#I JUST WISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I COULD BE WITH HER FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FOR ETERNITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[frenchkisstheabyss]

♡ 𝕒 𝕘𝕚𝕣𝕝 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕞𝕖 ♡

♡ Pairing: boyfriend!jeongin x girlfriend!chubby!fem!reader

♡ Genre: fluff/comfort

♡ Summary: Jeongin's the type of boyfriend who never makes you question how much he cares for you. Still, there's one nagging insecurity you haven't been able to move past: Letting him see you naked. Sick of letting your fear get the best of you, you decide that tonight's the night to finally open up to him and it turns out you might've been afraid of nothing all along.

♡ Word Count: 2.1k-ish

♡ Warnings: body insecurities, nudity, a lil making out, mentions of sex, jeongin loves to touch your body, praise, and just all around fluffiness otherwise

♡ A/N: This started out as an anon request but I lost the post for that request (brb crying) so now we have a lil I.N comfort fic that will hopefully make my chubby Jeongin biased babes feel good in their skin cause you totally deserve to.

Moments like these Jeongin wishes could last forever. Between touring, appearances, and studio sessions his schedule’s been brutal lately, leaving him with little to no time to spend with the one girl he treasures most in the world—you. But tonight none of that matters. The world beyond the walls of his apartment doesn’t exist. There’s only him cozied up under a blanket on the couch with you cuddled against his body, your head resting on his chest as you lazily play with the strings of his hoodie.

The room’s dark except for the glow of the television. A movie’s playing but neither of you are truly watching it. His eyes are glued to you, committing to memory how beautiful you are from this angle. You seem so comfortable in his arms, so at peace, and the feeling’s infinitely mutual. 

Your own gaze is fixed on the screen but every image and sound you take in is passive. What you’re truly focused on is a thought that’s been cycling through your brain all night. Before you left to head over here you told your roommate not to wait up, you’d be spending the night at Jeongin’s place. Never one to pass up the opportunity to tease you, she asked if you needed to borrow a sweater or something to sleep in. You instantly regretted admitting to her over drinks that Jeongin has yet to see you naked, even after months of being together.

Whenever you have sex you keep the lights off and throw your clothes back on immediately after. If you shower and he’s around you always make sure to bring your clothes with you into the bathroom. Even Jeongin, who never wears anything to bed, always has something on when you sleep over to make you more comfortable. 

It’s nothing he’s ever complained about or tried to make you feel guilty for. More than anything he just seems happy to be with you, accepting your boundaries without hesitation. It’s one of a million reasons you’ve come to love him as much as you do. Still, you know that hiding from him isn’t something you can do forever. It isn’t something that you want to do forever.

“Baby” he says sweetly, petting your cheek, “You ready for bed?”

You take a deep breath, making up your mind that tonight’s the night. Your stomach sinks at the thought of how he might feel when he sees your body but at least you’ll know now before you fall for him any harder.

“Mmhmm” you nod, nuzzling your cheek against his chest one last time before sitting up. 

Jeongin hops up and gets to work clearing the snacks from the coffee table. With full hands, he leans down to plant the softest kiss on your lips. “You can go ahead. I’ll meet you in there in a second, okay?” 

You agree and gather the blanket in your arms, trembling as you shuffle down the hall towards the bedroom. It’s a short walk but it feels eternal. You’ve stepped through this threshold a dozen times by now but somehow this feels like your first. Suddenly the oversized hoodie and baggy sweatpants that once shielded your insecurities have you sweating like a sinner in church. It’s suffocating.

Tossing the blanket onto the bed, you tug your hoodie off to feel the fresh air kiss your skin. The coolness eases the tension in your body, leaving your hands a bit less shaky as you slip your sweatpants down and kick them aside. You stare down at your body, taking in the sight of your bare legs and your fluffy thighs that are just barely visible in the long t-shirt you’re wearing.

Your chest tightens as you pinch the bottom of your shirt, lifting the fabric little by little. It slides above your thighs, around the contours of your hips, revealing the panties you chose specifically for tonight. They’re silk, rose pink, with a lace trim and a delicate bow in the back and they’re the prettiest panties Jeongin’s ever seen simply because you’re wearing them. 

“Did I, uh, miss something?” Jeongin asks, frozen in the doorway.

Usually when he walks into the room you’re already under the covers waiting for cuddles he’s beyond eager to give you. Being met with this is something new entirely and he can’t help the way his heart races at the sight of it. You turn to find him staring at you wide eyed, shock painting his face. 

“Well, uh, I…” you stutter, fidgeting with the trim of your shirt, “I know you don’t really like sleeping with your clothes on and the weather’s really nice tonight so I thought, maybe, it’d be nice if we did that.” 

Jeongin closes the distance between you, his shock melting into concern. He brings an arm around your waist, stroking your side as he studies your expression.

“Baby, I already told you I’m cool with our clothes being on. I never want you to do anything you don’t want to.”

You rest your hand on his, soaking in the warmth of his touch. “It’s okay” you insist, immediately picking up on his skepticism. He doesn’t believe you for a second. You stare into his eyes, finding comfort in them even as they narrow in your direction. “I want you to see me, all of me, I don’t wanna be afraid anymore.”

“Afraid? Afraid of what? Did I…”

You cut him off before he can finish, refusing to let him believe for a second that there’s anything he did wrong. “No, Innie, you’re so good to me. It's just…I’m not the smallest girl. Feeling me is one thing but seeing me it’s…it’s…”

Your breath hitches at the sensation of Jeongin’s hands massaging your body. He smooths the plushness of your figure beneath his palms, stopping to squeeze your love handles, your belly, your thighs.

“Seeing you would be a gift” he whispers, his lips hovering near yours. “I’ve felt your body in the dark and I’m already addicted to how beautiful it is. If you take your clothes off or not, nothing will change. I promise.”

There’s no denying the rush that you get from being touched by him. You feel it every time, the impulse to let him tear your clothes off. The longing to feel his gaze dance over your naked body the way his hands do. Typically you fight it, your fears dulling your urges, but tonight you don’t. Instead you sweep him into a kiss laced with passion, guiding his hands to grip the fabric of your shirt. 

“Help me take it off, please” you beg, too cute to deny.

Jeongin nibbles at your bottom lip, “Only if you help me too.”

“Deal” you giggle as he steals your breath away, hungrily pulling you back into the kiss.

Your clothes are shed gently and slowly like the petals of a flower. One after the other, his and then yours. All the while Jeongin’s lips are drawn to yours like magnets. Every break he has to take is a small form of torture. You could kiss him every second of every day and it wouldn’t be enough. He needs to drown in it.

He can only bring himself to stop when he feels skin to skin contact. Your naked body’s pressed to his in the bright lighting of his room. He could see you if he wanted to, glance down and delight in the pleasure of something he’s only experienced in his imagination, but instead he focuses on your gorgeous face, his heart set on making sure this is what you really want.

“Can I look?” he asks, fingertips lightly trailing up and down your spine. 

You pause, pacing yourself for a decision you know you can’t turn back from, “It’s okay. You can look.” 

Time seems to stand still as Jeongin takes a step back and his gaze falls below your shoulders where your naked body awaits in all its vulnerability. His is the smooth, toned body that you already know it to be. You’ve caught glimpses of it here and there when he’s changed in front of you. And yours is beyond what he’d imagined during those long nights spent blindly exploring your form beneath the sheets.

At first he says nothing, does nothing. He only stares straight ahead, scanning you from head to toe. But just as the nervousness threatens to return he cracks a smile, his face lighting up, stars twinkling in his eyes.

“You’re beautiful.” He exhales the words as naturally as he breathes. 

You blush, a giggle escaping your lips, “Oh my gosh, stop it.”

“Stop it? How can I? Look at you.” 

Your self doubt wants to tell you that he’s lying—that these words you never imagined you’d hear couldn’t possibly be true—but you can’t deny the way Jeongin’s looking at you or the butterflies swarming your stomach. You try to bring your arms around yourself, a thoughtless attempt at hiding away again, but he grabs your hands, lacing his fingers between yours. 

“I mean it” he whispers, thumbs lightly grazing your skin, “Your body’s gorgeous and I feel lucky that you let me lay eyes on it. Thank you.” 

Your cheeks heat up and you dip your head down, too flustered by his words to maintain eye contact. Jeongin cups your cheek, tilting your head back up. He’s stubborn as always, refusing to let you escape his affection. 

“You think so too, don't you?” he asks, his lips floating back to yours. He almost kisses you, just almost, but lets his lips dance there, teasing you with their warmth. 

“Think what? I don’t…” you begin to speak but the feeling of his hands making contact with your belly steals away what was coming next. You let out the softest breath, bordering on a hushed moan. His touch always sets your soul on fire but this time there’s something different about it. Some new aspect of it that has your head all fuzzy and your knees going weak. 

“Think that I should feel lucky that I get to see you” he says, massaging the plush of your belly, “And grateful that I get to touch you.” 

He glides his palms down to your hips, taking indulgent handfuls of your curves as your body gives into his touch. Your fingertips run up his arm, feeling the ridges of his muscles as they flex with every breath. His body shivers, your quiet praise doing to him exactly what his does to you.

“You can’t say things like that, Innie.” 

“Why can’t I?”

“Because I might start believing it.”

Jeongin flashes you that dimpled smile, “Good. I want you to.” 

His lips collide with yours again and it feels like the whole room’s spinning because it is. He closes his arms around your waist, kissing you lovingly as he twirls you towards the bed. Before you know it your head’s resting on a pillow as your body sinks into the softness of the mattress. You can’t tell if it’s the mattress or the euphoria of Jeongin’s tongue tangled with yours but it’s like you’re floating on a cloud.

Jeongin kisses you like it’s the last time your lips will ever meet. His hands explore your body like they’re terrified to forget even the tiniest detail of what you feel like. The affection he pours into you is overwhelming yet you wouldn’t dare ask him to stop.

He saw you, everything about you, and the only place he ran to was your arms. You feel special, cherished in every way for exactly who you are. All your worries seem like nothing more than silly little things in the presence of his adoration. 

Finally breaking from the kiss, the necessity for air forcing your lips apart, Jeongin curls up beside you, keeping you in his arms as he slips a blanket over your naked bodies. You rest your head on his chest the same way you did on the couch, only now your mind isn’t wandering off somewhere far away. It’s right here with him, basking in the moment. 

“Promise not to hide from me anymore” he sighs, planting the sweetest kiss on your forehead. 

You relax into his arms, smiling as your heavy lids fall shut, “I promise.” 

You thought you’d feel more vulnerable lying beside him with your clothes in a pile on the floor but being like this with him is the safest you’ve ever felt, the most comfortable you’ve ever felt, in your own skin. Hide from him? And miss out on a feeling like this? Never again.

[yamikawas]

yoomtah feels so strongly about you, when she stares into your window at night all she wants is to be with you, sometimes she finds a way into your room out of desperation to look at you closer, she loves you more than anything and shares your obsession entirely

AJSHWJDJFBWJCJVDJJCDJFJBFMDJFNGBJFFB??!!?!!!!+@!!?#??!,+?+?+?@?!!?!?!?+??+?+?+!?,+@?@??!?!?!!@@??@?!!?!!!!!!!!?!!?!<3<3<÷&4^&&÷_3&3<3<<3<33<3<3<3333÷<33*÷><3^3<4<<33<3<3<3<333<<<<3333<<3*4<3<3<<3<4<333<3<33CUTE OF HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[yandere-writer-momo]

4k follower special. Lesbian vampires 🧛‍♀️

Yandere Head Canons:

The Guard Dog

Yandere Vampire Servant x Vampire Afab Reader

TW: Yandere behavior, stalking, mentions of murder, dom/sub dynamic, cunninglingus, afab parts used, etc

Mila had been a servant for a millennium with you as her mistress. You were her savior and her world! Her reason for existence! The air that she breathes… you were everything to her!

You had saved Mila from the slums over a thousand years ago and she had been ever so dutiful to stay by your side. It was only natural to bow to someone stronger than you, and she would always be subservient to a powerful creature of the night as yourself.

It wasn’t uncommon for her to bathe you or to make sure you had the best quality blood to consume. Only the best for her mistress! And Mila would personally eliminate anyone who stood in the way of your happiness!

No other servant has lasted as she has. Mila drove off any potential bed mates other than herself. There was no one quite as willing as her to please you. You didn’t need anyone else other than your loyal dog! Your eternal guard dog, Mila!

Mila murdered every vampire hunter and every obstacle that dared to overthrow you. There was no one as loyal as her by your side… your eternal guard dog.

Mila was mean and cruel to anyone that wasn’t you. Her massive form towered over most men and women and her face was intimidating to gaze upon. A destructive, blood thirsty dog that only wagged its tail at you. How funny it was to see such a massive force of destruction on its knees begging you to allow her to give you cunninglingus. A reward you made sure to always indulge her in fear of her losing interest (a fear that would never come true)

All she wanted was for you to acknowledge her overwhelming love. Her face is often buried between your legs as her tongue greedily lapped at your damp warmth. Your essence was far more delicious than any blood that ever touched her tongue, a flavor she wished she could taste for all eternity… if she would be allowed to be between your legs forever, she would do so without compliant. Mila would do anything you asked of her!

Just like now as she sat on her knees before your regal form, her face pressed in between your legs. In a few hours it would be daylight, but Mila felt as if she deserved a reward for killing all of those hunters who wanted to rid this world of you. Mila was still quite high from her bloodlust and she absolutely had to have her fill of you…

Mila gasped when your palms tugged at her wavy black hair. Your fingers tangled in her thick wolf cut as you smiled down at her.

“Ever so eager to please, my pet.” You cooed as your free thumb brushed your juices off her scarred lips. What an enticing sight. “I promise you can always have your fill.”

“Please let me please you more, mistress.” Mila begged with a whine, her red eyes hazy with lust. Her being palms grasp at the flesh of your thighs. “You taste so fucking good…”

You sigh and spread your legs a bit farther. “Do as you please.” You gasp when she gets right back to work, her tongue greedily lapping at your folds with the fervor of a woman possessed. Mika’s crimson eyes staring up at yours expectantly. “Don’t… don’t stop.”

Mila moans as she continues to perform on you. Mila loves how you tug at her hair and grind your hips into her eager mouth. Yes! Fuck her face!

Mila continues to feast on you throughout your climax, her strong hands hold your thighs in place to prevent you from escape.

“Mila! Mila!” You cry out her name as you shake and tremble, but your servant merely continues the eager pace of her tongue on your swollen clit.

Mila presses a sloppy kiss to your poor, abused cunt before she pulled back to admire your flushed cheeks. A smile on her face to see that the blood of those hunters had allowed you to have a bit more color to you… it made her feel alive once more to know the effect she had on you.

“I love you, mistress.” Mila rested her head on her thighs while your fingers brushed some of the wavy locks out of her face. “And I will forever live a life of servitude under you.”

“You don’t have to-“ You squeaked when Mila pushed you back on your bed, her fingers began to pull down the waistband of her trousers.

“You are my sun, my moon, and my stars. I will love you until my last breath in this lifetime.” Mila bent down to press hot kisses all over your neck and cheeks. “Without you, my existence is nothing.”

You gasped when she began to undress before you. You could now fully take in just how immense of a woman she was…

Mila took your hand and guided it up her abs and to her left breast. “If I still had a heartbeat, it would beat only for you, mistress.”

Mila now rests above you completely bare, her hand still held yours in place. “Now just give me the order and I’ll please you, mistress.”

You smirked at Mila before you reached your free hand out to her. “Then ravage me, my pet. My eternal guard dog… I love you too.”

[roanofarcc]

ONE DANCE, PLEASE?

pairing: trevor lefkowitz x ghost bride!reader

summary: since your death, weddings at Woodstone have been a source of bitterness for you but that doesn’t stop trevor from attempting to cheer you up with a dance

word count. 1.6k || masterlist

warnings: fem!reader, mentions of death, dead!reader

a/n: this is my first ghosts fic so please be gentle! I love the idea of a ghost bride and debated on making it into an OC or reader story. I think I like having it be in little one-shots! it’s a crime more hasn’t been written for trevor (or any of the show’s characters). feel free to request for trevor or any other ghosts characters <3

“Are you going to mope around for eternity?” Sasappis asked you, standing arms crossed in front of a beautiful garden decorated to the nines. The backdrop to your sulking was stunning flowers tied in bunches and pastel dresses moving around the patio-turned-dance floor. 

“Is that not the point of being a ghost?” you replied, jutting out your feet forever stuck in kitten heels and skin-colored pantyhose. Sass lightly kicked your foot with his and nodded his head to the corner just off the dance floor where the rest of the ghosts danced and laughed. A part of you was jealous of how easily they enjoyed themselves at weddings and how they were not plagued with an eternal hatred for them and what they represented. 

It always felt like a cruel joke, even though it never had anything to do with you, when Sam and Jay hosted a wedding at their B&B. As much as you loved the couple, you couldn’t stand what most considered a joyous event. The union of two people in love, not tainted by tragedy, grew your restatement each time. Weddings were a part of the business and helped Sam and Jay bring in the money they desperately needed to fix up the mansion, but that didn’t mean you had to enjoy yourself. Instead, you spent each event sulking on the sidelines, ignoring the pang in your chest, and avoiding your ghostly counterparts' advances to cheer you up. The only thing that would’ve cheered you up was a do-over of your big day that was ruined by a strike of unluckiness, resulting in your untimely death.  

Sass narrowed his gaze at you but decided against saying whatever he wanted to. Instead, he turned on his heel and headed back to the ghosts. You adverted your gaze back down to the beads sewn into your dress, picking at them with the wish you could pull the garment apart with your hands, but since it was what you died in, it would forever stick to you. 

A slow song played through the DJ’s speakers as the sun slowly began to set over the yard. Strung lights glittered warmly, bathing the attendees in a golden glow. The bride had looked radiant since she arrived at the mansion days ago, and all day you had to watch her and her husband’s love run circles around you. Your malice wasn’t aimed directly at the happy couple, but rather at what they represented and the reminder of what you almost had. 

Someone appeared beside you, their presence clouding your solitude-sulking. “What a bunch of losers,” the person said, causing you to turn your head and meet Trevor. “I mean, seriously, this song was lame when I went to weddings and people are still dancing to it? I get the appeal of throwbacks but let’s pick this snooze-fest up a little, am I right?” 

You rolled your eyes. “What do you know about weddings?” 

“I happen to have been invited to a lot of them, thank you very much. Well, the receptions and bachelor parties, usually. Those weddings had a lot more alcohol and single bridesmaids.” You said nothing in response, hoping your dimly lit mood would shoo Trevor away. You were mistaken, though. If anything, your silence only encouraged him further. He moved in closer to your side, standing with his hands on his hips as he gazed out across the crowd. “I think they may need some help livening things up a bit. Care to join me?” 

He often tried to do that, brighten your mood by offering to dance with you. And every time you turn him down, not because you didn't want to, but because you’re worried that the second you start to enjoy yourself at a wedding, tragedy will follow a second time around. You liked Trevor and couldn’t stand the thought of enjoying yourself only to hurt yourself, again, or him. In your head, as long as you moped around, everything would stay the same as they were, which you loved more than you’d admit aloud. You liked your ghost-mates and you liked Sam and Jay. If you somehow brought some unfortunate curse upon any of them because you enjoyed yourself just as you had on your own wedding day, you weren’t sure you could cope with that a second time around, not when you hardly coped with it from the first time. 

“Trevor…” you sighed, defeated and slumped-shouldered. 

Normally, he dropped it after that. He usually sat quietly at your side until his excitement and urge to join the party overwhelmed him and he resumed dancing with Flower or attempting to play pranks on the livings with Thorfinn. That time, however, he took you by surprise. He moved directly in front of you, face set with a certain tone of seriousness that was odd. 

“Nope,” he said, simply. “You are not moping for eternity. I won’t let you.” 

“That’s not your choice.” 

He smirked, cheekily and annoying but stupidly charming. Those three words suited him too well. Trevor extended his hand out, making a grabbing motion with his hand. “One dance, that’s all I’m askin’. That’s all I need to change your mind.” You tightened your grip on the skirt of your dress, unbudging at his request. “One dance. Please?” His voice was a little lower, pleading almost. 

One dance. You never got to dance at your wedding. Something bad could happen, it probably would. 

Trevor’s fingers grazed your knuckles, tapping them lightly and looking at you in a way, underneath the golden light, that made you consider it. He noticed your hesitation and dropped his hand back down at his side. 

“Okay,” he said after a beat before he turned away with a little frown on his lips that made you feel even worse. 

There was something wrong with you, maybe it was some kind of ghostly side effect of dying on your wedding day; perhaps you were doomed to live in the murky waters of what-if and why. 

The bride and groom were in the middle of the patio dance floor, spinning each other around in quiet fits of laughter and bodies pressed as close as they could get with the bride’s fluffy dress. They were married, dancing as two halves of a whole with nothing bad lingering over their heads. There was no impending doom, aside from you sitting on the outskirts. The doom was you and your mind, rippled with jealousy, sadness, and a million questions of what exactly you could have done differently that day. But the truth was, there was nothing you could have done. Fate was fate, as Flower had once said in one of her more insightful conversations. Fate was messy and included bear attacks, arrows in necks, and accidents. Fate found you there, at the Woodstone mansion forever a fiancee but now entangled with the fates of your ghost friends who also found themselves there forever. 

Forever was such a long, made even longer with eternity hanging on your shoulders. How many more weddings would you sit there, watching and sulking in your own unhappiness that others wanted to fix for you? 

Something between a groan and a sigh left your lips as you stood up, letting your wedding dress fall back down to the ground in the pristine condition you had died in it in. “Trevor,” you said again, louder as you called after him. He stopped, slowly turning around with a confused quirk of his brow. You nervously picked at the beads again, but that time wasn’t to pick them off but rather settle them back in place in a similar way to how you had picked at them awaiting your turn to walk down the aisle. A dance was not nearly as monumental as that, but it carried a weight that pressed down on your chest. 

“One dance,” you said. He stared at you for a moment like he wasn’t sure he had heard you right. It wasn’t until Thor punched him in the arm with a hardy laugh and Hetty pushed him forward towards you. 

Trevor approached you, smoothing out his tie. “Really?” he asked. 

You nodded. “If anything bad happens, I’m blaming it on you," you said only half joking.

He smiled, wide and toothy and the way that made you subconsciously want to copy it. “The worst thing that’ll happen is me stepping on your feet. I haven’t slow danced since prom.” Despite that, he dramatically bowed and extended his hand. “May I have this dance,” he said in a terrible accent. You couldn’t help but laugh lightly, some of that weight lifting from where it hurt your chest. 

Once you accepted his hand, he all but dragged you to a quiet corner of the dance floor, away from where any livings would walk through you two, and away from the other ghosts and their suggestive smirks and comments pointed at the two of you. 

When you danced, with his feet clumsily trying to avoid stepping on yours and hands rested on your waist, nothing bad happened. You did not die a second time around, nor did tragedy strike in the way you feared. The only thing that occurred was dancing, peppered with occasional laughter and a quick apology when Trevor stepped on your skirt and halted your movements. You recovered with a shake of your head and a slight lead in the dance, which he didn’t voice but silently appreciated.

[wholoveseggs]

Omg love your elijah stuff it's the best out there! Could you write a fluffy smut where the reader and elijah get married and she's still human and they plan for her to turn on their wedding night. But since she's about to become a vampire and knows elijah loves the taste of her the blood she has him drink from her during sex one last time and she drinks from him so after sex and aftercare his blood is in her system and he turns her then:)

Something Sweet

18+ ---- {Masterlist} {Tag-List}

It's the day of your wedding, a day you've dreamed about since you were young. Everything is exactly as you imagined it would be, except one thing. Today is not only the day of your wedding, today is also the day you die... And you never wanted anything so badly.

♡♡Thanks for the request lovely @sarah-bear706318! I made this one super fluffy♡♡

5.5k words - Warnings: smut, oral sex, so much flufffff, blood drinking, sappy Elijah, something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue...

♡♡ Tag-List ♡♡

Trying to fix my tags! I re-added all of you, and now you will be posted at the top! If you no longer wished to be tagged just shoot me a DM {I won't be offended} xoxo~

@gorgeouslydangerous @starkleila @lydia1369sworld @notleylaaa @vampiresluv @myanmy @xflowerbombxo @maryvibess @always-and-forever-daydreaming @criminallminds @rosemarypotion @spnaquakindgdom @amournoir @meeom @damienmorton @wickedmuse @sunkissedebony97 @idk00sblog @savannaounana @cs-please @complicatedandconfusing-25 @youcanhavemybuckanyday @akala6670229 @yeaiamme2 @itsjulzandmydiamonds @spideysbabe @witch-of-letters @elijahstwink @rosecentury @sekaishell @ziayamikaelson @amanda08319 @starshipcookie @li-da-savage @veggie-eggrolls @spideybv28 @loving-and-dreaming @fancycassie-stayfancy @hcqwxrtss123 @iamawkwardandshy

It was the day of your wedding and you were awoken by the birds chirping outside of your bedroom window. You rolled over to find your side of the bed empty and cold, a note from Elijah in his elegant handwriting.

My love,

I thought it best if I did not see you until the ceremony, as that is a tradition.

I have not been able to sleep. I am both excited and nervous for today, my beautiful wife. I will spend every waking moment cherishing you.

Elijah

You smiled to yourself as you read his words, imagining him pacing the floor as he wrote this, probably in the study or the library.

You pressed the note to your chest, you could hardly believe that you were getting married today. It was a day you had dreamed about since you were young. You had imagined what your wedding dress would look like, the flowers you would pick for the arrangement, how you would wear your hair. But now, none of that seemed important, the only thing on your mind was what came after the wedding.

Elijah would make you a vampire tonight, and then you would have eternity together.

He was still hesitant, even though you had insisted this was what you wanted. He worried that one day you would regret it, that you would hate him for it, that it would break the connection between the two of you.

But he was wrong, you knew it would only strengthen your bond. You loved him so much that it was impossible to put it into words. You would do anything for him, give him anything, including your life.

After a few moments of lying in bed and thinking of your handsome husband to be, you heard the sound of your bedroom door opening. In walked your three bridesmaids and your maid of honor, carrying a tray of delicious breakfast foods.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty!" Rebekah said, walking around the bed and placing the tray on the mattress in front of you.

"What are you still doing in bed?" Freya asked.

"Yeah, it's your wedding day! We have a lot to do!" Camille exclaimed.

You chuckled and sat up in bed, tucking the duvet over your legs. Hayley laid on the bed next to you, popping a bottle of champagne open and pouring four glasses.

"Everybody relax, we have lots of time," she said, handing you a glass. "Don't stress her out,"

Rebekah rolled her eyes and picked up a bag from the floor.

"We have some gifts for you, Mrs. Mikaelson," she teased.

"I'm not Mrs. Mikaelson, yet," you pointed out, taking a sip of the champagne.

"Oh please, the two of you act married already, he is the most whipped man I have ever seen," Rebekah said, sitting on the other side of the bed and passing a wrapped present to you.

You giggled at her comment, knowing it was true. You were a little surprised by how much he was willing to bend to your will. He was a stubborn man, but with you, he was a complete pushover. He told you once that he found it impossible to deny you anything, and that's how he knew you were the one.

You carefully unwrapped the gift and found a beautiful necklace, with a sapphire pendant, you held it up to the light, the rays bouncing off the gem and painting the walls of your room in blue light.

"It's beautiful," you said, smiling at the girls.

"It's something blue, from Freya," Rebekah explained, as Freya fastened it around your neck.

"I spelled it so you can always find each other, no matter where you are. So when you are away, you can always feel him close to you," she explained.

You were touched by her thoughtfulness, touching the stone as it rested against your chest. You couldn't explain it, but it did feel like him, like he was right beside you.

"Thank you, Freya," you said, squeezing her hand.

"Okay now mine!" Rebekah interrupted, holding her present out to you. "Something old,"

You grinned and took the large box from her, opening it to find a beautiful vintage corset, along with a matching set of lace underwear and stockings.

"Rebekah, these are gorgeous!" You said, running your fingers over the intricate designs.

"They're vintage, of course," she said, proudly. "Elijah is rather fond of that time period, I thought they might... inspire him," she added, winking.

You blushed, he didn't need any encouragement in the bedroom, you were certain of that.

"My gift is next," Hayley said, holding out her gift to you. "Something new, and I'm really sorry, but they aren't quite as classy as the last two," she said, nervously.

You took the bag and opened it, it was full of luxury naughty nightwear, baby dolls, bras, panties, a silk robe, all in different colors and fabrics. Along with a few sex toys and a pair of handcuffs.

"I had to get you something practical," she said, with a smirk.

"I love it, thank you," you said, giggling. "I will certainly put them to good use,"

"Okay now mine, it's something borrowed," Camille said, handing you a small box.

You opened the velvet box and found a gorgeous pair of diamond earrings, with a matching bracelet.

"Camille, these are beautiful," you breathed, examining the sparkling jewels.

"They've been in my family for a long time, they belonged to my grandmother," she explained, clasping the bracelet around your wrist.

You looked at your wrist and smiled, your friends were the most wonderful women you had ever met, they had been so welcoming and so supportive, and now here they were, giving you the best gifts ever.

"Thank you, all of you, so much. This has been the best morning," you said, pulling them all in for a group hug.

"More champagne!" Rebekah exclaimed, grabbing the bottle and topping up everyone's glass.

"We still have the day to go, I'm going to have a terrible hangover at my own wedding," you pointed out, taking a large sip anyway.

"Not for long," Rebekah said, a mischievous smile on her face.

The wedding party went quiet, everyone knew exactly what she was talking about, that Elijah was planning to turn you after the reception.

"It's really happening then, tonight?" Hayley asked, looking at you.

You nodded.

"How are you feeling about it?" She asked.

"A little nervous, I guess," you admitted. "But excited,"

"It's a big decision, are you sure you are ready for it?" Freya asked, putting her arm around you.

"Absolutely. I've never been more sure of anything," you said, without hesitation.

"You'll make a lovely one," Rebekah added, pulling you out of bed and to your feet.

"Come on, we have a lot to do, the hair and makeup people will be here in an hour, and I need to make sure you eat something first," she said, ushering you towards the bathroom.

"And then we can finally see this dress!" Hayley added, excitedly.

The five of you spent the rest of the morning in a flurry of activity, the girls made sure you ate and drank water, despite how much champagne was flowing. The hairdresser and makeup artist did wonders, and then finally, it was time for the dress.

You had put on the vintage corset and underwear, rolling up the stocking and clipping them in place. The girls helped you step into the gown, fastening the buttons up the back, before you stood in front of the mirror.

Rebekah started to cry and Freya and Camille put their arms around her, all of them staring at you.

"Are you okay, Bekah?" You asked, looking at her reflection.

She wiped her tears and sniffed. "He's going to faint when he sees you,"

The four of them laughed and you turned around, holding out your hands.

"Well, let's go get married,"

The music started as you entered the garden, and everyone stood, turning to look at you.

It was like a fairytale.

Your eyes were on Elijah the entire time, his eyes were a bit glassy and he was nervously playing with his hands. Klaus handed him a tissue, patting his shoulder and Rebekah hooked her arm in yours , guiding you down the aisle.

"No fainting yet," you whispered to Rebekah, making her giggle.

"I promise I will catch him if he does," she whispered back.

He held out his hand to you when you finally reached him and you took it, Rebekah handing your bouquet to Hayley.

"Hello," you whispered, looking up at him.

"Hi," he replied, smiling down at you, his brown eyes warm and loving.

"You look perfect," he said, softly.

"So do you," you said, grinning at him.

Klaus cleared his throat and began to speak.

"We are gathered here today, to join Elijah and Y/n in matrimony. They have both written their own vows, so Elijah, you may start,"

Elijah squeezed your hands and smiled at you, his eyes soft and full of love.

"My love, you are the one that I have waited centuries for. The one who brings light into my life. I love you so much, I will be forever grateful that I found you. I promise to spend every day of eternity showing you how much I love and cherish you. Thank you for agreeing to marry me, thank you for loving me," he said, his voice thick with emotion.

You felt tears in your eyes as he finished speaking, reaching up and brushing a tear away with his thumb. The crowd aww'd at his words, and the entire wedding party dabbed at their eyes with tissues.

"I'm afraid my vows are going to sound a little lame after that," you teased, making Elijah chuckle.

"Elijah," you began. "I have loved you from the moment I saw you. You have always been there for me, through good and bad, you have taken care of me, supported me, loved me. I know my heart is safe with you. You have always said you would give me the world, and I know you will, and I want to give you mine, for as long as I live,"

Elijah's eyes became glassy again and he took a deep breath, fighting back his tears.

"Do we have the rings?" Klaus asked.

You glanced down the aisle to see Hope toddling towards you, with a pillow in her hands. Everyone watched her and she reached you, proudly handing the rings to her uncle.

"Thank you, darling," Elijah said, ruffling her hair.

"You may exchange the rings," Klaus said, Hope was now clinging to his leg, watching the ceremony with fascination.

Elijah slipped the ring on your finger, and you did the same, looking down at the two silver bands. You realized that your ring had a lapis lazuli stone embedded in the metal, the one that would allow you to walk in the sunlight when you were a vampire.

"Elijah, do you take Y/n as your lawfully wedded wife, to love and cherish, until death do you part?"

"I do," he replied, staring deep into your eyes.

"Y/n, do you take Elijah as your lawfully wedded husband, to love and cherish, until death do you part?"

"I do," you said, unable to stop yourself from smiling.

"Well then, by the power invested in me by a monk in the 12th century, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride,"

Elijah cupped your cheek in his hand, brushing his thumb over your cheekbone, before leaning down and pressing his lips to yours. His hands moved down your back, tilting you backwards, dipping you. The guests cheered and applauded, and the photographer snapped pictures.

"I love you," he said, whispering the words into your mouth.

"I love you, Mr. Mikaelson," you said, grinning.

He pulled you up, his eyes were bright, and his cheeks were flushed, his happiness radiating off him.

"Mrs. Mikaelson," he said, softly.

You kissed him again, the two of you wrapped in each other's embrace, his arms holding you tight against him.

"Let's get this party started!" Marcel yelled, causing a cheer from the crowd.

The two of you made your way back down the aisle, and back into the house. As soon as you were inside, you pulled Elijah in for a passionate kiss, wrapping your arms around his neck.

"We are married," you said, giggling.

"Indeed we are," he replied, smiling.

"Can't we skip the party, and just go upstairs now?" You asked, kissing him again.

"My greedy little wife," he teased. "Don't worry, tonight will be worth the wait,"

The compound was elaborately decorated, with lights and flowers hanging everywhere, and the guests were laughing and dancing, having a great time.

You sat at a table near the dance floor with your new husband, watching everyone. His hand was resting on your thigh, squeezing it gently every so often.

It was getting late, the sun had set and the guests were getting more and more drunk. The music slowed and the couples swayed together, some kissing and holding each other tight.

"So," Elijah whispered in your ear. "How are you feeling about tonight?"

"I can't wait," you said, turning to look at him. "I just can't wait for us to start our lives together,"

"Me either, sweetheart," he said, brushing his lips against your temple. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"I want this." You placed a hand on his cheek. "More than anything."

He let out a long sigh, his hand squeezing your thigh tighter. But he didn't say anything else.

After a moment, he stood up and held out his hand.

"Dance with me?"

You took his hand and he led you out to the dance floor. You wrapped your arms around his neck and his hands rested on your hips.

The two of you danced slowly to the music, lost in each other's eyes.

"What are you thinking about?" You asked him, breaking the silence.

"Nothing." He replied, smiling softly, looking away.

You narrowed your eyes. "Don't lie to me, Mr. Mikaelson."

He chuckled. "Fine. I'm thinking about how beautiful you are, and how lucky I am."

"I'm the lucky one," you whispered, leaning in and kissing him softly.

The two of you continued slow dancing and you rested your head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"I'm nervous," He admitted, softly his hands running up and down your back.

You lifted your head and looked up at him. "Why?"

"I don't want to see you die," He looked into your eyes, and you could see the pain behind them. "I don't want to watch the light leave your eyes, and not be able to do anything about it."

You cupped his cheek and stroked it. "I'll come right back, Elijah. You have nothing to worry about."

He nodded, then leaned in and kissed you, soft and slow. His hands on your hips, slowly guiding you, the two of you still moving to the music.

After a few minutes, he broke the kiss, pressing his forehead against yours.

"I don't think I'm capable of not worrying about you." He said, a soft chuckle escaping his lips.

"Well," You whispered, smiling up at him. "That's something we have in common, then."

His hands were on your lower back, his fingertips tracing patterns on the soft fabric.

"Do you remember when we met?" He asked, looking down at you.

"I do." You said, giggling. "It was the most cliché thing ever, but I remember it like it was yesterday."

"You were wearing a green dress." He recalled. "You were trying to get a book from the top shelf at this little bookstore. You had climbed onto a chair and were stretching your arm as far as you could, but you just couldn't reach it. And I thought, 'that's the most adorable thing I've ever seen'."

You laughed, remembering how flustered you'd been. "And then, I dismissed your attempt to help me as being creepy,"

"Until you tripped over your own feet and fell into my arms." He reminded you, a smirk on his face.

"You caught me, though." You whispered.

"That I did," he murmured. "And I will always catch you."

You stood on your tiptoes, kissing him softly. "I'm glad," you said.

His hands moved lower, grabbing your ass, and pulling you closer. You blushed and looked around quickly, but nobody seemed to be paying any attention to you.

"I remember something else about the day we met," he whispered in your ear.

You looked up at him and smiled. "What?"

"How you looked in my bed that night, the soft little moans you made," he teased.

You bit your lip, a wave of arousal washing over you. The memory still fresh in your mind.

"You have a way of making me lose all sense," you said, breathlessly.

"I know," he smirked, his eyes sparkling, "I've got you right where I want you."

You giggled, burying your face in his chest, breathing in his scent.

"You are so bad," you whispered.

He hummed in agreement, squeezing your ass once more, causing you to let out a little squeak.

"We should say goodbye to our guests," he murmured. "There is a car waiting,"

You nodded and let him guide you around, saying goodbye to all the guests. They followed the two of you out to the courtyard, and then they began throwing rice and rose petals, while the two of you got into the waiting car.

As the car drove away, the guests cheered and you couldn’t help the huge grin on your face, waving at them until they were out of sight.

Elijah's hand rested on your thigh, rubbing circles with his thumb. You rested your head on his shoulder, watching the city go by.

"So, are you going to tell me where we are going?" You asked, glancing at him.

"There's this lakehouse, about an hour from here. It's a quiet, private place, not even my siblings know about it." He said, pulling your hand into his lap.

"You didn't tell anyone about it?" You asked, a little shocked.

"Not a soul," he said, smiling. "I've had a few secret hideaways over the years, but this one is special."

"Why is that?" You asked.

"It's where I go to get away from everything, to clear my head and recharge," he explained. "And now, it's going to be our special place,"

"That's sweet," you said, kissing his cheek.

The drive seemed to take forever, but finally the car turned onto a long driveway. Elijah helped you out of the car, and then he scooped you into his arms.

"You are such a romantic," you said, giggling.

"I try," he teased, carrying you inside.

He set you down in the entryway, and then took your hand, leading you around. It was a gorgeous home, and it was obvious that Elijah had put a lot of work into it.

But he didn't give you much time to admire it, before he was on you, quickly dragging you to the bedroom.

His hands roaming your body, his mouth crashing onto yours, your arms wrapping around his neck, pulling him closer.

"Don't you dare rip my wedding dress Mr. Mikaelson," you breathed.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he murmured, his hands gently tugging the fabric.

You giggled and pushed him away, holding his gaze, then you turned and looked over your shoulder at him, motioning to the buttons going down your back.

His fingers deftly undid the small buttons, taking his time, as if he was savoring each one. He kissed along the back of your neck and shoulders, pushing the straps of the dress off, and letting it fall to the ground.

His hands went to your waist, helping you step out of the dress, and he knelt down, picking it up and placing it carefully on a nearby chair.

"Such a gentleman," you said, softly.

His gaze roamed over your body, admiring the way the lingerie clung to your skin, accentuating every curve.

"Gorgeous," he said, stepping closer, his fingers tracing along the boning of the corset.

Your hands went to his chest, reaching up to undo his bowtie. He watched your hands, his eyes darkening with desire.

You tossed the tie aside, and began unbuttoning his shirt. You leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips, your hands continuing their path.

When you got to his pants, you stopped, a wicked grin spreading across your face. You ran your finger along his waistband, teasing him.

He groaned and picked you up, and you instinctively wrapped your legs around his waist, your arms around his neck.

In an instant you were on the bed, the speed of vampires never ceased to amaze you. You lay there, looking up at him, your hair fanning out around your head, and you couldn't help but grin.

"Will you teach me to do that?" You asked, referring to the vamp speed.

He chuckled, leaning down and kissing your cheek. "Of course, my love. I will teach you everything you need to know."

You smiled, then reached up and pulled him down, crushing your lips together. He pressed his hips against yours, and you could feel the bulge in his pants.

"What else can you teach me?" You whispered, biting your lip and looking into his eyes, trying to look all sweet and innocent.

He raised an eyebrow and smirked, his eyes darkening. "Lots of things."

You ran a hand through his hair, tugging lightly. "I can't wait."

He grinned and leaned in, capturing your lips in a bruising kiss. His hands moving all over your body, caressing and squeezing.

"But first I'm going to take this corset off." He said, his fingers trailing down your chest and finding the ribbons. "I'm going to untie it slowly, and then I'm going to kiss every inch of your skin."

You let out a small gasp, his words sending a wave of arousal through you. He pressed his hips harder against your hand, still working to slowly untie the first ribbon.

"I'm going to make you come all over my tongue," He said, his voice raspy and low, working on loosening the second ribbon, pulling it free. "Over," He tugged on the third, "And over," the fourth, "And over."

You moaned, his words making you dizzy, and he grinned, pulling the last ribbon loose.

The corset fell away, and Elijah quickly pulled it from you, tossing it aside. His hands were on your breasts immediately, his thumbs brushing over your nipples, causing them to harden.

He lowered his head, his tongue flicking out and swirling around one nipple, before sucking it into his mouth.

You were panting, your hands gripping the sheets, watching as he made his way down, slowly removing your panties. He kissed his way up your thighs, his eyes never leaving yours.

He looked up at you and smirked, then slowly lowered his head, groaning as he licked a broad stroke over your pussy.

You gasped, arching your back, pushing yourself closer to him. He chuckled, his hands gripping your thighs, pushing them further apart, his tongue teasing and licking at your clit.

You were in heaven. The sounds he was making, the way he was devouring you, it all felt incredible. You couldn't help the moans and whimpers escaping from your throat, only fueling him on.

You couldn't tear your eyes away from the sight of him between your legs, the way his gaze would meet yours sent a thrill through you. He looked so content and satisfied, his eyes hooded, his tongue working you expertly.

He suddenly slipped a finger inside you, curling it against your walls, searching for that sweet spot. When he found it, he smirked, picking up the pace of his tongue lapping at your clit.

You came undone in seconds. Your walls clenched around his finger and your back arched, crying out his name.

He lifted his head, staring up at you, his eyes black. He licked his lips and winked at you, two of his fingers still pumping in and out of you.

He looked down at your flushed face and swollen lips, watching your body coming down from your high. You were always so beautiful after an orgasm. He could always coax these little spasms out of you afterwards, making you moan even more.

"I love you." He whispered. "My perfect wife."

With a wicked smirk, he slid a third finger in, curling against your g-spot, a delighted squeak escaping your lips as you squeezed his fingers.

"I can't wait to spend eternity with you," He said, his voice slow and gruff, the pleasure overwhelming you. "Watching you come like this, every night."

He continued to pump his fingers, with firm and steady strokes, the pressure building and building. Your body began to tense again, your moans becoming louder and more desperate. He grinned, watching you fall apart for him.

Your body started to shake, the waves of pleasure hitting you again and again, as you came on his fingers. He captured your lips in a rough kiss, swallowing your moans.

You collapsed on the bed, breathing heavily, the aftershocks still rolling through you. Elijah leaned down and kissed your neck, nuzzling against you.

"My wife," he said, savoring the way it sounded.

You giggled, still feeling a bit floaty. You looked up at him, taking in the sight of him. He was so handsome, his dark hair slightly disheveled, his eyes shining with love and affection.

"My husband," you said, reaching up and brushing some hair out of his eyes.

He smiled, his hands tracing along your bare skin. "You don't have to turn tonight, if you're not ready,"

You shook your head, smiling. "No, I want to. I'm ready."

"Are you sure?" He asked, his voice full of concern.

"Eli," you said, cupping his cheek. "I'll be okay,"

His expression turned a bit serious, his eyes flashing with worry.

"You're my whole world, I won't lose you," he said, kissing you deeply.

"You won't lose me," you said, softly.

"Promise?" He asked, his hand moving to your cheek, stroking it gently.

"I promise," you said, your heart fluttering.

He gently pushed your legs apart, his fingers stroking your thigh, the touch sending sparks through you.

"I will never let anything happen to you," he said, positioning himself between your legs.

"I know," you said, gasping when you felt him ease into you, slowly and gently.

"I love you," he said, leaning down and kissing your lips, as he began to move his hips, pushing himself deeper. "More than anything,"

"I love you, too." You gasped, wrapping your legs around him, pulling him closer.

One of his hands went to the small of your back, the other cradling behind your neck. He held you to him, forehead to forehead, his eyes boring into yours.

He rocked his hips, grinding against you, filling you completely. His thumb brushed across your lower lip, then his lips pressed against yours, whispering how much he loved you.

You felt as though your heart beats were the same, the way it was pounding in your chest, in time with his. The way he held you like this, close and tight, it was everything.

The heat and friction began building between you, his thrusts becoming deeper and harder. The air filled with the sounds of your moans and sighs, your bodies moving together.

You could feel another orgasm building, your breath coming in short, ragged pants. He seemed to sense this, his pace picking up, his eyes locked on yours.

"I want you to come with me," he said, his voice husky and low, as his hips drove into you, over and over.

"Yes," you whimpered, your fingers digging into his back, leaving crescent moon marks in his skin.

Together, you let go, your bodies trembling and shuddering, clinging to each other. He buried his face in your neck, groaning, his teeth scraping your skin.

You lay there for a few moments, holding each other, your breathing slowly returning to normal. His lips were still against your neck, his arms wrapped around you.

"Elijah?" You asked, hesitantly.

"Mmm?" He mumbled, not wanting to move.

"I know how I want to die," you said, quietly.

He pulled back, looking at you. ". . . You do?"

You nodded, chewing your bottom lip, you weren't sure if he would be willing to do this for you.

"I want you to drink from me," you said, softly.

His eyes widened, a look of shock on his face.

"I mean, only if you're okay with it. We can find a different way... You can just snap my neck like we originally planned... I just thought...," you said, quickly, starting to ramble.

He cut you off with a deep, passionate kiss.

"Are you sure?" He asked, once the kiss broke.

You nodded, a shy smile on your face.

"Absolutely."

"Alright, but if it gets too much, tell me. We can always stop," he said, his hand resting on your cheek.

"Okay," you said, nodding.

He sat up, leaning against the headboard, pulling you into his lap. His hands on your hips, he didn't move for a moment, just looked at you, a gentle smile on his lips.

"I'm ready Elijah... I want this," you said, cupping his face, and brushing your lips against his.

He kissed you softly, with pure tenderness and love. He looked into your eyes, and you could see the conflicting emotions running through him. Fear, happiness, sorrow, joy.

You stroked his cheek, reassuring him.

"I love you," he said, biting down on his wrist and bringing it to your lips.

"I love you, too," you whispered, taking his blood into your mouth, his free arm wrapping around your waist.

His wrist fell away, and he tilted his head, pressing his lips to yours. Then, he kissed a trail down your neck, stopping right over the vein.

You could feel the sharpness of his fangs, his mouth ghosting across your skin. His hands moved to your back, rubbing it soothingly. He was still hesitating.

Your hands gripped his chest, preparing for the sting of pain, the dark shroud of death that awaited you.

His fangs sank into you, and your body jerked. But the pain was fleeting, as the pleasure began to take over. His hands moved up and down your back, pulling you closer, his mouth working over the bite.

He was so gentle, and tender, the way he was holding you, caressing you. It made your heart swell with love, as the blood flowed from you.

He drank slowly, savoring the taste of your blood, listening to your heart beating slower, your breathing becoming shallower.

He could feel your life force slipping away, the blood no longer rushing through your veins. He felt an almost uncontrollable fear, and he had to fight the urge to let go.

You began to drift away, darkness creeping around the edge of your vision. Your eyes fluttered shut, your heart skipping a beat, before it came to a complete stop.

He pulled his mouth away, and pressed his forehead to yours, his tears falling on your face.

He let out a choked sob, the anguish of losing you was too much. He knew you would return, but in this place of nothingness, the void, it was all too real.

Your body was cuddled into his, your head resting in his shoulder, the wound on your neck still oozing blood.

He closed his eyes, and focused on the future, of all the things he would teach you. The places he would take you. The adventures you would have.

He was going to make the most of this eternity with you.

It didn't take long for your heart beat to return, or for you to stir. Your eyes opened slowly, blinking against the light.

"Eli?"

He pulled you closer, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

"Welcome back," he said, smiling.

You returned his smile, snuggling against him, and sighing.

"How do you feel?" He asked, his arms tightening around you.

"Hungry."

He laughed, stroking your hair. "I have just the thing for that,"

You nodded, sitting up, and looking at him. He looked tired, his eyes rimmed with red, his hair tousled.

"Have you been crying?" You asked, gently.

He nodded, looking a little embarrassed.

You kissed him softly, wrapping your arms around his neck.

"It's alright, my love. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere," you whispered, pressing your forehead to his.

"Good," he said, letting out a shaky breath.

He held you, his hands stroking your back, your hair.

You lay there for a while, in the safety of his arms, before he pulled away, and smiled at you.

He reached for a blood bag he had gotten ready, and handed it to you. You tore into the bag, and drank deeply. You hadn't realized how thirsty you were, until you tasted the blood. It was sweet, and thick, and it was exactly what you needed.

He watched your eyes turn black, dark veins snaking underneath them, and smiled. You were beautiful.

When you were done, he tossed the bag aside, and wrapped his arms around you again.

"So, what happens now?" You asked, your eyes searching his.

"We live.”

[kentobb]

The Bet (Part Seven)

Characters: College! Sukuna x Female Reader

Genre: Angst

Warnings: *Sigh* Pure Angst, Jealousy, Alcohol, Mentions of Drunk people?, Foul Language, Suggestive, Smut (Theres not but theres a suggestive part so…might as well categorized it like that), etc.

Author’s Note: I know I said that I will see you guys in a few days. But I was in my break in the airplane and wrote this piece of art. 🩷 Next chapter in a few days. But let me know what you think is going to happened next :)

Part 01

Days passed, and everything seemed to spiral further into despair for Sukuna. He had tried calling you countless times, but each attempt was met with the same automated message: "Sorry, the person you're calling is not available. Please leave a message after the beep."

"Hey, it's me again…please, call me back. Let’s talk.” Sukuna's voice broke as he left yet another voicemail, the pain evident in his words. But there was no response. His text messages, too, were left on "delivered," never receiving a reply.

He clutched the heart locket you had returned to him in such pain, now worn around his own neck, a constant reminder of the love he had lost. Each day without you felt like an eternity, and the absence of your presence in his life was a gaping void that consumed him.

What hurt the most was that you hadn’t been attending class for the past week. He looked for you everywhere—your usual seat in the lecture hall, the library corner where you loved to study—but you were nowhere to be found. The halls felt emptier without you, and summer break loomed just around the corner, only amplifying his sense of urgency and despair.

His brothers had tried their best to comfort him. They sat with him, talked to him, tried to distract him with jokes and stories. But it was useless. Sukuna's mind was consumed with thoughts of you, replaying every moment you had shared, every word he wished he could take back.

Yuuji walked into Sukuna's room one evening, finding him sitting on his bed, staring at his phone. "Hey, any luck?" Yuuji asked, though he already knew the answer.

Sukuna shook his head, his eyes filled with a mixture of sadness and frustration. "No. She’s not answering. I don't know what to do.”

Yuuji sat beside him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You just have to give her time, Sukuna. She needs to process everything.”

"But what if she never forgives me? What if I've lost her forever?" Sukuna's voice was barely a whisper, his fear palpable.

Choso joined them, leaning against the doorframe. "You haven't lost her yet. Just keep trying, keep showing her that you care. She'll come around."

Sukuna nodded, though his heart felt heavy. "I hope you're right."

Days turned into nights, each one blending into the next in a blur of unanswered calls and unspoken words. Sukuna spent his time going through the motions, attending practice, going to class, but his mind was always elsewhere. He found himself constantly touching the locket around his neck, seeking solace in its presence.

Summer break was only a weekend away, and the impending separation from the campus only added to his anxiety. He feared that the distance would only widen the gap between them, making it even harder to reach you.

One evening, as he sat alone in his room, Sukuna decided to leave one more message. "Hey, it's me. I just wanted to say I'm sorry again. I miss you so much. Please, call me back when you can. I love you."

He hung up, feeling the familiar ache in his chest. He lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling, the silence of his room echoing his loneliness.

His brothers found him there, a picture of heartbreak. They exchanged worried glances, unsure of how to help him. Yuuji sat beside him, while Choso leaned against the wall, both trying to offer their silent support.

"We're here for you, Sukuna," Yuuji said softly. "No matter what happens."

Sukuna nodded, his throat tight with emotion. "Thanks," he whispered, though he couldn't shake the overwhelming sadness that clung to him.

As the days crept closer to summer break, the weight of your absence grew heavier. Sukuna knew he had to find a way to make things right, but he felt lost, unsure of how to bridge the chasm that had formed between you.

He held onto the hope that you would eventually hear his messages, read his texts, and remember the love you had shared. Until then, he would keep trying, keep waiting, and keep believing that somehow, you could find the way back to each other.

One evening, just as he was about to send yet another unanswered message, there was a knock on his door. Sukuna hesitated, his heart pounding with a mix of hope and fear. When he opened the door, he found Gojo standing there, looking uncertain and hesitant.

"Sukuna," Gojo began, his voice wavering slightly. "Can I come in?”

For a moment, Sukuna stood still, his emotions swirling. He didn't know if he was mad at Gojo for telling Mei Mei, or if he was mad at the situation itself. But then he saw the genuine worry and regret in Gojo's eyes, and he managed a soft, weary smile. "Yeah, come in."

Gojo stepped inside, his usual confident demeanor replaced with a rare vulnerability. He sat down, fidgeting nervously. "Look, I just... I wanted to say I'm sorry. I messed up. I shouldn't have said anything to Mei Mei. I didn't think—"

Sukuna held up a hand, stopping him. "Don’t. It’s okay.”

Gojo's eyes widened in surprise. "You're not mad at me?"

Sukuna shook his head. "No, I'm not mad at you. I’m just... tired. Tired of everything. It was my fault too…”

Gojo's shoulders sagged with relief, but the guilt still lingered in his eyes. "I really am sorry, Sukuna. I never wanted to hurt you. You're my best friend."

Sukuna nodded, feeling a tightness in his chest. "I know, Gojo. I know. It's just been really hard."

There was a heavy silence between them, filled with unspoken words and shared pain. Finally, Gojo cleared his throat. "Look, I know this might not be the best time, but I think you need a break. Mahito's throwing a summer break party, and I think you should come."

Sukuna frowned, shaking his head. "I don't think that's a good idea. I don't feel like partying."

Gojo leaned forward, his eyes pleading. "Just think about it, okay? You need a distraction, something to take your mind off things, even if it's just for a little while."

Sukuna sighed, running a hand through his hair. The thought of going to a party felt overwhelming, but he couldn't deny that he needed to escape his own thoughts, if only for a few hours. "I don't know, Gojo..."

"Please," Gojo insisted, his voice softening. "Just give it a try. You don't have to stay long. Just come and see if it helps. You can't keep torturing yourself like this."

Sukuna hesitated, but the look in Gojo's eyes, filled with genuine concern and friendship, swayed him. He nodded slowly. "Just for a little while."

A smile broke out on Gojo's face, a mix of relief and hope. "That's all I ask. Thanks, bro."

As they prepared to leave for the party, Sukuna felt a small flicker of something he hadn't felt in days—a glimmer of hope. He knew that it wouldn't solve everything, but maybe, just maybe, it would help him start to heal.

Sukuna arrived at Mahito’s party, the pulsating music and thrumming energy immediately overwhelming his senses. The house was packed with people, bodies dancing against each other, the air thick with the scent of sweat and alcohol. He made his way to one of the sofas where his teammates were lounging, drinking and laughing. Yuuji and Choso were already there, engaged in animated conversation.

Sukuna plopped down on the sofa, grabbing a drink from the table in front of him. As he took a sip, he noticed several of his teammates with their girlfriends, their laughter and affectionate touches reminding him painfully of what he had lost. He felt a pang of hurt, wishing you were there with him, remembering how it felt to have you by his side.

As the night wore on and the drinks flowed, Sukuna found his gaze wandering toward the door. He watched idly as new arrivals trickled in, but then his heart nearly stopped when he saw who walked in.

First, there was a girl with fiery orange hair, wearing a stylish outfit that accentuated her bold personality—Nobara. She exuded confidence, her eyes scanning the room with an assertive gaze. Beside her was a tall, brooding figure with dark, messy hair—Megumi. His demeanor was quiet and reserved, yet there was a certain intensity in his eyes.

But it was the third person who made Sukuna’s breath catch in his throat. It was you.

His eyes widened, and his heart pounded in his chest. What are you doing here? This… this isn’t the place for you. Why would you be here?

You wore a stunning red dress that hugged your curves, the short hemline showing off your legs, and the neckline revealing just enough to make his mouth go dry. Your makeup was flawless, enhancing your natural beauty, and your hair was styled elegantly. You carried a small red purse, completing the look.

Sukuna could hardly believe his eyes. He had never seen you like this. You looked scared, nervous at your surroundings.

As you walked in, people turned to look at you, some even whistling appreciatively. Sukuna felt a surge of jealousy and protectiveness. He didn’t like the way others were looking at you, the way they seemed to undress you with their eyes.

You hadn’t noticed him yet, your attention focused on Nobara and Megumi as they led you toward the mini bar. Sukuna shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his eyes never leaving yours.

Nobara, with her usual flair, seemed to be showing you the ropes, gesturing animatedly as she explained the different drinks. Sukuna’s mind raced. He knew you had never drunk alcohol in your life. This was all new to you, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that you were out of place, that you didn’t belong in this chaotic environment.

As he watched you, he felt a mix of emotions—jealousy, worry, longing. He wanted to protect you, to pull you away from the prying eyes and the potentially harmful influences. But he also knew he had no right to do so, not after what had happened.

Sukuna's eyes followed your every move, noting the way you hesitated before accepting a drink from Nobara, your expression a mix of curiosity and apprehension. He wanted to rush over, to tell you that you didn’t have to do this, but he stayed rooted to his seat, torn between his desire to see you and his fear of making things worse.

His teammates continued their banter, oblivious to his inner turmoil. Gojo, noticing his distracted state, leaned over and followed his gaze. “Isn’t that…?” Gojo trailed off, his eyes widening in realization.

“Yeah,” Sukuna replied, his voice tight. “It’s her.”

Gojo glanced back at Sukuna, his expression concerned. “What are you going to do?”

Sukuna didn’t answer immediately. He watched as you took a tentative sip of your drink, your face scrunching up at the unfamiliar taste. Nobara laughed, patting your on the back, while Megumi watched with an amused smirk.

Summoning his courage, Sukuna stood up and began to walk towards you. Nobara, sensing his approach, quickly stepped in front of you, blocking his path.

“She doesn’t want to speak to you,” Nobara said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sukuna's eyes narrowed slightly, but he kept his voice steady. “Who are you?”

Nobara glared at him, her stance protective. “She’s not your girlfriend anymore, Sukuna.”

Ignoring Nobara's words, Sukuna took another step closer, his determination unwavering. Just then, Megumi stepped in, his presence imposing. “You heard her. Back off,” Megumi said, trying to intimidate Sukuna.

Sukuna glanced at Megumi, a small, defiant smirk forming on his lips. “Nice hair, douchebag. Does it come with instructions?”

Megumi's eyes flashed with annoyance, but before he could retort, you spoke up, your voice cutting through the tension. “It’s okay.”

Nobara and Megumi exchanged worried glances, but reluctantly stepped aside, giving Sukuna the space to approach you. You looked at him, your eyes filled with a mix of emotions—anger, hurt, and something else he couldn’t quite place.

Sukuna took a deep breath, his heart pounding in his chest. “I know you don’t want to talk to me.”

You glanced back at Nobara and Megumi, who gave you encouraging nods before moving a little farther away, giving you some privacy while still keeping a watchful eye.

“Oh wow” you said finally, your voice steady but guarded. “Did you figure that by yourself?”

The tension between you was palpable, and Sukuna struggled to keep his emotions in check. He couldn't believe you were here, dressed so beautifully, yet so different from the girl he had known. It was as if you had transformed overnight, and it hurt to see you this way—so distant and angry.

"Why are you here?" Sukuna asked, his voice edged with frustration. "This isn’t your scene."

You met his gaze defiantly, your eyes flashing with determination. "Isn’t that obvious? I came here to have fun.”

His eyes widened in disbelief. "To have fun? This isn't like you. You don’t need to change yourself to fit in here."

You scoffed, shaking your head. "You don’t know me. You’re just some dude who got into my pants for what? A hundred bucks? Turns out I don’t know you either.”

As you turned to walk away, Sukuna instinctively reached out and grabbed your hand, trying to hold you back. "You do know me. And I know you. And I know that this… isn’t you.”

You yanked your arm away, your eyes cold and unyielding. “Fuck you, Sukuna.”

He looked at you angrily, his grip tightening for a moment before he let you go. "Fine," he said through gritted teeth. "Go ahead and have your fun."

“Oh I will, just watch closely.” You turned your back on him, joining Nobara and Megumi, who had been watching the exchange with wary eyes. The party around you started to intensify, the music growing louder, the crowd more energetic. A popular song blasted through the speakers, and everyone began to dance.

Sukuna stood back, watching as you moved to the rhythm with Nobara. He saw you taking shot after shot, your laughter ringing out as you lost yourself in the moment. It was clear you were trying to drown out the pain, but it only made Sukuna more anxious. He didn’t touch a drop of alcohol, too focused on keeping an eye on you.

His anger simmered as he watched you, feeling helpless. This wasn’t you, he thought. This wasn’t the girl he fell in love with. You were trying to become someone else, someone he knew you wasn’t.

The party continued, and a group of boys from the soccer team entered, their presence adding to the already chaotic atmosphere. Among them was Ino, the team captain. Sukuna recognized him immediately—Ino was known for his charm and confidence, a guy who could have any girl he wanted.

Ino’s eyes landed on you, and Sukuna saw him asking around about you. His jaw clenched as he overheard bits of their conversation.

"Who’s she?" Ino asked one of his teammates, nodding in your direction. "I’ve never seen her before."

"Not sure," the teammate replied. "But damn, she’s hot. Definitely new."

Sukuna’s grip tightened on his drink, the plastic cup crumpling in his hand. He wanted to march over there, to tell Ino to back off, but he knew it would only make things worse.

Ino watched you make your way to the bar, probably asking for more shots for yourself and Nobara. His interest piqued, he took his own shot, quickly following you. Meanwhile, Sukuna stood at a distance, trying to control the storm of jealousy and anger brewing inside him. He kept his eyes fixed on you and Ino, his fists clenched tightly.

As Ino reached the bar, he slid up next to you with a charming smile. "Hey there," he said smoothly. "I don't think I've seen you around before. What's your name?"

You turned to him, your eyes sparkling with a mix of amusement and alcohol. "This is my first party," you replied with a giggle.

Ino raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Your first party, huh? Well, you’re definitely making an impression."

You laughed, leaning in a bit closer. “Well, I hope so.” You said, your thoughts filled with alcohol.

Ino grinned, enjoying the attention. "Well, you’ve got the right idea. I’m Ino, by the way."

You smiled, eyes darting to where Sukuna stood, watching him intently. You saw the anger simmering in his gaze, and a mischievous glint appeared in your eyes. You wanted to provoke him, to make him react. You leaned in closer to Ino, whispering something in his ear that made him blush.

Sukuna saw this and felt his control slipping. He couldn't just stand there and watch you flirt with some guy. His jealousy and anger reached a boiling point, and he marched over to the bar, his eyes locked on you.

"Hey, what do you think you’re doing?" Sukuna demanded, his voice low and dangerous.

Ino turned to face him, a smirk playing on his lips. "Just having a conversation. Is that a problem, bro?"

You looked at Sukuna, your expression challenging. "We're just talking, Sukuna. Or do you have a problem with that?"

Sukuna’s jaw tightened. "Yeah, I do have a problem. I don't like seeing my girl flirt with some random guy."

Ino raised his hands in mock surrender, his grin widening. "Whoa, whoa. I didn’t know she was your girl. She didn’t mention anything about having a boyfriend."

You crossed your arms, leaning against the bar. "That's because I don’t. We’re not together anymore, remember? I would bet a hundred bucks that you do remember that.”

Sukuna took a step closer, his eyes never leaving yours. “We may not be together right now, but that doesn’t mean I’m just going to stand by and watch this."

Ino chuckled, clearly enjoying the tension. "Looks like you’ve got some competition, Sukuna. Maybe you should step up your game."

Sukuna’s eyes flashed with anger. "Back off, Ino. This isn’t a game."

Ino shrugged, clearly unbothered. "Whatever you say, man. But from where I’m standing, it looks like she’s having a good time without you, am I right princess?”

Sukuna's anger boiled over as he squared off with Ino. "Back off now, or I swear, I'll punch you," Sukuna threatened, his voice low and menacing.

Ino smirked, clearly unfazed. "You think you can intimidate me? Bring it on, man."

Their argument escalated, voices rising above the din of the party. You rolled your eyes at their macho display and decided to walk away, leaving the two boys to their petty fight. You made your way back to Nobara, who was already at the bar, affected by the alcohol as well.

Sukuna saw you leave, realizing what you successfully did, his anger boiling, he quickly turned away from Ino. Who cursed under his breath as Sukuna left him talking to himself, feeling the sting of being ignored.

At the bar, you started taking shots one after another, trying to drown your feelings in alcohol. The music thumped through your body, the lights blurring together as you downed another shot. Your head felt light, limbs heavy, and your vision wavered. You felt a strange mixture of euphoria and disorientation, the world spinning around you in a dizzying dance.

Everything felt distant, like you were floating. You laughed more freely, but there was a desperation to it, a need to escape the pain that lingered in your heart. You leaned on the bar for support, your mind foggy and your thoughts jumbled. You didn’t realize just how drunk you were, caught up in the haze of alcohol.

Sukuna watched you from across the room, his concern growing with every shot you took. He knew you were pushing yourself too far, and he couldn't stand by any longer. He made his way over to you, his heart pounding with worry.

"It's time to leave," Sukuna said firmly, his grip on your arm gentle but unyielding.

You tried to pull away from his grip, your movements sluggish and uncoordinated. "No, I’m having fun. Let me go.”

Sukuna tightened his grip slightly, ensuring you couldn’t slip away. "You're drunk. You need to go home."

You stumbled, your balance unsteady. "I’m fine, let me go!" You slurred, your eyes struggling to focus on him.

Sukuna looked around for help and spotted Choso nearby. "Choso! I need your help," he called out.

Choso quickly made his way over, his concern evident. "What’s up?"

"Help me get Nobara. She’s drunk too," Sukuna said, nodding toward Nobara, who was barely standing.

Choso nodded and went to help Nobara, who leaned heavily on him, giggling uncontrollably. Sukuna kept a firm hold on you, guiding you carefully through the crowd. He searched for Yuuji, needing his help to manage the situation, but Yuuji was nowhere to be found.

Sukuna and Choso managed to get you and Nobara to his car. He gently placed you in the passenger seat, where you immediately fell asleep, head lolling against the window. Choso helped Nobara into the backseat, where she too quickly succumbed to sleep.

"Where the hell is Yuuji?" Sukuna muttered, frustration evident in his voice.

"Let’s look for him quickly," Choso suggested, scanning the crowd.

They headed back into the party, looking for any sign of Yuuji. Sukuna opened one of the doors, and his eyes widened at the sight of Yuuji and Megumi making out passionately. Neither of them noticed Sukuna, too wrapped up in each other.

Sukuna backed out quietly, closing the door behind him. He returned to Choso, shaking his head. "I couldn’t find him," he lied, unwilling to expose his brother's private moment.

Choso sighed. "Alright, let’s get them back to the dorm. I’ll text Yuuji and let him know."

They returned to the car, and Choso pulled out his phone, quickly typing a message to Yuuji: "We’re heading back to the dorm. Everyone’s safe. See you later."

Sukuna started the car and began the drive back to the dorms, the weight of the night pressing heavily on him. He glanced at your sleeping form beside him, his heart aching with regret and worry. He hoped that once you sobered up, you could talk properly, and he could begin to mend the rift between you.

Choso stayed silent during the ride, sensing Sukuna’s turmoil. The streets were quiet, the night air cool and soothing. When they finally reached the dorms, Sukuna parked and carefully carried you inside of his dorm, with Choso doing the same for Nobara.

Choso gently laid Nobara down on the sofa, tucking a blanket around her to keep her warm. He glanced over at Sukuna, who was carefully carrying you to his bed. Sukuna placed you down gently, pulling the blanket over you and brushing a strand of hair from your face.

Choso looked back at Nobara, shaking his head slightly. “Yuuji still isn’t answering,” he said, a hint of worry in his voice.

Sukuna smirked, trying to lighten the mood. “He was kind of busy,” he said teasingly.

Choso frowned in confusion but then shrugged it off, too tired to ask for clarification. He put a glass of water and some ibuprofen on the coffee table for Nobara for when she woke up. “She’s going to need this in the morning,” he muttered.

Sukuna nodded, grateful for his brother’s thoughtfulness. “Thanks, Choso.”

With a sigh, Sukuna made his way back to his room, pausing at the doorway. He saw you sitting up in his bed, looking around the room with bleary eyes. You were clearly still drunk, your movements unsteady.

“Go back to sleep,” Sukuna said softly, his voice filled with concern.

You didn’t listen, your gaze finally landing on him. “Kuna,” you whispered, using the nickname you had given him. The sound of it melted his heart, bringing back a flood of memories.

You stood up, wobbling slightly, and walked toward him. Despite your drunken state, he could see the pain in your eyes, the hurt you were trying to drown out with alcohol. You reached him and began pushing him angrily, your fists hitting his chest.

Sukuna stood still, letting you vent your anger. He didn’t move an inch, your punches not having any effect, but knowing you needed to get it out. You were stronger than you looked, but not enough to physically hurt him. But he deserved anything you threw at him.

“You hurt me,” you cried, your voice breaking. “You broke my heart.” You punched again, “You used me!”

“I know,” he whispered, his own eyes filling with tears. “I’m so sorry.”

You continued to hit him, your punches growing weaker as you started to sob. Sukuna finally reached out, pulling you into a tight embrace. You struggled at first, but then collapsed against him, your sobs shaking your small frame.

“I’m so sorry,” Sukuna repeated, holding you close. “I never meant to hurt you.”

You looked up at him, tears streaming down your face. Your eyes were filled with so much pain, it broke his heart all over again. And then, without warning, you kissed him. Your lips were desperate and passionate, and Sukuna couldn’t help but kiss you back.

For a moment, everything else faded away. It was just the two of you, locked in a kiss that was both familiar and new. But then he felt your hands toying with the belt of his pants, and he knew what you were trying to do. He gently grabbed your wrists, stopping you.

“Hey,” he said softly, pulling back slightly and feeling the alcohol on your lips. “You’re drunk. You’re not conscious.”

You began to cry again, burying your face in his chest. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I just… I miss you so much.”

“I miss you too,” he said, his voice choked with emotion.

He guided you back to the bed, laying you down gently. You clung to him, your tears soaking his shirt. Sukuna climbed in beside you, pulling you close. He began to caress your hair, his touch soothing.

“Shh,” he whispered. “It’s okay. I’m here. Just sleep.”

You rested your head on his chest, your breathing slowly evening out as you drifted off to sleep in your drunken state. Sukuna continued to stroke your hair, his heart aching. He had missed this—holding you, comforting you, being close to you.

As you slept, Sukuna thought about everything that had happened. The bet, the breakup, the pain he had caused you. He knew he had a long road ahead if he wanted to earn your trust back, but he was determined to do it. He loves you, and he would do whatever it took to make things right.

But he just hopes that when you wake up tomorrow, you still miss him.

Comments, notes and reblogs are appreciated <3

[zegrasdrysdale]

[ 5 more minutes ] l. hughes

paring : Luke Hughes x fem!reader

summary : Luke’s girlfriend surprises him in Newark after his last college hockey game

warning(s) : none really. just very fluffy and emotional. also very short bc it was 1 am when i came up w this idea

author’s note : in honor of today being my last day as an ncaa student athlete, i quickly wrote this up. i was feeling very emotional and i needed a way to express how i felt. hence why we now have a very fluffy / emotional fic. some of the comments luke makes are some of my thoughts about how my own season ended yesterday. it’s kinda sad but it had to be done. you’re welcome (i think ?)

༺═──────────────═༻

Jack texts her when he has picked up his younger brother from the airport. She begins to pace around the living room of Jack’s apartment that he’s now going to be sharing with Luke.

She has no clue what state Luke is going to be in when he walks through the door. He’s probably going to be so pissed that he spent the last two minutes or so of his college career in the penalty box instead of on the ice or on the bench with his teammates. He’s been so busy traveling that he hasn’t had time to sit and reflect on the season.

That’s the reason that she hopped on a flight to Newark as soon as the clock hit zero against Quinnipac. She just wanted to make sure that he’s okay before he goes and signs his NHL contract in two days and joins Jack on the Devils.

Either he’s going to be really upset and pissed or he’s going to be excited to start the next chapter in his career. She has no idea which version of Luke she’s going to get.

Keys jingle in the door about a half hour after Jack texts her to let her know he has Luke. She stops pacing and stands in the middle of the living room. Her eyes are on the door as Jack pushes it open.

“… not really in the mood for any surprises,” Luke says as he walks through the door. “I’m so tired.”

“I think you’ll like this one,” Jack tells his brother as he shuts the door behind them. Luke drops the big duffel bag that contains his hockey gear on the floor by the door in the foyer area. Then he finally makes his way to the living room with his suitcase.

He freezes mid-step when he sees his girlfriend.

With a small wave and a smile, she says, “Hi, Lukey.”

Luke crosses the room in five strides because of his stupidly long legs. He envelops her in a hug and buries his face in her neck. She wraps her arms around his torso and they stand like that for what feels like an eternity.

She doesn’t mind. If it means that Luke’s okay then she’ll stand like this forever.

She presses soft kisses into his shoulder and whispers to him, “I’m so proud of you, Luke. So incredibly proud of you. I know that’s not how you wanted the season to end but you did everything you could, and for that I am so, so proud of you.”

A quiet sob wracks Luke’s body as he pulls back from the hug. She sees tears in his eyes and frowns. A couple roll down his cheek and she reaches up to wipe them away. Jack silently sneaks out of the apartment. He thinks he’s slick but she saw him leave behind Luke.

“I hated that I wasnt out there those last two minutes,” he tells her, voice shaky. “Maybe I could’ve done something that pushed the game into overtime or won it for us. Instead I was in the penalty box while my team had to fight even harder to get goals because they were down a man.”

“I know, baby,” she softly replies. “I wish I could’ve given you guys five more minutes. You all fought so hard. So fucking hard. I’m so sorry that’s how your season ended.”

More tears roll down Luke’s cheeks and she continues to wipe them away.

“I feel like I let them down,” he whispers. “I could’ve fought harder for them. For this season. I let them down when they needed me most and now I’m abandoning them.” His words break her heart.

She shakes her head and cups his jaw. “You didn’t let anyone down,” she tells him. “You did what you could in the sixty minutes you had. They know that and they will always remember how hard you fought for them. You’re so important to everyone on that team and you played such an important role in getting as far as you did as a team. They’re just as proud of you as I am because you are about to start an amazing new chapter in your hockey career. You aren’t abandoning them, Luke. They want you to move forward in your career. They understand that you’re ready and that this is what you want.”

Luke nods and wraps his hands around her wrists. She continues to look up at her boyfriend.

She’ll never understand how he feels because she isn’t an athlete. All she can do now is try to help him realize that he isn’t the worst teammate that he thinks he is at the moment. She doesn’t want him to have that mindset as he transitions from college to the NHL.

Losing is tough in any sport. She knows that much and she is going to make sure that Luke understands that it is okay to feel this way but that he also has to get ready to move forward.

“Thank you for being here,” he says after a moment of comfortable silence. “Sorry I’m such a mess. I didn’t think it would affect me this much.”

“It just shows how much you love every team that you’re on,” she replies. “You dedicate so much time to hockey because you love it. You’re allowed to feel this way and feel it for a little bit. You do have a contract to sign in a few days so I’m giving you tonight to get out everything you feel about the Michigan season ended. Tomorrow, it’s time to get excited. I’m here to help you get excited.”

A smile finally cracks through the frown that’s been plastered on Luke’s face since he saw her. She dries his cheeks one more time before she pulls him back into a hug.

Luke presses a soft kiss to the top of her head. “I love you,” he says into her hair. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Shut up. Yes you do,” she retorts. “I love you too. Let’s go get you unpacked then we can take a nap because I heard you tell Jack how tired you are.”

When she pulls away from the hug and starts to walk to his suitcase, Luke grabs her hand and pulls her back to him. She looks up at him for a quick second before his lips are on hers. The kiss surprises her because of how emotional he is, but sometimes a kiss is all it takes to feel better.

She happily smiles into the kiss and runs her fingers through his curls as she returns it. It’s one of his favorite things she does so many he’ll start to feel better a little faster. Luke loves feelings her fingers in his curls. It’s the reason he doesn’t try to tame them.

The front door opens again and a voice says, “Okay, we are establishing some rules. Rule one, the door stays open three inches when your girlfriend is over. I don’t need any babies crying in my apartment at three in the morning right now.”

They both pull back and she looks behind Luke at Jack, who has a disgusted look on his face. She smiles but Luke’s cheeks turn a tomato red. She laughs and shakes her head.

“Rule two,” Jack continues. “No making out anywhere I can see you. That means the-”

“Jack!” Luke snaps. “I get it. We get it. Also, I’m not going to be leaving my door open three inches. If I want to have sex with my girlfriend then I’m going to. It’s my room and we split the rent now so I’ll do what I want.”

“None of that premarital kissing stuff where I can see or hear it,” Jack tells his brother. “I don’t need that in my life.”

She laughs and takes the opportunity to grab Luke’s bag and suitcase. “Don’t worry,” she says. “We won’t traumatize you. Again.”

Both Luke and his girlfriend laugh as they make their way to Luke’s new room, leaving a disgusted and definitely traumatized Jack Hughes in the living room.

༺═──────────────═༻

MASTERLIST

have a request ? check out the guidelines !

wanna be added to the taglist ? fill out this form !

taglist : @dasiysthings @axaslee @ithinkimokeei @dancerbailey3 @mangoluver @prettyinsatiable @ivy-34 @love4lando

[gor3-hound]

ETERNITY — SUGURU GETO

a/n: hiii !! first geto fic on this account maybe?? shocker bcs i love him so bad... commission for @nexysworld !! love her so bad, pls check her out <3

cw: 18+ content, father-daughter incest, possessive behaviour, sheltered reader, mildly dubious consent, yandere-ish themes, very teeny tiny amount of religious themes, too. p in v, creampie, brief choking

Suguru Geto is not a man you would consider to be unkind, but there was very little affection within his actions. Your father was often patient with you - strict, but forgiving. When he touched you, it was always cold and clinical; always born out of necessity. 

Your mother had always been irrelevant to him, nothing more than a means to an end. That just so happened to be you, his daughter, and one and only heir. He had sensed the cursed energy within you the moment you were born, and he took you in to raise you on his own. He had no need for that woman anymore - she had served her purpose and bestowed him with a gift greater than any other.

Your life was free of troubles. Perhaps you did not get to play with the village children, but that was alright. You were allowed to play with the others within the compound. His followers were always kind to you, if not somewhat on edge in your presence. You did not understand it then, but now you realised the apprehension they held did not stem from your actions, but from fear of upsetting your father. You had been sheltered, yes, but you found you did not crave much else. You were well-fed, well looked after… It was hard to feel caged when the compound was all you had known.

Your youthful naivety could not last forever, and Suguru knew this. He dreaded your growth with each passing year, waiting for the questions that would come. He could keep you from the outside world, but he could not keep the outside world from you. He had many visitors, people looking to be cured of their ailments. He could keep you from watching these interactions, but he could see the way your curious eyes shone as you watched them come and go.

You asked him about the outside world only once, shortly after he had ‘cured’ a young child. You had been excited to see someone closer to your age, but his words quickly shut you down.

“The child has been plagued with demons,” He had told you simply, eyes cold as he glanced down at you. “I can keep them at bay, yes. But it would not do you well to socialise with others such as him. They will corrupt you.”

It had not convinced you entirely, and he could see that in your eyes. With a small frown, he kneeled before you, tilting his head to the side. “I extracted one from him. Would you like to see it?”

You nodded, as expected. Hopeful curiosity glimmering in your eyes, the idea of being shown something new and dangerous exciting to you. He sighs, allowing the cursed spirit he had absorbed free. He had no worry - he knew it was safely under his control. But he could see the fear in your eyes as it stalked towards you, the way you instinctively backed up, glancing at your father for protection.

“Daddy-” 

He lets its maw open inches from your body, the acrid stench of its breath filling the room as it goes to attack. He watches, unblinking, as you tremble and beg for his help, tears streaming down your face. Even still, he waits a few more seconds before driving his cursed tool through the spirit, exorcising it with ease.

“Do you see now why I cannot let you outside? It is far too dangerous for you.” You nod, clinging to him as you sob into the fabric of his robes. He lets you, holding you close to him. “I do not wish to see you hurt. Promise me you won’t ask to leave the compound again.”

“I promise.”

The years pass, and you do not dare mention leaving the compound again. Even as you reach adulthood, the memory of the demon you faced as a child keeps you biting back any requests of more freedom.

Something in your father has changed - you’re not sure what it is, but it leaves you with a lingering sense of unease whenever you cross his path. His gaze has become sharper, watching your every movement like he’s waiting for something. What it is, you’re unsure of. Your pulse is constantly racing when you’re forced to be in his proximity for more than a few seconds, but your brain can’t register what it is about him that’s making you so tense.

Your realisation comes to you slowly. You’ve seen that look before in some of them men that have wandered around the compound. Not directed at you, but you’re able to identify it all the same. 

Hunger.

Your realisation doesn’t come with any changes in his actions, but you can see in the subtle curve of his lips that he knows. He can sense that you act differently around him. Geto is an intelligent man, and it’s clear he planned for you to find out from the start. Months pass by without any changes in routine. You rarely see your father unless he deems it necessary to address you, his followers often being the ones responsible for ensuring you attend meals and stay within the compound.

Then, suddenly, he comes to you.

It’s the middle of the night when he wakes you with a gentle caress on your cheek. It’s one of the most affectionate touches he’s given you since you were a little girl, fingertips gently brushing over your cheekbones. When you meet his eyes, your heart stops beating for a moment.

His gaze is anything but kind. His jaw is set tight, and in that moment you realised how naive you were to think ignoring his glances would be enough to keep him at bay. Seeing your eyes widen with fear is enough for a sharp grin to spread across his face, his hand shifting to grasp at your hair, tilting your head back harshly.

“You're looking so beautiful these days, sweetheart.” Suguru murmurs, pressing a kiss to the side of your neck, free hand grasping at your hip. “I thought about resisting my impulses, but it’s as if you were made to tempt me. Pure, kind, beautiful. Forbidden fruit is always said to be the sweetest, but I had never thought temptation would come to me in the form of my very own daughter.”

You stiffen under him, hands pushing at his chest. He tuts disapprovingly, his fingers slackening as he pulls his hand from your hair. Suguru slides his fingers down the side of your neck, delicately wrapping around your throat before he squeezes.

“Shh, calm down. It’s only me, bunny.” He purrs the nickname, one he has not used in years in an attempt to soften you, It works, momentarily, but your muscles still feel fraught with tension. He leans down, fingers tightening around your neck in a warning as he presses his lips to yours.

His mouth is hot against yours as he kisses you. He keeps the pace leisurely, almost teasing as he presses his chapped lips against yours, tongue coaxing your lips open. The hand on your hip slides under your shirt in a way that makes you jolt, immediately breaking the kiss.

“Daddy, wait-”

Suguru scoffs, raising a brow at you. “That makes you sound so childish. You're a big girl now, aren't you?”

“D-Dad?” You correct, feeling yourself squirm under his harsh gaze.

“Better.” He breathes out, lowering his head once more to lathe his tongue along the flesh of your throat, licking hotly at your quickening pulse beneath the skin. The hand on your bare slides higher, dragging the fabric of your shirt up until he’s cupping your breast, thumb brushing gently over your nipple. You gasp softly at the pleasure it brings, something that brings an unfamiliar heat searing through your veins as wetness pools in the gusset of your panties.

He grins at the gasp he draws from your lips, teeth gently nipping at your skin as he releases your throat. His thumb flicks over your nipple once more as he drags his other hand down, moving to feel the wetness seeping through your underwear.

“I promised I’d protect you, bunny, and I meant it.” He murmurs, tracing a finger down the middle of the dampened fabric. He feels you tremble as he brushes over your clit, so he presses down gently to hear you whimper.

“I meant it,” he repeats, “I won’t hurt you, I just want you to feel good. You trust me, don’t you?

It’s a question, but it sounds more like a threat. You felt that familiar sense of unease in the back of your mind. You hadn’t experienced these things before, but you weren’t clueless.  You knew this was wrong, that he shouldn’t be touching you like this, but as his thumb replaces his finger so he could gently rub circles into your clit, your apprehension melts.

“Good girl.” He praises, words smooth and sweet. His fingers hook in the waistband of your panties, and he slowly slides them down your legs. His eyes hone in on your cunt, slick with arousal that he caused. “Look at you.”

Shame burns your face as you close your thighs, attempting to hide yourself from his view. Suguru grabs your knees, prying your thighs away before sliding his body between them to keep them from closing again.

“What’s wrong? You said you trusted me, bunny. Why are you trying to hide from me?”

“I wasn’t, I… I’m sorry.” You reply, gaze dropping nervously. Your heart pounds almost painfully in your chest, feeling more ashamed for disappointing your father.

“I don’t want to punish you, darling. Don’t you want to be good for me?” He says quietly, his tone almost condescending. He doesn’t wait for a reply before he sinks a finger into your tight cunt, a groan rumbling his chest as he feels you squeezing the digit. “Such an innocent little thing. So tight and wet.”

Suguru pulls back briefly only to remove his clothing, settling between your legs once more. His thumb presses down the base of his cock, allowing himself to align the tip with your dripping hole. “This may hurt at first, but you need to relax for me. Can you be a good girl?”

“Yeah,” you breathe out, voice soft and nervous. Suguru presses forward, sliding himself inch by inch inside of your tight heat until his cock is pressed to your cervix. Tears prick at your eyes from the sudden burn, your chest heaving with heavy breaths as he pauses to allow you to adjust to his size.

“Shh, shh. You’ll be alright, bunny. Your body was made for me, after all. It will feel good soon.” He promises, gently rocking his hips. “My sweet girl. I’d never have another have you like this. No, it has to be me. I won’t ever let anyone hurt you.”

He tries to be gentle with you - he has no intention to hurt his sweet little girl - but the way you squeeze around him feels divine. He’s sure he’s never felt anything so perfect before, feeling as though he’s being driven mad as your slick walls cling to his cock, sucking him greedily every time he starts to pull out. Suguru is not one to lose control, but he can’t find it within himself to hold back as he starts to fuck into you with earnest, pounding you into the mattress until you’re crying out with every thrust.

His hand falls to rest on your pelvis, thumb brushing your clit in a way that makes you mewl, arching into his touch. He grunts as you squeeze tighter around his cock, his hips stuttering as he rubs circles into the sensitive bundle of nerves. Your hips buck, and he slams into you harder, bruising your cervix each time his hips snap forward. You’re so tight and warm and perfect around him, and he’s not sure how much longer he’s going to last inside of you.

He watches through hooded, lust-glazed eyes as your body coils up tight, the prettiest moans and whimpers spilling from your hips as you come undone around his length. His teeth clench at the feeling of your walls fluttering around him, the grip on your hip turning bruising as he fucks into you erratically, chasing his own release. His hips stutter before he stills, spilling deep inside of you with a low groan. His eyes squeeze shut, hand falling away from your clit to grip the sheets as he floods you with his cum.

“There we go, bunny.” He murmurs softly as he returns to himself, slowly pulling out of you. He sighs shakily, brushing some hair from your face. “You’re mine forever, darling. I’m never letting you stray from my side.” 

His tone alone assures you his words are a promise.

[a-araiguma-a]

He loved only her

No one in particular, just an elf from the universe of J. R. R. Tolkien. Elf x f!reader

In the ancient forests of Middle-earth, where tall trees concealed the sky, there lived an elf. His people were as eternal as the forest itself, and their hearts were rarely clouded by mortal emotions. But one day, he met a woman—a simple, human, mortal woman. There was something about her that made his heart beat faster: her beauty, which could neither be captured by the finest poets nor sung by the greatest musicians, her mind, so unlike that of other humans, filled with thoughts, ideas, and philosophy, or her eyes, in which one could drown if they gazed too long. It was something he could not understand, but this only made his love grow deeper.

"Cormamin lindua ele lle"—he always wanted to tell her that his heart sang at the sight of her, but it was not the right time, not yet. From the moment of their first meeting, he sought her out and waited for her in this forest every day when the sun's rays gently touched the ground, filtering through the thick foliage.

She told him about her world, about the brief lives of humans, about how they lived and died, dreaming and suffering.

"Lle naa vanima,"—he blurted out one day, not even realizing when he had said it: "You are beautiful." "What did you say?"—fortunately, she didn't understand his words, and that saddened him. It was not enough for him to meet her in the evenings; he longed to extend their conversations, to stretch them out for an hour, two, or forever. He listened to her stories, captivated not by the words themselves but by how her voice filled the emptiness in his soul. Without her, he would never have known the need to fill it.

"Tua amin!"—But did he need help? Did he need to be saved from her? Honestly, no, he was ready to drown in her eyes, ready to die if only to meet her once more. He was ready for anything...

But the Elf did not know how to tell her about his feelings. He understood that the time she gave him was limited, and each moment with her was precious. But how could he explain this? How could he tell her that his heart, which had always been eternal and free, now belonged to her? "The more you love someone," he thought, "the harder it is to tell them." "Nin lithiach, Meleth nín"—she truly enchanted him every time he saw her, even in his thoughts. His beloved. "Guren mil gaim lín"—his heart was in her hands—"Tessa sina ten’ amin"—he asked her to keep it, but in truth, she was free to do with it as she wished, as long as it was her.

And she accepted him. She had loved him too, ever since then, but she understood that it would be difficult for him; her life was short, and what would happen afterward, when she left him? She was ready to weep over such a truth. "Amin uuma malia, Arwen en amin"—it didn't concern him. Being with her and having her even for a moment was already enough. The chance to call her his—that was his happiness. His Lady, who ruled his heart and mind.

As the years passed, she began to talk more often about parting, though it pained the elf to hear it, he couldn't disagree. "When the day comes that we part," she said quietly, "if my last words aren't 'Amin mela lle,' you'll know it's because I didn't have time." In those moments, he remained silent, lost in thought, unable to find the words to express that his love knew no bounds of time. "Meleth e-guilen, my love is selfish. I can't breathe without you,"—she was the love of his life. How could she speak of them parting, not seeing her, not inhaling her scent in the mornings, no more afternoon conversations about books, about how Ellen had messed up her work again, no more seeing her smile, or those gentle eyes full of love for him... "Aa’ lasser en he coia orn n' omenta gurtha!"—Let the leaves of her tree of life never wither, he prayed. Just a little longer, he wasn't ready yet, but how could he stretch this time?

But when the fog enveloped the forest, and the cold wind brought with it a premonition of farewell, the elf finally spoke what was in his heart. He took her hand and said: "I was destined to live a thousand years, and I belong only to you for all those years. If we were to live a thousand lives, I would want you to be mine in every one of them." She looked at him, and a tear glistened in her eye. She knew their time was running out, but these were the words she believed in more than anything in the world.

For the elf's love was as eternal as the forest itself, and he continued to love, despite their parting, carrying his feelings for her through the years and ages of his life.

"Cormamin niuve tenna’ ta elea lle au’"—My heart will wait until it sees you again. "Le me ithon anuir"—I will love you forever. "Quel kaima"—Rest well.

[lavender-butterfly-cookie]

Forgotten friends

So I read a lot of ancient Y/N cookie stuff because why not and I decided to make my own. Bear in mind that this is a work of pure imagination and judgment will not be tolerated.

Long ago, You were baked along with 5 other cookies, an immense power created within you by the witches. You were all created to the purpose of protecting earthbread and providing guidance to those who resided within it. Knowledge, Volition, Change, Happiness, Solitude and Patience. All created for a great purpose.

Alas, great power always begets corruption. You watched as how your friends will crumbled onto their own strength one by one. You wished you had seen it sooner. Wish you had taken notice of their behavior changing and shifting into corruption. You wish you could've done something sooner. But you couldn't.

You felt... foolish, to put it kindly. All the signs had been there. More cases of injured cookies, more homes being destroyed out of nowhere, the constant plea from the cookies to be protected. But every time you asked who had hurt them, they never replied. You should've realized it sooner. What other cookies had powers strong enough to wipe an entire village out of existence and only leave ashes, flour, jam and crumbs as it's remains?

Regardless of not having seen it sooner, you knew something had to be done. You had to intervene, make them come back to their senses somehow. But every time you got the courage to even walk to their quarters, you never entered. You were scared of what your friends had become, a lot more than you would've liked to admit. Besides, there were five of them and one of you. Even if they haven't crumbled you already, they're still capable of doing it.

With little to no options left you were forced to seek out the help and guidance of the witches. Fortunately for you, they had already come up with a solution. The unfortunate part?

The solution was to seal them away.

You were unsure how to take in this information. Part of you wanted to plead and beg that they find another way. But the other part knew this was the only way to protect earthbread. With a heavy heart you agreed to lure your fallen friends into a trap. Did you like it? No, of course not. They were your friends. But did you have a choice? Also no. It was for the sake of earthbread.

"Are we there yet?" Shadow milk cookie asked, though it came out as more of a whine. You were leading them to the agreed spot where they'd be sealed, having promised them that you wanted to show them something.

"Patience, Milk. We'll be there soon." You said, followed by a soft chuckle. Though you knew that was only to hide your dread. Here you were, leading your friends into a trap, and all you could do was try to divert any suspicion by acting like everything was ok when in reality it wasn't. "We've been walking FOREVER! How far must we go to see this thing?" Burning Spice cookie complained. You had to fight hard to suppress that deep sigh gathering in your lungs. If this experience wasn't already dreadful enough, they had been complaining time and time again how long it was taking and you gradually grew annoyed of them. "Look, not my fault you don't have any wings to just fly there. We all could've been there ages ago if SOMEONE wasn't a wingless pepper, don't attack me!" You retorted. Just as he opened his mouth to speak again you snapped something else.

"And don't even THINK about bringing up Silent Salt cookie. I know he doesn't have wings but at least he ain't complaining!" Though you're not sure if it's cuz he won't or if he can't. Either way, Burning spice cookie let out a grumble of annoyance before keeping quiet.

"Hey can we-" Eternal Sugar cookie let out a long yawn as she stretched out like a cat before snuggling back into her soft pink clouds. "Can we like, take a break or somethin'? We've been walking for ages..."

"Your feet haven't even touched the ground since we left!"

"Mmmh, too much work."

Another deep sigh you forced to not surface out brew up in your lungs again. You hadn't realized what pricks your friends had become. They used to be so nice. Now they're just... Annoying. Though you can't really say you were surprised, seeing as they corrupted in general.

"Applying pressure on Y/N cookie is futile. Our journey will on prove to be more insufferable and longer if we continue to be uncooperative." You heard Mystic flour cookies dull voice say.At least SOMEONE wasn't breathing down you neck. You also couldn't help but realize that the only thing that seemed to be different about her was the fact that her voice held no annoyance in it.

Heck, it practically held no emotion in general. Regardless you found her more tolerable in this moment then the other three. It kind of stung though, knowing she along with the others were following you so willingly to their own demise. But it had to be done.

Finally, you made it to the spot. You told them to stand in specific spots, which they complied with. As you got out of the way, you looked over at them all. You felt your smile falter and your heart began to ache. So you were really doing this, huh? You didn't want this. Not at all. But you had to do this. Once you felt the witches about to begin you let out a shaky sigh.

"Forgive me... I never wanted this..." you said softly, but it was loud enough for all of them to hear. Before they could react you watched five forks come down and imprison your friends, much to your displeasure and their shock. You turned away, unable to watch further. You tuned out their cries for your help. And without looking back, you walked away, your head hung low in shame and pain.

You hid yourself away and watched how the world around you changed. You now concealed your souljam as a pendant on your clothes and you concealed your identity. In fact, you changed it completely. You wondered for many days and night if your forgotten friends would ever forgive you.

Maybe... just maybe... with a lot of patience. Even if they did, nothing anyone said was gonna ever allow you to forgive yourself. Not even the light of patience would allow it.

[dimalry]

Second you in loving depressed, dark circle, chronic insomniac Azriel with demonic possession undertones. I feel like often he’s portrayed as very soft uwu baby or dark daddy dom when really he’s a workaholic grouchy introvert with a fucked up sleep schedule.

Do you think he has any connections to Hel in the larger Maasverse? I’ve had a theory for a while that he’s a descendant of one of the princes which would explain how he ended up with Truth-Teller.

Anyway, just want you to know that I picture your version of both Az and Gwyn when I write in canon, so thanks for the inspo!

Yes, absolutely! Though I’ve never thought of what kind of connection Azriel might have to Hel until now. Your ask got me to think…

What if Shadowsingers, rare as they are, were actually created by one of the Princes of Hel? I wish Truth-Teller wasn’t Gwydion’s twin, but rather a long-forgotten weapon once wielded by a long-dead Prince of Hel. Azriel could have discovered it eons later, feeling a strange connection to it, as it was the very weapon responsible for birthing his kind.

(Excuse my poor attempt at drawing shadow- soldiers/beasts. This is basically what I had in mind. This too)

Let’s say Shadowsingers were once a single shadow entity. But over time they split, with shadows becoming just one part of a person rather than their whole form.

A good number of them remain in Hel, but they've transformed into strange, nasty creatures. In Prythian, there are hardly any left, and Azriel may be the last. There are a few in Throne of Glass and Crescent City worlds, but they differ from Azriel.

It is very difficult to find any information about Shadowsingers. No one knows where they come from or how they came to be.

Who gave them the title 'Shadowsinger' anyway? What if it was simply a fitting name given by a mad scholar who first encountered someone with dark, shadow powers? What if these soldiers originally had a different name, given to them by the long-dead Prince of Hel?

And let’s give Shadowsingers the ability to shapeshift. I’ve always found it strange that Azriel is considered the best spymaster in the world, yet everyone knows he’s the Night Court's spymaster, which defeats the whole purpose of being a spy. It’s like imagining a Russian spy working in an American office, and everyone there knows he's a Russian spy. (Lol)

But what if Azriel could change his identity through his shadows? That would truly make him the best spymaster. He wouldn’t need to go through the trouble of creating fake identities; he could simply turn himself into one of Beron’s personal guards. People might know who the Night Court’s spymaster is, but they’d never know when or who he’s pretending to be. Additionally, he could winnow through his shadows instead of using the typical method. By commanding his shadows, he could transport himself anywhere, making him even more powerful than Rhys in terms of winnowing. He wouldn’t need to pause for breath like Rhys; he could take 10 people with him effortlessly.

Connect that to the shadow soldiers from Hel. They used to transform into whatever they liked (like this) and winnow with ease, which is why the war went on for like forever. The prince’s army was incredibly difficult to take down.

Shadowsingers still speak the language of Hel to this day. Azriel uses it to communicate with his shadows, and only Shadowsingers can understand this language—no one else. They don’t even have to learn it.

Okay, wait—can we consider that the winning side was the mother, leading her own army? That Gwydion was wielded against the Prince of Hel? Thus, the Maas universe was forged from the remnants of that eternal war ages ago.

And while Gwyn isn’t related to the sword like Azriel is to the dagger, nor to the soldiers who fought for the mother, as a priestess who worships her, she does have that little connection.

It would be quite amusing for the Fates to pair a descendant of those Hel creatures with a priestess who worships the Mother as mates.

Good god, I somehow pulled this out of my ass. Now I have to incorporate that idea into my story cause it‘s kind of awesome.

Anyway, I’d Iove to read your fic. It makes me happy to know that people use my art as inspiration 🥹

thank you for the ask! Have a lovely day 💕

[melolord14]

For All Eternity

Lady Dimitrescu x Female reader

Notes: I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. This is a rather sorrowful piece. While I may not be an established writer or someone whose work you are familiar with, I hope you will consider reading what I have to offer.

Masterlist

Warning: Angst

Part 2

Summary: you don’t get one! Find out if you dare!

You were finally home. After a long day at Donna's, filled with endless conversations and discussions, you were back where you belonged. You couldn't wait to see Alcina, your fiancée, the woman you had been engaged to for two blissful months. The thought of marrying the love of your life, the person you would cherish for all eternity, filled your heart with joy and anticipation.

As you walked through the familiar hallways of your home, each step bringing you closer to your bedroom, you suddenly heard what sounded like moans. A wave of confusion and disbelief washed over you. No, she wouldn't cheat on you. She couldn't.

"Please, I'm close. Keep going. Faster," you heard her voice, unmistakably Alcina's, pleading.

"Well then, I can't deny you that. You can have me instead of her if you call off the wedding," another voice replied, one you didn't recognize.

A maiden? Really? This couldn't be happening. The shock and betrayal hit you like a ton of bricks. You thought she loved you. You thought—no, you couldn't think anymore. You needed to leave, but a small part of you clung to a sliver of hope. Maybe there was an explanation. Maybe there was still hope left. But that hope was cruelly extinguished when she uttered those final words. "I'll call off the wedding.”

Your heart shattered into a million pieces. The pain was unbearable. You couldn't stay in this place that once felt like home. It was no longer a sanctuary, but a prison of heartbreak. You walked to the library, each step heavier than the last. You took off your engagement ring with trembling hands and gently placed it on the table. You pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a note for the girls. How you hated that you couldn't say goodbye face to face. You loved them dearly, you did. They were your daughters, and leaving them behind was the hardest part.

With one last look at the life you had built, you turned and left, the door closing behind you with a finality that echoed through the empty halls. The place you once called home was now just a memory, a painful reminder of a love that was never meant to be.

"I thought we had forever," you whispered to yourself, the words hanging in the air like a ghost of what could have been. "How did it come to this?"

"Goodbye, my love," you murmured, your voice breaking. "Goodbye, my daughters. I hope you understand one day."

As you entered the night, the cool breeze kissed your tear-streaked face. "This is not the end," you told yourself, trying to muster some semblance of strength. "This is just a new beginning."

But deep down, you knew that a part of you would always stay behind, in that room, with the woman you thought you knew, and the family you had to leave behind.

You ran and ran until there it was—the cliff's edge. That's all you need to do. Jump, and your life would end just like that. You stepped forward, looking down at the water below. What else could you do? You took a step, then another. You were close to the edge. Shutting your eyes, you tried to close the memories with them, hoping to lock them away forever. A tear slid down your cheek, the pain of that tear no less than the pain of living. You took that final step, and it was all over. The wind rushed through your hair, and your body fell from a great height.

You got closer and closer to the water below until suddenly, you froze in mid-air. You were surprised and confused. You looked off to the side to see her—the black goddess, Mother Miranda, staring at you with her piercing blue eyes.

"Stupid girl. Why would you jump off a cliff? Are you wishing for death?" she asked, her voice a mix of scorn and concern. "Now, why don't you go back to Alcina? I'm sure she is looking for you, little one."

Mother Miranda's words cut through the haze of your despair. She brought you gently to the ground, making you stand in front of her. You felt the solid earth beneath your feet, but the ground beneath your heart felt like quicksand.

"She doesn't care," you whispered, your voice barely audible. "She doesn't want me, Mother." Your voice cracked, and the dam holding back your emotions broke. You fell to your knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

Mother Miranda watched you, her expression unreadable. She didn't want to admit that she had a soft spot for you. Hell, she loved you like a daughter, though she wouldn't admit it. She knelt beside you, her presence a mix of stern authority and unexpected warmth.

"Listen to me," she said, her voice softer now, almost tender. "You are stronger than this. You are worth more than the love or indifference of one person. Alcina may have made mistakes, but that does not diminish your value. Stand up, little one. Face your pain, do not run from it."

Her words resonated within you, a spark of hope in the darkness. You looked up at her, tears still streaming down your face. "But what if she never wants me back? What if I'm truly alone?"

"You are never truly alone," Mother Miranda replied, her eyes softening. "As long as you have the strength to stand and the courage to face your fears, you will always find your way. And remember, you have me. I may be harsh, but I care for you more than you know."

Using her magic to take you both home, you still held onto Miranda tightly. The journey was swift, and soon you found yourself back in the familiar warmth of your home. You sat on the couch with her, feeling the comfort of her presence. You lay down on the couch, resting your head in her lap. Her fingers gently combed through your hair, a soothing gesture that calmed your racing thoughts.

Miranda's voice was soft and tender as she whispered sweet things to you. "You're safe now, my little bird," she murmured, her words wrapping around you like a warm blanket. "Mama's here. I'll always protect you."

The emotions of the day caught up with you, and you couldn't hold back the tears any longer. You cried yourself to sleep, the gentle rhythm of her voice and the caress of her fingers lulling you into a deep slumber.

"Sleep well, my little bird," she whispered as she carefully lifted you and carried you to the guest room, which she had already decided would soon be your room. She laid you down gently, tucking you in with a loving smile. "Mama's got you," she said, her voice filled with unwavering affection.

She kissed your forehead, a tender gesture of reassurance, and quietly left the room, leaving you to rest peacefully, knowing you were safe and loved.

[xoxochb]

Hey! I was wondering if I could request a Apollo x daughter/child of Dionysus please? Maybe where Dionysus walks in on them spending time together and freaks out on Apollo?

⋆·˚ ༘ * laughing with my feet in your lap

warnings: mentions of being drunk, implied make out, wine drinking, secret relationship trope (ish), I’m not sure if I like this but at the same time yes I do, resolved ending, short short

pairing: apollo x daughter of dionysus

hysterical laughter echos throughout the room, ultimately followed by shushes

“quiet,” you demand “if my dad sees us- you here he’ll kill the both of us”

your fathers palace is ‘here’ and ‘you’ refers to apollo. you had snuck inside for a bottle of wine, one that’s almost halfway finished at this point, taking turns with a sip. the plan was to retrieve the bottle and leave but your collapsing on the couch prevented the leaving part along with your boyfriend taking a seat with you, sprawling your legs over his- very comfortable! you could only wish it was possible to stay in this position forever

the sun god laughs at your demeanor “he’s never home, it’s fine”

“maybe we should go to your palace” you attempt to get up but apollo’s hand over your thigh stops you

“stay” he plants a kiss to your frowning lips

you sigh “five more minutes”

you should have said two because four minutes after your worst fear comes true. the door opens revealing none other than dionysus himself, almost furious at the sight in front of him. a wine bottle in your hand- his wine bottle to be exact, a mark on your collarbone, swollen lips, and apollo’s arms around you

you both hurry off the couch, discarding the bottle on the side table, nearly tripping in the process

“what the hell is going on here?” the wine god fumes

“dionysus, please-” apollo begins, unfortunately being cut off

“I don’t care what lame excuse you are about to come up with, get away from my daughter!”

you cross your arms “dad, we were just drinking, that’s it”

“and making out?”

you chose to stay silent

“exactly” dionysus remarks, then turns to apollo before continuing, “I don’t want you to see my daughter. all you’re going to do is break her heart”

“I would never even dream of doing that, I swear it on the river styx. and if the day ever were to come up that I do I’ll give permission to my father to smite me, or even an exile off olympus for eternity”

your father ponders. one, two, three… until he makes a decision

“you can only see her under my circumstances: for one, you will not be together in my palace, especially in my room. number two: if apollo breaks your heart I will be the one deciding the punishments. third: treat my daughter right, I don’t want to her to end up as a plant. lastly, do not drink my wine without permission. understood?”

you rapidly nod your head “yes dad we understand. we’ll be leaving now”

he stops you “no. not until I have confirmation from your idiot boyfriend”

he rolls his eyes but ultimately gives in “yes, I understand”

“great. now give me that bottle”

you take the wine from the table and hand it to your father who nearly downs the rest in one sip. you take apollo’s hand in yours, dragging him out of your fathers palace which you mark as ‘one of the most dangerous places on olympus’

[gliphyartfan]

@yanderelinkeduniverse @stars-for-thought @imprisioned-in-the-hole @screaming-until-god-hears-me @crestfallenmermaidan @ice-cream-writes-stuff @linked-heroes @eternadreeblissa

Hello! It’s that spooky time of year again! Ahh if only every month was as awesome as this one.

Ah well.

I got a long one for you folks! I guess it’s spooky?

….well I hope it’s spooky in SOME parts.

Anywho, I hope you enjoy and reblog!

———

————

—————

(Y/N) stumbled through the dimly lit dungeon, each echoing step reminding her that she was very much alone at the moment.

The cold stone walls seemed to close in with every corner she turned, each room only leading to more dead ends, puzzles, the occasional trap, and some monsters that were thankfully not smart enough to follow her out of the rooms.

She cursed under her breath, wishing she’d been able to fight back better when she was taken, but her priority then had been protecting the villagers, not herself.

If not that, then at the very least she wished she had been carrying the bag of food Wild had given her. She doesn’t know how long it’s been but she was very hungry and starting to become very thirsty.

She could already see Sky and Hyrule tearfully check her over for injuries.

Wild would certainly be devastated that she hadn’t had anything to eat.

Oh, the guilty faces on the others. It’ll take forever for her to calm them down. (Maybe they’ll visit Malon or Sidon soon so they can all take a well. She was hoping for Rito Village, she missed Tulin.)

Still, she couldn’t simply sit around and do nothing, so hours of struggling, deciphering strange symbols, avoiding monsters, and solving puzzles that seemed crafted to mock her lack of combat skill, she found herself in a new room.

This one was different. Unlike the others, it was lined floor to ceiling with mirrors on one wall. She took a step in, eyeing her tired reflection, hair messy and clothes disheveled.

She looked a mess.

…Eh, what else was new?

Looking around, the room itself sadly offered no obvious clues.

No symbols, no markings, just switches through out the room in an odd manner. She walked toward one of them, pressed it, and waited.

Nothing.

Puzzled, she glanced around, feeling a surge of frustration. Her reflection stared back, and for a moment, it almost seemed like it was staring back at her.

She shook her head, dismissing it as exhaustion.

(Y/N) limped around the room, a sharp sting pulsed from a scrape on her leg, reminding her of how close she’d come to being caught in one of the traps in the previous rooms.

Frustration gnawed at her, but she was too tired to figure out another approach (all she really wanted to do was sleep but she didn’t know if she was under a time limit so she refused to take a break.) so she turned and began to pace, her mind muddled.

She didn’t notice at first, but as she moved, there was a slight lag in her reflection.

Almost like someone was attempting to stay in sync with her.

When she stopped suddenly to wipe sweat from her forehead, her reflection took an extra heartbeat to do the same.

In her exhaustion, she barely registered it, chalking it up to her weary, overstimulated mind playing catch up.

She kept trying, over and over, to find a way to trigger the switches. Her body felt like lead, and her thoughts swirled in circles, too frazzled to make sense of the oddities around her.

After what felt like an eternity, something nagged at the edge of her consciousness.

She was about to try the switches again when a flicker of sudden movement in the mirror caught her eye. She stopped, staring at her reflection, really looking at it this time.

The reflection stared back with the same tired expression. She eyed it for some time, but then closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead.

“You’re losing it. Just finish this up and you can get to bed.” She muttered to herself.

When she took a step back to move towards the next switch, her reflection didn’t quite mirror her. Instead, it stepped forward. (Y/N) froze, having caught its movements, watching closely.

Cautiously, She tested it again, taking a step left; her reflection stepped right.

Right towards a switch that (y/n) herself wasn’t currently near.

With hesitation, she moved her hand so her reflection reached for the switch, and she made motion like she was activating the switch and with surprise watched as the switch both in the reflection and out of it were pressed down.

After a few tries, and getting a few switched to stay down before she messed up, she realized this might be the solution.

With cautious optimism, she began experimenting, watching as her reflection seemed to interact with parts of the room she couldn’t reach.

She started moving carefully, mimicking the steps she thought would activate mechanisms on the other side of the room, using her reflection’s actions to interact with the room’s switches.

After what felt like an eternity, and several missteps, she managed to press down all the necessary switches.

With a creak and a soft rumble, the door at the far end of the room swung open.

Relief surged through her, and she slumped against the wall, barely able to believe she’d managed to clear it. She took a shaky breath, the tension in her shoulders easing as she staggered toward the exit.

She hoped the others weren’t panicking too much.

——-

——

A man bolted through the twisted, desolate forest, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

The once proud trees were skeletal and lifeless, their branches clawing at the sky like silent sentinels as he stumbled over twisted roots and tried to evade his relentless pursuer.

Behind him, a snarl was heard that sent a shiver down his spine.

The large Wolf was at his heels, tearing through the trees with bloodthirsty determination.

The man dared a glance over his shoulder, only to see glowing, predatory eyes fixated on him, burning with an intensity that promised retribution.

A sharp growl echoed through the trees, closer than before.

Heart pounding, the man pushed himself harder, ducking beneath low, hanging branches, hoping he could reach the old ruins he’d stumbled upon earlier. If he could lose the Wolf there, he might have a chance to slip back into the cover of darkness and vanish.

But every escape route was cut off by the Wolf’s relentless pursuit. The massive Wolf barely slowed, weaving through the underbrush with an agility that belied his size.

The Wolf’s fangs flashed in the moonlight as he snapped at the man’s heels, forcing him to stumble and regain his footing in desperation.

All he could hear was the pounding of his own heart, the rustling of dead leaves beneath his feet, and the increasingly menacing growls from behind him.

Every direction felt suffocatingly bleak. He chanced a glance back, hoping to see distance between himself and his pursuer, but fate had other plans.

Suddenly, the pounding of hooves echoed through the darkness. He turned forward just in time to see a powerful figure atop a steed blocking his path. His single eye sharp and cold, his gaze unyielding. Behind him, his companion perched with ease, an arrow nocked and drawn in his bow, the sharp tip aimed directly at the man.

The man skidded to a halt, every muscle in his body taut with panic.

Cornered, he quickly raised a hand, gathering what little magic he could muster.

His fingers crackled with dark energy, and with a desperate cry, he hurled a blast toward the ground, sending up a gust of dirt at the two and creating a fleeting gap between himself and his captors.

He stumbled through the opening, sprinting forward, his lungs burning with renewed hope. He only managed several feet, however, before his escape was abruptly cut off.

A wall of ice erupted in front of him, glistening and deadly. The cold bit into his skin as the ice solidified, forming an unyielding barrier.

He turned, wide-eyed, only to see another one approaching a few paces behind him, holding an ice rod with grim determination in his eyes. His face was set in an expression of pure, seething anger.

Legend’s grip on the rod was tight. He took a step forward, his boots crunching over the frost covered ground as the ice wall stretched higher, trapping the man in a freezing cage.

The man’s gaze darted frantically from Legend to the others, searching for any remaining avenue of escape.

But Time, still seated on Epona, watched him with a steely gaze, and Wild, with his bow drawn, made it clear that there was no mercy to be given.

The man staggered, his monstrous features flickering back to his human guise as he dropped to his knees before a pair of boots, a sword swiftly pointed at his chest.

He clasped his hands together as he looked up at the person before him, a look of desperate pleading on his face, trying to mask the terror in his eyes.

“Please… spare me,” he stammered, his voice trembling. “I was only following orders. I—I didn’t want to harm anyone, not really. I was manipulated against my will! Let me go, and I swear you’ll never see me again.”

Hyrule watched him in silence, his sword still aimed at the man’s chest. His expression was cold, unreadable, unmoved by the pathetic display before him.

After a pause, Hyrule’s gaze hardened, and he spoke in a voice tinged with quiet scorn.

“Spare you?” he murmured, a hint of bitterness creeping into his tone. “I’ve been hunted by monsters like you my since I killed your master. Do you think my time away would make me forget the monsters hiding behind a human face?”

The man’s face faltered, but he kept his guise, his hands trembling. “I—I was only—”

Hyrule narrowed his eyes, snapping his fingers, summoning a crackling bolt of lightning that struck the man’s body.

The man screamed, his human facade breaking for a moment to reveal his true, hideous form beneath.

“Where is she, servant of Ganon” Hyrule demanded, his voice steady, unforgiving. “Where is the girl you took?”

The servant shuddered, but when he looked up again, a bitter smile twisting his human guise to something monstrous. “You can torture me all you want, hero, but you’ll never find her. My comrades will come for me, and when they do—”

Another snap of his fingers and the servant screamed again.

The servant sneered despite its trembling form, an arrogant grin twisting his lips as he regained some semblance of composure. “You think you’ve won, hero?” he spat, his voice laced with mockery. “You may have me cornered, but Ganon’s power will rise again, and when it does, I’ll be the one standing over your broken body.”

He let out a laugh, cold and confident,

Yet Hyrule did not seemed phased.

Suddenly something heavy thudded to the ground before the servant.

Laughter fading as his gaze dropped, and he saw several severed, bloodied monster heads rolling to a stop at his feet, their lifeless eyes staring back at him. His smirk wavered as he recognized his comrades, though he quickly forced it back, trying to hide his unease.

The servant’s arrogance remained, until a growl reminded him of the beast that chased him all this time.

Fur matted with dirt, leaves, and splats of monster blood.

Blue eyes gleamed as he padded forward, dragging a struggling, terrified human in his jaws.

With a strong jerk of his head, the wolf tossed the human to the ground before the servant, his fangs bared and eyes aimed at their throat.

The servant involuntarily flinched back, his face paling as Warriors stepped into view. The captain’s gaze was cold, and he glanced between the servant and its cowering ally.

“So,” Warriors remarked, his tone dripping with mockery, “these are the allies you seemed so confident about?” He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

The servant’s arrogance faltered, but he tried to steel himself, shifting back to his human guise, though the nervous gleam in his eyes betrayed him.

Hyrule took a step closer, his sword still aimed directly at the servant’s chest, his expression as cold and unforgiving as stone.

“Last chance,” Hyrule said, his voice dangerously calm. “Where is the girl you kidnapped? Tell me, or you’ll meet a worse fate than your comrades.”

The servant’s eyes darted to the still faces of the severed monster heads, a flicker of fear breaking through his composure. But he kept his mouth shut, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Hyrule’s gaze sharpened, and without a word, he gave a small nod to Wolfie. With a low growl, the wolf lunged forward and tore into the human’s neck, savagely tearing a chunk off without hesitation.

Blood soaked the ground, the servant’s face paling as he watched the blood spill out from his convulsing ally.

Warriors, expression unchanging, approached and swiftly ended the human’s suffering with a single, decisive strike, his blade piercing their skull with a sickening crunch.

“…huh…I don’t think I got the man’s name.” The servant heard him mutter.

Hyrule turned his gaze back to the servant, his eyes cold and unyielding. “Now, one last time,” he said, his voice as frigid as the air around them. “Where is she?”

The servant swallowed hard, his confidence shattered as he stared at the heroes surrounding him.

The servant swallowed hard, his once-defiant smirk twisting into something more uncertain as he glanced between Hyrule’s cold gaze and the lifeless body of his ally sprawled at his feet. His voice trembled as he stammered, “Y-You… you can’t kill me if you want to know where the girl is!”

A low, menacing snarl rumbled through the clearing as Wolfie’s blue eyes fixed on the servant, his teeth bared, each slow step forward an unspoken threat.

The servant’s confidence wavered further, his eyes widening as Wolfie came closer, fangs glinting in the dim light.

“Wolfie. Stand down,” came Time’s calm, commanding voice.

Wolfie stopped, his growl still low in his throat, but he didn’t take his eyes off the servant. The monster let out a shaky, nervous laugh, attempting to cling to what little advantage he thought he had.

“If you want to know where she is,” the servant said, his voice wavering but laced with a weak, desperate arrogance, “you’ll have to let me live. I’ll tell you nothing if I’m dead.”

The heroes exchanged glances, their expressions unreadable, while the servant’s feeble laughter echoed in the silence. He thought he’d secured his leverage, convinced he’d forced their hand.

But Hyrule’s gaze remained icy, unbothered by the servant’s feigned confidence, as if weighing his options with a detached patience that only unnerved the creature further.

Hyrule took a slow, almost unnervingly casual step forward, his eyes fixed on the servant.

There was something unsettling in the way he looked down at the creature, as if he could see right through the guise, peeling back every lie, every trick, and seeing the monster true face beneath.

His sword crackled with magic, the fire creeping down the blade in flickers of light that danced in the darkened forest.

“You know, I’ve spent most of my time as a Hero being hunted by creatures like you,” Hyrule murmured, his voice barely above a whisper, yet each word seemed to linger, chilling the air. “Monsters that crawl out from under Ganon’s shadow, pretending to be human, to be kind. Just so they can hunt me down. They play their little games, slipping into disguises, deceiving… lying.” His gaze seemed to bore into the servant’s soul. “You’re all the same, thinking it’ll hide the fact that you won’t stop until my corpse is presented to your master.

He frowned further, “But despite your efforts I’m still alive. So do you really think I’ll just take your words at face value?”

The servant’s sneer faltered, but he quickly forced an arrogant grin, clinging to his act. “You need me,” he said, his voice wavering. “If you want to see the girl again, you’ll let me leave. I’m the only one who knows where she is.”

But as he spoke, a presence appeared behind him, and his bravado wavered. Legend approached with a calm, cold demeanor, his gaze fixed on the servant as he tapped one of his ring covered fingers against the ice rod in his hand, a slow, rhythmic motion that seemed to echo through the silence.

The servant’s grin faded entirely as Legend circled him, finally coming to stand before him, his eyes hard and unreadable. The faint clink of his ring tapping against the ice rod was the only sound.

“Clever plan,” Legend said, his voice low and calm, a chill lacing each word. “Planting your human allies to provoke the monsters, stirring things up just enough to create chaos.” He tilted his head, his gaze unwavering as he continued tapping his finger on the ice rod. “And then, of course, there’s you. Waiting until just the right moment to take her, knowing she’s important to us.”

He looked and nodded towards Hyrule, “I can see why you consider them a threat and nuisance.”

The servant’s arrogant expression crumbled further, but he kept his jaw clenched, his eyes darting between Hyrule’s unsettling stare and Legend’s cold gaze.

“And did you genuinely think,” Legend continued, his voice as sharp as a blade, “that we wouldn’t have considered the possibility? That we wouldn’t be prepared for one of Ganon’s creatures trying to steal her away?”

Legend’s voice trailed off, his cold, unblinking gaze fixed on the servant, who was now visibly shaken, his confident facade crumbling under the weight of Hyrule’s unsettling stare and Legend’s calm, piercing words.

The servant’s arrogance faltered as his breathing quickened, his eyes darting desperately, looking for any escape.

Then, a sudden rustle caught Wolfie’s attention. His ears perked up, his gaze shifting past the servant, alert and focused.

Just then, Wind’s voice cut through the silence, the young hero sprinting toward the group. Sky followed closely behind, slightly breathless as he called out, “We found out where she is!”

The servant’s face paled, panic flashing across his features as the words registered in his head. His eyes snapped back to Hyrule and Legend, who watched him with a deadly calm.

“Seems you’ve lost your leverage,” Hyrule murmured, his tone low and almost mocking, a faint, unnerving smile tugging at his lips.

Legend, still tapping his ring-less finger against the ice rod, allowed a slow, grim smile to creep onto his face. Without another word, he raised the rod, cold energy shimmering in his hand as he prepared to freeze the creature in his tracks.

But the servant’s eyes gleamed with a final, desperate resolve.

Just as Legend began to cast, the servant raised his hand, whispering the incantation under his breath. With a surge of magic, light burst around him in a blinding flash.

The heroes recoiled, squinting against the glow, which began to shift erratically, crackling with strange, distorted energy.

A strange, twisted sound echoed through the forest, a dissonant hum that grew louder until it abruptly cut off.

As the light faded, silence fell over the clearing once more. The servant was gone.

But lying on the ground where he’d stood, blood pooling around it, was a severed arm, its fingers still twitching, the botched remnants of a teleportation spell gone horribly wrong.

“Well…” Wild says as he puts his bow away. “That was unfortunate.”

“You think he’s still alive somewhere?” Twilight asks, having shifted back.

“Perhaps, but with an injury like that? Not for long. Then again it is a monster.” Warriors mutters as Wind and Sky approach.

“You said you located her?” Time asks, moving the discussion to the most important matter.

Sky nods, “Four is currently looking for a way in as the entrance has been sealed off.”

“It’s a distance away, it’ll take a while to reach there.”

“Then we best make haste. Let’s move.”

——-

——-

The group regrouped with Four at the edge of the dense forest, where he was examining the cracked stones and charred remains of what must have been an ancient entryway, the dungeon a distance away.

Four looked up, his expression serious. “The entrance to the dungeon was destroyed,” he reported, nodding toward the rubble. “Sealed with magic. Something powerful must have triggered it. I couldn’t find a direct way in, but I took note of some lingering trails. They lead down toward a back path.”

The others exchanged glances, concern etched on their faces. If the entrance was blocked, it left her with few options for escape.

After some quick discussion, they moved together, heading toward the ruins of the dungeon’s entrance, their steps quickening with urgency.

But as they neared the foot of the crumbling stairway, a soft glow appeared above the dungeon entrance, illuminating the darkness with a gentle, pulsing light.

They halted, watching in stunned silence as the ball of light floated down to rest on the ground, growing brighter for a moment before it faded.

And there, standing in its place, was (Y/N), blinking and rubbing her eyes as though adjusting to the sudden light.

“(Y/N)!” Wind exclaimed, breaking the spell of shock. In a heartbeat, they all rushed to her, their expressions a mix of relief and astonishment.

Hyrule’s eyes filled with worry as he reached for her shoulders to steady her, while Wild checked for any signs of injury.

“Are you alright?” Time asked, his voice heavy with concern. “Are you hurt?”

(Y/N) looked a bit dazed but managed a tired smile. “I’m okay. I just… wasn’t expecting that.”

Without hesitation, they led her away from the dungeon’s ominous entrance, moving quickly to distance themselves from any potential threats still lurking within.

Hyrule scanned the area ahead until he spotted a small, concealed cave where they could rest. Once inside, he knelt beside her, carefully tending to the scratches and bruises she’d collected, while Wild rummaged through his pack, pulling out a flask of water and a prepared bowl of food, pressing both into her hands.

“Here, you must be starving,” Wild said softly, watching as she gratefully accepted.

As she ate, they gathered around her, their curiosity mixed with lingering concern. Time was the first to speak up. “How did you escape? What happened in there?”

(Y/N) took a deep breath, steadying herself as she recalled her journey. “It was… something alright,” she admitted, a slight shiver in her voice. “The dungeon had rooms filled with monsters, and I couldn’t fight them, so I had to sneak around and hide. It was nerve-wracking, but I managed to make my way through.”

“Wait…” Four said, eyes furrowed, “But I made you a spear, and I know Legend had it charmed to shrink.”

(y/n) hesitated, “It…” she sighed, “It broke a week ago when I was practicing with it.”

“What??”

“Well you guys kept saying you were busy and I wanted to practice-“

“Your weapon broke and you didn’t TELL me? You’ve been walking around without a way to defend yourself this whole time??” Four had not spent weeks having arguments with everyone in regards to her training just for her NOT to have one of his weapons at hand.

“I’m sorry. I was stupid I didn’t think it would matter if I held back on telling you for a week or two.”

Four’s mouth was in a firm line, as if he was withholding a scream, all he did was wave his hand at her.

(y/n) ducked her head, knowing exactly what he was motioning to.

This whole situation was really making her eat her words.

The others listened, exasperated and frustrated, but very grateful she’d made it out despite her lack of weapons and combat skills.

“What about the dungeon boss?” Warriors asked suddenly, brows knit in confusion. “No doubt there had been one. How did you get past it?”

(Y/N) paused, looking genuinely puzzled. “That’s the thing… when I finally reached the main chamber, it was already dead. It was just…lying there, slowly vanishing.”

Their expressions were as confused as her’s, before any of them could ask further, (Y/N) reached into her pouch and pulled out a small, shining object.

“Oh, and there’s this,” she added, holding up a heart container, its faint glow illuminating the cave.

She looked down at it, her brow furrowing in thought. “I have no idea what to do with this.”

“. . .”

“…I’m gonna keep it though.”

Sighs, both fond and exasperated were heard all around the group.

———

———

The servant reappeared in a flash, collapsing onto his knees, his single remaining hand clutching the bloody stump of his severed arm. Pain seared through him, and he gritted his teeth, rage twisting his face as he spat out curses between gasping breaths.

“Those cursed heroes,” he snarled, his voice trembling with fury and agony. “I swear… I’ll have my vengeance… they’ll all pay for this…”

He took several deep breaths, steadying himself, and finally lifted his head, blinking through the pain as he tried to orient himself.

The world around him was dark, an eerie emptiness stretching in every direction. Shadows flickered along unseen walls, as though he had stumbled into another dimension entirely. Confusion mingled with his fury as he turned in place, searching for any sign of familiarity

“Is this…?”

Then, he froze.

In the darkness, a pair of glowing eyes appeared, twin points of orange light that pierced through the shadows and fixed on him with an unsettling intensity.

The servant jerked back in surprise, scrambling backward and landing hard on his back, his pulse racing as he looked up at the figure hovering in the air before him.

It was unlike anything he’d ever seen. Their head was a carved pumpkin, hollow eyes glowing with an eerie light that pulsed with every subtle movement.

A jagged grin was carved into the pumpkin’s face, creating an unnervingly cheerful expression.

The figure was draped in a loosely flowing tunic, dark fabric adorned with faint, shimmering patterns that seemed to ripple as they floated in the air. Their arms, slender but steady, rested on their stomach as their shoulders shook with silent laughter.

Their entire being exuded a mischievous energy, a playful malice that somehow felt both childlike and ancient.

They leaned back as if reclining on air, their form bobbing slightly as if suspended by invisible threads. Their mirthful shaking only added to the strange, almost surreal image.

The servant’s breath caught in his throat, unable to process what he was seeing. He’d encountered many dark creatures in Ganon’s service, but this… this was something else entirely. Theirs eyes, those glowing, mirthful eyes, seemed to see right through him, dissecting him with a kind of glee that bordered on predatory.

The pumpkin headed figure tilted their head, their jagged grin widening as their laughter finally bubbled forth in a soft, airy sound that echoed strangely in the darkened space.

They didn’t speak, but the amusement in their eyes was clear as they watched him struggle, drinking in his fear and confusion with a curiosity.

The servant scrambled backward, his remaining hand trembling as he pointed at the strange figure hovering before him. “Who… who are you?” he demanded, his voice wavering, a hint of desperation breaking through his anger. “What are you?”

The pumpkin headed figure tilted their head, their glowing eyes narrowing in mischievous delight. They giggled, a high, distorted sound that echoed through the darkened void, seeming to bounce off invisible walls. Leaning forward, they tapped a finger to the carved jagged smile on their face, as if they were contemplating his question.

“Ohhh, naughty servant,” They crooned, their voice echoed strangely, like two voices layered atop each other. “So naughty to try and harm her. You put my precious [WARMTH], in danger.” Their voice shifted, soft yet carrying that haunting dual echo. The distorted voice almost seemed to hiss, as if they were sharing a secret. “She’s [LIGHT] and my home, my dearest friend, my lovely [WARMTH/HEART].”

The servant’s confusion deepened, and his face twisted with frustration. “What are you babbling about? Who, who is this…whatever noise you just made!”

The figure giggled again, spinning lazily in the air as they floated closer, their hollow, glowing eyes fixed on him. “Silly servant, doesn’t know, doesn’t see,” they hummed, tapping their chin thoughtfully. “Always hiding, always creeping, always causing trouble for my dear, my [HOME], my [WARMTH].” Their tone turned almost sing-song, as though they were teasing him with a secret he would never understand.

The servant’s face twisted in anger, though he couldn’t hide the hint of fear creeping into his gaze. He clutched his severed arm, his voice faltering. “Are you with those heroes? You dare mock me, Iwas doing Ganon’s will! Soon he will-“

“Ohhh,” They interrupted, their voice dipping into a mocking sing song, the distorted tone stretching the words while the familiar undercurrent resonated with a warmth that felt misplaced. “Hiding behind big, scary names doesn’t make you any less naughty.” They floated closer, their form drifting effortlessly.

“And Naughty Master’s orders or not, you tried to hurt her, tried to scare my precious warmth.” Their eyes glowed brighter, a spark of something darker flaring within them. “I can’t just let that slide.”

They leaned in, their glowing eyes inches from his face, their voice dropping to a near-static filled whisper. “Now, little servant… what shall we do with someone so naughty?”

The servant stumbled back.

“I know…” they said, “let’s have you help me hm?”

The servant blinked, disoriented, as he found himself suddenly in another room, the dim light casting twisted shadows along the walls.

The air was thick, almost oppressive, and he couldn’t remember how he had arrived here. His breath hitched as he turned, only to find the floating figure nearby, watching him in eerie silence.

“Show me how to solve it,” they said, their voice a strange layering of two tones, one gentle and cheerful, the other distorted, dissonant.

The servant sneered, regaining a shred of his confidence. “I don’t answer to you,” he spat, turning away defiantly. “Figure it out yourself.”

But as he moved, he could feel them watching him. He dared a glance back, and his stomach dropped. The jagged, carved grin on their pumpkin head seemed to have stretched wider than before, an unnatural curve that seemed to swallow the lower half of their face.

Their eyes, once soft glows within the hollows, had shrunk to tiny, piercing pinpricks that stared at him with an intensity that made his skin crawl.

He blinked, hoping it was a trick of the dim light. But when he looked again, the effect had only deepened.

The sockets of their eyes seemed to darken, stretching back into an endless abyss that held an unnerving, hungry stillness. The light in their gaze flickered, almost pulsing, as if feeding off his growing dread.

A cold sweat broke out on the servant’s skin as he tried to tear his gaze away, but he couldn’t look away from that monstrous face, which seemed to shift and distort the longer he stared.

It was as though the very room had warped around them, a quiet darkness that coiled and thickened, trapping him in place.

The servant’s defiance wavered, his breath coming faster. But they didn’t move.

They only tilted their head, their hollow gaze boring into him, as though daring him to defy them again. The silence pressed in, each beat of his heart growing louder, his confidence dissolving when the figure raised their arm and tapped his chest with an unnaturally long clawed finger.

“ShOw mE hOw To soLVe IT,” they repeated, their voice barely a whisper now, yet somehow suffocating, filling the space like smoke. The words echoed, seeming to layer over themselves, wrapping around him like chains.

He swallowed, his voice barely a whisper. “Fine… fine.”

they drifted silently beside the servant as he begrudgingly explained how to navigate each of the dungeon’s treacherous rooms.

With every riddle and hidden switch, he muttered instructions, glancing nervously at the eerie figure hovering by his side.

Occasionally, after several rooms, they would vanish without a word, leaving him alone with nothing but the chilling memory of their carved, jagged grin.

But just as his nerves would settle, they would reappear, as though stepping out from the shadows themselves, their eyes glowing faintly.

“Show me how to solve the next room,” they would say, their voice reverberating in that unsettling, dual echo that burrowed into his mind like an unwanted memory.

And each time, he would comply, clinging to the hope that if he obeyed, they might eventually let him go.

Finally, they reached the last chamber. The servant glanced around, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.

This had to be it. He’d played along long enough, solved all their little puzzles. He turned to them, glaring as he clenched his remaining fist.

“You’ve gotten what you wanted,” he demanded, his voice filled with simmering anger. “Now let me go.”

They tilted their head, that carved smile widening as a soft, mirthful giggle echoed through the chamber. It was as if the laugh was layered over itself, a mockery threaded with something darker. “Oh… you really thought you could just leave?”

The servant’s face contorted with fury. “You tricked me!” he spat, his voice rising with fury. “You miserable, hollow headed freak!” His insults grew more vicious as he cursed them, his voice echoing through the chamber.

But his words died in his throat when the ground beneath his feet began to rumble.

Dust and debris shook loose from the ceiling, and he stumbled backward, wide eyed, as a massive, hulking shadow fell from the darkness above, landing with a thunderous crash in the center of the room.

The creature was monstrous, twisted and grotesque, with layers of spiked armor and muscles rippling beneath jagged scales.

Its eyes glowed with a vicious, crimson light, and it let out a deafening roar, revealing several rows of razor sharp teeth that gleamed like jagged stones in its massive maw.

The servant’s anger turned to elation, a twisted grin spreading across his face as he took in the sight of the monstrous creature. “Yes!” he laughed, loud and triumphant. “This beast was born from Master Ganon’s lingering power! I can feel it!! It was born to obey me, one of Ganon’s own loyal servants!”

He threw his arm out in a commanding gesture, confidence flooding back into his voice as he began to order the creature.

“Attack that thing! Tear it apart!” he commanded, pointing directly at the still, floating form., who only watched him with that unnervingly wide grin, unmoving.

But before the servant could finish his command, the beast turned with shocking speed, its eyes locking onto him instead. In a single, fluid motion, it surged toward him, its enormous jaws opening wide.

The servant’s face only had a single moment to twist in horror as the creature’s mouth closed around him, those jagged teeth sinking into his flesh, tearing into him with savage force.

His scream echoed through the chamber, swallowed up in an instant as the beast shook him like prey, his body limp and helpless in its grip.

Through it all, the spirit hovered in place, their carved grin wide and still, a flicker of amusement in their hollow eyes as they watched the scene unfold.

They hadn’t moved, hadn’t spoken. They simply watched, silent and smiling, as the servant’s desperate cries faded into nothingness.

The beast devoured the servant, its monstrous jaws crunching through bone and flesh until there was nothing left. It let out a low, satisfied growl, blood dripping from its maw as it turned its gaze toward the figure still hovering nearby.

Not!(y/n) simply giggled, an amused, lilting sound that echoed strangely through the chamber. The beast let out another roar and charged at them, its heavy, clawed feet pounding against the ground with enough force to shake the stone beneath them.

But as the beast lunged, jaws wide, Not!(y/n) raised their hand in a casual, almost bored gesture, waving their hand upward as if lifting something delicate.

The massive creature was suddenly pulled up into the air, its charge halted mid stride as it dangled helplessly, limbs thrashing in vain.

“Silly creature,” Not!(y/n) chuckled, their voice echoing in that eerie, doubled tone. “You need to go away now.”

They extended their hand, fingers splayed, and slowly began to close it into a fist.

The beast writhed, its roars growing more frantic, louder, as an invisible force seemed to constrict it from within.

Muscles strained, scales cracked, and the creature’s once menacing snarls turned into desperate screams as Not!(y/n)’s hand continued to close.

With a gentle pulling motion, they clenched their fist, and a pulsing orb of energy, the beast’s core, was ripped from its body.

The creature let out a final, agonized roar as its core was torn free, leaving it a lifeless shell. Not!(y/n) released their grip, and both the core and the creature’s massive body fell to the ground with a heavy, echoing thud.

The chamber fell silent, save for the faint hum of energy from the discarded core. Not!(y/n) hummed to themselves, floating in a whimsical motion, their hands clasped behind their back as they bobbed up and down, as if enjoying a gentle breeze.

With a lighthearted twirl, they turned to face the dungeon’s main door. The twisted grin on their pumpkin face remained fixed as the door slowly creaked open.

As they faded into the shadows, (Y/N) stumbled through the now open doorway, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the dim light.

—————

————

—————

Hours had passed, and the cave was quiet, save for the soft crackle of a small fire and the occasional shifting of the heroes as they kept watch.

(Y/N) lay on her bed mat, wrapped in fresh bandages and dressed in a change of clothes, her breathing soft and even as she slept, the day’s trials finally catching up with her.

Some of the group rested near her, their eyes heavy with exhaustion, while others sat farther away, keeping vigilant watch over the cave entrance, ensuring no threats would disturb her rest.

In the dim light, a faint shadow appeared, barely more than a whisper against the cave walls. The figure drifted closer, moving soundlessly over the ground until they reached (Y/N)’s side.

The softest of chuckles echoed, and the shadow leaned down, an almost tender touch as a faint hand reached out, patting her head with a gentleness that seemed strangely out of place.

Not!(Y/N) twirled in slow, whimsical circles above her, their form flickering and fading in and out of the dim light, as if dancing to a melody only they could hear.

Their shoulders shaking as silent giggles escaped them, as they watched over her for a long, quiet moment.

Then, just as silently as they had appeared, they faded back into the shadows, vanishing completely.

None of the heroes stirred, none awake aware of the brief visit that had happened.

And (y/n) slept on.

[lavenderfilledcoffin]

forevermore

adverb

forever; rhetorical manner. forever and more.

*♪¸¸.•*¨･:*ೄ·*♪¸¸.•*¨･:*

Sebastian basically dragged you around the 'shelter' that acted like a luxury mansion.

To be fair, you two were so used to the tiny and cramped space that you called a 'room', this was heaven in comparison.

The burner phones were a little difficult to use because of the lack of any technology the two of you were afforded down at Hadal Blacksite, but you managed to figured it out.

"How does that work? It's so intriguing..." You commented, referring to the internet.

You were debating on calling your mother; you've yearned to hear her voice after so long.

"I think you should, or we could wait. It's up to you, dear."

You hoped she still had the same number...

You dialed; the line was ringing.

After what felt like an eternity, a familiar voice spoke. "Hello?"

You teared up immediately. "M... Mom?" You hated how your voice cracked so pathetically.

"[Name]...?"

"You remembered... I'm so sorry, mom."

"How are you...? Where are you?"

"A lot of shit happened, but I'm okay now. I promise. I can't say where I am, but, I might be able to see you in a week."

"You have no idea how much I missed you." She said through choked sobs; you had never heard her cry before.

"I thought my baby was dead, it hurt so so so much..." You could tell how hard she was trying to hold back tears.

"I'm here now, mom. I wish I was with you."

"You'll come, right?"

"I don't know... I have..." You peek over your shoulder to look at Sebastian, smiling softly. "I have a big surprise, that's for sure."

"That's fine."

"I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

She hummed in response, hanging up before another word could be said.

"Are you alright?" Sebastian caressed your cheek with his left hand in a gentle manner. "I think so, I'm just so... happy." He wiped the small tear that fell from your right eye.

"I am, too." He leaned down, pressing his lips to yours for a passionate kiss.

Your hands made their way up to his face, cradling it just as he loved. A sweet sigh could be heard from him.

The sweet moment felt more intimate than the times you would stay up late with him talking about your pasts.

His larger claw wrapped around your waist, rubbing small circles into it.

You pulled away, catching your breath, but not before pressing a small kiss to his cheek.

"I'm the happiest I've ever been." You pressed your forehead to his, smiling as you do so.

"Me too." He closed his eyes, savoring your delicate touch.

Happy little noises are all that came from the both of you; weights being lifted off of your shoulders.

Sebastian pulled away, knowing he would be glued to you if he didn't stop right.

"What could we do for a week?"

"A lot, actually."

"Like?"

"Eat real food, sleep anywhere, ... I dunno."

Sebastian laughed at your response. "I mean, if that's what you want."

As if on cue; your stomach growled.

"O—oh..." Your face burned with embarrassment, luckily for you, Sebastian didn't tease you about it.

"Me too." He pat your head before slithering to the kitchen, you followed closely behind him.

Whoops, you lost him. A brief thought crossed your mind, 'it's unfair how fast he is.'

You smiled at the thought, returning to finding your fish boyfriend.

"Seeeb?"

Huh, that's odd. Normally, he would've retreated and came back to you, but it's the opposite.

You groaned, stretching your body, looking around the roomy place you were so generously lent.

Was this real?

Before you could scream Sebastian's name, it was forced out of you.

He had snuck up behind you, and yelled 'boo', leaving you in pure shock.

Your scream could rival that of a dumb blonde in a crappy horror movie who's about to get murdered.

"Yeesh, hon... Didn't know you could be that loud." It takes you a moment to process what just happened, you were very very very tempted to punch him, but that was too cruel.

"Wh... You little—" Sebastian happily slithered away; looking over his shoulder to see you chasing him.

"You're faster than you look!"

He took a sharp turn, you nearly tripped trying to replicate what he did.

He had suddenly stopped, and you pounced on his back.

You didn't hurt him, though. How could you? Your face found its way into the back of his neck, softly inhaling his scent.

"Cute." Was all he muttered, rubbing your left thigh with his third hand.

He slithered into the kitchen, wow, he really led you here?

It felt like a jab, but you brushed it off.

He approached the stove. "Wanna know something funny?" He said, grabbing loose ingredients from the briefcase.

"Hm?"

"I have really bad hip pain from sitting up in a weird position for long hours. I honestly blame my size, but, it felt like every new day was my last." He kept going on and on about his back, neck, and hip pain. Poor thing.

"It would be worse because a certain group of expendables would try to climb me, I realllly didn't appreciate that." A sweet scent filled the air; you took a seat near the table while Sebastian cooked.

"I feel like those expendables have some sort of telepathy, honestly. They all did the same thing. Either flash me, or repeatedly enter and exit my shop."

He added... honey? He added honey to the pot, stirring it alongside whatever else was inside of it.

"And?"

"And I never saw them again, poor bastards. But, I couldn't care less."

After making small talk, he finished with the food.

Despite being underground for more than ten years, he hasn't lost his chef-like skills, as he called it.

He moved the chair away from his table, opting to 'sit' on his tail, as it was more convenient for him since the wooden chair was too small, weak, and uncomfortable.

He said the dish was called 'valdiviano', he added his own spin on it, saying meat and honey was good together.

You stared at the plage, picking up the fork with an intricate design.

He wasn't wrong, either. You took one bite, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say it was the best thing you've ever tasted. The sweetened meat mixed with all sorts of flavorings was delicious, heavenly, even. You haven't had a proper meal in so long, you forgot how amazing it was to be able to eat real food.

Sebastian happily ate his food, the savory and sweet meat in it made him purr, it was cute.

You knew he had grown more fond of meat since his new 'transformation' of sorts based off of what he told you.

He finished first, placing his plate into the sink. He waited for you to finish.

"I can wash dishes, you know. No need to wait."

"Yeah, buuut... I'd rather do it."

You swallowed, clearing your throat. "Please, let me?"

"Oh, fine." He sighed, making it sound dramatic before he left you alone in the kitchen.

It took you a few minutes to finish the plate. Full and satisfied, you head over to the stove to grab the dirtied pot, placing both the plate and pot inside of the sink.

As the water warmed up, you began to scrub the soaped sponge.

Your mind wandered as you washed the dishes. For once, all you could feel was peace.

You hummed a small tune as you washed away the soap, the stains now replaced with a shiny gloss.

You set them on a rack, letting them air dry.

It had been two days, five days were left until you could go see your mother.

You and Sebastian have accomplished so much in such short time.

On the second day, got into contact with his mom, she was hesitant to believe that it was him since he was pronounced dead ten years ago. It was a bittersweet conversation according to him. He would tell you the details another time.

You overheard a little bit of it, and you became somewhat flustered after hearing him speak Spanish.

Then on the third day, a headline came out that revealed every single secret that Urbanshade had hidden. Including the inhumane experiments they performed on Sebastian. Not that they dared to say that he was still alive, but that he was innocent. At least his mom could rest easy.

The world map that had the facility blacked out didn't change, but the guards from before had said that the government would handle it.

Your criminal record was purged, and the money that they had given you would be transferred into a reserved bank account. It would be under the guise that 'it was a false imprisonment, and this is major compensation for all the years lost.'

So, now, you were basically protected in every way. You could live life as a normal human.

Sebastian couldn't have that luxury, though. You were saddened, but he told you it was okay. Being on the surface again and living a 'normal' life was all he could ever ask for.

Every single night that you two had stayed at the shelter was spent stargazing.

Your knowledge on stars fascinated him, and you kept on talking about these different constellations that lit up the sky.

Sebastian listened intently, his right arm holding you close to him.

It was the absence of your voice that made him realize you had fallen asleep. He was used to it by now.

Not that he minded it, though. The moonlight only served to enhanced your beauty.

It was like a routine by now. You would ramble, fall asleep, he would pick you up, and then put you into a proper bed.

The rest of the days were filled with laughter, love, and passion. The morning of the seventh day, you two were greeted with the sun's early morning rays illuminating the room.

The gentle warmth it provided made you sigh softly, shutting your eyes briefly while you yawn.

You sleepily open your eyes, slowly adjusting to the light.

You looked over towards Sebastian, half of his tail was hanging off of the king sized bed.

"Sebby, wake up." You gently shook him. Unlike all of the other times, he woke up relatively quickly.

"M... Morning." His eyes burned as the light shone across his face, but he eventually got used to it.

Sebastian's sleepy voice was one of those things that you wanted to record and play forever, you had the chance to, but it's much better to hear it in person.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Very well." He yawned, his ear fins momentarily wiggling.

"Today's our last day, we better start getting up."

"Right... behind you." His voice trailed off, small snores instead replacing the quietness.

"Wow, you're hopeless, Seb." You pressed a kiss to his forehead, leaving the room quietly.

A quiet morning, it was odd. You missed Sebastian, but you also wanted to let him sleep. He spent only five hours sleeping in Hadal Blacksite, because of his shop, so it felt appropriate to let him rest longer.

The morning was spent gathering both your items and belongings alongside his.

You also tidied up the shelter, base, whatever you wanted to call it.

Noon rolled around, armored men would arrive in around thirty minutes.

You decided to go back to the living quarters you shared with Sebastian, going back into bed, and holding him close.

Even in his peaceful sleep, he could feel the warmth radiating from your body. He purred softly, nuzzling his face into your neck.

You stared at the ceiling, nervousness and excitement filled your entire being.

Everything could either go horribly wrong, or extremely well. It was all a matter of time.

A soft buzz woke the both of you up, you hadn't even realized you fell asleep.

You sleepily grabbed the phone, answering it. "Hello?"

"We are waiting outside. Be down in five minutes, please." With that, he hung up.

"We better hurry..." You groggily mumbled, sitting up and forcing your body up.

Sebastian followed you down, grabbing his designated bags and holstering them onto his tail.

You slung your bag over your shoulder, holding the briefcase, but then immediately regretting it as it was heavier than you anticipated. "Seeeeb, please carry it?"

"You poor thing." He teased, grabbing the briefcase and easily carrying it.

The two of you rushed out, being met with an armored vehicle alongside two men.

"Come." They opened both doors to the back of the van, stopping you. "This will be for him, you will be seated in the front."

"O... Oh." You glanced at Sebastian, only to see him nod. You frowned slightly, but hid it to the best of your ability.

As soon as Sebastian's tail curled up, they shut the doors, leading you to the front.

You were sat in between the two men, a little cramped, if you must say...

"Any address in particular you want to go to?"

"Yes, I want to go to ______"

"Understood. Starting route." They input your mother's address, it would take roughly 2 hours until you arrived.

Your stomach churned, full of uncertainty.

You decided to give her a call.

"Hello?"

"Hi, mom. I'm on my way right now."

"That's... Okay. I'll see you, honey."

"We'll enter through the garage. Please don't be too startled when you see him."

"Who?"

"You'll see."

"Okay then. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Your eyes shut, not wanting to be awake for the ride there, as it was uncomfortable.

The man on your right shook you gently. "We will arrive shortly."

You nodded, rubbing your eyes until the initial blurriness was gone.

You recognized the area, your heart fluttering in excitement. You couldn't contain your smile.

As you approached your mom's home, your hands began to tremble. This was really it.

The driver pulled into the driveway, the garage opened painstakingly slow.

There. Your mother stood. In the flesh.

Finally, the men parked the car, heading to the back of the van.

You hurriedly got out of the car, looking at your mom. "M... Mom." Your voice cracked, tears spilling like a fountain.

She said nothing, only holding her arms open. You rushed into them, breaking down as soon as you felt her body press against yours. "I missed you so much, I was—" She smiled, tears falling down her face slowly. "I know."

The guarded men came into her view, alongside a giant, unnecessarily scary, handsome snake hybrid fish.

Her body trembled as her hold on you tightened. "W—W..."

"Mom, it's okay. This is what I was referencing... I think it would be easier to start from... the start?" You awkwardly smiled at her, untangling yourself from her grip and heading to Sebastian.

It looked like your mom had seen a ghost, her mouth was agape, ready to scream.

The conversation was long and awkward. How he used a normal human before being falsely accused, just like you, but he was experimented on.

Recalling it made him emotional, so he just handed your mom his file for her to skim over.

This made her sympathetic, but she wasn't fully comfortable with Sebastian.

You never brought up your weird 'immortality' thing, but you recapped all that happened while you were gone.

Your relationship with Sebastian. That was the hardest bomb to drop on her.

She almost thought this was a joke, a dream, even.

But after seeing your hand interlocked with his, it finally clicked.

Her child was in love with some... monster?

"Oh... Uh. I don't know how to feel. I'm happy that you found love... but, a...?"

You sheepishly nodded, your face burning out of embarrassment.

"I... I guess I can accept it."

You and Sebastian smiled, something that your mom found adorable in a sense.

Your mom helped you and Sebastian, letting you stay for as long as you two needed.

Sebastian had essentially taken over the kitchen, and he particularly enjoyed sleeping in the garage since it was nice and big.

You had finally gotten access to the bank account, and when you checked the total amount, you were astonished. You've never seen such a high number before, especially for a (previously) broke college student before everything that happened.

You could live comfortably off of the money for a long time, maybe for your life if you spent it wisely. But, you wanted to work, oddly enough.

Sebastian was scrolling on the personal computer that you and him shared, browsing houses until he found one he liked.

It was close by your mom's house, and it was large. Not to mention secluded. The nearest estate was a few miles away.

Large enough for two families.

Would you even have a valid excuse to buy it? Maybe a real estate agent wouldn't question...

"I mean. It's perfect, so..."

It was like the heavens heard your prayers.

And just like that, the appointment to visit the house was booked. You went alone, obviously.

It was expensive, sure, but that didn't matter. If it fit Sebastian, then you'd be willing to spend any amount of money for it.

You paid for the house in full, the deal was closed, and now you owned your first property, fun!

Sebastian had to be transported secretly, so you had to rent a van.

You dropped him off, "will you be okay for an hour?"

"Yeah, sure. Just... be quick, please?"

"Of course, Seb." He pulled you in for a quick hug before you departed.

He began exploring. The lower floor was decent, he could move around freely.

The backyard was massive, and gated, which was perfect, since he enjoyed stargazing with you.

The basement was big enough to serve as a room for Sebastian, and if you wanted, for you, too.

The rest of the rooms upstairs and downstairs would fill themselves up... somehow.

You had successfully landed a job as an entry level audio engineer with flexible hours, perfect since you wanted to maximize your time with Sebastian.

You briefly remembered the both of your ring sizes, as you two compared them.

Your excuse was that you wanted to see how big his fingers were... When in reality, you wanted to get him a ring. A golden ring. Even if you can't legally be married, the sentiment still stood.

After work ended, you rushed to a jewelers shop to pick up the custom ordered rings you had purchased a month ago.

"[Name], right? Your order is here, nice and packaged!" The cheerful worker spoke, placing two neat, tidy, and simple boxe on the glass table.

You walked to the counter, opening both of them. One was extremely large, and one was small in comparison; yours.

You smiled. "I appreciate it, thank you, dearly." You placed the small velvet boxes into an unused slot in your bag.

You hid the worker farewell, rushing to your car, and driving back home.

Over the span of the month that you lived with Sebastian in your new home, it had become a mess of your personality mixed with his.

His room, or, the basement, was filled with all sorts of junk. Metallica posters, different amps that lie next to electric guitars, and his favorite; cat pictures.

He had grown particularly fond of those silly cat memes you would find on YouTube or other media, but, he thought it was hilarious, especially in low quality.

He had gotten a printer for the sole purpose of printing out those dumb pictures and taping them next to his band posters.

Now. He had asked for your mother's blessing in advance. He wanted to marry you, or, at least, have the sentiment be there.

With a bittersweet smile, she agreed. Saying she's never seen you happier before.

She helped him purchased one, it was simple, but pretty.

Sebastian was nervous. His heart was beating like crazy, and his palms were sweaty.

"We need to talk." It was almost comedic how the both of you said it at the same time.

The two of you sat outside in the backyard, under the stars that you loved so dearly.

Your hand was gripping the box that contained his ring in your bag, while his third arm was in his pocket; holding a small box that had a ring for you.

You two only stared into each other's eyes, both of you too afraid to speak up.

He cleared his throat. "[Name]... I love you. I don't think I can explain it, at all."

He leaned down so that he was eye level with you, his right hand moved to your face, gently caressing your cheek. "My heart is full of you, I never thought I'd be this lucky to be loved by someone like you."

He pulled the box out of his pocket, opening it to reveal the ring. Your eyes immediately teared up.

"[Name], let me..." His words trailed off, noticing how you wouldn't stop sobbing.

"I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—" You interrupted him, pulling him in for a deep kiss.

So much passion and emotion in one small gesture, it felt like your body was on fire.

Sebastian's third hand held the small box firmly while the rest roamed your body.

He pulled away to catch his breath, his eyes half-lidded; cheeks a darker color.

Only then, did you pull out your box that had his ring, opening it for him to see.

No words were exchanged as the both of you put on the rings that the other had bought for each other.

Now, you were finally together, forevermore.

[husbandhoshi]

TO GROW LOVE (AND EAT IT TO THE CORE)

pairing: mingyu x gn!reader wc: 8.1k summary: your whole life, you've only wanted one thing. then you meet mingyu. suddenly you want too much, and you wish the summer never ended. notes: farmer!au, established relationship, angst/hurt/a little comfort

this is a birthday fic for my one and only cat @wuahae ! yes this is about half a year late but what can i say. all good things come with time. thank you for being so kind, funny, and thoughtful (and patient)! not a day goes by where i’m not thankful for our friendship :)

and a million thanks to hana @wqnwoos and jackie @97-liners for helping me with edits. literally you guys are insane writers and i will never stop looking up to you.

i. strawberries (the summer we were young)

When a strawberry is ripe, the seeds push out from the heart of the fruit, as if it's bursting from the inside out.

This is one of the few and only things you've learned by living in Seogwipo, where strawberry season comes like a supernova. The May sun, full and heavy, peels into summer, and the roadside farms open their doors, trying to catch stray vacationers from Jeju City on the other side of the island.

That being said, there are approximately two things to do here. One of them is farm. The other is pretend like you have a life, which is your childhood friend Yizhuo's favorite thing to do when she's back from university on summer break.

Today, this involved convincing her ritzy, too-good Seoul friends that they're missing out on this side of Jeju. (Missing out on what? You're not sure. Perhaps the chipped paint of the mural walls, or the endless flat-topped stretches of seagrass. Yizhuo isn't fooling anyone, but you've always liked stretching your legs out in the bed of her pick-up, even on the long drive to nowhere.)

Unsurprisingly, her friends quickly came to the same conclusion. Just one look at your local strawberry patch, with none of the glamour of the bloated tourist traps in the city, and they decided they'd rather spend the afternoon at the beach.

It was then, between the fragaria blooms, when you met Mingyu. He asked for your name, and the rest was history. Yizhuo and co. scattered like the grasping hands of an overripe dandelion and you learned that he was, one, the newly-graduated son of a pair of local farmers, and two, very, very attractive. Almost too much so, especially for a place like this.

Now he holds up a berry, a bright red murder between his fingers, and tells you to try it.

"You must be delusional if you think i'm taking food from a stranger," you laugh, perched on the fence bordering the field. It sprawls before you, melon stripes on the sunbaked ground.

"No, my name is Mingyu," he replies. "No idea who delusional is." His smile, all bright lip and snaggletooth, tears into the scarlet belly of a newly picked strawberry.

"We all know what happened to Persephone."

"Well, if the underworld was a strawberry patch, I wouldn't mind being stuck there for all of eternity."

"What're you picking all these for, anyway?" you ask, watching Mingyu struggle with his too-big straw hat between the vines. His woven basket bleeds over with little berries.

"Jam. I make it on the very first day of every summer."

"Why?"

"You ask a lot of questions for someone who trespassed on my farm. You're cute, but I won't let you off easy."

He laughs at how you balk, clearly red-handed. You're not sure how to tell him you don't think you were supposed to be here either. You don't do things like sit in the back of trucks, trespass, or talk to pretty farmer boys who take a fancy to you, but it's the summer before you graduate and you're not even sure how long you'll have to continue making bad decisions.

"Are you gonna take my first-born now?" you joke instead. The daylight runs down the rim of Mingyu's hat, trickles down his brow, and you wish you could pour the image of him into a jar and keep it forever.

"No, but I will invite you in for some fresh jam on toast. I baked a loaf this morning." and when you say nothing, he continues. "The strawberries are only good once a year. It's the best you'll ever have. Promise."

It's a whine and a half, and somehow you convince yourself this will be the last bad decision you'll make. You've been here long enough to know that good things don't come twice in Seogwipo, and he is unlikely to be an exception.

Yizhuo blows up your phone, you tie the gingham apron around Mingyu's tiny waist, and the basket turns to blood in the saucepan.

Mingyu is right. Love comes to you in that kitchen, high and red like the sun, and the jam never tastes as good as it does that summer.

ii. watermelon (hollowed out, like a magic trick)

"A good watermelon sounds like a heartbeat."

You watch Mingyu heave the fruit, small and striped, out of his grocery bag. It joins the array of egg sandwiches and banana milks you picked up from the store together earlier. (There should have been chocolate Pepero too, but you split the box on the walk).

You're on a picnic, sprawled out on the outcropping overlooking the water. The path up is basically right behind your house, but you had never cared to visit. It had always been the local makeout spot, a schlocky teen crawl for those with nothing better to do, and yet, with Mingyu stretched out beside you, it seems newer. More exciting.

You're still just friends, or at least that's what you told Yizhuo. But ever since you sat on Mingyu's kitchen counter and ate from his jam-covered spatula, you don't think you've gone a week without seeing him. It's been almost two months, which seems so long and yet not long enough—he makes it easy to be greedy.

"See?" He thumps the watermelon with the heel of his palm. "Try it."

You already went through this entire charade at the grocery store, right in front of all the local aunties, but you indulge him. There's little point to triple checking if it's still ripe, but you think he just likes hitting it.

"It sounds good," you say. "But how are we even gonna eat it? We don't have a knife."

"Watch this." Mingyu procures a coin from his pocket. "You didn't learn this in elementary school? I feel like everyone was doing it."

"Here?" you ask, incredulous.

"Yeah, here. I grew up here too, you know."

He holds the edge of the coin to the skin and slams his palm into it once more, so that it lodges itself into the rind, and begins dragging it around the fruit. You start to wonder if he bought the watermelon just to show you a party trick—not that you mind, though. The strain of his biceps peeks through his rolled up white tee, and you remember why he was able to stop you with just one look back when you first met.

"No way." The watermelon is so ripe, it bleeds around the incision. "I feel like I know everyone here. And I definitely would have remembered you."

"I was probably, like, two grades above you," he replies. "And my parents shipped me off to live with my cousins after elementary school. They said I should get out of Seogwipo and experience the real world."

"Good call. There's nothing here." You watch Mingyu spin the melon over to cut through the other side. The coin catches the sunlight, and it looks like gold. "I wish I left for university. The one here is so small."

"Really?" He pauses to show you his handiwork. The two melon halves roll over on their backs, their cut edge cruel and jagged. "Cool, huh?"

"Impressive," you say. "Honestly. I really didn't think that would work."

"I didn't either when I first saw someone do it. But I’ll try anything once," he replies, ripping open the packaging of the plastic spoon from the bag. "I can't believe you don't like it here."

"You do?"

"Yeah. A lot." He shoves the spoon in his mouth, and you watch the watermelon juice pool around his lips. "I missed home. The trees and the tall grass and the ocean. All the fruits. Everything. I learned to ride a bike, right down there by the water."

"Hm." He passes you the spoon. You don't want to hog it, so you carve out a piece bigger than you need. "Are you gonna work at the farm?"

"Maybe. Haven't decided yet," he says. "I think I want to be here, though. Maybe do something with food, but I want to be home."

"That's funny, because I think I’ve always wanted to live a different life. Or at least one somewhere else."

"You want to go to law school, right?"

"Yeah." Mingyu is right. The watermelon is all sugar, and you would almost feel guilty for eating it if it wasn't technically good for you. "I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer. It's something about the people watching, I think."

"That’s really cool," Mingyu says, mouth full but no less sincere. It's then that you notice your shoulders are almost touching, and your heart crawls back up to your mouth. "You know what you want. I admire that."

He makes it sound like a compliment, but you're sure it's a curse.

You think of your parents. There's a permanent wrinkle ironed into their foreheads, the paper crease of expectations and high standards. It's not that they didn't care, but their kind of care was a humbled sort, made heavy by a hard life. It didn't help that your big sister Seohyun went straight from Yonsei to work a big tech job in San Francisco and never once looked back.

But you can't blame any of them—wanting has always been a hereditary failing. Sometimes Yizhuo will catch you frowning at nothing, and then you remember that life isn't a performance and every day ends at the same time no matter how hard you work. But you don't know how to tell her that the only thing you can do sometimes is want, because otherwise you wouldn't really have much at all.

It seems like the exact opposite of how Mingyu lives—everything about him seems to pass like the seasons. Maybe that's why you can't seem to get enough of each other.

"Thank you. Really." You dig the spoon into your half of the melon. There isn't much left. "You're way too nice to me."

"It’s not hard to be," he laughs. "Maybe you're just too hard on yourself."

You're losing track of the distance between the two of you. You can almost feel the heat playing off his skin.

"Maybe."

It's then, under the veil of summer, where you meet Mingyu's gaze and, finally, things seem close to simple.

All you know are his eyes, heavy with sun, and then the slow, slow move of his lips against yours. He tastes like August, long and sweet, and for once you know what it's like to not only want, but to have, and to have again.

The ocean sings on the horizon, and the watermelon bellies weep.

iii. adzuki beans (or, the blood of a headless taiyaki)

Mingyu eats taiyaki headfirst because he says it hurts less.

"That makes no sense," you tell him, your pinkies linked. You never really liked holding hands, but yours fits so perfectly in Mingyu's and there's some girlish, childlike shine to it when you watch his finger search for yours after just a moment separated.

"What do you mean."

He breaks your gaze to eye a red bean taiyaki, like an unwilling predator sizing up their prey. It's the lamest, most embarrassing iteration of National Geographic you've ever seen, and yet you cannot find any fiber within yourself not deeply in love with the lion.

Fall is a forgiving place for your relationship to settle. You're now a senior at university and he's started his gap year. Gap implies he's in the middle of something, but in true Mingyu fashion, he leaves it up to fate, or chance, or something not nearly as kind (whim).

"Taiyaki isn't alive. And why would you want to pretend it is? Eating gummy bears would become an extinction event."

"It kind of is." He holds out the tail end of the taiyaki, the pastry almost explicitly flayed open, in front of you to eat. "Why does the Haribo bear have a face? Why do the gummy bears live in a gummy forest?"

"Great, so now I can’t even enjoy gummy bears without feeling like a serial killer?"

You dig your pointer into his shoulders, broad from all the time he spends on the farm. To think that his hands, big and weathered, were made to pick berries (and now wrap around your pinky finger) is bruising, if not ridiculously funny.

"It's a crime of passion. Gummy passion. Prosecute that."

He kisses your cheek and your heart almost squeezes into two.

The terrible thing about being with Mingyu is how seemingly endless his affection is. Now he's feeding you in public and buying the two of you matching socks (cat and dog, to be exact), although you'll admit it's a little charming, even if the neighbors do gossip.

He's sweet, too sweet, and his kisses stick to the back of your throat.

But you can't be fooled. There's an unsaid violence to the way Mingyu loves. (The meticulous spiral of the peel he carves when you ask for him to cut you an apple. The grind, decisive and cruel, of a knife against a cutting board. A pair of canines against your neck, your jaw.)

Even now, he bites the head off another unwitting taiyaki before stuffing it back in the bag.

"We're still splitsing, right?" he says, with perhaps 1% of his mouth available for speaking and the other 99% murder machine.

Splits, he always says before you share food. You never had the heart to tell him that it's in the same family as mines or sharesies or takebacks—silly childhood relics, ones that no one uses anymore because they don't mean anything.

This time, you don't hear him because you're thinking about the law school fair you went to before Mingyu picked you up. The future is so close, it scares you. A year from now, what ground would you be standing on? Would it smell like this—the peat, the thread-spool fields, the balm of the ocean? Would you still have Mingyu's finger wrapped round yours?

"Have you decided if you're staying at the farm?" you ask.

"Not really." He uses the back of his hand to wipe off his chin. "If my sister decides to take over, I’m actually kinda thinking of going to pastry school instead of getting a masters."

Mingyu had been toying with the idea for some time after you had talked about it on the outlook. It started off as a joke (September; a galette), then a what if (October; green tea mochi), and now it sits at a kinda.

"Kinda?"

The word gathers speed in the pachinko machine of your mind. You never liked being a kinda person. For Mingyu, it seems like a luxury of a word, but for you, it's really just another thing to hide behind. Kinda talented, kinda ambitious, kinda just there. You're always one foot in, one foot out of something better.

"Yeah, kinda. Why?"

"I dunno. What if we both end up leaving?"

"Maybe. You still want to, right?"

You would be lying if you said you didn't—it's what you always wanted. Seogwipo has been a sun-rot, too-small crutch for you, but you would also be lying if you said you weren't terrified that you'd eventually come back, limping like some doomed Icarus, unable to truly make it in the real world.

Then you think of the pockmarked farmland beside your home, lacy with the fall harvest. Even now, you can trace the endless blue of the coastline all the way there, cut through all the maybes and just let the sound of the ocean fold you into sleep like you were a child again. You wonder if Seohyun, all the way on the other side of the world, ever misses it.

"I’m not sure," you say, because, as much as you don't like it, it's the only answer you have.

"It's ok. You'll figure it out. You always do." He squeezes your cheeks together between his thumb and index, laughing at how they pillow out underneath his fingers. "Screw pastry school. I could come with you. Who else would keep you fed?"

Mingyu's complete and unfounded belief in you makes you feel something close to betrayal. How could he say any of that? With what proof? Only someone like Mingyu would be able to hold the wrinkled fruit of your unremarkable life between his palms and see something better than that. Maybe it's because he grew up on a farm. Either that, or he already cares for you too much, too painfully.

Secrets are easy to keep when they look like yours. At least here, in the pit of your stomach, you can keep count, take attendance of them, all your tittering, small anxieties. Some days it feels like your ribs are pressing out, but it's better than cutting everything loose to spill out over what little you do have control over.

You can handle a little pressure. You have to.

What concerns you is the hand Mingyu's got across your chest. With one look, he just might gut you. A twist of the heart-knife, and all those carefully wound insides carved out in an instant—maybe he'd pity you, but worse than that, he'd likely be disappointed.

For you, expectation has always stood taller than shame, and the idea that he sees something past you makes you want to run away.

"I could be a house husband," he says as easily as ever. "You'll be off saving the world, arguing with whoever, and I'll be there to run you a bath afterwards."

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves," you reply, binding up the strange, hollow feeling in your stomach with a laugh.

There's a scared little girl hiding inside you, and whether Mingyu sees her or not hurts the same. A spade is a spade. You can only pretend so long.

You look at the taiyaki floating in their wax paper bag, blinded and wrought open by the same grin that now peels you down, and you're not hungry anymore.

iv. winter pears (rotten, outside your parents' house)

Mingyu's family loves Christmas.

You think it's because of the pear trees they have in the front yard. They stand bravely before the house, all emerald ash and wisdom in the December freeze. Run your palms over the knobs and it's like you can see into a sleepy visage of simpler days past. (Below its heart, carved: 1982, the year the farm was bought. Along the tangle of the roots: gyu waz here, in an unsure, childish scrawl.)  

Winter comes to the countryside crawling on its hands and knees. On days it doesn't snow, there's a mist, boggy and clingy. You've come to realize the cold is more of a threat than a promise, and so the pear trees still bear fruit; the silvery branches hang heavy, faithful.

The first day of December, Mingyu's parents had tasked the two of you with decorating the farmhouse, a duty you took very seriously. You wrapped Mingyu up in string lights and watched him blink in and out like your own personal firefly.

It wasn't until you watched the rafters, the barn doors, the joyous vault of the ceiling all glow, like a spectacular firework, that you finally started to understand why Mingyu was so into the holidays.

It was in the yellow blush of the string lights that you had your first pear from the tree, which Mingyu insisted was a holiday tradition. We make poached pears, he said, mid-bite. You simmer the pear in syrup until it gets so soft, you can cut into it with a fork. Just like butter.

That same night, he kissed you, mouth hot and trembling and tasting of honey, and pressed you against the bark so hard, you could feel the grit of its veins against your skin.

You think December became your favorite month, and pears your favorite fruit.

So much so, that for the entire month, you try to put away your worries about law school applications to celebrate with Mingyu and his family.

You learn his mom makes the best hot chocolate (a cinnamon stick and a dogged devotion to the whisk), and that Mingyu has no clue on God's green earth how to ice skate. (He careens right into your chest the first time. You spend the next hour with him attached to you like a backpack—he manages to find the most impractical ways to do anything, which you somehow admire the most). On Sundays, Yizhuo ditches her Seoul friends and instead accompanies you to the mall two towns over, where she watches you compare different ties and watches and collagen creams as you decide on gifts for his family. (Lilac is so last year, she'd say, stirring the straw of a watered-down milk tea.)

It's not until the weekend before Christmas when you realize just how serious things have gotten. Your feet understand the meander of the dirt path to the farmhouse, your bones the scent of the yellow-skinned apple, the faded wildflowers. Your palms crave the plush of the rug they have in front of the fireplace. Hell, you can't even eat soondubu without thinking of the kind Mingyu's dad makes, with extra anchovies and green onion.

You don't think about what this means. There are ten days left in December and love poured from a full cup never seems to run out.

"Please let me carry some of those," Mingyu wheedles. "Oh my god. I'm like the worst boyfriend in the world."

"No, you are not." you make your way up to his doorstep, taking care to one-two step over the stray roots of one of the pear trees. It's second nature to you by now. "The moment I hand you a box, you are gonna start trying to figure out what it is."

He harumphs and plucks the big one off the top anyway, the one he knows you can't reach. "I didn't even know you were getting us gifts. You didn't have to."

"It's the least I could do. Who shows up to a holiday dinner emptyhanded?" You stop at the front door. "And stop shaking it," you laugh, using the tip of your boot to nudge his shin.

"Okay. Okay," he says, saccharine, adoring, before grabbing the doorknob. "Ready? Are you nervous? You shouldn't be nervous, right? It's not fancy or anything, if you were worried about that."

And that's the thing that wedges itself between your ribs. Mingyu and his whole family are like this. They love and worry and love again; it presses deep into you, fills you, and overflows.

So here you are, standing in your nicest dress and balancing a stack of gifts you hope will amount to something, never enough but something, to repay the people who you feel have loved you more than you deserve. It's all you really have. You do your best, and yet you know when that door opens, it'll all be washed away in a high-tide flurry of hugs and laughter and the familiar press of Bobpul's wet nose against your leg. They're just those kinds of people—they would be just as happy if you didn't bring anything at all, and somehow that makes you feel even more guilty.

"No, no," you wave him off. "I’m fine. Excited."

When Mingyu opens the door, everything goes just as you expected. His sister takes your coat, your gifts are whisked away to the tree (Aji has already figured out which one is his), and his parents descend upon you in a choking swell of warmth and charity.

We baked some fresh bread for your parents (—Thank you so much, but you really shouldn't have.). You look so beautiful in that color (—No, no, you flatter me too much.). Mingyu better be taking good care of you (—He is. He really, really is.).

The kitchen is gauzy with cinnamon, anise. They must be making their famous poached pears, which Mingyu remarks on, just like clockwork.

Dinner passes the same way. It bubbles over with affection, and you feel swallowed by an impossible yearning. This—a full table and a hand to hold underneath it—did you deserve this? And could you keep it?

For an instant, you picture yourself, years later, at this same seat. Mingyu would be fussing over the rice cakes, his apron still gingham because it reminds him of the day you two met. His parents, grayer but no less happy, bickering over the shade of tinsel on the tree. And the dogs, coiled at your feet like they are now. The vision laps at your bones like you're a raft in a storm.

You're pulled back into the moment when Mingyu squeezes your hand, grounding and insistent. "Mom asked how school was going. I told her I think you're basically the smartest person I know, and I’m pretty sure you're getting into whatever law school you want."

Mingyu's parents laugh, and they cut through their pears.

"Oh, sorry," you say. "Um."

Clink. Knife meets flesh, meets porcelain. Your cheeks are hot. You wanted to talk about anything other than yourself tonight. Clink.

"The top programs are a reach, but it'd be nice." clink. "I just want to get in somewhere."

"They’re all so far away," Mingyu's mom remarks. "So grown up. Any school will be lucky to have you. You'll get into all of them."

Clink.

"Or maybe you can stay here." You watch the prongs of Mingyu's father's fork disappear into the pear. "Keep us old folk company."

"No, no, I think Mingyu should take notes and get off his lazy ass," his sister says, teasing. "Going back to the city will be good for him."

"So you can, what, burn down the kitchen again?" Mingyu grumbles, and the whole table seems to boil over with laughter.

"We’re kidding," his mom tells you. "No matter where you go, I’m sure you'll do great. We can even throw you a party at the end of the year. For graduating."

Clink. Clink.

There's a horrible uneasiness writhing around in your stomach. It's pear and syrup and clove and a blackness, an anxious, selfish one that sucks up all the generosity of the evening and turns it into shame.

Mingyu's mom is talking about throwing you a graduation party, something you didn't even think to do for yourself, and here you are, thinking about the shaking moment you open your rejection letters and the lonely path you'll draw on your way back home.

It's ok. They missed out, Mingyu would say, pouring you a consolation drink, and then it would be over. You'd go home and sit on your bed and the trifold piece of paper would go round and round your head like it was in a washing machine.

Your heart, an inventory of tasks and goals and tally marks. Things you've taken and things you've owed. It's a soft, boneless excuse. Be grateful. Give them that, at least.

Clink.

Dessert ends before you can tell his family not to get their hopes up. Mingyu's mom sends you off with your loaf of bread and a kiss on the cheek, and the moment is gone.

"Gyu," you call out on the steps in front of the house.

There are words at the seam of your lips. You want to tell him you're sorry for worrying so much. For making the whole dinner about you and then very possibly having nothing to show for it when it matters. For the heaviness in your chest. Your cowardice. But none of it comes out.

Instead you watch Mingyu pull at the leaves of a pear tree, watching the frost-filigree they get at the end of the season. He looks over his shoulder and smiles at you, as if he's on the hazy cover of a magazine. His eyes bend so wonderfully at the corners when he looks at you, and it breaks your heart.

"You had fun, right?" he asks. "My parents like you a lot, you know. I think they really do."

But that's the problem, you want to say. You all do, and I have no idea why.

Some of the pears are beginning to rot now. You watch one drop off the vine, and it caves to the pavement like it was made of nothing at all.

v. wild barley (grows like weeds)

In March, you play house.

Your parents leave on a two week trip to see relatives, and Mingyu takes it upon himself to make sure you survive.

It's a kind, blinding charade.

(7 am, breakfast. You usually don't even eat breakfast, but you wake up to doenjang and a smile, one that presses itself to yours until you're wearing it on the long walk to school.)

(4 pm, the stretch between lunch and dinner. You're muddling through another useless club meeting when Mingyu sends you a picture of him in your mom's apron, making kimchi. Kiss the chef, he texts you. You promise to, over and over and over.)

It's good until it isn't.

That isn't to say that it's Mingyu's fault. In fact, it's never really Mingyu's fault, and that's the worst thing about your relationship. Sometimes you wish he was worse just so there was someone else to blame.

(1 am, a fridge-cold glass of water and a hand on the column of your spine. Can't sleep? He asks. Just had a weird dream, you say.

It's a lie. You're a liar.

You miss your parents and the first wave of acceptance letters comes out in two days. You're not like him. Sleep has never been a cure for the exhaustion you're feeling, and you have no way of telling him that however warm the bed is won't fix that.)

It's on a Thursday afternoon when you open your mailbox and see the tiny, thin envelope that you've been expecting for the past week. You don't need to open it to know what it says, and yet you do it anyway.

The sun is white, a ghost in the spring sky. The ocean bleeds into the overcast, the curly barley stands tall around your feet, and you let the worst letter you've gotten in your life fall upon your shoulders, word by terrible word.

Then you close it, pinching the seam shut, and draw up your brave face. Nothing left to do but be brave. You're convinced you've used up all the sadness in your relationship—spend in pennies and the well still runs dry. Mingyu will cup your cheek and call you darling, pouring into your emptying basin, holey and broken.

You see him now through the kitchen window, Venus in his clamshell of a kitchen. Galbijjim day, he had said this morning. Now, he waves at you, glittery with recognition.

Your throat feels like crumpled paper.

Mingyu smiles at you, hazy through the glass. Your cheeks hurt and your mouth is paper mache, but you smile back anyway.

///

The letters come one after another.

You know what the envelopes hold and yet you keep opening them. The little folder you keep stashed in your bottom drawer gets fatter every passing day because you can't help but revisit your misery, almost as if you need to remind yourself it exists.

Mingyu is none the wiser. Today he decides he'll put off pastry school for one more year. "It doesn't feel like the right time," he says, rolling a log of burdock kimbap up. "You know what I mean?"

No, you don't. You never really do.

You do know, however, that it would feel really fucking bad that, come the end of the year, to have nothing. All your friends would be going somewhere—even Yizhuo opened her acceptance to an MFA program in Shanghai yesterday—and you would be here, still, feet firmly planted in the muddy Jeju dirt like they always had been.

"Hey, don't look so disappointed." he jokes. "Don't tell me you're already trying to get rid of me."

You're not, you really aren't. But part of you wonders if it's just a race to the bottom. If you got rid of him before he decided he wanted to get rid of you, maybe it would hurt a lot less. One less letter for the folder.

"Never. But imagine if you picked up a French accent at pastry school. Then I’d consider it. Maybe."

You watch his knife rock back and forth on the cutting board as he cuts the kimbap.

"Some for you. And more for me," he says, in what you can only describe as someone attempting to speak French when they've never heard it before. "Unless you want more, mon cherie."

He brings the plates to the table, his grin nothing short of dizzying.

"I’m irresistible, huh? Still wanna leave me now?"

"You're gonna have to try a little harder than that, I think."

The words roll off your tongue, easily, traitorously.

You watch the kimbap disappear off of Mingyu's plate.

Going, going, gone.

///

Seogwipo is always dark at night, only kept alive by the glow of the moonlit sea.

You can't sleep. Again. And so you sit out on the steps in front of your house, letting the twilight wrap around you like a blanket.

You got your last letter back earlier today. You held your breath and tore it open like you would a birthday card with money in it.

Waitlisted.

It was surely better than a rejection, but some naive, child-eyed part of you thought that if you had just closed your eyes and hoped hard enough, things would work out the way you had planned. Tragically, it wasn't enough this time. You wanted and wanted and you thought maybe that would mean you'd come close to deserving it.

Your parents called today. After managing to sideline the issue of basically the rest of your entire life, they had finally cut through your sad little charade. No good news yet, huh?

No, but—

It was always like that with you. No, but it's not as bad as you think. No, but give me a chance. No, but I’m trying. I've been trying.

You wish things didn't come out of you so complicated. That you could be like Seohyun, who could go through school with her eyes closed and still graduate at the top of her class. Instead, you parade around your little failures, trying to convince people it all could mean something only if they squinted. See? It isn't so bad.

You think you're past the point of crying about it. Your stomach hurts, you're cold, and most of all, you just want to go back to bed. Plus, although Mingyu sleeps like a log, you think he's developed a sixth sense for whenever you get up too early.

Time to be brave, you've been telling yourself, although you don't know who you're pretending for anymore.

So you nudge the front door open—it's so old, it wails if you come at it with any more force—and, to your surprise, see the light above the kitchen sink turned on.

It's not very bright, but it's enough to make out Mingyu's broad silhouette, back turned to you as he makes a cup of tea. He's humming one of his made-up songs.

"Mingyu?"

"There you are," he says, turning around. "Just came out to check on you. And make you some tea."

The kettle whizzes. Your gut twists.

You still haven't said anything to Mingyu. To manage your own disappointment was one thing—you don't think you could handle another person's. And yet when he stands there, Pororo mug between his huge hands, you feel as if you are holding a knife, big and guilty and bloody.

"I-I'm fine, Gyu. Honest." you watch his expression flicker, unreadable in the persimmon lamplight. "Sorry you had to come out. It's chilly out here."

"You know, you can tell me what's going on. I won't judge."

No, no, no. This is the last conversation you wanted to have, with the last person you wanted to have it with.

You feel feverish. You think your hands are shaking.

"Mingyu, I swear—"

"Whatever it is, we can fix it. I know we can."

That almost makes you want to laugh if you didn't want to cry so bad. Of fucking course he would say that. Mingyu, who treats life like it's the watermelon trick he showed you on the outlook, wants to put a bandaid on this whole thing, as if that could come close to fixing it.

He'd tell you to curl up on the couch with a bad movie while he orders takeout. Kiss you on the top of the head. It's ok, baby. Just another bad day for the person who has the worst luck in the world. Another lump of problems for him to try and make better. If he isn't sick of you now, he sure would be soon enough.

"It’s okay," you say, steeling your voice. "It really isn't a big deal. Let's just go back to sleep."

You try to walk away, but the hardness in Mingyu's eyes roots you down to the tile.

"Stop doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Pushing me away," he swallows. "Like you always do. I know something's going on."

"I’m not, i just—"

"You just what? You can't help it?"

"No, I—"

"Because you like to know that you can? That you can say whatever and then watch me come back?" A fragmented, heavy silence thrums between you. He's looking at you like he's daring you to say something, anything. His gaze is black. "What am I good for if you can't tell me anything?"

There's that familiar, stinging pressure behind your eyes. You think you're crying, but you're not sure. Maybe you've been crying this whole time.

"Fine," you bite. Your blood feels like hot metal. "You really wanna know? I didn't get into law school. There. Happy now?"

Mingyu looks stung.

"W-why didn't you tell me?"

Because I thought you would stop loving me. I thought you would have finally had enough.

"Because it's not all about you, Mingyu."

The words, selfish and damning, burn your tongue. Mingyu is right. This is what you always do. You fuck up and then make everyone else hurt for it.

"I'm sorry," Mingyu says. His voice doesn't sound like his. Instead, the words seem to hang in the air, trembling and holding their breath, waiting for an apology you can't give yet. "I shouldn't have—"

"It's ok." You swallow hard, and it hurts. "Let's just go back to bed."

It's getting colder and colder. You think there's a little hole in your sock, right above the cat's whiskers.

Mingyu doesn't reach for you as he passes to get to the hallway. Maybe he doesn't know how to anymore.

The Pororo cup is left abandoned on the counter. You walk over and read the label on the tea bag—barley, because you have class tomorrow morning.

You pick it up, let the ceramic buzz between your hands with whatever warmth it has left, and hold it to your lips.

It's cold now, but all you can think to do is drink it. Erase all the evidence that tonight ever happened, and maybe it'll be nothing more than a bad dream in the morning.

There's honey at the bottom of the cup. It sears the back of your throat, but you drink until there's nothing left.

vi. the peach blossoms (without fail, bloom every August. I miss you.)

You broke up the next day.

Even now, you remember what happened. You had woken up early that morning to make your own breakfast because you couldn't allow Mingyu to give you any more of himself. Your hands could only hold, shatter, so much.

"Mingyu, I think we should...." You looked at the zigzags of jam on your toast, angry and uneven. "I think we should stop seeing each other. For now," you had added, as if that made anything better at all.

Somehow that seemed more merciful at the time. Really, you think it just showed your cowardice. If you were going to break his heart, you might as well have gone all the way the first time.

Maybe it was a good thing that Mingyu saw right through you. He always did.

"So that's it, huh? You're just gonna give up on us?"

"No, I just...need some time."

"How long?" he asked. "Be honest with me. Because you know I’ll wait."

"I don't know." You couldn't meet his gaze. His eyes reached and reached over that kitchen table and you denied him even that.

"Don't you always know?" he asked, pitifully, desperately. "Don't you want this to work?"

And you did. In fact, you don't think you had ever wanted anything more, and it was that that scared you. You had already lost law school—you couldn't let the only other thing in your life let you go. So you pulled the trigger first.

"We should just end things. I'm sorry. I can't give you what you need."

He packed his bag within the hour, and you think everything, from then on, froze inside you. You didn't move from your seat until your parents came home from the airport later that day and asked why there were two plates of toast still on the table.

You think you knew, someplace, inevitably, this would happen. You, who only knew hunger, had reached deep inside Mingyu and rooted out a love you didn't think you were worthy of having. And yet you still ate from the vine, bite after guilty bite, until you couldn't take any more. The only time he asked you for anything at all, you couldn't give it to him—such was the irony of your relationship.

Maybe you were doomed the moment the first strawberry hit your tongue, just like you had said, all that time ago.

About a month later, you got another letter in the mail. Chungnam National University Law School, it read. This one was fat, in one of those brown envelopes lined with bubble wrap. Somehow, miraculously, that position on the waitlist had turned into an acceptance. You held the package to your chest and cried, loud and with abandon, as if taking a deep breath after almost drowning.

Ironically, the first person you wanted to tell was Mingyu. But the good news you needed to save your relationship came too little, too late. Perhaps that meant it had no legs to stand on in the first place, but that didn't stop you from missing it. Instead, you told Yizhuo, and she drove you to Jeju City and treated you to dinner. "You should just call him," she had said. "Hey, don't look at me like that. He'd probably pick up on the first ring."

The city is swathed in August's crimson summer—peach season. The narrow streets are lined with peach trees, the fruits glowing like fat drops of sunlight. All you do these days is plan for your eventual move to Daejeon and the start of a life that seems newer and shinier than your own. But surrounded by the cicada song, the velvet treeline, the rain-soaked asphalt, somehow you think you're going to miss Seogwipo more than you think.

(Fickle, fickle heart. You always needed things to be taken away to really be able to appreciate them. Somehow, all that wanting had boiled down to something more satisfying, more filling.)

You wonder how Mingyu is. Now that you think about it, he seems just as much a part of Seogwipo as the farm he lives on. It was only last summer when you had first met him in the field, set on fire by the strawberry harvest. You think about him now, peddling around that ridiculous wicker basket to make jam. Maybe talking to another pretty girl, someone as naive, cruel as you had been.

Not long ago, you considered calling him to apologize, but that'd just be another thing to be selfish about. A little time and some warm weather, and I’m calling to finally wash my hands of you. That's what it would sound like, no matter what you said. Still, it didn't stop you from thinking of him, every flower, every season.

"You know, I always wanted to grow peach trees. But I think we've always been a pear kind of family."

Mingyu. If a voice could cut through air, it'd be his.

You whip around, half-believing you're hearing things. Certainly that would be easier, but you're learning that there are some things you can't run from.

And like a picture, Mingyu stands tall, golden, framed by the peach blossoms. Not a thing about him has changed. Not even the way he looks at you.

"Mingyu," you breathe. Unfortunately, none of the times you replayed your last conversation with him help you come up with something to say, because in none of them did you anticipate him coming back. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I live here, silly."

"No way," you reply, scrambling. "Crazy, because I live here too."

You both laugh nervously, a silly, bubbly thing, but you feel like you're going to throw up. It's only now that you realize you're kind of on the walk to his place. Seogwipo has never had places to hide.

"I...um." You try and disentangle the guilt from the nostalgia from the scent of the peaches and the warmth on his face. They all look the same. You missed him. "I got into law school. In Daejeon."

"I heard," he says. "Not surprised at all. I always knew you would."

"Thank you. I mean it." The cicadas buzz around you, as if they know they have an important silence to fill. "You're staying in town, right?"

"Actually, I decided to apply to culinary school. It finally felt right, you know? I'm leaving at the end of the summer, but it's just in Jeju City. I couldn't leave the island."

"Thank goodness. I don't know if you could tell, but I kind of always hoped you would. I don't think I’ve ever eaten better food." Your voice wobbles, but it gets there. "You'll do amazing."

Then time stretches and forces you to recognize, reckon with, the moment you're in. You wonder if he feels the same way you do—bruised, overripe. If there's still a space in his heart for you.

Deep breath. Life only gives you so many chances.

"Mingyu, I’m sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't make us work. You deserved better." Saying it feels like peeling the skin of your heart back. There's still a palpable distance between the two of you—you think that had always been there—but it feels more comfortable in a way it never did before.

"Don’t apologize," he says, easily, as he always does. Everything seems to flow off him like water, and you think that's the part of him you loved the most because it was the one thing you couldn't touch. "We loved each other. I think that much was true."

A jasmine breeze curls through the trees, sending the blossoms fluttering around you like ink in water. The very first time you met Mingyu, you thought the image of him, haloed with the sunset, was the one you wanted to keep forever. And yet, somehow, you don't think you'll ever forget the way he looks right now.

"Will you ever come back to Seogwipo?" you ask.

"I was gonna ask you the same thing—you were always the one who wanted to get out of here." He grins, ear to ear. "Of course I'm coming back. There's nowhere I'd rather be."

"Yeah. I think I know what you mean."

The sea, the clay dirt, Mingyu. Even yourself, clumsy and care-worn. You think, somewhere along the line, you forgot how to love. But you're learning—one step at a time.

"Friends," you say. "Let's be friends. If you'll let me."

"Thought you would never ask. Gladly. Always." The space between you seizes, like it's holding in a breath. Maybe one day, you'll think of closing it once more, but you like where you stand now. You can admire him better from a distance, without your fingerprints all over him. He stuffs his hands in his pockets, something he does before he gets ready to leave. But before he does—"I'll see you soon, okay? You better come back. Promise me."

For the first time, you see the honesty in his eyes and you really, truly believe him.

"Promise."

The Seogwipo sun is high and red in the sky when you wave Mingyu goodbye. It feels like you're coming to an end of a long summer, but you're not afraid. You watch the wind dance through the peach blossoms, their branches never searching, never wanting, and you finally feel as if you've arrived home.