#I was enamoured with her design since the days when she was alive

[xshinina]

Baby girl, baby

[auspicioustidings]

Cry, Baby

Summary: Serial killer Kyle takes you home, his room mate Ghost plays with you while he is away. Words: 1.7k CW: NON-CON/RAPE This is basically Ghost violently raping your throat. I cannot stress enough that if that makes you uncomfortable do not read it.

It had saved your life you think, how you looked when you cried. The Butcher is what the papers called him, but you knew him as Kyle now. He had broken in to your sister’s house which you were staying in while she was on vacation with her family a few months ago and you had been sobbing by the time he was stood over you with a cleaver. It was cruel how he did it all, stalking you through the building, little traps designed to fracture bones and rip open skin appearing, messages left on the exits about how he’d be so disappointed if you tried to get out (you had obviously and he was, enough that when he caught you he had carved his name into your breast while cooing at you that it was ok, he was doing this so you’d remember to be good, could look down whenever you felt the temptation to misbehave and remember who you belonged to).

He hadn’t ever left anyone alive before and you didn’t think he had intended to leave you alive either, but when you started sobbing he looked at you as if he was enamoured.

“Well fuck me, first little lady I’ve met that doesn’t look pretty crying.”

That’s what he had said and it sounded like “I love you”. He took you home bloodied and broken and wrapped in his jacket like he was saving you. He never physically hurt you again after that. Even when he was buried inside of you he was gentle and loving and couldn’t stop speaking words of adoration into your skin. He only ever touched you after he had been out hunting. You only ever felt his hands on you when they were covered in the blood of yet another girl. There hadn’t been much of a pattern before he took you, at least that’s what the news had said. It was fucking mean of Ghost to show you that had changed.

—

The blonde man with the scars was a mean looking motherfucker and he had looked at you when Kyle brought you home like you were less than nothing and then proceeded to ignore your existence with the exception of standing over you each morning to watch you swallow a pill. You hoped it was contraception. It was a bit of a shock realising that the Butcher wasn’t just Kyle, it was the man called Ghost as well. You were weary of him, but you never had to be around him alone. If Kyle was out, so was Ghost. Until the day he wasn’t.

“Knees.”

You were unsure if he was talking to you at first, but he rolled his eyes, sighed impatiently and threw you to the ground by your hair without any explanation. You tried to scramble away which earned you a boot into you ribs that took your breathe away.

“You fucking deaf girl? On you knees.”

You got onto your knees but it was difficult. Your head hurt from how he had thrown you by your hair and your ribs were on fire. Since Kyle only gave you pretty little white dresses to wear (it made it all the worse when he came home after a kill to fuck you with how visible the blood was) your knees were bare on the floor. You hoped the boot mark would wash off. Kyle hated it when you were anything but his perfect little lamb ready for him to gently debauch. Last time you had bitten your nails a cage had appeared in the corner of the living room and you had spent days in it while he expressed just how disappointed and sad he was that you would do that to yourself. The plastic mouth guard he had forced onto your teeth ensured you hadn’t been able to bite you nails again while in the cage. The ever looming threat of disappointing him ensured you hadn’t bitten them since.

Ghost was looking down at you in disgust as he pushed his sweatpants down to hook the waistband under his balls with alarming casualness. Even soft he was big and the glints of metal running up the underside made you dizzy with panic. The beads weren’t round on the ends of the little curved barbells. They were spikes.

“S'not going to suck itself.”

“I… I don’t-” you stuttered, cut off as he grabbed your hair again and pulled hard to crush your face against his dick.

“Don’t need you to talk. Suck it or it’s going in your arse. You’re going to cry, baby. Doesn’t much matter to me where my cock needs to hit to make it happen.”

He was hardening beneath your cheek and one of the little spikes was scarily close to your eye as he forced you to hold your head there and ground forward before letting you go. A warning you thought. Fuck he was thick. He was getting so thick. He would tear you apart. So with fire in your ribs, a boot print on that pretty white dress and your strands of your hair hanging from his fingers from where he had ripped them out you took his cock in your mouth and sucked.

Your mouth had to stretch wide to accommodate him as he kept thickening up and your jaw ached. The first time you felt the scrape of metal on your tongue you jumped and tried to pull back but his hand settled on the back of your head and pushed you to take his cock deeper. You couldn’t breathe, couldn’t taste anything but sweat and precum and metal, couldn’t feel anything but the throbbing of you head and your knees and your ribs and your jaw. The throbbing of his cock heavy and insistent on nailing your throat.

“Atta girl, cry. C'mon cry, baby!” he barked at you as he started fucking your throat like a pussy and your eyes started to water as you gagged around him. “Sallow. I said fucking swallow” he growled as you gagged again, pulling out to smack your face hard with his now solid cock.

“S-sorry!” you cried through heaving breaths and sobs, wondering if he was going to kill you.

“Dunno what he’s on about” he said, hand moving around your head to your chin so he could force you to look up at him. “Real fucking pretty when you cry.”

This time when he shoved himself down your throat you fought to swallow to stop the gags and he groaned when you managed it. He had his hands on either side of your head, keeping it tilted up so your eyes were on him and he could watch the tears streaming down your face. You were little more than a fleshlight for him as he bobbed you up and down on his cock.

“Your cunt this wet and tight? Starting t'see why he’s keeping you, maybe a little house pet isn’t such a bad idea.”

Your look of horror, your ruined face and hair, how your whole body was shaking with the strain, fuck, Ghost really could get into this. He was surprised Kyle hadn’t killed you yet to be honest since it was obvious he desperately wanted to. If he touched you without getting all that aggression out there was no doubt you’d be fucked to death, torn apart while he lost himself in the manic euphoria of it all. Ghost was surprised he had been so careful not to so far.

The feel of your abused tongue moving his piercings about was the little bite of pain he loved and he kept on moving your head just how he wanted. He experimented a bit, watched you closely to see which angles had that delicious spark of panic light in those crying eyes because you really could not breathe. He laughed when he got your eyes to cross by using one hand to hold your nose shut so you really started to panic.

It was the way you desperately started battering at his legs that made him groan as his balls tightened. No sense wasting his cum when you weren’t trained to swallow it all properly yet, although next time he’d make you try and then push your face in what you spat out to teach you to swallow every drop. Instead he pulled out violently, kicked your chest to have you go crashing onto your back and stroked himself off over you, aiming the spurts of creamy white right over Kyle’s name carved into the swell of your tit.

“Better get more practice in” he said, looming over you as he tucked himself back in to his sweatpants to stand completely unruffled and confident. “You give head that bad next time I’ll fit an o-ring in that mouth and knock you out so I can fuck it without all the fuss.”

You flinched and cried as his boot moved to the edge of your dress. He lifted it up with the boot, assessing your bare pussy. “Hm, might fuck that too.”

Just like that he walked off, whistling a tune as the sound of the kettle being put on indicated that he was making himself a cup of tea as if he hadn’t just left you ruined on the floor. You could hardly move, everything hurt and your whole system was traumatised by the lack of oxygen. He returned at one point sipping away at his tea and dropped a pile of photos on your body. He didn’t say anything, didn’t need to. All these girls looked like you. And all of them had been butchered but one. Only one photo of a girl who wasn’t dead, instead it was a photo taken through a window while she braided her hair. She looked like you too.

You closed your eyes, tried to just breathe. You could survive. You would survive. This wasn’t forever. They’d get caught one day and then someone would save you. Or maybe they’d never get caught and you’d have to save yourself.

-

A rough wetness on your chest jolted you awake from dozing. Kyle was over you, covered in blood. He was lapping at the cum drying on your chest and it was painful in the places it had dried as he scraped it off with his tongue. His hands squeezed you, moving fast to grip whatever part of your body they landed on before moving on, covering you in bloody handprints. You wondered if you were being painted with the blood of the girl with the braid. He was more excited than usual, trousers already haphazardly halfway down his thighs so he could hump your thigh with his bare cock.

“Don’t worry, Kyle’s home, your Kyle is here baby girl. Going to take such good care of you.”

You wished you knew which Butcher you hated more.

[sweetcathedral]

🖤Hero Academia — Aizawa🖤

Note: I thought I’d post an old work here. Also, b/c I’m seeing a lot of minors migrate to ao3, I’m thinking of switching all my works to here since it’s easier to monitor, which means I’m deleting my ao3.

⚠️: bulge, breeding, somnophilia, cnc

He’s late. Just as you thought, but that’s expected of Pro Heroes and you can’t blame him for being one. You knowingly accepted your common law conditions, so you can’t complain. You reached for your phone hoping to see his name tangled within the notifications.

NekoZawa: late

Was the only message that caught your attention with a little bit of disappointment. Deep down you already knew it’d come to this, but you still can’t help feeling let down a bit. As you were about to change out of your getup a series of sharp knocks startled you, catching you off guard.

“It’s mee!” shouted the familiar voice.

Midnight?!

You rushed to open the door.

“Kayama? You’re ba—,”

“Ahhhh! So cute, so delicate, just youth!” she huffed in excitement at the sight of your longline lace bra and single-ruffled panties.

“Ah! Wai—youth? You know we're not that far in age,” you said, as you try to hide behind the door.

“Please, I'd kill to be 5 years younger, and don’t even try hiding from me. Even though he doesn’t care much about looks this definitely falls within his tastes,”

You blushed at the compliment, wishing it had come out of Aizawa’s mouth instead.

“Anyways,” she continued, “how about some bubble tea? I got your favourite,” she whipped out a bag of drinks from behind her. You wonder if she knew of your plans and came to cheer you up.

Who am I kidding, she’s an R-rated hero. Her sixth sense is basically her sex sense.

“Yeah, I could use some company,” you smiled in relief, thankful for her sharp intuition.

Before you knew it, 9PM became 11PM in what felt like 30 minutes and that heavy feeling weighing on your chest left after a couple of laughs here and there. You couldn’t help but feel better in the presence of Kayama, you have no choice but to feel better in her presence.

“And after I showed his class a pic of you, that grape idiot said ‘ if that raggedy ass man of a sensei is able to snatch a woman like that then there’s still hope for me, right?! Right?!’ in that stupid lisp of his! I couldn’t help, but cackle in his face! Hahahahahahahaha!”

“Grape idiot?!,” you laughed, almost choking on your tapioca.

“It caused this huge uproar which took Aizawa an hour to settle down,”

“Sounds like an exaggeration to me,”

“Really? Then I’d have to ask Principal Nezu for permission to let you visit. Hmmm, maybe a surprise visit during his birthday, I’d get to see that purple shit bleed from his eyes again. Hah!” she said, her sadistic side twinkling in her eyes.

You could tell she wasn’t lying about the surprise visit as she hummed her thoughts between sips of beer. Although you know how much Aizawa likes to keep his private life separate from his professional life, your thoughts couldn’t help but ponder in curiosity at how he acts around his infamous class 1-A students. All he ever does is complain about them every time you ask, but just thinking about him acting like the strict teacher Kayama says he is . . . makes . . . you . . .

“Oi, oooii . . . I said OI!”

“Gah!”

“What the hell’s got you blushing like a dazed mess?”

“Blushing? . . . !”

You clasp your hands over your face, as if you’re trying to keep your thoughts and daydreams from escaping. You let your imagination run wild just from thinking about Aizawa as a teacher — his strict demeanour and cold eyes piercing through you . . . his deep growls muffled at the base of your neck as his grip tightens around your waist and hair . . .

“Oh! What time is it?” Kayama exclaimed, disrupting your thoughts.

You reach for your phone to check the time, seeing 11:17PM illuminating from the screen before flipping it to Kayama.

“Perfect!”

You cock your head to the side trying to think of what could make Kayama that excited, but before you could react, her quirk had already taken hold of your consciousness.

Aizawa let out a heavy sigh staring at the time on his phone. It wasn’t the first time he’d let you down like that, even though it’s out of his control he still can’t help feeling disappointed in himself. Pro Heroes always have unpredictable schedules, but still, he’d wish his schedule had gone his way today.

“Thanks as always, Eraserhead. I’ll send the details your way once we’ve confirmed the date,” Tsukauchi reassured, dismissing him for the day. Aizawa nodded in response, finally, he thought. As he walked out of the station, his phone vibrated.

Ugh, what now?

He reached for his phone and unlocked his screen.

Kayama? Probably just more cat pics.

But much to his surprise, the series of pics caused him to stop in his tracks.

Kayama: Bon appétit! *kissy face*

Was the only message that followed at the end of the series of pics. After Kayama used her quirk to put you to sleep, she happily cleaned the place up and settled you prettily onto the bed in an innocent, but also, somewhat tempting position. Who could blame her? She had a knack for setting up tempting situations for her best friends. Aizawa tapped on each pic, examining the details of your delicate lace bra and fluttery panties. He really wished his schedule had gone his way today. The longer he stared at each pic, the bigger his temptation and pent up emotions grew — frustration, doubt, confusion, jealousy, anger, greed, love, lust, it was causing him to lose all sense of logic. You were causing him to lose all sense of logic and he hated it. It’s his first time experiencing something like this, he’d never romantically loved anyone until you came into his life. At first you were just like any other Pro Hero he teamed up with in previous missions, but the mission you two took on escalated into an emotional high profile case, which caused him to spend more time with you. One thing led to another and now, you’re each other’s common-law spouse. Both of you could care less about the huge wedding traditions of planning a wedding day, banquet halls, invitations and all that, but unexpectedly, he did buy you a wedding ring — a customized designer ring at that. Not only does he not care about appearances, but he also doesn’t seem to care about prices, so long as it serves its purpose.

“Uh, Eraserhead? Everything okay?” Officer Sansa tapped on Aizawa’s shoulder, breaking him from his thoughts.

“Huh? Oh, Detective Tsukauchi already settled on a date already?” Aizawa quickly locked his phone and tucked it back into his pocket.

“Um, no, he was actually worried about you . . . you’ve been standing still here for a while now, just staring at your phone . . .”

The logical Pro Hero himself didn’t even realize that he stopped walking and was surprised to see the station still behind him. Tch .

“. . . yeah, I think I should head home now. Someone’s waiting for me. Thanks, Officer Sansa.”

He waved at the cat officer before tucking his hand back into his pocket, unconsciously digging his fingernails into the palms of his hands in frustration. He hated this feeling . . . and he can’t wait to take it out on you .

Aizawa hesitates to open the door, unsure of how he’d react when he sees you for himself. He carefully turns the knob, making sure not to make a noise that’ll wake you from your peaceful slumber. You were just like the pics Kayama sent him — back exposed with the soft glow of the city night lights highlighting your dainty shoulder blades . . . arms clutching the pillow from underneath that pretty little head of yours . . . one leg hitched up to the side while the other was elongated and tucked half way into the sheets . . . As he reached to caress your face, he noticed his hand trembling from suppressing his temptation. Tch. He pulls his hand back in frustration.

“ . . . mmph . . . Shou . . . ta . . .” you murmured in your sleep in between heated breaths.

That was enough for Aizawa to let go of any sense of logic and common sense he had left, and before he knew it, he was hovering over you — the weight of his body sinking into the duvet. His eyes trailing over your features, watching your chest rise and fall with every breath you take — a reassuring feeling that you’re real and very much alive to him. He annoyingly hears his name from the teachers at UA all the time, but when it whispers out from between those pretty lips of yours, it made him experience a feeling he wasn’t used to controlling. He gave in, leaving trails of kisses that slowly turned into hickeys and then bite marks. He felt bad for leaving those marks on your supple skin, but he also wished they were permanent, as if the wedding ring doesn't speak for itself anymore. Aizawa’s grip tightened on your thigh at the thought of anyone else touching you, pinning your leg to your chest. His rough hand traces down your curves before slipping them in between your thighs — a wet sopping mess.

Ah, her panties are ruined . . . shame, he thought as he ripped a slit open, big enough for what you’re about to take in. Whoops . . . I’ll just get her a new one.

The temperature of your body was rising as he continued to press up against you, leaving marks on your collarbone and teasing your insides with his thick calloused fingers. A wave of pleasure ripples through your moonlight kissed skin, slowly pulling you back to your senses. You bat your eyes a few times to shake off the heaviness weighing on your eyelids.

“ . . . Shou—haa . . . !” your body twitched as another wave of pleasure came over you, shaking off your sleepy numbness, awakening your sense of touch as you grip his forearm trying to get him to slow down. It was no use given how enamoured he was with your reaction, your measly grip is as light as a feather against his strength.

“Haa . . . wait . . . slowdow—mmph!,”

Aizawa places his hand over your mouth, silencing your relentless begging. You finally noticed his flushed face and entranced eyes — a face you’re not used to seeing.

“Shut up, if you know what’s good for you,” his deep voice reverberated in your ear, sending a ripple of shivers down your neck. He was a completely different person in a completely different headspace. The only thing that can bring him back to his senses is your safe word, but you know that if you give in he’d completely stop and resist touching you for days as penance for losing control. But . . . you love it when he loses control along with his sense of logic, so you melt into your favourite position, signaling him to release all his pent up emotions in you — a mating press. You bite your trembling lower lip, begging with your wet eyes as a smirk played across his face. He gently kisses your forehead before pulling down his bottoms, revealing his thick throbbing cock. Your cunt twitched at the sight of it, squeezing out your fluids, dripping down like honey.

“How badly do you want it?”

“. . . badly . . . Shou~ta~ . . .” you cooed.

His cock twitched at the sound of your light and airy voice, precum drips onto the sheets.

“Not yet,” he said as he began stroking his cock on your clit, making sure not to let an inch slip inside you. The sensation drives you crazy as you whimper and whine for him to fill you up inside, desperately begging with your hips. But Aizawa’s firm grip on your thighs won’t let you, and keeps you from getting what you want. You miss the feeling of being bred full . His strokes were getting faster, his panting turning into growls. Your body tensed and toes curled as the feeling came closer, letting a desperate sigh escape from your mouth.

“Already? But I’m not done with you yet,” he playfully whispers in your ear before ramming himself inside you.

“Haa!” you yelped.

Your plump walls twitch at the sudden movement, tightening itself around his cock.

“That’s my good girl,” he chuckled, cockingly.

Tears well up in your eyes as you bite back your whimpering. He grabs your hand and firmly places it on your lower abdomen,

“Do you feel me? I’m right here.”

With your hand firmly placed on your stomach, you can feel his bulge every time he strokes his cock in you. He keeps it there, so that you have no choice but to feel it until the very end — up until his cum fills you up inside. His long strokes began to shorten, each stroke getting harder than the last and unable to hold in your pants and moans. Not only can you feel the warmth fill you up, but you can also feel his cock releasing globs of his milk from the bulge protruding from your lower abdomen. Your fingers dance around it making him twitch, his bruising grip tightening around your wrist.

“Fuck,” he grunts, looking down at the mess you both made.

Your cunt was swelling at the amount of cum it’s trying to keep from spilling, gushing out every time your sticky walls twitch. Before Aizawa was about to pull out, you grab his arm,

“Wait . . . not yet,” you must’ve been pouting when those words fell off of your swollen lips cause you’ve never seen his features soften like that before. He lowers himself, feeling his weight sinking into the bed as he tenderly kisses your forehead, brushing your slick baby hairs from your face . . . the warmth of his forehead resting against yours . . . the reassuring feeling of his hand gently cupping your flushed cheeks . . . You reach for his face, thumbing the scar under his eye, diving in for a deeper kiss and wrapping your arms around him. His heart begins to beat harder as you begin to feel his cock swelling up again from inside you.

[jeonsjiddies]

and then came you | pjm (m)

summary - Jimin was having a harder time getting over his unrequited love than he’d like to admit. He was desperate to escape the longing in his chest; he was searching for something to make him feel alive again. Jimin was about to give up hope that he’d ever find anything meaningful to cling to again, and then came you. 

rating- explicit 18+

word count-  7551

pairing- jimin x reader

genre- fluff, smut, angst

Warnings - a little angsty/ a little heartbreak at the beginning, some sexual harassment ( from an ex), mentions of cheating, thigh riding, ice play, creampie, multiple orgasms, slight dom!jimin, Oral (female receiving)

a/n - while this story can stand alone, it is based off the 8 letters AU, which can be found here. :) as usual, all the thanks in the world to @sweetnspicy93​ for all your help and thank you for urging me to give 8 letters Jimin his own happy ending. 

Jimin knew it was a bad idea, but he’d done it anyway. He would’ve done anything for the girl with the soft eyes and the bright smile, the girl who was now Namjoon’s. Jimin thought his crush was small enough that he’d be able to assist in making Namjoon jealous and walk away unscathed. At least she would be happy. That would be enough for Jimin. Or so he thought. 

Jimin’s mind wandered back to the way she looked on top of him, grinding her hips into his. His cock stirred at the memory. Of course, it had all been a show, strategically designed to make her roommate and crush jealous. That didn’t stop Jimin’s heart from slipping a beat when her core ground down onto his member. It didn’t stop Jimin from melting when she’d giggled and covered her face to hide it. Jimin knew it wasn’t real, he’d laughed off his boner, but he let himself enjoy the feeling of her skin under his tongue, the soft noises he drew from her which he knew weren’t completely fake. 

He felt empty, lost. Maybe he was being dramatic, but Jimin felt like he needed purpose. He’d feigned happiness when he saw her tucked into Namjoon’s loving embrace, congratulating the new couple as pieces of his heart chipped away and fell into the black hole of his chest. It seemed like his desire to do anything had faded away as quickly as his grasp on her. Now, he moped about his apartment, listening to the dull roar of the rain outside. It had been weeks since Namjoon had finally cracked and claimed her as his own, and Jimin was tired of feeling so… tired, dejected, lonely. 

Jimin decided he needed a change of scenery. The messy apartment with the dingy walls he had been cooped up in for weeks wasn’t doing anything to help him, he needed a fresh start. He didn’t give himself time to think about it, only packed a bag and scurried out the door, through the pouring rain to his car. He didn’t have a real plan, just decided to hit the open road and let his gut guide him until he found a place to explore. He drove through the rain, letting his excitement seep through his bones as he made random turns and took unplanned exits to get to his unknown adventure. 

Jimin drove for a few hours, deciding no matter where he went he wasn’t going to escape the dastardly rain. He took the next exit he saw, something in his chest guiding  him towards the small town it led to. Near the exit he saw a sign illuminated promising a hotel room for only $35 a night. Jimin, having nothing to lose, pulled into the parking lot. Entering the building and shaking the rain from his dripping hair, he looked around to find the front lobby devoid of any life. 

“Hello?” He called out. 

You didn’t hear him enter the building and couldn't see anything past the stack of boxes you were balancing. He didn’t see you coming around the corner. You tripped over a flipped up rug and went tumbling forward, boxes flying out of your hands and landing haphazardly on the tile floor, contents spilling out and rolling in different directions. You would’ve splattered on the floor much like the contents of the boxes had it not been for the beautiful stranger who currently cradled you in his strong arms. Your palms were pressed flat against his chest, and you could feel the toned muscle under your fingertips. Your gaze traveled up his neck and face until your eyes locked with the deep brown pools of his.  Though they were a dark color, they shone with the intensity of the sun, bright and vivid, so beautiful it almost hurt to look at. Your mouth hung open in shock for a moment at how gorgeous this man was before you came to your senses, stumbling back and out of his grip. 

“I am so so sorry! Are you alright?” You questioned, skimming over his body for any obvious signs of injury. You sighed in relief when you found none.

“I’m fine. Are you okay?” He wondered, eyes searching yours. 

“Yes, thanks to you. Thank you. For catching me.” You giggled nervously. 

“It’s not every day a beautiful girl throws herself into my arms. Couldn’t pass up the opportunity.” He winked playfully.

You blushed and looked down to hide it and squeaked in surprise, scrambling to collect the contents of the boxes. Jimin leaned down to help you, collecting items and tucking them safely in the box before lifting it and following you to the counter where the both of you set them down. 

“Thank you, again.” you smiled, taking your place behind the desk. “Were you looking for a room?”

“Yes, please.” he grinned back at you, his tongue darting out to wet his bottom lip. 

Your eyes lingered on the action a little longer than was socially acceptable before you shook yourself back to reality and searched the old, worn down computer system for available rooms.

“Okay, I’ve got a double queen and a single king available. Which would you prefer? They’re both non-smoking rooms.” you smiled politely.

“The single king, it’s only me.” Jimin sighed, his sunshine filled eyes dimming a bit.

“Okay!” you tried not to show your concern, but selected the room and input your employee discount.

“How many nights?” you asked, glancing back up at him.

“Ummm…” he trailed off, looking away as he thought carefully. “Let’s go with seven. For now.” 

“Okay, a one week stay…” your fingers tapped at the keys, and you rung up his total. 

“Okay that will be $187.25. Cash or card?” you smiled sweetly. 

“That doesn’t sound right… it’s for 7 nights right? $35 a night?” he confirmed. 

“I, um, put my employee discount in for you…” you admitted shyly, avoiding his gaze. “It made it $25 a night, plus tax. We’re allowed to give the employee price to friends and family and I was thankful for your help.”

Jimin watched you for a moment, teeth sinking into his bottom lip as he appraised you.

“Thank you. That’s… really sweet. Probably the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.” his voice lowered at the end, as if that part was a secret.

“Well, you helped me. I helped you.” you shrugged, trying to play it off and hoping he wouldn’t notice the blaze in your cheeks.

Your hands brushed when he handed over his card and you audibly gasped at the shockwave that shot through you when his skin met yours. His mouth parted in shock as well and you both locked eyes for a moment. One heartbeat passed. Two. The only sound in the lobby was both of you sucking in shaky breaths. 

You gulped, pulling your hand away and swiping his card through the reader. You handed it and a receipt back to him, careful not to touch him again and smiled the most professional smile you could muster. You reached behind you and pulled the corresponding keycard out of its slot and handed it over as well.

“Room 318. If you need anything, you can call me. The front desk number is 0. I’ll be here until 7am, but if you find that Mina is a little too… blunt?..for your taste, I’m actually right down the hall in 338.” you explained.

You weren’t sure why you told him that, you never offered that information to any other customers. Something about him just pulled you in. You wanted to protect him. You wanted to know what was going on in his mind, what could possibly be dimming those glittering eyes. You were enamoured by him, intrigued, fascinated really. 

“Thank you for the heads up…” he trailed off, eyes scanning your shirt for a name badge.

“Y/N. And you?” you offered.

“Jimin.” he beamed at you, causing your heart to skip a beat for probably the 92nd time since you’d laid eyes on him.

“It’s very nice to meet you Jimin. I hope you enjoy your stay.” you told him sincerely.

“I think I will.” he winked, making his way down the hallway towards his room.

*** Jimin couldn’t sleep. He was used to tossing and turning and lying awake until the sun came up, he was no stranger to the way his mind whirled when the silence crept in. He kept himself busy during the day, but when the sun went down, the restlessness set in. Jimin hated the silence. He hated being alone. He glanced at the clock, it was midnight. He sighed and shoved himself out of bed, slipping on his shoes and making his way down to the coffee bar he’d spotted earlier. 

He filled two cups, fixing one the way he liked it and leaving the other black, but grabbing a couple of cream and sugar packets to bring with him. He peered around the corner to see if you were busy before he entered the lobby. You were sat on a stool behind the desk, head leaning on your hand as you struggled to stay awake. Jimin smiled, turning the corner and setting the coffee in front of you.

“Looks like you might need this more than I do.” he grinned, taking a sip of his own. “I wasn’t sure how you liked it so I just brought the extras to you.”

“Oh my gosh. My hero.” you cooed, ripping open the sugar and creamers and dumping them in before taking a sip.

Your head lolled back blissfully and you moaned quietly. Jimin’s eyes widened at the unexpected lewd sound rolling off your pink lips and had to discreetly adjust himself before you noticed the way his sweats got a little tighter. 

“You saved my life. How can I ever repay you?” you giggled. 

“Keep me company? I can’t sleep.” he whined.  

“I’m not going anywhere until 7. You’re welcome to hang out with me here.” you offered.

Jimin hopped up on the desk, swinging his legs back and forth as he peered down at you. You rolled your eyes with a smile.

“Where are you from?” you asked him.

“Just a few hours south of here.” he answered. “I couldn’t get far in the rain.”

“Oh, you aren’t to your destination yet? Why did you book seven days then?” you wondered aloud.

“I didn’t really have a destination in mind. I just wanted to leave for a while. I had nothing holding me there anymore, and I thought a change of scenery would be nice. So I just kinda went where I felt like going and ended up here.” he shrugged.

“Your grand adventure led you to our little town?” you laughed.

“It’s got it’s charms.” he smirked.

You bit your lip and looked down, willing the blush on your cheeks to chill out. Jimin chuckled, the vibrations of his body shaking your desk.

“So what do you plan on doing now that you’re here?” you asked.

“I don’t really have a plan. I just felt kind of suffocated and needed to get out of my dingy apartment and that stupid town.” he left off the part about how SHE was everywhere he went when he did venture outside his apartment, and how every time he saw her hand laced with Namjoons bile rose in his throat.

“Well, on behalf of our tiny town, welcome. I hope you find what you’re searching for.” you smiled.

Jimin stayed perched on your desk for hours, until the sun started streaming through the blinds in the lobby, filling the room with a soft glow. In your opinion, though, the light wafting through the space couldn’t dare compare to the light that came from Jimin. When his head was thrown back and his body shook and his smile reached from ear to ear while giggles and chuckles fell from his pillowy lips, Jimin shone brighter than the sun could ever hope to. 

You both got more comfortable as the night went on, delving into deeper topics, more personal ones. You told each other stories, shared your hopes for the future, It honestly felt like you’d known him your whole life. The conversation flowed easily, there weren’t any awkward pauses or times when neither of you could fill the silence, unsure of what to say. It was easy with Jimin. Being around him made you feel lighter, less broken. Like the light inside of him was seeping out and filling you with hope too. 

You could tell there was something on his mind, something plaguing him. Who else stays up talking to a hotel clerk until the wee hours of the morning? He was running from something when he left without a plan, but he didn’t offer much information on it. Despite the darkness that sometimes threatened to break through his cheery exterior, Jimin was just… bright. It was who he was, a part of him. He was warm, friendly, and welcoming. 

Neither of you had realized the time until the front door of the lobby swung open and Mina shuffled through, her ever-present scowl plastered on her weathered face. She glared at Jimin the moment she saw him. His eyes widened in fear and he slipped his bottom off of the desk, backing away from it. You sent him a look that said ‘I told you so.’

“Shifts over. Go.” she grunted, pointing her disappointed gaze at you.

You nodded quietly, gathering your purse and walking over to Jimin, who was almost cowering in the corner. You nodded for him to follow you out of the lobby and only spoke once you were out of earshot.

“See what I mean?” you giggled.

“She’s terrifying.” he whisper-hissed.

“She’s old and everything hurts. I’d probably be mean if I had to work here at her age too.” you shrugged, “but yeah if you need anything come find me. She definitely didn’t like the way you were sitting on the desk.”

Jimin nodded, covering his mouth as he stifled a yawn. You laughed.

“Did I wear you out talking your ear off?” you teased.

“No, that was the most fun I’ve had in a while to be honest.” he chuckled. 

“Happy to help.” you smiled shyly, pausing in front of his room with him. 

He hovered by the door but made no move to go in. You didn’t make a move to leave either. You both laughed at how ridiculous you were being. You placed your hand on his arm.

“Goodnight Jimin, sleep well.” 

Suddenly, Jimin pulled you towards him, his arms wrapping tightly around your frame, head resting in the crook of your neck. You melted into his embrace, allowing your arms to circle around his body as well. 

“Thank you for keeping me company.” he quietly spoke, warm breath hitting your ear and making you shiver.

“Any time, Jimin.” you answered back just as quietly. 

He pulled back and sent you a smile before he slipped inside his room. You slowly made your way back to yours, every inch of your skin tingling, relishing the way it felt to be held by him, even for just a moment. In the  arms of his stranger was the first time you’d ever felt like you were home. 

You and Jimin had developed a nightly routine. Each night, he’d show up around midnight and perch himself on your desk, gifting you a cup of coffee (which he tailored to your tastes now.) The two of you would talk and laugh and just enjoy each other’s presence throughout the night. Maybe you should’ve gotten bored spending so much time together but you never ran out of things to talk about. 

It felt like he’d always been there and he always would be. Even Mina seemed to get used to seeing Jimin when she arrived. She wasn’t friendly but she’d stopped sending him evil looks, which was quite the compliment from her. You found yourself looking forward to work rather than dreading it.  Your favorite part of each day was the time you got to spend with Jimin. On the 4th night of this routine, Jimin wrapped you up in your nightly hug. You’d be lying to yourself if you said you didn’t wait all night for this part, longing to be wrapped up in his embrace, however fleeting the moment may be. 

That night, Jimin surprised you. When he pulled away from your hug you felt his pillowy soft lips rest upon your cheek in a chaste kiss. The moment was over before you had time to process what was happening and Jimin smiled innocently at you.

“Goodnight, Y/N. Sweet dreams.” 

You stood frozen in place, letting your hand come up to touch your cheek where his lips had just been. His lips were so soft, so plush, and you longed to feel them against your own. Your cheek burned in the best way where the lingering heat from his lips stayed. You couldn’t stop the goofy smile from spreading across your face. 

That was until you rounded the corner to get to your room and walked face first into the chest of the man you despised more than anything else. Your ex boyfriend, Stuart, loomed over your like a predator stalking it’s prey, using his large body mass to trap you against the wall. He reeked of alcohol and you rolled your eyes at the familiar scent. 

“What are you doing here? Get off of me.” You hissed. 

“Awww don’t sound so disappointed, Y/N. Don’t you miss me?” He cooed, one finger sliding it’s way up the side of your face. 

“No.” You spit. “Get the fuck off of me.”

“Come on baby… don’t you want to have a little fun?” He smirked and your stomach threatened to release your midnight snack all over his button up shirt. 

“Let me get one thing through your thick ass skull, I will NEVER touch you again. Do you understand?” You hissed through gritted teeth 

“Don’t be like this. Just unlock the door. We can go in your room and play around like we used to. You used to like it when I showed up like this.”

“That was before I found out you were fucking half the town behind my back.” You threw back at him. “If you think I’ll ever get with you again you’re insane.” 

“Quit playing hard to get and open the fucking door.” He growled. 

“I believe she said no.” 

Your gaze snapped to the voice that had just spoken, your eyes landing on Jimin, who was carrying his ice bucket. His eyes were swimming with concern for you but he stood tall and held his ground, refusing to be intimidated by the giant drunk moron who had you pinned to the wall.

“This isn’t any of your business. Fuck off.” Stuart hissed. 

“Actually it kind of is. You’re sexually harassing my friend.” Jimin spoke evenly, keeping a calm persona. 

“You know this clown?” Stuart asked you. 

“Yeah. He’s my friend.” You shrugged.

“You little slut, you’re letting him hit it aren’t you? Bitching at me for having a little fun but you’ll bust it open for anyone huh?” Stuart goaded you.

“Well Stuart, I don’t really think that’s any of your business.” You growled.

“If you’ll put out for him you better put out for me.” He hissed. 

Jimin’s fist connected with Stuart’s jaw before you could reply or react. Stuart stumbled back in surprise and Jimin took the opportunity to grab your hand and sprint down the hallway with you in tow. A roar of rage sounded from behind the two of you which only fueled your legs to move faster. Nearing a T in the hallway, you made a split second decision to shove Jimin into the supply closet and shut the door.

Stuart wasn’t smart enough, especially while drunk, to think of that as an option and you strained your ears to listen as his footsteps clomped past the storage closet, pausing before retreating down the hallway. You let out a sigh of relief, looking up to meet Jimin’s gaze. It was then that you realized how close you were. Your noses almost touching, you could feel his ragged breaths against your skin. You told yourself it was from the running.

“Are you okay?” He whispered. 

“Yes, thanks to you. You keep rescuing me.” You grinned. 

“Well, call me Prince Charming then.” He laughed quietly. “Do you think he’s gone?” 

“I’m not sure. We should probably wait it out.” You sighed.

“Why don’t you call the police?” Jimin wondered.

“His dads the sheriff. He won’t do anything.” You huffed.

Jimin shifted, trying to maneuver around you to set down the ice bucket he was holding. He opted to place it on the floor, bending down to set it beside the two of you. He misjudged the space between your bodies as he stood up, stumbling forward a little, his face ended up in your cleavage, his lips brushing against your cloth covered nipple. He froze in shock, unable to peel himself from your breast. His breath circled your nub, damp and warm. You let out a breathy moan at the feeling and your eyes immediately widened in panic. 

Jimin straightened his posture, eyes locked on yours and lips parted in amazement. Neither of you spoke or dared to move. You could feel his chest rising and falling rapidly, brushing against your own each time in the cramped space. Jimin could feel his cock stirring to attention in his sweats and decided it was time to check if the coast was clear. He cleared his throat and opened the closet door, slipping his head out and checking both directions.

“I don’t see him anymore.” Jimin told you quietly.

You nodded and followed him towards your room. You paused in front of his, shaking with anxiety when he looked at you in confusion. 

“Jimin… I’m scared. Can I… can I stay with you? I’m worried he’s going to come back and I-“ you rambled bit Jimin put you out of your misery. 

“Of course, come on.” He unlocked the door and ushered you inside. 

You followed him inside, thanking him quietly and following him like a lost puppy to the middle of the room.

“Make yourself comfortable. Do you want me to turn on a movie?” He asked. “Are you hungry or thirsty?”

“I’m okay, but I won’t turn down the movie.” You smiled gratefully. 

Jimin flipped on the tv and sat at the opposite side of the bed, careful to give you room and made sure he was under the covers so you couldn’t see his semi. You got under the blankets too, but still shivered in the cold of his room. 

“Are you still cold? I don’t think I have a clean sweater…” he thought out loud, wracking his brain for ideas. 

“It’s fine! I’ll warm up soon.” You assured him. 

Things shifted back to normal for the most part, but there was a lingering tension in the air neither of you were willing to talk about. You fell into easy conversation about the movie, giggling and poking fun at the plot holes together. You continued to shiver despite your best efforts not to show how cold you were. Jimin sighed. 

“Come here.” He instructed. 

“Hmm?” You questioned. 

“Come over here and let me warm you up, you’re making me feel bad.” Jimin motioned for you to join him on his side of the bed. 

“Really I’m fine-“ you began but the look on Jimin’s face had you obeying his command in an instant, crawling your way over to him and snuggling up beside him as he wrapped an arm around you and pulled the blanket up to cover you both, trapping the heat of both of your bodies. 

The hotel mattress was lumpy and uneven, but you’d never been more comfortable in your life. Jimin’s arm wrapped around your shoulder so it wasn’t sandwiched between the two of you and you molded yourself against his side even closer. Your bodies fit perfectly together and it made your heart beat faster than normal. You only hoped Jimin couldn’t hear it. When the movie ended, Jimin switched off the tv and laid down. You followed suit, pressing your body up against his and resting your head on his shoulder, your hand on his chest.

“Tell me something I don’t already know about you.” you requested, voice soft in an attempt not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere.

“What haven’t I told you yet?” Jimin chuckles to himself. 

“What’s the real reason you’re here?” you pondered, bracing yourself for him to close himself off.

Jimin sighed, and you were about to apologize and change the subject when he nodded, glancing over at you.

“Actually, I was kind of running away. I had this friend, and I liked her but she liked her roommate. He likes her too but wasn’t doing anything about it, so we fake dated to make him jealous. I know it’s immature but he needed a push. I wanted her to be happy but didn’t realize how I’d feel seeing them together all the time. It’s actually kind of nice, I haven’t thought about her in days.” Jimin explained.

“I’m sorry Jimin. You’re a wonderful guy and you deserve someone who appreciates you.” You told him, eyes searching his face. 

“Thank you.” He scrunched his nose up in that cute way that made your heart clench. “Tell me something I don’t know about you.”

You wracked your brain for information you hadn’t already provided to Jimin during your nightly talks. You noticed then that Jimin was shifting beside you, growing antsy with the vulnerability of the conversation, you assumed. In an attempt to lighten the mood, you threw out the first thing you could think of.

“Hmmm… I can touch my nose with my tongue.” you lied with the best straight face you could muster.

“No way. Show me.” Jimin laughed, turning to watch you.

You stuck your tongue out and tried your hardest to push it far enough to touch the tip of your nose, but failed miserably. You refused to give up and kept trying, making silly faces while attempting to reach. Jimin couldn’t control the laughter bubbling from deep in his belly at your ridiculous antics. 

His smile reached both ears, and Jimin watched you make a fool of yourself, realizing that he hadn’t felt so light and carefree in the longest time, even before the incident with Namjoon and his new girlfriend. Something about being near you just made Jimin turn into a version of himself that he actually liked. Being around you made him feel like it might actually be okay. 

The two of you shared hushed whispers for a while, Jimin absentmindedly drawing shapes on the soft flesh of your hand that rest on his chest. The whispers died down and you were left with the quiet humming of the air conditioning kicking on and off periodically and the sound of Jimin’s even breathing. You lifted your head to see if he was asleep and watched his chest move with each inhale. You allowed yourself to study his features up close. You couldn’t help yourself, reaching out and letting your fingers brush against the skin of his jaw, a featherlight touch in the hopes of not waking him. 

Jimin stirred slightly and you held your breath, ceasing all body movements. You watched his eyes flutter before stilling. He snuggled farther into the blanket and sighed happily. You waited a few moments before returning to your exploration. Your fingers danced lightly towards his lips, letting yourself marvel at how full and soft they were. Your thumb brushed against the tender flesh, and Jimin’s tongue darted out to wet them. You removed your fingers from his warm, now wet mouth. 

His eyelashes fanned across his cheeks delicately, and you gently ran a finger along them, watching them flutter under your touch. You sighed, completely in awe of how beautiful the man next to you truly was. He was painfully attractive, that was a given. But he was also smart, funny, kind, open. You found yourself idly wondering how anyone could pass him up, but you were honestly not upset that she had. It was a stupid daydream, you knew that. There was no way he was into you. But you couldn’t stop yourself from imagining what it might be like to show Jimin the kind of love he’d been missing, the kind he was so clearly desperate to find. 

If anyone deserved to feel raw, unconditional love, you had no doubt that Jimin did. He was so sweet and friendly and had so much love to give in return. You wanted to watch those eyes light up, see how brightly he could shine when properly adored. You wanted to be that for him. He shuffled in his sleep, mumbling something under his breath and his arms reached out, seeking your warmth. He brought you flush against him, enveloping you in his warm embrace. You smiled to yourself and carded your fingers through his silky hair. 

You let yourself melt into his hold, feeling welcome and needed and wanted. You began fading in and out of consciousness, the comfort and safety of having Jimin so close putting your mind at ease. You fell asleep to the sound of his strong, steady heartbeat, which sounded a lot like your new favorite song.

You woke up before Jimin, the sunlight finding its way through the thin curtain that covered the large window of his hotel room. You blinked a few times and tried to sit up, but Jimin’s arms instinctively wrapped around you tighter, holding you in place against his firm body. You grinned, snuggling back into his embrace and pressing yourself up against him. That’s when you felt something hard pressing against your backside. You experimentally wiggled your hips against Jimin’s, wondering if it was what you thought it was. His sleepy moan and the friction against your bottom proved your suspicions correct. 

Your eyes widened and you bit your lip as arousal pooled in between your legs. Jimin’s rock hard cock pressed against your backside made your head spin. You attempted to remove yourself from his grasp but that only made him hug you closer, effectively pressing his erection against you more. You whimpered quietly, torn between not disturbing Jimin and relieving the ache between your thighs. You pushed your bottom farther into him, hoping to gain a little friction. Suddenly, his hand gripped down on your hip, stilling your movements. 

“What are you doing?” He questioned, his morning voice raspy and deep. 

“I...uh….” you gulped, heat flooding to your cheeks at having been caught grinding against him.

You tried to flee, but Jimin’s firm grip on your hip didn’t lessen, his fingers dug into your skin deliciously. 

“It looks like you were grinding your pretty little ass on my cock.” He purred, his hand sliding from your hip to grasp the fleshy globe of your bottom, giving it a rough squeeze. 

“Ah, fuck.” You squeaked out at his possessive actions, you leaned into his touch and brought a chuckle from him. 

“Hmmmm… you like that?” He chuckled, “you like when I touch you?”

“Yes.” You gasped as his hands traveled farther up to cup your breast, giving it a light squeeze. 

“So needy. Why don’t you do something about it?” He prodded. 

Your brain was fuzzy, you weren’t even registering his words. You didn’t think about what you were doing, you just let your body take control as you turned around then swung a leg over his lap and straddled him. Jimin’s words died in his throat and his mouth hung open in shock. You didn’t let yourself think or slow down, knowing you’d chicken out if you did. You pressed your lips to his in a needy kiss, which he reciprocated after he processed that it was happening. 

His hands found purchase in your hair, tugging gently as his tongue explored your mouth. You moaned into his mouth when his free hand pinched and rolled your nipple between his fingers. You began to grind your hips down onto his, delighting in the way his cock felt dragging up and down your clothed folds. Jimin groaned, letting his head fall back and hit the headboard with a quiet thud before he lifted it and grabbed your hips, holding them still.

“Wait, wait.” he panted.

“What’s wrong?” your hips stilled, embarrassment flooding your cheeks.

“It’s uh, been a while, and if you do that I’m going to cum in my pants.” he admitted sheepishly. 

You bit your lip to hide your giggle when an idea flashed in your mind. You moved your hips so you were straddling his thigh rather than his crotch. You began to rock your hips again and Jimin’s eyes darkened as he stared at the spot where your sex met his thigh. 

“Holy shit, you look so sexy right now…” he hummed thoughtfully, his hands coming to rest on your hips again only to grind you down harder on his toned muscle.

The arousal pooling between your legs was soaking through your clothing, and you were certain Jimin would feel it soaking his flimsy sweats soon. You whimpered at the friction on your clit and when Jimin tensed his thigh it sent a wave of pleasure through you.

His fingers found the edge of your shirt and he glanced at your face to make sure it was okay. When you nodded, he lifted it off of your frame and tossed it aside. He licked his lips as he surveyed your skimpy bra. His lips attached themselves to the tops of your breast while his hands slipped behind you to unclasp the fabric preventing him from seeing all of your upper half. The bra fell off your shoulders and Jimin whisked it away, taking a moment to admire your breasts.

“I think I might have died if I didn’t get a chance to have a proper taste of these.” he hummed, eyes flicking up to yours as a smirk graced his lips.

“Fuck, Jimin.” You whimpered pathetically as electricity shot to your core. 

Almost immediately, his lips were on your nipples.His soft, plump lips sucked at your sensitive nub, his teeth gently scraping along the flesh. Your movements on his thigh stuttered, your mind going blank at the shivers coursing through you. His tongue darted out and swirled around your nipple, before he moved his delicious assault to the other breast. This time, he bit down, pulling the nub between his teeth. You yelped, arching your body closer to him as the sinfully pleasurable pain raced through your veins.

Jimin smirked against your skin, biting and soothing it with the flat of his tongue afterwards. He blew cold air against the red marks on your breasts, and you shivered. Your hips picked up speed the closer you got to letting go and Jimin sensed you were near your high. His fingers dipped past the waistband of your pants and panties, and he began rubbing your clit harshly, until you were just about to fly off the edge, then he ripped his hand away and held you still.

“What the fuck?!” you whined.

“You don’t cum until I say you do.” he growled, “you were a very bad girl, rubbing up against me and teasing me, using me for your own pleasure. So fucking sexy.” 

You whined, trying to rock your hips against him once more, but Jimin was stronger than you. He grabbed your waist and flipped you over so he was hovering above you. The tips of his fingers teasing at your waistband. Your breath caught in your throat, the palpable tension growing thicker with each passing moment. He quickly discarded his own shirt, giving you the most glorious view of his toned chest and stomach. 

You made no attempt to disguise the way you ogled him. You licked your lips seductively as your eyes raked over his body, drinking him in. You reached up to let your hands rake down his chest, fingers tracing the lines of his abs and brushing over his nipples on the way down. His body jerked and you smiled to yourself. Your perusal of his body came to rest at the elastic in his sweats.

“Someone’s eager.” Jimin quipped.

“Someone might not be so eager if she’d been allowed to cum.” you huffed, tugging the sweats and boxers down in one smooth  motion. 

Jimin laughed, standing up and kicking the clothing off of his body before crawling back onto the bed.

“Mouthy little slut. Don’t you know only good girls get to cum?” he shot back, pressing you flat against the mattress and kissing down your neck.

You squirmed under his touch while he worked his way down your body, stopping just above your aching sex. He placed a soft kiss to your clothed folds, making your body react and arch closer, seeking relief. He chuckled to himself and shed you of any remaining clothing. The contrast of the cool air meeting your aching heat caused a shiver to rip through your body. Something lit up in Jimin’s eyes and he removed himself from the bed and walked over to the mini fridge, opening the freezer compartment.  You watched curiously as he returned with the small ice bucket he’d filled before finding you last night.

“Feeling thirsty?” you joked. 

Jimin raised an eyebrow, shooting you a half-smile before taking an icecube and running it over your already hard nipple. You cried out, the stark contrast of his warm hands with the freezing cold of the icecube was divine. You watched as it slowly melted, water droplets rolling off your body and falling onto the bed.

“Jimin…” you whimpered.

“Mmm?” he smirked, repeating the action on the other breast.

Your back arched, seeking more from the man above you. He was playing you like an instrument, and he knew all the right notes. You were putty in his hands, and he knew it. It stroked his ego more than you would’ve cared for but at this point you would’ve done anything to get some attention on your sodden pussy.

Jimin popped an icecube in his mouth and moved up to kiss you. It rolled around between your tongues until it melted between your combined heat. Jimin kissed the tip of your nose before moving his face down between your legs. He pressed his tongue flat against your clit, and the coldness from the icecube that he’d just had in his mouth stunned you. He left your clit to tease along your folds, letting his tongue dart experimentally inside your heat. 

You groaned,writhing underneath his ministrations. He flicked the tip of his tongue against your clit quickly, building the heat in your belly as he moved. He slipped two fingers inside you, curling them and hitting that delicious spot with every pump. He paused for a moment, and suddenly there was something very cold and very wet pressing against your walls. 

You gasped, the ice pressing against you as Jimin moved it in and out with his tongue. The melting liquid joined your slick and spilled out of your hole while Jimin flicked his tongue, and the remaining ice against that spot that drove you wild. Once the ice was gone, and you were panting enough for Jimin’s liking, he doubled down on his efforts, tongue pressing against your walls and fingers working beside it while his other hand worked your clit in small, deliberate circles.

Jimin pulled away abruptly, and you nearly began crying as another orgasm slipped away.You groaned in frustration, reaching down to play with your own clit but Jimin caught your wrists and clicked his tongue.

“Nuh uh, darling. What did I say? You don’t cum unless I tell you to.” he purred, licking a bold stripe along the veins in your wrist, which was strangely erotic.  “I want you to beg for it.” 

“What?” you hissed.

“Beg me to cum. Beg for my cock.” he smirked.

You sighed audibly, and Jimin just watched you, the smirk still pasted on his stupidly handsome face.

“Please…” you mumbled.

“I’m sorry, what was that darling?” Jimin chuckled. “I can’t hear you.”

“Please fuck me, Jimin. I need to cum. Please!” you whined, all of your pride flying out the window as your pussy clenched around nothing.

“That’s my good girl.” he cooed.

“Please hurry.” you whined.

“Shit. I don’t… I don’t have a condom.” Jimin realized out loud, shoulders slumping.

“I have an IUD and I’m clean.” you panted, fingers wrapping around his neck and bringing him to meet your lips. “Are you?”

“I’m clean,” he assured.

“Then fuck me.” you whispered, nibbling on his ear.

Jimin wasted no time obliging your request. He lined himself up with your entrance and slid in smoothly, aided by your dripping arousal, courtesy of your two denied orgasms and the skills of his tongue. Jimin bottomed out, both of you emitting a low groan. Jimin wasn’t super long, but his girth more than made up for it, as well as his ability to move his hips in the most delectable ways. He filled you up perfectly, hitting spots inside you that you were unaware even existed. 

“Jimin.” you moaned, clawing at his back as he thrust in and out of you at a painfully slow pace.

“Say it again.” he whispered, hips picking up speed.

“Jimin.” you repeated.

“Louder.” he growled, snapping his hips in and out of you with vigor.

“Fuck! Jimin!” you cried. 

Jimin pounded in and out of you, causing your body to bounce with each movement of his hips. He loved the way your breasts bounced and the way you bit down harshly on your lip, overwhelmed with pleasure. His head fell into your neck as he pistoned his hips against yours, one hand sneaking between your joined bodies to expertly rub at your clit. You could no longer form a coherent sentence,gibberish falling from your lips as the familiar fire built deep inside you. 

“Jimin.” you warned, your cunt clenching around him.

“Are you gonna cum for me? Cum all over my cock? Do it, baby. Cum for me.” he coaxed.

His teeth sinking into your neck was the last push you needed before you were careening off the edge. Your body trembled at the most intense orgasm you’d ever experienced in your life. White dots clouded your vision and you screamed so loud your throat felt raw. Jimin came soon after you, working you both through your shared euphoria. His thrusts slowed and he stilled inside you, breathing as heavy as your own.

“Holy shit.” he groaned, and you could feel his muscles shaking just as much as your own.

He pulled out of you, watching in awe as his cum seeped out of your beaten hole. He slid a finger along your folds, gathering his seed and bringing it up to your lips. You obediently opened your mouth, wrapping your tongue around his fingers and sucking them clean, the taste of your own slick combined with his cum coating your tongue. Jimin shivered at the sight.

“Fuck, you’re perfect.” he sighed breathlessly.

He stood up, walking into the bathroom to dampen a towel with warm water and bring it back to the bed, gently cleaning you up. You bit your lip, suddenly feeling vulnerable under his gaze. He made his way back into the bed, snuggling up next to you and pulling you into his arms. He watched your expressions and you watched him. You both giggled nervously.

“Do you maybe… want to go out sometime?” he asked, teeth raking over his bottom lip nervously.

“I’d like that.” you giggled, hiding your face in his chest.

You both lay there in comfortable silence, holding each other while your breathing returned to normal. You nodded off, spent from the activities of the morning, and it was Jimin’s turn to watch your peaceful face as you slept. His eyes trailed over your features, adoration and a tinge of something more filling him. True, Jimin had arrived in this small town running away from something. He was searching for something to make him feel anything but the jealousy and pain that had settled deep in his chest. Jimin felt like he was running toward something now, a possibility of the two of you. He knew he wasn’t “fixed”, but he felt good with you, whole with you. 

Jimin knew both of you had a lot of learning to do, and a long way to go and a long way to grow, but he couldn’t stop the excitement bubbling in his chest because for the first time in what seemed like forever, Jimin was happy. Truly, unabashedly happy. He’d started this journey of his running. He thought he’d never recover from the darkness that had taken him over. He thought he’d never find joy again. Jimin had gone desperately searching for something to give him hope.

And then came you.

[daisybeewrites]

The Best Medecine

word count: 2.7k

warnings: fluffflufffluff

requested? no i just needed to see daisy take care of daniel

ship: dousy/daniel sousa x daisy johnson

PART 2!! idr have an authors note today, just enjoy :)

(gif not mine)

Daniel felt like crap. 

He had caught Daisy’s cold, and the effects were hitting him harder than a ton of bricks. 

Daisy had recovered fairly quickly after he smoothly convinced her to take the proper medicine and rest. They had a great few days where both of them felt alive and normal, not like zombie versions of themselves. Going grocery shopping (avoiding the soup aisle, they already had a freezer full), taking a day trip to hike the Eaton Canyon trail and picnic, testing out a new prosthetic Fitz designed, and pulling an all-nighter to binge-watch Grey’s Anatomy completed the week wonderfully.

Things were going great! Almost too great. Things never go this great in their universe. Which is why neither of them were surprised when Daniel shot up in bed at 4am sneezing, waking Daisy and, she joked, the rest of the street. He tried to go back to sleep, only to wake up with a loud achoo! ten minutes later. Daniel rubbed his forehead, the pressure centered between his eyebrows insisting that he was not going to get any sort of true rest that day. 

He told a sleepy Daisy that he felt fine, that he just needed a hot bath. It was probably just the spring allergies, right? Nothing to worry about, Daniel told himself as he swung his leg over the side of the bed, grabbing his crutches and lumbering to the bathroom. He splashed his face with warm then cold water before quickly checking that Daisy was asleep again, her silhouette rising with deep breaths, outlined in diffused blue light from the stars on the ceiling. Maybe he could shake this before it got too bad? Surely, it wouldn’t disrupt his routine too much?

Daniel quietly crutched to the soft couch, grabbing a blanket from the pile on the armchair. The flannel of the blankets and the comfortable give of the couch lulled Daniel into a restless sleep. 

Early morning turned to late morning turned to afternoon, Daniel only waking up from tossing and turning when Daisy shook him and offered a sinus pill, which he gulped down with an entire cup of cool water. Three ice cubes shaped like half moons knocked into each other as he tipped the cup back, letting the smooth liquid drown out the scratchiness in his throat.

A glance at the clock alarmed him, mentally calculating how long he slept. He noticed the second quilt that had been laid on top of him, the fleecy textile one Daisy frequently curled up with when she had a bad day. He could faintly smell her coconut and lavender conditioner. It tickled his nose.

“Sweetheart?” Daniel called weakly.

“Mmm?” Daisy hummed.

“I slept for fourteen hours?” Though he asked a question, his tone was almost a statement.

Daisy nodded, slightly smiling. “I think you caught my cold. Maybe cuddling so much wasn’t a good idea.”

Daniel chuckled a little, but stopped when he saw the flicker of worry in her eyes. He reached over to her and grabbed her hand. “I don’t regret any time spent helping you feel better, Daisy.”

She smiled, mirroring his expression. Their eyes both crinkled at the sides, happy gazes taking in the other. Daisy’s eyes still furrowed though, and Daniel cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the frog there before speaking. The action only scratched his throat, a string of coughs interrupting the couple’s staring contest. 

“Hey, could you bring me som—” Daniel was cut off by more crackling coughs. Daisy threw him a concerned glance. He could hardly keep his eyes open, hands clammy and forehead burning, body shaking with hacks. He could feel the dip in the cushion as Daisy moved to sit down beside him, resting her hand on his forehead. Her cool skin felt incredible on his. He understood why she liked it so much when he had done the same. 

He slowly opened his eyes, ignoring the dry, itchy feeling and opting to focus on Daisy above him. She looked beautiful, like an angel, with airy morning light surrounding her and two messy braids running down her back. She was his angel. His angel was smirking at the way he leaned into her touch. 

“These?” she asked, as she held up a small, blue box of tissues. He nodded, swallowing thickly before sitting up and scooting back to lean against the rounded arm of the tan couch. Daisy laughed quietly. 

“What?”

She continued giggling, her small laugh growing a little.

“What’s funny?”

Daisy leaned forward and rested a hand on his thigh for balance. 

“You’re wearing those pajama pants I got you for Christmas,” she explained. He glanced down, recognizing the tiny planets of their solar system dyed into the plush fabric. “They’re cute on you.”

He smiled, gazing at Daisy. Then he sneezed. Luckily, he picked up a tissue and covered his face in time to not sneeze in Daisy’s face. Daisy leaned back, laughing. Daniel started to, too, a low rumble in his chest diffusing the nerves he had felt. This was the first time Daisy had ever seen him sick. There was that one time in space when he had almost gotten (unintentionally) poisoned by alien coffee, but that was an unpleasant memory he didn’t want to dwell on. Other than that, not a single sniffle had popped up. 

Daisy suddenly stood up and slid to the kitchen in sock feet, a large grin on her face.

“Dais, where’re you going?” he wondered out loud. 

“The kitchen, duh,” she replied as she slid to the soapstone countertops, grabbing a red and white box out of the counter. 

Daniel recognized it as Daisy’s favourite tea, she had bought it on a mission in South Africa and became enamoured with it. Sometimes Daniel would catch her up at odd hours of the night, when she couldn’t sleep, out on the back patio drinking a steaming mug of Rooibos. He knew it was her favourite, and it had slowly become his, too. Lately, they have made a habit out of winding down from long days at work with mugs in their hands, on the couch or in the backyard, red-amber liquid relaxing their minds and limbs. Those were some of his favourite times with Daisy, spent talking and drinking their tea and laughing at reruns of sitcoms.

The sound of hot water trickling into a mug pulled him out of his thoughts. The mug in question was one he had made for Daisy—large and hand painted, artsy flicks of white and yellow and blue serving as reminders of their time in space. That was a modern invention he was particularly fond of (paint your own pottery, not space). It was mesmerizing to watch the colored, chalky paint glide onto the ceramic surface. He often went to this local hole-in-the-wall café that let you paint one of their mugs and bring it home, for an extra charge. Their coffee and ‘old-fashioned southern’ biscuits were delicious.

Daniel stared as Daisy danced around the kitchen, her fishtails swishing and hips swaying. There was no music, just her. She dunked the tea bag in a couple times and let it steep. When the tea was ready, she poured in a squeeze of honey and grabbed a shiny green bottle of cough syrup, carefully walking over to the couch. Daniel gently took the mug from her, using the corner of the blanket as a barrier so as not to burn his hands. Daisy sat on the coffee table across from him, smiling as Daniel took a sip. 

“Hot!” he exclaimed.

“I know I am, you don’t have to tell me,” Daisy teased. “Do you want some ice cubes?”

“Jemma would disapprove,” Daniel shot back.

Daisy rolled her eyes and sighed. “Jemma has put up with my odd tea-drinking since 2013. I already made the tea wrong, might as well make it so that you won’t burn yourself trying to drink it.” 

Daniel watched Daisy laugh. As ill as he felt, Daisy just being there helped tremendously. The tea soothed his scratchy throat and her laugh sped up his heart. He knew the pink dust on his cheeks couldn’t be attributed to fever alone. 

The pair sat in silence for a while as Daniel finished the tea, thankful for the warm beverage. His headache was slightly dissipating, due to the tea or Daisy’s light aura he wasn’t sure. He sat the mug down on the table and leaned up to peck Daisy’s lips. She leaned in a bit putting her hand on his chest to pull away.

“How about that bath?”

“Only if you come, too,” Daniel whispered.

Daisy chuckled. “You, lover boy, are sick. If we keep this up, one of us is always going to be sick. And plus, I need you distracted while I make a surprise!”

Daniel perked up, his slight pout disappearing. “A surprise…?”

“Yes, Danny-boy, a surprise. Which means I can’t tell you, so sit here and I’ll go fill the tub and then you can feel the full effects of that chill pill.”

Daniel leaned towards Daisy, confused. “What chill pill?”

“This chill pill,” Daisy said, leaning forward until her nose almost touched his. Daniel’s head swam with the scent of her silky blonde hair and vanilla lotion. She gently rubbed her hands up and down his arms and over his shoulders. He took a moment to watch the twinkle in her eye, the warmth resonating through him. He felt the tension from staying on the couch all day slowly release, his arms coming to wrap loosely around Daisy’s back in an attempt to keep her there. She shook her head with a grin and sat up, easing off the couch.

Daisy kissed Daniel’s forehead before walking down the hall to the bathroom. Daniel watched her leave, conflicted. Shouldn’t he be able to take care of himself? He had for years, why stop now? It isn’t like he couldn’t fill up the tub, or cook or grab tissues, no matter how light headed he got. Why did she want to help him? ‘Because I love you, you stubborn square!’ Daisy would say. He could practically hear her protest, ‘Just let me take care of you! It won’t hurt!’

 If he was honest with himself, that’s all he wanted. 

So, he did.

Daisy came back into the living room, the faint sound of water rushing creating a comforting ambience. He didn’t have his leg on, as laying around all day didn’t require it and he was more comfortable without the prosthetic cramming against the back of the couch. He reached back and grabbed the pair of crutches that were leaned against the arm of the sofa. Daisy walked with him back to the bathroom, making sure he didn’t lose his balance due to dizziness from dehydration. Apparently, that was one reason Daisy had felt so horrible after her mission, she had been so busy taking down bad guys that she almost took herself down, too. Even knowing that dehydration isn’t contagious, neither of them wanted him falling into décor à la Daisy. 

They reached the bathroom, Daisy running to their room to grab an extra set of sweats for Daniel to put on once he was done. 

While she was rummaging through drawers, Daniel carefully undressed and got into the deep tub.

The bath felt incredible. He could smell the lavender from the fancy epsom salt that Daisy had gotten him wafting up from small waves he created. The water was warm, but not so hot that it burned and not so lukewarm that it would go cold in a few minutes. 

“Dais, this is first-class,” Daniel called. 

Daisy giggled a bit before responding. “First-class?”

“I know you’re poking fun, but thank you. It feels amazing.”

Daisy peeked her head around the corner, nodding. 

“I'm glad you like it. Now I'm gonna go fix that surprise. Yell if you need anything, k?”

Daniel nodded and relaxed his head back, muscles slowly easing their tension and his eyes softly closing. 

“Oh, shit!!”

Daniel startled, bath water dripping over onto the towels lining the tub. Daisy’s exclamation didn’t seem pained, but he couldn’t help his brow from creasing. He felt fairly rested, he wasn’t sure how long he had been napping in the water. It had gone from pleasantly warm to tepid, he guessed around thirty minutes at the most. 

“Dais, everything alright?”

Daisy paused before responding, “Yep! Got it all under control!”

Daniel smiled and shook his head, figuring it was probably time to get out and troop back to the living room, anyway.

He grabbed the grip-bar beside the tub and eased up, sitting on the edge before swinging his good leg around and stepping onto the floor. He grabbed a towel off his hook on the wall and started to dry off. Daisy had set a pair of comfy pants and a shirt on the counter, which he pulled on before grabbing his crutches and making his way to the kitchen. Something smelled… burnt. 

He rounded the corner, stopping in his tracks. 

“Uh, Dais?”

“It’s burned, I know,” Daisy said, disconcertedly.

“Are you okay?”

Daisy was staring disappointedly at two bowls of seemingly okay soup. She gestured loosely to the sink, Daniel’s eye following. 

“Oh, okay, yeah, I see.”

There was a large pot sitting in the sink, filled with greyish water, black bits glued to the bottom. 

“I’m sorry. I know cooking isn’t exactly my thing.”

Sousa smiled, running a hand through his wet hair. Daisy’s hands fidgeted, rubbing at her neck.

“Is the soup in the bowls good?”

Daisy looked him up and down, a twinkle of mirth in her eye, like she knew something he didn’t. She shrugged, “The char adds flavour.”

At that, Daniel grinned and stepped forward a little, leaning against the counter next to her. “I’m up for some extra flavour.”

Daisy looked over at him with an odd expression. “Even sick, never fails.”

Daniel responded immediately, “Through sickness and health.”

Daisy’s eyes went wide. 

“Relax, I’m kidding. Mostly.”

Daisy’s posture slumped a little as she hit his bicep. “Funny. You’re a funny, funny man.”

He nodded and felt a deep laugh in his chest. “I am very funny, yes.”

Daisy squinted her eyes at him, turning and picking up their bowls of soup to set on the kitchen island. She slid onto one of the backless bar stools that served as seats for when she didn’t feel like being fancy and eating at a table. Sousa took a moment before following, leaning his crutches against the cabinet after sliding onto the stool across from Daisy. He picked up a spoon and tasted the soup, swallowing down a grimace and giving her a thumbs up. 

“It's great!” Daniel exclaimed.

Daisy pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows at him, tasting a spoonful. She was not as great at acting as Daniel was, and could barely keep herself from spitting it out.

“Oh, god, that’s awful!” Despite her wry expression, she was giggling as she picked her cell out of her pajama short’s pocket. Daniel eyed her, perplexed as Daisy hit a button in her .

“Yes, hi... Thank you. Can we get six egg rolls, a small veggie fried rice, a plate of crab wontons, and a small shrimp lo-mein?... Yes! Thank you!... Alright, we’ll be there in ten. Have a good evening!” Daniel watched as Daisy hung up, a bright grin slowly spreading across her face.

Daniel mirrored her, smiling wide. “Chinese food?”

“Yep,” Daisy nodded, popping the 'p'. 

Daisy slid lithely off the seat, grabbing the bowls of blackened soup and trashing them. She felt bad, throwing away food. She never got rid of food unless she absolutely had to. Old habits die hard. 

She turned around and gave Daniel a smile. She noticed that he wasn’t as pale, his face wasn’t as flushed and he wasn’t swaying like his head was full of air. Maybe she had helped more than she thought. They walked out to Daisy’s car, a metallic dark grey crossover with slightly tinted windows. Daisy got in on the drivers side, Daniel climbing into the passenger. She cranked the car and turned up the radio, checking that Daniel was okay. It was a slightly chilly evening, and the windows were rolled down just enough to let the air in. 

The evening felt great, the cool air and orange-pink sky refreshing their senses. Daniel’s eyes were soft as he gazed at Daisy. Even though he caught her cold, he had the feeling that Daisy was the best medicine. Lucky him.

Maybe things do go this great in our universe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

awwwwwww, cuuuuuuute! as always, feel free to drop a request in my ask box (linked in the bio) or comment any thoughts!! thanks for reading!!

[lesbian-peanut-writer]

Peach Blossoms

Hey there my Little Rogues! Guess what, it’s time for another Collab! I took part in another Collab run by the Bnharem Discord Server, this time we were given the topic of Pen Pals and left to our own imaginations. I didn’t reblog the masterlist this time as I was busy writing and didn’t get the chance but head on over and check out the Masterlist, give these wonderful writers the love they deserve and enjoy the stories! I decided to go with our lovely Miss Momo Yaoyorozu this time around and you know what, the rest explains itself.

I just want to say thank you to @mari-writes-smut​ for bouncing ideas for the story back and forth with me. Thanks to @heyybrittannia​ for helping this clueless person work out what Momo would smell like and find a fragrance that as befitting her. Last but not least thank you to @villain-hotline​ for giving me the name of this Fic when my brain was too fried to think of one for myself.

~Lesbian Peanut

Word Count: 7634

“(Name), there's a letter here for you.”

You perked up at the sound of your mother’s voice calling to you from your doorway, your head snapping around instantly to stare at the thin object hanging precariously from between her fingers. “Is it from her?” Your voice cracking from the pure excitement you couldn’t contain as you vaulted over your bed and bound across your bedroom; heading directly for the sole object of your desires.

Your mother couldn’t help but to laugh at how eager and cute she thought you were being, seeing your eyes alight with anticipation was more than she could handle. She passed the envelope containing the letter over into your hands, watching as you turned it this way and that while inspecting the paper closely. “It has come all the way from Japan, I certainly don’t know anyone else it could be. Do you?” She teased as she pressed a hand to her lips, suppressing the giggles that were threatening to spill from her lips at any moment but unable to stop them causing her body to shake.

“It took awhile for her to respond this time, I wonder if there was a reason for that.” You remarked thoughtfully as you drifted away from your mother and towards your desk where your writing implements awaited your attention.

“You must remember darling; she would be in school around this time.” Your mother chimed a gentle reminder to you as she moved to sit on the end of your bed. “Perhaps one day when we move back to Japan, it won’t be quite so difficult for you to keep in touch with one another.”

“I eagerly wait for that day to make its arrival; it would be most splendid to finally see her!” You turned to beam over at your mother, your excitement evident on your face as you clutched the envelope to your chest securely.

It was mesmerising, the boundless and innocent joy of a child; it never ceased to amaze your mother. Without fail you would become elated with excitement each time a letter arrived at the house for you, seeing your beautiful smile was something your mother looked forward to each time. It had been years since you started exchanging letters and despite being twelve now, you still held the simplistic excitement of a child as you did when the first letter arrived. A tender smile crossed her lips as she watched you turn to open your delivery, your fingers gentle as ever as you slit the letter opener through the top of the envelope. She expected no less, you always took such care when opening the letters you received; she just wished you’d be as careful once they were open.

You smiled as butterflies fluttered to life in your stomach, whizzing about as your fingers slipped into the envelope to retrieve your letter. It hit you like a warm breeze, the scent wafting from the papers and enveloping your every sense. You expected it each time and yet it never failed in managing to take your breath away, the sweet but warming scent that came with the papers. You took the papers from their restricting prison, unfolding them fully before lifting them to your nose and breathing deep.

“Shall we get started then??” Your mother’s voice snapped you from your trance and you peered over to her sheepishly as your cheeks heated, flooding with colour. “It’s best not to keep her waiting.”

You nodded eagerly at your mother before taking up your seat at your desk, placing your letter atop it as you pulled out your own paper in preparation for a response before staring down at your letter. The words scrawled across the paper looking more delicate and elegant with each passing year, you could still remember how messy the first one you’d received from her had been; it had taken your mother several hours to decipher the poor handwriting. You shook your head quickly, clearing away the old memories as you focused in on the words before you.

 Dear Miss (Last Name),

I’d like to foremost apologise for my tardiness in replying to you so late after you have sent me your last letter. I assure you it was in no means meant to disrespect you; I have just been busy of late with studies. I will be frank with you though; I feel as though my abilities when compared to those of my peers are severely lacking. Many of my fellow students are more academically inclined than what I am capable of, it feels as though I am falling behind and quickly. I have lost on several occasions with one of my peers when it comes to spelling competitions, the latest word to stump me was one I had never come across before; iridocyclitis.

I do apologise for my ramblings of my academics; it must bother you for me to write about it as such.

In regards to your question from your previous letter, you asked me if I had any success with the Peach Blossom this year. I regret to say, despite my best efforts to keep the beautiful tree alive; it has withered down to nothing this year. Mother is looking at having it removed from the garden soon and starting over with her design.

I must enquire about Bast, is your adorable kitten doing well? You said she was perplexed over being in a new environment, has she since adjusted to her surroundings? I would very much love to see what she looks like one day; I imagine she’s quite beautiful to have you so enamoured with her. Don’t forget being a Sphynx you must keep her ears cleaned regularly and bathe her to remove the build up of oils on her skin.

I hope that your family and yourself are doing well. I can’t wait for the day when we may be chanced with seeing one another, for now though I look forward to your forthcoming letters.

Sincerely

Momo Yaoyorozu

 You smiled as you sat back in your chair, your finger tracing over the paper as you read over her words one more time. That familiar scent wafting through the air towards you, it was something you had yet to figure out the exact fragrance of but it made you feel safe. Your smile turned quickly into a pout as you thought about what you could respond to her letter with, the words just didn’t seem to be coming together as easily as they usually did. You tapped your fingers against the page, Miss Yaoyorozu was rather disheartened by her studies and felt as though she we’re falling behind her peers. You had always felt as though she was one of the brightest people you had ever been given the opportunity to converse with and to read that she was being so hard on herself; it made you sad. You sighed as you read through the paragraph over and over, trying desperately to find the right words that might aid in putting her mind to ease and comforting her.

“Mother, what does this word here say?” You turned your attention to your mother where she sat behind you on your bed.

She blinked rapidly; she had been lost in thought when your sudden words had startled her. She lifted herself up off your bed and moved over to stand beside you at your desk, her small frame leaning down over you as she peered down at your page. “Iridocyclitis, if I remember correctly it’s a word of medical origins. It’s been quite some time since I’ve heard that word myself actually.” Your mother confessed as she tapped her forefinger against her bottom lip thoughtfully, her eyes skimming over the sentence that preluded the word. “It doesn’t surprise me Miss Yaoyorozu got it wrong, I failed to spell that word when I first heard it too.”

“You did?” Your eyes lit up as you looked up to your mother’s face, a smile stretching across your face as she gave a small nod of affirmation. “Thank you, mother. I know now what to say.”

“You’re welcome, (Name).” She smiled as she gave your shoulder a gentle squeeze before moving to leave the room and give you the space you often desired to respond to your letters.

 Dear Miss Yaoyorozu,

I find no need for you to apologise for the length of time it took you in responding to my previous letter. There was no disrespect felt or conveyed in any manner and I quite understand the importance of being able to devote oneself to their studies. It saddens me to hear that you feel as such about your academics, it would be my desire to give you a hug if I were there with you now. I’m sure that your fears of falling behind your fellow peers is nothing short of being afraid of failing. My mother informed me that she too failed in being able to spell iridocyclitis as well when she was a girl. I’m positive that with practice and patience, you will overcome the spelling of such difficult words in the future. Perhaps you could reach out towards your fellow peers, invite them to study with you and discover new ways of learning with them.

I am saddened to hear about the Peach Blossom tree, the photo you sent to me of it when it was in bloom in previous years was extraordinarily breathtaking. You shall have to keep me informed on the decisions your mother makes in regards to the garden, its serenity is something that rather appeals to myself.

Bast is doing quite fine now, thank you for asking about her. She has adjusted rather well to her new surroundings now and is instead proving to be quite adventurous of her environment. She is becoming somewhat of a sook and often opts for never leaving my side. I shall enclose a photo of my darling kitten with this letter so you may see for yourself how beautiful she is. I have been cleaning her ears regularly as well as making sure that her skin does not incur a build-up of oils.

My family is doing well, father is as busy as ever and mother is finding new things to keep herself entertained each day. I hope your family is doing just as well, I’m sure they are proud of you. Perhaps when I return home to Japan in the future the two of us can meet then, until then I too look forward to your forthcoming letters.

Sincerely

(First Name) (Last Name)

 You smiled happily as you lay your pen down next to your paper, scanning over the words you had scrawled out in reply. You were content for now to communicate with Miss Yaoyorozu through these letters but you would much rather have been happy seeing her in person.

“One day! I will see you one day without fail, Miss Yaoyorozu.” You declared before rising from your desk to embark on the task of locating Bast for her photo.

~

Delicate fingers ruffled the battered edges of pages in disrepair and diminished over the years. You smiled wistfully as the pad of your forefinger danced gracefully over the indents in the pages where words were scrawled, etched into the depth of the pages by a hand unknowing of its own force. You couldn’t contain the way your smile spread further as you looked down at the all too familiar pages you were holding in your hands, the contents of those pages childish and yet invigorating. The once white pages now discoloured a murky yellow with stains littering them from childish hands that knew no better. These weren’t just any pages you held so lovingly; these were penned to you over the course of several years by one you now considered to own your heart.

You felt almost giddy as you lifted the papers towards your nose, your heart fluttering with elation as you breathed in deep the sweet aroma that even now lingered on those pages. The scent had faded over the years but unlike in your years of childish knowledge, you could now identify exactly what the fragrance was that assaulted your senses. It was an intoxication scent, a mixture of floral with a hint of amber and spices mixed into it. Oh, how you longed to be able to smell that scent anew after all these years and finally see the one of whom it belonged to.

Momo Yaoyorozu, the two of you had exchanged many letters over the years and each one had been as cherished as the next. As the years passed though and things became busier for the both of you, your means of communication had been forced to change in order to better suit your lifestyles. The letters became non-existent and were replaced with daily texts between one another. You had enjoyed the occasional phone call but the hours you got to spend texting with her, were some of your happiest hours of each day.

You were pulled away from your thoughts by the sound of a phone ringing, your eyes falling to the office phone that sat huddled on the corner of your desk. You sighed longingly as you shook your head, retrieving the phone from its cradle before lifting it to your ear. “Good evening, (Name) speaking. How may I help you?”

“My Lady, your car is awaiting you out the front. You need to leave now or you’ll be late to the event tonight.” You blinked as your secretary’s voice came over the line, looking down at the watch wrapped around your wrist and cursing yourself as you realised the time.

“Thank you Uraraka, I seem to have lost track of time up here. Please inform the driver I will be down shortly.” You responded as you opened a drawer, slipping the letters into its depths before returning the drawer to its closed state.

“Of course, My Lady.” Uraraka chimed as she started to hum on the other end of the phone. You were just about to put the phone down when you heard her sudden intake of breath and her scream come through the speaker.

“Yes, Miss Uraraka?” You smiled as you flicked your eyes over to the back of your door, looking at the onyx garment that was hanging there.

“I almost forgot to say, remember your dress is hanging on the back of your door and I brought the shoes you requested from your house over; they’re stored just next to the bookshelf to the right of your door.” She blurted out quickly, as though she were trying to beat someone else to inform you of these things.

“Yes, thank you. I can see the dress on my door and I will find the shoes. Thank you Uraraka, I’ll get changed and head down.” You informed her before placing the phone back down onto the cradle and leaning back in your chair.

You felt as though this night was just going to drag on forever, you wanted nothing more than to already be at this event. You sighed heavily as you pushed yourself forward out of your chair, pressing your hands down onto your desk before hoisting your body up into a standing position. You couldn’t help but to smile as you stalked your way around your desk, your eyes never leaving the garment that hung in the bag. Oh, how you knew this dress well, you hadn’t worn it since you had designed it but now was the time for it to make its debut. You snatched the bag off the door, pulling the plastic away from the hanger before letting it slide down the silky material inside. You smiled happily as you thumbed at the material, your eyes skimming over the garment quickly in search of any flaws that may have revealed themselves.

Satisfied with the quality and integrity of the clothing, you moved quickly to remove the clothes you’d been wearing all day. You couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran down your spine as you slipped into the clothing article, smirking as you moved to retrieve your shoes from their hiding place near the bookshelf. You gave yourself a once over in the mirror that stood alone in the corner of your office, your eyes flicking up to your hair where it sat pulled into a tight bun atop your head. You hummed to yourself for a moment, contemplating leaving it as it was before deciding to let it down and watched as it cascaded over your shoulders.

“I think this will about do it.” You whispered to yourself as you ran a hand over your thigh, content with your look before moving to leave your office. It was a quick trip down to the ground floor from your office thanks to the elevator, lord knows you’d have never made it down all those stairs without face planting it at least once.

“Oh… Wow, don’t you look gorgeous?” Uraraka gushed as she leaned against the service desk, her hands clasped over her chest as she stood waiting for your arrival.

“Thank you Uraraka, you look rather stunning yourself.” You returned as you ran your eyes over the dress she was wearing. “Shall we get going then?”

Uraraka nodded as she spun on the spot before moving to grab the front door for you, holding it open as she waited for you to pass through. She trailed behind you as you approached the car, your stride graceful as she watched you walk and only realising you were waiting for her when she almost walked into you. “Ah, sorry My Lady. You just look so beautiful tonight.” She admitted sheepishly as she rubbed at the back of her neck. “I’m certain you’re going to catch a lot of eyes tonight.”

“Is that so?” You murmured softly as you slid into the backseat of the car, propping your elbow up against the window on the other side as you cradled your chin in your hand.

You didn’t hear whatever it was that Uraraka replied to you with, your mind had already drifted off in thought of her comment. You didn’t care for all of the eyes that would be on you tonight, there was only one set that you wished to meet with and that was something you could only hope for. You were pulled from your thoughts when Uraraka tapped your shoulder, realising the car was moving as buildings flashed past the window and you turned to face your companion.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure she won’t be able to take her eyes off of you.” Uraraka giggled as she beamed over at you.

Your skin heated as you flushed violently, your eyes lingering on her face as she giggled harder at your reaction. There were days you wished you had never confided in her about your crush on Miss Yaoyorozu, then again you wouldn’t be where you were tonight without her knowing those details. You sighed heavily as you turned your attention back to the buildings out the window, watching as people moved about on the streets. There was something about the bustle of the nightlife in Japan that always managed to capture your attention, you were unused to so much activity during the night.

You had finally returned home to Japan a little over a month ago, Uraraka or Ochaco as she often preferred to have you call her, was one of the first people you had the luxury of meeting. She had taken on the roll as your Secretary when you had offered her the job and the paycheck had been the main thing to hook her. You didn’t blame her; she wanted the money to help her parents with their business and that honestly made you happy to hear. Ochaco was actually the reason you had the chance to see Momo tonight, if it hadn’t been for her then you probably would have had to wait longer. It just so happened that Ochaco ran in the same circle as Momo, her father owning one of the main construction companies that Momo relied on for her work.

Momo Yaoyorozu, she had made quite the name for herself here in Japan and you couldn’t be prouder of her. She had become a leading Architect and was now one of the most highly sought-after people in the whole of Japan, with the occasional job that would have her called overseas on important jobs. She was the one people turned to when they wanted plans and designs for a building, often being the one appointed to oversee the construction of the buildings as well.

“How much longer?” You piped up as you turned to peek over at Ochaco.

“Not too much longer. The opening celebration shouldn’t start until after we get there.” Ochaco responded as she fiddles with the ends of her dress, the several layers scrunched together in her tiny hands. “How do you think YaoMomo will react?”

You smiled at the nickname your friend had given to Momo over the course of the years they had known each other. “Not sure, she doesn’t even know I’m in Japan at the moment.” You whispered thoughtfully as you looked back out the window.

“Wait, what?” Ochaco squeaked as she turned in her seat fully to stare at you. “I thought she knew! I thought you were just surprising her by turning up tonight. You mean to tell me, you’re surprising YaoMomo with being in Japan altogether?”

You nodded as you closed your eyes, pressing your temple up against the cool glass of the window and allowing it to ease some of the tension there. “I just hope she got the package I sent her.”

“Package…” Ochaco frowned before popping her eyes wide as she grabbed a hold of your arm. “That was you? Tell me that’s a joke, you sent her that expensive package the other day?” She squeaked in disbelief.

You giggled as you moved your hand to release her hands from around your arm. “Ochaco, just what exactly do I do for work?”

“You’re a fashion de… oh!” She giggled as she moved to sit properly in her seat. “I see, well played (Name), well played.”

“My Lady, we’ve arrived at your destination.”

The two of you were pulled from the childishness of the moment by the announcement from the driver, your head snapping up instantly to look out at the building outside. It was a magnificent building, a Science Hub built for the youth of Japan to make use of in order to help further their studies and achieve high in their academics. Momo had been the one to spearhead the entire operation and tonight was the Grand Opening of the Hub, not to mention a huge thank you party for the woman herself.

You felt the butterflies spring to life in your stomach as you stared out at the building, suddenly the weight of the situation was suddenly all too real. Somewhere, in the depths of that building was the woman you had spent years exchanging words with and spent endless hours longing to see. Your heart felt as though it was in your throat, beating rapidly as you realised the only thing standing between you and Momo was a set of doors.

You yelped as the door disappeared from in front of you and you suddenly toppled forwards out of the car, thankful for the fact Ochaco was quick on her feet; catching you before you could hit the ground. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise you were still leaning against the door.” She apologised profusely as she sat you back up in the car properly.

“It’s fine, probably just the distraction I needed just now.” You smiled as you took her hand, accepting her help as you got out of the car and smoothed out your clothes properly. You turned promptly to thank your driver, bowing to him respectfully before stepping away from the car. You watched as he drove off, turning to face the building as he disappeared and moved off for the entrance.

Your breath was baited as you walked inside the building, your eyes scanning the crowd within as you sought out one person in particular. You watched as Ochaco detached herself from your side and disappeared within the mass of people, one would think you’d be used to this many people with your line of work; truth was you really weren’t! You took a deep breath as you stepped away from the entrance, taking your time to weave through the close-knit crowds and avoid bumping into people along the way. You were beginning to get overwhelmed with the crowds of people as you moved further into the building, feeling as though you’d never be able to locate Momo.

A flash of red. A giggle comparable to wind-chimes. You snapped your head to the right as your eyes locked on to the vibrant red that stood out amongst the crowd, complemented by the dark hair that fell in waves half way down the back of its owner. Your heart raced as you stood there, your teeth pinching your bottom lip between them and chewing on it anxiously. She was splendid, the sight of her standing there in all her elegance was more than your poor heart could handle. You moved without thinking, your feet carrying you across the room until you were standing just behind the woman of your desires. You watched as she bowed respectfully to her company, of whom departed from her and left her standing to herself.

There it was, washing over you in a thick and refreshing wave; the scent of your childhood. “Freesia mixed with sheer Jasmine and a hint of Amber. It’s a rather warm scent, Miss Yaoyorozu.” Your voice was loud enough to reach her ears and you watched as her body stiffened, her hands falling slack to her sides just moments before her body spun in your direction.

“(Name)…”

Your name was but a whisper as it fell from her lips, only for your ears and enough to send your heart into a chaotic flutter. You smiled as you stepped in closer to her, extending your right hand out towards her as you locked eyes with hers. “You didn’t think I would miss this now, did you?” You teased as you tilted your head to the side and awaited her response.

Momo smiled as she moved, forgoing your hand and pulling you in tight against her body in a crushing hug. “What are you doing here? You’re not due back for another month.” She questioned as she nuzzled into the side of your neck.

You blinked as you wrapped your arms around her slender form, your face pressing into her shoulder as you closed your eyes. “I wanted to surprise you.” You confessed as you breathed in, her perfume assaulting your senses as you tightened your grip around her. “I’ve waited so long for this day to present itself.”

“So too have I.” Momo admitted as she placed a tender kiss in the crook of your neck, causing your breath to hitch as you stiffened in her hold. “I want nothing more than to leave this place and head home with you.” She whispered against your ear.

You smiled as your cheeks heated, nuzzling into her shoulder as you hid your face from prying eyes. “We can’t, this is your night Momo.” You reminded her gently as you ran your fingers up along her back tenderly.

“And, it is now complete thanks to your being here.” She declared as she pulled back away from you and looked down into your eyes. Momo blinked as she looked into your eyes, her eyebrows knitting together out of confusion as she released you from her grip. “How did you know about tonight?”

You smiled as you scanned the crowd, your eyes landing on the frilly pink dress and the bob of brunette hair. “I have my ways.” You relucted as you turned your attention back to the woman in front of you.

Momo watched as you stepped back from her, tilting her head as you looked her up and down. “Do I pass your inspection, (Name)?” She asked as a giggle bubbled to life in her chest.

“I have to say, my dress looks much better on you than I had anticipated for it to.” You confessed as you moved to circle around her, taking in the way the gown adorned her body.

The dress she was wearing was one you had made specifically for her and by lords did it work magic when she wore it, or perhaps she was the one working the magic. It was the perfect fit for her figure, hugging her curves in all the right ways while still having enough give so as not to hinder her movements or suffocate her. If you had to describe the image she gave you in that moment, you would compare her to a flame standing proud and elegant in all its glory. The floor length vermilion gown complimented perfectly by the black waves that flowed elegantly over her shoulders. You couldn’t help but to let your eyes slip down to the slits that ran up the sides of the dress, stopping at her hips and exposing the beautiful expanse of her powerful long legs.

“My eyes are up here, (Name).”

“Oh, trust me, I’m well aware where your eyes are my love.” You retorted as you circled her once more before coming to a stop in front of her. “My dress is perfect when worn by you.”

“I was right about it being from you then.” Momo smiled as she skimmed her hand over the fabric covering the front of her thigh. “I had a feeling that might have been the case when I saw the design along the hem of the dress. Peach Blossoms, just like the ones I used to have.”

“I told you, I liked those Peach Blossoms.” You admitted as you peeked down to the blossoms that seemed to be swirling to life with each slight movement Momo made.

“We match, don’t we?” Momo asked as she motioned to your dress and quirked an eyebrow in question.

You nodded in affirmation of her question, flicking your eyes up to her face in time to catch a smile gracing her features. “Beside the colour, our dresses are twins. I designed them myself.”

“Of course.” Momo whispered thoughtfully as she squatted down in front of you, her hand coming out to catch the hem of your dress as she traced her thumb over one of the blossoms. “No-one else could ever capture the true beauty of the blossoms as you could.”

Heat flooded your cheeks as you peered down at Momo, she looked so serene as she was but her current positioning was garnering quite a few unwanted stares from the crowd. You opened your mouth in preparation to say something to her but snapped it shut when you caught sight of a man heading towards the two of you.

“Miss Yaoyorozu, your presence is required at the stage please?” The man stated curtly as he motioned towards a temporary stage that had been set up within the area of the building.

“Yes, I shall be there shortly.” She quipped as she stood from her position and looked straight into your eyes. “Meet me here when this is all over, ok?” You nodded in submission to her request and watched as she was led off by the man.

You stood amongst the crowd as the guests were welcomed and thanked for being there for the grand opening. Your eyes quickly wandered over to where Momo was standing off to the side, blushing when you realised her attention wasn’t on the speaker either but focused solely on you. You smiled, suppressing a giggle as you pointed towards the speaker and Momo reluctantly turned her head back to focus on the man. He thanked her for her dedication and effort that she had put into the project and presented her with an award for her efforts. The crowd applauded her for her achievement and you couldn’t help but to clap along with them; you were so proud of her after all. You listened closely as she thanked the speaker before turning to thank those in the crowd for having attended the opening ceremony tonight.

Before you could register what was happening the crowd erupted into incessant chatter and started to break off into the smaller groups from before. You jolted as your hand was grabbed from nowhere but you were instantly calmed as you locked with onyx orbs staring down at you. A singular tug of your hand was more than enough of a message to let you know what it was Momo wanted from you. You smiled and nodded as she pulled you along after her, only stopping to thank people for their murmurs of congratulations as she made a beeline for the entrance. You shuddered as you stepped out into the cold of the night, the air washing over your skin and you stepped in closer to Momo in order to shield yourself from it.

“(Name)!” You blinked as you peeked up at Momo, her eyes flicking down to your lips as she bit her own bottom lip. “Kiss me!”

~

The drive to Momo’s house had been nothing but a blur for you, after giving in to her request for a kiss the two of you had hardly been able to keep your hands off one another. It had been a slow and tender kiss but it had quickly turned fevered as you had managed to thread your fingers up into her long hair. The two of you only breaking apart after her driver had cleared his throat several times in order to gain your attention. You’d been snuggled into her side for the entire drive, your mind focused solely on her left hand which she had slipped inside the slit of your dress and allowed to sit atop your thigh.

You giggled as Momo pulled you inside her house, bumping the front door closed with her arse before flicking the lock into place and turning the security system on. You were lost in admiring her hallway and the delicate designs around the awnings when suddenly her hands were on your hips and she was spinning you in place. You squealed as she pushed you, your back pressing up against the cold wall as her thigh slipped between your own and she pinned you beneath her heated gaze. You sucked your bottom lip between your teeth, pulling on the sensitive flesh as you watched her longingly. Her lips pulled up into a smile as she dipped her head, pressing her lips along your jaw and making her way up towards your ear before biting down behind your ear.

You gasped and mewled as you arched your body in response to her action, your fingers flexing where she held your hands above your head as you rolled your hips forwards. Soft moans left your lips as she chewed on the spot, rolling her tongue over it as she pushed her thigh further between yours. Your breath hitched as her thigh pressed against your folds giving you the pressure, you desperately needed as you rocked your hips forwards. Whimpers and moans left your lips as you shamelessly moved your hips, grinding against her thigh as she littered your neck in a barrage of kisses.

“(Name).” Momo whispered heatedly as she released your arms, her hands coming down to trace over your sides as she pulled at the edges of your dress. “I want you.”

If only this woman knew what those words would do to you. You whimpered as you moved your hands to grasp her shoulders, pushing her back and pinning her against the opposite wall as you looked up into her eyes. “I’ve waited so damn long to hear those words, Momo!” You confessed as you let her go, moving to undo the back of your dress as you kept your eyes on her.

Momo smirked as she pushed off the wall, tucking her fingers beneath the straps of your dress before sliding them down off your shoulders. You shuddered as her fingers ghosted over your skin, only to be followed by her lips as she planted kisses over your exposed skin. You stumbled backwards with her as she urged you down the hallway, kicking her shoes off as she went and continuing to push your dress down your arms. You giggled as you kicked off your shoes, discarding them individually down the hallway as she pushed you further into the depths of her house. Momo stopped as she peered down at you heatedly, releasing your dress and watching as it skimmed over your skin to pool at your feet.

“Perfect.” Her voice was soft as she whispered that singular word and her hands were on your skin. You’d spent years dreaming of having her hands over your skin, of having her mouth and teeth leaving marks over your body.

You slipped your hands up under her hair, searching for the zipper in her dress as you sought to see her body. Momo giggled as her hand came up to replace your own, pulling the zipper of her dress down as she nudged you further down the hallway, her eyes never leaving your body as she greedily drank up your beauty. You watched in awe as she shimmied her dress off her shoulders before letting it fall from her shoulders, only needing to push it down over her hips before it pooled on the floor beneath her. You stood there staring at her as you abused your bottom lip feverishly, your eyes drinking in every bit of her body hungrily. You were so lost in her beauty; you didn’t register that she was getting closer to you until the moment her hands gripped your hips and she lifted you off the ground. You squealed as she moved your body so easily, shivering violently as your arse came into contact with a cold surface and you realised you were now on the counter in her kitchen.

“Momo…” You raised an eyebrow as you looked into her eyes, her lips pulled into a breathtaking smile as she closed the distance between you.

You moaned as she latched her mouth onto your breast, her teeth ghosting over your skin as she teased at the possibilities. You whined as her hands gripped your thighs roughly, her tongue dancing over your chest as she pressed the crown of her head against your throat. You squirmed against her hips as you wrapped your legs around her waist and threaded your fingers into her hair securely. Your eyes fluttered shut as your lips parted, her mouth moving lower over your body as she slipped her hands beneath your thighs and started to push them apart. You purred low in pleasure as her teeth sunk into your stomach and hips as she unhooked your legs from around her waist. Your eyes shot open as her hand pressed against your chest and she pushed you down onto the counter. You looked down at her in time to watch her head disappear between your thighs.

Momo smiled as she spread your thighs wide, hooking your legs over her shoulders as she dipped her head in close to your heat. She nuzzled her nose against the lacy material, soaked by the juices leaking from your needy pussy. She flicked her eyes up to your face, watching you as she flicked her tongue out and pressed it flat against your panties. Momo closed her eyes as a soft moan left your lips and she pushed her tongue against your pussy firmer, pressing the material and her tongue between your folds ever so slightly. She hummed low in appreciation as she moved her tongue along your folds, the lacy material of your panties an odd sensation against her tongue as she took in the taste of your juices.

You moaned and squirmed as you tangled a hand further into her hair as you arched your back, you wanted more from her but you knew she was enjoying herself. You gasped and bucked your hips as she located your clitoris, pulling it between her teeth and rolling it delicately between them. A wanton moan left your lips as you curled your toes, the fabric of your panties only adding to the sensation against your clitoris.

“Momo… Please?” You pleaded as you rolled your hips desperately and pulled on her hair.

Momo giggled as she lifted her head from between your thighs, looking down at your face as she pulled your panties down along your legs before throwing them out of the kitchen. “As you wish, (Name). Such a pretty voice when you beg.”

You blushed violently as you looked up at Momo, watching as she flicked her tongue out over her lips before diving back down between your thighs. You were about to argue with her when she lapped her tongue along your pussy, cleaning up your juices as they flowed. You moaned as she hooked your thighs over her shoulders and pushed her hot tongue into your pussy. You bucked your hips as you tightened your grip on her hair, her tongue pushing deep within your pussy as she wriggled it about.

Momo smiled as she closed her eyes, she couldn’t help but to be enticed by your taste as she pushed her tongue deeper into your heat. She moved her tongue about, pressing it against your walls roughly as she savoured your flavour. She smirked as she flicked her tongue about, satisfied when she heard your breath hitch and your body arched off the counter. Your hand pulled on her hair roughly as your hips rolled down to press against her face as she found that spot inside of you. Momo hummed low as she licked feverishly, lapping up your juices as she rubbed her tongue against your spot. She snaked a hand around your thigh, pressing her thumb against your clitoris before rubbing it in a tight circle and causing you to cry out her name.

You threw your head back as your body arched off the counter, a rush of pleasure coursing through your body as Momo assaulted your senses from inside and out. You curled your toes against her back as you moaned, whimpering her name as you moved your free hand to grip the counter. You cried out as you bucked your hips, Momo’s tongue relentlessly pushing against your walls before rubbing over your spot in a disorientating cycle. Wait, what was that?

“Holy fuck!” You cursed as a metal ball pressed against the walls of your quivering pussy; Momo had a friggen tongue piercing! Fuck you loved this woman, she seemed to be full of surprises but by the gods was she damn good with her tongue.

You let your head loll back over the edge of the counter, your hand tightening in her hair as you slowly let your eyes slip open. Red. That was the first thing that registered in your mind, red orbs filled with distaste as they glared at you from across the room. You gasped and moaned as you blinked desperately trying to clear your vision of its lust filled haze. You stiffened as your eyes locked with crimson eyes set in a scowl and your body instantly seized up. You flicked your eyes over the occupant on the other side of the room and realisation suddenly set in to your fogged brain. You screamed as you sat upright on the bench, pulling Momo’s head up from between your thighs as you blushed furiously.

“You fucking done now?” The gruff voice came from behind you as the sound of shuffling feet could be heard approaching you both.

“Hardly even, we were just getting started.” Momo quipped up as she stood in front of you and wrapped her arms around your form, her lips pressing against your ear.

“Yeah, on my fucking counter!” He growled as he moved, coming into your vision as he walked around the counter and went to what you presumed to be the fridge.

“It’s not like you’ve never fucked anyone on this counter.” She shot back quickly as she looked over her shoulder at the blonde man behind her. “Need I name a particular brunette I keep finding on your counter?”

“MY COUNTER, damn it Ponytail!” He snarled as he slammed the fridge shut and took a long gulp from the bottle of water he’d retrieved from its depths.

“Very well Bakugou, I shall take her to my bedroom.” Momo relucted as she nuzzled into your neck and opted for ignoring her housemate. Somehow it had managed to slip your mind that Momo shared her house with the one and only Katsuki Bakugou, a well-known lawyer who was yet to lose a case and was her own legal representative.

“Good.” He huffed out before moving to head back across the room. “And pick up the damn peach blossoms in the fucking hallway!” He growled before disappearing into a different part of the house.

You blinked as you peeked around Momo’s shoulder and peered back down the hallway, it did indeed look like scattered Peach Blossoms with your belongings scattered the way they were. You smiled despite the situation and burst into laughter as you pressed your forehead against her shoulder. “What now?” You asked softly as you kissed her neck tenderly.

“I finish my meal!” She declared before sinking back down between your thighs.

[dat-town]

love you like a love song baby

Characters: Jungkook & you

Setting: best friends to lovers

Genre: tooth-rotting fluff

Words: 1.8k

Summary: Just two emo kids growing up together and getting together over a failed sponge cake.

You have imagined it, confessing, countless times.

Cheesy like in romance movies and rushed because you're nervous. You even practiced what you would say. How you would reassure him that, of course, he isn't obligated to return your feelings and he doesn't even have to reply because you just had to get this off your chest.

This feeling that's sometimes too big for your body. It's overwhelming how much he can make you feel. When you have a bad day, sometimes it's enough to hear him talk about some video game or a new editing technique he learnt for his youtube channel. Or when he enthusiastically tells you about meeting that cute labrador by the park on his way home and you can't help but imagine getting a dog together. Or the way he makes your heart jump, your blood sing and your head swim when he envelops you in his big hugs, when he smiles down at you like he means it, when he jokingly lift you up as an exercise and when he oh so casually sings mainstream love songs around you.

But the thing about this growing, pulsing, very much alive feeling in you is that it doesn't only make you happy and excited. It has an ugly part with teeth biting and claws crawling. It's the jealousy and self-doubt whenever you see him around other girls, prettier ones and you see him flash them shy, bunny smiles. It's disappointment when he skips one of your regular movie nights to hang out with the boys or because he's too tired or would rather do his homework. It's the loneliness you feel even beside him in those vulnerable moments because you know he'll never feel that way. And the worst is that you know you can't blame him for these unwanted feelings or the tears nobody has seen you shed late at night because it's all you. It's your fault for developing a crush on your best friend and he doesn't even know.

It's better this way, you tell yourself but you can't help but wonder: what if it isn't?

You and Jungkook became friends at the naive, fragile age of fourteen, in middle school, a questionable phase for both of you but let's admit: listening to depressive music together is one hell of a bonding. It's been history ever since because with him, it's always like puzzle pieces falling back into their places. You went to high school together and Jungkook even joined the art class you wanted to take but was too shy back then to go alone and you were always there to cheer for him at the track and field competitions. When you were both admitted to Seoul universities - you for interior design and him for movie directing -, it went without saying to rent a place together. It felt perfect because what could go wrong? you asked yourself and you didn't know that the answer was everything until Yein.

Before Jungkook had his fair share of crushes he always talked about but never acted on his feelings. So when the pretty girl in his photography class came around it was all new. Suddenly it wasn't just the two of you and you got a first hand experience of what your best friend could feel during your brief relationship with Yugyeom in the junior year of high school. You told yourself that it wasn't jealousy, you just missed your best friend and for real, you liked Yein. She was quiet and smart and she was good for Jungkook and yet, you couldn't be entirely happy for them. After months of denying, struggling alone and fighting it, you finally admitted to yourself why: you were in love with Jungkook. (You still are.) And suddenly, everything made sense. From then on every comment on how cute you look together and every correction that you are just best friends hurt too much.

Jungkook and Yein lasted for about six months. Jungkook refused to tell you why exactly they broke up and said it just didn't work out and let him be. Ironically, a year later you met Yein at a yoga class downtown and ended up sitting down for a coffee to catch up. It wasn't you who brought up Jungkook, she asked about him and told you:

"He couldn't give me his heart, he was keeping that safe for somebody else.”

You have thought it was an odd reason to broke up over in university but didn't tell her. You still chat sometimes when meet in an afternoon yoga session but don't talk about Jungkook anymore.

So things between you and Jungkook shouldn't have changed but they did, inevitably because now you catch yourself staring more than you should as his best friend, especially when the boy has the nerve to walk around the flat shirtless. Or when he clings to you during movies, resting his head in your lap while analyzing every damned thing happening on screen and you absentmindedly play with his hair, combing it with your fingers, your heart shouldn't flutter so much at the content little noises he makes. Or when he asks for your opinion about his latest video and starts explaining all the aspect you'd never understand anyway, the urge shouldn't be so strong to just tell him: gosh, I'm so in love with you.

So yeah, you have thought about it million and million times, counting pros and cons but always ended up too afraid to ruin your friendship. It doesn't stop you though from pouring the amount of your heart's content into the bowl before you after double checking in the recipe how much sugar you need for the cake.

“Shit,” you stare at the kitchen scale in horror and end up scooping half of the sweetener back.

Jungkook seemed a bit down in the morning, probably still fussing over that job interview from last week that didn't go well, and exclaimed that he was going out for a run even in the rainy Saturday weather. He was out of the door before you could tell him to put on a jacket at least. So that's it, that's why you decided to brighten up his mood and make him a homemade cake even though you are a complete disaster in the kitchen if it's anything else but instant noodles. Nobody deserves to be sad on their birthday and especially not Jungkook if you can do anything about it.

But of course nothing works out as it should, you're out of coconut powder, so you change the recipe in the middle of the making. You also accidently put too much cream between the layers of the too thin sponge cake and it kind of falls apart. At least it doesn't taste horrible but it definitely looks like something a six years old would make. Maybe if you didn't listen and dance to the old greatest hits on the radio while baking, you could actually be decent in the cooking department, but nah, what's the point then?

"OhmygOSH! When did you get back?” you cry out in surprise when in-between a dramatic turn to a Disney era Selena Gomez song you notice Jungkook watching you from the living room with strong arms folded in front of his chest and an amused smile on his face. How dares he look at you like that after almost giving you a heart attack?

"Not that long,” he shrugs, something still tugging the corners of his mouth upwards and drops of water from his hair leave wet spots all over the floor and well, everywhere.The neon coloured running shirt he wears is a tight fit on his body, sticking to him like second skin because of the rain and sweat. He looks like he stepped out of a sportswear commercial.

“You have flour on your face,” he points out, nose scrunching, laughing. You love the sound of that too much to mind that he's making fun of you. Too enamoured, you cannot even stop him when with two long strides he steps in front of you and gently wipes off the ingredient with his thumb. Your cheek tingles where he touched you and it takes you a moment to collect your thoughts with him looking down at you like that.

“And you stink, not to mention you are drenched. Go shower and change,” you put your hands on your waist trying to sound and act like you're in charge in the situation. Your messy emotions protest.

“Yes, m'lady,” Jungkook salutes jokingly and you take a deep breath when he leaves.

When he comes back freshly washed in sweatpants and the kind of big white shirt you like to steal to sleep in, he ends up helping you making the frosting on his own birthday cake.You work together so well, methodically and it's so sweetly domestic that those greedy feelings come back again. But it's his day, you won't ruin it, because you don't want to see anything but smiles on his face today.

You order pizza for lunch and eat half the cake before it even arrives. And when it does, Jungkook is already whining with his best aegyo about wanting to get his present. You have been hinting about it for weeks, that you have the perfect gift and can't wait to give it to him. So  how could you say no when he asks so cutely?

You watch him with knots in your stomach as he neatly takes off the wrapper of the box and opens it up. Inside of it, there's a vintage polaroid camera he has been talking about for months. Jungkook stares at the device like he doesn't quite believe his eyes and then up at you in awe.

“I love you,” he blurts out eyes shining from excitement, tears brimming in the corners and a huge grin plastered on his face. Your heart does that thing again and you feel the heat of a blush on your face.

“I love you too,” you mumble and hug him tighter when he pulls you into his arms.

You have been friends for far too long, of course, you have said these three little words before but you started to think that it means very different for you. But pulling back Jungkook looks at you half-conflicted, half-determined and his tongue stumbles over the next words.

“No I… I love love you. I think a part of me always did.”

You can't help the light sob escaping you, curling your fingers into the boy's shirt.

“Really?” the hopeful question falls from your lips and for a moment you think you're dreaming because it can't be happening. But then Jungkook lunges forward, takes your face into his hands and presses his sugar-coated lips to yours.

“Really,” he whispers into the small space between you.

Looking at his happy face and listening to the drums of that rapidly beating heart of yours, the realization hits you hard of how utterly stupid you were because instead of imagining confessing, you should have just done it.

[punkrock-furiosa]

for the gaming asks: 8, 20, 23, 47, 63, 71?

Aaaah I saw you in my new followers list, hello! :D

8. The game with the best atmosphere/scenery?

This is a really difficult one, but I think I’m going to go with Morrowind. I first saw it when I was little (maybe eight or nine?) and I was amazed, because it looked so fairy-tale-like, magical and mysterious. I still remember the image of pink-grey mists and the sun setting behind the silhouetted pair of giant mushrooms, while a wolf howls in the distance and soft harp music plays. (There are no wolves in Morrowind, so I’m not sure what that was about. It sounded great, though.) I was enamoured with that world pretty much immediately and I still am. It made me an Elder Scrolls fan.

20. Favorite publisher and/or developer?

Bethesda, ‘cause I grew up on their TES games and their worlds I could get lost in (and they weren’t yet selling canvas bags then :D )

Bioware, for similar reasons - they made KotOR, Mass Effect and Dragon Age and I enjoyed all of them a lot

OBSIDIAN, which I actually discovered through their association with Bioware and Bethesda, and let me tell you nobody can create an insanely well-written yet improbably buggy game quite like Obsidian

I’ve grown really fond of Arkane too! I discovered them the year Dishonored 2 came out - everyone was excited and praising DH 1 so I decided to give it a try and I’m super glad I did.

Amanita Design, an indie studio that always seems to randomlyreappear on my radar with some beautiful adventure game (the picture below is a little white gnome and his dog on their home asteroid in Samorost 3)

23. Favorite genre of video game?

RPGs! But in a very broad sense of the word. If it has characters I can get attached to, some manner of a world and is for a single player, I’ll probably like it and think of it as an RPG. (Except for games that skew heavily towards strategy or roguelike. I get too impatient for the first, and too annoyed by uncertain results for the second.)

47. First person or Third person?

I prefer first person BUT with an optional third person mode, because 1) I’m vain and want to admire my character’s face and clothes 2) I need to know what my PC looks like to feel like I can properly associate with them.

63. What’s a game that has inspired you?

Edit: dear goodness this got really long somehow, sorry about that xD

I’m gonna single out two:

Knights of the Old Republic - It let me play a female character in freaking Star Wars. For my early teen self, that was big.

For one, the clothes look essentially the same on PC of either gender. No boobplates, no cleavages, nothing. (I suspect this was a matter of practicality during production, but that does’t diminish the effect it had.) For two, it allows you to be a world-wrecking revenge-seeking morally ambiguous and devastatingly charismatic millitary genius who can bring the whole universe to its knees if she wants to, and there was almost no gendered judgment attached to that narrative. Like. It blew my mind at that time that a woman could figure in such a story, especially without being presented as emotionally stunted, unhinged or power-hungry and needing to be punished.

My KotOR PC is my oldest and by far most detailed original character, because she honestly meant so much to me. (Which paradoxically means her OC page is almost permanently barren because there’s always too much I want to say about her so in the end I usually end up saying nothing.😅) I’m pretty sure this game was responsible for my love of fictional female leaders with questionable morality but an unrelenting dedication to their cause.

Planescape: Torment - This is one of those games where your party is formed out of traumatised and ostracised people with deep personal issues. I’m talking “I followed someone around as their helper for possibly centuries regardless of how awfully they treated me because I vaguely feel I may have wronged them in the past life,” kind of issues.You caused some of them. Your character has issues too.

But the thing is. You help these people heal - not completely, but enought so they can see a path forward. The “golden” ending for the whole game is basically your character deciding to stop running from whatever mistakes or hurt they caused in the world and accept the consequences of their actions - alongside whatever punishment that might entail. But there is a sense that not only is this necessary for any personal growth, but by accepting this, the good you caused in the world can stay too. The friends you made will remember you and stand by you if you wish them to. The world can be better because you were in it, even if you did things that were wrong.

The writing was amazing and the story hugely catharhic and motivational for me.

Also, on a much lighter side, I’ve never seen a game so lovingly describe what a really good pear tastes like. You don’t get any skill bonus or anything for buying it with your hard-earned in-game money, just a description of a really good pear. It’s awesome.

71. A game you can’t stop talking/thinking about at the moment?

Prey! It’s like Dishonored but you can actually creatively murder stuff without a semi-omniscient being scolding you about it! :D Honestly though, I got into it to tie me over before I can get a computer to run DH2, but I’ve quickly grown to love it as its own thing - which is impressive, since it’s also a horror and I don’t find being afraid very fun. Once the exam term is over, I intend to write a (hopefully helpful) guide for other easily scared people on how to deal with the terrifying bits without feeling too overwhelmed.

There are many cool things similar to Dishonored, but the whole story feels more character-focused, which really works for me. I’m really fond of most of the main cast (sometimes of them as people, sometimes for their writing) and many side characters I’ve never even properly met.* There are countless little found tape stories, the people around you feel alive - you get to know their day, their friends, their worries, moreso even than with the Heart. Plus since you collect info from various sources, you’ve got to piece everything together. Everyone has a different agenda, everyone is hiding something and so many things become clear only after the second or third playthough.

* (My faves are Morgan, Sarah Elazar, Alex and Rani Chaudhary.)

Also, especially the first third of the game has excellent pacing. Every time I felt like I might be getting a handle on the situation, the story or environment or gameplay threw something new at me to unbalance me. There are a myriad of tiny revelations, which works incredibly well because it didn’t matter much if I saw one coming, the next one would catch me unprepared (in a very good way).

Not the mention the amazing Arkane aesthetic. Never forget the amazing Akane aesthetic.

[musingsby-night]

Musings

Summary: In the wake of meeting his Soulmate, Thor muses on their new bond. 

This one is chapter 3 in a series of vignettes of Thor and his Soulmate attempting to navigate their new life together. Read chapter 1 here, and chapter 2 here !

Pairing: Thor x OC

Warnings: fluff city y’all 

Since the day that Thor’s Soulmark had formed on his arm, he had been utterly enamoured with the unknown woman. This mysterious Ellie Brookes, who was designed by fate to be his.

His Mother, Frigga, had sat her sons down one day and explained to them what their Soulmarks meant. Loki, ever the pessimist even at the tender age of nine, had loudly proclaimed that the entire Soulmate thing seemed altogether a bit droll. He had complained to his Mother that he had to have one at all; he said that he wished he did not have a Soulmark, that he was not interested in the mysterious woman who bore the name tattooed onto his flesh.

Thor and his brother were very different people. They had disagreed on many things over their long lives together, but never more so than on this. Thor simply could not understand his brothers utter disinterest, which persisted well into adulthood; since the day Thor’s own Soulmark had formed on his arm, it had been at the centre of his attention and the unknown woman had been at the centre of his universe.

Frigga had continued on to explain what they should expect when the time eventually came when they met their Soulmates. To feel not just yourself, but the presence of another just beneath your skin. To feel emotions at times that were not your own, to instinctively understand thoughts and knowledge that did not belong to you. To know and have ones Soulmate was, Frigga explained, to feel true peace.

…Eventually. The whole feeling-true-peace thing, apparently, would happen eventually.

To be brutally honest, the first few weeks of knowing ones Soulmate was borderline chaotic.

“The joining of two souls is no simple matter,” Frigga had told her sons seriously. “Until the point when you meet your Soulmates, your souls exist on their own. The second the two of you meet, your souls must stretch to accommodate the presence of the other. It’s not a comfortable experience.”

At the time, Thor had not fully understood.

Then, years later Thor had met Ellie Brookes during the battle of New York, and slowly he begun to understand exactly what his Mother had been trying to explain.

Thor didn’t really know what a soul was; he didn’t believe it to be a physical object, but in the weeks following his meeting with Ellie, he swore he could physically feel it deep inside of his chest, could feel his soul shifting to accommodate her own.

Thor knew that his Soulbond would settle soon enough (his Mother had assured him of this), but for the moment it just felt like a constant tightness deep in his chest. It felt as though a string had been coiled tightly around his organs, the other end of which was connected to Ellie, constantly pulling him in her direction.

Even when he was nowhere near Ellie, Thor swore that he could feel her. It felt strange, and a bit uncomfortable, but to feel Ellie was as natural as breathing.

The only time when the Soulbond felt truly calm was when he was in her presence. The further away he was, the more chaotic it felt- like the string was pulling tighter and tighter against him and causing a constant underlying feeling of strain. His body, his Soul, demanded to be close to her.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t always possible.

Ellie had told Thor that in Midgard, humans received a month of paid leave from work when they met their Soulmate. During this time their Soulbond was all over the place, making it hard for them to concentrate on anything, so Midgardian culture encouraged them to take time to allow their bond to settle.

Asgard had a similar rule. Six weeks unquestioned freedom from all roles and responsibilities, compensated by the King, to settle into their new Bond.

Thor, however, was not an ordinary Asgardian; he was the Prince. And as he quickly came to find out, his Soulmate was expected to be ranked second to his Princely duties.

After the destruction of the Bifrost two years ago, the nine realms had fallen into chaos without Odin’s armies to keep the peace. Groups of bandits capturing cities, armies leading campaigns to conquer planets…. Since the rebuilding of the Bifrost, Thor had been responsible for leading Asgard’s armed forces to restore the lost peace to the realms. These battles could forge on for weeks, if not months.

Then, when Thor wasn’t in another realm doing battle, his presence was demanded on Asgard to assist the Allfather to draw up new systems of rule in order to maintain the peace in the territories which Thor was winning back.

And then as if this wasn’t enough already, there was his pain in the goddamn ass brother who kept attempting to stage breakouts from his fucking prison cell. In between breakout attempts, Loki also kept encouraging riots among the rest of the prisoners as a form of personal entertainment.

To put it simply, Loki was (as per usual) being an enormous pain in Thor’s ass.

This was truly an awful time in Thor’s life. In all the hundreds of years he’d been alive, he’d never been so bogged down with responsibilities. And although Thor could never regret finally finding his Ellie, sometimes as he lay awake in his chambers in Asgard, billions of lightyears away from her and missing her so terribly his heart ached with it, he cursed the Fates for bringing her to him at the time when they did… at the time when he could never give her what she deserved.

Thor could acknowledge now that he’d always been a little bit naïve in how he thought about his Soulmate, prior to meeting her. In his head, Thor had always thought that his Soulmate would just fit into his life like a puzzle piece, slotting into place.

As it turns out, life didn’t really work like that. Ellie wasn’t an object for Thor to do with as he wished; she was a person, with her own life on Midgard. Just as he was a Prince, with his own responsibilities on Asgard and to the nine realms which needed to take priority right now.

Those were the facts, as Odin had presented them to him. Just because it was the truth though, didn’t mean Thor had to like it.

And he didn’t. He really didn’t. He just missed her. Missed her, and loved her, and Lord he just wanted her.

It had been 78 days exactly since the Battle of New York, since he had found his Ellie. And in that time, he’d only managed to spend a grand total of 22 days with her.

Those 22 days had been unarguably the brightest of his entire existence. Thor had been alive for 863 years, and yet nothing in his long life could compare to the joy his Soulmate brought to his days.

She was clever, his mortal. Odin, was she smart. She’d proven that on their fifth day together, three weeks after New York- a day which Thor was sure would remain forever one of his favourites with her.

Ellie had told Thor that she held a PhD in forensic archaeology and a second one in ancient mythology (which Thor was very impressed by when she explained to him what a PhD was, and the fact that it was irregular for a 24-year-old to be so qualified).

Her speciality? Norse mythology.

“Ever since I was a kid, I loved all the ancient myths,” she had confessed to him, her big blue eyes blinking up at him in the dim light. “I used to make my Mom and Dad read me the same stories, over and over again.”

She bit her lip, glancing down shyly. “There was one story I loved more than all the others. I was almost obsessed, I read it every single day, even when I got too old for those stories I couldn’t let it go,” she said, and Thor brought his fingers up to her chin, pushing her gaze back up to meet his.

“Which one was it?” he questioned, and she grinned rather cheekily.

“The story of the thunder God, Thor,” she revealed. “When my Soulmark manifested a few years later I thought it was the funniest coincidence.”

Thor hardly had words to respond to this. Ducking his head, Thor pressed his lips firmly against hers, and Ellie opened herself willingly to him. Threading his arms around her waist, Thor firmly clutched her hips and hoisted Ellie up onto his lap. Her surprise caused her mouth to open with a cry, and he took full advantage of her momentary surprise to press his tongue against hers.

He was completely overwhelmed with a need to be close to her, as close as he could possibly get. He wanted to merge his body with her own, to be so close that there was no longer any distinction between he and her. Before her Soulmark had appeared on her body, before she had ever even thought of him, her soul had been reaching out to him through the cosmos.

This was a thought which soothed him in his long days away from her.

But where she was clever, she matched it in toughness.

It wasn’t a brute physical strength like which Thor possessed, but a real strength of character. A conviction in herself which was rare, particularly among Midgardians. She’d shown this to him for the first time on their twelfth day together, six weeks after New York.

Thor had made a joking comment about her tiny stature (which he couldn’t exactly be blamed for- she was undeniably short, to the extent that it was almost possible to mistake her for a child from behind) and she’d verbally chewed him out so fiercely he’d been left well and truly apoogetic.

He’d watched her numerous times in their 22 days together fiercely stand up for herself and her beliefs to those who attempted to challenge them. Her ferocity in the battle of New York had been incredible to witness. Yes, despite her small stature, Thor’s Soulmate was quite the spitfire. 

But she was also kind, too. He saw that in her on their seventeenth day together, eight weeks after New York, when Thor had arrived to her home and found her busy feeding a lost baby bird with an eyedropper and settling the small feathered creature in a nest she had made herself.

Her kindness shone out from her every day, in the friendly way she addressed complete strangers, in the care she showed to her loved ones, in the helpfulness she displayed to others almost constantly. Ellie was far kinder and sweeter than he himself had ever been. 

Thor had dreamed of Ellie before he met her, pictured her in millions of different ways over the 863 years he’d waited for her, and yet the amalgamation of characteristics which made her exactly who and what she was were so lovely if he had had to wait a thousand more years to meet her, he still didn’t think his imagination would ever have come anywhere close to the real thing.

Every moment that he spent with her, he spent in awe of her.

And 22 days was not enough. She belonged to him, he deserved to have her every moment of every day, and more than once Thor had become so fed up with the distance that he’d come dangerously close to telling his Father that he was done, that he didn’t want the crown or the duties or the responsibilities, he just wanted her.

She missed him when he was gone, too. Missed him greatly, and wished beyond anything that he would stay with her. She would never say the words aloud though, remained careful to never once ask him to stay, and he silently had to thank her for that. She knew that it wasn’t fair to put that on him, and they both knew that the moment she spoke the words aloud, the moment she asked that of him, he’d never leave her side again.

If Ellie asked it of him, Thor would find a way to capture the moon and all the stars and present them to her as a gift. He was completely and utterly devoted to her, his fragile mortal Soulmate, and he would unquestionably do anything she wished of him. Even if that meant renouncing the throne of Asgard, renouncing his homeworld, and remaining forever with her here.

She knew the depth of his love, and so she dared not ask, could not ask it of him.

Thor was a Prince and God, responsible to his people and the nine realms his Father ruled. But Thor knew without any doubt in his mind that if it came down to it, he would trade his title, he would betray Asgard, and he would sacrifice every life in all the nine realms, all for the love of one single mortal girl.

[worryinglyinnocent]

Once Upon A Different Time Episode 317: “Poles Apart”

A re-work of Once Upon A Time from the beginning of season 3.

[banner by ripperblackstaff]

Catch up on previous episodes:

=====

Season 3A episodes 1-11

Episode 312: “New York, New York”

Episode 313: “Monkey Business”

Episode 314: “The Wonderful Wizard”

Episode 315: “Cardinal Points”

Episode 316: “The Vault”

=====

Once Upon A Different Time

Episode 317: “Poles Apart”

=====

Enchanted Forest – Past

Robin peered nervously out of the hidden shelter built into the roots of a clump of entwined trees. The shelter offered a good lookout point onto the main road, and Allan had designed it with natural arrow slits. His fingers brushed over the fletches in his quiver, ready to notch an arrow and strike at a moment’s notice. There were footsteps getting closer, hurried footsteps, and he did not yet know if they were friend or foe. He adjusted his grip on his bow.

Suddenly, the footsteps stopped and a distinctive whistle sounded. Robin gave a sigh of relief and lowered his bow as the shelter’s flap opened up and Marian slid down inside.

“You always leave it so late to signal,” Robin groused as she came over and kissed his cheek. “One of these days I’m going to shoot you by accident.”

Marian just laughed. “You’re paranoid, did you know that?”

“Well, is it any surprise?” They both glanced over to where Roland lay, wrapped up tightly in blankets, sleeping as soundly as if he were in a feather bed in a palace, rather than in a hole in the ground in the forest.

“The others have already gone, I take it?” Marian glanced around their deserted camp.

“Yes, they’re on their way to the new place now. As useful as this has been as a base, we’ve nearly been caught here too many times lately. It’s time to move on.”

“It’s such a shame. I really didn’t want to uproot him so soon. He’s only just settled here.” Marian picked up her baby son and held him close as he stirred, nuzzling the top of his downy head. She sighed. “You’d better take him and get going after the others.”

“What about you?” Robin asked, alarmed.

“I’ll catch up, I won’t be too long after you. There’s a carriage coming up towards the traps on the western road and it looks like it’ll be a good haul. It would be a shame to waste it when it could provide us with necessary supplies.”

“In that case, I’ll go,” Robin said, trying to hand Roland back to Marian. She shook her head.

“Robin, we both know that I’m the only one light enough to spring those traps from the trees. That’s the way they were designed. If you try you’ll only end up with arrows flying everywhere, and then where would we be? You take Roland. You’re better placed to protect him if you come across any unpleasantness on the roads.”

Robin conceded that point, slipping his quiver off his shoulder to allow Marian to tie Roland to his chest in a snug papoose. She leaned in to kiss his forehead.

“Stay good for your papa, my brave little archer,” she cooed. “Mama will see you again very soon.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Robin said. “If you’re not at the new camp by dawn I’m leaving Allan to look after Roland and coming back for you.”

“As any chivalrous husband would.” Marian smiled and kissed him. “I’ll see you very soon, I promise.”

Robin left the camp, looking back over his shoulder towards her as he made his way down the road, and Marian waved. As much as she hated to leave Roland behind, she knew that this was the only practical and least dangerous way, and whatever Robin might say, they badly needed the supplies and valuables for trade or sale that the carriage heist would bring them. Casting a final glance around the shelter to check that there was nothing incriminating left behind, she grabbed her pack and left her temporary home for the last time, making her way to the western road. She climbed easily up a tree and checked the trap lines before settling down to wait for the carriage. The worn, old spyglass that Robin had carried with him since time immemorial proved very useful in situations like these, and she sat watching the progression for a while. It was obviously a minor noble’s carriage, not important enough to have a large retinue of guards, just a single outrider who would be easily taken care of by the traps. The most important thing was the luggage piled up on the back running board. That was going to be the prize. On second thoughts, maybe Robin should have come with her; that was going to be a lot of baggage to carry to the new camp on her own, unless she commandeered the outrider’s horse or the carriage itself. The horse would be a better bet, that could be released once she was finished with it, but a carriage was a lot harder to hide in the woods.

Marian took the spyglass away from her eye as she heard a rustling in the branches not too far from her. It was too loud to be a bird and too clumsy to be a creature used to climbing, which mean that it had to be a person. Silent and catlike, Marian crept along her sturdy branch to check out the intruder. All she could see was a dark cloak huddled in the branches a few yards away, wobbling on the tree limbs. Marian muttered a curse. Of all the times for an amateur to be invading their patch, it had to be now, when she was about to make her final catch.

Presently the cloak looked up, revealing a pale face and dark hair, and Marian gasped as she recognised the interloper.

  Storybrooke – Present

“We’ve got to do something. We know she’s planning something and we know she has no qualms about hurting innocents in order to do it. I say we go in now and cut her off before we find out what it is she’s up to.”

It was the most like the Enchanted Forest that Storybrooke had ever been. In the aftermath of discovering that Rumpelstiltskin was alive and their failed attempt to get him out of town and out of Zelena’s sphere of magic, a crisis meeting had been called. Regina was hosting the impromptu gathering, as the owner of the largest dining table, and all those present who had lived through wars and campaigns before could well see the grim similarities to a council of war. There was a distinct sense of déjà vu among the participants, and Regina especially found herself wondering just what had happened during the year they could not remember, and how far they had come in their interactions with Zelena then. She could not help thinking that they were somehow retreading old ground, and if they had not been able to stop Zelena casting the Dark Curse and bringing them all back to Storybrooke before, then did they have any real hope of preventing her nefarious plans now? On the other hand, perhaps the curse casting was a mark of desperation on Zelena’s part, and having forced her hand before, they were more likely to back her into a corner now. Regina had no way of knowing, and what was even more frustrating was that all the variations of the memory potions that she had tried did not work. It was clear that this amnesia was tied to the current curse just as it had been last time, when she had cast it herself. They would just have to wait for the curse to be broken.

“I agree with Leroy,” she said eventually, as strange as it felt to be siding with someone who was one of her staunchest opponents and who would have been quite happy for her to take the blame for their current predicament. Even Leroy himself looked rather shocked by her support. “She’s already proved herself to be more than capable of causing chaos and we can’t just let her get away with it. She needs to be neutralised before she can do any more damage.”

“In principle, I agree,” David said. “But we’re at a disadvantage, and launching a full-scale assault from the back foot isn’t something we want to be doing.”

“We’ve got the advantage of numbers,” Leroy pressed. “Sure, she’s incredibly powerful, but there’s only one of her.”

“No,” Belle said. “David’s right. There may only be one Zelena, unless she knows some kind of duplication spell, which I really don’t want to think about, but she’s got a whole army of flying monkeys at her beck and call, and she has the most powerful sorcerer in all the realms under her control. And whilst she won’t care about a little collateral damage, those people are her victims just as much as we are. They’re our friends and loved ones and we cannot fight back against them, no matter what they might do. Believe me, I want the witch dead as badly as the rest of you, but as long as she has the monkeys and Rumpel, she has power over us.”

It was a chilling but unavoidable truth. They couldn’t afford to risk harming any of the monkeys when they had no idea who might be under the fur. With so many citizens, personal friends, still unaccounted for, it was too high a price to pay.

“We need to get the dagger back,” Neal said. “Once Rumpelstiltskin has free will again, that’s one huge hurdle solved.”

He looked around the table for support, but with the exception of Belle, the rest of the co-conspirators didn’t seem too enamoured by the idea.

“It’s too dangerous, Neal,” Mary Margaret said plainly. “I know you want to rescue him and I can completely sympathise, but you know what happened the last time.” It was only the previous day, it was still painfully fresh in Neal’s memory and he didn’t need reminding of their failure, but something inside him would not let the matter rest. That was his father inside that witch’s lair, and for all they hadn’t seen eye to eye for the last few hundred years, Neal wouldn’t wish his father’s fate on his worst enemy. He chose not to argue Mary Margaret’s point and instead sat back to see if anyone else came up with a better idea.

Robin had been called in out of the woods to take part in the conference, as one of only a few to have come through for the first time, and thus far he had remained silent, a thoughtful expression on his face. Presently he leaned forward.

“Maybe if we could take out the brute force of her little army, we’d stand more chance against her, either in a rescue attempt or a complete assault,” he said. “If it’s just Zelena and Rumpelstiltskin that you have to worry about then the confrontation becomes more evenly matched, especially since, from what I hear, Rumpelstiltskin will be expending as much energy fighting against her as he is doing her bidding.”

“Take out the monkeys and stop her physical fighting force,” Granny agreed. “But how do we go about that in a humane way?” she gripped her crossbow a little tighter, obviously itching to use it.

“The monkeys are garrisoned, for want of a better word, in the woods, patrolling the town’s boundaries,” Robin continued. “It should be easy to pick them off individually, I’ve learned these woods well and tactics in trees don’t vary much from place to place. We’ve got magic on our side.” He nodded respectfully to Emma and Regina. “If we can find a way to de-monkey the monkeys and bring them out from under Zelena’s control, then my men and I would be able to administer the antidote unobtrusively, without Zelena getting too suspicious.”

The rest of the war council looked at each other. It was the only plan they had, and it was a good one, even if more time-consuming than an all-out assault on Zelena’s farmhouse would be.

“Sounds good to me,” Emma said with a shrug. “Of course, I don’t have the faintest idea how to de-monkey a monkey, but I’m sure there is a way.” She turned to Regina, a little helplessly.

“Yes,” Regina said firmly. “I’m sure that there is an antidote to whatever spell Zelena has them under, but I’d need to be able to get close enough to one for long enough to study the enchantments so as to be able to break them.”

“Papa could capture a monkey.” Roland had, naturally, come with his father and was sitting unnoticed at Robin’s feet, playing with some of Henry’s old toys that Regina had found in the attic. She had almost forgotten that he was there. “Papa’s good at hunting.”

“The problem would be keeping it contained once we’d subdued it,” Robin said. “And subduing it in the first place. They’re persistent creatures, I’ll give you that one for nothing.”

“Ruby’s cloak,” Granny said. “You could use the cloak to return them to their human form for a while. Take it off and they’ll transform right back. As long as she gets it back in time for the next full moon, you can keep it for as long as you need.”

“No offence, Granny, but isn’t that a wolf thing?” David asked.

“Mainly wolves, yes,” Granny explained. “But it will work for any creature which was originally human and which can’t fully control itself when shifted.”

“Are you sure?” Regina was almost embarrassed by the very obvious hope in her voice. Granny nodded.

“I don’t trust Rumpelstiltskin as far as I can throw him, but he uses his words wisely. He said that it would work for any feral creature that was once human, and I believe that. I’m sure that the monkeys come under that category.”

“Wait, Rumpelstiltskin made Ruby’s cloak? How did we not know that?” David spluttered.

“It never seemed like a particularly necessary thing to impart,” Granny said simply. “So, are we all agreed on the plan? Robin will capture a monkey and restrain it with Ruby’s cloak, and Regina will work out a humane counter measure.”

Her brisk, no-nonsense tone pulled everyone back into the present and made the plan seem so simple that there was no point in going against it. The other all voiced their agreement and got up to leave, and Roland brought the little wooden cars that he’d been playing with back to Regina.

“Oh no, sweetie, you can keep those.”

The boy beamed and ran off after his father, who gave her a smile. Regina smiled back, but inside, her heart, yearning for Henry and missing him so much, was breaking.

 Enchanted Forest – Past

Marian didn’t really have time to register the fact that Princess Snow was staring up at her with wide, frightened eyes, as the carriage was almost underneath them and she had a matter of moments in which to spring her trap.

“Don’t move!” she hissed to the princess, who nodded mutely as Marian dashed back to her position and untied the ropes that loaded the traps, yanking down hard as the carriage approached. A large clump of tree branches swung down over the road, startling the carriage horses and knocking the outrider out of his saddle. A second tug had the leaf cover of a large trench fall away in front of the horses, making them rear and back the carriage up a little, placing it in prime position for the final part of the plan. Marian unhooked the final rope and used it to swing across the road and hook up several bags from the back of the carriage as she went. They fell into the waiting nets strung up among the treetops on the other side of the road, and Marian got ready for another pass. The carriage driver and outrider were too busy trying to calm the horses to pay much attention to what was going on behind them, and the lord in the carriage wasn’t able to do much other than shout as Marian hooked up more of his belongings. None of them were armed with bows, only blades, and she was too far away and moving too fast for those to be effective. The lord tried to grab one of the bags as it swung past him, but ultimately he couldn’t maintain his grip and he fell down into the mud churned up by the horses’ hooves.

“Get them!” he bawled to the driver and outrider, gesturing frantically into the trees, but it wasn’t going to be any use; they’d never get up into the tree canopy and Marian had already netted the bags. She glanced down at Snow, who was watching mutely.

“Come on,” she whispered. “Let’s get out of here; I’ll come back for the loot. Follow me.”

Marian was a good climber, as at home in the trees as she was on the ground, and she cut a clear path through the canopy away from the ground, pausing now and then to make sure that Snow was still following her. Once they were at a safe distance but still able to keep an eye on the nets, Marian stopped and sat down on a thick branch. Snow flopped down beside her.

“I take it that you’re relatively new to forest banditry,” Marian said. Of course she was, it wasn’t all that long ago that she had been a beloved princess living in a palace. A lot had happened in the last few weeks, and living in a forest meant that Marian wasn’t always up to speed with the latest royal gossip.

Snow nodded mournfully. “I saw the traps set up and I thought I might be able to use them. Maybe I should have picked a smaller target for my first time.”

“It’s not good form to use someone else’s traps,” Marian pointed out.

"Oh. Yes. Sorry."

"It's all right, you'll know for next time." She held out her hand. "I'm Marian."

"Mary."

It was clearly a false name, they both knew who the princess was and Marian could guess at why she was in the forest. With such a well-known face and lineage, it was probably the safest place she could hide in, both for her own sake and that of any villagers who might face dire repercussions for hiding her. At least, being a bandit, Marian knew that there was already a price on her own head and she wouldn't be in any worse a state for helping the fallen princess. 

"Well, Mary, the first thing to remember is not to be scared of the trees. If you're going to make your home and your living in the forest for whatever reason, then you have to understand the trees. They aren't out to get you, they aren't going to throw you out of their branches. They're just going to stand here like they've always done. What you do with them and how you use them is up to you, but as long as you trust them, they'll never let you down."

"You sound like you've been at this for a long time," Snow said, a touch of awe in her voice. Marian shrugged. 

"Times are getting harder under Queen Regina's rule," she said. "They were never brilliant before, but we all do what we have to in order to survive. If banditry is what it takes, then so be it."

"I had no idea it was so bad," the princess said mournfully. "I never really knew enough about the kingdom until..." She tailed off, forgetting herself for a moment and having to force herself back into the Mary persona. "Until I had to come out to the woods."

"Well, you’ll always have friends here," Marian said, and she hoped that Snow could see through her words to what she really meant. "There are many of us who would welcome a change in the current ruler."

Snow smiled. "Thank you."

Marian just nodded and changed the subject. "Once you get over your fear of falling out of trees, you'll find that you can walk through them as easily as you can walk across the ground. The trick is to forget that you're up in the air. The moment you look down, you're lost."

"Yes." Snow was staring down at the ground several feet below. "Yes, I think that might be where I have a problem."

"Invest in some good strong rope and nets, and then you can rig up some traps and keep things in the treetops. Only the truly determined or truly desperate will follow you up into the trees to reclaim stolen goods. As long as you know how to tie really good knots, you'll be fine. Speaking of stolen goods, though, I should really be getting back to my nets. I have to meet the rest of my group. Good luck, Mary."

"Thank you. Wait!" Snow called as Marian got up and made to clamber her way back across to her catch. "Will I be able to find you again in the forest?"

"I imagine so." Marian smiled. "Just look for the traps. One of us is usually nearby."

She had barely got back to the nets when she realised that something wasn't right. The carriage and outrider had gone, giving up the retrieval of their goods as a bad job, but she could still hear the stamping of hooves. Several horses were coming down the road, and it sounded like a military formation. Marian's first instinct was to draw back into the safety of the trees; they had long since worked on a principle of avoiding confrontation when it came to travellers with obvious martial leanings as there was no sense in asking for trouble. She peered through the leaves and her heart sank. More than just soldiers, they were Black Guard, Regina's elite unit. There was no doubt in Marian's mind that they were there for the princess. She looked up at her nets and down along the road. She really shouldn't get involved. She didn't owe Snow White anything and she'd already helped the girl out of one scrape. The rest of the group were waiting for her. Robin and Roland were waiting for her. At the same time, though, she knew that her conscience wouldn't let her leave the princess to whatever fate awaited her at the hands of the guards. Heaving a sigh and knowing that she was probably going to regret it, she made her way back through the trees to where she had left Snow. The younger woman was just testing her climbing ability, gaining confidence on the higher branches.

"Watch out!" Marian hissed as the guards passed along the road under them. They were moving slowly now, fanning out into the trees on foot to look for their quarry. It would be no good trying to take them on, even if there was only one of them. They were too highly trained, and it would be suicide. Their only option was to hide. 

"Come with me, I know somewhere you can lie low."

It was a good job they'd just vacated their old camp. Marian dropped down from the trees and gestured for Snow to follow her; soon they were back at the old camp and Marian bundled the princess down into the tree roots before scrambling back up into the trees to keep watch. Just as long as Snow didn't make a sound, they would be all right. Marian could feel her heart beating painfully in her chest as the guards came ever closer. Just a few minutes more and they would be in the clear. A prison wagon trundled along the road; they definitely meant business, and Marian winged up a prayer. Not long, not long now...

Fate was not on their side. One of the soldiers was almost on the hideout, and it was clear that he could tell something wasn't right. He began poking about at the roots, discovering the entrance flap. Marian couldn't watch, pressing her hands over her face as they dragged Snow out of the once-safe haven. To give her due, she was fighting tooth and nail against them, but it was never going to be any use. She was too young and too inexperienced in the life of an outlaw, and soon enough she had been tossed unceremoniously into the prison wagon. Marian did not let out the breath she had been holding until after the guards and wagon had gone from view. What was she to do now? She couldn't leave the princess to her fate, she had already made the decision to get involved. Logically she knew that this was something that would need the rest of the group, and they were probably already wondering where she was. But when it came to prisoners, Regina wasn't in the habit of hanging around with the ones she wanted gone, and every minute's delay spent gathering the troops for a rescue mission brought Snow closer to the scaffold. By the time she caught up with the rest of the group, persuaded them to help her, and they'd set out to Regina's castle, it would likely be too late. Marian accepted that she as going to be on her own for this one. She sighed, hoping that Robin and the others would forgive her for taking such a big risk in the name of the greater good, and she clambered down from her perch. The outlaws had hidden caches of weapons throughout the forest, and she made her way to the nearest one, grabbing a bow, quiver, and several coils of rope along with some extra daggers. With any luck, she wouldn't need them. She wasn't anticipating a fight, just a quick and clean extraction.

Determination etched into her features, Marian set off at a run through the forest. She knew all the shortcuts, and with any luck she could make it to the castle before dark. 

  Storybrooke – Present

Objectively, Regina knew that she shouldn’t be seeking Henry out, and that in their current relationship of mayor and visitor, and nothing closer than that, it would definitely seem creepy to the outside observer. The only outside observer in this case was Henry himself; everyone else in the town knew who she really was and why she was doing it, even if they didn’t agree with it. At the same time, she really couldn’t help it. She missed him so much that it was physically painful, like a hole had been torn in her guts. She was reminded of Rumpelstiltskin’s words of warning when she had cast the first curse, about a gaping hole in her heart that she would never be able to fill. Perhaps that was coming back to bite her now.

She stood outside the diner for a long time, wondering whether to go in. She had a lot of other things she needed to do, and ought to be doing, but she couldn’t bring herself to move. Henry was sitting inside at the counter, chatting happily to Ruby, and Regina steeled herself before walking inside. She needed to talk to Ruby anyway, she kept telling herself. This was definitely not just an excuse to speak to Henry.

She slipped onto the stool beside him and declined when Ruby came over with the coffee pot.

“No thanks, I’m not staying long. I just needed to talk to you. Did Granny tell you about the plan?”

“Yeah, I’ll go and get the cloak now. Be careful with it; I’ve been quite sure how effective it is when it’s damaged.”

“Ruby.” Regina’s tone was a warning one, and she gestured quickly to Henry, who seemed for the time being to be oblivious to the strange exchange.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, I keep forgetting. I’ll go get it.”

Ruby disappeared into the back of the diner and Regina sat twiddling her thumbs nervously, wondering how to start the conversation with Henry. She was saved the trouble when he spoke to her.

“So, is it like an invisibility cloak or something?” he asked, a little smirk spreading over his face. “Ruby made it sound like it’s got some kind of magic powers.”

“Maybe it has. You never know. Magic can be found in the strangest of places.” A little seed of hope burst into fruitful life in Regina’s mind. Maybe if she could get Henry believing in the existence of magic, then they could be one step closer to breaking the curse and restoring his memories.

Henry looked curious. “I’ll admit, there is something about this place that doesn’t quite add up,” he said. “I still can’t shake the feeling that I’ve been here before, and I keep having these strange dreams that are more like memories.”

“You never know,” Regina repeated. The more doubt that she could sow in him now…

“Are you a witch?”

The question came completely out of the left field and Regina was thrown for a loop, unable to respond for a long time.

“Pardon?” she squeaked eventually, her voice choked. She hadn’t expected her gentle suggestion to be quite that effective that quickly.

“A witch,” Henry replied. “You know, like a Wiccan white witch. I’ve overheard a lot of the town talking about magic and spells and curses and potions, and it just made me wonder if there was something deeper behind it.”

The notion of being a white witch steeped in light magic was so far from Regina’s usual modus operandi that it made her laugh. Henry looked somewhat sheepish and embarrassed.

“Yeah, I know, it’s a stupid idea,” he muttered.

“No, no, you’re right in a way. I guess a lot of the townsfolk would call me a witch, although probably not one of the good white ones.”

“You’ve always been nice to me,” Henry said plainly.

“Of course I am, you’re…” She tailed off. She couldn’t exactly tell him that he was her son, but she’d made the commitment to the sentence now, and Henry was looking at her expectantly.

“I’m…” he prompted.

“You’re a very special kid, Henry,” she finished. “There aren’t all that many children in Storybrooke and it’s always nice to get some young people here.”

Well, that didn’t sound weird or creepy at all, and Regina could tell that Henry was nowhere near convinced by her words. Still, he didn’t push the point and Regina wasn’t going to offer up any alternative explanation either. Presently Ruby returned with her cloak.

“There we are. I trust you know when you need to return it by. We’ve already got enough trouble going on in the woods, let’s not add any more.”

Regina nodded; she’d consulted the lunar calendar before coming out and there were a good two weeks before full moon. With any luck, the antidote to the monkeys’ curse would be ready by then and they wouldn’t need to worry, and they would be one step closer to getting the better of Zelena once and for all.

“Trouble in the woods?” Henry asked. He had always known more about what was going on than Regina gave him credit for, and as awkward as it made things now, she was glad to see that he hadn’t lost that trait along with his memories.

“Wild animals,” Ruby said quickly. “Wolves, bears and the like. They’ve been getting closer to the town, attacking people. Like Neal and Belle.”

“Yeah.” Henry shuddered at the memory.

“Probably best if you don’t go near the forest,” Ruby added.

“Don’t worry, after what happened to my dad and Belle, I don’t plan on it.”

There really wasn’t any way to spin the conversation with Henry out any longer, although it was something of a bleak note that they were ending on.

“Well, I’d best get going. Thank you for this.” She folded Ruby’s cloak over her arm and slipped off her stool. “Take care, Henry.”

“I will. Bye, Regina.”

She left the diner, looking back over her shoulder, but Henry wasn’t looking in her direction any more. Regina sighed, hugging herself tightly. She seemed to have given him a push in the right direction at least, but waiting for the spell to break of its own accord was agonising. A thought occurred to her briefly. Henry’s new memories were not the result of the same curse that the rest of them were under. She had used magic to alter Henry’s memories herself, and that meant that she knew the exact way to reverse the effects. A standard memory potion would work, the only trouble was getting him to accept it. Not to mention the profound ramifications of spiking a minor. And there was Emma to think of as well; she had not shown any interest in restoring Henry’s memories, and she probably wouldn’t appreciate Regina doing it without her knowledge.

A small, shrill part of her became increasingly vocal, reasoning that all else aside, Henry was still her son and she still had the right to be his mother, but since all that had been arranged in a somewhat furtive manner thirteen years ago, and all she’d done in the process was sign on the dotted line, perhaps legalese wouldn’t be her best recourse here.

She continued to make her way down the street, stopping outside the pawn shop. It seemed that everywhere was giving her memories of her time with Henry today. This was the place where she had first laid eyes on him, and the place where he had been named. It was a favourite memory of hers, but now there was a tinge of sadness to it as well.

Still, she needed to check out Rumpelstiltskin’s stocks for things that she needed for the monkeys’ antidote, so Regina pushed the memories to one side and strode in purposefully.

Belle was alone behind the counter, sorting through the boxes of index cards as she attempted to make an inventory of everything in the shop. With Rumpelstiltskin’s continued existence revealed, Regina wasn’t sure why she was still doing it, unless she had no hope of him ever returning from his enslavement. Still, Regina supposed that it gave her something to take her mind off their gloomy situation, and if she found anything that could help free him, then so much the better.

Belle looked up as the shop bell rang, and Regina saw the moment she went into a defensive stance, backing up a few steps towards the back room.

“Regina,” she said, her voice measured.

“Belle. I think you can guess why I’m here. What have you got?”

“Well, that depends entirely on what you want.” Belle’s tone was icy and Regina didn’t think she’d ever heard her sound so… unlike herself. Belle was warm, she was gentle and forgiving and she got on with everyone. Rumpelstiltskin’s plight must have hit her harder than Regina realised.

“I need…” Regina began, but Belle cut her off.

“How about three years locked in a tower knowing that the only reason you’re still alive is because someone might need to use you as a bargaining chip in the future?”

Regina’s blood ran cold.

“Belle, I…”

“Don’t fancy that? Maybe you’d prefer twenty-eight years in a padded cell with no memories at all, being drugged up so much you don’t know whether you’re awake or not and you can’t even remember your own name!”

“Belle, I’m sorry, I…”

“What about a set of false memories that bring out the very worst in your character and send you into the arms of a man who, once upon a time, tried to buy you like livestock?”

Belle’s voice was rising with every sentence, the anger rolling off her in waves.

“Belle, I’m sorry,” Regina said.

Belle snorted. “You know the worst part of all that? You didn’t even hurt me because you wanted to hurt me. I was so unimportant that you hurt me solely to hurt Rumpel. You do all that and now you expect me to just turn around and help you out like nothing happened?”

“Belle, this is for Rumpelstiltskin,” Regina pleaded. “I need these ingredients if we’re going to get anywhere near to freeing him.”

“I know,” Belle said sharply. “But I am my own person, I am not just an extension of Rumpel, a plaything that you can use to hurt him. What I have here is self-respect, and I am not going to sit back and let you pretend, in the name of the Greater Good, that you haven’t treated me absolutely horrifically in the past. I can live with a lot, Regina, but even I have a limit.”

She was shaking now, and Regina’s stomach was churning.

“Belle, I’m sorry for what I did.”

“Are you really sorry, or are you just sorry because you need my help?”

“I am really sorry, Belle. I had no idea…”

“No idea of what?”

“No idea that it had affected you so badly. You’ve always been so…” Regina struggled for a suitable word that wouldn’t dig her even further into a hole.

“Remarkably well-adjusted considering everything you’ve put me through? Well, that’s because up until now, I’ve had to be. We’ve always been in a big group discussing bigger issues and I’m pragmatic enough to hold my tongue. But now it’s just you and me, and frankly, Regina, after everything you’ve done, I don’t feel safe being alone with you.”

Regina felt like she’d had a bucket of ice water upturned over her head. In their current predicament, it was all too easy to pin all the menace on Zelena, to point out that she should be the one that everyone should be scared of and blaming for all the ills in their lives, but it couldn’t be denied that the accusations Belle had levelled against her were true.

“Belle, I’m sorry for all the horrible things I did to you. I truly am.”

Belle nodded. “I believe you. Now please leave.”

“Belle…”

“I can accept your apology, but that doesn’t mean I have to forgive you or suddenly start trusting you.”

She had a point, and Regina decided to retreat gracefully. She’d come back later, when Neal was around, and maybe bring Robin as a friendly face that Belle trusted. She left the shop, still shaken from the brutal truths that she’d been forced to face up to, and she thought back to her plans from before the missing year, before Pan had turned up in Storybrooke and everything had been set in motion again. She had been going to return all the hearts she’d taken to their owners, the beginning of her atonement. The confrontation with Belle reminded her that she still had a long way to go. It wasn’t her fault that her plans kept getting derailed by other, bigger threats on the horizon, but making amends wasn’t something that could be put off indefinitely.

“Hey, Regina.”

It was Emma, no doubt heading towards the diner to collect Henry.

“I see you’ve got the cloak. Any update on the grand de-monkeyfying plan?”

“No, not at the moment. I’m still missing some ingredients. I’d better get this to Robin so that he can start rigging a trap.”

“Yeah, the sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better.” Emma paused, her brow furrowed. “Are you all right? You look kind of down.”

“Yes. I just received a rather forcible reminder of the person that I used to be. A person I’m trying to get away from.”

“Well, you can’t just ignore your past,” Emma said. “Believe me, I know from experience. I’ve got more regrets than I can count and running away from them never really works too well. I’ve tried. I guess you’ve just got to face these things and make peace with them.”

“That’s very philosophical of you. Who are you, and what have you done with Emma?”

Emma just laughed. “I think the last year has put things in perspective a little bit.”

“I wish I could remember the last year,” Regina muttered. “I’ll be kicking myself if it turns out that this is the second time I’m having all these uncomfortable conversations.”

“Well, at least you know that whatever it is you’re talking about will have been very thoroughly discussed.”

In spite of everything, Regina had to laugh. “And probably come to exactly the same conclusions.” She paused. This was the perfect opportunity to talk about Henry. “Speaking of memories though…”

“Yes?”

“I’ve been thinking about Henry. As he’s not bound under the same magic as the rest of the town, I could probably make a memory potion that would work on him.” She couldn’t help the hopefulness in her voice as she spoke, and she tried not to look too disappointed when Emma sighed, her face grim.

“I don’t know, Regina. I appreciate the offer and I appreciate how much you miss him and want him to remember you, but I just don’t know if it’s a good idea. Our lives are still in New York, and he has friends there.”

“Are you really going to come all this way and help save us all and then go back to New York as if nothing happened?” Regina asked incredulously.

“I don’t know!” Emma exclaimed. “I don’t know anything anymore. I have no idea where I belong or where my life’s supposed to be, and I don’t want Henry to feel the same way.” She sighed, leaning against the wall. “And I guess a selfish part of me doesn’t want him to remember that I actually gave him up,” she admitted quietly.

For all Regina wanted to be outraged, she couldn’t find the anger within herself. Emma sounded so defeated and disgusted with herself, and after the conversation she’d just been through, Regina knew exactly how she felt. She thought about what Emma had said about running away from the past, and leaned on the wall next to her.

“Thank you,” Emma said eventually. “The memories that you gave me, those years with Henry that I never had before, they were wonderful. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I figured that after everything, you two deserved a happy ending.”

“When I realised that it wasn’t real… I don’t know. I guess I keep thinking that I can go back to that life. But I know I can’t, I’d be living a lie. And even if by some miracle, I was able to keep Henry oblivious, I would know that he’d be living a lie too.”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, Regina said. “Maybe his memories will return of their own accord. Things do seem to be bleeding through, and he’s already got the impression that there’s some kind of magic at work in the town.”

“Hmmm” Emma’s brow was furrowed, her expression perturbed. “The more I think about it, the more I wonder. We’ve been trying to use Henry’s lack of memories to keep him safe, but if he’s the only one in town who doesn’t know what’s going on, then it could prove dangerous. From what I’ve seen of Zelena and her methods, she wouldn’t hold back against Henry just because he’s clueless in terms of magic.”

It was a chilling thought and not one that Regina particularly wanted to dwell on.

“I mean, the entire town’s keeping an eye on him at the moment and there’s safety in numbers,” Emma continued, “but if Zelena manages to get him on his own… That contraption that I saw in Zelena’s place had four points on the gimble. Belle’s hair, Rumpelstiltskin’s tears, my blood, what if the fourth thing she needs comes from Henry? He’s the truest believer after all, and it wouldn’t be the first time that someone’s tried to capitalise on that.”

As much as it pained her to think about it, much less say it, Regina knew what had to be done.

“We shouldn’t wake him up prematurely,” she said. “Without his true memories, he has no reason to believe in magic, so he can’t be the truest believer. If Zelena wants him, she’ll have to wait until he believes. If we do nothing and he comes to that realisation in his own time, we have more time to stop her plan in its tracks.”

Emma nodded. “Although wouldn’t it be better to try and stop him believing for as long as possible, in that case?”

“No. You and I both know what Henry’s like. If we try to keep it from him then he’ll get suspicious and take matters into his own hands. That’s how you ended up coming to town in the first place. I’d spent so much tome telling him that what was true wasn’t that he set out to seek the truth himself.”

“We don’t want to do that to him again.”

“No. Definitely not.” Regina paused. “Maybe he is better off without his memories of that time.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Emma said. “For now though, we agree that the best course is to just keep going on as we have been. Not actively hiding the truth from him, but not encouraging it either.”

“Yes, I think that’s the best way. And once this is over and we have breathing space, then we can see what happens then.”

Emma snorted. “As long as we haven’t all been turned into flying monkeys by then.”

“On that note, I’d best get on. The sooner the better.” Regina held up the cloak.

“Good luck,” Emma said.

“Thanks.” Regina knew that they were likely going to need it.

Enchanted Forest - Past

It was dusk by the time Marian made it to the castle gates, the kind of grey twilight that made visibility poor. Perhaps not the best weather for delicate jailbreak operations, but with her grey clothing, she should be able to get in relatively unnoticed. The outer walls were not well guarded as the stone face was practically sheer, just a garrison by the main gates and soldiers patrolling the top of the walls.

Marian crept around to the side of the castle, timing the intervals between the guards passing along between the watchtowers. It was going to be tight, but she thought that she could make it. There was a gibbet bracket affixed near the top of the wall, and Marian tied a line to the end of an arrow. Robin was the one with all the archery tricks, but Marian had learned a few things during her time with him. She fired the line through the gibbet hook and ran to grab the arrow, untying the line and testing the strength of the rope and bracket. It seemed to hold her weight. Now to pull herself up before the guards came back past and realised that there was something amiss.

It was slow going; this really wasn't Marian's favourite method of climbing, and she had to stop and dangle precariously a few times whilst the guards came past. At last she was at the top, and she waited a few moments to make sure that the coast was clear before getting up on top of the wall and checking her way down. There was a guardhouse below, and she could jump it. She landed heavily, making more noise than she would have liked, and she quickly slipped off the roof as she heard the guards inside startle and make for the door. Years of surviving in the forest had given her a feel for the darkness, although she yearned for the safety of tree cover here in the exposed main courtyard. The guards did not notice her slip past towards the castle itself, and she avoided the main door, climbing cat-like up the wall to dive in through an open window.

She landed in the kitchens, causing a few startled exclamations from the maids, but she didn't hang around, moving quickly through the room and out into the corridors before anyone could raise the alarm. She had never been inside the castle before, but she knew that dungeons were always underground, so as long as she kept going down, she'd get there in the end. She could hear commotion behind her, as one of the kitchen staff had no doubt told someone about the strange woman who had nearly landed in the soup, and Marian kept running, following a straight line that she could find her way back on. She stopped short before dashing across the main hall; there were two guards in there standing at the top of some steps downwards, into what had to be the dungeons. She just needed to distract them.

Slipping back into the shadows, she notched an arrow and fired out of the gloom, hitting the wall above their heads. It took them a few moments to realise what had happened, and then they rushed towards her. Marian stepped back into an alcove to let them pass, pressing herself up flat against the wall. This was her chance, and she made a break for it, crossing the room in a matter of seconds and stealing down the steps. The guards within the dungeons were all in their room, a few playing dice or drinking. Marian slipped past easily, prowling along the rows of cells until she found Snow. The princess was picking desperately at the lock with her fingernails, and her hands were bloody from her efforts.

"Let me." Marian pulled out a knife and began working the lock. It was a trick they'd had to learn after people had begun putting extra security measures on their money chests. 

"Marian?" Snow was unable to believe what she was seeing. "What are you doing here?"

"Breaking you out, what does it look like?"

"But why? We've only just met."

"Well, Mary, I get the feeling that you're destined for better things than a cell. Besides, you're never going to get any better at climbing if you're stuck in here."

"I don't know, I have tried climbing the walls."

The lock finally sprung with a scrape of metal on metal and Marian swung the door open.

"Thank you."

"Thank me when we actually get out of here," Marian muttered, leading the way back down the rows of cells and shoving Snow in behind the open door to the guards' room as one of the came out and passed them. "He'll raise the alarm that you've escaped, run!"

There was no time for secrecy any more, speed was of the essence. They careened back up the stairs to the main hall just as the guards from the stair well returned and noticed them, giving chase. Snow grabbed Marian's hand and pulled her off down a different corridor.

"Trust me, I grew up here, I know my way around. How did you get in?"

"There's a line set up on the west wall, by the guardhouse. You know it?"

Snow nodded. "Yes, I can get us up to the wall."

Marian followed her blindly through the labyrinthine castle, but the guards were gaining on them. They were halfway up a spiral staircase, almost at the door out onto the wall, but they weren't going to make it.  Marian pulled Snow to a stop.

"Swap cloaks, it’s you they're looking for." She pulled off her grey hood and handed it to Snow. "You can blend in better with that. Get out and get down the rope. I'll distract them from following and see you down there; I'll get up to the roof and come down the outside."

Snow threw her green cloak over Marian, who drew her knives, took a deep breath, and charged back down the stairs a little way, just until the guards could see her. Throwing a knife at them, she ducked back up the stairs, just in time to see Snow vanish over the wall as another troop of guards came straight towards her. There were thundering footsteps from above; getting out onto the roof of the tower per her original escape plan was out of the question now. She'd certainly caused a distraction, but now her exit routes were blocked and she couldn't go up, down, or out. She was helplessly outnumbered. 

A hand grabbed the back of her borrowed cloak and Marian was sent sprawling, hitting her head hard as she went down, her other dagger skittering across the floor. Blackness touched her vision as pain radiated out from her forehead, making her woozy. Then a hood was shoved over her head and the darkness became complete.

Storybrooke – Present

Determining not to go back to the pawn shop until Belle had had time to calm down and Neal was back with her, Regina drove through town towards the woods, parking up as close as she could then making her way through to Robin’s camp on foot. He was waiting for her, sharpening arrowheads with a flint.

“I’m hoping that we won’t have to use them,” he said. “We still have the tranquiliser darts that David took from the animal shelter, but if the worst comes to the worst then I want to be prepared. Is that it?”

Regina held up Ruby’s cloak. “The answer to all our prayers,” she said. “We hope, at least. As long as everything else works. We can’t exactly get Rumpelstiltskin to run us up a couple of dozen to try and neutralise every monkey in the forest.”

“Well, the trap is set,” Robin stuck the arrows back into his quiver and stood up. “It just has to be baited whenever you’re ready.”

“What’s the bait?”

Robin gave a grim smile. “Allan. Don’t worry, he volunteered. With Tuck still in the hospital and everyone else currently wearing wings or awol, there wasn’t a lot of choice, and I’m the better shot. Do you want to get started now?”

Regina nodded and Robin called to Roland, who left his new toys and trotted along after them quite happily. Not for the first time, Regina wondered what had happened to Roland’s mother and why she was no longer in the picture, but it didn’t feel prudent to ask right now. Given the life that the outlaws had led before coming to Storybrooke, it was likely that her story was not a happy one. She kept her thoughts to herself as she followed Robin through the trees, closer and closer to the edge of town. There was a distinct chill in the air the closer they got to the boundary, and Regina couldn’t tell if it was just the Maine air, or if it was some kind of deterrent on Zelena’s part, or if she was just imagining it. Nevertheless, she pressed on, finding Allan in a clearing just a few yards from the boundary.

“We’ve worked out that this is as far as we can come before the monkeys get active,” Robin explained. “Further than this line and they’ll start to swoop.”

Regina looked up into the treetops, searching for tell-tale eerie yellow eyes, but she couldn’t see any. She handed over the cloak, which Robin strung up between two trees, attaching it to ropes with clothes pegs. It was the strangest mish mash of whatever items they could get their hands on, but if Robin was confident that it would work, then Regina had faith in him.

“You’d better get out of the way,” Robin warned, indicating a thick clump of bushes a safe distance away from the trap. “Take Roland with you.”

Regina grabbed Roland’s little hand and ushered him to safety, pulling him in close as she crouched in the bushes, watching through the tiny gaps in the densely packed greenery. Robin slung his quiver and bow over his shoulder and climbed up a tree, steadying his balance in the topmost branches and notching an arrow, aiming it into the tree canopy. Regina hoped that it would be a last resort too; they’d already said that they were trying to be as humane as possible, and with at least two, if not more, of Robin’s original group now resigned to their unfortunate furry fate, she’d hate for him to have to drop one.

“Ready?” Allan called up to Robin, who nodded. “You’d better be, this is my neck on the line here.”

He set off at a determined march through the trees, crashing through the undergrowth and making no attempt whatsoever to be furtive. Regina could still hear him long after he vanished from view, but she could not hear any signs of the monkeys. Perhaps they had more intelligence than she gave them credit for and they had realised from Allan’s very obvious noise and movement that they would be flying into a trap. Up in his tree, Robin checked the tranquiliser gun. It was an agonising waiting game, and Regina wasn’t sure how much more of it her nerves could stand.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, there was an unholy screech of winged terror and the flap of powerful leathery wings, along with a scream that could only have come from Allan. Alarmed, Roland jumped up, but Regina pulled him back down out of sight, cuddling him in close to her chest so that he couldn’t see what would happen in the clearing.

“ROBIN!” Allan screamed through the trees. “I HOPE YOU’RE READY!”

Allan burst into the clearing, running hell for leather, and he grabbed hold of a rope that Robin unfurled from his tree with a well-placed kick. The monkey was only seconds behind, flapping and snapping and snarling as it bore down on Allan.

“ROBIN, DO SOMETHING!” Allan yelled, clinging to the rope and fending off the monkey with his feet and elbows. “NOW!”

Robin’s arrow soared through the trees and hit its mark, and a huge counterweight fell down out of the canopy, pulling Allan up off the ground. The monkey followed him up, but then a red-tipped dart was whizzing out of the trees and lodged in the beast’s wing. It didn’t drop it immediately, but it slowed it down as it scrambled to pull the dart out. It obviously wasn’t as effective as a hit in the body would have been, but it was no longer pursuing Allan, and it came back down to earth with an ungainly thump. Regina could just make out Allan moving in the treetops, and a moment later she heard the swing of detached ropes and Ruby’s cloak was catapulted across the clearing, landing on the monkey who, for good measure, was then bundled up in a net and left dangling.

There was silence for a long time and Roland looked up at Regina.

“Is it safe?” he asked quietly. She peered up over the top of the bush; Robin and Allan were shimmying out of their respective trees and moving across to the writhing lump in the net.

“I think so,” she said eventually. “But stay close.”

Roland nodded, clinging to her hand like a little limpet as they came out of their hiding place. The bundle in the net had stopped wriggling, and as Robin approached it, an undeniably human voice called from the depths of the cloak.

“Help!”

“John?” Robin asked in disbelief, not quite willing to accept that their plan had actually worked. “Is that you?”

“Yes!”

“Hold on, we’ll cut you down. Stay under the cloak.”

Allan cut the ropes securing the net in place and John landed heavily on the ground. The others set about untangling him, and then they were helping him to his feet, a large man only just fully enveloped in Ruby’s cloak, but a human man nonetheless.

“It worked!” Allan threw his arms around the slightly confused John.

“Yes, but that was only stage one,” Robin said. “There’s still more to do.”

“Could someone tell me what’s going on, please?” John asked mournfully. “One minute I’m a monkey and the next I’m not and I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.”

“We’re rescuing you,” Roland piped up happily. “Papa and Allan caught you and Regina’s going to make you better.”

John looked over at Regina with a mixture of disbelief and gratitude.

“Can you really do that?”

“Well, I’m damn well going to try. It’s a complicated process, I have no idea what kind of enchantment you might be under.”

John shrugged. “Sorry, I can’t help you there.”

“That’s all right, I can work it out, but it might be painful. And we should probably go somewhere a little safer.” Regina looked around; there was no sign of any disturbance but being out in the open was making her uneasy. “The other monkeys and Zelena might not have noticed your absence yet but I wouldn’t want to stick around here too long if they do. We’d be better off going back to town, to the mayor’s office. I’ve got my potion laboratory set up there, and no-one will disturb us.”

“I’ll take Roland back to camp,” Allan volunteered.

“Can’t I come with you?” Roland pleaded to his father.

“No, Roland, it’s too dangerous. John’s still under a powerful curse. But Regina’s right, town might be safer for a little while, for all we’ve always felt safer in the trees. Just until we’ve got this sorted out. You and Allan can go and get ice-cream at Granny’s.”

The prospect of ice-cream cheered Roland up and the five of them made their way out of the forest towards Regina’s car. The first stage of their plan had been successful, and now it was all up to her.

 Enchanted Forest - Past

Regina watched from her balcony as the guards dragged Snow White over to the scaffold. She'd wanted to wait until dawn and make an event of it, but the girl's earlier escape attempt had forced her to move her plans forward. In hindsight, perhaps a quick execution was a better idea. Although the people could be kept in line with fear alone, they did still love their fallen princess no matter how much Regina might try to turn them against her, and a spectacle might be the spark that started the revolution. She could really do without the revolution when she was trying to strengthen alliances outside of the kingdom. She couldn't be seen to be a weak leader. As such, dissidents would be dealt with swiftly and without mercy.

Snow was looking a little dopey, as if she'd been hit hard on the head under the hood. Good. Then she wouldn't try to resist. She and her accomplice had already caused enough trouble for one night.

She was silent as she was tied to the post; Regina was a little disappointed. She'd hoped for at least some begging for mercy, but the girl was obviously more stoic than she'd realised. The guards looked up to the balcony, waiting for her go ahead, perhaps wondering if she'd had a last-minute change of heart. Regina smiled. Victory was hers at last. 

"Fire at will."

The guards moved out of the way and a spray of arrows flew cross the courtyard, hitting their mark exactly. The hooded head dropped down against the chest like a mannequin, and Regina wondered why she didn't feel satisfied. Maybe it was the fact that it had been done so quickly and bloodlessly, but unlike certain other monarchs of her acquaintance, she found beheading to be far too crude a solution. 

"Leave her there," she called to the guards. "I'm coming down."

She looked very small and limp, Regina thought as she approached, and it really struck home that she was barely more than a girl. 

Something caught her eye, and her brow furrowed as she went to investigate. Snow was wearing a band on her wedding finger, an intricately woven design of pale wood. There was no reason for Snow to have such an adornment, and Regina realised in a rush of indignation what had happened. She yanked off the hood, and sure enough, the pale dead face beneath was unknown to her. 

"Idiots!" she screeched, turning on the guards. "You didn't think to check you had the right prisoner?"

Cheated of her triumph, Regina stalked back into the castle, fuming with anger at her guards' incompetence. Snow White would be well away by now, and another opportunity to get rid of her forever had slipped through Regina's fingers. 

  Storybrooke – Present

John and Regina were alone in the mayor’s office, Regina checking the potion equipment and John sitting on a chair as far away from the delicate apparatus as possible, eyeing the rope on the desk with caution. Robin had been sent to the pawn shop with a shopping list of items that Rumpelstiltskin hopefully had in his stores.

“Run that past me again,” John was saying. “I lost you after the Wicked Witch keeping Rumpelstiltskin in her cellar.”

“Long story short, none of us can remember what happened in the Enchanted Forest during the last year and now Zelena – the Wicked Witch – is attempting some kind of four-point spell. She’s got Rumpelstiltskin, the most powerful sorcerer we know, in thrall, and he’s locked in her cellar, and she’s kidnapping people like you and turning them into an army of monkeys.”

“Right. And you’re using me as a test for breaking the monkeys’ spell?”

“Yes.” There was no other way around it, so Regina didn’t both to sugar coat the news.

“Right.” John seemed understanding of his fate, and they fell into silence for a while, waiting for Robin. It was an awkward time, knowing so little about each other, and most of what John knew about Regina came from hearsay and rumour regarding the Evil Queen.

“John,” Regina began presently, “you’ve known Robin a long time, haven’t you?”

“Yes, most of our lives. My crew and his joined forces after his outlawing.”

“Can I ask you something?”

John’s eyes narrowed. “That depends on what it is.”

“What happened to Roland’s mother? Is she just missing, like the other people ostensibly turned into monkeys, or has she been absent for longer than that? It’s just that I’ve never heard Robin or Roland talk about her.”

John gave a long, pained sigh.

“We don’t know what happened to her,” he said eventually. “We’ve never really known. We can guess, but there’s no proof either way. It wasn’t long after Roland was born. We were camping out in the forest as we’ve always done and we needed to move our base camp. Marian stayed behind after all the rest of us had left, she wanted to spring one final trap because we needed the supplies that the ambush would bring. She was supposed to catch us up the next day, but she never came. Robin and I went back to traps but there was no sign of her. The traps had been sprung and the supplies were there waiting for us, but Marian was nowhere to be seen. We think she was possibly captured, but it’s common practice for captured bandits to be named before their sentencing as a warning for others. There was no announcement, and we never found a body. So, we’ve never really known. She just vanished. She knew it was a risk that she was taking in staying behind, but it shouldn’t have been that big a one. It was a trap she’d sprung hundreds of times before without incident. She just… vanished.” He was cut off by Robin’s return, and it was clear that the subject wasn’t going to be discussed any further in his presence.

“Did you get everything?” Regina asked. Robin nodded, unpacking bottles and jars from the paper bag he was carrying.

“Yes. Leroy was in there too and he gave me some fairy dust for good measure.”

“That man will never cease to amaze me,” Regina muttered. “Still, there’s no time to lose. Let’s get to it.”

They worked in silence broken only by Regina giving Robin instructions for measuring out ingredients, and soon the apparatus was bubbling away. Now came the difficult part. The base of the potion was ready, but the rest of the ingredients and their quantities could only be found out by analysing the curse itself and to do that, Regina needed the monkey. Ruby’s cloak was suppressing the magical signature and she needed to feel it fully.

Robin gave John an apologetic smile as he approached with the rope from the desk.

“It’s for your own safety as much as ours,” he explained. “The monkeys do tend to have a certain rage factor and we wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself in such a confined space on a rampage.”

John looked forlorn, but nonetheless consented to being tied to the chair. For good measure, Robin tied it to the wall as well.

“You were always very good at knots,” John grumbled, pulling at the bonds to make sure that they would hold. “Too good, sometimes.”

“In our line of work, you have to be,” Robin said. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Robin pulled the cloak off him and quickly stepped back. For a moment nothing happened, and Regina wondered if they needed something else to trigger the transformation into simian form. Just as she was about to give it up as a bad job, John’s eyes flickered yellow, and a howl of pain rang out as he began to transform. Regina was horrified by the grotesque, but Robin just looked resigned.

“It doesn’t get any easier to see,” he murmured, but he did not turn away out of solidarity for his friend. After a few minutes the transformation was complete, and the monkey was snarling and hissing at them, wings and tail lashing out and trying to pull the chair away from the wall. It managed to lift a few inches off the floor before crashing back down, and its wildly flailing tail sent Regina’s bowl of apples flying all over the floor.

Regina ignored the chaos that was going on around her and reached out a hand, reaching out with her magic as well. A faint shimmer appeared around the monkey’s form, a magical silhouette – Zelena’s magical signature. It was sickly green, unusual for a dark magician, but at least in keeping with the Wicked Witch of the West theme. Regina gasped as she felt the intensity of the magic against her fingertips.

“Regina?” She heard Robin’s voice beside her ear. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, it’s just this magic. It’s very raw, very powerful. It shouldn’t be this powerful, not for someone of Regina’s age and training. According to Belle and Neal, Rumpelstiltskin trained her like he did me. She shouldn’t be so powerful. Unless.”

“Straight up spells, dearie, tough on the system,” Rumpelstiltskin said in her memory after the first curse had broken.

“I don’t care if they turn me green,” she had replied.

“Regina!”

“I’m all right, I’m all right.” It was hard to concentrate on the curse, but she gathered all the green threads and felt the essence of the magic. She knew what she needed, and she pulled away, letting her hand drop back to her side and her shoulders droop. Robin flung the cloak back over John and stayed with him as he transformed back into a human, but his eyes were on Regina.

“Did you find what you needed?” he asked.

“Yes. I also realised where the green connection comes from. She’s casting with borrowed magic, it makes her spells more powerful.”

“You can still break it, right?”

John poked his head out from under the cloak. “Did it work?”

“Yes,” Regina said firmly. “Yes, it worked and yes, I can break it. It’s just going to take a bit more punch than I’d originally thought.”

Robin made to untie John again but the other man shook his head.

“No, I think I ought to stay like this, just in case,” he said. “I can still feel the beast in the back of my mind.” He looked around at the strewn apples. “Sorry about that.”

“They’re just apples.” Regina set the potion brewing again and began to add extra ingredients. "This had better work first time," she muttered to herself. With the amounts that she was using, she really didn't have all that much room for trial and error if she wanted to make enough to transform all of the monkeys. The potion was bubbling violently, usually a good sign; she just had to catch it at the right time before it got above itself and exploded. Robin was looking rather worried at the amount of steam that was pouring out of the flasks, and John appeared to be rethinking his decision to stay tied into his chair.

With a deft flick of her wrist, Regina unhooked the vial containing the finished potion from the apparatus, and the threat of a conflagration immediately lessened, much to everyone's visible relief.

"This should be it," she said, bringing the potion over to John and Robin. "I warn you, with the combination of ingredients in it, it's not going to taste pleasant."

Robin unbound one of John's arms so that he could take the potion, and he eyed the murky green concoction warily before knocking it back. Immediately he gagged at the foul taste, but manfully swallowed it with a grimace.

"Not pleasant is an understatement," he muttered. "I hope this works, because I'm not taking another one of those."

"How long do we have to wait?" Robin asked.

"It should move pretty quickly," Regina said. "Provided that I got the quantities right." In the chair, John wriggled.

"It feels like I've got worms under my skin," he complained. "Is it supposed to?"

"Probably fleas," Robin teased.

Regina raised an eyebrow. "I will not have anyone depositing fleas in my office, thank you very much."

"Well, you can't deny that John's spent a lot of time covered in fur recently." Robin shrugged. "I imagine that it's an occupational hazard."

Regina rolled her eyes, but it did feel good to be able to joke about things in spite of their bleak situation. The fact that Robin felt relaxed enough to launch into these jokes around her was important to her, and she had to wonder. There had been a camaraderie between them ever since she had first encountered them in the woods just after their return to Storybrooke, and she wondered if perhaps there was the prospect of something more than that. It seemed so stupid to be thinking about something like that in the midst of all their current upheaval, but it had been so long since she had felt anything like this that the newness and potential was exciting. Of course, there was still Marian to consider... Regina pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind and focussed on John, who was still muttering about worms.

"It's probably the effects of the potion burning through the magic that's already binding you," she said. "Once the feeling fades, then the antidote should have done its work."

"It is getting better," John admitted. "It's concentrated here now." He indicated his chest, around his heart where the grip of Zelena's control on him would be the tightest. "And the monkey in the back of my mind has gone quiet."

"That's encouraging." Could they really have hit upon a solution? Regina could scarcely bring herself to believe it after all the things that had happened and all their attempts against Zelena that had gone wrong, both remembered and suppressed.

"Yes, it feels like it's gone," John affirmed, and he looked to Robin. "Can we risk it?"

"We don't really have another choice." Robin pulled Ruby's cloak off his friend once more, and they waited with bated breath. Nothing happened, even after the time it had taken for him to start to transform the previous time. Tentatively, Regina reached out with her magic again, but this time she did not encounter any resistance from Zelena's trademark green glow. She could feel the last tendrils of her own dark blue magic still affecting him, but Zelena's influence had been purged.

"It worked." The idea was so miraculous that she had to laugh with glee at it. "It really worked!"

Robin and John both shouted in triumph, and Robin set about untying John as Regina looked over her remaining ingredients. She didn't want to risk losing the efficacy by diluting the potion, but there probably wasn't enough to help all the monkeys. Still, any dent that they could make in the force was a good one.

"I'm starving," John said plaintively, and the frank statement, so out of place in the middle of the momentous occasion taking place, made them all laugh.

“Well, Allan and Roland have gone to Granny’s for ice cream,” Robin said. “I’m sure that we can catch them up and spread the good news.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t spread it too far yet.” Regina was as keen to share their success story as Robin and John were, but she knew all too well the dangers of celebrating too early. “If the news gets back to Zelena, she might change her tactic. Or worse, start killing off minions who are no longer useful.”

Robin shuddered at the thought. “You’re right, we want to avoid her retaliation as much as possible. Still, a quiet toast to a plan well-executed is in order, I think.”

“I agree. Let’s go.” Regina made sure that her potions apparatus was safe and in no danger of blowing up her office, and followed the two men out of the room.

If she hadn’t dropped her keys then she would never have noticed it, but she was in such a hurry to get out and let Mary Margaret or David or someone (but not Leroy, or else it would be all over the town in a matter of seconds) know that they’d managed to pull it off against the odds, and she was not her usual precise self. The keyring fell from her fingers, and Robin bent to pick it up.

“Here, let me.”

Reinga had not had all that much opportunity or inclination to study Robin’s hands up close before, but now that he was holding out the keys to her, his wedding ring was obvious. It was a distinctive style, and as Regina now saw, not made of silver but pale carved wood instead. Her blood turned to ice in her veins as she recognised that ring, or rather its twin, from a past she had long since tried to bury.

“Regina? Is everything all right?”

“Yes, yes.” She took the keys quickly. “It’s nothing, just a bit of a headache. Probably the fumes. You go on ahead, I’ll see you there.”

Robin nodded, perturbed, and he and John left the town hall in the direction of the diner. Regina could only stare at her shaking hands in disbelief. Of all the cruel irony in the world, she’d had to develop feelings for a man whose wife she had executed under false pretences.

[petyrbaealish]

My last promised prompt (save for one that isn’t part of my 300 Follower Celebration). Hope you like it!

For: My 300 Follower Celebration.

Prompt: By @janedethr -- “the Starks finding out about pxs in modern AU (can either be accidental or Sansa actually bringing Petyr home for dinner) lol I love your Starks dynamics in Chaos Theory so I KNOW you'll pull this off brilliantly!“

Notes: No smut this time, but I think you’ll like this regardless :). Also, both Petyr and Sansa are into geeky things like Star Wars, Doctor Who, etc and no one can tell me otherwise. After all, they both loved stories in canon. I think in modern au’s they’d be into fantasy and science fiction :D (even though Petyr would be less open about it later, try to repress that part of himself. Sansa would bring it back out though).

Tags: Petyr x Sansa

Title: This is How Wars Start

It was Saturday evening, just before dinnertime, the sky darkening with a wicked promise of events yet to come. The cool breeze slithered beneath the fallen leaves, stirring them from their neatly raked piles and into the streets and sidewalks, begging to be crunched under foot or tire. Riding along its current, one could just feel the magic hanging in the air, the scent of autumn and the tingle of excitement one always seemed to get during the holidays.

Sansa Stark no longer lived with her family, old enough to have a job and her own apartment, but tonight she returned to the place she would always call home, nerves fizzling with anticipation. It was Halloween, and the Starks had seen fit to host their annual party celebrating the occasion. Nearly everyone they knew had been invited, including many of her father’s coworkers, one of whom in particular she was excited to see.

Their relationship was still fairly new, only a few months in, and still thrilling to the core, though this was in part due to the fact that as of yet, it was still a secret. Petyr Baelish worked alongside her father at Robert Baratheon’s company, though his ties with her family extended much further. He’d once loved her mother, in fact, when they were both younger than Sansa was now, an affection that had earned him a fight with her father, and a trip to the hospital. Years later, he still bore the scar from that terrible night, though the bitterness had since faded, eclipsed by time and a new target for his heart.

Sansa had fallen for Petyr against her better judgement, irresistibly drawn to his playful smirk, the grey lining his temples that somehow only heightened his attractiveness, and the way she felt when he looked at her. When she’d started working as an intern in Robert’s company, it had been nearly impossible to stay away. Petyr was so easy to talk to, and he seemed, more than anyone, to recognize that she was more than just a pretty face.

After months of shameless flirting, inappropriate touching, and dancing around what they both wanted, they’d found themselves alone together at The Mockingbird (his club), when Sansa had lost both her friends and her phone and panicked. Ever mindful of the goings on his club (and of her), Petyr was at her side in an instant, drawing her back to his office to gain her bearings while he notified the staff to keep an eye out for her phone and the girls she had come in with. Both losses were soon forgotten, however, when they’d started kissing, desire spurring them on just shy of fucking on his desk (unfortunately, they’d been interrupted before then, a fact remedied the next day, when they’d finally gone on their first date).

She knew it was stupid and reckless, that he was nearly twice her age, old enough to be her father, and had once been in love with her mother, and yet somehow, none of that mattered. They were so alike, in so many ways, and they brought out both the best and worst in each other, their insatiable attraction for one another only fueling both aspects. Petyr made her feel so alive, powerful and dangerous, wicked and cunning, beautiful and wanted and loved. What they had was intoxicating, wonderful and perilous in equal measure. And she knew she’d never tire of it, nor would she want to. Every bliss had its price, and she’d happily pay it, to be in his arms.

Her parents hadn’t wanted to invite Petyr, but considering they’d invited the rest of the bigwigs in Robert’s company (her father, Ned, had grown up with Robert, and still considered the man to be like a brother to him. And of course, Ned wanted Robert at the party because of that), they’d had little choice but to. “He probably wouldn’t even show,” her mother, Cat, had reasoned. “I hardly think he’d be interested in coming to a family party, especially considering costumes are required.” Ned had been reassured by her words at the time, though he regretted it later when the RSVP card came back with the ‘yes’ box ticked. Of course, Sansa alone knew exactly why Petyr had decided to come. She’d asked him to, after all.

Of course, they couldn’t exactly spend a lot of time together at the party, considering no one knew they were dating, but Sansa was excited for him to come regardless. It would give them an excuse to be together, in public, and also help test the waters for when they eventually decided to come forward about their relationship. Not to mention, she would get to see him in costume, a perk she wasn’t about to pass up.

Petyr hadn’t been all too thrilled about the prospect of dressing up at first, but Sansa had promised him that it would be worth the effort. That, coupled with the fact that they’d chosen a costume that wasn’t too different from his usual attire, helped immensely. In the end, they’d decided on costumes that reflected their interests in Doctor Who. Not many knew it, but Petyr had grown up enamoured with the show, along with Star Wars and other geeky interests. As an adult, he still held a certain fondness for such things, helped along by Sansa’s mutual interests in fantasy and science fiction. It was one of the many things that endeared him to her, early on, the fact that both of them loved the worlds that fiction wove into their hearts, far better in fact than real life itself.

Sansa arrived a few hours earlier than the party was set to start, so that she might help her family set up. Trick or treaters were still prominent on the streets as she carefully navigated to the correct driveway, laughter ringing in the air as the costumed children went door to door in search of candy. The outside of the house was already decked out to the extreme in Halloween decor, fake tombstones littering the front lawn, along with dismembered skeletons and a body part or two. Lit jack o’ lanterns were perched on the steps leading up to the porch, and along the railings, flames flickering merrily in the night breeze, and fake bats swung from the ceiling, just waiting to tangle in her hair as she passed underneath.

Her younger brother Bran had his wheelchair parked by the steps, an enormous bowl of candy resting on his lap. His girlfriend, Meera Reed, was seated beside him, and they were both dressed, rather graphically, as frostbitten zombies. As Sansa made her way up the steps, one of the jack o’ lanterns burst into maniacal laughter, and she rolled her eyes, not startled in the least.

“You’d think Dad would get tired of that thing at some point,” she said cheerfully, snatching a twizzler from the candy bowl and ripping open the plastic.

“Not in this century,” Bran told her, looking equally exasperated. Clearly he was getting tired of the fake pumpkin cracking up every time a trick or treater ascended the steps.

“You could shut it off, you know,” Sansa said helpfully, ripping off a bit of her twizzler with her teeth.

“We tried,” Meera said sadly, unwrapping a Snickers. “Your father keeps popping outside to see how the kids react to it.”

“I’m going to find a way to get rid of it after tonight,” Bran said, looking determined.

Sansa laughed. “Good luck with that.” She reached out and ruffled his hair, laughing again when he scowled at her. “What,” she protested. “Zombies aren’t supposed to have such well coiffed hair.”

Bran was about to retort when the front door opened, revealing their father, who looked rather disappointed that it was only his daughter on the porch, and not another unfortunate victim of the cackling pumpkin. “Oh good, you’re here!” he said, pulling her into a hug. “Your mother will be thrilled. She could use some help in the kitchen.”

Ned had chosen to dress as a werewolf this year, and when Sansa joined her mother in the kitchen, she laughed when she saw that Cat had dressed as Little Red Riding Hood. Apparently they’d decided on a couple's’ costume this year. Cat was hard at work preparing all of the party food they’d decided to make this year, some treats designed with the holiday in mind, and others there simply for taste. Sansa set to work peeling grapes (eyeballs) for the bloodred chilled whipped cream salad they were meant for, a gory looking dessert, but one that tasted good nonetheless.

The rest of her family flitted about, cleaning and adding even more Halloween decorations to the ample horror inside. Arya was driving the rest of them nuts, sneaking about dressed like a ninja and wielding a wicked looking (but fake) blade, doing her best to take them unawares. Robb and his fiancee Jeyne were out in the backyard, tending to the fire, stringing up orange lights, and setting out chairs and tables, for anyone who wished to sit outside. They were dressed as the King and Queen of Hearts, having newly been engaged, and spent more time kissing than actually getting anything done.

About a half an hour before the party was set to start, Sansa’s cousin Jon, and his wife Ygritte arrived, both dressed as vikings. Sansa was relieved to have the extra help, since Cat had clearly gone overboard in meal planning this year, and they still had so much left to do. With Jon and Ygritte, and Rickon (dressed normally save for fake arrow through the head), who’d finally returned from goofing off with his friends (he’d claimed to be too old to trick or treat, but Sansa spied a sack full of candy tucked haphazardly in a corner) they managed to get everything done just in time.

Soon, the house was full to bursting, friends, family and coworkers mingling alike among the creepy decor, drinking smoking glassfuls of spiked (and regular) punch. Robert had come, costumeless and without his family (he was currently in the midst of a nasty divorce), though nobody commented on either. He spent much of the evening grumbling to anyone who would listen about his horrible wife, downing much of the punch on his own.

Ned manned the door the entire time, greeting each guest individually with a jovial howl and comments on their costumes. Sansa lingered nearby, nerves jangling as she waited for Petyr to arrive. A half an hour had already passed, and she was getting antsy, wondering if perhaps he’d decided against showing afterall.

She was just about to haul out her phone and text him, when someone knocked on the door and her father opened it, his giddy expression immediately fading into a frown. Sansa watched as Ned eyed the person she knew had to be Petyr, looking him up and down with distaste.

“I’m afraid you have to be wearing a costume to enter, Baelish,” her father said flatly.

“Oh, I am,” Petyr replied cheerfully, sidestepping Ned to slip inside. He was dressed as the Tenth Doctor, in one of his trademark suits (dark brown with blue pinstripes) and white Converse All-Star sneakers. As Sansa watched, he whipped out a pair of old fashioned 3D glasses, one lens blue and the other red, and popped them on, offering Ned a smirk. “Don’t tell me you don’t recognize me?”

Ned scowled as he studied Petyr, searching for some clue that would reveal the answer. Watching Petyr’s smirk grow, and sensing she’d better intervene before her father gave into the more animalistic instincts his costume suggested, Sansa darted forward with a grin. “Doctor!”

Petyr eyed her appreciatively, taking in her fitted TARDIS dress that left very little to the imagination. “Ah, so at least your daughter has good taste,” he drawled. “Sweetling, you’ll have to stay close by me. The Doctor should never go far without his TARDIS.”

Sansa laughed as her father’s frown deepened. Still grinning, she turned to Ned and explained, “Doctor Who, Dad. The show.”

Ned grunted. “I s’pose I’ll have to take your word for it. Though you could have put more effort into a costume.” He glared at Petyr again, then startled as more guests arrived.

In the commotion, Sansa slipped away, Petyr trailing behind her as she wove through the party. They stopped by the overflowing buffet table, chatting for a bit as they loaded up their plates, before they found seats along the room’s periphery. As they ate, they watched the other guests, commenting on their costumes, and guessing who some of the more elaborately costumed people might be. Another of her father’s coworkers (and Petyr’s), Varys, had come dressed as Cleopatra. Surprisingly, he looked absolutely stunning, turning more than a few heads in awe as he sipped his punch and talked to Robert’s brother Renly (dressed as a stag) and his boyfriend Loras (dressed as a rather flamboyantly attired knight).

When they’d finished eating, Sansa, who was having trouble resisting the urge to climb right into Petyr’s lap (he looked that good as Ten), got up and slipped out of the room, knowing he would follow her. Her first instinct was to head for the bathroom, but with so many people, it was bound to be occupied and or frequented, so instead she went for the hall closet. Though it was chilly enough to warrant a light jacket, no one had yet come wearing one, and she hoped that trend would continue, if indeed anyone else would be arriving.

The closet was larger than most typically were, with more than enough room for the both of them. Sansa pulled Petyr inside and shut the door carefully behind them, before flicking on the light. He stared at her for a moment, lips fixed in that smirk she loved so much, then reached over and switched the light back off.

“We’re more likely to be discovered, with the light on,” he explained. “It will filter through the crack at the bottom of the door, since the hall is dark.”

She nodded, biting her lip in anticipation. Gods, he looked good, even in those goofy glasses. So much like Ten, and so much like himself, and really, who could blame her for having so little self restraint? Sidling closer, she smoothed her hands up his chest, meeting his darkened gaze. “So, what did you think?”

“That I’ve never imagined the TARDIS could be so fuckable,” Petyr said, hands gripping her waist.

Sansa reached up and removed the 3D glasses, tucking them safely in his breast pocket. She licked her lips, then leaned in closer, her breath whispering against his ear. “Wanna go for a ride?”

He chuckled, the raspy sound shocking her to the core. “Are we roleplaying? Because I think you could do far better than that, sweetling.”

She pulled back, grinning. “Why don’t we put your sonic screwdriver to good use?”

Petyr’s hands slid over the curves of her ass, squeezing firmly as his eyes danced with amusement. “Will you take me out of space and time?”

Sansa nodded and dragged her tongue over her bottom lip. “I guarantee it.”

His gaze darkened and his lips crashed to hers, their tongue in cheek roleplay forgotten. Her fingers twined in his hair, tugging him closer and he pressed her back against the spare bit of wall between the coats and the door. Sansa felt her dress hiking up her thighs as she hitched one leg around his waist, drawing him closer still. The interplay of their tongues and lips were driving her mad, stirring her blood like nothing else, and yet still, she craved more, her hands scrabbling along his back before dropping to his waist, anxious for the feel of him inside her.

She was just undoing his belt when the door opened, the light from the hallway blinding as they wrenched apart. Her father was there, holding someone’s coat, features teaming with shock and the beginnings of barely repressed rage. Ned let out a strangled cry, a cross between a battle call and the despair of a dying animal, fists clenching as he twisted the coat between them. Petyr shot her a look of alarm, and made to hastily leave the closet, the better not to be cornered, but was blocked by her father before he could.

Trembling, Sansa met her father’s gaze, flinching at the disappointment she read there. Unable to stand the way he was looking at her, she turned away, biting her lip as she fought not to cry. She’d planned on revealing their relationship eventually, but not like this. Never like this. Beside her, Petyr turned as well, his look helpless as he saw how bothered she was by her father’s reaction. She could tell he wanted to comfort her, but refrained from doing so, not wanting to further enrage her father.

Behind them, Ned was taking loud, shallow breaths, and they could hear footsteps coming closer, obviously drawn by his outcry moments earlier. The party was quite loud, the chatter accompanied by Halloween themed music, but someone must have heard regardless.

“Ned?” Cat called. “Is something wrong.”

Dread filled Sansa’s heart. Oh gods. This was horrible. Halloween was certainly doing this moment justice, practically giving them a heart attack from the fear of the wrath of an angry werewolf and Little Red Riding Hood. All she’d wanted was a treat, and yet the damn holiday had given her a trick instead.

At this moment she really wished Petyr was the Doctor, that he could whisk them away on the TARDIS, far away from this moment. But life wasn’t so kind. It never was.

She heard the intake of breath as her mother spotted them in the closet, and inferred just what had been going on behind closed doors. This was it. They’d been caught. And now they’d have to face the music.

Sansa glanced sideways at Petyr and offered him a weak smile. He returned it, his hand twitching slightly beside her thigh, as though he’d meant to take her hand, but thought better of it. Knowing there really wasn’t any reason not to (after all, they’d just been caught doing far worse), she gratefully slipped her hand into his and they turned around, shuffling slightly awkwardly in the close quarters.

Her parents stared at them, both stone faced, eyes stormy with the rage boiling beneath. Sansa gulped and let out a shaky laugh, an awkward knee jerk reaction that she soon regretted when her father turned his gaze on her. “Surprise?” she offered weakly, casting her own gaze on the gleaming wooden floors of the hallway as she gripped Petyr’s hand in hopes of recovering stability in her mental faculties.

“How long?” Cat asked quietly, finally breaking the interminable silence.

“A few months,” Sansa said, still unable to lift her gaze.

Her father made a noise rather befitting of his costume and Sansa glanced up, startled. The fury in Ned’s countenance was building, and all of it was directed, not at her, but at Petyr. “What is wrong with you?” he snarled, taking a menacing step forward. “You couldn’t have Cat back when we were younger, so you chose to prey on her daughter? MY daughter?”

To his credit, Petyr didn’t quail under her father’s rage, though it might have been better for his health to do so. He met Ned’s gaze unflinchingly and when he spoke, his voice was calm and full of a confidence that helped soothe the anxiety fizzing in her veins. “My past affections for Cat have absolutely nothing to do with what I’ve found with Sansa.”

Ned snorted in disbelief, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. “Sansa might have fallen for such lies, but I know better,” he shot back through gritted teeth.

At that, Sansa felt her own anger flare. “Excuse me?” she demanded. “Are you really insinuating that I am incapable of taking care of myself? Of knowing when a man is lying to me just to get into my pants?”

Her father looked aghast, and not the least because she’d just basically admitted she wasn’t a virgin. He couldn’t seem to formulate a response, instead looking helplessly at his wife, who stepped in for his defense. “What he means, Sansa, is that sometimes there are things that blind us to the truth. It’s not a slight on your intelligence, but rather to point out that even the best of us can be fooled. You may believe him now, but your judgement is likely clouded by...by certain factors.” Cat spoke eloquently at first, then stumbled as she struggled with the concept that Sansa might either be attracted to or in love with Petyr (or both).

Sansa narrowed her eyes at her mother. “Go on, say it,” she goaded Cat. “Or do you honestly think that just because you never wanted him, that no one else could possibly do so?”

Cat gaped at her and Ned blanched, his skin turning blotchy as red and white fought for dominance, a war of anger and shame. Beside Sansa, Petyr twitched, just ever so slightly, and she turned to better assess his reaction, noting with disappointment that he’d managed to keep his emotions from filtering through as masterfully as ever. This would be easier if he wasn’t so unflappable. Misery might love company, but so did anger, and she’d have felt better and less self conscious to have him visibly furious beside her.

“We’re two consenting adults, and we’re dating,” Sansa said firmly. “End of story. If you disagree with my choices, that’s your prerogative, but don’t for a second think that your disapproval will stop this. If this is indeed a mistake, which it isn’t, then it’s my mistake to make.” She paused, taking in a deep breath before continuing. “For the record though, neither of you know Petyr. Not like I do. And not once has he ever treated me as anyone other than my own person. To suggest otherwise, reflects badly on me as well as on him. That someone would only want me because I remind them of someone else.”

Petyr squeezed her hand as she finished, a silent show of solidarity. Her parents just stood there, expressions dumbfounded, both apparently incapable of speech. Sansa bit her lip, then turned to Petyr. “Come outside with me?” she asked. “I could use a bit of fresh air.”

He nodded, and together they left the halfway, heading for the back door, her parents still unmoving behind them, like they were merely statues standing silent vigil rather than human beings capable of so much more. Emotions had a way of robbing you of your senses, and it seemed that her parents had been petrified by the severe influx. Who knew that the biggest fright they would receive that night was the revelation that Sansa was dating Petyr?

Outside, the bonfire was still flickering merrily, though unattended. Sansa briefly wondered where Robb and Jeyne were before deciding she was grateful enough not to pry. After the extreme embarrassment of the past few minutes, she craved privacy and the space to reflect on what had happened. They sat together on the cushioned wicker loveseat stationed near the fire, and Sansa stared into the flames, barely registering at first as Petyr began to rub her back. As he kneaded her tense muscles, however, she slowly relaxed into his touch, sighing as his hands untangled the knots in her mind as well as in her back.

“Well that could have gone better,” she said shakily.

“I thought it went rather well, all things considering,” he replied quietly. “You did beautifully, sweetling.”

She sighed and turned, curling her legs up under her as she slipped into his arms, burying her face in his neck. The steady pulse she found there helped further soothe her frayed nerves, until she found the will to speak again. “You didn’t say much.”

“No, I didn’t,” Petyr said. “It was your battle today, not mine. Anything I might have said would have gone against our favor, regardless of what it was. Your parents weren’t in any condition to hear reason from my lips.”

Sansa saw the sense in his words, though she still wished he could have said more. It had felt as though she was alone in fighting for their relationship in that moment, despite how silly that notion was. This wasn’t the last of her battles with her parents over Petyr. She had no intentions of ending things, and her parents would stubbornly persist in their opinions as long as they could. Certainly, she wouldn’t always be alone in defending what they had. Right?

As though he knew her train of thought, he continued, words reassuring. “I promise you, they won’t be gifted with this reprieve for long. Whenever it isn’t more prudent to keep quiet, I’ll defend our relationship with everything I have. While it’s no skin off my back if they don’t want us together, I know how much your family means to you. You won’t be truly happy until they finally come to terms with this. And for that, I will do what I can to make things better.”

Sansa raised her head, meeting his gaze as the full weight of his words settled over her skin, cloaking it in warmth. Heedless of the danger it might pose if her parents came out and saw them, she leaned in and kissed Petyr, her lips turning upwards at the contact, the corners of his mouth mirroring hers. How could she have ever doubted him, truly? With every word and action, he showed her how much he cared. This would be a war, far from the first started by forbidden love, but, as long as they were fighting together, they’d come out victorious.

[dancing-the-hellfire-rumba]

Masterlist

A good note to have in mind: The lower you go down the list, the more recent the fics (and since I’ve beem writing for a couple of years, the better the quality.) 

TL;DR: there’s better fics in the bottom. 

I’ve written for Supernatural and MCU (which is lower down the bottom bc it’s a recent thing.)

I deleted a couple fics from here ‘cause they were awful. If you’re looking for them (for SOME reason), you can still search them in my search bar. I just wouldn’t recommend them to people who have just found my writing.

Updated: 15/2/2021

Dating ____ Would Include

Bucky Barnes

Dean Winchester

Sam Winchester

Supernatural:

Dean Winchester

- Mornin’ (fluff)  Lazy morning in the life of a hairy-faced Winchester. / Reader shaves Dean beard bc it’s domestic and cute.

- Impala Dreamer (fluff mostly) Reader is an insomniac. The rumble of the impala lulls her to sleep

- Intertwined (SUCH FLUFF) Dean’s a cuddler.

- Soldiers (angst) The Reader and the Winchesters had a crappy childhood.

- Focus. (fluff, very very light smut) Reader is focusing in different things than she probably should.

- For The Love Of Everything Holy (fluff, angst, bit of crack) Do you do requests? If so I would like to request dean with reader after dean comes back from purgatory. The reader helps him overcome it and he falls for her.

- Frozen (fluff) Of tickle fights and Christmas

- Comfortably Numb (angst/fluff) Dean’s cold, a bone-deep kind of cold he can’t seem to shake off. That is, until he meets her.

- Not Yet (fluff) Reader gets a separate room from the boys, but she fucked up and now she’s freezing to death. It’s not as bad though, because now she can share a bed with her crush. 

- And What A Sin Would That Be (fluffy fluffy fluff) Waking up with Dean :)

- There’s a Storm Coming Tonight (And It Will Put Up A fight) (angst/fluff) I mean, I’ve never had to reveal my real identity before, so I guess... Hi? Surprise? (Undercover AU)

- Little Brother (fluff) Reader is an FTM trans guy and he’s had a rough day. No real pairing here. 

- I'm Right Here (angst, TW: panic attack) I felt small. Wrapped in my oversized hoodie and baggy sweats, I wanted to cocoon myself in blankets and fall in a hole where I knew no one would find me. I felt out of my element, but not necessarily uncomfortable. Just… cold. I felt cold, like I wanted Dean to hug me instead of teaching me all of this.

- Cigarette Smoke (angst, fluff mostly) “You have that stupid smile on your face, again. Y/ n’s coming, isn’t she,” thirteen year-old Sammy states teasingly as he walks in the room with his hands in his pockets and Dean bites his lip to hold his smile from stretching further at the thought of her. “Sh-shut up.”   “Nice one. Very creative.”

- Little Miss Sweet Dreams TN (Fluff) Dean’s a Rockstar, singing about his best girl.

- Mark My Words (Something’s Gonna Change) (Apocalypse AU)  Part One  (discontinued, but maybe not forever idk)

- Something In The Works (fluff) Teenage AU. Drabble. 

- Table 14 (fluff. No. Fluffier than that. ) Cute moment between two diner employees. 

- Leather, Bit Of Whiskey And… Me (The fluffiest.) A soft and detailed Morning After.

- Dear Hannah, (fluff, angst,) When Dean, strapped to a bed, coughing up a storm, catches sight of his newly-adopted baby girl, he decides that, if he is to leave this world, he has to leave something behind for his favorite person. So he writes a booklet, trying to tell her all the things he would’ve if he was alive.  (Destiel)

Of Monsters And Men Masterlist (On Hold Indeffinitely)

Sam Winchester

- New Year’s Kiss (all the fluff) Self explenatory title, really.

- Strong Pickle-jar-opening man  (fluff) Sam is out on a hunt. Eager to hear him, the Reader calls him.

- A Permanent Hug (From You)  (fluff) Here, have my sweater, it’s cold out. 

- Sam. (fluff) No pairing. Brotherly cuteness. Includes puppies.

- Apartment 6B (fluff) There’s a fire in our appartment building, and I ran out like a bat out of hell, but now I’m standing in cold weather in barely my underwear, right next to you, a very cute neighbor. Fuck. 

- Moose (fluff) Secret Santa Christmas drabble :) - Cleopatra (AU, angst) Sam is a Taxi Driver, and the girl in the back seat reminds him of his ex girlfriend.

- The Chronicles Of Exhaustion (fluff) Sam comes back from a hunt and she’s passed out in an arm chair. Fluff ensues.

- The Little One (fluff, tiny bit of angst) She’s pregnant and Sam doesn’t know. Holy shit, what if his reaction is bad???

- If We Make It Or We Don’t (angst)  Sometimes people break up because of life. It’s a difficult thing to accept.

- Magic (fluff) Teenagers in love, sitting in a field (or a porch), reading their respective books. It feels a lot like magic. How very Hozier of them.

- Ain't It Dark Early? (fluff) Watching the sunset from a high vantage point. Life’s hectic, but she loves him and that’s what matters.

- Like Chardonnay, Get Better Over Time (fluff) Y/n finds the bunker empty on a random Wednesday night, and decides it's time to do some self care. Now, one would argue the primest form of self care is dancing, so she finds herself in the bunker, singing at the top of her lungs. However, the boys are back sooner than she thought...

- Sometimes I Fantasize About You Too (In The Daytime) (smut!) Half drunk and tired, but not wanting the night to end, Sam and Y/n stumble in her house. They share some more booze, but she is too great, and Sam is too enamoured with how stunning she is, how every way she moves is captivating to him. So he decides to close the distance between them. Detailed smut with feeeeelings.

- I See You Clearly Now (fluff) An impromptu all nighter and a very domestic day with Sam who is- he’s a crush, right? Right?

Multi Parts - Fall. (Completed)  Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3  Sam’s a tango dancer and instructor. She’s his student. Inevitably, she develops a crush. What now??

- When In College  Masterlist (Ongoing.)

-Seen (Ongoing) Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Jared Padalecki

Love Her (angsty)

TFW PREFERENCES

Touching you

Vulnerability

Rainy Days

Cooking / Baking

Marvel (Cinematic Universe)

Steve Rogers:

- Here Comes The Sun (fluff) I was so tired last night and just kind of kissed you, because I felt like it. It’s now the morning after. Do we go back to normal? I really don’t want to. Haha jk, unless..?

Chris Evans

- There’s Nothing More I’d Rather Do (fluff) After an exhausting day, the reader takes some me-time. But sometimes your me-time demands some company. Soft fluff. Enjoy!

- Tell Me Everything. (fluff) Reader works as a costume designer in Marvel. She's currently working on Endgame, designing the costumes for each superhero (but especially her favorite one), when Chris stops by. Later, he tries it on. Mutal pining goodness and fluff all

Bucky Barnes

- I’ll Tell You My Sins (So You Can Sharpen Your Knife) Reader hides important information about her past from both steve and Bucky, causing seriou damage to their relationships. When Bucky’ severely hurt and nearly dies, the Reader tries to finally do what’s right.