brows, making Lucas even more uncomfortable than he already was. The boy cleared his throat, gulping nervously as he watched you physically deflate. "His majesty didn't have the time to tell you this in person, therefore, he ordered me to inform you that he asked you to not attend the ceremony," he explained slowly in a more elaborate detail.

Renjun said that?

"Your highness, I tried my best to make the Prince change his mind but he refused to listen or give a reason why," he stammered, every word coming out of his mouth sending small shards of glass into your heart. "But I'm his fiance, aren't I? I have to attend the coronation regardless," your eyes widened, your heart was aching like hell in your chest as an ugly feeling began bubbling inside you, a lump gathering in your throat. 

Lucas sighed heavily, sending you a small glance before closing his eyes for a brief moment to compose himself. "Your highness, he's about to be the ruler of the kingdom. Until your official wedding ceremony, there's nothing her highness could do to go against his orders," he bowed politely at you to ensure that he wasn't overstepping boundaries. Your pupils were beginning to shake as reality hit you hard in the face. 

Renjun didn't want you there. 

Of course he doesn’t.

“Your highness?” the knight called out hesitantly as you began to get lost in your thoughts. “Are you-”

“Thank you for informing me, you are dismissed now,” you said as politely as you could, mustering up a smile as you tried to maintain your composure and keep your professionalism. Lucas sighed heavily before standing up from the chair, not forgetting to bow in front of you as he let out the usual royal greeting. “Blessings and Glory upon the Huang Dynasty.” 

You didn’t meet the boy’s eyes as you felt your heart grow heavy, eyes blurring with tears as you heard the sound of his footsteps gradually decrease, finally letting a tear drop to the paper in front of you when you finally heard the booming sound of the door to your study room shut close. Your mind was screaming ‘I told you so’ repeatedly like an echo in a deep cave, you couldn’t make it stop as your heart was being ripped out alive. Getting your hopes up was the worst thing you could’ve done to yourself. 

Propping your elbows up on the desk, you rubbed your face in frustration as you wiped your tears away with the back of your hand. You were on the verge of cursing everything out as you realised that all this time just when you thought the Prince was finally taking a liking to you, it was probably all out of pity or out of force. You weren’t surprised if the Huangs scolded his son too much to the point he pretended to care for you. Yet again, why were you the one who was heavily affected when reality crashed down upon you?

You were always polite to him, you made sure to stay out of his way whenever he was occupied with his tasks and you were always respectful to keep professionalism even though he has shown zero signs of giving the same respect. So then why was your heart the one falling instead of his? Is it too selfish of you to ask for something as rare as love? You never knew what love had felt like before considering you were neglected throughout your entire childhood, is it too selfish to ask him to love you the way you had grown to love him? 

Why was the world so selfish that you couldn’t even claim anything as your own? Not even your own heart?

‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’ was what your father would always say. Renjun had become your treasure as the days went by, you guess your father wasn’t wrong with his beliefs. Renjun had stolen your heart and you didn’t know how to get it back. You thought you were finally worthy of feeling happiness. Of feeling love. You were excited to live your life by the Prince’s side. You didn’t expect much but respect and kindness from the Prince, yet he failed to do so. 

All those times you had to turn a blind eye to the nobles who had unceremoniously gossiped on how unfortunate you were to be married to a man like him, how you wouldn’t last a day after your marriage had begun, how you would probably be treated like a low peasant every single day. Oh the amount of times you had to snap back at those who had mocked him behind his back out of the love blossoming in your chest, the times you would lie to his parents on how well he was treating you everyday. 

You were beyond exhausted. You weren’t even allowed to go to the coronation ceremony? What did he expect you to do in the meantime? Finish up all the duties you’re supposed to be taking a break from? Stay in your quarters until he comes back from the ballroom all grand and happy while you suffer in embarrassment at the fact that your own fiance didn’t want you there? YOu didn’t know why you were surprised at this point. Nobody in this castle wanted you. They just wanted authority over your kingdom to build this one into a brand new empire. 

And so, you wiped your tears away like the princess you were before opening your drawers for an empty piece of paper and a stamp. You needed a break from this place, you needed somewhere to relax. 

Yet you had nowhere to go. You had no home to come to. All you could think of at that moment was your parents, who didn’t even want you around. 

Taking a deep inhale, you dipped your quill into a bottle of ink before beginning to write a letter. 

-

“I’m heading down to visit the former King and Queen of L/n!” you exclaimed with a bright smile, putting the back of your hands on your hips enthusiastically. 

Gwen and Kai let out an incredulous gasp of disbelief, shocked and flustered at your sudden announcement. “Your highness?! What are you saying all of a sudden?” Gwen exclaimed, almost dropping her duster as she walked towards you with wide eyes as if you were leaving for good. You couldn't blame her, it was 6 AM and Renjun’s coronation ceremony was commencing in a couple of hours. You were expected to be getting ready just like the prince, not calling two of your most trusted servants to your room for a private announcement. 

“Your highness, the ceremony is going to start in a few hours! You’re expected to be there, aren’t you?” Kai exclaimed, waving her arms around deliriously in disbelief. You ignored the pang in your heart at her words as you gave her a sad smile, shaking your head at them. “I’ll only be gone for a couple of days. Don’t worry, I’ll return before you know it,” you chuckled softly, waving it off with your hand as you walked towards your window, waiting for the carriage you had ordered previously to arrive.  

“Your highness, you mustn't! The safest road to that place is currently being repaired! You mustn't go now!” Gwen exclaimed with a shake of her head, gripping on the sides of her dress anxiously as Kai nodded in agreement. “If her highness decides to leave before the road is repaired, you must go through the forest path! Heaven knows how many crimes have happened there! Not to mention the bandits and gangs lurking around just waiting for scraps of food and bits of gold,” Kai added with a worried tone, her usual, joking demeanor evaporating into thin air as she expressed her concern. 

You let out a heavy sigh. “I’ll be leaving in secret, so please prepare. Renjun’s coronation is today. As his fiance, I should at least give him a present, even though it’s only temporary,” you gave them a smile, putting a hand on their shoulders comfortingly to ease them. Worried looks glossed over your butler and head maid’s expressions as they couldn’t find the correct words to say as they watched you reach over your wardrobe, pulling out a golden chrysanthemum shaped brooch and pinning it on your dress. 

“Your highness..”

“Everyone is desperately hoping for me to disappear anyways,” you gave them a light chuckle, shaking your head when you realised your negativity was contagiously filling the atmosphere. You turned to the two most trusted people you knew with a determined expression, pressing your lips together as you placed a hand on your hip and pointed at them with a concerned expression. “So do treat Renjun well while I’m gone! You do know that Renjun is the King now right? In a few months, he’ll be an emperor!” you exclaimed energetically, shocking your two companions with your eager tone. 

“Don’t get on his nerves if you wish to keep your heads! You guys know that he has a very bad temper, I implore you to get on his good side!” you said stomping towards them and poking their foreheads jokingly before smiling widely at them, taking a deep exhale. Not letting them even respond, you let out a light giggle before turning them around by their shoulders and gently pushed them out of your room without a second thought. 

“Off you go then! Everyone should get back to work! I’m not the main character tonight, Renjun is! So as the former king of L/n would say, ‘Pip pip and cheerio! Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’!” you exclaimed merrily, successfully pushing the two out of your rooms before waving at them and shutting the door behind you, hearing a loud muffled ‘your highness!’ behind you. “I’ll be scolding you two if any problems arise with the ceremony, okay?” you exclaimed before leaning your back against the door, taking a deep breath of relief. 

Now that you’ve informed them, your mind began to wander back down into that negative abyss of dark thoughts. Replaying on your previous words as you continued to walk back to the window, patiently waiting for the carriage to arrive. Patiently waiting for Taeyong to tell you to move on ahead in the carriage as he had a few things to do before escorting you with the other three guards down the dangerous road. 

‘Main character..’ you thought as Taeyong knocked on your door, opening it afterwards and giving you a light smile to say that your carriage awaits. You gave him a nod as you clasped your hands over the other in front of you as you made your way down to the entrance. 

‘Have I ever been the main character?’ 

Taking the first step on the carriage, you held on to the doorway with one hand and your brooch with the other. You thanked Taeyong for his help as he wished you a safe journey, informing you that he would simply catch up 20 minutes after you departed. You gave him a soft nod as you sat back against the soft cushions of your seat, looking down on your brooch with a sad smile as if the brooch was the only thing that gave you comfort throughout this whole thing. As if it gave you hope that somewhere deep inside, the Prince’s affection lies within that small brooch. 

‘I simply lived on for someone’s wish. I did my duties so I could survive,’ you thought as the carriage began to rock as the horses began to move, indicating that you were finally starting your journey. Reaching your hand out, you felt soft droplets make contact with your palm, signalling that it was about to rain soon. You could even see the forest not even a few kilometers away. Letting out another sad chuckle, you took a deep breath as you prepared yourself for another miserable trip to visit your parents. 

“I hope Renjun has fun at his coronation,” you mumbled as you stared off into the distance, looking up at the bright blue cloudy sky. “What kind of bad luck is this?” you joked lightly as the rain began to pour. Leaning back against the cushions, you shut the curtains close before closing your eyes in content. 

“I hope it stops raining once the coronation starts, I would hate Renjun’s special day to be ruined because of it,” you wished under your breath with an emotionless tone. 

Needless to say, your wish was the only thing that came true that day. 

-

Taeyong sighed heavily as his horse led him to the forest with every soft ‘clip clop’ of it’s hooves. He had to leave a bit later than intended considering the rain began to pour, but fortunately, it didn’t last very long so he had some time to catch up to the Princess of the L/n Family. He didn’t know what Y/n was thinking when she told him that she was going to leave as soon as the sun rose on the day of the coronation. Hell, he tried to stop her for fear of scandals rising or the wrath of the Huangs. 

Alas, in the end she made him escort her along with two other guards. So technically, he couldn’t exactly face the wrath of the Huangs if he came with her, right? Taeyong wanted to rub his face in frustration as he entered the forest with a frustrated groan. It didn’t make any sense. 

Why would the prince suddenly tell her at the last minute to not attend the ceremony? It wouldn’t take a scholar to see that the young prince had taken a liking to the princess considering he practically fought everyone who stood in his way when they all cautiously told the stubborn boy to stay away from the Princess when she was bedridden with a fever. Something wasn’t right, and even if he did, Prince Yangyang would’ve heard about this and attempted to convince his cousin to think otherwise, right? Yet again, he hasn’t seen the Prince much considering he was too busy with rehearsals, therefore he couldn’t really say anything. 

It wasn’t his business anyways. 

Suddenly, something caught Taeyong’s eye. The road in front of him was nothing but a mess of foot prints, signalling that you weren’t alone with the guards. He furrowed his brows as he began to move deeper into the forest, his heart beginning to pick up it’s pace as he saw something a couple meters in front of him. The light protruding in between the leaves from the trees around him was enough to illuminate the sight of two corpses lying on the ground and a carriage that’s been flipped to its side, one of it’s wooden wheels had been detached and two of them were broken in half. 

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. 

Was the sound of Taeyong’s heart as he slowly got off his horse, sweat beginning to drip down his face as his hand instantly went down to hold the handle of his sword as he walked closer. The eerie atmosphere made the silence loud in his ears as he could hear nothing but the sound of birds chirping in the distance and his own footsteps hitting the muddy ground, snapping a few branches here and there. His eyes widened as his pupils finally got a clear view of the corpses near him. He could identify them in a millisecond. 

“Doyoung?”

He looked at the other corpse. 

“Ten?”

His coworkers. 

Taeyong’s hand slipped from the handle of the sword as his head slowly turned to the carriage in front of him, eyes growing wide as he emotionlessly took slow steps towards the unmoving vehicle. He didn’t know what to think, he didn’t know what to think at that exact moment. There was the sound of his boot making contact with a puddle of liquid, looking down all he saw was crimson red. It was blood. It was still wet. And it was coming from the carriage. 

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. 

His throat ran dry once he stepped close to the carriage, his arm hesitantly reaching over the curtain covering whatever was hidden inside the vehicle. God, he hoped it wasn’t what he thought it was. His gloved hand gripped the magenta fabric, pulling it open to reveal the horrendous sight that lay within. He took a step back out of shock, the tips of his glove were stained with blood as tears began to gather in his eyes, his mind spinning as he buried his face in his bloody hands. Kneeling down to his knees, letting his cape dip into the puddle of blood under him, he let out a loud scream that could pierce anyone’s ears as the wind blew against him. His now blood cape flew in the air under the harsh impact of the wind as Taeyong let out another distressed scream. 

A golden brooch that took the shape of a chrysanthemum stood by his feet, the jewels accenting the brooch had cracked, drops of blood staining the pretty gold.

-

“Hey Kai! Have you seen Y/n anywhere? I’m supposed to be picking her up to escort her to the ceremony but I couldn’t find her anywhere?” Yangyang scratched his head, looking around the halls excitedly in case you would pop up any second. Kai furrowed her brows as she picked up one of the Princess’ dresses in her hand, humming in confusion. “Did you mean the Princess, your highness?” she asked politely yet hesitantly, furrowing her brows as she peered up at the prince. 

Yangyang nodded eagerly. “In fact, Renjun and I had planned that I would pick her up to escort her to the coronation where she would be having her first dance with my mule of a cousin,” he exclaimed joyously before throwing his arms up in the air enthusiastically. “It’s what I usually call a Surprise Event!” he added with a light giggle before giving the butler a knowing look, wiggling his brows as he placed a finger below his chin. 

“My cousin and I are planning that once she gets to the chapel, she would be escorted to the dressing room where my cousin and all his now kingly glory will bestow her a bouquet of the finest flowers from the Lee Nation and give her a big hug!” Yangyang said excitedly, he was beginning to ramble as he listed out the things he had planned with Renjun. “Hell, he was even going to give her his first kiss, isn’t that romantic? It was my idea, of course,” he boasts proudly, putting a hand on his chest with a light laugh. 

“We’re all so excited for this, so please, tell me where the princess is immediately!” 

The wide smile and the hopeful eyes on Yangyang’s face made Kai’s heart fall as she gave him a sad smile, taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes before opening them to inform him that the Princess had left the castle hours before to visit the former King and Queen of L/n. The light in Yangyang’s eyes turned into pure horror and sadness as Kai continued to explain that the Prince had told her that he didn’t want her to be in the ceremony just last night. 

“Kai, you’ll get in trouble. Why did you let her leave? Why didn’t you stop her?!” Yangyang plunged forward to grab Kai by her arms, shaking her vigorously in worry as he realised that Y/n was probably across the border by now. Kai let out a small sigh, looking down at her feet. “She was very determined, your highness. After one of the knights visited her room to inform her of Prince Huang’s message, her highness looked very hurt,” Kai’s mind wandered to the sad smile plastered on the young princess’ face. 

“We couldn’t even comfort her properly.”

Yangyang furrowed his brows in confusion. “Wait, you’re telling me one of the guards had informed her that Renjun didn’t want her to come to the ceremony? He didn’t inform her personally?” he asked, confusion lacing his tone as he realised that this isn’t what Renjun usually does. Kai nodded in affirmation, causing even more confusion in the atmosphere. “Renjun’s personality isn’t like that, he isn’t the type to make other people send his messages for him, he’s a straight forward man!” he exclaimed with an incredulous tone. 

“He certainly wouldn’t have done it behind my back considering he isn’t afraid to say no. I’m sure he wouldn’t-”

“Yangyang, what are you doing here?” 

Yangyang and Kai froze at the sound of the royal Prince not far behind him, turning their heads around to see the said Prince in his coronation suit, the royal mantle draped over his shoulders as the two guards beside him took their stance. Renjun furrowed his brows at the worried expression glossing over his cousin’s face as the butler beside him bowed politely and backed away. “What’s going on?” Renjun asked as he walked towards his cousin warily, surprised to see the unpleasant look on his face.

“Renjun, did you or did you not tell Y/n to not attend the coronation?” Yangyang asked, his tone going lower as he took a step closer to his cousin with a serious expression glossing over his features, eager to get to the bottom of this. Renjun’s brows deepened as he let out a noise of confusion, taking a step closer towards his cousin. “What are you on about? Where’s Y/n? This is no time for jokes, Yangyang,” Renjun said with a strict tone, gripping the bouquet of flowers in his gloved hand. 

“Then tell me the truth! Did you send a random guard to tell the Princess that you didn’t want her to come to the ceremony?” Yangyang hissed back, showing that he was more than serious. “Why in the bloody hell would I do that? You know more than anyone in this whole kingdom that we’ve been too busy to even think of each other, why would I tell her not to come?!” Renjun barked, clenching his fists by his side before pausing to take in Yangyang’s words. 

“What did you just say?” he asked, his eyes growing wide as his heart practically stopped beating in his chest. 

“The princess got a message from a random guard that you had requested her to not attend the coronation ceremony, apparently she left to visit the L/n’s at dawn a few hours ago.” Yangyang informed with a distressed huff, looking down at the floor. He couldn’t imagine what was going through her head to lead her to choosing to leave for her trip early. He knew how much she disliked visiting her parents like the back of his hand. It must’ve been hard for her to come to that decision. 

Renjun’s heart sank down to his stomach as the gears in his mind stopped moving. “Do you know who was the guard that conveyed this message?” he asked, his eyes darkening as rage bubbled up in the prince’s chest. Yangyang shook his head ‘no’, furrowing his brows in thought as he placed his fingers on his chin to think of something. Renjun gritted his teeth before turning around to his two guards. 

“Inform every single one of you to find the princess and bring her back as soon as possible, the ceremony will not start until my wife is here.”

“Renjun, wait!”

Renjun stormed out of the halls, heading to the carriage where he would be taken to the chapel where the ceremony would be starting and where he would be waiting for his soon-to-be-wife. 

-

“Renjun, everyone’s getting impatient. We’ve waited too long,” Yangyang informed as he stepped into Renjun’s dressing room, where the neatly dressed prince was standing on the balcony with a gloomy yet unreadable expression stretched across his face. “Everyone has been able to endure the delay until now as it’s said to be the ‘coronation of the century’. But now everyone is ready to return right away!” Yangyang exclaimed, looking back at the few servants peeking through the slightly ajar door, too afraid to even utter a word in front of the prince out of fear that the man would behead them. 

“Even Duke Taeil is here! And I’m sure he’s about the be livid in a few seconds, we should at least show a sign that we are starting the ceremon-”

“Wait.”

Yangyang’s eyes went wide in shock. “We don’t have a choice! You can talk to Y/n after the ceremony ends and we can do the plan the-”

“Did you not hear me, Liu?” Renjun finally turned his head away from the balcony, his voice lowering an octave as he glared down at the younger prince. “When I said to wait, you wait. I do not care if we’re related, you have no authority to tell me what to do. We are not starting until Y/n is here,” he replied with a cold yet firm tone, he had never used that tone with his cousin before. It was so cold that Yangyang flinched, shivers running down his spine as he mumbled a small curse under his breath, knowing that the people are going to chit-chatter about this in the future. 

Renjun's expression lightened slightly as he saw his cousin run out of the room at the sound of carriages stopping in front of the lobby in the corner of his eye, choosing to follow after him, Renjun walked out of his dressing room as he took a deep exhale to calm his nerves. Everyone in the chapel gasped at the sight of the marquess, Sir Choi San, standing in front of the lobby with his hat taken off and pressed against his chest with a gloomy expression stretched across his face. 

Renjun’s eyes widened as he watched his mother run towards the older man, clutching his coat in between her fingers as she informed him on the situation at hand. Sir Choi laid a hand down on the Queen’s shoulder gently, giving her a soft expression before whispering down in front of her. Renjun’s eyes widened as he heard his own mother let out a loud, horrified gasp before turning her head back to meet her son’s gaze, tears starting to pour from her eyes as Renjun stood at the top of the stairs with a speechless expression. 

“Renjun,” she called out with a horrified gasp, causing Renjun’s heart to stop for a moment. 

Bells suddenly pierced everyone’s ears, the local messenger shouting at the top of his lungs as he cycled around the chapel with a deep voice. “Hear ye! Hear ye! We have sad news for the Huang Dynasty, misfortune has fallen upon us!” the messenger announced with a fearful cry, cupping his mouth as his compadre rang the bell vigorously, following after him. 

“The Princess and Heir to the Throne of the L/N Kingdom, the future co-head of our kingdom, the fiance of Prince Huang Renjun was brutally killed in the forest near the capital by a group of Neo Bandits!” 

Gasps and whispers began to break loose as everyone around darted their eyes to the distressed prince as Renjun stood in place, frozen in shock as the news sank into his mind. Eyes wide, expression unreadable, an empty yet searing feeling bubbling inside his chest as he tried to convince himself that this all was just a dream. As he tried to convince himself that he was just asleep, wishing that he was just having another nightmare out of stress. That you were okay and alive. That you were just sitting at your study desk doing documents, waiting and counting the days until you slip the wedding ring on your finger. 

“With the cooperation of the capital guards and the police force, we managed to immediately restrain the one who was responsible for the disastrous case. With a thorough investigation, severe punishment will befall on those who are involved in this case. We hope that their majesties will work hard to rebuild the status of the Dynasty!” 

Renjun’s pupils shook as a bloodied Lee Taeyong was pushed to his knees, his hands cuffed behind his back, his cape drenched in blood and his head facing downwards as if he were ashamed of his actions. One of his most trusted royal guards, kneeled down in shame in front of him, the prime suspect of the murder of the love of his life. One he called a friend. Renjun didn’t know what to feel as he felt himself walk forward towards the older man. Hell, he didn’t even know he was walking towards him until he felt his shoe crush down a small rock, he couldn’t feel anything under his feet as the empty feeling inside of him engulfed his whole being. 

“Prince Huang.” 

Renjun barely turned his head as his eyes glanced at the co-chief of the police force, Cai Xukun, who was holding a small box which was opened. “This was the only thing left at the scene,” he informed with a firm voice, making brief eye contact with the Prince out of fear. Renjun’s eyes wandered down to the item in the box. A golden brooch sat innocently in between the fabric set in the box, it was shaped like a chrysanthemum and jewels accented the whole brooch. Dried blood stuck to the small object, causing every single rationality to be thrown out of the window as Huang Renjun finally snapped. 

Renjun, in a fit of rage and holding back tears, quickly reached back to pull out his sword which was hanging right beside his hip as he gritted his teeth and clenched his jaw like never before. Fury and hatred glossed over his emotions, hiding the true sorrow hidden behind it all as the sound of his sword clanking to the floor at how harsh he had pulled it caused a few people to gasp in surprise, a few mothers covering their children’s eyes to shield their vision in case something dreadful were to happen. 

“Stop the Prince! The suspect needs to be interrogated!” Sir Choi ordered, causing all the other guards around them to walk towards the armed Prince, whose eyes were slowly turning bloodshot as he tried to keep his tears back from leaking down his cheeks like a waterfall. “Why the hell are you looking at us all like that?!” Renjun gritted out, his voice growing hoarse as he hadn’t uttered a single word in the past few hours, he felt arms holding him back from slaughtering the guard he once called a friend, causing his rage to bubble up even more like a pot filled with boiling water. 

Sir Xukun dropped the box down to the floor to help his comrades in restraining the angered and distressed prince, the loud sound of gold clanking down the tiled floor pierced everyone's ears as the brooch made contact with the hard floor. The jewels that were previously stuck to the gold accessory had fallen off under the harsh impact, some shattering like glass and scattered around. A symbol of the Prince’s love and affections for the kind hearted princess. 

“Stop the Prince!”

-

Far away on the shore, in a town beside the sea. Alone stands a Prince staring off to the distance longingly, a bottle of alcohol in his hand as he weeped the sorrows of his heart out. Renjun groaned as he leaned back against the lounge chair, heavy lidded yet restless eyes glaring at the waves crashing against the sand. Chugging down whatever was in his bottle, he stood up towards the shore, a secret he held in his chest. A secret in which he dare never speak of. 

His white button up top was unbuttoned, his sleeves unrolled and dropping down to cover his fingertips as he slowly walked towards the shore with the now empty brandy bottle in his hand. The dark eyebags were prominent and evident, a sign that he hasn’t been sleeping very well for the past few weeks. There was a hole in his chest, a place that was one filled by his heart which was ripped away from him by the heavens. The serene sound of seagulls hawking in the distance accompanied with waves of water splashing caused his head to spin even more than it was supposed to. 

It hadn’t been long since the coronation day. 

Ever since you were gone, ever since the heavens took you away from him before he could proclaim his love for you, nothing has been right. With your parents out of the picture and nowhere to be found, without you to lead your kingdom, your citizens were on the brink of starting a war with him. What was once supposed to be a united empire between two kingdoms was now torn into two halves of a whole. Life was a literal hellhole for Renjun. The coronation was delayed for the next few months, or at least, that’s what his parents told him. 

He was old enough to know that he wasn’t going to be able to sit in that throne until all the political problems disappeared. In the meantime, his parents were the ones who were forced to deal with it. The citizens of your kingdom began accusing him of planning a secret assasination during his coronation without anyone finding out, accusing him of murdering their precious little princess, their only hope of surviving from poverty. 

Considering you two were nothing but fiances, not officially wedded, he could do nothing but watch as your kingdom, the one you had worked so hard to keep afloat, crumbled down into ash and dust. He doubted they would even want him to take charge of them considering they’ve already got the idea of him killing you off locked in their heads like an echo in a cave. Gritting his teeth, he clenched his bottle as he internally cursed all of them to hell. Cursed on how he would behead all of them without hesitation for the accusation. 

Grief and anger overwhelmed him. 

A week after the coronation, Taeyong was proven guilty. Despite the fact that he hasn’t committed any crime, he was just there at the wrong time, he pleaded guilty. Taeyong blamed himself for everything that happened to you, therefore he accepted his fate of the death penalty. There was nothing Renjun could do to save his dear friend, the public wanted someone punished. Since those who actually committed the crime were never found for there was no evidence, Taeyong willingly volunteered to have a public execution to appease the public. 

Renjun had to watch his friend of more than 6 years get executed in front of everyone with a helpless expression across his face, he remembered how his wife, Brooke, had stumbled into his office pleading down to her knees to save her husband. He couldn’t do anything but stand there speechlessly, his throat running dry as he watched his parents stress over the rumors and scandals going around as the citizens in your kingdom became reckless without anyone to rule over. 

The accusations of Renjun using Taeyong to cover up for your death was growing larger by the day, especially since he doesn’t have the most pristine of reputations, meaninglessly threatening people in his youth whenever he lost his temper. He didn’t think much of it, he didn’t want to. He didn’t even want to think about how the ‘church’ in your kingdom was planning on starting a war between your two kingdoms. 

“This wasn’t supposed to happen, how the hell did it even come to this,” he mumbled under his breath, his words slurring slightly under the influence of the alcohol in his system. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to present you with flowers during the grand dance at his coronation ceremony and ask you to dance with him, the first dance. He was supposed to call your name for the first time with a tone filled with love and adoration. He was supposed to profess his love to you in front of the whole kingdom without an ounce of shame in him, he was supposed to share his first kiss with you. 

You were supposed to be standing beside him at this beach with a bright smile, a wedding ring stuck to your finger and a crown on your head. You were supposed to be here with him sharing information on flowers while holding his hand tightly, you were supposed to be by his side as he dragged you into the ocean water to send your very first bottle. Yet, he was the one who was sent here by his parents. 

“Your highness, their majesties had ordered me to lend you my clothes. I know it isn’t much but you must be hidden from the public eye momentarily, they don’t have the heart to keep you cooped up in this castle so please wear them and escape the castle. Find somewhere to hide until this blows away,” one of the guards, Lucas, had informed him one night when Renjun was preparing for bed. At first he was confused, why would his parents send him away when everything was in total chaos. 

But he listened nonetheless, he knew his parents’ must’ve been too busy with work to inform him personally. So he obeyed, snucking out of the castle before saying short goodbyes to everyone around him who was awake. He promised that he would write letters to his parents and Yangyang as soon as he finds a place to stay, yet it’s been three weeks and he hasn’t done anything close to picking up a quill. 

He had found a home for himself in a small inn near the beach. The same place where he sent away his first bottle. He didn’t know what led him here, he’d like to think that it was you but he refused to admit it to himself. 

“If you write a message on a paper and you place it in a glass bottle, if it is washed away by the sea there’s a chance your message will be reached to the person you’re writing to,” his grandfather told him a few days before his very death. Renjun clutched the small piece of paper in his pocket as tears began to gather at the edge of his eyelids as he recalled the day when you shared interest in sending a message the same way as his grandfather had told him to. The way your face fell when he insulted your interest caused his heart to ache. 

Renjun let out a small chuckle as he wiped his tears away with his sleeves, his heart clenching even more painfully as he fought the urge to break into a fit of sobs. “Why am I even here? This is ridiculous. Why am I crying and hurting this much when we all knew I was about to kill you off eventually after our wedding,” his bottom lip quivered as he continued to furiously wipe his tears away. “They all said it themselves, I was going to kill you off eventually, right? I’m sure their words were enough to drive you away eventually out of fear. You would leave me eventually, right? We all knew it,” his voice began to crack as he accidentally let a sob escape his lips. 

“Y/n, you were the one who wanted to send a message out to sea. So then, why the bloody hell am I here instead of you?” he exclaimed, his sadness turning into anger as he took a few more steps towards the sea, feeling sand in between his toes as he furiously stomped towards the crashing waves. “You plotted this all along, didn’t you? You made yourself all kind and innocent to make me fall deep in love with you, just so you can leave me at the end. Just like everyone else,” he felt his feet getting wet as he finally made it to the water, the ends of his brown baggy trousers getting soaked by the salty water. 

He let out a sob. “When I found you breaking down in the garden. Something bloomed in my chest, something you can call love. You knew it, too, didn’t you? Yangyang could see it, hell, you could bloody see it too. Did it make you so disgusted that you decided to go to another world instead of reciprocating my feelings?” he pulled out the crumpled paper furiously and stuffed it into the brandy bottle he was holding with his other hand, ignoring the tears that were now streaming down his cheeks like a broken fountain. “I wish I never met someone like you,” he whispered under his breath as he put the cork back on the lid and took a deep exhale to calm his nerves. 

Renjun paused, looking at the glass bottle in his hands and as his heart began to crumple into ash. He wanted to scream, to cry, to let out every single thing that has bubbled inside him over the past few weeks. But yet he couldn’t, he didn’t know how. He didn’t know how to deal with his own emotions considering he’s always kept it inside of him for the longest time to look professional 24/7. The time you have spent with him elicited immense amounts of love he’s ever felt in his life. 

"Who the hell am I kidding? It's not your fault, Y/n. It isn't anyone's fault but mine, I really screwed myself over this time, huh? Y/n? I should've made some effort to be nice to you. If only I communicated with you more, if only I didn't constantly mock you and treat you like dirt. If I treated you like the Queen you were instead of a peasant, would you still be here, my dear?" He sniffled, shutting his eyes tight in pain as he cried his heart out.

His love for you was practically spilling from in between his fingers. With you no longer by his side, to whom was he going to give it to?

His shoulders began to shake violently as he got on his knees, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of the cold water splashing against his legs and clothing, ignoring how the fabric of his trousers clung onto his skin as he began to sob as loud as he could. Finally letting it all out as he pleaded for the universe, for anyone, to bring you back just so that he could hold you in his arms. Renjun started muttering small apologies as he hugged the bottle to his chest tightly, as if the bottle were a small part of you. 

“Through the darkest of days, you were always there. No matter how rude my words were, no matter how badly I treated you, you would still defend me behind my back and abide to my words whenever I tell you off or get out of my sight,” his breathing quickened as his eyes grew bloodshot, his pink hair leaning forward to cover his eyes as he let out a fit of sobs. “Why did I let my selfishness push you away?

Now you’re no longer here with me.”

Renjun stood up once again to throw the bottle into the sea, hearing it splash against the water before floating up and drifting away and into the horizon, where the sun was rising. With eyes filled with tears, the pink haired prince gave a light staggering laugh as tears proceeded to pour down his face. Letting the cold breeze hit his face, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back to take a deep exhale. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” he mumbled under his breath. 

"You were my treasure, when you left, you took my heart with you."

-

Unbeknownst to the prince, a man stood not far behind him. A man who goes by the name of Lucas, or more specifically, Wong Yukhei. The lost prince who was presumed to be dead after his parents had been killed in the war between the Wongs and the L/ns merely a decade ago. A frown spread across his face as he slowly and quietly walked up to the grieving prince who was a couple years younger than him. 

A pistol held in between his fingers, aiming at the pink haired prince a few meters away from him. Prepared to finish off the final task, he closed one eye to get the perfect shot as he took a deep breath. Renjun, who was in a state of melancholy, was oblivious to the sound of the gun clicking behind him as he stared off at the distance, watching the glass bottle drift away to who knows where, hoping that the stupid tradition was right. 

“Forgive me, your highness. What’s done must be done,” Lucas muttered almost inaudibly as his finger slowly moved towards the trigger, pulling it without hesitation. 

There was the sound of a gunshot that pierced the air, accompanied by the sound of a body making a harsh impact with sand and water. A mop of pink hair being tussled around in the wind, evident from a mile away as the smell of gunpowder lingered in the air. Lucas blew the smoke from the tip of his gun away as he watched the prince, who had no meaning to his life anymore, lie still against the sand with lifeless eyes. 

With a small bow, Lucas bid the prince goodbye with his final words. 

“Blessings and glory upon the Huang and L/n Empire.”

¤ taglist: @stayctday @xiaoflwr @thejungjaehyun @sungchanscult @kunrengui @channoticedmeuwu @nct-writers @c-sanshine @neowritingsnet @neoturtles @culture-cafe @dnylwoo @whattaweeb @smolpeyy @skrtbeepbeep @sunshine-skz @dat90slove @angelrenjunie @pan-illusion @lebrookestore @morkiest​ @caratinylyfe​ @m1ss-foodi3​ @yerminie @itsrenjunnie @ikisshanji​ @junglewoos​

this fic was supposed to be a present for myself bcuz im a lonely and forgetful mfker BAHAHAHAH happy birthday to me ig lol

[star1117-archives]

𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 - 𝐊.𝐘𝐒 + 𝐉.𝐖𝐘

➵ Pairing : Yeosang x Wooyoung

➵ Genre : Angst + Mafia!au

➵ W.C : 985

➵ Warnings : Weapon usage, Mentions of death, Poor mental health.

➵ A/N : not mentioned whether they were together or just close friends at one point, it’s up for interpretation !!

➵ Network : @cacaokpop-fics

➵ © 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟕-𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬. Do not steal, plagiarise, translate, repost or use my work in any way, shape or form

“Why, Wooyoung?”

Yeosang sighed, adjusting his tie with a gritted jaw. His expression was stern as he toyed with the material, unable to look at the man across from him in the eye. His suit was crisp, and the black contrasted nicely with his colourful hair. However, his appearance was the least important thing to him right now, despite his fussing. He just needed something to distract his hands, to keep them from shaking. He didn’t dare look weak, not for one second.

“Why what? Why am I so handsome, sexy, and a complete babe magnet? I don’t know Sang, I got lucky I guess.”

Wooyoung chuckled and took a sip from the alcohol infront of him, the ice cubes rattling against the side of the glass. Yeosang followed suit, taking a long gulp to calm his nerves. It didn’t work. Yeosang clicked his tongue before setting the glass down, his expression icy even though he was fighting his hardest to not let tears fall.

“You know what I mean, Wooyoung. Why the fuck are you here?”

The other male simply shrugged, scratching the back of his neck before responding.

“Dunno… just missed you, I guess. Thought you’d wanna see me too.”

Yeosang turned to the window with a scoff, taking his glass and having another sip. A plaster adorned his face, hardly visible since it was clear, but still noticeable to a careful eye.

“I don’t know why you do that, Yeosang.”

Gulping, Yeosang’s eyes were still trained on the window as he chewed the inside of his cheek.

“Do what?”

“Cover your birthmark, it suits you.”

He couldn’t help but clench his glass at Wooyoung’s words, managing to finish it and set it down before he broke it. His eyes finally met Wooyoung’s, and a wave of familiarity washed over him. It was like he’d been put in a time capsule, not aging a day since Yeosang saw him last. His chest was exposed slightly, showing the dog tags Wooyoung wore religiously. It had the day they met inscribed on it. The black shirt he wore was rolled up at the sleeves in classic Wooyoung fashion, showing off his still-powerful muscles and arm tattoos. A small smirk was set onto his chapped lips, and his eyes twinkled with that boyish mischief that never faded over time.

It was like looking at a memory.

“There we go, knew that’d make you look.”

Yeosang couldn’t help the small smile that fought to break free, the corner of his lip twitching up slightly.

“You know how much I fuckin’ hate it, you pretentious bastard.”

Unfazed, Wooyoung simply smirked victoriously before taking another sip from his glass, swirling the liquid after he was finished, never taking his eyes off of Yeosang.

“And you know how much I loved it, you sarcastic prick.”

The past tense made Yeosang’s expression drop, any playfulness leaving his face almost immediately. He grabbed the bottle and filled both their glasses again, eyes now stony with anger.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Rolling his eyes, Wooyoung procured a cigarette seemingly out of thin air.

“I did, just not in the way you wanted me to. Got a light?”

Yeosang reached into his suit pocket and ignited it, holding it for Wooyoung so he could light his cigarette. When he managed this, he nodded at Yeosang in thanks before settling back, exhaling a cloud of smoke.

“At the very least, tell me. How’s hell?”

Wooyoung shrugged at Yeosang, taking a long drag before answering.

“Hot, nothing out of the unusual. Missing your demonic ass, though.”

It was now Yeosang’s turn to roll his eyes, taking another sip from his glass.

“Haha, very funny.”

They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a while, Wooyoung idly smoking whilst staring at Yeosang, who looked everywhere but at his counterpart. It took a few deep breaths before Yeosang managed to break it, his voice unsteady as tears welled in his eyes.

“Wooyoung, you’re dead.”

Sighing, Wooyoung gave Yeosang a weak smile when he sniffed, waging war on his tears. He hated how Yeosang had lost all emotion now, or at least how to express how he felt.

“I know.”

“That- That means you shouldn’t be here.”

Wooyoung’s gaze met the floor, and he nodded, his voice weak as he repeated himself.

“I know…”

The elder seemed to be getting more worked up by the second, his eyes now red as his glare was piercing.

“Then why are you here?! Why are you here, you son of a bitch?!”

Yeosang stood up in anger, yet Wooyoung was unmoving. He didn’t even budge when Yeosang grabbed the gun in the waistband of his trousers.

“Yeosang, I’m your mind giving you someone to talk to. You’ve changed, and not for the better.”

This was all it took for Yeosang to cock his pistol and shoot, tears streaming as he emptied his entire gun of its bullets. His chest was heaving when he finished, and he cleared the blur of tears from his eyes before finally looking at the chair again. It was empty, the fabric ripped and the stuffing sprouting out. Yeosang’s guards burst into the room moments later, startled to see no intruder, and no victim except the armchair. Now completely calm and put together once again, Yeosang turned around with a bite to his tone, his glare menacing.

“I’d be dead by the time you fucking imbeciles came in to help me. Get me a new chair, this one’s fucking ugly.”

Two of them nodded, quickly picking up the chair while Yeosang threw his gun carelessly to the side. He scrutinised the rest of the guards before walking out of the room and slamming the door. His heart was pounding as he made his way to his room, and his pace was quick. He muttered quietly to himself as he strode.

“Wooyoung’s fucking dead, and he better stay dead.”

ೄྀ࿐ SFW Taglist !! ˊˎ-

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Apply for the taglists here -> ꕥ༉‧₊˚.

[mrsmctominay]

nsfw alphabet w ben chilwell? ^^

NSFW Alphabet- Ben Chilwell

A = Aftercare No matter what the sex was like, your needs come before his. It doesn't matter if you want a bath run or if you simply want a cuddle, he will do it. The feeling of his soft skin against yours is enough to cure you for a lifetime.

B = Body part He loves your collar bones. He likes leaving bruises and hot kisses on them. The way they pop out when you arch your back in pleasure or simply the way they glisten with sweat.

C = Cum He likes to pull out in time to cum on your chest. As I say, he loves your collar bones so the sight of them with his cum on them is just, ugh *chefs kiss*.

D = Dirty Secret He wants to try handcuffs, be it you handcuffing him or him handcuffing you. Either way he wants to try it.

E = Experience He's not overly experienced, but Ben often fantasizes about what he wants to do to you, so that gives him some confidence in knowing what he's doing.

F = Favourite Position He likes cowgirl. He enjoys the feeling of you riding him along with the feel of you burying your face into his neck, marking your territory. He also gets a good view of your boobs so why wouldn't he love it?

G = Goofy Often, you would let out the occasional giggle or give him a smile just to let him know that it's okay to put down the wall of seriousness. He has a habit of being serious (sometimes too serious, to the point you feel put off, but this just comes from his past experiences..), so this just lets him know that it's okay to have a laugh.

H = Hair Ben is not completely hairless down there, but he may as well be as it's practically non existent...

I= Intimacy Looking at him, you'd expect him to be soft and romantic but my oh my can he be rough... Scratching, biting, choking, slapping.. You name he will *probably* do it. Obviously, like anyone, he has is boundaries but he's down for most things.

J = Jack Off He doesn't mind masturbating. This is the time he usually has these fantasies I mentioned earlier. it's the perfect time to plan what he wants to do to you the next time you have sex.

K = Kink Ben has a huge praise kink. He enjoys being told when he's doing a good job, he especially likes being told he's a good boy. Something about those words coming from your mouth drives him insane.

L = Location He likes having sex in the bath. He's never said why but he always finds a way to join you when you're in there on your own, the rest tells it's own story...

M = Motivation As I mentioned before, he likes being praised. So anything you say that's praising in the slightest way will really get him going. Or, when you wear blue. When you wear his colour. Something about it is so so sexy to him and he can never control himself when you do wear it.

N = NO Ben doesn't want to blindfolded. He would blindfold you no problem. But not being able to see you during sex? No thanks.

O = Oral Oh my does that boy enjoy some good head. Head in the shower? Give it to him. Head when he's driving? Yes please. Head whilst he's playing games with the boys? Stupid question. Of course he wouldn't say no if you asked for head, but he would rather receive than give, most of the time..

P = Pace Whatever you want, he doesn't mind. He can go as slow as anything or fast enough that you cum within a minute, it's all up to you.

Q = Quickie Nothing wrong with a quick-quickie is there? Usually they happen at team dinners in the bathroom, the times were you both look good as fuck and you just can't resist. You think that the two of you would learn to fuck before leaving but no why would you.

R = Risk You aren't exactly the biggest risk taker but you did like to take him by surprise every now and then. Rubbing your hand over his cock under the blanket when his friends are round is a personal favourite of yours.

S = Stamina If you'd had fast, rough sex, he wouldn't last as long and wouldn't be able to go for as many rounds. But if you were having slow, passionate sex... Oh boy could he go all night.

T = Toy You have a vibrator but that's it. He will use it on you every once in a while. Usually when he's feeling like treating you and solely wants to pleasure you is when the vibrator will get used.

U = Unfair There's times when Ben will rub his cock against your wet folds just to hear you whine and groan, or he will insert only the tip to see you push the rest in by yourself. He will kiss up and down your thighs and belly for minutes before he puts his mouth to your pussy.

V = Volume The grunts and groans that came from his mouth was music to your ears. Even just the hums of pleasure that vibrate around your mouth when he kisses you as he fucks you slowly.

W = Wild Card Ben likes to use ice in the bedroom. Seeing you quiver when the cold cube touches your clit unexpectedly is a sight he would like to see everyday of the week. Or him placing it directly on your nipples and watching them melt it, licking up the water that dribbles down your torso.

X = X-Ray Ok so he's a grower not a shower. He's a good 7.5-ish inches when fully erect though...

Y = Yearning You were the instigator more often that he was, but not by choice. He could be horny as fuck and still wait for you to come onto him, just because he likes to say that 'he's not the horny one' in the relationship.

Z = ZZZ Almost every time after you had sex, he would fall asleep first. Which you don't mind because he's cute when he sleeps.

[cheesygroove]

With a roll of the ice

pairing: Wheein x f!reader

c & ws: smut; ice play; sensory deprivation; mentions of alcohol; a lil swearing.

wc: 2k~

requested by anon

Round ice cube molds. You could have just gone for a regular plastic ice tray, the cheaper option at the store. But if it can serve a sexual purpose, why not? The process of moving to a new place with your girlfriend had you overanalyzing the simplest home utensils you needed. It was good to have that kind of freedom to choose.

Wheein just had the simpler intentions for it, though. One night, you came home to find her drinking alone at the still empty living room, lights all turned off. The lighted up fireplace was the sole reason you could see her, sitting with legs crossed and a glass in hand. A bunch of bottles, a second glass and her sketchbook, as well as her drawing materials, were all scattered around the floor.

"Whee, what are you doing...?" you asked while taking your shoes off. "I thought your group photoshoot was tomorrow," you worried about her drinking; better to not have to deal with a headache on the next day.

"I'm just having some coke. The alcohol is for you," she explained. "Can you get the ice for us?"

Not wanting to ruin the mood she set up, you used your phone flashlight to walk to the kitchen. There, you grabbed an ice bucket and emptied the silicone trays inside, shaking it a little to prevent the round cubes from sticking together.

"I would have picked it up before, but I didn't want it to melt before you arrived," Wheein said when you came back and placed the bucket on the floor.

"It's okay, babe," you assured, kissing her cheek tenderly after sitting by the fireplace with her. "Anxious because of work?"

She let out a sigh. You knew her really well.

"Getting better already, actually. It's good to have you here." Wheein smiled at you, stroking your knee with her hand. "I just needed to relax a little. Tomorrow is going to be a full day."

You nodded, reaching for a glass and the bottle of flavored vodka. Being so close to the fireplace, you reconsidered the idea of picking a drink that would burn you up even more. The current warmth was nice and it felt cozy, but it could be too much if you added more heat to it.

"Settling for the coke too? What a saint you've become," Wheein teased. A soft drink could be nice too, you thought, leaving your now full glass on the floor to look at her. She held a round ice cube between her thumb and index finger, rolling it slightly by moving both fingers in opposite directions. Well, now that brought you some thoughts back.

"This kind of... feels good," Wheein said, puppy-like eyes entertained with the water now dripping from her thumb, "it doesn't get sticky when it melts a little. And it rolls."

Right. It rolls. You pictured something like that, back at the store, wondering if it really would have this effect against her skin. Not simply dragging the ice across, but rolling it, gave a different perspective to everything. You bit your lip in excitement, now knowing your fantasy was real.

And well, why not feel this for yourself? One hand went to the bucket, but you needed both to get the ice out — it got stuck together. You appreciated the round shape inside of your mouth, rolling it around with your tongue, feeling your warmth slowly melting it. You sucked on the ice a little bit, stopping when Wheein's eyes met yours.

"You look really sexy doing this," she remarked. A side smirk allowed one of her dimples to show up, which turned into a laugh after you touched your own cheek, feeling the small ball formed by the ice. "So pretty."

You admired Wheein for a moment. Weak shadows danced around her figure, following the movement of the flames; hair recently dyed red held up in a neat bun, leaving her neck fully exposed. Around it she wore a bandeau, neatly positioned so that it didn't cover her Caddo tattoo. You found that detail particularly inviting, and added to the fact that she clearly wasn't wearing a bra...

"Why don't you try this too?" you suggested. The ice had melted already, but the cold sensation it left in your mouth, somehow, had you feeling hotter between your legs. "You'll find the temperature contrast sexier than me."

Wheein's gaze went down to your mouth, filled with desire for your humid lips.

"Can I try it from your source?"

"Please do."

Wheein really did move first. The coolness of your mouth warmed up in hers, as she simply stole that from you by chasing the kiss with all her greed. You felt like the flames from the fireplace itself had engulfed you when her legs wrapped around your waist, pulling you to the floor with her. Although when your lips parted, she was the one craving to cool it down.

"Oh my," she was able to say while gasping for air. Holding you by the back of your neck with both hands, she placed a few more quick presses against your lips before speaking again, "Hmmmm. I liked that it was... unexpected. Your mouth felt so soft from the cold."

You smiled when her fingers delicately caressed your cheek, tucking a strand of loose hair behind your ear. Wheein had her eyes on something else while doing it, though. Still holding your weight over her body with your elbows, you looked over your shoulder to discover that she eyed the ice bucket.

"Wanna try that again? With more than a kiss?" you asked, full of a smug satisfaction because the question wasn't even necessary — Wheein's pleading face spoke for itself.

_____

"Love, you really trust me a lot for this, huh," you said while tying the bandeau to the back of her head to use it as a blindfold. Depriving her from the sense of sight was part of your original fantasy, a way to allow her to have a better focus on the hot and cold feeling.

Wheein sat between your spread legs, backing herself into your lap after you moved closer to the fireplace. The orange light of the fire was now able to fully glow on her naked body. The air felt thick and hot when you breathed in, and a little sweat started building up on your back.

"I trust you more than I probably should," she whispered, leaning on your shoulder to place a few kisses along your jawline, "but you always repay it well."

"Right," you agreed, gently undoing Wheein's bun and letting the hair fall on her shoulders, making contact with your bare chest. One hand gave it a gentle tug, while you stretched the other arm to reach for the ice bucket, taking a round ice out. It quickly started wetting your palm, being just perfect for what you wanted to do. You got her hair out of the way with a harsh pull, pressing the ice against her neck. "I always make you feel so good."

Wheein's first reaction was to recoil at the sudden cold feeling, gasping loudly, but you held the ice in place with a strong grip on her neck.

"Shhhh, Wheeinie," you whispered on her ear as her gasping slowly turned into moaning, pleased with you using your palm to roll the ice against her skin, "this is just a massage. We haven't even started yet."

When it melted into a piece too small to be rolled, you simply dragged it across her chest, stopping at an already hardened nipple. The sensation of her skin under your cooled fingers felt softer than usual, the increased sensitivity having you muttering a curse against the back of her neck. Your other hand fetched for more round ice while you still held her boob, squeezing her nipple. Water dripped from your fingers and rolled down her stomach.

"More. Please," Wheein begged impatiently. Her hands were on your thighs, which were reddening from her burying her nails on them every time you did something right. You hoped to see a mark there by the end of the night.

"If you keep hurrying me up, I won't be gentle," you warned, shoving the ice against the boob you had neglected before and holding it strongly. Wheein's scream at the sudden shock ended up in a loud cry, her back arching at you circling the cube around her nipple. "Is that what you want, huh?"

"Uh-huh," she was able to shout out in agreement between her delicious moans, head now dropped backwards onto your shoulder. You moved your body to the side so you could whisper directly at her ear.

"What a slut you are."

Wheein lustfully mumbled a few yes yes yes I am when you stressed that word, like she had done many times before. She gasped in surprise when you stopped rolling the ice on her nipple, and gasped even harder when you took that same nipple in your mouth. Sucking the cold out of it. What was left of that cube you used to roll down her body, leaving behind a trail of water and stopping just before her pussy.

"Did you make a mess on the floor, Wheein...?" you asked.

You had inclined your head forward to look at the space between her legs. With all the action, Wheein had her knees up and under her chin, throbbing cunt fully exposed to the hot air. She was dripping on the floor, so much was the arousal.

"Hmmmmm, no. There's a lot of ice melting here," she lied. You smirked while thinking of how you would punish Wheein for that, one hand drowned in the bucket and getting really cold. The round cubes were now slowly turning into water altogether, coming out already humid — which meant that you didn't need to wait before using it on her.

"I would've been way nicer to you, Whee," you said, "but you don't deserve it."

Ring and middle finger squeezed her labia on each side, making the hole wider for the ice. Her reaction to the intimate contact with the cold immediately showed that she wanted you to put it in, her nails definitely leaving your thigh scratched this time. Instead, you simply stimulated her entrance, rolling and rubbing the round ice against it, even letting just a tip in. Wheein moaned sweetly, whispering your name, almost begging you to fuck her.

You took the ice into your mouth before it fully melted, wanting to taste her liquid even if the water was mixed in. Wheein grunted in annoyance from that, but there wasn't time to take her protests further — the same fingers which squeezed her open before now slid with ease inside of her, producing sweet wet sounds with each pump in. Part of you wanted to grab more ice, to roll it on her skin, to do anything, but you couldn't do much when her moans and then screams of pleasure filled your ears. Your hand was soaked with her climax in almost no time.

"Mmmmhm... Can't believe you didn't..."

You laughed when her words kept trailing off — Wheein was absolutely spent. She tiredly dropped into your arms after her orgasm, trying but failing to sound her complaints. Now any warmth was welcome, yours or from the fireplace, her hands pressing yours against her body to hug her tighter.

"What? You really wanna complain when I left you in this state?" you scoffed while gently removing the bandeau she wore as a blindfold.

Wheein sat up to face you, narrowing her eyes and pouting her mouth. She trembled a bit, still lacking the necessary balance, but kept her posture.

"I... I... Fuck." She gulped and shook her head, recollecting herself. "I just wanted you to roll the ice inside of me!"

ao3 link

[rintoki]

Glad the beloved hooman likes it! Hehe, I did too <3 Neko-sama is always in the feeling of bullying someone (๑ↀᆺↀ๑)✧ but today, strangely, the feelings doubled, mufufufu probably because of that anon of yours gifted me some delicious, delicious salmons hehehehe *coughs* And to your question, neko-sama don’t have anyone that I’d consider ‘favorite’, but right now, neko-sama is eyeing a new vict- eh, um, toy :3 His name is Hanma, methinks hm hm.

Ah, and the little “thirst” as what you humans would called, is that you training someone who really into submission, but his mind is too ingrained with what the society said about men have to lead, yada yada. (Whoever, really, neko-sama doesn’t have anyone in mind). This is, of course, like any smart humans would do, after the discussion of what you like and don’t between your partner(s) (neko-sama herself is polygamic hehe), and then the path to mind breaking begin! Maybe Pavlov’d him a little bit uwu anytime anyone says or mention your name, his cute dick gets hard. Aaaah, and sweetly bullying him that for someone who wanna be in charge, his cute hole won’t let go of your cock. He is way too tight and warm! If he doesn’t like this, why everytime you pulled away, he looked so sad and he’s making the most pitiful noises?- it’s so endearingly funny owo

Oya oya, what naughty liar he is, but his body is being so honest. Training his body to be far more sensitive, more responsive and of course, more slutty <3! Make him wear pretty things, never skip on stimulating his prostate because poor boy cannot do it to save himself, use toys on him as he goes about his days (ah, his struggles never fail to make you smile!) And by the time you’re done, maybe if you’re nice enough, you’d let him keeping his facade of being the Big Bad. - neko

WAHAH i think a lot of people are thirsting for hanma after the new official art heheh the great neko-sama is not immune i see 🤭🤭

UGHHU I LLVE THIS SO MUCHC HNHN mmmm your big bad looking partner who gets pegged by you yes yes. he is shy about submitting but like you said he can’t help it :(( it’s feels too good, his hole sucking you in so greedily, even after cumming he still loves keeping you inside. making him moan your name, asking him who is the one making him crying and shake like that. so much until saying your name in public makes him squirm; reminding him of how he says your name when he cums. his pants becoming tight and suddenly he needs to go home to take care of some problems heheh

especially when he tries to act dominant over you in front of other people, you have to teach him again who is in charge. tying up his hands and edging him, a cock ring on and you fuck his aching hole. denying his orgasm each time he’s close until he’s sobbing and admitting that he’s just your slut, his hole is free use for you whenever you want <33

mmmhmh depriving his senses; blindfold, earphones on playing a sexy playlist. can’t see or hear you so his body is so much more sensitive to your touch. drip hot wax onto his chest, but then running an ice cube on his cock, maybe even making your fingers cold and stroking his prostate. poor baby would squirm and shake so much, everything feels so intense, might even cum early if you start kissing or sucking him <3

becomes so shy when you put toys on him in public 🤭 hides from people and clings to you so much. hugging and whimpering in your ear when he can’t take it anymore :( i think you’ll have to pull him into a corner and rub his poor cock until his knees are shaking and his underwear is all dirtied :((

[royallyprincesslilly]

Title: Shadow & Smoke***

Pablo Schreiber x Reader x Lewis Tan

Warning: Cursing, NSFW, SMUTTTT, DO NOT READ AT WORK

Words: 5k

Summary: Eh.  🤷🏽‍♀️

Note: So this is a mixture of two firsts for me. This was inspired by the song Mr. Man by Alicia Keys. How did I do? 

I hope you guys enjoy this. Thank you so much for reading!   ❤️ 

 If you enjoyed this, please LIKE, COMMENT and REBLOG. ❤️❤️

**Loosely Edited/Proofread**

 The nights were starting to blend together. It wasn’t that you were bored, but there was a routine in place that you’d become—too accustomed to. You were the type of woman who liked routine and normalcy, but you also liked the unpredictability that life sometimes offered. Being the girlfriend of one of the most, if not the most powerful and dangerous man in the city meant that you were always on his arm.

 Pablo liked to bring you along to business deals he needed to close. You thought it was to show you off, but it was really a more tactful reason than that. He did it to sift out who had the potential to be disloyal. His logic was if any of them dared to ogle you while he was there, then they’d have the balls to fuck him over in business.

“There’s a thin line between loyalty and disloyalty, and usually the deciding factor in it all came down to a pretty face.”

 If he wasn’t bringing you to handle business, you were being whisked to surprise shopping trips, extravagant trips, delectable eateries that charged a ridiculous amount of money for their dishes. Usually, every night, you were on his arm at one of his clubs as he showed his face and ate up all the adoration and respect one in his high position brought.

 You’d met him as a liquor sales rep almost four years ago. You walked into one of his clubs with the intent to convince him to purchase some of the alcohol you were peddling. From almost the minute he sat down, you were attracted to him. Who wouldn’t be? The man was almost seven feet tall, built like no one’s business, had haunting hazel eyes, and such a hypnotizing aura around him. He spoke, you listened, he smiled you gawked, he licked his lips, you shifted in your seat.

 By the time you got up to leave the club, he’d bought you out of everything, easily meeting and exceeding your quota for the month. His reason was he had to have you free for him because he hated competition of any sort. That was when you got the first glimpse of the man he was—a force to be reckoned with. An hour after you left, he’d already called you and scheduled himself for dinner that night. One dinner led to lunch the next day, then dinner that night, and a whirlwind weekend trip to France where you found out just how much of a force to be reckoned with he was.

 Flash forward four years later, and your role in his life had only increased, and your understanding of his role in the city among the mayor, governor, senator, and other heavy hitters had fully sunk in. Pablo “Shadow” Schreiber was at the top of the food chain. Everyone was either terrified of him or wanted to be with him.

 “You look incredible tonight, sweetheart.”

 Glancing to your left, you found Pablo’s eyes. Within them, there was a hint of mischief as well as a whole lot of desire. You leaned close to his face leaving barely an inch.

 “You’re welcome to look, daddy,” you replied a little above a whisper.

 At the mention of that word, Pablo’s teeth sunk into his bottom lip as his eyes dropped to yours. Deciding to tease him, you trailed your tongue over your bottom lip, knowing that the long-wear lipstick you wore would stay in place. Pablo’s groan sounded closer to a growl, and with the sound, the heat in his eyes intensified.

 “Be careful, sweetheart.”

 “Boss.”

 Like clockwork, one of his henchmen interrupted. It was always a thing. The two of you would create this bubble of teasing and desire only to have it be popped by someone who needed something from him. You were attention-starved.

 Pablo looked from you and to Leo, his third. When Leo got his attention, he leaned down to whisper business. Rolling your eyes, you looked away and around the club. That was when you saw him. he was across the club leaning against the bar. In one hand, he held a drink and clasped between his pointer and middle finger was something rolled and lit. You couldn’t tell if it was a cigarette, a blunt, or something else.  Something said it was your second guess.

 You watched him raise the crystal glass to his lips. The smoke danced around his face creating an element of mystery that completely intrigued you.  From what you could see, he was checking out the club and the women inside. His eyes danced from one to the other, never resting long. Either none of them was what he liked, or he was searching for something—someone specific.

 When he brought the rolled substance to his lips, you watched as he took a long puff. Before he released it, his eyes moved to your area of the club. Clutching your drink glass, you watched him, unsure if he were looking at you. The stranger turned his body in your direction and slowly blew out the smoke. If he was mysterious before, he was now ten times so. Slowly the smoke cleared, and it was then you got a good look at his face. He was gorgeous.

 It had been a while since a face was able to stop you in your tracks. None had since Pablo’s. You lifted your glass to your lips and slowly drank down the Whiskey. The ice cubes in your glass gently bounced against your lip, giving you a slight chill as the heat of the alcohol deliciously burned you. As the liquid slinked down your throat, your eyes remained locked with the stranger at the bar.

 Time seemed to stop. The air became thick, so thick it was almost difficult for you to get a full breath. When you saw his tongue snake out to wet his lips, your eyes dropped to his mouth. A small smirk spread across his lips, and you could feel the smug coming off of him.

 Almost unconsciously, your tongue peaked out of your mouth and slowly traced the path around the rim of your glass. His teeth sunk into his bottom lip. Dipping your tongue into the glass, you used it to scoop up an ice cube to suck on. Gone was that small smirk. It was now a full-on grin. He was sexy, and though you knew you shouldn't be doing this, especially with Pablo right beside you, you couldn’t help it. He’d left you wanting for too long.

 Once the ice cube had melted, you looked away. His eyes were too hypnotizing, and the longer you looked into them, the more you wanted to risk Pablo’s wrath. Pablo gently rubbed your exposed thigh before he got up and walked off with Leo and Laith. You’d learned early that he was always busy, and his free time was not as plentiful as one would think a boss’s would be. You’d also learned that everything in his life took balance. You must have gotten spoiled when you were his top priority for the first two years.

 He went above and beyond, ensuring that you knew your value to him. He went to great lengths to make sure you felt special, loved, and prized above all else. He did this with small, romantic gestures as well as grand displays and deeply satisfying intimate moments. By year three, he’d incorporated more and more work, more and more business trips. Every month he was on a plane. Depending on the reason for the trip, you’d be right beside him on the private jet, but four out of ten times, you were left under the watchful eye of Levi, his brother.

 Pablo looked back at you as he walked off. The look spoke volumes, and it was loud. Rolling your eyes, you grabbed the glass he left behind and finished it. The music in the club and the patrons were your only entertainment for a while. When you looked back to the bar, the stranger was gone. You were left with an annoyed feeling that mixed with your slight arousal. You made a note to give Pablo an earful once you got home. If he was hell-bent on keeping you around, he’d better start acting like it.

 After twenty or so minutes, you’d had six fingers of Whiskey, and you were feeling better than a little nice. You were still alone at your table under the watchful eye of two of Pablo’s henchmen. Every so often, when a song came on that you liked, you got up and made your way to the VIP dancefloor. This was where the girls of the men Pablo employed hung out. You never mixed with them. You always got the feeling they either didn’t like you, or they wanted to be you--literally. Whatever it was, it always made you uncomfortable.

 “It’s both.”

 You looked back and found Danika, Levi’s long time girlfriend. The figure-hugging white dress she wore clung to her like a second skin. It matched perfectly with her ankle strap silver heels. She winded her hips to the music and smiled widely.

 “When did you get here?”

 “Maybe five minutes ago. Levi couldn’t allow me one night of quiet,” she informed.

 You closed the space to her. The two of you kissed cheeks like bougie wives did, only it wasn’t fake with the two of you. she and Levi had gotten together about the same time you and Pablo got together, and both of you found solace in each other because you both could relate to what the other was going through. When you were left alone because of Pablo’s trips, more times than not, she would be too because Levi would go as well.

 “They don’t like you, and they want to be you. it’s the same with me.”

 The two of you glanced at the group of girls huddled to your right and simultaneously rolled your eyes.

 “They think if we weren’t in the picture that Levi and Pablo would fuck them,” Danika voiced louder then necessary. She was putting them on notice.

 “Not knowing that even if we weren’t in the picture, they’d never look twice at them. There’s filet mignon, and there’s Kobe beef. Why chew on filet mignon when Kobe melts in your mouth?”

 The girls were trying not to look at you, but you knew they heard her. Danika had no chill and always spoke her mind. Pablo always thought that when you were together that you wouldn’t get into too much trouble. Little did he know Danika was not the angel she pretended to be. She’d gotten you into your fair share of trouble—trouble he knew about and trouble he didn’t.

 The two of you danced together when the song changed and played off each other. In no time, it was as if no one else in the club mattered. While you were wrapped up in the song and the buzz you were feeling from the Whiskey, you saw him again from the corner of your eye. This time he was in a shaded part of the club that was cloaked in dark color. The hues of red and purple decorated his skin but illuminated it enough for you to make out some of the detail. He was incredibly handsome.

 Before you knew it, you were dancing with Danika while eye fucking the man. You didn’t know what the hell had come over you. Never in the four years had you behaved like this with anyone else but Pablo. He was the only one who could bring out this wanton side of you—or so you thought. When Danika shrieked out with the change of the song, you looked away from him. You began to wonder if you should make a move.

 Glancing around the club, you clocked each of Pablo’s henchmen. His brother, Levi, his number two, was sitting watching Danika, who was now undressing him with her eyes. You knew any minute she’d go over, and they’d be practically fucking in the club. Danika pulled you close to her and whispered.

 “You have an audience.”

 Glancing at her, she coyly nodded her head over to the stranger. You tried not to smile, but it was useless.

 “Ah, you’ve noticed. He’s cute.”

 “D, stop.”

 “Why? It’s true.”

 You giggled and rolled your eyes but took a quick peek in his direction again. His eyes hadn’t left you.

 “I can distract Levi if you want to--.” She winked.

 “D! Stop it! That’s insane.”

 “Why? You’re not dead. Plus, what Shadow doesn’t know--,” she trailed.

 This was the kind of trouble Danika was good for. She was like the devil on your shoulder. You knew she’d fooled around on Levi and had heard stories of the fooling around Levi occasionally did when he felt that itch. Neither were stupid, but both were crazy, so they kept their misdealings on the low. You, on the other hand, had never fooled around behind Pablo’s back. You never had a reason to.

 As your eyes met the gorgeous stranger’s again, you bit your bottom lip. Until now, you thought. You caught the eye of Pablo walking back to the table. Leo was still beside him, yapping away, but he also had two other men surrounding him. he was still talking shop. Annoyance flared through you with a vengeance. Danika walked to Levi and sat on his lap before her lips met his. You walked back to the table and sat. You felt his eyes on you with every step you took.

You sat beside Pablo and tried to get past the unexpected thoughts you were having. Five minutes passed, but still, the thoughts persisted. When you looked up, the stranger was again in the shadows. Fuck it, you thought before you stood and took a step.

 “Where you going, sweetheart?”

 Painting a sugary smile on you responded. “Bathroom, baby.”

 Pablo nodded, but you felt him watching you. He was a secure man, but he was a possessive one. You walked through the crowd; all the while sneaking peeks at the stranger. You turned the corner and walked down the dark corridor that led to the bathroom. You knew this club like the back of your hand.

 Once inside the bathroom, you stood in front of the mirror and focused on toying with your hair. By the time you got to twelve, the door had opened, and in walked the stranger. You locked eyes from the mirror, and you damn near buckled. He was even more beautiful than you thought. His eyes were so brown and so damn penetrative that you decided to have his face between your thighs then and there.

 As if reading your thoughts, he locked the door and, in the same breath, pushed up behind you. You could feel his hardness pressing into your ass. His hands gripped your body, one at your breast, the other at your hip. The way he held you felt possessive like he owned you. The only one to have ever held you like that was Pablo. This was a man who knew what he wanted and took it. Pablo was that caliber of a man as well. It was intoxicating.

 His lips fastened onto your neck and immediately found your spot. When you felt his teeth graze your skin, you pulled away and glared at him through the mirror. Another smirk spread across his face. In seconds he’d had you turned around so you faced him. When his lips crashed to yours, he wasted no time delving his tongue into your mouth. Almost instantly, he took control of the kiss, and almost instantly, your lacy thong was drenched.  

 As if sensing this, you felt his fingers graze your inner thigh until it connected with your sex. You gasped on his mouth, which permitted him even more access to your mouth. Fuck, you thought. You were losing control of this situation. Pulling your lips from his, you looked at him. The fire in his eyes had heat rushing through you. You watched as he slipped his fingers into his mouth and sucked your juices off. Once his fingers were clean, he moaned.

 “You’re as sweet as you look.”

 Grabbing his shirt, you pulled him to you, but instead of claiming his lips, you began pushing his head lower. He knew what you wanted. In seconds he hoisted you into his arms and began lifting you higher into the air as if you weighed an ounce. One he’d placed you on his shoulders, he used his teeth to pull your thong to the side before he began his feast.

 “Fuck!”

 Slapping your hand across your mouth, you groaned and mumbled another curse into your palm. It was clear from the start he had no intention of going slow. The fast flicks of his tongue had your back arching, and the soft nibbles he dropped in had your free hand tangling in his hair. When you felt your back press onto the cold surface of the bathroom, you moaned again. You didn’t dare remove your hand from your mouth. You didn’t trust yourself. The stranger between your legs used both his hands and pried your thighs apart, so he was holding you against the wall spread like French doors.

 The thick pad of his tongue slowly licked you from opening to clit. When he got to your clit he sucked it into his mouth. He wasn’t gentle, and the increase in suction had you feeling the first stirs of your orgasm.

 “Yes, yes, right there. Fuck! Oh my god!”

 Feeling a scream coming, you plastered both your hands across your mouth to lessen the volume. He dipped his tongue into your core, and you lost your shit right then and there. When you began shaking, he didn’t slow down. He picked up the pace. You couldn’t believe someone could fuck a pussy with their tongue so quickly. After every three or four dips, he sucked your clit into his mouth as if he was a hoover vacuum.

 Your eyes rolled to the back of your head, and you knew you were seconds from coming. Without warning, you gripped his head and hugged it to your sex as you came. He moaned and slurped your flesh, accepting every drop you gave.

 “Shit, shit, Shiiiit!”

 If anyone busted the door down, you would have the hardest time explaining this away. There would be no way. Slowly his lips and tongue slowed their devil work, allowing you to come down. As if to keep you on your toes, he nibbled your clit every so often. The action always had you gasping, gripping his hair tighter and arching back every so slightly to finish with a satisfied moan.

 When he pulled his face back, his jaw was drenched, and there was a glistening layer of your juices outlining his mouth.

 “A man could get drunk off this sweet pussy, sugar lips.”

 Jesus Christ, you thought as new wetness with fresh arousal washed through you. His eyes dipped between your legs, and a grin spread across his face.

 “Wet for me again already?”

 Your gear watched vibrated, indicating you’d gotten a message. Glancing at it, you saw Danika’s message.

 MSG D: You have twenty seconds to get back, or your cover is kaput.

 “Fuck,” you groaned under your breath as you began wriggling in his arms.

 He lowered you to the floor then stepped back, giving you a little space. You fixed yourself as best you could and tried to ignore the wetness between your legs.

 “I take it reciprocity is dead.”

 You looked at him and dropped your eyes to see him holding his crotch. He was mouthwateringly hard. Part of you wanted to see what he was concealing behind those pants, but if you were caught, you knew Pablo would beat him to a pulp or worse.

 “Unfortunately, there’s no time. Thank you though, I really needed that.”

 You walked to the door, and as you passed him, you gently tapped his cheek.

 “Glad I could be of service.”

 You quickly rushed out the bathroom, and down the corridor, you’d walked down back to the main hall of the club. As you rounded the corner, you met three of Pablo’s men.

 “Everything okay?”

 “Perfect,” you answered with a smile before you pushed past them to make your way back over to Pablo, relishing in the decrease of tension in your body. It had been too long, indeed.

 The rest of the night progressed as it usually did. Pablo finished up the business thirty or so minutes before you left. The beautiful stranger with the skillful mouth was nowhere to be found. The two of you then made your way home. While in the car, Pablo’s hand found the space between your thighs.

 “I’m sorry about tonight.”

 “You know if work is the only important thing to you, then maybe we need to have a conversation about where that leaves us.”

 His grip tightened, making you flinch.

 “Y/N, come on,” Pablo began.

 “You haven't touched me in almost two months. If you’re not fucking me, who are you fucking?”

 Your words were laced with hidden poison. He knew it. Instead of speaking again, you both remained silent.

 When the car pulled up to your half a block townhouse, you walked ahead of him as he got updates from his men posted around the property. You were still pretty relaxed from your bathroom tryst, but you were angry with him as well. Once you made it to your shared bedroom, you stripped and got into the shower.

 A little less than halfway through, you felt Pablo’s hands around your midsection. Ignoring him, you continued soaping your body and paid no mind to his growing appendage that was pressing into your back. When you were out of heels, he towered over you like a giant. He kissed your neck and down to your shoulder then brought his lips back to your neck. He knew what he was doing, and he knew you knew as well.

 Pablo’s hand crept down your stomach to where your thighs met.

 “Pablo--,” you warned.

 “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I know I’ve been neglecting you. I’m sorry.”

Slowly his finger circled your clit, and it didn’t take long for your desire for him to unfurl.

 “Let me make it up to you,” Pablo whispered before he turned you to him. he kissed you with heat, passion, and intensity, all of which you felt tonight in that bathroom. In seconds Pablo had lifted you into his arms to his height and lowered you onto his throbbing cock.

 Both of you sighed, but the moment of savoring was short. Pablo took control of your body, moving you along his length with expert strength. People didn’t fear him for no reason. He was a beast of a man in stature and disposition. What started as slow deep strokes turned to frenzied shallow thrusts. You knew then this was not going to be a tender reacquaintance of your bodies. It was going to be the opposite.

 Pablo pressed you against the tile of the shower and dipped his tongue into your mouth to entangle with yours. His kiss commanded your surrender. You knew when you gave in, you wouldn’t be disappointed, so you did. Pablo groaned once he felt your surrender. It was then he sunk into your heat to the hilt. The scream you let out was loud, and it only fueled him further.

 Pablo pounded into you. Each time your bodies connected, the force of his stroke had your body bouncing up only to drop back onto his searing cock.

 “Fuuuuuck, daddy!”

 A growl escaped him before he turned and walked out of the shower to bring you back to your bed. When he dropped you onto the sheets, he flipped you onto your stomach and slammed back into you.

 “Aaaah!”

 “Mmm. Daddy missed you, sweetheart!”

 His voice was tender, but the way he pummeled your pussy spoke of something else. He was on a mission.

 “Don’t ever say that shit to me again. do you understand?”

 No words. Not liking it, he grabbed the back of your neck and pulled you back so your back had the perfect inward arch.

 “I can’t hear you, sweetheart. Do you—understand?”

 You vigorously nodded. He was so deep you couldn’t muster any words.

 “Words, Y/N.”

 “Yes, daddy. Yes!”

 “Good girl.”

 As if this was a reward for your compliance, he rotated his hips, so you felt every inch of his desire as it marked every crevice inside of you. You doubted anyone had ever made you feel this good.

 Your moans, pants, and groans melded together. The sounds filled your room, and you knew anyone outside could hear you. It turned Pablo on even more to know that everyone could hear how good he was fucking you. You didn’t care who knew how good he made you feel. When he began jackhammering into you, you saw stars and clenched around him as your orgasm violently ripped through you.

 “Fuck me!”

 On command, he did just that to the point where you became hoarse, and you didn’t know what day it was. When you couldn’t take another orgasm, you dropped to the bed, but Pablo kept plowing into you. His stoked became sloppy, and you knew he was close. When he came, he grunted loudly, nearly terrifying you with the loudness of it. He thrust forward as if he were trying to rip you apart. The feel of his love inside of your canal nudged you over the edge to your final release. Pablo dropped kisses along your back before he rolled off of you to lie on his back. That was how the two of you fell asleep. Both too exhausted to even cover yourselves.

 The next day when you woke up, your body hummed with satisfaction. After checking your messages and emails, you took a quick shower and wrapped in one of your robes, then made your way down to breakfast. You were starving. It was a regular sight to see several of Pablo’s men through the house; you never batted an eye to it. Often times, they spoke and nodded their heads in respect as you passed, and you always reciprocated that politeness. There was no need to be a bitch.

 When you made it to the dining room, you saw Pablo already sitting there.  When he saw you, he smiled softly. You walked over to him and bent, placing a sweet kiss on his lips. When you began to back away, he dropped his hand to your ass and held you there to deepen the kiss. You both moaned quickly, getting lost in each other. All was forgiven.

 “Good morning, sweetheart.”

 “Good morning, baby.” Pablo kissed you once more, and as you were moving to the seat beside him, he pulled you to the space in front of him on the table. Your ass had the china clattering loudly.

 “What’re you doing?”

 “I’m hungry.”

 That was all he said before he pushed you back onto the table and spread your thighs.

 “Pablo--,” you began before the rest of your sentence fluttered away once his lips connected with your sex.

 A soft moan escaped you, and any protest faded. You rested on your elbows and enjoyed the feel of him between your thighs.

 “Mmmm, yes, baby. Fuck, that feels so good.”

 Pablo knew just what to do to set you on fire and what to do to tease you. he was in the mood to tease you. After a few minutes of teasing, you wanted more and had no problem letting him know. You gripped his head, held his hair, and began rocking your sex across his mouth. Pablo moaned and allowed you to use his face to your delight. Every few swipes, he slurped your flesh, sending shivers through your body and bringing you closer and closer to your orgasm.

 “Mmm, yes, daddy, right there.” You looked at him, and your eyes met. The man was temptation. His hand crept up to grip your breast as he forcefully sucked your clit into his mouth.

 The action had you remembering the bathroom at the club.

 “Mmm, shit, baby. You’re gonna make me come.”

 You bucked across his mouth and closed your eyes to fully enjoy the pleasure he was giving you. In a matter of seconds, Pablo’s intent shifted from teasing, and seconds later, you were coming. He moaned and lapped up every drop.

 “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

 “Wow, when you said to come over for breakfast, I thought you meant pancakes and eggs, not sugar and spice.”

 Your eyes flew open at the new voice. From upside down, you couldn’t believe your eyes. You closed them and opened again, but the sight was the same.

 “Around here, sugar and spice is the only thing ever on the menu,” Pablo replied.

 He kissed your inner thigh then tapped it. Snapping out of your frozen state, you sat up, fixed yourself, and chanced a look back. As sure as the sun was shining, the stranger from last night was standing at the other end of the table with a satisfied grin on his face.

 “You took your time getting over here,” Pablo said as he walked over to him.

 You watched the two men embrace as manly men did. The whole time you stood there, stunned and speechless. Your boyfriend was chatting up and laughing with the man you’d allowed to bury his face between your thighs.

 “Come here, sweetheart.”

 On shaky legs, you walked to the two men, all the while gripping the collar of your robe.

 “Y/N, meet my best friend, the one man I trust with everything next to Levi,” Pablo informed. With every word, your eyes widened.

 The stranger held his hand out to you with a smile. “Lewis,” he said.

 Fighting the shock, you took his hand and shook it. “Although the pleasure is all yours, I’m glad to finally meet you,” Lewis teased. You knew his words had a double meaning. Instead of speaking of it being nice to meet him too, the only thing in your head was the repetitive thought. 

You’re fucked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lee’s Note: Hopefully this was good, I’m still trying to find my groove again. How was this intro to Lewis and Pablo?  😬

[tiny-elf-of-doom]

Splorch

🔞Arcane Fanfiction (AU) No Minors, no kink shaming

TW & Content: ovipositors, oviposition, sex, MDlb, language.

Characters: Sevika and Trans! Silco

The dildo was bright pink, thick, and had an opening on the very tip, but the presentation wasn’t the strangest part: it came with eggs. Well, you had the powder to make the eggs, which were inserted into the dildo, then squeezed into the body. “Ovipositor” was the term her best friend’s website had used, making Sevika wonder what kind of fun she could have been having with just a little bit of research. Gelatin eggs? Seriously? Silco would have declined the hell out of this if she mentioned it, so considering he was clueless about the eggs she'd had setting in the fridge, that night was as great a time as any.

Silco had been tied to the bed earlier after dropping an ice cube down Sevika's shorts- the brat. He did it to rile her up, allowing the woman to manhandle him into submission. Punishment left the small man near tears, desperate to come as a pink vibrator was inserted into his hole while it's attachment rattled his clit at one, consistent speed. It wasn't enough to finish him off, but the tightness in his belly wasn't constricting enough to push him over. He'd spent the better half of an hour like that, writhing under that ghosted sensation, whining for Sevika, who spent most of her time tidying the house. He’d cried for her, promising that he would be a good boy, that he'd never pull something so cruel (if it could have been considered cruel). She snickered to herself, deciding to prepare the toy for his very interesting reward.

The instructions were relatively simple: lubricate the toy, insert the eggs, and have a blast. Truth was, those fuckers were big and it took some serious strength to push them into the shaft. Eventually, she tested it by squeezing the base, causing one to fly out and smacked her in the face. It didn't feel sexy- it felt degrading. Maybe it would be better if she didn't squeeze the thing so roughly.

Sevika walked into their shared bedroom, eyeing a desperate, disheveled Silco lying on the bed, wrists and ankles sore from pulling at the ropes. The device was humming lowly and he nearly screamed when she pulled it away, leaving him with nothing. Her next task was to keep that toy out of sight, pulling his leg restraints so they were tied over his head. This gave her easier access to his pretty cunt without turning him into human origami. She brushed a thumb over his bottom lip, offering the only gentle touch he'd be given that entire evening.

"Have you learned your lesson, Sweet Boy? Did we learn why we don't mess with Mommy?" Sevika rasped, looming over his jumbled frame.

"Yes, I've learned my lesson... Mommy." He kissed her palm, "T-Touch me please... fuck me however you want... I need release and you're the only one that can give it to me."

A smirk and her eyes clouded in shadow. "Damn right." And a wet kiss.

He sucked at her tongue, swallowing their spit with a moan crossing over his lips. Silco was soaked, shaking from the chill hitting his slick. Sevika licked a single stripe up his slit, loving the viscosity of his arousal: sweet and thick as the sugar on a caramel apple. Taking the pink dildo from it's place on the nightstand, the woman could tell Silco was not enthused with the thing. It was thick, which he liked, but the color and strange head, adorned with uneven lumps in the shaft meant there was something stuffed in it- hopefully that wasn't ice. She slicked it in lubricant, rubbing it over his swollen clit, before slowly plunging it into his heat. That stretch was drew out a cry of pleasure, pulling at the restraints- finally experiencing stimulation.

Thrust after mewling thrust against the texture dildo, Silco was in Heaven. Sevika wasn’t tender about her movements, trying her best to keep the surprise hidden for just a couple more plunges into that hot hole. 

But, once again, it got wEiRd. A slurping sound emerged from the device and he felt something hit his cervix. It was firm, but still bouncy, slippery as it moved past his pelvic bone. Another one went in, then the third and final egg, and Silco felt full. The shock in his face was evident and Sevika worried he was hating the experience. Her best friend had also mentioned that the gelatin would just dissolve after an hour, or her partner could just lay them. Silco wouldn’t go for that, he was not a hen. Though, when she removed the dildo from his cunt, he'd moaned.

"I can feel them." She pressed at his belly. “Do you like it, baby?” 

"Oddly slimy... but we'll make it work," he blushed. "Your mouth, please..."

Denying him would have been a crime, especially with those eyes pleading for her affections. Rewards were given to good boys, Silco went through with his punishment, it was only fair. She lapped at him, swirling that fat tongue of hers around the skin of his clit before sucking on the organ. He moaned, instinctively pressing his pelvis into her face, feeling the eggs moving within his core. To both their surprise, he almost pushed one out, bumping her chin with it. A wicked grin pulled at the corners of her mouth, devilish in her schemes. Two fingers pushed it back in, keeping the things in place. Silco gasped, feeling the ridges of each egg rub at his walls, fizzing down into a stickier liquid that leaked with his come.

"Keep them in there, or I won't let you come again after this." Sevika's tone was threatening.

Silco nodded, allowing her to ravish him once more. He wouldn't last much longer having been starved for touch all evening. The whines became cries as he tried his damndest to keep the eggs in place, but he couldn't help but feel his body constrict, muscles tighten, as he came on her tongue. The eggs came out, half dissolved.

Taking one into her hand, she cringed a bit. "Good boy."

"S-Sevika..." Silco choked. "Don't use those... again. That was filthy."

"Just trying to spice things up is all. I know you liked it, don’t deny it.” 

The man reddened, tugging at his restraints to be untied. “Perhaps for a second, but the aftermath is a big...” he paused, “fine, it was nice.”  

Sevika smiled, “Excellent, now, why don't you go get a shower?" She untied the ropes, pulling him close to whisper in his ear, "Then, I'll let you ride my face."

[itisannak]

Cold Tea (Calum Hood Smut)

Summary: (Y/N) is stressed about an assignment, so Calum brings her favorite beverage ( and snack 😉)  (Smut / Fingering/ Mention of public sex/ Mention of unprotected sex) Inspired by @trulycevans​ story “Stressed” (loved the story, by the way. Go check it out, it is so fluffy)  (Words: 1.9k)

The only sound echoing in the room has to be my fingers tapping on my laptop's keyboard and the clock ticking on the wall. It has been like that for the past 3 hours, since I came back from my little "break" to fill my coffee cup. My eyes are heavy from working in front of a screen for so many hours, so I blink rapidly, trying to give them a quick rest before continuing; god, I wish I knew how to touch-type, so I didn't have to look at the screen. "Everything going a-ok, bub?" Calum asks as he peaks through the door. I turn my head to look at him, my face grumpy and lips pouty while he is smiling softly at me. He walks in, clad in his comfy sweats and a black tank top, holding a cup with steaming liquid inside. "Did you bring me coffee?" I ask, perking up a little as I can practically feel the taste of fresh coffee in my mouth. "Something better. Herbal tea." He cheers in excitement, leaning down to leave a kiss in the curve between my neck and shoulder while he places the mug in front of me. "Herbal tea?" I ask repulsed. There is soft tapping on the floor, so I assume that Duke decided to follow his pop in the room. "You need to relax a bit. You are overly caffeinated so your brain is stuck. Herbal tea will make you feel more productive." He explains, resting his chin on my shoulder. "You are smart for a total hottie..." I mumble, rolling my eyes as I pick up the mug to take a sip, blowing on the surface of the tea before it touches my lips. "How is it going?" He asks me, planting a kiss on my jawline. "It is not going." I announce, sighing in despair. Calum moves my hair on one shoulder, bringing his arms to wrap around me. "Maybe it is time for a break. Stretch a bit, fix your posture, tie your hair up. Maybe cuddle Duke a bit, he is like a fluffy stress-ball." He suggests, using his soothing voice. "I am so tensed..." I groan, causing Calum to bring his hands on my shoulders, kneading on my skin as I relax back on my chair. He moves upwards, focusing now on my neck.

"You have a knot in there." He comments, pressing his thumbs on it. "I know. It has been killing me for hours now." I pout, moving my head from side to side. I feel chills rising on my skin as he brings his thumbs all the way up to the base of my head. A moan escapes my lips, which amuses Calum. "And to think I am not even touching you in that way..." He teases me, pressing a kiss on my forehead. "Hush, asshole. I am sore." I giggle, feeling ticklish as his hands travel low on my back. "Mmm, there..." I gasp as he finds the spot on the dip of my back. I arch my back and throw my head back; fuck, he has magical fingers, in every possible way. "Have I told you your tits look great?" He asks, making me bite my bottom lip. "You have... Stop starring at my tits, you creep." I huff. "Not my fault you have the prettiest tits I have seen..." He replies. "Get up and have a stretch. You'll feel a thousand times better." He pats my back, rolling my chair away from the desk to let me get up from it.

Calum leans against the desk as I bend to touch my toes, making my spine pop. I arch my back, trying to crack my back. Calum clears his throat, making me turn my head to him. "Everything alright?" I ask, cocking an eyebrow at him. "Why do you look so sexy, even when you are so tired?" He asks, grabbing me by my waist and pulling me close to his body. "Cal, I stink. My eyes are decorated with eye bags, and my face is dull, my hair is messy and I am wearing leggings. Where is the sexy in that?" I ask him, and he hums, throwing me a side smirk. "Well, everything on you." He lingers above my lips, making me squirm at the intensity of the moment. He has the ability to turn every moment intimate. "You make me so hard, princess. Just looking at you makes me feel funny inside... Fuck... How did I ever get so lucky?" He asks, groaning softly. "You must have done something very nice in your life to end up with me." I giggle, resting my palms on his chest. "I have a way to get your mind to relax..." He licks his lips, lowering his hand to my ass. "I am curious to find what that might be..." I giggle, just as he squeezes my ass in his hands.

He turns me around, pressing his chest on my back as he assaults my neck with his lips. He is an expert at finding my sweetspots, and once he locates the one below my ear he starts nibbling on it with his teeth. I moan and blink rapidly, sinking in the sensation. "Feels good, baby?" He asks, flicking his tongue over the teeth marks on my neck. "So good..." I utter, while his hands slip in the waistband of my leggings, resting on my hips. I feel his boner pressing on my ass, my eyes shutting involuntarily as my mind flies to the dirtiest of thoughts. "I am going to fuck that writing block out of that pretty head of yours." He rasps, forcing me to bend over the desk. I gasp, smiling as I feel him lower my leggings. He leaves my panties in place, pushing his fingers inside them with a chuckle. "You got wet from my massage, princess?" He muses, sounding a little proud of his achievement. "You got hard from massaging me... Don't be cocky." I sass, a millisecond before he pushes two fingers inside me.

I have to bite my bottom lip to avoid giving him the satisfaction of assuring him how much I love his fingers banging inside my tight little hole. "Fuck me... You are tight, baby. Why are you so tight? I have been fucking you every day for nearly 2 years and you are still so tight..." He rasps, wrapping his arm across my chest and pulling me up, with my back against his chest. His hand wraps around my neck, fingers pressing roughly on my skin. His fingerpads are brushing against my spot, while his lips are now pressed on my temple. "Once you are done with this stupid assignment, I will pick you up and drag you to the shower. And then I am going to press you against the glass and fuck your pretty little hole until the glass shutters and our skin is wrinkly from the water. Maybe I will even set up a camera in front of the cabin, so you can take a look at how hot your tits look pressed against the glass like that..." He whispers in my ear, causing chills to run up my spine. "Remember the time we were on vacation? On that island, I don't remember the name of, somewhere in Italy? Remember we were on that beach, alone, and we had this ice bucket for our drinks? Hm, princess? Do you remember?" He asks me, taking my earlobe between his teeth. I nod my head, my eyes fluttering open and close as he moves his long digits inside me. "Remember what I did to you that day on the beach?" He asks me. I whimper, making Calum chuckle. "It's ok, princess. I'll remind you... I put 2 ice cubes inside you and every time the melting water spilled out of your hole and drenched your bikini, reaching your clit, you whimpered and jerked up... Oh, those cute little whimpers drove me insane... I was so hard for you that day... We fucked behind those rocks, and you were a moaning mess, we almost got caught... But you said it was the best orgasm of your life... Oh, I missed that... I want to take you back to that island in Italy, give you an even better orgasm..." He rasps; his breath sounds as caught up in his throat as mine. "I want to go back to Italy too... Please, take me there." I beg; I am not sure if by there I mean the island or my orgasm. "Or that time backstage of that concert in New York... 5 minutes before the show and you were riding my face... I could taste you in my mouth while I sang... There are so many pictures of me licking my lips during the show... Fuck, if people knew..." He murmurs, tightening the grip around my neck. "You know what we haven't done in a while?" He asks, the smirk that makes his lips curl showing in his voice. "What?" I ask, pressing my thighs together as I feel the knot in my stomach tighten. "I haven't rawed you in the backseat of my car in so long... I believe the last time was during our last road trip. We had a stop because you wanted to take pictures and it started raining. You were wearing that white t-shirt that got drenched and I could see your bra right through it. My fucking God, you were so hot. You stripped out of that t-shirt and stayed in that pink bra of yours... I couldn't keep my hands to myself. I filed you up with so much cum that day... I can't wait until we can hop in the car again. Definitely this weekend, we can go to the vineyard by that lake you like." He whispers. I tremble, his fingers inside, and all those dirty memories playing in my head leave me helpless against the orgasm bubbling up inside me. "I am going to cum." My voice breaks at the end, signaling my high is closer than I anticipated. "Yeah, baby? I couldn't tell by your pulsing pussy and your wetness running down my hand..." He mocks me. He pumps his fingers faster, making me arch my back and rest my head against his shoulder as I ride my high. "There it is..." Calum praises as I stir my hips to get more of that sensation of pure euphoria. It takes me at least five minutes before I am ready to go back to functioning. Calum takes his fingers out of my panties and I try to fix my clothes, with my hands still shaking.

"Is your head a little clearer?" Calum asks, with a grin playing on his lips. "I don't know. You will actually have to leave the room for me to be able to focus on anything else but the boner in your sweats..." I reply, taking a seat back in front of the desk again. "Alright... I'll go fix us a light dinner. I will see you in an hour when you will close your laptop for the night and join me and baby grandpa over there on the couch. And I promise, tomorrow I will wake you up bright and early so you can finish this." He pecks on my temple, making me sigh in defeat. "Fine, Hood. Maybe you are right..." I roll my eyes, before reaching for my mug of tea. I take a sip, only to wince at the taste of the tea. "Fuck... Now my tea is cold..." I pout, making Calum laugh. "Well, you can't have it all, baby..." He points out as he walks out of the room, followed by Duke.

My Masterlist

[missaudreyhorney]

Afterschool Special

Again, I am shocked and delighted that people are enjoying the beginning of this series as much as I’m enjoying writing it. I cannot thank you all enough for your kind words and encouragement. In this third installment, Hopper and Reader get to spend some “alone time” together. That’s all I’m going to say about it 😊

Content warnings: Rated M for more age gap, Daddy kink, physical intimidation, over the clothes touching, and a new addition of under the clothes kissing. Female Reader, modern AU, 2.5k words.

You call Jim Hopper on Monday afternoon in between classes. His voice is even deeper and sexier over the phone than you remember it sounding the night before. He seems happy to hear from you and you try to hide how giddy you are about it. Sensing that the attraction between you two is very mutual, you don’t hesitate to set up a meeting. He tells you that he has Wednesday off from work, and for a second, you seriously consider ditching all your classes to spend the entire day with him. Instead, you agree to meet up at his house at four o’clock, which gives you enough time to go home and change after school.

Normally on a date, you would prefer to wear a dress but the winter chill in the February air sadly prevents that. Hopefully you won’t feel out of place wearing a heavy sweater and a pair of jeans to wherever it is he wants to take you.

The address he gave seems to be out in the middle of nowhere and multiple times you wonder if the GPS navigation is telling you to go in the wrong direction. Eventually, you find the place and it’s not so much a house as it is a cabin in the woods. It almost looks abandoned except for his car parked out front.

Any misgivings you have about the place are dispelled when you see Hopper standing on the porch and smoking as he waits for you. All your friends complain about guys who smoke, and that they hate the smell, but not you. You think it’s sexy and you even enjoy the smell.

A smile spreads across his handsome face when he sees you and it gets wider when you step out of the car. “Come on in, sweetheart,” he greets you with a white cloud billowing out from his mouth.

Anticipation rushes through your veins. When you last saw each other, and when you spoke on the phone, there seemed to be a promise of more, a promise to finish what he started when he came up to your room. You know that something will happen today, you’re just not sure how or when.

Once you reach the top of the steps, he says “It’s open. I’ll be in in a minute” as the unfiltered cigarette dangles between his lips.

Opening the door slowly, you let yourself in then put your purse down and look around. The cabin is…rustic. None of the furniture matches. Some of it looks to be as old as you are. There’s a decent red sofa but it’s covered in a patchwork quilt. There’s a plaid chair against the wall and it too has a blanket draped across the top, one that’s knitted or perhaps crocheted. The only things to indicate that you haven’t arrived here in a time machine are the flat screen tv on the wall and a new Apple computer on an old wooden desk.

Hopper steps into the room a moment later. “Why don’t you take your coat off and stay awhile?” He touches your back as he walks past you to go into the kitchen.

“Oh, um, okay.” You suppose he wants to talk a little bit or perhaps finish something up before you leave. Hanging your coat up on the rack, you notice a small pair of tennis shoes on the floor. “Do you live here alone?”

“No, my daughter lives here with me.”

His daughter? Gosh, Hopper really is a DILF. You follow him into the kitchen and your brain starts to connect some dots. “Is she the reason why you left so suddenly on Sunday night?”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” he says as he takes an ice tray out of the freezer.

“It’s okay. I’m just glad it wasn’t your wife.”

“Oh no, I’ve been divorced for a long time now,” he assures you.

Your eyes roam over Hopper’s large frame while you watch him pop the cubes out of the tray and fill it back up again. He’s wearing jeans and a blue flannel shirt, with the top two buttons undone, and a navy henley underneath. His scent of cigarettes and soap makes it seem as if he must have smoked immediately after getting out of the shower.

For a brief moment, you entertain the idea of ripping his clothes off right here and now, forgoing any previous plans you might have for your date. That’s where you’re hoping this will all lead anyway so what’s wrong with cutting to the chase?

In an attempt to restrain yourself, you bring up the one subject that will take your mind out of the gutter. “How did you meet my parents?”

“They brought one of their cars to my shop. I’m a mechanic.”

The attempt proves feeble as your mouth instantly begins to water at the mental image of Jim Hopper bending over the engine of a car, sticking out his cute butt in his Wrangler jeans, his hands and his face getting all dirty and sweaty.

“Can I make you a drink?” he offers, getting a glass off the shelf. “You are old enough to drink, right?”

You playfully roll your eyes. “Yes, I’m old enough.”

“I don’t have to check your ID, do I?” He winks at you and it’s as charming as it is corny.

“You can if you want to,” you respond.

“No, I believe you.” He opens a bottle of Jack Daniels and lifts it above his glass.

“Wait, you’re making a drink now? When are we gonna go?”

He puts the bottle on the counter. “Go where?”

“Is this it?” you ask, slightly stunned.

“Is what it?” Deep ridges form on Hopper’s forehead as he raises his eyebrows in irritation.

“I thought we were going to go on a date,” you explain.

His features soften as he chuckles at you. “We’re not going anywhere, sweetheart.” He gleefully pours the whiskey into his glass.

“So we’re just going to stay here and…?”

“Yeah,” he confirms with a smug grin. “We are.”

Suddenly your idea of tearing his clothes off seems like it would be more welcomed than you had anticipated.

“What’ll it be?” he asks, getting himself a can of Coke out of the refrigerator.

“I’ll have a water.”

Hopper pulls out a bottle of water and hands it to you. “You know this was your idea, right? You didn’t mention anything on the phone about a date.”

“I know, I guess I...assumed we’d go out.” You take a much-needed sip.

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” he offers in a considerably softer tone than you’ve heard from him thus far.

“No,” you smile at him. “I want to stay.”

He smiles back at you then takes a drink.

“It just would have been nice if you took me out somewhere,” you remark before raising the bottle to your lips again.

“Why beat around the bush? We both already know what we want.” He takes another drink then sets his glass down. “Unless of course, you want us to be seen together,” he adds, moving directly in front of you, with mere centimeters between your bodies.

Your heart starts racing as Hopper glares down at you with a storm churning in his deep blue eyes.

”Maybe you want people to look at us and know that I’m twice your age.” He leans in closer, backing you into the corner of the wooden counter. “Maybe you want to hear them say ‘what’s that dirty old man doing with that beautiful young girl?’” He enunciates every word in a biting tone as if he’s scolding you.

Your bodies are so close together that you can actually feel the heat radiating off of him.

“If that’s what you want, I can take you anywhere. We can leave right now,” he offers in a slightly more casual voice. “I just don’t see any point in wasting time when it’s so obvious what you came here for.”

“What’s that?” you accidentally say in a whisper.

Hopper takes a step back from you. “Go in the bedroom and I’ll show you.”

With a deep inhalation, you slip away from him and run out of the kitchen then immediately run back. “Which one is your bedroom?” you almost shout.

“The one on the left,” he answers, trying not to laugh at your over the top enthusiasm.

You pull the curtain in the doorway so hard that it feels like it might rip away from the rod. Yanking your sweater above your head, you kick off your shoes at the same time.

Lying back on the bed, you can feel how wet he’s already made you. Your body is practically vibrating with excitement as you hear the heavy steps of his boots as he approaches. A shiver runs through you when he enters the room.

“Where were we?” Hopper asks, kneeling onto the foot of the bed.

“You were on top of me,” you recall.

“Uh-huh,” he nods, positioning himself between your open legs.

“And I think you were going to unhook my bra?”

He runs his hands under your t-shirt and up the sides of your body. “You’re not wearing a bra.”

“I thought we could skip that part.”

He pulls your shirt up over your chest. “Good thinking.”

Without missing a beat, his lips are on your breasts, kissing both of them with his warm, wet, open mouth. Your left nipple hardens as Hopper swirls his tongue around it, making you push your hips into him. His lips close around the bud and begin to suck.

“Oh, Daddy,” you moan, using the title with no regret this time.

“That’s what I like to hear,” he pauses long to speak then immediately begins sucking on your other nipple.

Just like on Sunday, his mouth is rough. Not solely the texture of his scruffy beard against your soft skin, but the ferocity with which he sucks on you and teases you with his teeth. Also just like Sunday, he moves his hand in between your thighs and pushes his palm against the center seam of your jeans.

You hiss when he bites down hard into your flesh, clearly not holding back this time. It’s an exquisite pain that you could easily become addicted to. Your fingernails claw at his shirt when he rolls your nipple between his teeth.

Hopper is working you into a frenzy with the way his hand presses into your jeans, rubbing your pussy through the denim. All the different sensations he’s causing in your body are starting to become too much and you need a release.

“Daddy, please,” you beg breathlessly.

Your nipple pops out from between his lips with a vulgar sound. “Please what?”

You’re unable to answer him as your mouth is too busy moaning while his hand brings back that familiar ache.

“Tell me what you want, baby,” he instructs between licks.

“Your f-” you interrupt yourself with another moan. “Your fin-”

“You want my fingers inside you, is that it?” Hopper asks as you grind your crotch into his palm, desperate for all the friction you can get.

“Yes, Daddy!” you finally manage to force out two coherent words.

He unbuttons your jeans and you hear a noise coming from the living room. You both ignore it while he ever so slowly starts to pull down your zipper. Until you hear another noise. Not a noise actually. A voice. Two voices.

Hopper’s hands fall from the zipper, landing on your sides, while his head sinks down in defeat. Your body tenses with worry that whoever it is might come into the room as there’s no door to keep them out.

The two young voices are arguing about something but your brain is far too preoccupied to be able to comprehend the subject of the argument. The only thing you can manage to infer in your current state is that it must be his daughter and one of her friends from school.

Hopper gets up from the bed, leaving your chest fully exposed, and you tug your shirt back down. He has you throbbing with need, and exactly like the last time, your hopes for satisfaction have been quickly dashed by an intrusive family member.

When he goes into the living room to mediate the situation, you sit up and see something on his nightstand that you were in too much of a rush to notice before. Magnum XL condoms, not one but three, the edges of the gold foil still attached to each other.

“For Pete's sake, what’s going on out here?” Hopper demands above the sound of their bickering.

“Mike was staring at Stacey Albright,” his daughter explains.

“No, I wasn’t!” the boy interjects.

“Who’s Stacey Albright?” Hopper asks.

“A girl at our school who stuffs her bra,” she answers.

“She does not stuff her bra,” the boy disputes.

“How do you know that if you weren’t staring?” she raises her voice.

“I was not staring!” the boy yells back.

“Both of you calm down, alright? Jesus.”

Hopper opens the curtain, walks in, and closes it behind him. “Listen, I’m sorry but I gotta-” he begins to apologize in a dejected tone.

“No, I understand,” you reply, cutting him off as you stand up from the bed before pulling on your sweater and shoes. “I should go.”

When you turn to walk out of the room, he grabs onto your upper arms. He doesn’t mean to startle you, it happens solely by accident because he’s so strong. “Look at me,” he suggests, trying to get you to make eye contact.

You gaze up into his gorgeous blue eyes and he starts to smile.

“I still want to see you again,” he says warmly.

“Me too,” you agree, reciprocating his smile.

The kids resume their argument and Hopper rolls his eyes. “Please call me,” he adds before letting go of you.

“I will,” you confirm.

You open the curtain and both of the kids’ mouths fall silent as they watch you emerge from the bedroom. They look to be about fourteen or fifteen-years-old. The girl has brown eyes, long brown hair, and the most perfect skin you’ve ever seen on a teenager. She forces an awkward smile to be polite. The boy is tall and pale, with sharp cheekbones and curly black hair like a rockstar from the ’70s. He glances back and forth between you and Hopper with a confused expression on his face.

“This is my daughter, Elle,” Hopper introduces.

“Hi,” she says.

“Hi,” you say back, your voice sounding squeaky with nerves.

“And her boyfriend, Mike,” Hopper continues.

“Ex-boyfriend,” Elle corrects.

“What? That’s not fair!” Mike exclaims.

They start bickering once more and you shoot Hopper a sympathetic look as you grab your coat and purse then slip out the front door. It feels like the universe is conspiring against the two of you, trying to keep you from having sex with each other, like a cosmic cockblock. As you drive away from the cabin, you silently pray that the next time will provide the relief you’re yet again so desperate for.

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