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simp4konig · 1 year ago

Text

König mistakenly shoots you on the battlefield

König x Gender-neutral Reader

Word count: ~4500

*SLOW burn but when my writing finally has that spark this fic catches FIRE and FAST so be prepared!! ��🔥

*⚠️Angst Angst! ANGST!⚠️

*THABK YOU SO SO SO MUCH TO AZZY MY NO.1 FAN FOR THIS AMAZING IDEA!!!! 🥰🥰🥰I LOVE *YOU* VERY MUCH!! 🥹🫶🫶💞💞💞💞 💞💞💞💞💞THANK UVFOR ALWAUS LIKING MYNPOSTS AND BEING SO KIND TO ME YOU MAKE EBERY HOIR SPENT WRITING WORTH IT AS I AM ALWAYS EAGER FOR YOUR MESSAGES😭😭💓💓💓💓💓💓I AM *YOUR* NO.1 APPRECIATOR IN ALL RHE GALAXIES🌌🚀✨🌠QNDVWISH U ALL THE BEST ALWAYS!!!!!!🫂🫂💗💗 THIS ENTJRE POST IS DEDICATED TO YOU !!! 🥹(,,havinf said that, i hope u arent TOO taken aback bu tje level of angst here 💀💀REALLT went overboard and I completely apologize 💔)

TWs: König is in love with you. König's sanity slowly deteriorates as the fanfiction progresses. Mentions of attempted suicide, graphic depictions of gore, potentially triggering depictions of depression. König has suicidal thoughts after shooting you. König experiences intense trauma after shooting you and has survivor's guilt.

*Reader's callsign is "King". Implied age gap. One-sided pining from König... but the ending is purposefully kept ambigous (as you, the reader, can interpret the final interaction however you like)! Can be read as a standalone if you have never read any of my works before. <3

*To clarify to those that have already read my works before, this is *NOT* a direct continuation to 1.my fluffy 2.series! This is a separate imagine, but DOES take place in the same KönigxKing microchosm. Whether the following events take place in an alternate timeline or happen at some point in the future/past is for you to decide. Idk man i just write the fics I don't do the world buidling 🗿I write sotires without thingign about the greater picture u honestly think my one shots will tie to a greater plot?☹️No 💔

...

Right from the beginning, König had a gut feeling that this mission was going to go wrong.

It was a deep sense of foreboding in the pit of his stomach, making him feel queasy on the helicopter ride as the both of you with an additional three others were scheduled for contact in a few minutes' time.

You were just a recruit, and this mission was far too intense for someone with next to no experience in an active warzone for it to be their first. He knew the dangers of missions like this, knew how things could go horribly wrong in an instant.

It wasn't that he doubted your ability. Not at all. From the corner of the room he would silently supervise as you sparred another person, monitoring your movements incase your opponent had the upperhand and you needed guidance.

However, he had never needed to intervene, as he was impressed with your quick reactions and your controlled steps as you'd move on the balls of your feet, arms held up in front of your face. Ambition was in your eyes, your face scrunched up in concentration as you calculated your next move.

You'd defend yourself up until the moment you'd pounce and in a blink of an eye be on top of your opponent, your entire weight pressed on their theirs on the ground. Whether it was another woman, another man, or even a person with bigger bulk you were clearly disadvantaged by, you'd never give up, and took on any challenge with an impressionable passion of a young recruit.

Once they'd be the one to tap out, you'd immediately push yourself off them and offer them a hand, asking them "Are you alright?" in a concerned tone as you were pulling them up. "Sorry for getting aggressive there, sir/miss! I hope I didn't hurt you!"

To which they'd respond with boisterous laughter and a strong clap on your back, you doubled over as they were congratulating you for knocking them off their two feet and telling you to keep up the good work. König couldn't wipe the triumphant smile from his face, filled with pride at your personal victory.

Once you'd be the one to tap out, you'd part ways honourably, never disrespecting the person that came out on top. If anything, your loss only added fuel to the fire burning in your eyes, driven to work harder. He still admired you, and would be the one to pull you up as he dusted you off, telling you that you did a great job regardless.

"Thank you, sir!" You'd reply bashfully, face red from effort and embarassment. "Though, I'm sure I made a fool of myself with how I was flailing my arms just then..."

"Nein. Not at all," he'd say, eyes glinting with something that you couldn't quite recognize. "You did very well."

Target practice displayed your accurate aim, wool seeping out from the heads of dummies and the targets regularly replaced as the wood would cling in pieces, the center blasted into smithereens by repeated bullseyes from you.

Always lingering nearby to assist, you would gratefully accept König's help and allow him to demonstrate how to operate another gun with an appreciative smile on your face, your genuine eagerness to learn making König's chest tighten. You seemingly never knew the effect you had on him.

You were a naturally skilled soldier, he had observed, and he knew that you'd make an incredible addition to the team, he couldn't deny that.

Yet, he couldn't shake off this feeling as something more grave.

All personel debriefed and the plan disclosed a week prior, the superior went over the plan once more back at base. A large blueprint spilling over the table with weak spots and areas to beware were annotated, his forefinger pointing at different areas of interest. Sketches, photographs, and jottings were displayed from a projector for all to see as you listened closely.

König's jaws were grinding against each other in agitation, having doubts about you being deployed on this mission.

Despite this operation being portayed as an in and out extraction, König knew better. He knew what the stakes were. Intuition urged him to warn you, to confide in you about his doubts and even considered crossing your name off the list and assigning you elsewhere last minute without anyone knowing.

But the thought that he could be controlling you — a young, innocent recruit — and even considered doing something so foul didn't sit right with him.

You were your own person, and he couldn't be your shadow, couldn't act as a human shield against all that was cruel and gruesome in life. You had chosen this job, and therefore must have had at least some idea of what your responsibilities would entail, some knowledge of what soldiers go through in pursuit of glory.

Instead of being so pertubed, he should keep it together, he thought, should maintain a stoic façade. He was your superior — your colonel, for God's sake — he was someone you aspired to be, someone that should be an inspiration, a role model, someone that could have your back and be a reliable body to fall back on.

Not someone that couldn't keep it together when you around.

Especially when he shouldn't have been having feelings for you.

You, a young person vulnerable and easily influenced by people older than you, by the likes of him.

It wasn't right. He wasn't right for what he was feeling, for what he had been thinking. It wasn't right for his feelings to cloud his judgement, wasn't right that abusing his power had even crossed his mind, let alone been tempted to act upon it.

Your voice pulled him from his thoughts. "König? Are you alright, sir?"

Turning his head to face you, he nodded with false certainty, containing his worry in an attempt to appear confident for you.

"Ja, King, it's okay. Just thinking, that's all."

You quirked a brow, not convinced. "Hey."

Placing a firm hand on his shoulder, a serious expression was on your face, which caught König off guard and made his eyes widen. "If you're thinking that I'm going to get myself killed then you've got another thing coming, because I will NOT get shot by the enemy."

His back slumped over a little, averting his gaze for a moment. "Nein, sie haben recht."

"Ich sollte nicht zulassen, dass meine Gefühle mein Urteilsvermögen trüben." König mumbled something else under his breath in German, then quickly shook his head and laughed, looking into your eyes again.

Tension in his body was eased a little. "No, you're right."

A little. Because he wasn't going to dismiss the thoughts gnawing at the back of his head as mere paranoia.

You perked up. "Good, glad we've got that cleared up, sir! I want you to know that I won't disappoint!"

His heart skipped a beat at your smile, so eager to please and make him proud, that he shuffled uncomfortably, trying to get the butterflies in his stomach to calm down. Now wasn't the time.

Idly fidgeting with his combat knife as the helicopter blades hummed above, he went back to thinking over all the possibilities and different ways this mission could go awry:

...What if these were the wrong coordinates, or the helicopter would be attacked the minute they landed? The thought of an ambush wasn't an irrational one — it had happened before, he reminded himself — so he had brought a few more weapon crates than necessary for safekeeping.

...What if the helicopter's signal was intercepted and everyone including the pilot were destined for a fatal crash? Counting the number of parachutes and noting the fire exit, he could rest a little easier if an emergency like that was to arise, yet it still did little to soothe his nerves.

...What if you really did get shot? In case that happened, he had alerted some operators beforehand to serve as re-enforcements, one of those on board including a skilled army medic, under the guise of needing more manpower in case things went south. After all, this extraction could not have go wrong. It shouldn't have gone wrong.

But... what if you died? König wouldn't know how to deal with the feelings associated with your death, knowing that he had loved you from afar yet never acted on it. At least he'd be able to keep his shameful secret a secret, and you'd pass away never knowing what he truly saw you as, truly thought of you.

He had little time to figure out what was causing the trepidation to stiffen his muscles as the helicopter suddenly swerved and lowered, landing kilometres away from the designated building yet on unstable ground nonetheless. Any moment soldiers could attack it if they had known the group's location, so the blades kept spinning and the engine kept running for an immediate getaway.

König assumed authority. "Everyone remember the plan?"

Four heads nodded in sync.

"Gut. Then you all know what to do. I will enter from the side with my Lieutenant—" he said, gesturing with his head at a masked operator beside you, "—while you three—" referring to you and two others you were only vaguely aquainted with, "—storm from the back. Ja?"

König's eyes stalled on you for a moment longer than necessary. You were going to be alright, he told himself. He'd keep you in his field of vision and could provide you with cover once you regrouped when you'd really need it.

"A quick extraction," he reminded, eyes stern yet heart disbelieving. "Simply go in, get the data, and go out."

A final nod of the head from König as he and his associate separated from your group. You headed towards the back of the building, fully alert, aiming behind corner incase there had been someone waiting to assassinate you.

Doors creaking as one of the men pushed, the three of you filtered in noiselessly, attempting to be as discreet as possible and wincing when the door slammed not so quietly. Guns cocked and silencers attached, you advanced in a line, blending in to the shadows.

As you walked, there were no signs of life, and the storehouse seemed abandoned. No machinery was being operate. No voices could be heard.

All was still and quiet.

Eerily quiet.

Feeling the hairs on your arms and neck stand on end, you shuddered. You made eye contact with one of the men in front of you who had more expertise, and he looked on edge, eyebrows creased in focus under his balaclava. None of this felt right.

Suddenly, something small rolled over towards you all. Blinking once, twice, you let out a panicked scream and dived for cover.

"Grenade!"

All hell broke loose.

Bullets ricocheted over your head, guns blasting from so many directions you couldn't pinpoint their source.

Slowly recovering from your momentary shock, you gripped your rifle tight and started shooting back, hidden behind a load of wooden crates. When you saw your hooded colonel crouching in a corner, you relaxed. With an encouraging nod from him, that was all you needed to go change positions, and you lunged forward. All was going smoothly at that point.

So engrossed in eliminating the threats in front of him, however, König only came to the realisation that you weren't there when he didn't see your figure in his peripheral vision.

Panic consumed his senses and circulated through his veins. All at once, he was frantically scanning the immediate area, searching for any trace of you.

You were thrashing and kicking as you were being pulled by rough hands, your fingers reaching for your holster through gritted teeth, yet it was just out of grasp. You were thrown harshly against the wall, and the enemy towered over you, feeling high from his power trip and excited to exert authority he had never had up to now.

Just as a knife made its way to your throat, your hand finally found your side arm and shot a bullet between his eyes, body falling on top of you like a sack of potatoes.

You convulsed involuntarily, hyperventilating under his weight and the sudden situation. Noting your surroundings, your heart sank.

You were in no man's land, full view of soldiers shooting at your team. The extraction point was just in sight, exactly how and where it was illustrated on the blueprint.

So far, no one had noticed you, too preoccupied aiming down their sights to see you shuffling under a corpse. You could enter those headquarters right now, could be proclaimed a hero of this story, and make your colonel proud and finish before schedule.

The risk was too big. You were bound to get shot.

Yet, against all better judgement, you dashed for the entrance, taking advantage of the element of surprise as three men turned towards you with wide eyes, not expecting to see you enter. Two were haphazardly shoving papers into a half-open folder thrown on the table.

Three shots fired before they could scramble for a gun, you rushed towards the desk. Scanning the material, your eyes widened in shock. This was it.

Now, your only choice was to crawl back into the line of fire. Soldiers still kept shooting with their backs turned, endless ammunition right at their disposal.

You were totally helpless on your own. Just one pair of wandering eyes from the enemy and just one shot in the back of the head would be all that would take to end your life at that moment and make all of your efforts go to waste.

Although an atheist, you mouthed a silent prayer, before taking a deep breath, and sprinted.

Seeing sudden movement headed towards him, König acted on instinct, and pulled the trigger on you.

His heart stopped.

Time slowed as your body fell in slow motion, more bullets piercing through your gear.

Realising his mistake immediately, he almost vomited his own stomach out at seeing you fall lifelessly on the ground, eyes wide and body dropping on impact.

"Scheisse, cover me, verdammt!" He yelled over his shoulder, all rational thought ceasing.

Breathing rapid and strained, he rushed towards you, gently wrapping his arms around your body — growing weaker by the minute — and headed straight for the first sign of cover he could see. Behind unstable and temporary refuge that could be blown to pieces, König was at a loss at what to do.

He had expected everything, evaluated every possible scenario, every possible outcome, even prepared a lifeline for you on the off-chance that you'd be injured in action.

Yet he hadn't anticipated that he would be the one to shoot you. Never.

Shaking violently, König could barely get any words out. "—S-schatz, please please please—"

Hesistant hands hovered over your wounds, conflicted, as blood was staining your uniform, wrenching König's heart. His mind kept repeating you did this. You did this. You did this.

You needed urgent aid, and you needed it right now, yet he didn't deserve to touch you, his hands clenched into fists as he didn't want to break you further, treating you like fragile glass that could shatter into pieces under his touch if he so held you.

He was the one that did this to you. You, the young recruit he was so hopelessly infatuated with, a person who he had cherished and loved from afar, the person who made him feel good things for the first time ever in his life.

He did this to you.

He was the monster in your closet, the threat that König had desperately attempted protect you from all this time, the threat that you were told to eliminate on this mission. The enemy.

The enemy that had mistakenly shot you.

"Es tut mir so leid, I'm so sorry—" König's mind couldn't function properly, speaking in broken mix of English and German. He couldn't gather his thoughts, couldn't think.

"—I'm so so so sorry. Please don't die, bitte vergib mir, forgive me, forgive me, schatz. Forgive me. Ich liebe dich, schatz, do you hear me? I love you."

Bullets whizzed past you both relentlessly, both of you still caught in crossfire. König's lips were moving yet you couldn't hear what he was saying to you, couldn't feel anything as you slowly lost consciousness, slowly closed your eyes.

A calloused hand tapped your face in desperation, your vision blurred.

"—Nein, nein, King! Stay awake! I'm calling for the re-enforcements now! Please, don't die on me— I'm so sorry..."

Shaky yelling through the walkie-talkie, voice cracking. "This is your colonel, König! We're retreating right now! One of ours is wounded! Send the re-enforcements right now to this location! I repeat, we are retreating! I am calling this mission off!"

"What? Are you crazy, König?!" A break in character from the commander, before immediately assuming professionalism once more. "Proceed with the mission! You are on the verge of breaking their defenses! You will enter their headquarters and be able to—"

"Nein. That was an order, commander," he hissed through gritted teeth, nearly crushing the device in his death-grip. "We are retreating. I am calling this mission off."

A pause. Then: "Copy that, colonel. We are sending your re-enforcements to cover you as you exit. Your helicopter is waiting. Hold out for thirty seconds longer."

Sighing with relief, he suddenly thought his heart stopped beating when he saw you laying there motionlessly, eyes closed. Desperately tapping at your cheek did nothing to awaken you. He prayed that you'd survive, willing time to go faster.

At last, loud whirring from above gave him the only comfort. Not waiting a second longer, König picked up your limp body and dashed outside, the helicopter lifting off as the rest of the crew threw themselves inside.

Opening your vest to inspect your wounds, he saw a blood-soakes folder secured tightly to your chest.

It was the data. You risked your life for the mission. You risked everything to accomplish the task and he had shot you anyways.

"—This is your colonel, König. We have the data. Mission accomplished, I repeat, mission accomplished. King has the data."

The radio crackled with an indistinguishable response, yet König heard nothing, blood rushing to his head and ringing persisting. Medics wasted no time to wheel you into an operating room, tearing your limp body away from his arms. He avoided the celebrations and cheers for their colonel, leaving everyone dumbfounded at his reaction. Shouldn't have he been proud? The mission was a success!

Yet the mission wasn't a success, and if anything, he felt shame. No one knew why their colonel holed himself up in his room aside from himself.

The news of you in critical condition in the hospital broke König.

As much as he wanted to see you, to check on your health and be the one to see your first signs of recovery, he couldn't. He couldn't bear to witness the colour drained from your face as you laid unmoving on the bed, the slow beeping from the heart rate monitor machine the only indication that you were alive.

He just couldn't. Not when he caused this. Not when he fucked up this much.

Using the gym as a coping mechanism for a while, he trained harder and more often than ever before, only wishing to make the pain go away. When he wasn't at the gym all throughout the day or at odd hours of the night, he'd toss and turn in his bed, having nightmares about your body bleeding out below him as the shot relentlessly echoed in his head. Or worse, he'd imagine himself shooting you again, only this time he'd find the barrel of his gun was aimed at your forehead execution-style, your unassuming face suddenly exploding into bloody pieces and what was left of your bewildered expression still remained even after he had pulled the trigger.

At those, König would spring upright, screaming "No!" in anguish.

He'd be panting heavily, bedsheets drenched in his own sweat and feeling like he was suffocating with each rise and fall of his chest. When the situation sunk in, he'd clench his fists so tightly his knuckles went white, shaken to his very core. On those nights, König wanted nothing more than to hurt himself, to compensate for the injury he inflicted upon you and how he had completely disgraced you.

At one point, when he had finally had enough, in his blind craze snatched the pistol laying by his bed, flicked the safety off and aimed it at the same place he had shot you, just to break down in despair when no bullet came out, the clip hidden in his bedside drawer.

Hand tightly squeezing his heart through his soaked t-shirt, he was repulsed by the fact that he was completely healthy and could walk freely while you lay injured and dying.

Under his watch, you had been injured. Under him, your body had crumpled. And it was his fault.

In emotional turmoil, he soon lost all ability to function. He couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, and could hardly find the motivation to get out of bed most of the time, convinced that he had killed you, convinced that he was a monster. Responsibilities were kept on hold, the next best person taking his place. No one questioned the new arrangement, despite the shared confusion from everyone on base.

He couldn't take this. He couldn't take this any longer. He would have rather died, sacrificed himself in any way possible if it meant that you could live another day, as you could make a greater impact on the world than he ever could. Could be a better person than he ever could.

It was his fault. He shot you. He had shot you. He had shot the recruit that he had hopelessly fallen in love with, yet only he himself was to blame for it for his lack of control, for his inability to be unaffected by his feelings.

One day, a knock on his door pulled him out from his trance.

Prior to the interruption, König was staring at the cement wall, his eyes unfocused, completely still and barely breathing. He wasn't himself.

Immediately straightening his legs and nearly tearing a tendon from how fast he got up despite having been so inactive for the last few days, he stomped quickly towards the door, his face glum yet eyes glinting with the merest hint of hope.

Hand reaching for the handle, he had readied himself, expecting bad news coming from a surgeon wearing a medical mask and a blue uniform, a solemn expression as they devasted him with your passing.

All but the latter was true.

"Colonel König, sir. The patient is awake. You may now visit them if you so wish."

Blinking a couple of times, König thought he had heard incorrectly.

"...P...Pardon?"

Repeated were the words that König was shocked to hear.

"King is awake, sir. Their condition is a stable one. Our team thought to notify you first since you were on the mission with them."

Gasping, König could barely breathe. He felt like he was drowning, drowning despite his head breaking out from the water. "What... I... where?"

"Ground floor, room twelve. They're on medication as of this moment yet are fully awake."

König nearly fell to his knees. You were alive!

You were alive! He hadn't killed you! He thanked the Gods, and could barely keep composed, barely able to stop himself from dashing to the center of base and yelling into the sky in pure joy.

"I— thank you... so much."

Running faster than he had ever ran in his whole life, he was at your door in minutes.

Yet, as his fingers reached for the door knob, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, hand poised mid-air.

What if you didn't want to see him after the whole ordeal?

What if you resented him, and would spit in his face the moment he walked in?

What if you hated him, and wanted nothing to do with him ever again?

Hesistantly knocking twice, he nearly had a heart attack when your voice broke through the door:

"Come in," you called simply; your voice was hoarse, but it was clearly still you.

Taking a deep breath, König pushed the door open.

There you were. He was having heart palpitations at seeing you awake and looking at him.

The light coming through the open curtains made your skin glow despite how pale you were, eyes sparkling and crinkling in happiness despite the dark circles and heavy bags under your eyes, hair splayed out behind on your pillow, resembling a halo, despite how greasy it was.

He had missed you. So much.

Then his heart sunk as he reminded himself that he was the reason for why you were here, why you were in in this state to begin with.

Seeing König, You shot him a daring smirk despite how numb your face felt. "Hey, König, sir. Did you visit me at all? I'm sure you missed me."

Waiting in anticipation, you kept looking at him excitedly. At the lack of response and his refusal to meet your gaze, it faded completely. "—Wh—what? You—"

"Not— not even once? Not—"

Tears were welling up in your eyes. "—you didn't come see me even one time?"

Maybe you shouldn't have gotten your hopes up. Maybe you should have thought that König would not have time to spare in his busy schedule.

Yet you couldn't not get your hopes up when as soon as you woke, your first thought was of König. Although the grim reality hit you hard like a bucket of cold water dumped over your head, you still wished to see him.

And yet, he hadn't wished to see you at all. He had avoided you like the plague.

"Scheisse—"

König started pacing the room, head hung low as he weighed the pros and cons. Indecision.

"—Do you really... do you really want to know why I didn't visit you, King?"

You nodded meekly, lip quivering.

He finally made up his mind.

If you rejected him, at least he'd rest easier knowing that you'd live, and continue to be happy for you from afar. He'd still support you, still be your colonel, still love you even when you found someone else.

"I... I put you in this position, King... It was all my fault," he begun, his voice barely above a whisper.

Tone softed as he finally stopped, as still as a statue, a metre away. From this angle, you saw how bloodshot his eyes were, how they sagged in sadness, how dark circles had formed from lack of sleep. His pale blue eyes were dull, glued to the ground.

"Not only did I lose sight of you on the battlefield, I also shot you. Shot my own—" Pausing, not knowing how to refer to you.

He carried on. "I couldn't live with myself. I still can't live with myself. I'm walking, uninjured, as you are laying in bed, recovering from an injury that I am the reason for. From bullet wounds that were the result of me."

Voice hitching slightly, he tried to keep his breathing under control. But he couldn't.

"How could the monster that shot you enter your room and dare to look at you? How could I watch you cling to life, while I walk freely despite causing you this— this agony? What right do I have looking at you after putting you here?"

You allowed the tears to spill down your cheeks.

He stopped, eyelids drooping, finally meeting your eyes.

"I have feelings for you, King, I—" Trembling "—I do. But... I shouldn't be feeling this way. You have your whole life ahead of you and I—"

"—I've... aged... I'm not the same man I was before. I've witnessed things far too disturbing to ever share with you. I... I know that you should be with someone better and I—"

Although still in a daze and sedated by the drugs, your thought process was still clear enough where you could be sure about this.

Reaching with a tentative hand for König's larger and rougher one, you squeezed it weakly, looking up at him with a heartfelt expression.

König smiled for the first time in ages.

Through that gesture alone, König knew that you forgave him.

He allowed his breathing to stabilise, wanting nothing more than to start over with you.

...

Note: MY FAT FUCIIJF FINGERS SLIPPED AND I POSTED THIS EARLIER THANI WAS SUPPOSED TO OJ MY GOD I AM AN IDIOT 🤡🤡

Edit next day: how tmdid this fet 100+ notes im sobbing 😭😭. thabk you everyone for readijg this angst fest!!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

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betraumatizebaby · 21 days ago

Text

I Signed Up for a Quest Not a Wedding Registry! AU part seven

Previous = Next

Tw: Implied S.A and forced pregnancy.

Odysseus rested his head on Penelope’s lap, his body sinking into the comfort of her presence. Odysseus close his eyes and smile as he felt her finger run though his hair. The world beyond them faded; for once, he allowed himself to forget everything—everything but her touch. Only forcing on her. Suddenly, "He did something to you."

Odysseus’s eyes snapped open as he look up at his wife, there was something was wrong. Her eyes—once familiar and alive—had turned pitch black, hollow as the void.

"What?" His voice cracked, his confusion raw. Clearly doesn't understand what Penelope saying. "None of this is real." Penelope murmured, her face beginning to dissolve like wax under flame.

Odysseus scrambled to his feet as his surroundings twisted and decayed into a grotesque corruption of reality. Covering his ears, he dropped to his knees, as overwhelmed by a cacophony of voices invading his mind:

“None of this is real.” “You are not home.” “He did something to you.” “Please wake up.” “There is something inside—”

---

He jolted awake, gasping, his body drenched in sweat. Scrambling for the bucket by his bedside and vomit. Another nightmare. Odysseus wiped his mouth. His stomach churned as he tried to steady himself.

Was this normal? Had Apollo or Artemis cursed him with their arrows? Could a god even fall ill? His eyes drifted to the marks scattered across his skin—purple bruises and faint impressions of teeth. The sight churned his stomach anew. The sight sent a wave of nausea through him. He felt sick. Not just sick. Wrong. He wasn’t just sick; he felt… violated.

Odysseus tried to make sense of the dream. He did something to you. What did he do? Or, more accurately, what didn’t he do? The sickness didn’t fade, and an unsettling craving gnawed at him—fruits of all kinds, though none were available here. He supposed it was natural, given that his diet had consisted entirely of seafood. Well, not always, but it might as well have been.

Maybe he could ask him for some—no! He slapped himself lightly, shaking his head. No, he wouldn’t indulge this ridiculous urge. No matter how unbearable it felt (and it was unbearable). Curling into a ball, he gritted his teeth as the ache in his stomach intensified. He pressed a trembling hand against his abdomen, his breath shallow.

There was something growing inside him.

Fix the grammer and try to replace overused word:

Mpreg canon!? Well, not quite yet. I always planning on making one of them pregnant I’ve always considered making one of the characters pregnant since I’ve never written a story about someone experiencing pregnancy—let alone someone struggling through it. Odysseus seems like the ideal candidate, not only because he blinded Poseidon's son, but also because it doesn’t feel as fitting for the others (though that doesn’t rule out the possibility entirely).

Even though this AU started as a lighthearted "haha, the crew becomes gods" AU, I want to address sensitive topics, like S/A, with care and respect. My main priority is to ensure that these themes are handled thoughtfully and don’t cause discomfort or make anyone, especially survivors, feel invalidated—despite my tendency to make jokes about darker subjects.

Anyway. This is my first attempt at a mini-fic in this AU, so please, I would love to hear your ideas, opinions, and criticism for this AU!

#epic the musical #epic odysseus #epic the musical au #greek mythology au #odysseus epic #i signed up for a quest not a wedding registry! au #odysseus #poseidon x odysseus #odysseus x poseidon #Implied

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swallowedbyfandom · 7 months ago

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Portia had always assumed Penelope to be just like her father but clearly she is wrong. Her youngest clearly has inherited more of her cunning than Portia had ever dreamed. She had thought her too innocent and clearly corrupted by the Bridgerton ideals of "goodness" to understand that manipulation is the most valuable skill a Lady needs to survive society and marriage.

She had believed her daughter too fanciful and romantic to make a proper match. She understands now that her Penelope is in fact a vicious creature, she is also incredibly skilled and subtle. The kind of skilled that comes with practice and time. It was remarkable. She just watched her daughter call the season's most eligible bachelor a failure and she made him love her for it. She had not understood completely until Penelope explained it. That is how subtle she was. Christ, she is impressed. To think she had that type of talent just living under her roof all this time.

Curiosity makes her accept the dinner invitation Viscount Bridgerton sent for her and Penelope that evening. The entertainment she got from watching her daughter verbally spank the self righteous out of Eloise Bridgerton makes the entire night worth it. Looking at the besotted face on of the third boy when they arrived she already knew what the Viscount would want to discuss.

Penelope makes sure she looks the picture of untouched innocence when they head to dinner. One because she knows Anthony is going to claim Colin compromised her and they have to now marry. Second El is petty and will likely be dressed like a Cressida copy. She wants to highlight the difference between her and Cressida to Ant, Kate, and Violet by making her fashion choices look as vulgar as possible by contrast. She is going unravel Eloise through sheer manners. She is going to use her most gentle and airy tones. She wonders if El will make it to the fourth course.

Eloise makes her first move by insinuating how unwelcome Penelope is. "I must say I am surprised you see you here."

Politely I inquire, "Who were you expecting? You seem to be excessively dressed for a simple meal without company."

She lets Eloise stew while she enjoys her first course. It takes her more effort than she cares to admit to avoid blushing at the looks Colin keeps sending her. Luckily before she can embarrass herself Eloise butts in. "I saw Lord Debling's carriage outside your house today."

"How lovely for you. I did not know you were an admirer of carriage design."

Eloise spluttered at that. "I am not."

She continues to return El's volleys with the bare minimum of interest and information. It only takes until the beginning of the third course for Eloise to lose her temper. She snaps rudely and loudly. "I think Cressida will make Lord Debling a charming wife."

She hears Violet sharply call Eloise's name.

Finally she lets her composure slip. Colin can do with some healthy jealousy and Eloise needs to learn to shut her mouth. "Lord Debling is a true gentleman and a deserves much better than Cressida Cowper! "

"Cressida is not nearly so cruel as you make her out to be."

Harshly I respond.

"Cressida is exactly as cruel as I make her out to be. The fact that you do not see that, clears up any doubts I had about the end of our friendship. Cressida has spent our entire childhood verbally and physically harassing me."

"She has gone out of her way since I have come out in society to spread lies and rumors about me. To loudly deride my weight and appearance in front of suitors. She has spilled countless drinks on me and destroyed any gown she could see I enjoyed."

"Just this season she purposely tore my emerald gown forcing me to leave Lady Danbury's ball early or risk a scandal exposing myself, while you stood there watching like a mindless doll. She continued to chase after Lord Debling even after he entered a formal courtship with me. You assisted her I might add. You absolutely do not get to defend that vile girl to me. "

"Seeing how far you have fallen gives me second hand shame. We are friends no longer Miss Bridgerton, you will cease your childish attempts to provoke me. Feel free to never speak to me or about me again. I am a Lady and I will continue to comport myself like one even if you do not understand the importance of such manners."

"Good luck, Miss Bridgerton you will need it. Miss Cowper is fond of blackmail ask the Duchess about it, if you doubt me."

Rising to her feet she addresses Anthony, Kate, and Violet. "I apologize for making a scene in your lovely home. I believe I have worn out my welcome here. Thank you for the invitation but I believe it is best if I depart."

Violet is suddenly on her feet dragging Eloise off to parts unknown and ordering Greg and Hy to listen to Kate. Colin impulsive brute that he is, lifts her up bridal carry and walks off with her. Good lord, his fast pace is making her bosom rub tantalizingly against his chest. Gah she has terrible taste in men. That type of behavior should not be attractive.

Her mama and Anthony are hollering about propriety, liberties, and marriage. Honesty for a newlywed Anthony is still remarkably uptight. She would expect it from her mama but Ant is a reformed Rake. He should not be so easily scandalized.

She notices Kate is now nowhere to be found. God, she is going to be the only person with sense trapped in the study with three marriage minded morons. Well, this will be a delicate act to balance. She has a plan that Colin will no doubt do his best to ruin. He seems to be showing clear signs of Bridgerton obsession and general spoiled entitlement.

She means to stay calm and demure. Tragically Colin opens his mouth and ruins all her plans by being an utter fat wit.

"Do not worry, mother will straighten Eloise out. We will fix this. You and El will apologize and once we marry you shall be sisters."

She decided right then, she will take no prisoners tonight. The nerve of this arrogant boy! She shall shame him into tears.

"There will be no apologies. I am done with your sister. I will continue to be civil in public. She gets nothing more from me. Her behavior this past year has opened my eyes enough to see our relationship was not worth saving."

Colin sits there dumbfounded while Anthony and her mama settle in.

Anthony takes over, alternately apologizing for Eloise and scolding Colin for his behavior.

"Thank you for coming, Lady Featherington. It has been bought to my attention that my brother has compromised your daughter. I will of course see this situation rectified as soon as possible. I shall get a special license issued for them as soon as we come to an agreement. My family greatly adores Miss Penelope and will ensure she is well cared for."

Her mama's brows are practically in her hairline by the time Anthony is done speaking.

She interrupts before this can go any further. "Lord Bridgerton there is no need to offer marriage now."

"Miss Featherington my brother told me he has ruined your marriage prospects and compromised you last night. We are an honorable family. My brother will do the right thing and marry you."

She scoffs looking him in the eyes.

"Lord Bridgerton, I am not going to subject myself to rumors of marital entrapment to appease your hypocritical sensibilities. Mr. Bridgerton announced at my mama's ball that he would never dream of courting me. He has since returned to society and has spent the entire season kissing hands and flirting around with any lady under the age of 30. Your brother agreed to help me find an appropriate suitor. I have spent my season courting a respectable gentleman before your brother crashed his proposal for my hand. To accept a hasty proposal from Colin now is as good as an admission of guilt to all those who claim he has taken my virtue."

"I did not accept your brother's offer of marriage last night I shall not accept it tonight. That you seem to think I have so little self respect that I would agree to this is offensive. There are no witnesses to speak against my virtue, there is only speculation. I will not marry unless I choose to."

She turns to look at Colin's beautiful face, to memorize the way he looks at her with his heart in his eyes, before she shatters both their dreams. It is a gamble she is taking. If she is right, he will fight for her. If she is wrong then it is better to know now.

Colin takes her hands. "I do not understand. Help me understand. I declared myself to you. I love you. I want to marry you, Pen. You want to be married, you want to have a home, you want children. I will give you that."

He kisses her fingers after every sentence.

"I love you, I do. I have loved you in some manner for most of my life. However, I cannot marry you, Colin. I don't trust you anymore. What marriage can last without trust? And Colin, you don't respect me enough for marriage. You would not act the way you do is you had ever truly respected me."

Her beloved Colin kneels before her once again. As she continues.

"You claimed you have wanted me for weeks and I believe you. I knew you wanted me. You have never been able to hide your feelings from me. However you wanted to impress Stanton and Fife more. Tell me Colin, did you hesitate because you were unsure or did you hesitate because it was Penelope Featherington?"

"God, Pen. Stop. It is not like that. What cause I have given you to doubt me so?"

"You promised to protect me Colin, and less than an hour later you had thrown me under a carriage to boast your status among men you have told me you do not respect. Whether you admit it or not you believed yourself above me."

"I ignored you after you made a mockery of me last year to your peers. More so when you came back like an entitled peacock and attempted to use that false charm on me. That you thought your new looks and Rake mannerisms were enough to make me fall at your feet was most disappointing."

"I gave you a chance after you gave me a sincere apology. You told me you were not the same man you were last season when you apologized. You were partially correct, you are much more self aware this season. However Colin, you are still making the same mistakes. You claim to be a proper gentleman but you associate with the most classless individuals you can find. Men whom make sport of despoiling ladies? If you sleep with dogs you will get fleas, Colin."

"Last year I looked at you and thought you were astonishing. A special breed of gentleman who honors his words with actions. I had thought you were one of the few who understood the value of a lady beyond bed sport. In short I thought you were special, Colin. A man worthy of my regard. This season I looked at you and thought you common."

"I have watched you swagger about playing pretend as a cautionary tale. I look at you and it scares me to see what happens when one tries to gain validation from society. I had wondered where all your bravery went? You spent time encouraging me to be myself all while hiding away the best parts of yourself. What is the point of fitting in if it leaves you so exhausted? You have been miserable, Colin. So I have to ask, do you dream of me?Or do you dream of the security I provide for you?"

Colin looks pained as he interrupts her monologue. "Darling, please. Do not for a second doubt my feelings for you. I love you to your bones. If I am hasty it is because I want to begin our lives together."

She allows herself to gaze deep into his eyes before continuing.

"How can I know that? You have changed Colin! I am not speaking on your physical changes. That is a minor superficial change, that matters not to me. I am speaking of your... " " I am speaking of.."

She inhales deeply before she cups his face in her hands . She lets out a whispered plea.

"Tell me Lord Fife is lying. Tell me you have not become one of the unsavory cads you have warned me against. Tell me you do not frequent the brothels. Tell me you have not fallen so far. Tell me you are not claiming to have loved me while making merry in such a place. "

Colin wraps his arms around her waist while he weeps into her lap. His loud wails her answer. Her mother, Anthony, and Violet watch appalled. She distantly wonders, when did Violet show up?

She whimpers in distress. "Oh. I hadn't wanted to believe it. You have spoken so strongly against the practice before. You warned me a true gentleman would never expose his lady to such a health hazard. What does it mean Colin, that you would risk me?"

"You have watched me all season with heated eyes of intent. Yet you never came to call. You have never declared your intentions. You did not court me as is proper, as I deserve. You have done nothing I have been taught to expect from a gentlemen who is serious about taking me to wife."

"I am no mistress Mr. Bridgerton. Yet I feel as if you have been pursuing me as one. I shall not abide by such behaviors. I have standards and you have not met them."

If possible his weeping gets louder. She has never seen Lord Bridgerton look so horrified.

"I am going to go, now. Please, release me. Your touch makes me feel cheapened."

She allows some delicate sobs to escape. Her Colin weeps so harshly his entire frame and hers shakes with it. He pleads with her almost hysterically. "There has been no one else once I realized my feelings for you. I went with them but I did not partake. I have not sought any ladies since I realized I want to marry you. I swear. I shall visit the physician. I shall visit two physicians. I shall court you properly. None shall doubt our union. I shall fix this, I swear it."

She reaches for Violet and allows herself to break down in her arms. She feels terrible that she has subjected his mother to this scene. However Colin is a mama's boy the shame of her knowing of his misdeeds will be a lesson he will never forget. She can feel Violet's tears run into her hair as she tries to soothe her.

"Oh, my dearest Penelope. Just let it all out. I will make sure he grovels appropriately. Agatha and I will handle anyone who questions your virtue, due to Colin. That Cowper girl will not be allowed on our estate anymore, my darling. I had no idea she was harassing you so. It is okay, darling girl."

She will miss Violet and Hyacinth the most when she goes. She is leaving at the end of this season either for a honeymoon or for country living. She just wants her freedom.

Her mama rings for tea and cake when they get home. Luckily her mama gives her time to change into a comfortable nightgown and banyan. She wants rest so she can be nice and refreshed for tomorrow's schemes. Also there is a ball tomorrow night and Penelope intends to look divine for it.

They sit in Portia's tacky sitting room sipping tea in silence for a while. Portia seems to lose her patience after their second cup of tea.

"Penelope have you taken leave of your senses? Why would you deny a Bridgerton match? Why would you address such a topic? Why?"

She lets out a deep sigh. She imagines, I wanted to, is not an answer her mama will accept.

"Colin expected to be my husband but has done nothing to earn me. I will not have him until I feel he has atoned for his previous mistakes. He has had years to open his eyes and see me. That he did not notice me before is not a crime. That he noticed me and carried on like a coward is."

Her tone is more callous the longer she speaks. Frankly she doubts her mama wants to hear that she brought up Colin's whoring to deflect attention from letting him pleasure her in the back of a carriage. No. She shall keep that secret to the grave.

"I do not care for the company he keeps. Now that he knows that company is responsible for making him lose my esteem he will associate with them no longer. Plus Lord Fife has been working against him for years and Mr. Bridgerton is too naive to notice. I was providing him that notice. While also knocking him off his high horse." "Really mama it is a multipurpose attack. I torn him down with the shame of his own actions because his actions were shameful to me. His actions will reflect poorly on me. I will not marry some whore monger. He has always prided himself on being the perfect gentleman."

She shrugs her right shoulder, carelessly. "He is not perfect. He is just a man. He needed to be humbled. Frankly, he was getting too arrogant, too comfortable."

Her mother seems to evaluate her forever before dismissing her. She heads to her bed chambers with her mother's cackles ringing through the door. Dash it all. She will lock her door and windows and sleep this evening off.

#polin #unhinged penelope featherington #bridgerton s3 #violet bridgerton #bridgerton #anthony bridgerton #portia featherington #eloise bridgerton #unhinged #penelope x colin

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saltyyuuri · 1 month ago

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🖋️Writers Block 🖋️

Iso x fem! Reader

Part 1

PART 1 - PART 2 - PART 3 - PART 4 - PART 5 - PART 6 - PART 7

Words; 6400

Warnings; mentions of NSFW and vulgar language . This will be copy pasted on every chapter.

Authors note: ... I know I just said I have no mental capacity to write. And that I had a writer's block. Well guess what- my God damn idea is really a goddamn writer's block. Enjoy 😭. ALSO I HAD TO BALL PARK AGE TIME LINE SO PLS GO WITH IT TY ILY

ps2- this fic is roughly 32k words total- i think i have a problem. I wrote this is 2 days. k bai-

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"Okay everyone; this is my niece (Y/n), she's going to be staying with us for some time." Brimstone announced a bit absently, his mind was on something else completely. He had some paperwork to finish up but he still wanted to take a small moment to introduce you to the agents. "She's not a radiant or an agent, so don't mess around her too much. She just needs inspiration." Brimstone said before heading off- of course his lack of details on your mysterious arrival was going to leave everyone puzzled-and also going to leave you to explain it all.

It's not like you really have the time anyways to tell him he could have been a bit more precise- he was already gone the moment you were going to open your mouth. Your gaze turned to look over the group of young adults in front of you-all agents looking very confused your way. The barrage of questions didn't take much time before happening.

"Wait Brimstone has a niece?" "Inspiration? For what?" "Why is your face mildly familiar-?" "How long are you going to stay?" All the questions were coming in faster than gunfire-making you a bit dizzy on the spot. You were trying to keep track of all the questions and trying to see which one would be best to answer first- and you didn't even get a second to introduce yourself before a blue and yellow haired girl, who looked way too hyper, yelled out.

"OH GOD WAIT I KNOW WHO SHE IS-!!!" The woman yelled out pretty loudly. The other agents effectively shut up with their questions but also flinched at the sheer volume of her voice. "Neon, jeez, tone it down a bit-" A white haired girl said, a small grimace on her face as she spoke. Neon, the bi colored hair woman, smiled sheepishly before sprinting towards you.

You jumped a bit; not expecting the speed at which she was coming. You were still pretty new to all the radiants - so seeing powers in action was still strange to you. "Your the author of the book series 'That night in Tokyo ', right??" She asked excitedly, just wanted to confirm for suspicions. "Yeah, that's me-" you said a bit sheepishly-definitely not expecting someone to even recognize you to begin with.

The women in the room all collectively had a moment of realization- a look of complicity seeming to take over. And of course; the guys just look confused. "Oh damn- Brimstone's niece is the one who wrote that?" Jett said with an impressed look-but also a slightly mischievous one.

"If I'm being honest with you-I don't think he ever read one of my books." You giggle out - you caught on to that look of complicity that was starting to form, knowing damn well what was going to go on. "I don't think he would have said it so casually that you were here for inspiration if he did-" A woman with a Spanish accent and half pink hair spoke up, a smirk on her face.

And she wasn't wrong; it was obvious that Brimstone had never opened one of your books or at least read one entirely- because if there's one thing to know about the stuff you write, is that no matter if it's a one shot book or a series; there will always be erotic scenes. You weren't ashamed of it- actually that's how you got your fan base. There was always something steamy going on; but not constantly throughout the story- you didn't want it to look like Fifty shades of Gray either.

It was just mixing your creativity for writing stories no matter if it was fantastical, romantic, a police like series or even a horror book- you would find a way. And anyone who read your books knew it was going to happen - at this point it was almost your trademark.

Of course, the men in the room just looked very confused- no one knew who you were. It was a funny scene; looks of confusion all over every guy's face- and looks of complicity on every woman's face.

"So ... Wait, you're here for inspiration?" Neon said- her face shifting slightly to a slightly smug look. "Yeah; I got a bit of a writer's block recently. I just figured that if I went in a new environments, I'd get a few ideas. My uncle Liam- er- Brimstone - said I could stay over for some time." You briefly explain, chuckling slightly.

"Oh boy- you know, now I am curious to know how this goes." The Latina spoke up once again, a smirk on her face. Pretty much every woman in the room nodded their heads, once again that look of complicity going around. That was until one of the guys decided to speak up- a man with caramel colored hair wearing a suit and glasses.

"Well, chérie, if it's inspiration you're looking for, look no further~" He said smugly, smirking as he spoke. There was a short silence in the room before pretty much every woman started laughing, you included. The man looked confused, wondering what had everyone laughing so much, maybe a missed joke he didn't catch on to? "What's so funny-?" He asked, trying to read the room and understand what's going on.

The white haired woman, still snickering, spoke up to answer. "Well- you're... You're probably not quite the type of inspiration she's looking for, quite frankly." She snickered out, grinning widely. "Well, unless she writes something corny- never know!" Neon said, laughing a bit harder. You giggled along, shaking your head. "Oh god no- I learned my lesson pretty fast not to write corny stuff. The Press didn't like it-" you said with a giggle, remembering what had happened last time you decided to write something a bit corny. Your fans definitely made their voices heard not to do that again-

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You got set up in your dorm pretty rapidly, it was a small cozy thing; and your uncle had been nice enough to get you a good desk setup so you'd be comfortable when writing. You had asked him for a double monitor setup and specifically an adjustable desk- plenty of little details you want too sure if he would be okay with, knowing that you were probably demanding a bit too much.

But you were pleasantly surprised to see that everything you asked for was done. You made sure to thank him properly, promising to take him out for dinner, all expenses paid by you as a thank you.

You quickly set up your laptop, already trying to get comfortable and ready to start typing- but once again the writers block persisted. You had no idea what even to start with, not even a brief idea for a story. You had an Excel spreadsheet open, that's usually how you kept track of your story, the timelines, any advancements on certain chapters, the amounts of words written already etc.

It felt odd to not have anything come to mind, you just needed an idea- you could go so far off of a small idea. But nothing.

You had already been introduced to pretty much everyone, a few exceptions considering that some agents were out on missions right now. But it was definitely nice to meet most of the women agents, knowing that most of them recognized you the moment someone mentioned one of your books. It also seemed to become a slight game in headquarters- where the title of some of your books gets mentioned but no one mentions what's it about. The guys just look very confused while the women understood it.

You decided to head to bed for the time being, hoping sleep would help you come up with an idea or two. You have been to bed and snuggled in the comfortable bed sheets- falling asleep surprisingly quickly the moment your head hit the pillow.

The next day you woke up at the crack of dawn- deciding to go and walk around headquarters and get a bit more familiar with the place. You were given a brief tour, but nothing too in depth. So, you took it upon yourself to explore bit, deciding to bring along one of your notebooks and a pen, just in case an idea came through.

So there you were, walking around in jogging pants, a sports bra, hair up in a clip and wearing glasses, walking around protocol with a hardcover pink strawberry printed notebook and a pen clipped onto your sports bra. You were walking down Halls at random, just looking around with curiosity.

That was until you reached the practice range. Curiosity got the better of you and you pushed open the doors, peeking inside the part of the building. At first you saw nothing- and decided to just walk in. You looked around the multiple training rooms, one being set up like a gym, a few others looking like target practice for shooting ranges- and a few that looked empty but had some fancy consoles in front of them.

You never been in a place like this, so you naturally looked around quite a bit, curiosity getting the better of you once Again. You we're in the far back of the training facility when someone else came in, not hearing the door open or close while you were looking at some scrapped robots.

What did however make you flinch was someone speaking up behind you- you hadn't heard them approach either, so it caught you by surprise. You let out a small yelp, turning around almost instantly as they were speaking. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Is what the man behind you said- a tall Asian man with jet black hair and lilac eyes spoke.

You took a short moment before speaking - not only needing a second to get over getting scared shitless all of a sudden, but also to get over his looks. He was definitely handsome - but you had to remind yourself you weren't here for sightseeing. "Oh- uh- sorry- we haven't been introduced yet- I'm (Y/n)" you spoke clumsily, looking for your words every few seconds.

Sure, you could blame it on the fact that I was early morning and you weren't too used to waking up this early- but that would be a bold-faced lie. The man looked at you curiously - but his face stayed neutral. "I see. I'm Iso." He replied pretty simply, his hands being shoved inside his hoodie pockets.

"So, are you like .... A new agent here?" He asked you as he tried to keep a conversation, and you were realizing since you haven't been introduced he doesn't quite know you yet. You felt a bit stupid for not being a little more precise on your introduction, letting out a small sheepish laugh.

"Oh! No- sorry, I'm still waking up so I'm a bit slow haha... But no I'm not an agent, I'm Liam- I mean- Brimstone's niece, I'm only here for a temporary stay." You briefly explained, rubbing the back of your neck sheepishly. "I'm a writer and I'm having a bit of a writer's block at the moment. I figured if I changed environments I might get an idea."

"No worries." Iso hummed out, nodding a bit as you spoke. "So an author looking for inspiration... In a base full of radiants that are constantly dealing with attacks and protecting this world's fate? That's... A choice." He said, slight amusement in his tone as he spoke, small smirk starting to form.

"Look, I already did quite a lot of different genres, I just needed something new. I really can't come up with an idea these past months, so... Doesn't hurt to try." You hummed out, smiling as you spoke, shrugging slightly. Iso nodded, once more letting out a small hum. Silence settled, and then he seemed to decide to move along with his day.

He simply sidestepped you, heading to one of the training rooms that looked empty but had that fancy console in the front. He tapped a few times on the console before walking in, taking a small gun out from its holster under his hoodie. It seemed to be a custom-made, it was purple, red and black, the purple parts almost looking like they were glowing.

You decided to walk over to the glass, wanting to see what goes on in there, once more curiosity getting the best of you. The was was that suddenly appeared, making you flinch at the loud noise. Then, robots of various sizes that also seem to have guns we're starting to rush through the maze of metal walls, Iso seeming to keep a rather unfazed look on his face.

He moved swiftly, avoiding most of the robots, holding his pistol at the ready. Whenever he got a clear shot he took it without hesitation- and you watched as one by one the robots dropped to the ground. He seemed to do some fancy thing with his hand before a purple shattered light left his hand and touched a few robots. He swung the corner, shooting rapidly and watching us these robots dropped with only a bullet.

You were in awe, you had never seen radiant powers in action before- you were leaning forward and looking for the bulletproof glass with a lot more interest now. What seemed like a habit for him was all new to you, and it had you captivated. You probably watched him train for 15 minutes, both impressed by his powers and impressed by his aim.

That was until a few more people entered the practice range building, most that you recognize. They thought it was a bit funny to see you so awestruck by simple radiant abilities - but not holding it against you considering you never were exposed to this type of world before. A few agents taunted you to come and watch them, and you couldn't resist. Seeing so much powers all at once was an experience - as all the things you saw in this training range were only things you thought happened in cinema.

It amused the agents, but they could also understand your reality that to you- a regular citizen- this type of thing wasn't a regular occurrence. Even the non radiant agents, just seeing what they could do and the technologies they had, once again that was only things you assumed would happen in cinema. You ended up spending the day in the practice range just observing everyone, looking like a child with stars in their eyes.

When most of the agents were pretty much done with their trainings, some would come by and tease you a bit once again- notably Harbor, the agent who seem to have control over water. He had decided to splash you slightly, sending a spritz of water on to you. You ended up tossing your notebook so it wouldn't get wet- and he kind of realized his error afterwards.

Jett was the first to swoop in as Harbor apologized- grabbing your notebook for you and giving him a smack behind the head while shooing him off. "What a dick- I swear he does that as a joke every damn time." Jet said, shaking her head as she raised her hand, creating a small gust of wind, nothing too strong- just strong enough to help you dry off of it. Even though you weren't too happy about getting wet-the situation just felt out of ordinary if not out of this world, so you weren't mad either.

"If I was an agent I probably would have been pissed- but everything about this is just so. .. wow." You said, looking once more in awe at the powers on display. Jett chuckled, smiling widely. "Understandable - you're pretty new to all of this. Trust me- what you see here is nothing. If you would see this shit we do on the field- it's so much cooler." She said a bit smugly. "Buuut... You can't really come on the field anyways. You'd probably be shot dead within seconds-" she giggled out softly, lowering her hand to cut off the gust of wind she was blowing your way.

You were practically almost dry already, taking back your notebook from her and tucking it back between your arm and hip. "Yeah, most likely. I never touched a firearm in my life-hell I don't even think I could defend myself even with a knife." You hummed out softly, smiling as you spoke.

"You never shot a gun?" Jett repeated, looking surprised. "You literally wrote scenes with so much precise descriptions on shooting a gun- ... Wait, were you never curious to even try?" She continued, her head tilting a bit to the side. "The joys of internet, you can find people giving the most accurate descriptions so that you don't have to figure it out yourself." You giggled out softly.

"Makes sense." Jett responded, a look of understanding on her face while she shrugged. "Well- do you want to try? You are in one of the best places to try it out if you do want to-" she said with a growing smirk. "I don't know if my uncle would be okay with that-" you started off; soon to be interrupted by the man in question.

Brimstone had just walked into the practice range himself, and the moment he overheard the word 'uncle', almost as if it was a spider sense, he was making his way over. "What would your uncle not be okay with?" He asked sternly as he crossed his arms over his chest, looking over you and Jett with a stern expression.

"Can (Y/n) try shooting a gun?" Jett asked, seeming completely unfazed by the stern look he had. Your eyes widened a bit- you didn't necessarily ask to try either, and you didn't want to get in trouble for being insinuated that you were. Before you could even argument back, Brimstone let out a small laugh. "Sure, but not with you, Jett. We all know you give little to no explanation on gun security when you're in charge."

You didn't expect him to say yes this easily- though Jett was pouting for being a bit called out. "I can make an effort-?" She tried once again, though her attempt was a bit sheepish. "Nope, last time you said that, Phoenix nearly shot himself in the head because you didn't tell him how to put the security on the gun." Brimstone said, shaking his head once again. You shuddered a bit at the thought-a bit shocked at how casual he was when talking about it.

"It was one time-... You okay there?" Jett cut herself off from her weak argument, seeing that you looked a bit pale. "... How are you guys so casual when talking about someone who nearly shot themselves-" you uttered out, baffled as you spoke. The two of them looked at each other, a short moment of realization once again hitting them- of course the type of conversation looked insane to you, once again you weren't from the same world that they were living in- your own reality just consisting of living normally.

"Oh, sweetheart - it's a normal occurrence here-" Brimstone started off a bit roughly. "But- don't worry too much. We have healers, and one of them can resurrect the dead. It's fine." Brimstone said casually, waving his hand around a bit. "Say fucking what now-" you instantly retorted back- once again looking absolutely baffled at the news.

It was at this moment that the two realized that you would need a lot of getting used to when staying here- Brimstone and Jett sharing a look for a short moment. "Anyways... Let's get back to the radiant powers later-" Jett said, trying to change the subject back to the previous one. "So- shooting guns? Whatcha say, (Y/n)?" Jett asked again, making finger guns your way as she tried to get your mind off the radiant powers for a moment.

"Uh... Sure- yeah.." you replied in a slightly baffled voice, only halfway paying attention to what she said. Brimstone chuckled, then quickly checked around to see who was still around the practice range, seeing if somebody who he trusted was going to be capable enough to explain how a gun worked was still around.

He spotted Iso, who was still in the simulation room doing his training. Even though he was a bit unimpressed by the fact that Iso had been training relentlessly all day once more- he was some with glad that he was still here. Brimstone made his way to the simulation room, pressing the button to stop it. Of course, Iso instantly looked up confused, wondering who cut off his training and why.

Iso made his way out of the room, opening the door slightly, peeking his head out. He was pretty sweaty from the relentless training- but that was just the type of thing he did quite often. "Is there something wrong?" Iso asked Brimstone, catching his breath as he spoke. "Other than you still not learning to take a damn break- no. Just wanted to know if you'd show (Y/n) how to shoot a gun."

Iso paused for a short moment, wiping the sweat off of his forehead with his sleeve. "Yeah, I can show her. But I thought she wasn't an agent?" He said- putting away his Sheriff into the gun holster around his waist. "She isn't, she just never shot a gun in her life. Its more out of curiosity than actual training. I just don't trust Jett to show her- and I'd rather not have my niece traumatized on day one." Brimstone Snickered out, a grin forming on his face.

"Makes sense." Iso hummed, finally walking out of the simulation room. He grabbed onto the water bottle he left just outside the door, taking a few large sips. "Great, thanks. Just- do us all a favor and don't talk about radiant powers yet. She's still trying to understand that Sage can resurrect people, and she's just looking at Jett like she's crazy." Brimstone said with a snicker once again, but this time he walked off to his own training room.

Iso nodded, looking up at confused but not questioning further. He took another short moment to catch his breath before making his way towards you and Jett. Jett was talking pretty animatedly beside you while you still look a bit pale, but nodded along to what she was saying. Iso cleared his throat, catching both of your attentions.

"Ah damn it, of course you're the favorite child. Fine - I see how it is- the pretty boy gets the rights to teaching." Jett mocked him lightly, all in good fun of course. Iso rolled his eyes at her, but a small smile tugged at his lips. "I was the only one still available, mind you." He said, his tone casual. Jett snickered out Softly, then gave you a pat on the shoulder to encourage you.

"You'll be in good hands- Iso is one of our best shots on the team! But to be fair he was an ex assassin - so he had to be a good shot whether he liked it or not-" Jett casually dropped once again, as if this was just regular common knowledge to have. You choked on air- "fucking what-" you mumbled out through your coughing, Jett once again realizing that maybe she spoke a bit too fast.

Iso facepalmed, giving Jett a half glare before waving her off, wanting her out of his hair before she started saying more stuff that would catch you off guard. You looked back up at him, this time with a slight unease. It wasn't personal- but considering you were still new to everything, to their reality where this type of thing was just normal- it made you just slightly uncomfortable.

And Iso took notice pretty fast. "I-... Look, it was an old job-" he started off up at awkwardly, but then realizing trying to explain it was pretty futile. He let out a sigh- she would just have to wait for you to get used to this a bit more, whether he likes it or not. "Just... Just follow me." He mumbled out, starting to walk towards one of the target practice ranges.

You reluctantly followed- stunned into silence. You were realizing just how much seem to be going on in their reality- just how different your lives were. You were definitely going to need a minute after all of this to collect your thoughts- but for now you just followed along. He stopped at a certain range that seemed free- opening a heavy metal cupboard that was at the entrance.

There was multiple different types of guns hanging inside the cupboard, ranging from pistols all the way to heavy snipers and machine guns. You've never seen this many guns all at once, even less had the choice to even touch one. You didn't know if he was trying to offer you quietly a choice or if he was going to pick one for you.

Iso took the hint- deciding to just start off with a pistol. He figured it would be best just to give you something small to begin with. He handed you a ghost, one of the smaller pistols that was easier to control and didn't have any knockback. "Here, we'll start small." He said, handing you the gun. He showed you the proper way to hold it and to make sure the security was on- then invited you to go inside the practice range. He walked in behind you, shutting the bulletproof door.

"Alright, since this is your first time shooting, I'm just going to show you how to properly hold and aim the gun." He briefly explained, walking up beside you. He was nearly in front of you, just correcting your posture quietly, readjusting your grip on the gun and how your arms were up, using one of his feet to gently kick yours to spread your legs up a bit more. Then he finished off by adjusting your shoulders a bit- taking a step back to make sure he didn't miss anything.

"... Looks good to me. Take the security off when you're ready and fire away." He said, stepping back to be behind you this time. You nodded, pressing on the side button that deactivated the security on the gun. When you heard the click-you know the moment you pulled the trigger a bullet would actually fly through. You had a sudden Rush of an adrenaline, not sure if you should actually pull the trigger or not.

Your hands were a bit sweaty and you tried not to get shaky- then let some excitement through and pull the trigger. Since the ghost had a silencer on it, it didn't resonate as loudly as you expected- but you still flinched. The gun still had a small knockback in your hands that you didn't quite expect, taking a moment to get over the small adrenaline rush. You fumbled a bit, since your hands were a bit sweaty the gun had slipped when you flinched, and you were trying to hold it back up properly.

Iso came up to you once again, this time staying behind you since the security was off. He simply wrapped his arms around you to fix your posture once again- making you tense up slightly. He didn't say a word as he did so, only taking a step back once you were back in the correct position. "There you go." He hummed out, going back to lean against the wall behind him.

You took a few more shots with the gun, the first few just aiming wherever as you got used to the weapon, then you actually tried aiming at the targets- but of course not being that good at it. You ended up emptying a whole mag, only realizing once you pulled the trigger again and there was just a simple click. You lowered the gun, still feeling some adrenaline from it, you instinctively put the security back on even if the mags are empty.

"Good reflex." Iso noted, his head nodding towards the gun. He didn't even need to tell you to keep the gun pointed to the ground if you weren't aiming it or to put the security back on once you were done- a smile on his face as he was proud you just did it without asking. "Thanks- I mean I read a lot about shooting again before- so I already had a brief idea of gun security-" you rambled on a bit, forcing yourself to bite your tongue at some point to not look like an idiot.

"... That's definitely an interesting thing to read about-" Iso said amusedly as he took the gun back, a small smile still on his face. You realize that just dropping that information casually probably sounded a bit weird- immediately trying to backtrack. "I wrote scenes where there was usage of guns- I just wanted to write something exact without looking like an idiot-" you muttered out - once again biting your tongue. But this time not because you didn't want to ramble on about gun security-more like you didn't want to ramble on about the other stuff you wrote.

Because you may or may not have taken extra time to read about gun security for... Other reasons than shooting. But you were definitely not going to rat yourself out like that. Iso didn't seem to question it further, just looking amused. He brought the ghost back to the cupboard, looking like he was taking a moment to ponder before pulling out a different gun. This time it was a bit bigger-walking back in the room with it.

"This is a specter, its an SMG with low penetration, it also has a silencer and-" He started to say, then taking a short moment to pause. He realized that getting too technical with guns would probably serve no purpose, considering you weren't actually training. He instead decided to be more vague. "It's an automatic gun, it shoots fast. It does not that much knockback, but you're still going to want to hold it tightly against your shoulder."

You nodded, and he once again place the gun properly in your hands. He took the time to correct how you held it to make sure that you wouldn't have any issues- pressing it comfortably on your shoulder and once again just kicking your feet slightly to be positioned correctly. "... There. Now remember, hold the gun firmly on your shoulder. If it's not firm enough, the knock back is just going to hurt." He said, once again stepping back to lean on the wall behind you.

You were nervous once again, not that you had a bit of a bigger gun in your hands, you weren't too sure how to feel about it. But once again curiosity got the better of you, taking off the security and deciding to pull the trigger. You weren't expecting much- and the gun immediately went upward with the few bullets you shot. "Woah-" you let out surprised, taking your finger off the trigger instantly to reposition.

"Automatic guns do tend to do that, just try to expect it- and shoot a few bullets at a time, not all at once." He instructed behind you-arms crossed in front of his chest as he patiently explained it to you. You were thankful that he was being so patient-taking one step at a time. You nod and try again, trying to take his advice. It was easier said than done- you had no experience controlling this type of gun, and no matter how hard you try, you ended up emptying the mag while shooting generally above the targets the whole time.

Once more, you put the security on the gun while pointing it out the floor when you were done, handing it back. "Yikes- gun shooting definitely isn't for me. I'll stick to typing-" you said a bit sheepishly, hands still sweaty from the adrenaline of getting to shoot a weapon. Iso chuckled out softly, taking back the gun as he led you out of the target room.

He went to put it back away, securing it in the cupboard before shutting it, putting the lock back on. "Understandable. Don't worry about it too much, you're just trying it out anyways." Iso chuckled out softly, turning back to look at you. You were picking up your notebook, tucking it back in its spot between your hip and arm.

"When did you start using firearms?" You ended up asking curiously, looking back up at him. He paused for a brief moment, looking like he was thinking about it. "Hmm... Like since I was... 16?" He said, not sounding fully sure with his answer, looking like he was trying to recall exactly.

You try not to choke once again- surprised to know that he was handling firearms before being an adult. "Oh-... And how old are you now-?" You asked again, trying to give yourself a brief idea of his experience. "I'm 24." He replied, this time confidently. You we're trying to give yourself a brief idea of his life- considering the tidbit of information that was given to you earlier.

You got a bit lost in thought, and Iso quietly observed you for a few moments. He could see the gears turning in your head, at first just letting you trying to figure it out on your own, then deciding to speak up. "You can just ask, you know. I don't have much to hide." He said, a small smirk on his face as he spoke nonchalantly.

You flinched slightly in Surprise, your free arm going up to your neck to rub it sheepishly. "Oh- uh- ... Well then- ... How long were you a... Well- hitman?" You asked awkwardly, once more trying to not sound too weird when talking about it. This was all still new to you and you were trying to wrap your head around it without sounding disrespectful in any way.

" About 5 years. Started at 17, finished at 23." He said, nodding along as he spoke. You gave a slow nod, almost as if realization of his reality was slowly sinking in. 5 years where his job was to ruthlessly kill people? And yet he looked so nice- it just didn't want to register in your head. You once again quieted down- this time not staring his way to not look like you were oogling over him uncomfortably.

Iso once more broke the silence. "You know that pretty much everyone here has killed for a living before- or has to kill for a living now? Like the whole point of valorant protocol is to constantly fight-which inevitably means killing people." He said, cocking an eyebrow as he spoke in amusement, watching as you had a moment of realization.

You gave another slow nod, observing the information as you could. "Yeah... I'm realizing that now." You mumbled out with another slow nod. He chuckled out softly, amused to see you in this state. "Well, if you're going to be staying for a while, may as well get used to it." He said, smirking as he spoke.

"Well... On the bright side- can't have a better place to ask about realistic ways to write certain deaths-" You said, trying to lighten your mood by joking around a bit- letting out a small laugh as you spoke. Iso chuckled along, nodding with his smirk. "True. If you need ideas, you can ask. Or ask anyone- you'd be surprised the amount of people who've been assassins here." He said nonchalantly, shrugging. You simply nodded, trying to brush off the fact that there was more than just one Hitman in the group.

"What do you usually write about anyways? Would it be like police novels?" Iso asked, taking a small guess on what you could be writing-considering you talked about ways to kill people and gun security, he assumed you wrote police novels. Or at least, something in the lines of that considering it was what made more sense.

You didn't want to rat yourself out of course- and since you did technically write police novels (of course with your well know erotic twist in the novels), you just nodded. "Yeah, I wrote some police novels... I do a couple of different genres." You said, staying vague. Thankfully you didn't need to find a lame excuse to escape this conversation- your stomach loudly growled just after you spoke, reminding you you haven't eaten anything today.

"fuck- I'm sorry, I think I'll just head out to eat. I just realized I've been here all day- it's just now hitting me." You said, one of your hands instinctively going to your stomach as you could already feel a small cramp starting to form. Iso nodded in understanding, giving you a small wave. "No worries, go eat." He simply said, watching as you bid goodbye and left.

🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️🖋️

Back in your dorm, you ate something small and light, not much in the mood to have a heavy meal considering you didn't have anything else to eat all day. You ate a chicken salad, sitting on your bed with your open notebook, taking small notes. You didn't have an exact idea yet, but still, you thought it was interesting the things you heard about today, and you were noting it all down in hopes that maybe it could be used in your new book.

You continue taking notes until pretty late at night, just letting your mind go Haywire on the paper as you wrote-both taking note of all the things that Iso had said, keeping things in a reference from when you shot the guns, even noting some of the powers that you've got to witness by just observing the agents train today. All of it- you just took notes and hoped that at some point you'd have an idea.

When you looked up again you saw that it was 2 in the morning, forcing yourself to shut the notebook before taking a quick shower- getting through with your night time routine and then heading to bed. You ended up falling asleep around 3 am after all of that; meaning you were knocked out until pretty late in the morning the next day.

#valorant #valorant fanfiction #valorant x reader #fem reader #iso #iso valorant #iso x reader #valorant iso

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yanderecrazysie · 11 months ago

Note

Hihi! If your fine with it, Can I request part 2 of anonyance? I swear I can’t find Yan!Futakuchi fics anywhere in tumblr give my boy some love too 😭

Also can I be 💭 or 🥞 anon?

I am more than fine with it, my precious anon! And I don’t really keep track of anons officially, but you can be either of those!

And this is more than a drabble than anything.

Title: Annoyance (Part 2)

Pairings: Futakuchi Kenji x Reader

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, swearing

Summary: You’ve always found Futakuchi annoying, but he’s only gotten worse since you caught his attention.

Part 1: here

annoyance

/noun/

a thing that annoys someone; a nuisance

“That was a great first date, right?” Futakuchi asked, a smug grin spreading across his face. “I rocked your world, didn’t I?”

“It was alright,” you said vaguely.

“Alright?” Futakuchi spluttered, looking highly offended, “Stop being stuck up and admit it- you loved this date.”

“Stuck up?” Your voice raised.

“That’s not what I-” Futakuchi looked frustrated, running a hand through his hair. You had to admit, he was handsome, especially all dressed up like he was.

But God almighty, was he annoying.

The date had been nice- the restaurant he had picked was fancy, but not too expensive. He had paid the bill with a grin on his face that just begged for you to tell him how impressed you were.

It was the talk during the meal that you truly didn’t like. Futakuchi was infuriating. He spent the entire time talking about how great he was and all of his accomplishments. He barely even took a breath, much less a goddamn bite of his food.

The dinner lasted forever because of his incessant yapping, but you managed to tune him out a half hour in, focusing entirely on your meal. He never once even asked if you were enjoying yourself.

“Listen, the date would have been more than ‘alright’ if you had just shut up about yourself,” you explained.

Futakuchi opened his mouth as though to say something, then closed it again. He looked genuinely at a loss, as though he couldn’t believe you truly didn’t enjoy your date with him.

“Well, I have to go,” you sighed, turning away from him. He grabbed your wrist.

“Where are you going? I have to drive you home.”

“No, I’m just going to grab an uber. Thanks for tonight, I guess.”

Futakuchi’s eyes flashed and when he next spoke, it was through gritted teeth, “Why are you making this so difficult? I’m doing this for us.”

“Us?” You couldn’t hold back a derisive laugh, “What ‘us’? There is no ‘us’.”

His grip on your wrist tightened until it was painful, “You threw that ball at my face, remember? You’re the one who started this.”

You managed to yank your wrist from his grip and glared at him, “What the hell is wrong with you? Listen, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have thrown the ball at you.”

Futakuchi made another grab for your arm but you stepped out of his reach. He pulled his lips back into a sort of snarl, and glared at you, “This is your fault, so take some fucking responsibility.”

You threw your hands up into the air, “I just did, you stupid asshole.”

A sudden vulnerability etched its way across Futakuchi’s face as he reached out for your arm once more, gentler this time, “Look…just…”

He looked up at you with watery eyes, “You don’t have to love me right away, okay? I just… just please stay by my side for a while.”

You hated the part of you who was a sucker for sensitivity. You nodded reluctantly, “Yeah, fine, I’ll hang out with you. I’m not going to fall in love with you, but I won’t abandon you either.”

Futakuchi pulled you into a sudden hug. A soft smile spread across your face, until he whispered in your ear, “I knew you’d see reason.”

You could practically hear the smugness in his whisper. That soft smile was long gone.

He really was an asshole, wasn’t he?

#yandere #yandere x reader #yandere haikyuu #haikyuu!!#yandere one shot #one shot #yandere futakuchi #futakuchi kenji

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aeivyen · 5 months ago

Text

Steph Made a Maze, chapter 1

A vampiric romance I've been writing for awhile, but haven't shared (on here). Content warnings on this chapter for sex. If you've been here awhile you might recognize the characters, but it's def not important if you do

~~~

"Do you wanna go bowling with me?"

Steph wasn't entirely certain what she was anticipating when the guy walked up, long sleeved salmon-pink polo and khaki dress slacks not quite fitting the neon noise of the club, thick dark hair pulled back in a soft bun. It hadn't been that question. She stopped swirling the glass in her hand.

"I mean, sorry, you just don't look like you're having a good time? Every time I've glanced over this way you've been leaning against the bar and sipping at your drink, and you look bored; and I can't blame you, because I'm not having a good time either," he continued. Laughed a little, eyes crinkling. "My friends kinda dragged me here and then semi-ditched me. But I did some googling and there's a bar-and-bowling place just down the street from here, and you're cute, and I'd love to buy you some nachos or something and talk somewhere quieter."

He wasn't wrong, exactly. He talked fast, with a squeak in his voice like he wasn't used to talking over the crowd and the music. "Or I could leave you alone. I'm bothering you. I'll-"

"No, no," she shook her head, setting the drink back on the bar behind her. "You're not bothering me. I was just expecting some weird pickup line and you caught me off guard," she assured. This was the most interesting thing to happen in a while; damn, but she wanted to see where this went. "Bowling sounds fun."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

He laughed, and there was that crinkle around his eyes again. Then a nod as he slowly came to the conclusion that she was being serious. "Alright. Cool. I'm Tom, by the way," he offered a hand, giving hers a slight squeeze when she shook it.

"Steph. Nice to meet you," she pulled back, flashing a smile. Careful about the teeth. "Show me to the bowling place?" The hunting hadn't been going well tonight, and it had been for herself anyway; she could wait another day to eat. She'd gone longer without feeding.

Tom grinned. They lingered in the bar long enough for her to pay off her tab and for him to text his friends about ditching them. Then he brought up the directions on his phone and they were out in the cool night, the bumping bass fading into the background of the city. Steph sighed; that was always a relief.

"Are your ears still ringing, or just mine?" He hummed, breaking the quiet as they walked side by side, rubbing one of his ears.

"They play the music so loud! It's almost painful," she lamented. It had been physically painful the first several times she'd gone hunting in places like that, and it still was sometimes, but she'd learned to deal. "I don't know how anyone stands it."

"Honestly," he laughed. "It's not for me. If it weren't for being dragged over," he shook his head. Fixed the couple ringlets that had come loose. "I mean it sounds fun on paper, but."

"No, I get it. If I knew what else to do with myself I probably wouldn't go either." She sighed. Every once in a while she'd go hunting in a quieter bar, but the buzzing crowds generally offered better odds. "But clubbing is the kinda thing you're just supposed to like, right?"

"I get that impression too." Tom hummed, nudging her arm. "Oh, I see it: Up My Alley. Right there."

Up My Alley bowling and bar was a far cry from any bowling alley she'd ever seen. The crack of ball against bowling pin contrasted with relaxed bassy strings, the bar tucked up front with the shoe locker and lanes hiding behind it. Red velvety carpet and the smell of cheap nacho cheese. "Weird~ where's the funky carpet and the blacklight?"

"There's a little bit of an identity crisis, I think." He giggled, pausing with her at the door to take it all in. "I like it."

"Definitely interesting."

"Like a jazz club and a bowling alley had a baby."

A snort of laughter, and Steph shook her head. "Okay, well, let's get our bowling shoes and rent a lane, hm?" She waved him further in, and he ducked ahead of her just as they were reaching the counter so he could pay.

"Want any drinks or snacks? Nachos are still on the table." He offered as they changed out of their shoes.

"I'm not hungry, but thanks." She hummed, adding, "could go for a water if you go to grab anything, though."

"Water it is~ I'm gonna see if they have any ciders on tap. Meet you at our lane?"

"Meet you there."

Steph wandered over to the lane, poking at the little interface, nose wrinkling: touch screen. She was getting better with them but they still felt weird; whatever happened to buttons? Maybe she'd leave that for Tom. Went to pick out a ball next, testing out one after the next and settling on the heaviest.

Tom wandered over with a cider and a bottle of water, offering a grin as he handed her drink over. "One water for the lady."

"Thank you," she smiled back, taking it gently. It was nice that it was a bottled water. "I'm no good with the touch screen things; would you mind doing that part?"

"Oh? Yeah, sure," he hummed, sipping at his drink and tapping at it. "Not great with technology?"

"Doesn't come naturally." She shook her head, cracking the seal and taking a drink. "I find a lot of the app stuff confusing. No one labels their buttons properly anymore, they just kinda expect you to know what they're supposed to do based on color or placement or whatever."

He hummed softly, typing something in. "Yeah, that's true isn't it? My younger cousin tried to show me how to snapchat and I swear, it's all just swipe this or that."

"Awful." She made a face, cracking into laughter when he glanced over.

With a couple more taps to the screen he hummed, nodded, then stepped back. "I think I got it. It's your turn first, so why don't you go and I'll pick out a ball?"

"Sounds like a plan~"

It took a few frames worth of gutterballs for Steph to find just the right amount of power to use; it was safer to start too weak than it would be to overshoot it. "Ah, yes! Spare~" she cheered, high fiving Tom on her way back to the seats.

"You're getting it now." He giggled, fussing with his bowling ball while they waited for the pins to set up again. "So, if you don't bowl much, and you don't really like the club, then how do you usually pass the time?"

"Oh," she blinked, "well, I guess I mostly work. I do hang out at the clubs pretty often," she admitted, offering a slight shrug. "I mean, how else do you meet people, right? But, yeah. Mostly work."

"I get that." A nod. "What do you do for work?"

"That's a good question," she laughed. "It's, well -- I do a lot of odd jobs, academia related. Remote stuff. I've got a history degree specializing in the oral traditions of Central America -- or, what's now considered 'Central America'," she griped, blushing a little when he leaned in to listen. "Um, anyway. Mostly not to do with that. I peer review articles sometimes, or help out in the Writers Workshop at the local community college when they have their night classes."

"That's so cool~ I never managed to finish school, but it was a good time." Grabbing his ball, he waggled his eyebrows, knocking over all but two of the pins and cheering.

"Nice one~" Steph cheered with him as he walked back to reclaim his ball. "What do you do for a living?"

"I, ah," his cheeks colored in pink, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "It's nothing special. I'm an assistant manager at a little mom-and-pop grocer. Puts food on the table." He shrugged, fussing with his near empty glass before taking another sip.

Steph pat his arm. "Yeah? I bet that's a hard job, working with people all the time."

"It can be. Some people are nice, you know," he shrugged. His ball clattered back up into the return, and he picked it up. "Others not so much. I'm sure you know how it is: I get through."

"I get that," she hummed, sipping at her water. "Oh, you got this~ get that spare."

"I'll get it." He grinned, heading back out. He carefully considered his place, and his angle, and practiced his throw a couple times before actually making it. Held his breath during the follow-through. Steph caught her eyes trailing down his back and quickly refocused on the ball rolling down the lane. It hit just the edge of the pins, only toppling one. "Damn."

"So close! You'll get it next time." She assured when he came back, shaking out her curls and taking a sip of water. This was just bowling.

A chagrined smile. "Giving you a chance to catch up."

"It's so appreciated, I need it." Steph laughed. Watched the machine set the pins back down. "So, what kind of stuff do you do? In your off time, I mean."

"I watch a lot of movies," he offered, "does that count?"

"Yeah, that counts," she giggled. Sighed, "I need to watch more movies." Picked up her ball. "I see the trailers sometimes, mostly when my roommates are using the tv, and I always mean to watch the movie when it comes out but I never do."

"No?"

A shrug. "I guess I never get around to it. Feels like I'm always running around," she shook her head. "I read more than I watch things, but that's mostly because I keep a book next to my bed."

"I guess that's fair. I have a subscription to a couple of those indie movie websites, if that tells you anything about how much I like and watch them," he flushed. "Not in a pretentious way, though. Promise."

She snickered. Teased, "Oh, promise? Your taste hasn't evolved too far past the average moviegoer?"

"Nope," he popped the word, not quite holding a straight face. "I still watch all of the blockbusters, and they're mostly fine. They can be a good time."

Steph held the ball close, nearly doubling over when the humor caught up to them. "Then you'll have to give me some recommendations maybe. Can't promise I'll get to them, but," she shrugged, "always looking to add things to the list. Be right back; I feel like I'm ready for a strike."

"You got this!"

She did have it. Even got another and a spare before the end of the game, closing in on Tom's score even if she didn't win. "Aw man~ next time, next time I'll get 'ya," she promised, shaking a fist at his hammy little winner's dance. Then doubled over with laughter.

"Next time?" His heart picked up slightly. She bit her lip. "Wanna go another round then?"

"Night's still young," she agreed, checking her watch. Six hours until dawn. "I think they're going to be shutting down here soon, though. Maybe something else?"

His brows went straight up, and he swallowed hard. "Um, my place is only about fifteen minutes from here; we can watch a movie maybe?" His pulse was racing now. She didn't want to put a name to that; there was a pounding in her chest, too.

The night was still young. "Do you have anything weird but approachable?"

"I think I have just the thing," he nodded after a moment. "Do you need to get your car?"

Steph shook her head. "I took the bus. Your car?"

"In a lot down the street."

They turned in their shoes. Tom offered his arm as they left the building, and she cozied next to him. The night had gone from cool to cold, and he felt even warmer in comparison. Held her close, but not firm; the kind of light touch that drew back the moment she shifted even an inch away.

"Blue honda, right here," he pointed out, drawing away to unlock the car and throw open the passenger's side door for her. Went around the other side as she was climbing in. "Door's a little fussy, but it'll close so long as you're a little firm with it."

She was firm, and it closed easily. The radio popped to life as soon as he turned the key, a half-second of loud caterwauling music before he turned it back off. "Don't like that song?"

"Not really fitting for the mood." He breathed a laugh, shaking his head. Pulled the band out of his hair as he settled into the driver's seat, curls spilling over his shoulders. Fussed with the console and turned the music back up on something with breathy vocals and a jazzy rhythm. Reversed, pulled out into traffic.

Steph tapped her knees to the syncopated beat. "Catchy."

"If you like my taste in music then that bodes well for my taste in movies, I think." He scratched at the steering wheel. His complexion was soft and golden whenever the glow of the streetlights hit him through the window.

"I like this kind of vocal, where it's not like," she clicked her tongue, "smooth? There's a raw edge to it that feels real."

A lingering glance over. A lick of his lips, then he shook his head and refocused on the road. "Yeah, heh. I think I know just the right movie."

He parked at a quiet apartment block, not too dissimilar to the place she was living: all flat off-white paint, lights flickering, not quite in disrepair but past its better days. The broken elevator left them to walk up three flights of stairs to his apartment proper: not too cramped, furnished with worn-in browns and greens. The smell of incense and candle smoke and pungent cooking spices lingering in the air. Tom flicked on a lamp, warming up a corner of the room.

"Make yourself comfortable, please don't mind the mess too much. I wasn't really expecting company."

"You have a nice place." Steph hummed, taking in the pile of dishes and the scattered belongings on the coffee table he was hastily straightening; not much of a mess. Toed off her shoes, tucking them neatly by the door. "I like the posters."

He followed her eyes to the collection. Even in the dim light she could see the color in his cheeks deepen. "Oh, heh, yeah? The theater down the way sometimes lets me have those once they're done with them."

"Fits you, Mr. Cinephile."

A snort of laughter, and he covered his face. "Okay for the record those are your words, I never called myself that. You don't even," he caught his breath, biting back the protests. Shook his head. "Um, bathroom is the door on the right, down that way. Do you mind if I-?"

"You do what you need to," she laughed. "I'm good for now."

"Alright. Cool. Um, I'll be right back."

He disappeared into the bathroom, and she came around to take a seat on the little couch, sinking in on the plush cushions. Rubbed her palm against the soft corduroy texture. The small windows on the wall opposite overlooked the street, letting in light on either side of the television.

"So, um," Tom cleared his throat as he came out. "Do you need anything? A drink? I've got water, some juice," his hair was fluffed. Sleeves rolled up carefully. His belt was gone.

Steph bit her lip. "I'm alright, thank you. Is it just you here?"

"Yeah," he nodded, closing the distance and turning on the television; he smelled like cinnamon mouthwash and almond perfume now. "I'm pretty lucky I could afford a place just to myself. You said you had roommates, right?"

"Two. It's not so bad; we've pooled our money, so we all have our own bedrooms and we just share the bath and the main rooms," not that it was much of a problem. She shrugged. "It works for us. We're pretty close."

"That's good." He drew the curtains in. Hummed, "it can be really nice to live with friends." Sat next to her, started fussing with the remote, clicking through his movie apps to find what he was looking for.

She nodded agreement. "It's good for me. I lived alone for a bit; the company is nice."

"Yeah?" He glanced over. "How old are you?"

Her lips pursed; it wasn't the first time she'd gotten this question. How to play it this time? "How old do you think I am?" He made a face, and she laughed. Bit her lip. "You can guess, I won't be offended. Hint: I'm older than I look."

He took a breath, almost answered, then frowned and looked her over again. "28 or 29?"

She nodded, sitting back further into the cushions. "Good guess."

"Am I right?" He asked carefully. Then, when she didn't answer, started laughing. "Wait, no, am I right or not? Are you not gonna tell me?"

Steph laughed with him. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Come on," he pleaded, giving her a gentle shove. She doubled over, giggling into her knees. "What if I tell you my age? I'm 31."

She snorted. Sat up and fixed her hair. "That's a good age." Bit back her laughter into a tight lipped grin.

"Older? Are you older than me?"

She shrugged, then forced a nonchalant expression. "I told you, I'm older than I look." Glanced to the tv; silent trailer playing on half of the screen, rows and rows of movies listed underneath. "So what are we watching?"

He huffed. Shook himself out of it, fumbling with the remote in his off hand before managing to get back to what he was doing. "Let me pull it up; I think you'll like it. This guy builds a maze out of cardboard in his living room, then gets lost in it because it's bigger on the inside."

"Weird," she snickered. Pretended not to notice when an arm snaked around her waist, or how she leaned back into him. At least until the first scene inside the maze, when she gasped and leaned forwards. "Oh what? Oh that looks so cool."

Tom snickered. "Right?"

"How long do you think it took to make all that?"

"A few days?" He shrugged. "Probably depends on how many people were working on it."

With the quiet already broken Steph commented unrelentingly on the set designs, chimed in on the conversations happening on screen. Tom explained a couple of the visual effects he understood. Paused the movie when the question "what kind of maze would you make and get trapped in?" was floated. His, he insisted, would look just like an Ikea if it were only different set-dressed mud rooms. Steph thought hers would be a hallway where she could only walk forwards because everything behind her always disappeared; she didn't mention the smell of iron.

They eventually finished the movie. Put on another after because it was short and Tom thought she'd like the visuals, and there was plenty of time for her to still get home: three hours until dawn, and they were on the right side of town for the walk to maybe be half an hour if she hurried. Got caught up in a long conversation about the ethics of forcing ghosts to 'move on' if they were stuck in the living world.

This, obviously, had to be followed up by a mockumentary on the afterlife that was drier than either of them thought it would be. Tom made it halfway through before the yawns he'd been suppressing finally broke through his resolve, leaning on Steph's shoulder when he nodded off. She struggled to get to the end. Once it was finished she could see herself out, head home, get back to her normal life.

Tom was warm. His hair was soft where it brushed against her neck, a whisper of almond perfume radiating off it. Gentle rhythm of his heartbeat drumming, ever so slightly faster on each inhale, then settling again on the exhale. The movie was so dull, almost nothing was happening in the visuals. She could close her eyes and just listen to the rest, and she wouldn't be missing anything.

~~~

A far off sound. A bright light on her face. A gentle singe.

Steph winced. Cracked an eye open and saw sunlight. Hissed. "Fuck! Shit," threw something over her head. Tucked away under whatever cover she could. Squirmed underneath the couch cushions to get further away. "Close that! Close that!"

"Ah, um," Tom babbled. The sound of the curtains closing again. "Sorry! I didn't mean to wake you, I-"

"I, it's -- fuck," she muttered. "I'm, um, shit. I'm so -- the sun? I can't, I'm severely-" what the fuck was she supposed to say? "Allergic. To the sun. It's, um," she swallowed. There was a term for this. She learned it for just this occasion. "Solar urticaria? U-r-t-i-caria. Just like a minute of sunlight and I'll-" crumble into ash, "-get horrible blisters. It's bad. I basically have to be nocturnal. Oh fuck."

There was a long, keening, confused noise from somewhere across the room. Her heart was racing. Steph managed to poke the smallest of peepholes out from the cushions and blanket -- since when was there a blanket? -- to see the windows were safely covered. Sighed in relief.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that, um."

"You didn't know. It's fine. Just, um," fuck. She slowly unburied herself, cringing at the disarray she'd made of the couch. She didn't make it home. She fell asleep here and the sun was fully up; what time was it? Checked her watch and nearly choked: 11:50. B and Anthony were going to be so worried.

She pat her pockets; her wallet was in one, the other was empty. Where was her phone? Didn't she --

She groaned and buried her face into the arm of the couch. It was on the kitchen island. She set it there before she left to go hunting; it was still weird trying to bring her phone with her hunting.

"Are, um. Are you okay?" Tom winced from closer to the couch.

"I forgot my phone at home and my roommates are gonna freak out." Steph groaned.

"You could call them on my phone?" He offered.

"I don't know their numbers; I always just use the contact button," she muttered. Fixed her hair to look up at him. "Is it cool if I hang here until sunset?"

He took a breath. "Yeah, ah. Well luckily I don't have work today, so that's fine, so long as you're cool with me doing some chores? It's a chores day for me."

"Yeah, no, of course you can," she shook her head, "I can help with the chores maybe? I'm a wiz with a broom." She squeaked. Muttered, "did I really just say that?" Sighed and flopped her head back down.

An awkward laugh. "Oh, ah, I'm not gonna make you help me clean up. It's fine."

"No, I want to. Let me be helpful."

"Maybe let's focus on breakfast first?" He tentatively pat her back. "How do you feel about eggs?"

She cringed, and he pulled back. "Um, funny about that,"

"Oh, vegan?"

"No. Far from it. Just," she took a breath. Sat up properly. "I, um. I'm on this medical fast. I'm fasting. I won't be able to eat until tonight, which is fine because I'm on this weird diet for my health; I don't usually go into it with strangers."

He stared for a long moment. "Okay. Um, you don't mind if I-"

"Eat?" She finished. "Are you wondering if I care about you eating around me?"

A wince. "It just seems rude?"

"It's not. I'd be concerned if you didn't eat on my account. This is," she shook her head. Made a couple of vague gestures. "I'm used to this. This is just life for me." A short pause. He looked like a confused puppy, but one that was giving her the benefit of the doubt at least. "Does your bathroom have a window?"

"No. No windows in the bathroom, you're good there. Okay." He fixed his hair, the collar of his shirt; not the polo from last night, but an olive green satin that was almost a nightshirt. "I guess I'll just start breakfast for one, and we'll go from there?" He suggested, sighing heavily when she nodded.

"Perfect. I'm going to go freshen up."

Steph escaped into the bathroom. Rinsed her face with some cold water. Breathed through the buzzy anxiety starting to creep into her fingers: this was fine. Sure, she was stuck in some strange guy's apartment until nightfall. And the others didn't know where she was or what had happened, and she didn't have her phone to let them know.

Bright sides, bright sides: Tom seemed nice. Skeptical maybe, but hearing her out. She could do some chores with him and then maybe watch more movies? That had been nice. This was fine. It'd be fine.

She dried her face. Used the bathroom. Fixed her curls once her hands were clean and dry again. When she came back out the couch cushions were all back in their places. The smell of melting butter hit her first, then onions. Eggs. Paprika. Tom was humming softly over a sizzling fry pan. An apron tied around his waist emphasizing a curve she hastily looked away from.

"You have a nice voice."

He fumbled with the pepper grinder he'd been grabbing. His hair was pulled back again, exposing the hint of pink rising up his neck as his heartbeat stuttered.

She forced her eyes away and leaned against the far side of the counter. "Anything I can help out with?"

"You wa- heh, I," he shook his head, "You walk so quiet. Startled me."

"Sorry," she snickered, glancing around and settling on the sink. "I can start dishes while you're cooking, if you want?"

Tom gave her a withering look over his shoulder, stirring whatever he was working on. "You really don't have to."

"I'd like to. I'd feel weird just sitting around while you were doing chores, especially," she made a face. "You didn't exactly ask for all this. I mean neither of us did, but you're being a very good sport about it."

He took a deep breath. "It's thrown me for a little bit of a loop. When you came over I was kind of hoping you'd stay for breakfast," he admitted. The pounding in his chest was loud, she looked at anything else. "And it's not exactly what I was imagining, but I think we can still have a good time."

"I think we can, too," something fluttered in her stomach. She cleared her throat; no need to think about that. "I'm going to do the dishes unless you stop me."

A sputtered protest, "that's not-- my hands are full, that's not fair."

She stuck her tongue out at him, turning on the water to fill up the sink. "Don't burn your eggs please, it'll make the pan more difficult to clean," she teased. Rolled up her sleeves. The dish soap and sponge were conveniently next to the sink.

Tom muttered about her playing dirty, but dissolved into laughter before he could finish the thought. Steph giggled along as she got to work, listening as he finished cooking. Turned off the stove, scraped the eggs onto a plate. Tentatively set the warm pan off to the side with the rest of the dirty dishes. "Thanks."

"You should eat," she hummed, taking the pan to work on next. "And tell me what other chores we're gonna be working on today."

He sighed. "Dishes were the biggest one," he hummed. Took a bite. "I was thinking about doing the floors today. You know; sweep, vacuum, mop. Maybe dust. And I don't care how insistent you are, I'm not letting you clean my bathroom."

"Alright, alright," she snickered. "Have it your way."

He took a couple more bites, then winced slightly. "And, um. I was going to make bread today, but I don't-"

"Fresh bread's delicious; you should definitely do that."

"And I won't be able to share it with you! I'll feel bad."

"Come on," she teased, flicking a sudsy hand at him. "I'd love to help bake some, at least get to enjoy that process."

He pat at the soap bubble clinging to his apron. Opened his mouth like he was going to protest again, but shifted to let it go. Offered a soft smile. "Alright, alright," he relented. "Let me finish eating first."

By the time she finished up he'd brought the dough together. Turned to her as he rolled his sleeves up, "help me knead?"

"Of course~"

It was like riding a bike, sticky dough coming together as she found the rhythm again. Tried not to stare at his hands as they worked his portion into something supple and yielding. Bit her lip. "I missed this."

"You bake bread a lot?"

"I used to, ages ago," she shrugged. "Not allowed to eat it anymore so it's been awhile. Suppose I could make some to give away but," she shook her head. "You know."

"Yeah," he hummed softly. A long moment, just the sounds of kneading; the rhythm of breath and heartbeat in sync with hands against dough, dough against counter. "It sounds hard. All this medical stuff, I mean."

Steph took a deep breath. "That's life. Our bodies change, we change; sometimes there's a give and a take." She shrugged. Passed the dough from hand to hand to form a smooth ball. "I wouldn't be where I am without my limitations," she bumped his side, "and I kinda like where I am right now."

His heart stuttered, and she giggled with him. "I think mine is ready to rise; you have a bowl?"

"I- right. A bowl." He grinned, stepping away to grab one.

They left the bread to rise while sweeping the floors. Tom put on dance music just in time for the vacuum to come out; Steph took the opportunity to sing along while he couldn't quite hear her. Shaped the dough into loaves for the second rise. Danced and dusted. He ate a quick lunch, sharing a bottle of soda with her. Wiped down counters. By the time the oven was pre-heated and the bread ready to go in the apartment was as clean as Steph was allowed to help with.

Tom set the oven timer, untying his apron and taking the band out of his hair. "Okay, so, we have 40 minutes to kill before they'll be ready to take out. Should we watch a movie?"

"Sounds good to me," she grinned. Leaned back against the couch.

He fixed his hair as he came around. "Any requests? Something you're in the mood for."

"I'm not sure," she hummed, taking a seat next to him. His pulse sped up just slightly; fuck, it was thrilling every time. "I think I picked the last one, didn't I? Why don't you pick. I trust your taste."

"Okay," he nodded. Clicked through a couple of menus. Tentatively broached, "would it be weird, or too much, if I were to suggest a romance?"

Steph swallowed. "Is that something that's on your mind?"

"Maybe," he admitted. She could practically feel the heat radiating off him. "Is that okay?"

"It's," she sighed, feeling her own face warming. Fidgeted with the hems of her sleeves. Kept her eyes straight ahead on the television. "It's been awhile for me. I won't pretend it doesn't sound good."

A soft laugh, and he shifted closer. "We're not talking about movies anymore, are we?"

She dared a glance over. Bit her lip. "No," she sighed. Forced a laugh, held herself from shying away. "No, I'm not sure we are anymore."

"Okay," his head bobbed in a nod, eyes wandering over her face. Settled on lips. Flicked back up. "And if I told you I've been wondering about what it'd be like to kiss you?"

"I'd," something in her chest buzzed pleasantly. She couldn't help a glance down at his mouth. "I'd admit that it might've crossed my mind. Once or twice."

A nod. He shifted closer again, turned, his knee brushing over hers; her heart pounded in her chest. "We could satisfy that curiosity, if you wanted. I'd be more than okay with that."

She took his hands, squeezing softly. "It's been a long time. I mean, a very long time."

"Highschool?" He guessed, and she snickered.

"Something like that." She shook her head. "Go slow with me?"

"As slow as you want," he promised. Hands came up to cup her face; they were warm, soft. She licked dry lips, watched his eyes flick down again. He leaned in, looked back for permission; she gave a slight nod. A thumb ran across her bottom lip, and she pressed into the kiss that followed.

Soft lips. A slow, gentle kiss. She cupped his face, brushed against the slightest amount of stubble. Moved to soft hair. His hand moved down, then a grip at her waist pulled her closer. Heart beating hard in her chest. Loud in his. A moan.

When she pulled back to catch her breath he trailed kisses up her jaw, down her throat. She swallowed hard, lifting her chin to give him access. Moaned, twisted fingers in his hair. "Shit~ I-" Imagined teeth, broken skin, warm blood spilling. Pain and panic and bliss. Her breath caught in her throat. She flinched back, ducking her chin to hide her neck. "T-Tom, please,"

"Sorry," he moved away. Smoothed her hair back. "Is this too far?" Voice soft and gravely, dark eyes gentle and caring.

"No, just," she shook her head. Swallowed the memories, the want, back down. "It's okay. Just not my neck. Anywhere but," caught her breath, pressed their foreheads together. "It's more intense than I thought."

"We can stop." He assured, snickering when she peppered kisses over his cheeks. Hands tightened on her waist. "Or we can keep going?"

"I'd like to keep going."

Tom kissed her, long and sweet and yielding when she deepened it. She squeezed his shoulders, twisted fingers in his hair. His trailed up, brushed underneath the hem of her shirt. Pulled away enough to meet her eyes. "Is this okay? Can I take this off you?"

"If we take this off you," she fussed with the buttons on his shirt, biting her lip when undoing it exposed some hair on his chest. Felt the thrum of his heart through his ribs. He laughed, pulling her hands up and kissing her palms. "Fair is fair, right?"

"Fair is fair."

His shirt went first, then hers went over her head. Her fingertips ran though chest hair, traced a soft stomach. He ducked to pepper kisses down her chest, at the edges of a simple black bra. Straddled her waist. She groaned when he pressed her back, moving down her stomach. Buried her hands in his hair.

"Is this okay?" His breath on her waist, fingertips sinking beneath her waistband.

"Yes, yes, yes." Steph swallowed hard. Lifted her hips when he slipped the material down. "Fuck, Tom," she keened, turning to cover the blush creeping up her face. He moaned, sunk lower, settled on his knees beside the couch. Sucked at her hips. Gently parted thighs. "Tom,"

"You're beautiful~" He paused in his ministrations, looking up at her. "Is this alright? Not too much?" There were goosebumps where his thumbs rubbed over her leg, tracing light scars.

She forced a couple hard breaths. "It's good. It's alright. I- fuck," dissolved into a long sigh when mouth found skin again. A tongue traced her lower lips, around her clit. She balled her hands against the couch cushions. "Fuck."

Steph's head spun as he ate her slowly. She'd been savored before, but not like this. Her hearing caught on his soft groans, on the excited heaving of his chest. The far away sound when she whined his name, when he drew a moan or a pant out of her. On the oven timer beeping and the soft curse that followed.

He laughed lightly, "oh no~" Leaned his head against her thigh.

"Come on," she sighed, rubbing her face.

"I know, rude." Tom snickered. Got up, kissed her temple and touched their foreheads together for just a second. "I'll be right back, don't want it to burn. Don't move a muscle."

"I'm moving all my muscles." She huffed. Stretched. Sat up, grabbing the blanket to cover herself. Heard the sink come on and looked back to see him washing his hands. He flicked the water off them, hastily tossed his apron back on, used a tea towel to retrieve the loaf pans from the oven. "They smell good~"

"Look good, too. Just gotta," he turned one of them out, hissing at the heat. Tapped at the bottom, nodding at the hollow sound. "Yeah that's done." Dropped it onto a cooling rack. Then the other.

Steph watched him, leaning over the back of the couch. "Your bedroom have a window?"

He stopped with the apron halfway off again. "It has blackout curtains."

"That'll work." She hummed. "Should we move over there so you're not kneeling on the floor?"

"I'd kneel for you anytime~" He smirked, hanging the apron back up.

Snickering, she ducked to hide her face in the couch cushion. Shook her head. "That can't be good for your knees."

"Aw, you're worried about my knees?" He giggled. Washed his hands again. "Let me make sure the curtains are drawn, and we can move to the bed. How far are you okay with going? I do have condoms: latex, and non-latex. Though," he rubbed the back of his neck, "probably should check the expiration before we use them."

She hesitated. "I'm not opposed to that. It's just,"

"Been a long time." He nodded. Bit his lip. "Let's take it a moment at a time. I'll let you know when it's safe to come in." He hummed, slipping into the bedroom.

Steph sunk into the couch. It felt strange being half-naked, alone on the couch in his living room, listening to him shuffling things around in the bedroom. She checked the time; sun would be setting soon. She'd have to leave and go hunting, check in with B and Anthony.

"You're all good to come in now," he called.

A deep breath. Called back, "be right there." Slipped her bra off on the way over. Maybe it'd feel better if she owned her nudity.

He was seated on the bed when she got in, mouth falling open as she stepped through the door. There were candles lit on the dresser and the bedside table; already the room smelled like almonds and vanilla. "Wow~"

She laughed. Closed the door behind her, joining him on the bed. "It felt weird to be in just the bra. Do you think we could," she picked at his waistband.

A bark of a laugh, the bite of a lip. "Yeah. Fair is fair, I think." He nodded. Stood, stripped slowly for her. She followed the trail of hair on his stomach down; his heart stuttered at the scrutiny. Sat back next to her. "Maybe we start with kissing again?"

"I'd like that."

This time it was more heated, hungry. Steph traced hands over his chest, his waist. Heard his heart pounding, blood rushing, warmth just under the skin when she pulled away, traced lips over his jaw. He groaned, hand tightening on the back of her neck. She swallowed hard when he leaned his head back: an open invitation, a temptation he didn't understand.

Ducked to lavish his chest with attention instead. Fingertips traced down her spine; she shivered, moaning openly. Trailed a hand down his stomach, between his legs to be met with a gasp. "Fuck, Steph."

She stole another kiss. Guided a hand up to cup her breast as she stroked; felt him grow warmer, stiffer under the ministrations. His other hand found its way between her legs, thumb circling over her clit. Her knees went weak. "You," she panted, "said you had condoms?"

"Yeah," he swallowed. "You have a preference?"

"No preference." She kissed his cheek. "No allergies to that."

A nod. He moved her off his lap, grabbing one of the condoms he'd set out before. "Missionary?"

"Just come close to me." Steph beckoned, pulling them both to lie down. Helped to slip the condom on, kissing him hard again. He hooked one of her legs over his hip, and she groaned into his mouth when he pressed inside. Leaned her forehead into his, breathing deep as she settled into the feeling.

He kissed her cheek. "Let me know when you're ready."

"I'm ready," she promised, tucking a curl behind his ear. Moaned again when he started moving. Nestled close to him, one hand buried in his hair and the other feeling over his chest. His warm breath cascaded over her shoulder as he settled into a steady rhythm.

Before long the pleasure creeping in her chest made it hard to breathe. "Tom, I," she panted. Clutched him close, pressing him into her neck. Shook as everything spilled over into wave after wave of heat, of pulse, of tension and relaxation.

He groaned into her, rolled them over; thrust faster, deeper. Cried out when he came undone, trembling and nosing into her shoulder until she calmed enough to let him go. He laughed slightly. "Fuck, Steph." Pulled out. Discarded the condom.

She turned to tuck into his chest. His heartbeat reverberated in her head. Still moving hard, fast; always slightly faster whenever he inhaled, even as things slowly steadied. "That was so good."

"Yeah," he laughed. Kissed her cheek. Fixed her hair gently. "It was amazing." Another kiss, "you're amazing."

"You're amazing." She sighed. Closed her eyes to drink in this moment. Warm bodies, warm breath, soft skin; strong, steady heartbeat. A hand in her hair. A chin tucked against the top of her head.

Steph couldn't name the length of time that passed; maybe she'd been about to fall asleep again, but when he spoke it startled her. "You should probably go to the bathroom."

"Hm?" She blinked.

"You know," he cringed. Rubbed her back, "so you don't get a UTI?"

She laughed. "Yeah, yeah. Good call." Stretched away from him, shoulders popping. "And it's getting late, huh?" He glanced to the glowing face of an alarm clock, and she followed his eyes; yeah, the sun was definitely set now. "I should probably get home soon. Check in with my roommates, let them know I'm alive."

"Right, right." A slight frown, but a nod. "Probably a good idea. I'm sure they're freaking out."

Steph sat up. Hesitated at the edge of the bed. "I had a really nice time. This has all been," she shook her head. "The best. I haven't had a day like this-"

"In ages?"

She snickered. Grabbed one of the pillows and plopped it over his face. "In ages." He didn't even know. Couldn't even know. She shook her head. "I'm going to go clean up."

"I'll get your clothes together." He offered, pushing the pillow away as he sat up. Caught her hand before she stood, planting a soft kiss against her palm. "Do you think I could get your number?"

She should say no before anything got complicated. Be a one night stand, a passing hurt at worst, a wild story for him to tell the closest of his friends. Anything but a looming threat, a specter of the burden of knowing too much; what other end could this have? "Yeah. I'll find something to write it down on." She forced a smile, pulled her hand away. Left to the bathroom.

It was dark, but the heat from the day hadn't quite evaporated before she made her way home. "Steph!" Anthony called from her usual perch, clamoring down the fire escape to meet up with her at street level. "Hey! What-" she made a face, pulling back from the embrace she'd been going for. "Oh."

She cringed, certain of the lingering smell. "It's a long story."

"I'm sure it is." She shook herself out of it. "Let's get inside before B starts a manhunt."

B was pacing in the living room when they made it in, her cellphone clutched in both of their hands. "Steph! Oh my god!"

"Hey," she waved, shying back when they hurried over. "I hope you weren't too worried."

"You forgot your cellphone, and you didn't come back after hunting; of course we were worried, not that Anthony'll admit it," they made a face when they got close, stepping back. "You smell weird."

Heat rose to her cheeks. "Yeah, um. It's a long story, but I didn't get anything last night-"

"I'm pretty sure you got something," Anthony muttered behind her, barely containing a smirk.

"-so I'm actually gonna go shower, and then I have to go hunting again." She grinned placatingly, starting to step around towards the hall.

B scowled. Looked between her, and Anthony, and her cellphone. "Is that who the fuck Tom is?"

Steph nearly choked. "Have you been reading my texts?"

"You were missing!" They defended. "When your phone buzzed I thought maybe you were trying to get ahold of us! I know you don't know our numbers."

She shook her head. Stepped just close enough to snatch her phone out of their hands. "How did you even get into my phone?"

"Your pin is 1235! It's not as clever as you think."

Anthony snickered by the doorway. "Tom? Is that his name?"

"Oh, shut up," she frowned. Unlocked the phone to see it still open on the new text conversation.

<unknown number> Hey ;) <unknown number> It's Tom btw <unknown number> Text me when you get this, so I know you got back safe? <unknown number> *one photo attachment* (a selfie from his living room) <unknown number> In case you want a photo to use for me

"Alright, alright," Anthony relented. "You shower; I'll go hunting for you tonight, and when I get back we can talk about phone security and how we want to handle not having our cellphones on us going forwards, yeah? Sound good?"

Steph sighed. "Fine, alright." Glanced back at the phone as she made her way to her room to grab her towel. Paused inside, added him as a contact. Texted back.

<Steph> Hey, made it back alright.

Then, before she could turn back into the hall,

<Tom> Good! I'm glad <Tom> Think we can make plans to meet up again soon?

<Steph> I'll check my schedule

#story #the whole thing is so much longer if anyone sees this and is interested #I don't think I'll post all of it here but I can send the link to it privately #that said i think i'll probably post chapter 2 as well #nsft

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originemesis · 3 months ago

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@danger-tits-lute xxx

He almost dropped her... almost. He made up for it with a tighter grip and a good jostling as punishment, a little warble of surprise and disorientation came from her throat as his assertion of dominance reminded her that she was a force to be reckoned with when it came to sinners and unlucky winners when she was in a bad mood, but was nothing compared to the size and strength he held over her just in his natural state. It caused her to hold onto his wrists for some semblance of stability instead of attempt to break them a second time. Help her? With what?! Her question was answered by the way he used her as some sort of instrument to play a tune of fixing his garment she was being swallowed in. It made her dizzy, as if he were some teetering, poorly built carnival ride that only had one benefit, and that benefit was smoothing out the excess fabric so she didn't actually trip and kill herself despite however much she wanted to die currently. When finished she was then carried and dropped into the seat next to him before taking his own place to continue his irritating banter. She scoffed as he corrected her. "Please, as if you care about being politically correct. But you're right, I used the wrong term. Hell would probably be more fun." At least then she'd get to take her frustrations out and kill whoever was stupid enough to be in her vicinity. His next question took her off guard though, as the continued flashing highlighted her shrinking down into the safety of the high collared robe. "I'm not being twitchy! And I'm not on crack!" As unbelievable as her protests already were, it was only a matter of time before the rumblings turned into sharp snaps that she believed shook the entire structure around her. And that time seemed to be approaching now as the first true thunderous boom resonated from outside. An uncontrollable but small scream, accompanied by a soft sob and quickly pulled legs, proved why she was, in fact, twitchy. Her only current solace in the situation was that she was too frightened to care how she looked to her antagonistic boss, with her arms wrapped around her knees and face buried into his clothes on top of them. She was small already but she looked absolutely miniscule now curled into such a tiny ball of shaking lieutenant. She knew she would pay for it in frustration later but for now, all she could do was cry.

"Shows how much you know about me ~ " He snorts, observing her through the side view of his visor as she seems to settle into his borrowed robe that looks more like a muumuu on her than anything. "I mean, I'm so woke I hired you, didn't I? Which I'm starting to question now that you're here playing inquisitor to my feminist agenda." A huff from anyone else might have been perceived as peeved, but he has the tone deaf tendency of someone who fucks around too much to find out what anyone actually thinks about him to sell her on any possible shortcomings he's noticed from her performance so far. Her delivery speed when it comes to coffee orders and snack runs is actually top-notch.

"You're twitching right now, bitch! Just own your truth. We can't work well together if you're holding back on me. Partners in plowing demon ass have to be- y'know, synced and shit!" Brow quirking as if he's unconvinced by the validity of her claims as far as a crack habit goes when she literally just said hell would be more fun to visit than his place with its succulent smell of burning fast food wrappers. Speaking of- he stuffs a talon down between the couch cushions and yoinks up another handful of trash to add to the 'candle' bowl. Is that a hint of Whopper?

As he rubs hands together and fans them over the flame as if to warm them, his attention is suddenly drawn from the flickering trash fire to her screeching and tunneling further into the robe until it just looks like she's a pile of laundry sitting there. Not a very good impression, mind you considering she's still tweaking out. "The first step to recovery is admitting when you have a problem, sweetie." A slow smirk slides into place along with his wing that snakes around her back, sliding her in to his flank where her trembling becomes all the more apparent.

"Seriously- what's your fucking problem? Don't tell me you're scared of a widdle thunder stormy?" When a flash of lightning fills the room for a brief and blinding second, he waits for the resounding boom while watching her under his wing for confirmation.

"Pffbt- you are, aren't you?"

#//there's a thunder storm and this insufferable man in the woods which 1 u pick lute #danger-tits-lute #crack'd out ribs ; //#verse ; // the crusades

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jj-the-writer · 2 years ago

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Day 3 @kelbreyweek:

Minor omori spoilers.

Flower Languages

20XX. Start of Spring.

Endless chatter can be heard through the school yard on this Friday, countless children running around, playing ball or hide and seek, eating snacks and having a good time. A small group of children though, were sitting on a pavement talking...

Kel and Aubrey: "Whaaaaaaat?!" Exclaim the two curious children to their friend.

Basil: "It's true! Every single flower has a meaning behind it! It's called the language of flowers, my grandma gave me her old encyclopedia book from the time she used to garden more, it has all the flowers and what they mean!"

Sunny only listened to basil silently, yet intrigued.

Kel: "No way! That's so cool! I never would've thought that flowers had deeper meanings!"

Aubrey: "Ofcourse they do Kel! Don't you know about the rose? Everyone knows the rose symbolizes passion and love!" Replied Aubrey to tease Kel with her knowledge while sighing dreamily at the mention of love.

Basil: "Well, that's not entirely true! The rose is actually the first entry in my book, it says that roses can mean many many different things depending on their color! For example, pink roses symbolize admiration, orange roses symbolize passion, yellow roses symbolize friendship and the list goes on!" Basil corrected Aubrey in a matter-of-fact kind of voice.

Kel: "HA! I guess you don't know that much after all Aubrey!"

Aubrey: "Shut up Kel! Basil said I wasn't wrong! You're so stupid, ugh!"

Kel: "No matter what you say you can't hurt me! No matter how hard you try! Your words don't reach me!" He said mockingly.

Aubrey: "Well no matter what YOU say, I know I'm right, because you're annoying!"

Sunny let out a sigh and Basil laughed softly.

Suddenly Basil had a realization.

Basil: "Hey guys! You two remind me of a couple of flower entries I read on my book yesterday!" Basil pulls out a notebook and a pencil from his backpack and he gets to drawing.

All three of his friends try to peek at his drawing but Basil didn't let Aubrey or Kel see. Sunny lets out a small laugh as Basil keeps on drawing.

Basil: "Alright! Here we are!" Basil presents his notebook to his friends with a big smile on his face. On one page it reads 'KEL' at the top of the paper with a drawing of a cactus below it. Then it reads 'Strong and resilient'. On the next page it reads 'AUBREY' at the top and below is a surprisingly detailed drawing of a gladiolus which reads 'strength of character and moral values'.

Basil: "I read these two entries yesterday, and your fighting reminded me of them. Kel, you don't get hurt easily by what others say, you stay strong no matter what you hear! 'Strong and resilient' like a cactus! Aubrey, no matter how much others may disagree with you, you will stick to your own beliefs no matter what! Which shows your 'strength of character'!"

The two children look at the drawings in awe, partly because they were impressed with basil's drawings and because they were intrigued by the connection he made. But before they could respond the bell rings and they all slowly walk over to their class to continue their day, this topic was left untouched... Until two days later.

Sunday afternoon, the group had arranged to meet over at Sunny and Mari's place, like they do every Sunday to hang out. First arrived Hero with his brother who was holding a plastic bag with something inside.

Hero: "Hello Mari! Hey Sunny!"

Mari: "Hello handsome! Hi Kel, whatchu got there?"

Hero: "It's a secret for later, he'd rather wait till Aub- till everyone is here until he shows it to everyone" Hero responds for his brother.

Kel: "It's a secret." Repeated Kel in a lower than usual voice, his cheeks with the tiniest hint of pink.

Sunny and Mari seemed curious, sunny even tried to take a peek but Kel stopped him.

Later came Basil, he greeted every one of his friends with a smile. He asked Kel about the bag but the usual "It's a secret." was his only response.

Last arrived Aubrey. She held a medium sized cardboard box in her hands. Kel went over to her and looked at her for a second before Aubrey said "What?" As Kel was brought back to reality from his thoughts he bolted and picked up his plastic bag carefully and gave it to Aubrey while looking away. "I got this for you..." Aubrey had a shocked look on her face but she kept her calm and responded. "Well... I got this for you!" She said as she gave the cardboard box to Kel.

Aubrey opens Kel's bag first and finds a flower pot with dirt and a small bud poking out of it.

"It's a gladiolus..." Said Kel shyly "I thought about what basil said and he's right, you do have a strong character, and maybe you're a little stubborn." he finished with his tongue out to poke fun at her. Aubrey waited for the right time to strike back.

Kel opened Aubrey's box and found a pot with a spherical cactus. "Basil said you're strong and resilient, and that may very well be true, but you're also a prick, so that cactus fits you perfectly." She finished with a smug smile, proud of her comeback.

Basil who witnessed all this was on the verge of tears, sunny pat his back as if to say "good job".

The kids bantered once again after the gift exchange but they both ultimately felt greatful that the other thought of them.

Mari stands up with a small frown. "Well well! Look at the two of you fighting again! You just exchanged gifts for crying out loud!" She smiled at the both of them and continued. "I think you should hug it out and thank each other this time."

Now, Mari had tried before to reconcile the both of them, but it usually ends up with the both of them saying "EW!" and backing away. However this time, flustered as they both were, they let a miracle happen.

Kel moved closer to Aubrey with small movements, and he slowly raised his little kid arms to give Aubrey time time to react. In turn she also raised her hands and they both went for a hug. The hug lasted around 5 seconds, in which time the both of them felt at ease, maybe a little too at ease.

Everyone who was looking at them was so shocked their jaws dropped. However as soon as the kids realized they got too comfortable, their faces became red and they started bantering once again. This made their friends in the room laugh.

In reality the both of them wished for the hug to continue, but that thought only made their faces more red...

Years later... (Before sunny comes out of his house in the game)

Kel just came home from practice and entered his room, in the meantime Aubrey climbed the stairs to her room and let out a sigh... Aubrey sat on her bed and Kel laid on the floor to his side of the room. Kel looked at his window and spotted a small spherical cactus standing tall... Aubrey looked at her own half-destroyed window and spotted a flower pot with a gladiolus that had bloomed beautifully...

The both of them take their pots in their hand and say (unknowingly) in unison...

"I miss you..."

#book #booklr #writeblr #writer #'ello hello!#kelbrey #omori aubrey #omori kel #omori kelbrey #omori baseball #shipping week #kelbrey week 2023

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moviemunchies · 2 years ago

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I was almost sure I already had a Detective Pikachu review, but I can’t find it in my drive, so here we are.

When Detective Pikachu was announced, a lot of us were skeptical. Yeah, plenty of people wanted a live-action Pokémon movie when we were kids, but it didn’t seem like something realistic, and out of Detective Pikachu, a side game barely anyone had heard of? And Ryan Reynolds is voicing Pikachu?! Yeah, no, this is probably going to flop.

Except the first trailer dropped, and immediately we were like, “Wait a minute. This actually looks good, or at the very least plenty of fun. What the heck?”

Tim wanted to be a Pokémon trainer when he was a kid, but he grew up to be an insurance agent. But when his estranged father, a detective in Ryme City (a place where Pokémon and humans live side by side and there are no Pokémon battles), goes missing and is presumed dead, Tim goes to Ryme City to go through his father’s things. What he finds instead is his father’s Pikachu, which he (and only he) can understand, though Pikachu has no memory of what happened.

So Tim, a young man with little Pokemon skills, and Pikachu, an aspiring detective, have to solve the mystery of what happened to Tim’s father, while avoiding a sinister conspiracy that threatens both humans and Pokemon.

This movie is loads of fun! I didn’t think that live-action Pokémon would really work, and yet it does? They manage to give realistic textures for entirely fictional anime creatures! That’s pretty darn impressive, in my book. I remember that some people were apparently bothered by the fact that Pikachu in this movie is fluffy, and apparently didn’t realize that he had fur in the anime, too; those people can shut up, because fuzzy Pikachu is adorable and looks fantastic, as do the other Pokémon in this movie.

Ryan Reynolds is also a surprisingly good voice as Pikachu? This casting announcement felt very weird to me, but it works. A lot of his lines are supposedly improvised, and they land pretty well, for the most part. There are a couple of jokes that don’t work; for instance, at one point Pikachu makes a joke about climate change denial during an earthquake, which doesn’t really make a lot of sense.

Justice Smith does a fantastic job here. Okay, yeah, his character’s not too complex, but he’s funny, he’s likable, and he does well with what he’s given. When you factor in that he’s acting off of a CGI character, and that they didn’t even have a ball on a stick placeholder for him in many of those scenes? He does amazing.

There are some who have said that the events of this movie prove that its canon with the original anime. But I have my doubts–certain events are vaguely referred to, which could be references to either the anime or the games. At best we can infer that SOME events happened in the backstory similarly to the anime, but that’s about it. I’m also confused about random references to other countries, because I assumed Pokémon occurred in a world completely different from our own. Maybe I was wrong in that assumption.

If you like Pokémon, you’ll think this movie is awesome. Maybe you’ll be a little disappointed in that you wanted a greater variety of Pokémon to appear, but I think other than that you’ll be fine. There are still an astounding amount of Pokémon that appear in the movie, and they all look pretty good. The movie proved that a live-action Pokémon movie could actually work, which I didn’t think it would.

#Movie Munchies #Detective Pikachu #Pokémon

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theultrablog · 6 months ago

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Pulp Storytime #20: The Shadow Over Kafiristan by Gareth Hanrahan

The hopheads and juicers seemed far out… And they were. Adapting modules is often a challenge. The default version of this adventure is set in the 2010s in Afghanistan, from a British perspective. In this version, we focused on Javid, an Afghani sniper who fought the British...in 1935. So the entire first third of the module went out the window. It still went great though! (Especially since I lost two players an hour before game time and had to switch over from my Hawaiian adventure.) The group was in a remote village in Afghanistan, a place known for mysticism and strangeness. Javid had gathered his outsider friends for some tense political dealing: tribal loyalty and alliances could easily cascade and disrupt the currently peaceful nation. This time Javid, Aleksandra Pavlovic (the tour guide from the Ireland adventure), Inspector M’tombe, and Querida Wilcox were joined by the Negro League's first female pitcher, Connie Johnson. Young and with a chip on her shoulder, she excelled at all physical and charm challenges, but seemed the most flabbergasted by the ridiculousness around her. And it was ridiculous! The village, despite being above the snow line, grew fields of blinding white poppies. The leader of the tribe, Alga Alkhan, was followed around by pshur, or wise man, who seemed to be tuned to the wrong frequency. An afternoon of tea and sympathy with M'tombe revealed a startling truth: the pshur was at the back and call of mysterious spirits! Meanwhile, the players made adequate first impressions but were banned from the temple at the top of a nearby peak. Locals only. No exceptions. The ban didn’t last long. A mortar attack from a rival tribe interrupted the welcoming feast, nearly exploding the party. Another pshur said to follow her in a strange, British voice. Most of the group did, with Javid returning sniper fire and helping defend the village. A ball of opium in a brazier led the players to a city… I might as well let the module describe it. (It’s the only module I’ve ever run where I wish there was more gray box text!)

The smoke grabs your mind and whisks it far, far awake. You feel euphoric, lighter than air and full of energy. It’s wonderful. You—all of you—find yourselves in a marvellous sunset city. The streets glitter in the orange light of the setting sun. Minarets and elegantly curved domes are outlined against the purple sky. The music of flutes and delicate bells can be heard in the distance. In a square, you see some of the people of this wonderful city. They are all young and beautiful, dressed in rich robes or nothing at all.

The players met Daniel Dravot. He first arrived in the village in 1894, on a mission from her Majesty, but was betrayed by his partner ‘Peachey’ Carnehan, who left him with the mystics. Not wanting a political incident, they kept him physically alive but banished him to the city. Could everyone be so dear as to retrieve his body, reunite it with his soul, and get him out of here? The group agreed, although Connie let out an opportune “What mystic nonsense is this?” What followed was a series of mindfucks, interrupted by intense mountain climbing. The temple? Guarded by a single monk, staffed by three sages high on opium. Inside it was a pit, filled with corpses of those who have been sacrificed while high on the drug, their spirits ascended to the secret city to serve as aides and courtesans. The detective, not squeamish, investigated the pit. He emerged with what he was looking for: a British skull and a cigarette case labeled DD. They had been talking to a dead man. Miss Pavlovic, master of ancient languages, decoded a painting deep in the temple. The hidden city wasn’t a drug haze, it was a flicker in the mind of a mad god. Anyone suffused with the local poppies had their mind trapped and eventually stolen. And the 300-person village was eager to sell its goods throughout the nation. The final pshur was an ageless initiate, threatening to throw a ball of opium into a nearby fire pit. Cowgirl Querida lassoed it away from him. The numbers advantage still favored the party. In the temple, at least. The big challenge was lying their way out of the village. Javid’s heroics, combined with a series of denials and pantomimes, paid off. The group had merely climbed the mountain to chase infiltrators! Who they slew! The next step was bribing local warlords to raze the poppy crop and salt the earth. The villagers could be paid and integrated into other tribes, but the mountain had to be abandoned. Then the players had another idea. (So, I mentioned that the module was adapted, and that gets rid of the last fifth of the module as well. In the original, the agents have to justify their behavior to a Department that knows full well about extraplanar entities. I was out of adventure. But the players were sharp.) "So the only other person who knew about the plants was 'Peachey’ Carnehan, right?" Asked the tour guide. Silence. The players called in favors and did some excellent investigating to find him at his manor house in Sussex. After being greeted, announced and fed, all the players had to do was convince a retired British spy to admit culpability based on specious evidence. Easy. (That’s right, social combat! The new players hadn’t played Fate before. Unlike other systems, it’s relatively easy to improvise any kind of combat, whether social or mountaineering.) It took a while for the players to even pierce their foe’s defenses. He buffeted the agéd inspector with compliments. Querida’s insinuations were met with performative fogginess. Abashed and confused, the players scoured his gallery for clues. That’s when they discovered their host’s weakness: flattery. Connie, used to sucking up to team owners and sponsors, started complementing his sporting equipment... The arquebus, the fencing sabers, the Bengal rug. Javid and the inspector, who tried threats, were 'politely' asked to stand outside and wait for a cab. The others were given a tour and assured, after a bit of whiskey, that the smoky death cult would stay out of Peachey's memoirs. Aleksandra Pavlovic was created by JC Connors:

#table tales #rpgs #gaming #fate core #the laundry files #afghanistan #tabletop #stories

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fickle-finances-anon · 7 months ago

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I definitely missed this with how quickly it posted.

The fight and my feelings about it are a complicated situation. If anyone cares to see a fuller explanation I will try to explain here. I initially didn't add a lot of details about the fight because it's long and only tangentially related because it affects my feelings about going to the concert with her.

@am-i-the-asshole-official

To answer some INFO requests and general advice given:

1. I cannot talk to her as of this time. Her unstated boundary was that I am not to try and contact her, which took me a month to figure out after she told a mutual friend it felt like I was trying to break her boundaries by just trying to reach out to apologize. I appreciate the advice to ask her or put the ball in her court, but it's not feasible at the moment. Other friends are already involved but I've made it clear to all of them I want my friend to confront me directly and I won't explain myself through them.

2. I already asked my gf. She said no because loud music gives her a headache. :[ she's already an angel for putting up with the music to support me at drag shows 🤍

3. I wasn't planning to do this immediately. Ideally, if reconciliation happens, I would love to still go with her.

So, an explanation of how I was too honest and blew up my friendship with my best friend.

We both like to go to a Drag Race watch party at our local gay bar. We were there, talking with friends and having fun watching the new episode. During a commercial break she said she wanted to go get food and go home. When the episode ended, she changed her mind and wanted to stay and dance. This started the seeds of me just being annoyed that night.

We stayed and danced and drank on empty stomachs. And she got talking to a lot of people, including an older woman she'd met there before. I am not as social as she is and it was getting late. I didn't tell her I wanted to go home, my mistake.

Eventually my friend starts flirting with this older woman, leaving me awkwardly talking to the woman's friend. We'll call her G. G rubbed me the wrong way. My first impression was just very negative. G is not a bad person. She was talking at me like someone she didn't want flirting with her. So I made a point of explaining that I'm in a relationship so she would chill out. She still said I should dress differently and that even though she thinks I'm ugly that doesn't mean I'm completely unattractive. 🙄 horrible first impression. I do not like G.

My friend starts kissing the woman she's flirting with. Not two seconds later she's flirting with and making out with G. Its now 1:30am. They make out until the bar closes.

I got very tired and upset. Upset enough that my bartender friend checked up on me twice and found me crying. I tried to text my friend asking if I could leave her with G if she was going home with her. She ignores my texts and I am not having a good time.

When we finally leave, she doesn't go home with G. And I try to explain that I'm upset with way more than her marathon makeout session.

A few days later I'm back at the bar for Karaoke night and am surprised when my friend is there with G. Because I thought she was in a different city entirely. I try to stay out of their way, recognizing a date when I see one. G asks to hug me, three times without getting a response, then proceeds to hug me anyway. And then hugs me again two more times. And I was pissed.

So my friend and I have a smaller fight where I explain that I don’t like G at all and she crossed my personal space boundaries. We have a night where we get together to discuss all of the tension that's been building in our friendship. My friend says that we're good when she leaves and I stupidly believed her.

The part where I know I was the asshole, although I believe I was justified, is that I said I can't have fun going out with my friend anymore because she always changes her mind and gets too drunk so I get pushed into being the sober driver, and I expressed my concern that G doesn't understand basic boundaries and I was scared she might assault my best friend.

Apparently this was a sign of "jealousy". Days after this my best friend stops talking to me out of the blue, ditches my Drag performance without a single reason why, and I go into a mental health spiral.

I learned a month later, about the time of submitting this aita that she thinks I have unrequited romantic feelings for her and that "several" of her former partners didn't like me. She think I want her to date me and I lash out at her romantic interests out of jealousy.

Finding out that this is her reason for ghosting me and not supporting my artistic endeavors enraged me. Like unhealthy levels of anger. Its taken me a long time to come around and reflect on her feelings from hearing the things I said and adding up a lot of what her dates said about me.

Things she made up:

She claimed I got upset about G "monopolizing her time" on the Karaoke night. I honestly tried to stay out of their way and only got upset when my friend left the bar without telling me she wasn't coming back. I was not upset that she was on a date and I happened to be at the same bar that night.

She also claims that I am refusing getting a therapist. This is also incorrect because I just don't know what's covered by my health benefits. I would love a therapist to bitch about my life to.

She gave one of our mutual friends the impression that I was using Drag performance as a way to escape from mental issues and express being a trans individual! This is a wildly simplistic and incorrect view of my gender, and because I am not completely out of the closet, it was inappropriate of her to discuss with this friend without my consent. I am deeply hurt by both her and this mutual friend gossipping about my gender behind my back. However, I have had a chance to talk with the mutual friend about her part in it and we're back on good terms again.

She claims I have romantic feelings and want to kiss her. This is also incorrect! I have a girlfriend who I get to kiss very much. I haven't told my gf yet but I'm very much falling in love with her. I'm not poly. My feelings toward my friend are platonic. I was worried for her safety and she took it to be jealousy. And the real kicker? Months before I met my gf, I was on a vacation with two couples and was very much a fifth wheel. Their antics and my own messed up brain chemistry made me very suicidal that week. So I called my best friend and she helped talk me down several nights that week. During one of our talks, I expressed frustration at wanting to kiss a girl to see if maybe I'd repressed feelings for women my whole life. My bestie offered to kiss me to see if I would like it. While I was actively depressed enough to want to die. And that messed with my head. Especially because she often dates masc women who look like me. I was thrown into confusion on her feelings towards me. We never kissed. Best decision of my life because I met my gf pretty soon after.

I hold that its pretty fucked up to offer to kiss someone to get them to stop wanting to die, and then turn around and claim that they have feelings for you.

I understand the comment about G potentially assaulting her was hyperbolic and horrible for her to hear. I maintain that it was directly based on my personal experience of this woman ignoring my right to consent to person touch. I also understand that my comment about not having fun when we go clubbing must have also hurt. But I can't apologize for any of that until she agrees to acknowledge my existence again.

I'm convinced she hates me and won't want to reconcile, no mater my opinion on the matter. Some days the thought of her brings up boiling rage, others I hope for her to come around, ready to listen and apologize for the fucked up shit she's done.

Whatever happens, I'm not selling the ticket to a stranger or finding a new concert buddy until just before the show. Thank you for your votes and opinions, I really do appreciate the varied perspectives 🤍

WIBTA for giving away a concert ticket?

About a month ago, my best friend (29 F) of 15 years and I (28 X) worked together to buy concert tickets for our favorite band, Twenty One Pilots. In the general confusion of both of us trying to snap up decent seats, we both ended up buying two tickets each for a total of four. The pairs of seats are very far away from each other and the ones she bought are a shit view, which is why I insisted on still buying the ones I had in my cart.

Shortly after the purchases (literally same day) my friend decided to gift the two tickets she purchased to a couple of our friends as birthday gifts and promised to pay me back for the second ticket I bought. I wasn't going to ask her for the money, she just knows she's in a better financial position than I am and we got the best seats we could afford.

About a week later, we got into a fight that has snowballed into something massive. I fully admit to saying something pretty horrible that she took a lot of offense to (I know I am the asshole in this fight. That's not what my question is about). She has since stopped talking to me completely and told a mutual friend that the friendship might not be salvageable. Frankly, I think this is an over reaction because she’s not giving me a chance to apologize and never explained to me why she was upset. She claims I broke her boundaries without ever stating she had a boundary. It really hurts me that she is blaming this fight on her perception that I have unrequited romantic feelings for her, which my girlfriend is also upset and angered by. Of course I love my girlfriend romantically and my best friend platonically. But she won't hear me out and is twisting the facts to make me sound even worse to our mutual friends. But it is her prerogative if she wants to throw away our friendship. She doesn't owe me a chance to apologize or reconcile, no matter how I feel about it. I am making peace with that, slowly.

However, she never sent me money for the concert ticket. The date is months away, but I don't know if she'll want to reconcile in time for it. If I were her, I would be pissed about paying a shit ton of money for tickets and not be able to go. I have no clue if she would revoke her gift to one of our friends or not in order to go, she's not the kind of person to go back on generosity. She was my best friend because she's an amazing person, but right now, I don't want to sit next to her at a concert I payed to see. The way I see it, I have a ticket to give to whoever I want now that she refuses to be my friend.

I don't know if things will change before the concert. I know I'm a jerk for how I ruined this friendship, but would it be insult to injury to potentially prevent her from going to see TØP because of it?

WIBTA for giving away the ticket I initially bought for her?

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happilyhertale · 2 years ago

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Long Lost Love - Aemond Targaryen x female!reader, Part 12

Summary: You are the daughter of Daemon and Rhaenyra. When the invitation to Aegon and Helaena's wedding came, your entire family rushes from Dragonstone to King's Landing to take part in the festivities. You haven't seen your family in King's Landing for 6 years so you are very excited...

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x fem!reader

Warnings: At the beginning none – eventually smut (uncle/niece)

Author’s note: Hello you! (:

This is my first fic so please be nice (: I thought I'd just try a little self-considered story. I hope u like it.

The events are not entirely similar from the series.

English is my second language, please forgive me if I made any mistakes (:

18+ NSFW

Word count: 4k

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7a, Part 7b, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15

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You're speechless.

He stands before you and holds out his hand to you.

Aemond wants to dance with you.

You don't seem to move at first, for some reason you can't move at all. Until Daemon nudges you lightly and barely noticeably with his elbow. He grins slightly without taking his eyes off the goblet he brings to his mouth.

Back in reality, you reach for his hand as if of your own accord. Immediately you feel a fire go through your whole body.

He holds your hand firmly, yet gently in his. He smiles shyly at you and leads you around the table, straight into the crowd. You are still speechless and cannot take your eyes off him.

Aemond dares to stand in the crowd with you, to embrace you and want to dance with you. Ever since he reached out to you, you feel like all the eyes in the hall are on you. You have never seen Aemond so willing to attract the public's attention.

He puts his hand on your waist and presses you tightly against him, his other hand holds your hand up. You put your hand on his shoulder.

You look him in the eye. He visibly swallows. As the music starts, Aemond leads you across the dance floor without a hitch. Every step is on point and you are almost impressed. You feel your body heat up as he guides you across the ball floor. You are lost in his beautiful purple eye and take in his scent. His scent, which you've been missing for days. And yet it seems that none of you dares to speak first.

Until he seeks your gaze with his eye, "Y/N I'm.. so sorry. I'm ashamed... I am ashamed that I made you feel that I was dishonest with you."

He sighs and his gaze flits briefly to the crowd, "That you had to see that kiss... I'm disgusted with myself."

You look at him, tears welling up in your eyes, he continues, "I assure you I pushed her away. Too late… Yes. But I pushed her away." His gaze is firmly fixed on you again.

"You... You pushed her away?", you whisper. He nods at you.

"Alys means nothing to me anymore. There was a time when she was close to me. But… she was never as close to me as you are. Since I found out weeks ago that you were coming here, my thoughts have… have only been about you. My wish to see you again... After all this time. I could think of nothing else but wanting to be close to you again."

You slide even closer to his body as you dance. He holds you close and looks at you gently.

"Yesterday, when I saw how close you were to the Stark Lord... I'm sorry, I couldn't bear it. I had to do something. I wanted to talk to you, but when you stood in front of me, almost crying... I couldn't say anything... I just wanted to hold you in my arms, but I couldn't."

Barely perceptible, he wipes away a tear running down your cheek with his hand.

"And… I haven't slept with you yet because it's important to me that it's perfect for you. Don't get me wrong... I want to make love to you. Oh, only the gods can guess how much I long to sleep with you. But I don't want to sleep with you out of temptation..." you interrupt him, "I don't want a perfect moment, Aemond... I want you."

You almost whisper the end.

He looks at you and barely noticeably shakes his head, "Y/N you don't know what that means. This moment is so important. For a woman even more than for a man. My important moment was in a brothel and it marks me to this day... and not in any positive way... " and again you interrupt him " Aemond... you are my perfect moment. No matter what the situation. With you... it's perfect. I trust you..."

He pauses for a moment. He must smile slightly. He leans lightly towards you and whispers in your ear, "You have no idea how much I want to kiss you right now."

You return his slight smile, "Then… just do it", you breathe.

He laughs briefly, "Oh, you really will be the death of me."

You lean against him, your face in the crook of his neck. You inhale his scent. How much you miss this... To be safe in Aemond's arms. Inhaling his unique scent.

Aemond can't help himself either and leans the side of his face carefully against your head.

You don't care what anyone else would say. You have had to do without his touch for too long.

After you have enjoyed your closeness for a while, you ask, "You can dance?"

He chuckles briefly, "Of course I can dance, I'm a prince after all. Just because I don't want to, doesn't mean I can't."

In response you press your face further into the crook of his neck.

"And furthermore, I didn't know any other way to help myself... I had to talk to the princess and… I had no other chance to get close to her...", he whispers softly in your ear.

You remove your face from his neck and look at him.

You have to smile slightly, "Aemond... Let's leave this stupid ball."

He looks at you, "Do I dance that badly?"

You have to laugh, "No. But I want to be alone with you... I've missed you."

He looks almost heartbroken as he finally nods.

He stops leading you across the dance floor and extends his arm to you. You are overjoyed to accept his invitation. As you take his arm, you lean close to his side.

As he leads you out of the hall, there are still a few pairs of eyes on you. Whether because you were dancing or because you were far too close to each other, you don't know.

But you couldn't care less.

Daemon's gaze meets Viserys'. Viserys nods at his brother with a smile and Daemon knows what that means.

He too has noticed how close you were. How much you enjoyed dancing close together.

Daemon has always known that you would have to wed someone someday. But still it pains him. It would be foolish to ignore any longer that you were likely to wed Aemond. What you feel for each other is probably more than a childhood love.

He leans towards Rhaenyra with a sigh and she looks at him, "I think we should prepare for our daughter to come to us soon with a request."

She looks at him questioningly, "What do you mean? Aemond?"

Daemon nods at her. Rhaenyra doesn't look happy, more worried.

Daemon gently takes her hand, "You know, there was nothing our daughter could do about it."

Rhaenyra looks at him.

"She's fallen for her uncle", Daemon smiles at her.

Rhaenyra has to suppress a smile.

"I am afraid for her. I'm not sure he's good for her."

Daemon sighs, "Who would have thought I'd be good for you? Try to look at it this way, the only good swordsman of the Targaryens, besides me of course, will consider it his life's work to protect our daughter."

She looks unconvinced, "Y/N is quite capable of protecting herself."

Daemon kisses her hand, "I am aware of that... But a capable man by her side, that can't hurt. I also think he's different with her. Almost tenderly... hopefully. And I trust her enough not to wed a tyrant."

"Let's hope so", Rhaenyra smiles slightly at Daemon.

After a short while she says to him, "I hope you realise that if he treats her badly, that I'll send you to him?“

He looks at her, one eyebrow raised, "I hope you are aware that I am on my way long before you can even send me."

Rhaenyra kisses Daemon gently.

Aemond has never led you anywhere so quickly.

He opens the door to his chambers and leads you inside. You stand in the middle of his chambers and look at each other. He swallows and reaches out for your hand. He holds it and strokes it gently with his thumb, with his other arm he embraces you. He simply holds you in his arms. You put your arms around his neck, hold yourself tightly against him. A tear leaves your eye. Not out of sadness, but rather out of the relieving feeling of being in his arms. You press your face into the crook of his neck again. A light sob escapes you as you inhale his scent. He just holds you and gently strokes your back.

"I'm so sorry Y/N...", he whispers in your ear. When he notices you sobbing again. Carefully taking your head from his shoulder, he holds your face in his hands and gently strokes away the tears, "No, my Love, please don't cry..."

You sob again, "... I... I thought I would never be here again... In your chambers... Just in your arms..."

He interrupts you with a gentle kiss. He leans his forehead against yours, "I would never have let you go..."

You just nod slightly.

"Come...", carefully he leads you to the bench in front of the fire.

You sit in front of the fire, he holds you tightly in his arms and gently caresses your arm.

Absently he looks into the fire.

You watch him discreetly... You have missed him. His beautiful face. These few days without him were hard for you to bear.

"It's rude to stare," you suddenly hear him say.

You bury your face in his shoulder and he chuckles lightly.

In time, you begin to caress his thigh. You draw light circles on his firm thighs with your fingers. You become more curious... Carefully, you let your fingers slide a little further upwards, still stroking him gently.

Slowly he turns his gaze away from the fire and looks at you from the side. But you do not return his gaze. You continue stroking until you are almost at his crotch. Your heart begins to pound harder and the thought of what you are about to touch makes you bite your lip.

"What are you up to?" he whispers in your ear.

Quietly you reply, "I... I want to do something good for you. You've only given me nice moments so far... beautiful feelings. I want to give you that too."

"Y/N, that was at least as nice for me... To be the first man to give you these feelings."

Nevertheless, you notice how the bulge in his crotch is getting bigger.

You look at him, "I want to be able to experience when you have such… beautiful feelings". He chuckles, gently strokes your cheek and kisses you passionately.

After a while you break the kiss. Unsure how to do it... what to do at all, you bite your lip.

"I'll show you what to do?" he asks you softly.

You nod slowly.

He kisses you again and carefully takes your hand, placing it right on his crotch.

A breath escapes your lips as you feel him. He is already hard. You look at him, he smirks.

He kisses you again and starts to move your hand on his crotch. Slowly you massage his length. You notice how his breathing quickens.

Aemond takes his hand off yours and starts to undo his belt. You continue to massage him, but interrupt the kiss. You want to see him.

He sits up for a moment and pulls his trousers down to the back of his knees. When he leans back again, you see him for the first time.

Unconsciously you swallow and bite your lip. Aemond caresses your cheek and pulls your chin up, he kisses you again. Between kisses he breathes, "Go on, touch him."

You look at him, a little unsure. But you dare, slowly you close your hand around his hard length.

He gasps briefly and closes his eyes. He puts his hand on yours and guides it. Slowly he lets it slide up and down. He squeezes a little harder and tells you, "You can press harder". You follow his lead. As you let your hand wander down his hot length, you notice him getting even bigger and harder.

He begins to moan and lets your hands slide up and down faster. This deep moan sends a wave of arousal through you. You feel yourself getting wet and you press your thighs together to at least try to get some satisfaction.

You take the lead and let your hand slide along him on its own. He groans again and reaches out with his hands beside him. He squeezes your knee, which is lying next to him on the bench. You can't help but kiss him. Greedily he kisses you back. The sounds of your kisses and moans fill his chambers.

Suddenly you notice your fingers getting a little wet. You look down and see little drops coming out of him. A light, clear liquid spreads over your fingers and his hard, pulsating length.

At this sight, the feeling rises in you that you must have more. You look up at him for a moment, his head leaning back, his eye closed. His breathing is rapid and interrupted by moans. He is so beautiful.

"I want to taste you," it escapes you.

He looks up, out of breath. His eye is dark, full of lust. He kisses you passionately.

"Just before I'm done... Then you can taste me...", he replies out of breath.

You look a little irritated, but you nod slowly.

Not for a second did you stop your movement. Aemond puts his head back again.

You look down again and something else occurs to you.

Carefully you slide down to the floor and push his legs a little apart. He looks down at you and gasps, "What are you doing?"

Sitting on your knees between his legs, you look at him, don't answer and just smirk slightly.

Your hand closes around him and you begin to slide it up and down his full length again. A deep grumble arises inside him and he watches you, full of lust.

Slowly you lean forward and you let your tongue wander along his shaft. Aemond moans loudly. When you reach the top, you surround the shaft with your lips and suck gently on it. He hisses, "Oh seven hells..., Y/N!"

With a "plop" you let him slide out, breathing heavily. You look at him, "You have to show me..." he just nods.

He leans in for a moment and kisses you. He lets himself fall back, strokes your cheek lightly with one hand. His hand wanders gently to the back of your head and presses it down lightly.

"Be careful with your teeth. Wrap your lips over your teeth," he whispers.

Your mouth closes around his cock, carefully he pushes your head down and up again. Delicately you let your lips glide over his length. This feeling makes the arousal between your legs flare up even more. You moan out.

Aemond responds with a twitch that travels once through his cock.

He whispers, "Take him... as far... into your mouth... as you can manage. Use...your hand...to help."

You try to take him all the way into your mouth, but he is too big. You gag for a moment, but you don't stop. And again you feel him twitch.

With one hand you grab the part of the length that doesn't fit in your mouth and you start stroking him. You squeeze him lightly and Aemond moans.

He lightly thrusts his hips rhythmically towards you. His hips tremble slightly as he controls the urge to rut into your throat.

A load of wetness leaks out of you and it would be a pure miracle if you didn't already have your underwear completely soaked. With rhythmic movements you try to satisfy your arousal. His breath is getting faster and faster, you can't help but moan again.

You let your mouth slide up and down faster. In your mouth you feel his length growing even bigger and you taste him a little.

You love it.

He carefully takes your free hand and guides it to his balls, he almost whispers between his gasps, "Squeeze them gently."

You follow his instruction. Tenderly you let your fingers wander over his balls, squeezing gently as you suck greedily on his cock. "You look so… beautiful with my cock in your mouth," he whispers breathlessly.

His cock twitches more and more and the grumbling deep in his chest doesn't let up.

His hand first glides gently through your hair until he suddenly grabs hold of you and holds you tightly while his cock disappears almost completely into your mouth. This sight makes him come almost immediately. "Fuck, Fuck... Fuck! Y/N, take him all the way in your mouth... oh Fuuck, take all of me."

Suddenly he grips your hair tighter, his other hand claws into the sofa and you notice a violent twitch go through his balls and cock. You increase the tempo once more and suck eagerly on his cock. Aemond grips your hair even tighter as he inhales sharply, a moan caught in his throat.

His thighs tremble slightly. "In a moment... there will be a liquid in your mouth... swallow what you can..."

Then he moans loudly and your name passes his lips countless times.

With one last thrust from his hip, Aemond squirts his hot cum into your mouth, right down your throat. You have a large amount of liquid in your mouth and you try to swallow it all down. A little liquid runs down your lips, but you don't stop sucking and swallowing until you notice Aemond's grip on your hair loosening.

Slowly you lift your head up and wipe your lips with your hand.

Aemond's head is leaning back, his eye is closed. He gasps to himself, but he smiles.

You look at him for a moment. You have to smile. Carefully you stand up and then straddle his waist. He looks up and smiles at you, his hands find their way to your hips, he caresses you. You kiss each other gently.

"You taste delicious", you say with a smile on your lips.

He laughs briefly.

You kiss him again.

The next morning you wake up in your chambers. Aemond has spent the night in his chambers. You thought it wiser not to spend the night together, as the servants would come early in the morning to fetch your luggage. So that the carriages can be loaded for the hunt.

However, he did not miss the opportunity to accompany you to your chambers and kiss you passionately goodbye as well as gently caress your cheek.

You have to smile at the thought of your last evening. To feel him... and tasting... it was indescribably beautiful.

The heaviness of the last few days that lay on your chest has almost disappeared. You were hurt and yet missed Aemond at the same time. You are still not comfortable with Alys presence at court. You would prefer it if she would just leave.

But now Aemond is by your side again. You know how he feels about Alys and that nothing happened between them. At least not in the last few days... and apart from that kiss... You push the thought aside.

And again, you have to think of all the accidents that can happen during a hunt in the forest, and that makes the feeling of Alys presence a little more bearable.

Yet he went to the effort of dancing with you in public and explaining himself.... You're glad he reached out to you. And that your father talked to you. Almost stood up for Aemond...

You are jolted out of your thoughts when there is a knock at your door

"Yes?" you call out.

The door opens and four servants step inside. They curtsey slightly and the one speaks to you "Princess Y/N, we are to fetch your clothes and other things to load them into the carriages."

You slowly sit up in bed, "Yes, that's fine. There are two boxes next to the door. Please take them and load them."

The servants curtsey again and take the boxes. After you have bathed and dressed, you go to breakfast.

Your family is already gathered and light conversation fills the hall. Aemond is also at the table and your eyes meet.

You have to smile and bite your lower lip lightly. Even as you look away, Aemond is still looking at you with a smile.

Daemon notices and looks at you with a raised eyebrow as you sit down next to him. You kiss his cheek lightly, followed by a quiet "Daddy."

After a few more glances between you and Aemond, Daemon decides to tease you.

He looks at you from the side and turns to the family, "Did everyone have a restful sleep?"

You look at him confused. Even your mother looks at him irritated, "Since when do you care whether your fellow men have slept well?"

He shrugs slightly, "I don't know, I was walking along the corridor leading to the princes' chambers last night and heard unusual noises. So I was worried that not everyone had had a relaxing night's rest."

You choke slightly and have to cough, your gaze goes forward to Aemond. His eye is wide open, but he quickly regains his composure and looks unimpressed.

You look at your father, who smiles at you.

He wasn't near the chambers last night, why should he be? But he wanted to know if you were there. Just as you are about to answer, you hear Aemond's voice.

"Thank you for asking uncle, but don't worry, I really was able to sleep very relaxed."

Everyone at the table is now looking in Aemond's direction. No one says anything. Aegon even looks relatively amused and drinks his wine with relish. There is far too much surprise that Aemond and Daemon are talking to each other.

Daemon has to suppress a chuckle and replies, "Yes, I can imagine that only too well."

You look down at your plate and try to finish your breakfast as quickly as possible.

While standing in the courtyard, you watch absently as the carriages are loaded.

Your brothers look forward to the hunt. Your father does the same and looks forward to the wine.

Drinking wine, riding through the woods and killing animals. Except for the wine drinking, it doesn't sound very enticing to you.

Suddenly you hear a soft "My Love" in your ear. You turn around and see Aemond. You blush slightly, without knowing exactly why. Aemond has to smile in response.

You stand close together, "You'll come hunting as well?"

He nods slightly, "Of course. I am the king's son. My brother and sister are to be celebrated with this hunt... And I can't leave you alone in the wilderness after all." He smiles at you. Oh how you missed that smile.

"Well, she's not all alone, I'm still here too."

Aemond's jaw stiffens and as you look over Aemond's shoulder you see Rob.

"Rob," you smile at him. He smiles back and winks at you.

"Mmm, that's right. There are still dogs needed for the hunt", Aemond turns slowly in Rob's direction, his hand resting on your lower back. You whisper warningly to him, "Aemond..."

Rob chuckles slightly, "That's all right. After all, women like to bring the dogs to bed with them at night. That keeps them... warm".

You notice how Aemond stiffens. You also notice how the whole situation recharges.

"Rob? I'll see you later, yeah?", Rob smiles and gives you a quick nod.

You take Aemond by the arm and lead him away.

You stop in front of the royal carriages, the first ones already boarding them.

Aemond caresses your cheek.

You lean into the touch, "I don't like that we can't travel together."

He chuckles softly, "I'll see you when we arrive."

You nod at him. Aemond's gaze wanders briefly and no one seems to be looking, he takes your hand and gently kisses the inside of your wrist. You smile.

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