#I was faster this time woo! because motivation

[ask-the-snek-man]

pretending you totally didn't bump yourself in the face - (it's okay we all have those moments *cough* never letting you live it down *cough* sorry frog in my throat /lh) - what do you do in the imagination? just vibe? go monster/creature hunting?

“It would be a bit difficult to list all the possibilities. Maybe even impossible, who’s to say.”

[mixingandmelting]

Winter Series Day 6: Teenage Crush

Summary: how he's in love with you featuring the original Robin trio

A/N: was i emotional when i wrote this? yes, no thanks to remembering jason was the sweetest and cheerful robin at the height of 4' 6" in-canon

Robin!Dick:

Daredevil, gremlin child, and the nightmare of all of Gotham’s villains was what Robin!Dick was known for. But at the end of the day, he’s just a boy that’s completely gone for you. He can’t and doesn’t let you catch a break as he constantly pokes you from starting the silliest arguments to putting on a show of his routines he used to do back in his family’s circus. Not once does he approach you like a normal person. One day he’d be creeping silently behind you, suddenly asking what you’re doing right into your ear while peering over your shoulder. The next, he would simply stand in front of you and wait for you to notice. He pouts when it seems like it’s taking you too long, though he does appreciate getting the time to engrave your form and the other expressions you make when he’s not annoying you. All of this, he does constantly, almost every other day in fact, because in his mind and heart, you are the best thing to ever enter and be in his life. It amplifies his haughtiness, silliness, goofiness, and sass as he does everything in hopes that he could strike a chance with you. So when he comes back from a long mission and you express any indiction of concern and how you missed him, his smile stretches from ear to ear, his heart fluttering from how you care for him. Of course he would probe to hear more, his desire of wanting to hear your thoughts on him but he still manages to stop himself from overdoing it. During the times when you pull an uno-reverse card on him unexpectedly, he gets extremely flustered and flushed from his “impress to woo the other person over” backfiring big time and instead, he’s falling for you all over again.

Robin!Jason:

Despite his height, he’s considered the cheerful and bright one as he steals the hearts of the Titans after a single mission, and makes Batman of all people laugh. Have you in the room and  he lights the whole place from how much he glows. Before heading to you, he sniffs his uniform to make sure it doesn’t smell like cigarettes. If it has the faintest scent of it, he goes back to the cave to change into a new one, doing so even more after learning how second-hand smoking can cause cancer. At some point he gets fed up with sniffing and changing so many times, he starts going through all the tricks to quit smoking even faster. Time to time, he brings something small, making excuses including the classic “saved an old lady crossing the road” on his way as a rose gets placed into your hands. He’s notably chattier and laughing more around you, enjoying whatever the two of you talk about even if it’s mundane and boring. He can’t help it when your passion, laughter, excitement, and smiles are infectious. His love for you is so pure that he’d be satisfied with simply being by your side, his one wish being that he can bring you as much happiness as you do for him. Time to time when you get a burger combo meal, seemingly to believe that’s his favorite based on the one time he mentioned about his memory with it whether it’s to welcome him back from a long while or randomly he gets fuzzy, warm, and the heart palpitations while he shares the meal with you. You make him feel that his life is complete, that he won the whole world which motivates him to become a better person, a “good guy” as they all say, so he can stay with you even if he ends up not being your end game.

Robin!Tim:

He’s known as the smart one as well as the one that sacrificed his chance of normal for the sake of saving Batman and currently, Gotham. You were never part of his plan as he already envisioned how his life as Batman's sidekick would look like but here he is, completely smitten for you as he figures out ahead how to approach you when he catches you hanging out. Image training, standing in front of the mirror and going through his lines and poses until Alfred caught him doing it once. Now he does it after locking his door, double, triple checking he was going to get his little gig right so he can look cool when he appears in front of you. Take the “yapper and listener” meme. That’s his relationship with you where he’s serenaded by your voice and won’t ever get sick of listening to it. If you were to express anything you need or want, he gets it and leaves it where he was standing or sitting with a small note attached. He’s also guilty of abusing his alternative identities and disguises so he could extend his time with you even outside of being Robin. Not that you would ever know as he has no intentions any time soon to out himself. There’s no other reason for him being this extra other than that you are the one that gives him the comfort and relief he needs. You are his solace that makes his self doubt disappear and everything he has done worth it. So when you do any skin ship including the scandalous hand holding, he’s equivalent to the red on his suit and mute from how conscious he gets from feeling you extremely close to him. Also gets him to forget to breathe but that’s not the issue here.

[magnificentcenturyfics]

Remembering Gülbahar, part 2/2 - Wooing

Description: Continuation of my version of Mahidevran's backstory. Now an oops all Mahidevran x Süleyman fic. TW: what might be implied SA?

***

   Around half a year after Süleyman’s arrival, he came to Istanbul once again, if only for a short visit – his younger sister Şahuban was to be marry Lütfi pasha. Of course, Ayşe Hafsa was to attended the wedding as well, and surprised Gülruh and Mahidevran were chosen as part of her entourage, which otherwise only included four slave girls, the other two being much older and more experienced. While at the time she was baffled by the great honor she’s been bestowed with, now Mahidevran suspected Ayşe Hafsa always had ulterior motives with Zahide hanim’s girls. Even back then, she might’ve figured it out sooner if such a thought wasn’t an act of immense hubris under the circumstances. As if Ayşe Hafsa would consider lowly Mahidevran hatun good enough for the possition of a concubine!

   As it was, Mahidevran was filled with happiness as she marveled at the size and beauty of the then still in construction Topkapi palace, secure in her mistress‘ confidence in her as never before. This was especially important, because Ayşe Hafsa never sought to build a close relationship with her servants, aside from of Daye, and if she noticed them at all outside of giving them orders, she tended to treat them as a nuisance. Unlike Hürrem, who quite open and proud of the origin of her name, Mahidevran rarely talked about it, hoping people she met never heard of her as Gülbahar, because it was almost embarassing – Ayşe Hafsa often mixed up the names of her, Gülruh and Gülfem, to her own chagrin. In the end, she proclaimed that Gülruh was to be named Hüsnimelek and Gülbahar Mahidevran, and didn’t even bother to explain to anyone why did she chose those two names. Mahidevran, though humiliated by said careless name change, soon adjusted to it, simply because she did like her new name better, and it eventually helped her erase this period of her life from the memory of everyone else. Untill Gabriela’s audacious request, Mahidevran liked to pretend everything that came before that sunny, unusually dry autumn simply did not exist.

   Mahidevran was at time so swept up in the pomp of the celebrations and beauty of the bright, rich colours autumn leaves gained in the persistent sunlight that she barely even noticed the wedding was actually a rather somber occasion. In fact, upon reflection, she certainly perceived the similarities between weddings of Şah sultan and Mihrimah sultan, even if the former wasn’t nearly as ostentatious as the latter. Şah’s unhappiness had rubbed on Süleyman, who expressed scepticism about the match quite often, much to his father’s irritation, but ultimately was powerless (and possibly unwilling) to stop the wedding. He tried his best to support his sister troughout this miserable ordeal, but ultimately, Süleyman seemed more bored and annoyed than anything. Despite their best efforts, the royal family gave off the impression that none of them wants to be there, and şehzade Süleyman was no exception. This must’ve strenghtened the resolve of Ayşe Hafsa to put in motion a plan she most likely had in mind for a while.

   On the first morning of the seven-day celebrations, she sent all of them away besides Hüsnimelek and Mahidevran. This immediately made Mahidevran’s heart beat faster, as she wondered whether they earned some kind of punishment, reward, or perhaps an important task. It turned out that depending on one’s perspective, it might’ve been all three. „My son has been in a foul mood lately, and I wish to please him, but he isn’t very receptive towards the charms of harem girls these days. I haven’t been able to change his mind on this, but mayhaps such beguiling young creatures as you might. Thus, I wish to declare a contest between you two. Whichever one of you manages to obtain even the most miniscule expression of favor from our şehzade, even if it isn’t outright purple handkerchief, will earn a prize; and if by any chance you are called upon halvet, you shall be my most favoured of the concubines. If you do not succeed despite your best efforts, I won’t begrudge you, but should I notice you not trying at all, your disobedience shall not go unpunished. Understood?“ When they nodded their heads, trying desperately to hide their excitement, she moved her hand in a lazy gesture. „Off you go, then. And good luck!“

   As soon as they left their mistress‘ apartments, Mahidevran collapsed to the floor, shaking and on the verge of crying. Frightened Hüsnimelek sat on her heels next to her. „Mahidevran?“

Mahidevran wiped away the wetness slowly clouding her gaze with her sleeve and managed to stop more of it from coming to the surface of her eyes. „Why must she torment us like this?! Does she not see...“ She didn’t even finish that silly thought. Of course she does not. What should Ayşe Hafsa, daughter of the Crimean khan and wife of the mighty sultan Selim, care for the banale friendships of slave girls?

„I don’t think it would help much even if she did. Now, get up, god forbid someone important sees you like this – sitting in the hallway crying...“ she said gently, extending a hand towards her.

Mahidevran hesitantly took it. „I am not crying.“ she proclaimed in a somewhat shaky voice, trying desperately to sound proud, even imperious. When she was finally standing on her own two feet, she looked into Hüsnimelek’s face and realized her friend isn’t calm, as she initially asumed, but tired and somewhat upset.

   She awkwardly slipped around Hüsnimelek and resolved to leave her vicinity as quickly as possible, preferably for good, only for her friend to exclaim in an irritated tone. „Are we not going to talk about this?!“

„What is there to say?! Her Majesty wants us to not be friends, so what can we do?!“

„She didn’t say anything like that, Mahidevran.“

„But if we want to fulfill the task she has given us...“

Hüsnimelek stuck out her lip defiantly. „We’ll find a way around it, I am sure! If only we work together... Reach some sort of agreement...“

„What kind of agreement?! Her Majesty’s instructions were clear – we are supposed to be rivals in this contest...��

„A contest where there is nothing to lose.“ Hüsnimelek spat out contemptously. „So what if one of us becomes the prince’s favourite? The other one will still be in the service of Her Majesty, and either gets a good husband, or a the possition of a kalfa. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t be offended if you were blessed with the purple handkerchief – on the contrary, I would be happy for you! Wouldn’t you be happy for me too, Mahidevran?“

Mahidevran pursed her lips together, imagining the scenario. „I hope I would, because I already know I won’t win. How could he notice me over you, the most beautiful woman in this entire harem, who is also so clever and cheerful and lively...“

„Oh, that’s lovely. I am glad to hear that if you had to give away that godforsaken handkerchief, you would’ve chosen me.“ Hüsnimelek laughed. „But you don’t, şehzade does. And we can’t know which one of us he’d fancy if he noticed us, because he hasn’t yet.“

Mahidevran felt her mouth form into a small smile, and decided not to say anything. The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became she cannot possibly compare to Hüsnimelek with her waist-lenght hair the colour of a fresh hazelnut shell, round face with full pink cheeks, soft features and big aquamarine eyes with long lashes. And while her body was mostly slim just like Mahidevran’s, it was also graceful and had at least some curves, whereas Mahidevran was just thin and flat. No, she should not stand in Hüsnimelek’s way now. If everything goes well, she will be the mother of şehzade’s next child; if not, well... When Süleyman rejects someone like Hüsnimelek, what are the odds of Mahidevran catching his eye?!

   It didn’t help that Mahidevran wasn’t very inventive. While she took Ayşe Hafsa’s instructions seriously despite the seeming hopelessness of her mission, she racked her brain for several days trying to think of how to catch Süleyman’s eye. Meanwhile, Hüsnimelek attacked with full force of her finest weapons from the very first day. That night, celebrations in the harem provided them with a good opportunity for a first strike – and while Mahidevran simply put on her best dress, did her best with the limited supply of beauty products she owned (Gülşah helped her with this and was helped by Mahidevran in turn, as was the custom between lower-ranking girls) and tried to dance as gracefully and seductively as possible (with mixed results), Hüsnimelek’s plan was much more sophisticated. After dancing as close to Süleyman’s line of sight as possible (somewhat foolishly, since he barely glanced at the slave girls having fun in front of him), she turned towards Ayşe Hafsa and acted as if she was trying to return to her side. However, on the way there, she very obviously faked slipping on a carpet and falling right into Süleyman, her stunning figure on full display to him as he just barely caught her before she could crash into his face. She then stared at him a little too long before she backed away and turned her gaze down. But Hüsnimelek didn’t even manage to appologize before Süleyman started acting as if nothing happened, jovialy continuing a conversation with one of his aunts present at the festivities. As Hüsnimelek‘s appologies went ignored, Ayşe Hafsa told her to not waste her breath and leave the room, which she did on the verge of tears. However, when she saw worried Mahidevran follow her out of the room, she quickly adjusted herself and went to the common sleeping area poised and calm-looking.

   While this first unsuccesful attempt left Hüsnimelek sad and disappointed for a night, the very next morning she was already plotting another one. This time, she wrote a love poem, which she then left in prince’s apartments, hoping he would inquire who wrote it. He likely didn’t, and Daye spoke to the entire harem that afternoon, scolding the poem’s anonymous author for bothering the prince. That was an even harsher blow towards Hüsnimelek’s pride than the previous night, no matter how fervently Mahidevran swore her poem was one of the best she’s ever read. She wasn’t even lying; of course, what Mahidevran didn’t tell her friend was the way she was dying of jealousy reading it, knowing that she herself would never be able to create anything so awe-inspiring. At the same time, she felt guilty for this jealousy and had her opinion of şehzade Süleyman sour somewhat. How can he not see the literary genius on display, how can he, who prided himself so on his culturedness, dismiss such a talent right in front of him?! Is it just because the poem’s author is likely a mere slave?

   Nevertheless, after a day of sulking, Hüsnimelek managed to muster up courage for yet another attempt. Her voice, while by no means spectacullar, was pleasant enough, and she reasoned that if she chose a right song, she could make şehzade notice her by simply singing in his vicinity often enough. She tried enlisting Daye’s help in getting closer to him, even offering her a bribe, but no luck; the old woman knew about their mission, but was unwilling to help them, likely on Ayşe Hafsa’s instruction. At the same time, sultana kept Hüsnimelek busy the entire day, so she didn’t get the opportunity to execute her plan.

   Mahidevran meanwhile made a half-hearted attempt to run into şehzade during her time off that afternoon, hoping he won’t take the collision too harshly – and that it will be witnessed by Ayşe Hafsa, then walking the gardens with him, so that her mistress cannot accuse Mahidevran of not doing what she was told. Indeed, she found şehzade Süleyman and his mother and managed to find a way to walk opposite them right as they turned the corner, so that it didn’t seem suspicious that she didn’t immediately stop and bow in their presence. Of course, she nonetheless bowed right after the collision, appologizing impassionately, which sultana and her son seemed to ignore at first (except for what Mahidevran would swear was a single angry stare from Ayşe Hafsa). However, as they walked past Mahidevran, she heard Süleyman casually ask his mother. „Isn’t that the girl who ran after that annoying one?“

„Yes, that is her. Why?“

„Do they know each other?“

„How should I know?! Do you think I keep an eye on which slaves are friends? Bah! Don’t be...“

„Well, they are your personal servants, aren’t they?“

„Still.“

„Oh, she’s still here!“

„Bismillah, she is listening in on us! I am going to...!“

„Please, calm down, mother. Hey, you!“

Mahidevran turned towards them, her hands shaking. She bowed deeply, eyes firmly pinned to the ground. „My prince?“

„Do you know that girl who fell on me a few days ago, during those celebrations?“

„Yes, sir. She is in fact a friend of mine.“

„Tell her, then, that her talents are wasted on vain attempts to gain my attention. Her poetry is magnificent, but I can already tell she could be quite persistent if she puts her mind to it, and I do not wish to be bothered by her my entire stay in Istanbul. I do not desire her, and she should get the thought of convincing me otherwise out of her head.“

   What happened next could be chalked up entirely to Mahidevran’s tendency to act before she thinks, especially prominent in her youth. Against all rules, she lifted her gaze and let out a surprised. „Why?“

Süleyman raised his eyebrows. „Why what?“

Ayşe Hafsa seemed outraged. „How dare you question our şehzade?! Get out of my sight, you insolent...“

„Not before she answers my question, mother.“ said Süleyman coldly.

Mahidevran dropped her gaze to the ground once again. „I meant... Şehzade forgive me, I didn’t...“

„What did you mean by „why“, hatun?“ he asked impatiently.

Mahidevran thought she could die of shame. „I just... I... If you liked Hüsnimelek’s poetry so much... And since she’s also one of the most beautiful women there... Why are you so disinterested in her?“ She then added, hoping to lessen the blow. „I wondered. I shouldn’t have done so. Please, forgive me my insolence...“

Süleyman’s voice was half-annoyed, half-amused. „Stop appologizing. I wasn’t angry at your impulsive question, but if you keep appologizing for it, I might get angry yet.“

Mahidevran lifted her gaze in surprised, but then remembered herself and looked down again.

She bowed once more and was ready to leave, when Süleyman spoke once again. „I did not give you a leave, Mahidevran.“

Süleyman’s voice was deep and soft and to hear her own name from his lips felt like a caress. At that moment, Mahidevran felt a light shiver all over her body. She was affraid to do or say anything out of fear of yet another scolding, but at the same time even this kind of miniscule, somewhat indifferent interest in her from him felt like the highest honor Mahidevran has been given in her entire life.

„Will you relate my message to her, then, in those exact words?“

„Yes, my prince.“

„Alright, then. Lift your head up, I want to see your face when I’m talking to you.“

   But he didn’t actually talk to her. When their eyes met, he didn’t say anything, instead looking at her intently for a while before nodding her head. „You may go.“ he said quietly, turning away as Mahidevran gave him her final bow. She didn’t leave, instead trying to listen in on them, but she only heard Ayşe Hafsa’s annoyed questioning of her son and Süleyman’s only response – laughter.

   When Mahidevran returned inside, she felt a strange clenching in her stomach and her heart still beating faster than normal. While she managed to collect herself in time to return to her duties, she was somewhat absent-minded the entire rest of the day, at all times either remembering Süleyman’s words and thinking how best to relay them to Hüsnimelek, or daydreaming about his beautiful eyes and voice. She was sane enough to realize how silly it is, to think Süleyman would remember her as anything other than a servant he gave an order to, but a part of her could not possibly give up hope, especially since Hüsnimelek had already lost their little competition. Or such was one interpretation of what happened – really, when it came to Süleyman, was being thought of somewhat badly worse than not being thought of at all? Then again, Hüsnimelek’s loss could’ve been a catastrophe to Mahidevran, who in her own eyes simply could not compare to her rival. If she had no chance, Mahidevran had twice as little.

   She talked to Hüsnimelek as they went to sleep in the common area. „I met şehzade in the gardens. The good news is, he read your poem and liked it. But... He is still asking you to stop pursuing him.“

Hüsnimelek’s expression was a mix of befuddlement and profound dissapointment such as Mahidevran had never seen before. „Allah, I knew it. I was too conspicuous, wasn’t I?“

„I suppose?“

„That’s what I get for desiring sultana’s attention more than şehzade’s. I wanted her to see that I am doing something so badly that I forgot what my mission was in the first place.“ After a little silence, she lifted her blanket to climb under it, but then stopped to talk to Mahidevran. „Was he angry at me? Do you think it’s completely hopeless?“

„I don’t think he was angry, but he definitely meant „stop trying to gain my attention“ as an order.“ When she saw her friend’s defeated face, she quickly added. „But I don’t think our mistress would want you to give up. At any rate, we should at least ask her...“

„I would rather not.“ Hüsnimelek sighed. „She saw that I’ve done everything in my power, and should understand that it wasn’t enough. Shouldn’t she?“

Mahidevran didn’t answer. She wasn’t in a mood to argue, and knew her friend felt the same, even if they both knew Ayşe Hafsa enough to doubt Hüsnimelek’s hopefulness.

   Next morning, Hüsnimelek confessed to Mahidevran that she was giving up her pursuit of şehzade Süleyman for good. Mahidevran herself considered doing the same, although she didn’t voice it in front of her friend. Then again, perhaps she should show at least some token effort, to assuade the wrath of their mistress. She gained the golden opportunity to do so when Ayşe Hafsa sent her to bring şehzade snacks – that afternoon, one of his former tutors taught him matrak, and Süleyman allegedly only ate a small amount from his lunch, surely he’ll be exhausted if he engages in such a heavy excercise on an empty stomach...? Mahidevran thought that sultana must’ve been at least partly sincere (mothers are the same everywhere – she herself worried about Mustafa’s diet and other minor inconveniences that might befall him quite often), but at the same time, surely Ayşe Hafsa expected more of her than that...

   Upon seeing Süleyman, what she was struck by first was the redness of his cheeks, heavy breathing and sweat glistening all over his face. He looked more alive than ever before, and the raw beauty of his visage made Mahidevran herself blush. When he walked up towards her, she bowed as deep and kept her eyes on the grass below as intently as never before.

„You’re Mahidevran, aren’t you? The friend of that clumsy girl who writes poems?“

„Yes, sir.“

He suddenly grabbed her chin and lifted her face to look into his, frankly, quite annoyed expression. Still, that touch made her shiver. „Am I truly so hideous that you’d rather stare at the ground when you’re talking to me?“

„Forgive me, şehzade!“ Mahidevran said in a somewhat higher and more nervous voice than usual.

„Have you told her what I ordered you to say?“

„Yes, sire.“

„And what did she say to that?“

„She will obey your command, my prince.“

Süleyman smirked. „We’ll see.“

   He then turned away, arousing panic in Mahidevran; she knew she must do something, anything to gain just a little bit of attention, for her own sake and Hüsnimelek’s. In that moment, her tendency to not think before she says or does something struck again. „She told me to say goodbye to you, for now she shall perish of shame and broken heart.“

Süleyman turned back towards her, his eyebrows raised quizically. „Did she? What, is she ill? Or does she by any chance have a penchant for exagarating things?“

„No, my prince, she was completely honest! You see, she is not ill at present, but her constitution is fragile and the next few days, mayhaps even weeks will be very hard for her, even if she manages to survive them.“

Süleyman’s eyes twinkled with mischief. „Keep me informed about her health, then. I would loathe to cause the death of such a lovely girl.“

   At that moment, Mahidevran found herself a go-between to the potential romance of Süleyman and Hüsnimelek – and she realized she didn’t like the thought one bit. Already she was infatuated with Süleyman’s beauty and spirited nature, and the touch of his hand turned her feelings from idle dreaming into darker, more possesive territory. She still wasn’t too optimistic about the possibility of experiencing his touch again, but heavens, she desired it more than anything else and the thought of her own best friend getting to feel much more than a single finger on her face filled Mahidevran with distaste unbecoming of a friend of hers. She thus didn’t inform Hüsnimelek about her encounter with Süleyman, instead lying that he barely noticed her – and surely enough, the next few days her friend held true to her proclamation of defeat, acting in a reserved and overly servile manner around şehzade. Unfortunately, Süleyman himself misunderstood it, as he revealed to her when he once walked out of his mother’s chambers and pulled Mahidevran aside. „She indeed looks quite melancholic. How is she doing? Is she healthy?“

„In perfect health, my prince, just a bit disappointed.“ said Mahidevran quickly.

„A bit?“

„Well, she is not one to speak much, you know? I cannot at present tell exactly...“

But her voice was somewhat shaking, and Süleyman noticed. „Are you lying to me, Mahidevran?“

His question threw Mahidevran out of the loop. „No! Majesty, what do you mean...?“

„You’re contradicting yourself, and even the tone of your voice is... Off. What does Hüsnimelek truly feel, can you tell me?“

Mahidevran blinked fast, startled by his accusations. „My şehzade, I swear, I am not...“

Süleyman looked displeased, making Mahidevran’s heart sink with despair. „Of course you can’t. I must therefore ask her.“

He tried to walk past her, but panicked Mahidevran stopped him. „Majesty, I lied the first time! She holds no strong feelings for you, and only aims to gain your attention because your valide ordered her. The poem wasn’t sincere...“

Süleyman smiled – a mischievious smile, young and heartbreakingly beautiful. „But it was truly moving, wasn’t it?“

He was close, so close, to Mahidevran, and yet also to her losing him forever. She couldn’t help herself. „It is not fair, it truly isn’t! Were I as good in poetry as her, I would’ve written you words a thousand times as moving, for I desire you so much more strongly, but I can’t, so you’ll never know...“

Süleyman let out a surprised laughter. „I certainly do now.“ His expression then changed into a more serious one, as he wondered out loud. „Mayhaps valide did send me the wrong servant of hers.“

Mahidevran felt an overwhelming desire to touch him, or heaven forbid even kiss him, but he only turned away, once again wearing his mischievious smile, and left Mahidevran’s proximity. In desperation, she touched her own lips, and upon imagining his fingers in place of hers, she let out a small sob. She felt like the biggest fool on the face of the Earth, and yet at the same time his comments filled her with more hope than she ever felt before. And the thought of possibly getting to know şehzade Süleyman biblically completely blinded her to everything else.

   But the next few days came and went without anything significant happening on that front. Hüsnimelek continued her attempts to make Süleyman notice her as little as possible, while he didn’t seem to think much of either of them. And so, as the wedding festivities of Şah sultan and Lütfi pasha came to a close and şehzade was getting ready to go home, Mahidevran had grown desperate to arouse şehzade’s interest once again, and after wracking her brain with what she knew about şehzade, she finally arrived at a quite radical solution.

   She got the opportunity to talk to Ibrahim on the last day of their stay at Istanbul. As luck would have it, Ayşe Hafsa sent her to retrieve from him an expensive turban pin Süleyman borrowed him for the festivities, which seemed to enrage her quite a bit. After Ibrahim refused to do so, confident in his assessment that şehzade wouldn’t want him to, Mahidevran decided not to press matter further, since it made her quite uncomfortable anyway. Instead, she bit her lip and quietly said. „I came here for our sultana, but I also need to talk to you.“

Ibrahim raised his eyebrows. „How come?“

„I know I cannot expect you to care for matters of the harem, and that it is not your place...“

Ibrahim smirked. „That is absolutely true... What is your name, anyway?“

„Mahidevran.“

„So, Mahidevran, if you already know all of that, what are you even doing here speaking to me?!“

„Because His Majesty trusts you like noone else, and if you took him to the gardens the morning after we return to Manisa, I would be extremely grateful. While I have little possesions, I would give all of that...“

Ibrahim’s response was sharp. „Do you have me for a common eunuch, girl?! I am not in the business of giving out favours to uppity little slave girls for pennies!“

„Ibrahim agha, you don’t understand! I was sent by Ayşe Hafse herself to persuade şehzade into, uh... More frequent fulfillment of his duties, I mean when it comes to siring an heir... If you helped me with that, you would most certainly earn her gratitude, and she’d forget the whole nonsense with the turban pin.“

„She’d forget that regardless. Knowing her, she soon forgets I exist too. I don’t matter to her any more than you do to me.“

„That’s not at all... Ibrahim agha, she is well aware of your exceptionally close relationship with şehzade Süleyman...“

Ibrahim’s voice suddenly took on a threatening tone. „Are you insinuating something by „close relationship“?“

Mahidevran gasped; she genuinely didn’t realize the possible implications of her words. „Allah, no! I meant... She thinks you are taking his attention away from women, but not in that way. That you are making him dream of anything but romantic avatures, not that you are yourself...“

„I see.“ Ibrahim said with fake thougtfulness. „And that is what our sultana genuinely thinks, not what you yourself assume, or have heard spoken about her alleged opinions from other slave girls, correct?“

„Ibrahim agha, I rarely leave her side, I’ve heard her say something along those those lines with my own two ears, multiple times!“

„But if I understand it correctly, you are revealing it to me out of your own volition, without your mistress knowing this, yes?“

Mahidevran was starting to get tangled in her own lies. „Well, I don’t suppose she would mind...“

Ibrahim raised his voice. „Oh, so you suppose?“ He leaned towards her. „If you truly need help with attracting Süleyman, all I can give you is a piece of advice. I did not strike a friendship with our şehzade by supposing or presuming what he thinks. I suggest you adopt the same attitude.“

   It was then that a not-at-all discreet cough interrupted them. To her horror, Mahidevran saw Süleyman behind her back (the whole time, she was standing in front of Ibrahim’s doorstep). „Mahidevran, what are you doing here?“

While startled Mahidevran was collecting her thoughts, Ibrahim spoke up instead. „She came here to ask me for that godforsaken turban pin on your mother’s behalf, and somehow the conversation turned towards sultana’s opinions of me.“

Süleyman furrowed his brow. „Tell mother it is my wish for Ibrahim to keep the damn thing. If she wants to dispute my decision, she should do so to my face.“

„But, şehzade!“ Ibrahim gasped with a significant undertone of mockery. „This cannot do! Ayşe Hafsa already thinks you favor me too much and that this causes you to completely forget the issue of utmost importance – harem women.“

Süleyman’s mouth opened a bit in shock. „She thinks what now?!“

Mahidevran bowed as low as she could. „Şehzade, Ibrahim is insinuating something that is not true and that I myself told him not to misunderstand sultana’s words as...“

„What did you tell him, then?!“

„Well, Ayşe Hafsa obviously does not believe you and Ibrahim... You know she would not let such a horrible thing stand... But lately you don’t seem to have much interest in women and, perhaps, this might be caused by you seeking out other sources of entertainment... Goodness, not that kind of entertainment...“

Süleyman blinked fast in annoyance. „Mahidevran, what are you talking about?! Are you lying about what other people say or think again?!“

„I don’t believe so.“ said Ibrahim, grinning mischieviously. „She does not lie, merely assume.“

Mahidevran’s eyes filled with tears. „Forgive me, şehzade! It is true that our sultana is concerned about your lack of... Apetites. But she does not think Ibrahim is at fault in any way, at least to my knowledge. I simply wanted to get him on my side by trickery, and only made a fool of myself.“

„Your side? You’d defy your sultana so, Mahidevran? You yourself said she wished for Hüsnimelek to become my concubine.“

„Perhaps I misunderstood your words, then.“

„What words?“

„You... You yourself said... I know it was merely an offhanded comment, but... You said something about a wrong concubine...“

Süleyman laughed out loud in surprise. „Goodness, you’re bad at this.“

Mahidevran started sobbing. „Indeed I am.“

Süleyman’s features softened. „Now, there’s no need to be sad. Or cause ruckus, for that matter. You’re hardly the only slave girl here full of misplaced ambition...“

Words left Mahidevran’s mouth before she could stop them. „That’s not ambition!“

„What?“ said Süleyman flatly.

„I’ve told you. I do not this because I wish to come close to the glory of your blessed mother, or because I would dream about holding a prince in my arms, or even to have an ear of the greatest ruler this empire has ever seen...“

Süleyman smiled in soft mockery of her words. „You think that is what I’ll be, Mahidevran? How do you know? You speak it with such certainty, as if you were the Cumean Sybil herself, when noone but Allah above knows what the future holds. Just you wait, I’ll end up defeated in a battle with some vicious barbarian warlord and locked in a cage like Bayezit Yildirim, and what will you say then?“

Mahidevran realized that what she needs to tell him now is simply the truth. „That cannot happen. I know this, because I know you. I may be a mere slave, but I have eyes and ears, and I saw you every day strive for greatness and show the wisdom and fortitude to achieve it... I know your drive, ambition and fire, and I would follow it even to that cage or whatever, because I adore it, not any advantages they might bring me and you.“

Süleyman looked surprised by her words. „Girl, are sure you wouldn’t be a good poet?“

Mahidevran bowed her head. „I’ve tried to put into a concise poem, my lord, but the result wasn’t worth much.“

He then turned towards Ibrahim with a look of amusement. „Well, then. That’s a lot of words you just said; I’ll need a while to think about all of them. At any rate, you should go back to your mistress. We are leaving very soon.“

   His words filled Mahidevran with anxiety. He was clearly trying to be mysterious, which could point to a wish for further relations. On the other hand, he could’ve just been having fun at the expense of a silly slave girl who thought he’d care about what she thinks of him. She sincerely wished she could discuss any of this with Hüsnimelek, but how would she even begin to explain the web of lies she tried and failed to set up, including at her friend’s expense?! However, Hüsnimelek couldn’t help but notice Mahidevran’s obvious distress, and her refusal to say anything only filled her with more concern. This in turn made Mahidevran prickly and throughout an almost two day journey a clear rift appeared between them. They didn’t have much time to think about it – on the road and just after arrival in Manisa, their duties kept them busy, and as soon as they were ready to settle into their old routines, things irrevocably changed.

   She learned only later that Süleyman discussed their encounter with Ibrahim on the way to Manisa. Süleyman confessed to her (while caressing her pregnant belly) that he had conflicted feelings about his low apetites in amorous matters previously; after all, while noone (at least if their intentions were any good) wanted him to spend all of his free time in harem, he nonetheless needed more than one heir – besides it was somewhat healthy and expected for a man of his age and vitality to parttake in this kind of thing more often and with greater enthusiasm. Otherwise one might suspect that there is something wrong with him, either a hiden illness of the body or corruption of the soul. Mahidevran herself later encountered similar problem with Mustafa, but her son lacked the self-awareness of his father and seemed satisfied with his life of sexual moderation, bordering on deprivation. While Süleyman wasn’t yet ready to share such intimate concerns with Ibrahim (who to his knowledge had no sexual experience at this point anyway), he did confess that he found most encounters with concubines rather dull and technical matters, and that his meeting with Mahidevran filled him with hope that it might be different with her. At the very least, Süleyman took of a liking to her somewhat, which is more than he could say about all of the obedient, duty-bound ladies sent into his bed by Ayşe Hafsa before Mahidevran. To Mahidevran’s surprise, Ibrahim not only supported Süleyman’s decision, but went a step further and aroused romantic fantasies in his master by expressing hope that this new girl might in time become dear enough to him to make her way to his poems. He himself allegedly used to have a few semi-romantic encouters with a lady far above his station, but that relationship had come to naught as she was married to another man and shortly before her wedding, he and said lady had a quarrel anyway. Mahidevran wondered whether Ibrahim’s feelings towards this lady might’ve influenced his advice to Süleyman in some way, but she never learned more than what Süleyman told her then – besides vague rumors surfacing years later that the aforementioned lady was in fact Şah sultan (who furiously denied it).

   At any rate, shortly after their arrival, Mahidevran was given the task of serving Süleyman and Ayşe Hafsa breakfast. The whole time, he was stealing glances at Mahidevran, untill he finally asked his mother if she considers any of her servants indespensible. Sultana cheerfully replied that none besides Daye, and was overcomed with joy when her son asked whether that includes Mahidevran. This made Mahidevran drop glass of water she was putting on a plate, earning a harsh scolding from Ayşe Hafsa – but Süleyman just laughed and requested his mother have her prepared that very night.

   And that was all it took. But as fortunate as Mahidevran knew she was, the suddenness of her luck soon overwhelmed her. Lacking any preparation for the night awaiting her and still thoroughly convinced of her own mediocrity, Mahidevran spent the entire day barely holding it together. Surely, her first halvet cannot but go poorly, and then what? At best, şehzade will never even look at her again – but there’s also the possibility of her doing something so embarassing she will be banished or punished in some other way. In her worst moments, Mahidevran even thought she might displease şehzade so much he’d order her execution; a silly thought, but spoke to her own docility, anxieties and the general disposition of all servant women. Had she let her fear go unchecked then, it would’ve become a self-fulfilling prophecy, but she managed to avert her own doom by speaking with Gülşah (of all people!). While the woman was never known for her intelligence and clarity of judgement, her point of view in this case proved to be remarkably sober. She reminded Mahidevran that she has nothing to fear but fear itself and that if she displeases şehzade, she could at least find companionship in several women from the Manisa harem who seemed to have done the same, most of them trough no fault of their own. Gülşah’s deep disinterest in the matters of the royal chamber was refreshing after a day of stewing in her own anxiety, and eased Mahidevran just enough for her to realize that everything will most certainly go more smoothly if she starts looking forward to the night instead. Surely, in a few hours, she will be kissed. She will be held. She will get an opportunity to look and touch Süleyman, as much as she wants to, the more the better. Or at least that’s how she assumed these matters work, for some reason.

   That evening, they dressed her in all white, in a rather common-looking (if certainly nice) dress, that she nonetheless chose to see as special; that silly thought helped her with anxiety too, since how could her life not change when she’s dressed in such splendor? Daye herself visited her before sending her off to Süleyman’s chambers, but she wasn’t very encouraging, just coldly instructing her on the relevant parts of the etiquette and making sure she knows about the basics of carnal matters. Mahidevran chose to not be bothered by her anyhow, focusing all of her attentions on Süleyman and the joy she’ll surely feel in his presence. Her doubts weren’t completely silenced, but their dillution sufficed to avert disaster.

   After a formal welcome, Süleyman led her to the bed. As they sat, looking into each other’s eyes in silence, Mahidevran was convinced she is going to explode if she won’t relieve at least a bit of the pressure inside of her, and so she let out a loud, nervous giggle – but then almost folded under Süleyman’s quizzical look. Luckily, he then spoke out, saving her from further embarassment. „I see your hands are shaking. Is it out of fear or joy?“

Mahidevran gave him a small smile. „What should I fear when your majesty is with me?“

Süleyman absentminded took a strand of her hair and started winding it up on one of his fingers, slowly tugging on it just enough for her to feel it, but not to the point of pain; a threatening gesture? „Said Majesty, perhaps?“

Mahidevran winced. „Have I displeased you, my şehzade?“

Süleyman smirked. „How could you? You haven’t done anything.“

„And should I?“

Süleyman gave her a somewhat bored look. „I don’t know. Say something clever.“

„Well, then all is truly lost, because I am not terribly clever.“

„I suppose that’s not completely out of the question. If I am not mistaken, you did not even know who Bayezit Yildirim was.“

Mahidevran hanged her head in shame. „No, I did not. But I asked other girls, who payed more attention at the history lessons, about him.“

„And? What did they tell you?“

„That he used to be the ruler of this grand empire when it wasn’t quite so great yet. Before even Constantinople belonged to us. They say he was a man of such immense ambition and hubris that he faced Timur the Lame, the bloodthirty ruler of Samarkand. But pride comes before the fall, and so Timur defeated him in battle, captured him and inflicted all manners of terrible humiliations on him. I don’t even know if it’s all true; to hear them tell it, it sounds more like a legend than anything.“

„Bayezit Yildirim did exist, and was indeed defeated by the terrible Timur. Whether he truly made Bayezit’s wife serve him at the table naked, whether he put Bayezit into a golden cage fashioned into a carriage and led him trough the city streets like a Roman general on a triumph, whether he used the unfortunate sultan as a footstool... That I do not know. What I do know is that us Turks need some good historian, for a civilized nation like ours cannot live off of legends.“

„Well, I suppose that’s one more thing that when sultan Selim...“ Tension, slowly leaving her beforehand, came rushing back as she realized the dangerous territory she was moving on. „Not that I’d wish for such a thing, heavens no, but death comes for us all and hopefully you will be there to take the throne after him. And when that time...“

Süleyman gave her a tired smile. „You don’t even know how often I told myself that, but alas, my father is still alive and the longer he lives, the more things I leave for the time of my ascencion. As it stands, by the time he truly leaves this Earth, it may well be I won’t have enough time myself to do everything I wish I could do.“

Mahidevran gave him a warm smile and took his hand. „That would surely be the most unfortunate not only for you, but for all of the future generations as well.“

Süleyman tugged at her hand and brought it to his lips. „Or, maybe, it would be the opposite, should my ideas turn out to be terrible.“ he said with a devilish smile before kissing her hand.

Mahidevran blushed. „I wish I could help you tell whether that is the case. Alas, I lack the expertise... Whose judgement do you trust so? Your mother‘s? That of you teachers? Or perhaps Ibrahim agha?“

Süleyman snickered. „Mine most of all.“ And planted a deep, passionate, endlessly confident kiss on Mahidevran’s lips.

   She thought the sheer bliss might kill her, or at the very least send her into a fainting spell. She thus grabbed his broad shoulders and squeezed them when he moved on from the lips to her neck. As a response to the squeezing, he wound his arms around her waist and caressed her back, slowly and gently. However, soon they moved forward, on her sides, and from them up, untill his thumbs idly caressed her small breasts. Only then did she realized the gravity of what was about to be done to her, and grew apprehensive. She was affraid that he wouldn’t allow her to pull back, but for once he did, leaving her blushing and appologetic. And so, she moved onto the bed and lied there, hoping it’ll let him do whatever he must – which turned out to be lying on top of her, unbuttoning her kaftan and more kissing, on the mouth, neck, the naked skin in the middle of her breasts, accessible trough a round hole in her dress between her clavicles and sternum. Soon, her impatiently unbuttoned her dress as well, which she then took off herself, along with the shift she wore under them. As she lied under him, blushing profusely, she decided to overcome her shame by helping him undress and touching him just like he did to her. After she took off his shirt, she reveled in the sights opened to her – kissing his broad, hairy chest and strong arms, her shyness slowly discipating as it was replaced by what she would now identify as arousal, but then was just a new, pleasant sensation coarsing trough her lower body. Still, it was quite a shock when he took off his trousers, spread her legs with one swift motion and just as uncompromisingly pushed herself inside her.

   Mahidevran didn’t remember whether she reached the climax. She remembered liking the experience overall, but perhaps she had just forgotten any unpleasantness of that night; at any rate, she certainly cherished the other two times it happened that night more, mostly because she was much more confident and relaxed during. Their subsequent encounters lit such a fire within her young body that eventually, she was becoming too much even for Süleyman, which he seemed to take in stride – better to have a woman that is overeager than overly cold, he said, because a woman’s nature is better suited to deal with overabundance of lust than with its lack. Indeed, quite a lot of women he encountered seemed to suffer with some illness, that denied them natural impulses of this kind, he said. As she grew older and more knowledgeable, Mahidevran realized that his somewhat callous approach to concubines might’ve been to blame; Mahidevran herself could do with little prompting or stimulation, since she was completely smitten with him, but other women might not. (She tried to talk about these matters with Mustafa, but whether he took her advice to heart she did not know.) Either way, Süleyman at least didn’t begrudge his lovers this supposed affliction, mostly because he himself seemed to suffer from it, though meeting Mahidevran helped him greatly.

   Still, while he enjoyed her company, he didn’t seem that attached to her and often sought out other women (which bothered her, but she could do nothing but cry to Gülşah about it), untill a smallpox epidemic hit around a year after he came to Manisa. It took little Murat and several slave girls, including Hüsnimelek, whose illness progressed so quickly Mahidevran didn’t even manage to patch up their friendship and say her final goodbyes. Süleyman thus found in her the ideal person to share his grief with; obviously, her losing a friend could not compare to the death of one’s own child, but she realized it and extended much more sympathy towards him than he did to her. And to his credit, he showed her care and understanding as well, something she’d never expect from a prince. It was only then that she gave her entire heart and soul away to him, and she didn’t manage to get it back for almost two decades.

   Mahidevran wasn’t in a mood to reminescence about those happy couple of years that followed. She recalled them often, to the point that they now seemed like a book she read a few too many times. But this much needs to be said – he loved her, for a brief period, but he nonetheless loved her. He used to write her poems, shower her with gifts and compliments, and even let her bother him with her petty complaints, sometimes, when he was in a mood. For a time, he even eshewed other concubines, though that didn’t last, even before Hürrem came to his life. Perhaps she was foolish to think that this bliss would last forever, but how could she not when even the night before his departure he looked into her eyes with such love she would, at least for a moment, almost believe herself his equal? And for that matter, how was she to know she’d be replaced so suddenly and thoroughly?

   It wasn’t of much importance in the present, anyhow. Mahidevran might have regrets about those days, but there was no denying they charted the course of her future forever, and brought her the arguably best thing in her life – Mustafa. For all of their little quarrels and cold shoulders he gave her sometimes, he truly was the love of her life (in some senses of the word), the one for whom she truly lived and should’ve done so all this time, just like Ayşe Hafsa tried to advise her all those years (though admittedly that was just what she meant, it came out sounding quite different, which is why Mahidevran never managed to listen to her). But such is life. Her old friend Ümmülgülsüm once said that in her country, they have a saying: „Everyone is a general after the battle.“ At least she knows what’s important now.

   The morning after, during breakfast, she turned towards Mustafa with a smile. „It’s such a lovely day. Do you have much work now, my lion? I thought we might go for a walk in the gardens. I want to tell you a story.“

[wander-wren]

hello warrior cats community

i am clawing myself up out of my grave to announce that Dusk to Dawn has finally been completed. yeah i just dumped five chapters in there. woo.

now, i did have to condense the last, idk, 13 or so chapters into two parts, just speedrunning the highlights, because i am so tired and busy right now, but the plot is there. it exists. and that's about as much as i can ask for.

so you may assume that that's the end of the story. i mean, D2D was a bit of a mess. it took two and a half years and i spent most of that time on hiatus and tearing my hair out. but what's that quote? the only thing worse than writing is not writing. and at least half of my motivation to finish D2D was to get to the parts that come after.

which means that, yes, i'm still going to continue my rewrite. i just have to reevaluate and adjust.

the initial plan was for all parts to have roughly the same level of scale as D2D (which was planned to have ~200k words), or be even longer. this is because i have adhd and dangerous levels of optimism. i know there are people out there who can sustain themselves for multiple hundreds of thousands of words writing fictional cat rewrites, but i am not one of them. i can't do that, realistically.

so, i'm scaling back. PO3/Three of Swords and OOTS/Sign of the Four are both going to be around 50-70k. aiming toward the lower end there, but i know i have a tendency to, uh, go slightly overboard. see above. this way, i have a better chance of finishing both fics in a timely manner, and for 3OS especially, i won't have to drag the beaten corpses of plotlines that have been established for half of D2D on forever and ever.

what this also means is that i'm going to do a LOT of cutting and reshuffling. if it wasn't already clear, 3OS is not going to really attempt to stick to canon at all, not like D2D. we're going off the rails bonkers. Rule of Cool, etc etc. SOT4 will likely be the same.

and what comes after that? well, i'm so glad you asked. i've mentioned before that my plan for the end of OOTS is to have the clans only technically win the great battle. a pyrrhic victory, if you will (guess who just learned that phrase, hehe).

after that happens, there will be an interlude fic, probably about 50-70k as well, but potentially longer because i really love the concept. currently the working title for that is Pyrrhic/Pyrrhus. i might change it. it's already had several title changes. but it exists!

after THAT, if i'm still hanging around, i'd love to do an AVOS rewrite. that's about as far as my ambition extends, though. the problem is that post-OOTS, the clans' population is devastated (seriously, they need to lose way more cats) and their culture completely changes because, well, duh. that makes it very hard for the story to bear any kind of resemblance to a canon built around the old four clans. like, most of the cast of AVOS/TBC simply would not be born bc their parents died.

but yeah. we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

as far as a timeline goes, optimistically i'd like to start posting Three of Swords by the end of 2023. yeah, that's a long way away. i'm busy, y'all, and the Most Ideal thing would be to have it almost completely done so we don't end up trapped in another 2.5 year disaster.

if you would like to encourage the fic to move faster, you can feed my brainworms by asking me stuff or throwing ideas my way! on this blog, preferably. i know i made a sideblog for the 'verse, but i don't feel like dealing with it right now. i'll leave it up in case i change my mind, though.

if you made it all the way through this, hi! thanks! it's been fun. i gotta go write.

[deadgiants]

Still thinking about the Hound comic. Particularly the combining of the Sons of Uisliu and Wooing of Emer. I'm trying to figure out what narrative purpose that serves, CúChulainn still goes to Scáthach in both with about the same efficiency. The stupid pacifist farmer narrative still works if Cú comes back to face Emer's father, instead of coming back and hiding from Concobar on the humble farm Emer lives on. The way the story handwaves away the pangs of the men of Ulster is so tangentially related that it would work with the original story. It doesn't even get the story moving any faster because they spand so much time on training that developing Forgall as a character/adversary hardly seems important.

The only thing it seems to do is serve the whipped dog persona the story wants Cú to have. This way, he's not proving anything, he's not doing any part of this out of pride, or agency. Something that Emer did (he was a good chaste boy and refused her advances) has set in motion events that send him away to somewhere he *doesn't* want to be, to learn to kill against his basic will.

This is the only reason I can think to do that, which makes me dwell on *why* is it so important that Cú not want to do this? It feels like a very modern sensibility insisting itself onto the story, not that non-violence is good (the book takes much glee in gore), or that life has value (doesn't seem particularly interested in that idea at all).

It's that caring about stuff beyond yourself is a flaw.

CúChulainn in this book has no care for his land or the people around him, except Emer, who is only used to motivate him to violence. This CúChulainn wants to be left alone. Period. He doesn't have a relationship to his uncle, the King, beyond a vague defference and dogged obedience. He doesn't care about his home being invaded in the raid until it personally affects him. This Cúchulainn is a soggy puppet playing out a role the narrative says must happen, with mewling protest, but no real will to resist the strings that make him dance.

[100dayproductivity]

Day 26/100.

I'm tired and lazy today. But I'll try and get motivated to continue my declutter project.

Next pantry shelf to tackle:

I know there's expired stuff at the back.

First layer: all stuff I use regularly. Couscous, rice, pasta and some cookies.

The tall blue wine gift box is what I keep long pasta in (linguine, spaghetti, fettuccine). I'm pleased with myself for having found a way to reuse the gift box. It's a bit too tatty to gift to someone else.

The empty peanut butter container is for rotini. I've recently started buying it from a bulk food store that opened near me (not Bulk Barn). I'd love to eventually get most of my staples from there, because I hate packaging waste. But they have so many nice things, it's a bit overwhelming. So right now I just get my couscous and rotini from there.

The couscous you see in the photo is not in its original container; I saved the container and then reused it for the bulk couscous.

Next layer:

Banana chips. I don't like banana chips, but my daughter does. But she tends to forget we have them. I need to put a small container of them on her desk so she can snack on them while doing homework.

A container labelled "cream of wheat" so I always think it's cream of wheat, but it's not cream of wheat. It's flour mixed with what smells like garlic powder, which I evidently batch-prepared for when I'm battering meat. How very efficient of me. Too bad my past self thinks my future self doesn't need labels. (Yep, we've gone over this before.) I need to label this properly, and then keep it together with the paprika-salt-garlic powder mixture I probably batch-prepared at the same time. And then I need to use them!

Chocolate syrup. My household doesn't consume chocolate syrup. I had to buy this for my daughter when she was taking a desert-making course over Zoom. She used about a half cup. The rest has been sitting there since. It's not that we don't like chocolate syrup, we just never think of having it. I need to buy some vanilla ice cream and whipped cream to give me a reason to consume this.

A container of chopped walnuts. I have no recollection of when or why I bought this. This will have to go in the compost.

A very nearly empty container of honey. I will use this up tonight in some tea. I've just added a bit of water to the container to dissolve it, it will be faster and easier than trying to scrape it out.

Low-dose aspirin. I must've got this as a freebie trial product or something because no one here needs a daily low-dose aspirin. I should probably throw it out but instead I'll keep it with the other painkillers. Might be good for period cramps.

Ok, we're on the last stretch.

Some cardboard boxes for holding six cans of beer. Not sure if I need these, but maybe I should keep them where I keep empties.

Woo, some fancy dip mixes! I sort of remember these. Only a little bit left of the, I think, onion-cheddar one. Chucked it. Box in recycling.

Lasagna noodles. I don't know why I always end up buying lasagna noodles. It's such a pain in the butt to make. But I guess I'll have to make some at some point to use up the noodles.

What are these? Flat wooden sticks. For ice cream? *Sigh* I don't know why I have these. Garbage, I guess.

I used to keep an emergency kit stocked with dry foods when my kids were really little. These meal packets are from that.

They are made specifically for camping or emergency kits, as they have a long shelf life and only need hot water added directly to the pouch to prepare them. It says they have a shelf life of 3-5 years, but they are best before dated 2013 😕 I'm tempted to open them up anyway and see if they're still edible though 😅 Maybe tomorrow.

Alright, so all that was left was an empty cardboard box, an empty plastic container and some plastic bags. I recycled those/stored them for reuse, and then I just had to clean up some spilled nachos and crumbs. Wiped everything down, put everything back, and here's what I have in there now.

So much space! 😮 WOW!

I'm pretty pleased with myself ☺️

I'm sooo tired though. Time to tea and read before bed.

[lady-of-endless]

Seong Gi-hun (456) x reader headcanons (season 1)

Author's Note: Forget about those, please. There's nothing serious. I just got way too invested in this tv show and Seong Gi-hun and got carried away.

Update: click here for a masterlist because season 2 altered my brain chemistry and there's more to come.

- His hugs are the best if you can get one. There is no in-between, his embraces are either incredibly rare or quite often, between the games. When the pressure is too much, he either appears reserved and closed off or he'll simply come to you for hugs with no other explanations. He'll get embarrassed like a teenager if someone points out that physical gesture between the two of you.

- It is already known that he is cautious with everyone, reasonable or dangerous. Expect to be approached by him during the first few rounds when he thinks that having a team is an efficient idea. Once he learns that you're a sensible and kind person deep down, he'll promptly invite you to his team for your safety.

- Honestly has no idea of what he's doing strategy-wise during the games so he'll be willing to listen if you'll come up with ideas (we've seen this happen before with Sang-woo).

- He sure acts like an extrovert but there is so much overthinking behind all of that. Also, there is a slight indecisiveness in his morals. That kind of gets you closer to him faster though!

- There was this one time you tried to warn him about Sang-woo but his illusion of that friendship only made Gi-hun doubt you. You'll even try to warn him before the honeycomb game and make him choose an easier shape but you'll only discover how stubborn and devoted he is to the ones he cares about.

- If he starts falling for you, expect to find him glancing at you a lot. You'll have to snap him out of it (which is very cute). After a tough round, your recovery will certainly come from seeing him relieved that you survived. This thing goes the other way around as well. He can't remember when was the last time someone was so enthusiastic to see him, besides his daughter.

- He's not going to open up so fast despite his warm and sympathetic way of being but stress slowly cracks him. He will ask himself if telling you more about him is a good idea before doing it hesitantly.

- Close to the last rounds when he starts overthinking hard, Gi-hun will even start thinking about how your presence in his life before the game would have changed everything in good.

- He is pretty motivated to stay alive and be a good father for his daughter. These motivations for the future seem to include you as well lately. He wants you to be happier, he wants you to stay alive as well. Gi-hun will fantasize about both of you getting out of that hell, even if he knows it's egotistical.

- After the glass bridge game, you offer to clean his cuts. Even if Gi-hun is extremely tense and only looks at Sang-woo, one of his hands will grip your free hand tightly. You can feel all of his anger and deception. Please calm him down and take care of him.

- He openly wishes you good luck before each game even if you get closer to each other romantically or not.

- During one lunch, out of instinct, you moved one of his curly strands of hair out of the way and he froze. Ali asked him something and Gi-hun started stuttering nonsense. (just wait until you see his smile and you’ll be the stuttering mess)

- Because of the exhaustion, he might get cozy in your bed by accident when the light shuts down one night. Don't wake him up though. He's a warm guy naturally, you'll be having the best sleep ever during this stressful period, ironically. Gi-hun will pull you closer in his sleep by instinct. His face will be unforgettable in the morning when he understands what happened.

- Oh and after the honeycomb game, you could not make straight eye contact with him. That technique and position were the things that slowed you down a little when you noticed. Let's be honest.

[theliteraryarchitect]

Editing Tip: How to Speed Up or Slow Down Your Pacing

Hey friends. I’ve been thinking a lot about pacing lately, as I’m in the process of editing a few of my own stories, which tend to be too slow in the beginning and too fast in the end. Fortunately I have a ton of experience speeding up or slowing down pacing when I edit my clients’ manuscripts, and I wrote up a whole section about it in my book The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers.

One important thing to keep in mind about pacing is that there’s no one “right” pace—each story and genre need something different. A crime thriller will usually have faster pacing than a character-driven literary novel; language-focused writers will usually create slower-paced stories than plot-focused writers. So when you’re revising your pacing, It’s about finding the right pace for your story.

At the same time, remember that stories generally build in tension, continually ramping up the conflict until it crests at the climax and falls at the resolution. While you’ll want some ebbs and flows in tension so the reader doesn’t get completely exhausted, the story shouldn’t feel resolved for too long without introducing another problem or further complicating the conflict.

A story’s pace is controlled by a number of factors but luckily, there are pretty much only two problems you can have with your pacing. A story can be too slow (which usually feels boring), too fast (which can produce a lot of anxiety), or a combination—too slow in some parts, too fast in others.

In either case, you’ll need to learn how to put the brakes on or apply the gas as needed to moderate your pacing.

Speeding Up Slow Pacing

If we feel the pacing is too slow, it’s usually either because a scene is too long, too wordy, or not enough is happening. The result is a sense that the story is dragging, and a lot of yawning on the part of the reader. When the pace feels slow, we will naturally start to skim or read ahead to find out “what happens.”

Let’s look at how to address each of the three main causes of slow pacing.

Too long. Sometimes the pace feels slow because your scene is simply too long. To remedy that, you might need to start the scene later, end it earlier, or cut slow transitions where not much is happening. Shorter sentences and more frequent paragraph or scene breaks can also help to break up a lengthy scene and make it feel like it’s moving faster.

Too wordy. The more words you use, the slower the pace. Long passages of description, excessive dialogue or inner monologue, info dumps, repetition, and filler words are often to blame. If you simply can’t bring yourself to cut excess words, you can also try breaking up long sentences or paragraphs to give the illusion of a quicker pace.

Nothing is happening. A lack of goals, conflict, or stakes can lead to the feeling that “nothing is happening” in a story. Has your character slipped into the bathtub to ruminate at length on an issue that she’s already mulled over a thousand times before? Have you used five pages to detail a long, boring traveling sequence that should’ve been summarized in a few sentences of transition? If your scene has scant conflict, and no change by the end of the scene, it may need to be rewritten or cut in order to improve your pacing.

Slowing Down Fast Pacing

On the other hand, if a story’s pace is too fast, an excess of action and dialogue are usually to blame, as well as short, choppy sentences, and a ceaseless maelstrom of conflict. In that case, you have the opposite problem: Your scenes are either too short, too shallow, or too much is happening.

Too short. Short sentences, paragraphs, scenes, and chapters pick up the pace of a story, but can leave readers exhausted when overused. Mix it up, using longer sentences or paragraphs slow the pacing where needed. You can also lengthen action- and dialogue heavy scenes by adding brief spurts of description, inner monologue, or narrative summary.

Too shallow. An action-paced scene often skims over the deeper, more nuanced aspects of the story like theme, emotional depth, and character development. If your too-fast pace is the fault of a flat character, take a moment to let readers know what’s driving her with a few sentences of interiority or narrative summary. The more readers feel like they’re inside your protagonist’s mind and heart, the deeper and slower your scene will feel. Description can also help give depth to a shallow scene—all that action and dialogue isn’t taking place in a vacuum, and writing it that way can shift your story into turbo speed in no time at all.

Too much happening. If your protagonist is fighting off a centaur in a crowded marketplace, resolving a longstanding resentment with her brother who works at the tomato stand, looking for a choice hiding place for a trunk of buried treasure, wooing the delivery boy, and realizing the true nature of love and war all in the same scene, you might need to dial it back to control your pacing. Decide which storyline is the most important to highlight, and push all the others into the background or save them for another scene.

No breathers. If the protagonist never gets a chance to catch her breath, readers won’t either. Look for places where she can pause and reflect, like right after a problem is resolved or a new one is discovered, when new information is revealed, or as your character undergoes an important internal change in her motivation or perspective.

Hope this helps!

[alexusonfire]

Zelda Spellman NSFW Alphabet

Zelda Spellman x Fem!Reader

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

This is something Zelda has to get used to/almost taught, as she's never really had someone to demonstrate it for her. The first time she slips out of the bed leaving you cold, you're very confused and a little hurt, and in turn Zelda is also confused because isn't this how it works?

The first time you show her proper aftercare she can't help the tears that stream down her face, and she apologizes profusely for not doing so before. Once she learns she is the QUEEN of aftercare, always quick to make sure you feel clean and safe and loved.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Zelda's always been a fan of her figure in general, but she particularly loves her legs (as do most of her lovers). Her favorite body part on you is your neck, especially when she can mark it up something fierce.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Zelda loves making you cum, getting you as wet as possible so the sounds of you echo in the room. She's also not opposed to cum play, such as snowballing or being finished on.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

I'm gonna be honest, I don't think Zelda has one 🤣 She's pretty open about what she likes in the bedroom.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Just... so much experience. So much. The woman is over 300 years old, and she knows her way around men, women, and demons.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Taking you from behind, her hand fisted in your hair for leverage as she pounds you into the mattress.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Definitely more serious, and even intimate later in the relationship. She's not one to goof around in the bedroom.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

She doesn't have any hair down there, and she maintains this even if she isn't currently sexually active. She just prefers it that way.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

It will take some time for Zelda to be truly intimate, as she tends to equate this with vulnerability. But once she realizes the depth of her feelings for you, and that they are reciprocated, she loves to woo and be woo'ed, and adores soft early-morning sex with you.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

She's definitely an expert in herself, and has various toys and methods to help her get off. She's not the best at sleeping, especially when she's stressed, so she'll use a little bullet vibe to get off quickly and help her drift off.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

... huuboy. 🤣

Zelda Spellman is THE kinky bitch, and there is very little she doesn't enjoy. Odds are if you have certain kinks you like or want to try, she already has and knows what to do. Impact play, degredation/praise, and breeding are among her favorites.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Semi-public places, like in the kitchen of the house or some dark corner of the academy. She loves the thrill of potentially being caught.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Something as simple as you wearing an outfit she's picked out for you can get her going, but she is particularly weak for neck kisses and gentle praises.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Anything within the CNC spectrum is an absolute no for her.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Zelda is a goddess with her tongue, and she loves the taste of you; she can definitely make you come undone faster than anyone you've been with before.

She also loves when you get on your knees and push up her skirt before letting her use your mouth to get off.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Depends on her mood. Normally she prefers a fast and rough pace, but if either of you desire something slower or more intimate she likes those moments too.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

She will have a quickie any time, anywhere. Her sex drive is fairly high, and you don't always have the time to hit the bedroom, so she'll pull you into a hidden spot and get you/her off as quickly as possible.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Yes, and yes. She's always up to try something new, and she loves the risk of being caught.

This does lessen slightly once she takes over the Directrix role, as she now has a reputation to curate/maintain, but that doesn't mean she won't fuck you over her desk with the door unlocked. 😏

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Homegirl can literally go all night, well into the wee hours of the morning, especially when she's fired up.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Yes, yes, and yes. She owns a wide variety of toys, as she's had both male and female lovers. She has an entire room in the house just to store them 🤣

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

HUGE tease, whether that's whispering naughty things to you in the middle of the hallways or wearing a skirt she knows you love 😏

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Zelda can actually be quite loud, both when fucking and getting fucked. She also loves to dirty talk, either egging you on or reducing you to a literal puddle.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

She actually has a somewhat complicated relationship with sex, and at times a fairly unhealthy one. The first few months of your relationship involve the two of you working through this and helping Zelda develop healthier habits, like the aftercare aspect.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

She always likes looking put together and well-dressed, and this translates to her underthings. Silks and laces, sometimes a nice set of lingerie just for the hell of it.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Very high, there's times you have to encourage her to use a toy just so you can get a break 🤣

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

She's never been a good sleeper, but sex helps. She usually waits until you've fallen asleep in her arms before she drifts off, wanting to enjoy the moment for as long as she can.

[rivisions]

“benefits” danny sexbang x fem!reader drabble

i’m lazy ell oh ell<3 basic warnings apply, cock warming!!, nsfw, pet names used as well as daddy, not proof read. and fluff this time LOL

ps, actual lengthy danny fic soon as well as a tangerine one probably for myself LMAO

dan was working, he’s been on the same part of super mario for the past 40 minutes just to spite arin because he “couldn’t do it”

he was fully motivated and focused on getting around it no matter what, and they were no longer recording at this point.

you, sitting on the couch beside him, kept giggling to yourself on how mad he got when he fell off an edge.

“dan i really don’t know why you’re still going at that! i mean come on!”

“i’m going to get past it if it kills me”- and, he fell off again, “OH MY GOD FU”-

he put the controller down and laid back on the sofa, manspreading looking absolutely ravishing to be honest.

he pushed his hair back with his hand and let out a small huff.

“you’re staring you know”, he said with a smirk plastered across his face.

“i’ve got the right to babe”

he rolled his eyes and scoffed, picking up the controller again.

he got back to focusing, but more relaxed, because the more he got mad, the more he messed up.

after what felt like ages, he got the star and got over the ledge, and jumped up off the sofa.

his hands were in his hair and you were giggling and clapping for him, going “bravo my liege”.

he turned around to save and pause the game, then back to you and messily gave you a kiss, giggling with the brightest smile.

“what was that for?”

“i dunno! i love you!”

he sat down next to you still towering over you somehow with one arm around your neck.

“i think i deserve to be wooed”

“wooed?”

“yeah! you know, a nice reward since i’m *so* good at games”.

“what did you have in mind then huh?”

“oh i don’t know! kiss me!”

and you did, you gave him a kiss and a smile.

“mmm, kiss me somewhere else!”

and you did. you rolled your eyes and gave him kisses all down his neck.

“mm, feels good..” he paused, “can i make you feel good tonight instead?”

woah.

“what?”, you heard what he said.

“c’mon you’ve been cheering me on all night! i’m returning the favor”. he looked back down at you again. “promise i’ll make my girl feel fuckin’ amazin’”

“only if you say so”, you straddled over him in his lap so you were facing him with your arms over his shoulders.

“mind if i take these off?”

you nodded and he took your sweats off.

“are those my boxers, seriously?”

“yeah what are you gonna do about it?”

“fuck you like you deserve to be”.

you broke the eye contact for a moment to look down at his growing bulge just to get away from being embarrassed, but ended out making it worse.

“what, you intimidated love?”, he said while sliding your (well his) boxers off.

“maybe i’m just madly in love with you?”

“probably” he said while sliding his own pants down.

“c’mere”, he spoke while pulling you closer to fill the space between the two of you.

his thumb met with your clit and he started slowly going in circles while sucking bruises on your neck.

“oh- my god dan- already-“

“i’m impatient love sorry”.

“that makes-“, you whined, “two of us”.

you pulled yourself up onto his dick, and his other hand that was on your waist, slowly guided you down.

“aa-h like that like that”, he groaned out while rubbing faster on your clit.

you fixed your arms on his shoulders so you could start moving up and down on him.

your head was buried into his chest as you whined and moaned, keeping yourself at a steady pace.

“dan- oh my fuck-“.

“yeah? feels good?”

“sosogood”, your words were slurring.

“so good for daddy?”

“mhmm- yes”, you hissed out.

his thumb pressed harder onto your clit for a moment making your body shiver as you let out a squeak.

“please please yes-“, your breathing started to hitch.

“gonna cum for me princess? gonna cum all over daddy’s cock?”

you couldn’t really speak anymore, you just nodded and let out a phallic moan.

“gonna let me fill you all up?”

“mhm! yes!!”

he threw his head back, followed by a moan, as you rode out your climax.

“my god dan”.

“yeah?” he giggled because you hadn’t gotten up, you were still on him.

“can i stay like this for a minute?”

“not like it’s hurtin’, of course my love”.

“you’re really good at a lot of stuff, dan”.

[nyxvuxoa]

NSFW Alphabet

Dean Winchester x F!Reader

T/W: PwP. It's all smut. Detailed talk of smut. Mention of kinks.  A/N: I have never written one of these before, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Gif is made by me. Requests are open.

A = Aftercare

Dean is all about aftercare.

He will shower you with attention after.

He will get you your stuffed animal if you have one, a blanket, a snack, your favorite show.

Needless to say, you will be spoiled.

He will praise you constantly afterwords.

You'll be told what a good girl you are and how you made him feel so good.

Prepare for cuddles, because he's going to want to just hold you for a while.

B = Body part

He loves his cock. Seriously.

He believes he knows how to use it and he really does.

If there is one thing he can be really confident in, it's that.

Other than that, he loves his lips.

On you though, it's your eyes and your hands.

He loves eyes that feel like they are boring into his soul when they look at him.

And he loves how soft your hands hard.

The fact that you are good with them is just a bonus.

C = Cum

He knows you love it, so he's not shy about it.

He will cum on you and in you.

Especially in you if you beg for it.

He loves to cum in you.

He likes seeing it dribble down from your legs.

It's like a small mark of territory on your (or in you),

and especially loves seeing you collect it onto your fingers then licking it

The idea of you licking up his cum in general drives him crazy.

He wouldn't hesitate to cum onto something to watch you clean it up with your mouth.

If he cums on your face, it's always around your lips.

again, so that he can watch you lick at it.

D = Dirty secret

Outdoor sex is a favorite.

Be it in baby, on a dirt road, in a bathroom somewhere.

He likes the idea and risk of getting caught with you.

Which only makes any sort of quickie a little sexier.

He also likes listening to you.

Sometimes he will ask you to masturbate and walk out of view just because he simply wants to listen to you.

This often leads to a mutual masturbation time.

When he asks you to do this, you get extra loud for him and moan his name.

It drives him nuts.

E = Experience

When it comes to experience, Dean knows what he's doing.

Its never been difficult for him to get girls.

So getting laid was never a problem.

He knows every trick in the book and knows how to do them!

Dean is often called the "best night of someone's life" for a reason.

If you are inexperienced, that's okay, he will show you how to do it and how to please with him in mind.

And he will show you how to do it for as long as you need.

F = Favorite position

It's hard to narrow it down.

Dean likes sex in general but if he had to pick it would probably be any variation of the cow-girl position.

This type of position allows him to see all of you while still maintaining all of his control.

He can run his hands over your body and play with every inch of you all while watching.

G = Goofy

Dean's mood comes based off of you.

If you are serious, he's going to be serious.

If you are submissive, he's going to dominate you.

If you are playful and laughing, he's going to try and keep you playful and laughing.

It all depends on how you are responding to him.

H = Hair

Dean is pretty well-groomed.

He's not clean-shaven

but he does keep it cleaned and under control.

I = Intimacy

Dean can be pretty romantic at times.

He's one for wooing a girl.

For you, if he's been seeing you regularly and you aren't just a fling

it can be as simple as flowers and dinner

to the little touches and affections that he showers you with.

He's on to tell you that he loves you

and often, even during sex.

This is partly because he doesn't know if he's always coming home.

So he always wants to make sure you know.

He worships your body and often leaves love marks on it.

Be it fingertip bruises or a hickey, he wants you to know that you are his when you see it.

J = Jack off

When you aren't around, this is obvious.

But he's always thinking about you.

When he's alone in the hotel room, he will use the pictures (or video) he's taken of you on his phone.

Shower time is often spent thinking about you.

And he tries so hard to be quiet, but after some point, his grunts and groans are leaving the bathroom rather loudly.

When he grips himself, it's tightly, to try and make it feel like how tight you get around him.

He often fucks his hand hard and fast and imagines you taking in all of his length and width with such a deep need for him.

He likes to think about you worshiping his cock.

In the end, he finishes and imagines you taking all of his cum, preferably inside you.

K = Kink

Dean is actually a pretty kinky guy, but he never really viewed himself as kinky, it was pretty normal for him.

He very Dom. Loves to be in control of you. Especially in bed.

Bondage is always a bonus.

His favorite thing though, he has loves to have sex with you in front of mirrors because he loves to see every bit of you and watch his cock going in and out of you.

If you are willing to lick his cum off a mirror, he'd probably marry you.

He's got a bit of a daddy kink too. He likes the connection that comes with it and how you depend on him. Finds it actually to be pretty intimate.

L = Location

Dean actually doesn't have a favorite location.

He's constantly moving around a lot, so it never crosses his mind.

What matters is that he's with you!

That is really all he wants.

So I guess it's safe to say that you are his favorite location.

M = Motivation

Be verbal with him!

Seriously, praise him.

Tell him how good he feels, how much you love how he fills you, that you need to feel him cum.

This will drive him crazy!

Bite at your lip, he is always watching you when you do that.

Wear something just for him and something that he knows is just for him.

Be naked for him when he gets him.

Naked and kneeling for him.

This really brings out the dom in him.

He'll take control immediately.

N = No

Anything Dean does to you, has to be consensual.

Now, Demon Dean, that is a different story.

But Dean, he's not going to hurt you without consent.

He won't abuse you.

He follows the safewords.

While he will degrade you for a degradation kink, he won't degrade your body because he loves it.

He likes to hear you in pain, but only a good kind of pain. If he feels he's hurting you in a way that you don't like or didn't agree to, he will stop.

He will always stop when he needs to and take care of you!

O = Oral

If you are giving him oral sex, he loves it.

Like the man is easy to please, crawl under that table while he's doing research on a case and he will happily let you distract him.

Giving you oral sex is a little more of a treat for you.

He loves to taste you, especially if you taste like fruit or sweet.

He will take his time on you, go slow, his tongue will go over every little bit of your pussy.

He will suck on your clit.

And he will slide his fingers in while he does it.

And if you cum, he will keep going or he's going to stick his cock in you.

Either way, you won't be done.

P = Pace

His pace depends on the mood of the sex.

Sometimes he's going to be quick and rough, slamming into you until the headboard is smacking into the wall and you are screaming for him to not stop.

Other times he's going to be slow and take his time.

He's going to cherish those moments.

He wants you to feel every bit of him as slow as possible until you are begging him to fuck you harder and faster.

Q = Quickie

Quickies are never out of the question.

And they actually happen pretty often.

If Sammy goes out for food: quickie.

Before leaving for a hunt: quickie.

Shower in the morning: quickie.

Get the picture? He loves your body and wants it all the time.

R = Risk

He can be kind of experimental in general.

but with you, it's all about what you.

if you want to try something new, he will do it.

Sex in Baby? He'll drive somewhere nice.

Wanna fuck in the bar bathroom after drinks? He'll lead the way.

Wanna play with some rope and a kife? He'll make a run out to the car.

S = Stamina

This boy has all the stamina!

He can keep going and going for hours.

The only time he's going to stop is to hydrate and get a snack.

This also includes taking care of you, cause he can't keep going if you aren't taken care of.

T = Toys

Dean doesn't really own toys, mostly because he doesn't have a place to keep them.

But he will use what he has on hand if that is your thing.

Are you up for some cable ties, rope, or even some knife play?

If so, then he's your man.

If you bring toys though, he will use them on you.

Not himself, though you may be able to tie his wrists to the bed every once in a while.

If he uses a dildo or a vibrator on you, prepare to be teased about it.

“Aww, Buttercup, what's this? I bet nothing feels as good my cock.”

U = Unfair

Dean can be a bit of a tease.

He likes to get you worked up.

Especially until you are begging him to fuck you.

And trust me, he wants to hear you beg for it.

V = Volume

He's loud if you are loud.

He likes to match your volume.

Dean is a very auditory kind of guy, it's not as enjoyable for him if he can't hear you.

He wants to hear you moan and beg.

And in return, he will groan, moan, and tease you.

He doesn't care if someone is around, he wants a reason to make some noise.

W = Wild card

Katoptronophilia is a stable of sex with Dean.

It means he really likes to fuck in front of mirrors.

It's just not about seeing himself, he wants to see himself inside you.

He wants to see his cock sliding in and out of you.

He wants to see your tits when you are a reverse cowgirl on him.

He always wants a way to see your face when he's pushing his cock all the way inside you.

X = X-ray

Dean is very well endowed.

It's thick and long, and the coloring is just perfect.

The groomed hair makes it look even bigger.

I mean, it's really pleasing to the eye.

It's not often you see a photogenic cock, but he's got one and you damn well have pictures of it on your phone.

Y = Yearning

His sex drive is pretty consistent.

It's not difficult for you to turn him on, so you tend to use that to your advantage.

If you have a high sex drive, he will match that too.

He loves a woman that is crazy for him and spontaneous about their sex.

But he also likes routine with it.

Regular sex before bed? He loves it.

Z = Zzz

Falling asleep after sex also depends on the day and the type of sex.

If he's had a long day and the dom in him used you to release that stress, chances are after your aftercare, he will fall asleep with you in his arms.

On other days, he will be wide awake.

That usually means, grabbing a burger and some beer after.

Or round two, if he feels like he could keep going.

Regardless, in the end, he always takes the time to admire you.

He wants to love you and let you know that he loves you.

Even if it means just laying in bed and holding each other naked for a little bit.

[hwauas]

🔞: "drive me crazy"

jeong wooyoung (정우영) - 2,539 words

y/n is a woman in this piece.

the car was going at a high speed on the highway. there was no one else. there was no light, besides the light coming from the vehicle. it's been hours you both left. on an impulse, you decided to leave. you wanted to go on a road trip.

you needed nothing, except few clothes, that's all. with your debit cards, you decided it was enough for you both to eat, to drink. it was enough for everything you needed.

you were next to him. you legs crossed. one of your hand was on your thigh, but the other was on his thigh. a soft music was playing on the background. you both talked a lot, but now, the only sound that remained was the music.

“babe. how far do you wanna drive tonight?”

“i don't know. as far as i can. why? you want me to stop at the next motel?”

“no need to stop, don't worry about that.~”

you softly started to stroke his thigh. it was soft and almost innocent. but your plans were not that innocent.

“what are you doing, honey?”

Wooyoung looked at you multiple times. his head was going back and forth between your face and the road.

“nothing special. just giving my boyfriend some attention.~”

Wooyoung gulped. he was looking at the road. his eyes were showing both neediness and anxiety. would you really do something like that while he was driving?

you softly wandered your hand, upper and upper. you approached his clothed manhood. and the tips of your fingers softly stroked this part of his body.

Wooyoung's breath twitched in his throat, and you could hear it. it was perfectly audible for you. it was as if any other sound couldn't be heard from you at this moment. any other sound mattered. only the signes of his pleasure.

you softly pressed this region. you wanted to make it pleasurable for him.

you quickly unbottonned his pants, and slid your hand in his pants. you did it again, through his boxers this time. you wanted to stroke the best spots. the ones that could give him a lot of pleasure.

you did it on his length. and even slid your hand lower to stroke his balls through the fabric of clothes.

“y/n.. please babygirl.. wait till i find a rest area..”

“i don't wanna be a good girl this time. i can't wait.”

you removed your seatbelt, and turned over to face Wooyoung. with a smirk, you leaned down.

“you better stay focus on the road, hmm.~”

you stick out your boyfriend's manhood from the clothes. Wooyoung only whined out, signalling you how eager he felt.

he felt needier than before. as the time flew by, the desire grew up. and even though the fact you were about to give him some pleasure while he was driving was first scaring him and it was not a turn on, he had to admit that now, it was exciting him. exciting him so much more than he expected it would do.

you started to move your hand up and down on his member. the pace was first slow, super slow. and it was enough to make him whine out.

he was typically the type to be very vocal when you were having sex. Wooyoung was loud, and was loud in any situations.

but then, you started to move faster. his whining state was motivating you to give him more pleasure.

your hand was moving on his length. and you wasted no more time: you take the tip of his member between your lips, and started to suck on it.

his right hand rested on your head instead on the gear lever. his fingers were holding few strands of your hair, and he was softly pulling the strands.

he was whining louder and louder.

“fuck... y/n... babygirl..!”

Wooyoung bit his lower lip. it was hard for him to keep driving when you were driving him crazy. he even breaked — it was easier for him to drive slowly, even though you were on a highway. he couldn't take the risk to have an accident with you.

“keep going babygirl.~ you're doing so great.~”

you followed the instructions, even though nothing was pushing you to do so. you kept this pace around his member. but you slowly pushed his member deeper in your mouth, until you couldn't take more — you reached this point, making you gag around his length.

it didn't take much more time for Wooyoung to warn you about his orgasm. you managed to give him this much pleasure.

in a groan, he came undone in your mouth. you swallowed few drops of his white liquid, and let the other ones running down his length.

“damn this was hot.”

you said as you were letting go of his member.

“because you do think we're done? you still misbehaved, babygirl. you should be punished.”

you frowned at his statement, but were you complaining? of course not.

with a smirk, you sat more comfortable on your seat. you were looking at the dark road in front of you. and only after few meters more, you could see a little spot of light further. it was coming closer as the wheels were spinning at a highest speed now Wooyiung could be more focus on the road.

“what are you looking at?”

Wooyiung asked with a smirk.

“and why aren't you removing all your clothes already?”

“you didn't ask me to remove them, boy.”

“it's daddy for you. now i'm asking you to remove them. so do it.”

you liked the tone Wooyoung used. he seemed even more charismatic. and of course, you liked to see him being this dominant.

you obeyed him, and removed all your clothes, without an exception.

as you got closer this spot of light — which was a rest area — you were naked on your seat, and not even hiding yourself. you were even teasing Wooyiung by stroking your own body.

“now, before i start doing it by myself, you better stroke something else than your whole body.”

Wooyoung said with a firm voice. you could see his hands holding the wheel tighter, leaning he was also working in himself not to jump off his seat to make you scream of pleasure.

“like what daddy?”

you bit your lower lip — your turn this time to feel extremely weak in front of him.

“huh. don't be this innocent. touch yourself.”

“anything daddy wants.~”

you had a smirk, showing off how confident you were.

you wanted to tease him as much as you could. and for that, you were ready to do anything you could.

you sat on your seat with legs wide open. you were turned over him, to be sure he could see you perfectly from his seat, with his peripheral vision.

your right hand started to wander further and further down, till they reached your core. you started to rub your clit in circles. you were already wet by the previous events, and this was now making you wetter. you rubbed you clit faster and faster. your breath was shorter — and so quicker. you started to whine, just as Wooyoung did.

“louder babygirl. i can't hear you.”

your head fell back, against the window. your eyes were shut down to enjoy the pleasure to the fullest. you started to whine louder, to the point you were no longer whining but moaning.

Wooyoung finally reached the rest area. he parked the car somewhere it was bright enough to see you, yet not too bright to give romantic vibes and maybe to sleep after.

Wooyoung stopped the car, yet let the keys in the hole. he took your hand as you were fastening your pace.

“stop it. don't go further.”

he moved his sit back, and laid down his seat.

“come on. on my face.”

you blushed at his order, yet obeyed again. you went above him, and rested both your knees on the seat at the back of the car, and opened your thighs wide enough for his face to fit in between them. you slowly sat on his face, looking down at him.

“if you dare coming undone before i told you to do so, i'll punish you harder.”

you could feel his hot breath against your folds. but you couldn't do anything else but nod. you were weak, and at his mercy.

Wooyoung first kitty licked your folds. he was teasing you. he couldn't do something else but tease you.

but then, your clit became his victim: he started to lick it, and suck on it. you started almost immediately to moan out again. the pleasure was too good.

again, your breath got shorter. one of your hand found its place in your boyfriend's hair. you softly pull on them. but it quickly wasn't soft anymore.

his lips started to do their magic on your clit, this sensitive spot of your body, and the pleasure only grew bigger. you were a moaning mess, of course. but how to hold back an orgasm as you were told?

“Woo! fuck! please!”

you were begging for him to say those words. but you knew he wouldn't. it was way too early.

“Woo? who's Woo?”

“Daddy! please!”

Wooyoung immediately stopped.

“already? damn. i was eating the first course only.”

Wooyoung spanked you to mention you to move. which you did. you sat up from his face, and in a blink of an eye, he caught you by your hips to lay you down on the backseat of the driver's seat. he opened your legs wide enough, and waisted no more time before eating you out again. his tongue was doing again its magic in this sensitive spot, and two of his fingers were wandering around your vaginal orifice.

his name's started to fall off your lips in cute moans that sounded like a melody to his ears.

his heart was racing at the thought of you having so much pleasure thanks to him. and at the thought of you both having fun in a car, in the middle of nowhere during a road trip.

Wooyoung softly pushed two of his fingers inside of you. they slid perfectly in your orifice because of how wet you were. he softly started to move them, in and out, and curled them a little to reach this spot inside of you — your g-spot.

you were moaning louder again. it was a pleasure to feel his fingers inside of you. each time you were having sex like that, it was the same as rediscovering the feeling of having intimacy with the man you love the most out there.

in a moan louder than the others, Wooyoung understood the message. and the hold on his locks being tighter was confirming what he was thinking: you were about to have your orgasm.

he then stopped what he was doing, and straightened up.

“about to come again babygirl?”

you were frustrated when you felt nothing anymore around your lower region.

“y-yes.. please daddy, let me come for you!”

you were pleading him with your eyes and your tone.

“shhh, babygirl.. let daddy take a good care of you.”

Wooyoung removed completely his clothes too. he was as naked as you were. softly, he came above you.

“what about trying again what we talked about?”

Wooyoung asked with a little smile. it was enough for you to understand what he was talking about.

“make love to me.”

Wooyoung softly kissed you. it was the tenderest kiss you had today. his lips were going along with yours so well — better than anything else. and as his lips were connecting with yours, making you feel loved and protected, he pushed himself inside of you. he pushed until he was filling you perfectly, to the brim. your folds against the skin of his balls. he have you time to get used of his length and size and again. it was the sweetest seconds ever: he kissed you multiple times, and left a lot of kisses on his way down to your neck. once he was there, he started to move into you. it was slow and small moves while he was pecking your skin. but then, as the thrusts became quicker and larger, he started to bite your skin and to leave purple marks on it: it was making you moan louder since it was an erogenous spot of your body.

you were holding his locks so tightly in your hand. the other one, on his back, started to leave marks too. you were scratching him, but he was the littlest problem ever — plus, you knew Wooyoung had a marking kink and loved it when you were scratching his back with pleasure. your scratches were motivated Wooyoung to give you his best tonight.

his movements inside of you became sloppier: each one of them was strong and giving you all his length after he came out if you, but he was hitting the bottom at an irregular pace. each time he was goin this deep into you, you were moaning out loud, and so he was. it was almost like a moaning dialogue between you — who would show the pleasure the best?

at this point, the windows were entirely recovered by the mist both your body's heat and breathing was creating. the light was now only circular yellow spot through the window — but it didn't really matter for you.

“daddy! please! can i come?”

you were screaming out your pleasure. you were still scratching him with your nails. and when you reached his waist, you lightly stuck your nails in his skin.

Wooyoung would have loved to make this last longer. but he had to admit he was tired from the long drive. he preferred to let you come, and come undone now and be sure he did great, than keep going without the certitude of being good enough.

“fuck! yes babygirl! you can!”

in a last thrust, you finally let the orgasm rushing through your body — it was a mystery for you to know how you did to hold it back, but you nailed it and Wooyoung changing the posture or your treatment helped you.

right after you, Wooyoung came inside of you. his own orgasm was long and you could feel how much sperm there was inside of you.

you were now looking at Wooyoung with pure love in your eyes. he pulled himself out of you, and layed dow on the top of your body.

“i love you so much, love..”

Wooyoung said with a little smile. he was softly stroking your tummy.

“who are you telling this to? me? or our future child?”

“both of you. i believe this time is the good one.”

Wooyoung kissed your cheek and your forehead softly, and took a blanket from the seat at the back of the car. he unfolded it, and wrapped both your bodies in it.

“sleep well, my loves.”

“you too, dad. we love you.~”

these as the last words of the day, you closed your eyes and snuggled up into Wooyoung. you didn't need much time to fall asleep in his arms...

[dreamii-yume]

not a request but, Idia seems like the type to make a hentai game based on his darling correct? so he uses that as a base to have experience to woo his darling. but now as he tries it irl, he's confused it worked in the game. so why is the darling crying? is there a glitch somewhere? thoughts?

It all started when he thought that you looked like a character from an anime he watched once. He was a fond of the character so, he couldn’t help but to observe you more than he should, hiding his excitement throughout. There, he found out that you don’t just share a similar appearance but a similar personality as well, the perfect embodiment of that character. Idia almost thought that you were some kind of base for that character, cosplaying even, but you were from another world, weren’t you? Could it be that you’re actually that character and just got reincarnated into his world without knowing that you’re an anime character yourself!?

Reverse Isekai, was it? A twist in that overused genre where the fictional character is the one who gets to be trasported to the normal world. Idia was there on the peak of its popularity, reading all the manga, novels that he can find, watching all the anime adaptations along the way. Then the premise just gets redone over and over again that it slowly became boring. Even if they add twists here and there, it still ended up the same.

But now comes you, a real person that got transported into his world! A person who just happens to look and act like the character from one of his beloved shows! You can’t blame him for being this intrigued by your existence! Because how can he not!? This is an otaku’s dream coming true right here!

And best of all...You have his favorite character archetype! How awesome is that!?

Before he knew it, he was all over you. Well, not really...Since he was too shy to actually talk to you, and all he was just doing is either hide behind that tablet of his and a wall at least five meters away. He had already embraced the joys of being a loner and is practically a master of running away from social gatherings or talking in general, but now that it came to this, it became a double-edged sword.

Ortho said to just build up the courage to talk to you if he so badly wants to and he does. He really, really wants to talk to you, at least once...Or twice...Or thrice- The point is that he really wants to. But as supportive as the little brother of his is, he makes it sound so easy. Of course, someone who doesn’t know jackshit about making friends would never be able to master that skill that easily. He cringes at the thought of doing so without any experience, you’d probably see him as another creepy otaku.

Then, it came to him...A thought that proves that he was actually the genius that everyone claims him to be.

Experience. Of course! He’ll just have to gain experience so he can level up! With that, he can conquer your route doing just that! And what better way to do this than to combine it with something what he’s well-experienced with?

So, he started working. His fingers worked on the holographic keyboard faster than he’d ever been, creating a dating simulator game in less than three days. Ortho himself was surprised to see his usually unmotivated and borderline depressed brother having this intense look in his eyes. Idia barely ate or sleep during all of that, but he doesn’t care, what matters is that he finished it.

He finished the game that can finally help himself out, a dating simulator with only one character to focus on. A character who’s basically a spitting image of you and named after you, he even sneaked in some voice lines that he secretly recorded you saying. Idia had observed you longer to know what to write in the game script, which choices you would make, which words you would say, there was even different sprites and assets of you, depending on your emotions! Though, his hand seems to have slipped and before he knew it, he had already hired some Top-tier doujinshi artists to draw some Not-Safe-For-Work CGs of you for some Not-Safe-For-Work scenes. Yeah...He thought so far ahead that it just kinda turned into...Those kinds of simulation games.

But he regrets nothing.

...Other than the fact that he should probably keep this game away from Ortho as much as possible.

Anyway, it was probably one of the games that he took his sweet time with. Even though it was a game that he himself created, it was like he had developed some form of amnesia and was marvelled at his first time playing such masterpiece. All the twists and events left him in awe, squealing at every single CG when your character goes as little as holding his in-game character’s hand. The more...special scenes had him gulping down his own saliva as a physical reaction, the moans and groans that he recorded from you was when you were stretching in the morning, or when you’re startled or exercising, and yet, it fits so well with each sex scene. His face flushed and his pants felt so tight as he read through the dialogue box, his hand later slipping underneath them just so he could relieve his excitement.

“(Y/N)...Hehe, (Y/N)...♡” He blissfully moans as his hand goes up and down his cock, biting his blue lip in anticipation. Sweat was dripping down his forehead and his flaming hair burned a brighter blue, expressing his excitement. His imagination was going ballistic, imagining your own tightness around him as he slid in and out of your slick insides. The closer the scene reached its climax, the faster his hands became, determine to release at the same time as your character. “Haa...(Y/N)~♡ It feels so good...So good...Haha...”

With a satisfied moan, his own strings of semen shoots against his screen, perfectly coming just in time as your character appears, all flushed and exhausted. Idia let out a sigh, calming down from his high with a few strokes here and there to make sure of a satisfying release.

“Haa...Idia-kun, I love you ♡”

That was his favorite dialogue, no matter how many times he replayed this scene, it never fails to arouse him, making him all warm on the inside. A huge blush covered his cheeks as he smirked, slowly building up into an unhinged chuckle. He brushed his hands down the tainted screen, smudging his cum even more as he imagined it as your face. “Aah...Me too...I love you too, (Y/N)~” He whispered, shivering in excitement. “Aw...I can’t wait to have you for real...Wait for a little while, ‘kay? Hehe...”

This plan was a success and certainly helped him gain the confidence and experience that he needed to finally talk to you properly. Memorizing all the available scenarios and route he can go to, he just felt like he can do just about anything right now. With all these knowledge in mind, you surely won’t be weirded out and things wouldn’t be as awkward as he had already formulated a full conversation on his head. A bad end flag was still left arise, but it was placed so low that Idia can’t just spend another batch of his precious time with it, nothing would go wrong if he just do what he practiced, right? For that reason alone, his birthday was coming up and for the first time in forever, he could use a party as an excuse to talk to you. It doesn’t matter who comes anyway, he’ll have Ortho to accommodate them, Idia’s main focus should only be directed at you.

Plus, if he was going to confess on his birthday, then that’s just a major advantage! Plenty of stuff happens when it’s your own character’s birthday in any game, developers becomes extra generous with the drop rates in gachas, they give you more game currency to spend, and extra scenarios with your favorite characters! Sometimes even free stuff of your choice! This would definitely put his chance rate well above what he expected, it’s you after all!

“Happy birthday, Idia-senpai. I brought this gift for you, I hope you like it.” Ah, there it is, his goddess’ voice echoing through the walls. You said that you were going to conduct a birthday interview with him which got his heart beating like crazy. W-Were you going to start the confession event here!? With all these people!? That’s too daring! Though, that’s really charming of you, and a part of him actually wanted that to happen so he could finally point his fingers to these losers-

But no, unfortunately, he doesn’t have that much confidence to give and so, he ended up having to push you somewhere more secluded. Somewhere more...private. Like his room for example- that’s a good place, right~? Nobody can interrupt this interview that way and...and they can do play all sorts of games right after too...That’s fun, isn’t it!?

The interview was surprisingly fun, although it really just consisted of him ranting to you all about his interests. He ended up spilling all facts about his favorite idol group, games, and movies, his big mouth going off on a tangent once again because of that one question. This wasn’t exactly part of the plan, he was planning to give off a smooth vibe to it but he guessed he was just a tad bit under-level for that. Anyway, you ended gracing him with an adorable giggle so, it doesn’t really affect his motives! He’ll still conquer your route like he did with the game!

A few more questions about his favorite and least favorite food comes, Idia couldn’t help but be impatient. When were you going to activate the scenario, huh? The love confession event, it was the one question that he was waiting for. His heart was ready, his body was ready, his everything was ready...So, why were you standing up with a satisfied look on your face? Aren’t you forgetting something here?

“And that concludes our Birthday Celebration Interview! Idia-senpai, thank you for answering all my-“ Idia’s heart skipped a beat as his hands automatically grabbed your hand and pulled you down, rather aggressively.

“W-Wait! Wait, wait, waitwaitwait-“ Idia stumbled over his words, his face flushed as he stared at you with a crooked but nervous smile. “U-Um...! T-There something else...That I want to tell y-you...”

Oh, no...This was that one scenario in the extreme difficulty mode of the game, where you’re not triggering the confession event at all. You’re probably so conflicted with your emotions that he has to do it himself as the main character. It’s not the original route that he’s going for, but it’s fine, he has the script of this mode in memory too, he should be able to pull it off...That’s weird though, he never remembered activating anything to play in this difficulty...Whatever, real life really is something else, isn’t it?

You were surprised and quite honestly, bothered at his sudden outburst but that’s fine. You were the same in the game too, he just had to take control of the situation. “I-I...” He gathered the words in his head, his face heating up than it ever did before.

“(Y-Y/N)...I like- No...” He stammered as he tries his best to form a nervous smile, his heart was beating so fast but that’s not really something new. “...I love you, (Y/N)...”

Idia heard a slight gasp from you but delusions took over his mind before logic can come bursting through, rendering him practically heart-eyed at the situation. He was distracted, but he still waited for your response even if he was already a hundred percent convinced that his confession was a success. It has to be, he had already seen this exact scenario in the game for a millionth time. “...D-Do you...love me too, (Y/N)...?” He fiddled with the tip of his burning hair, leaning close to you as he knows that it’s a special skill that increases his success rate up to at least twenty percent. “...You l-love me too, don’t you~? Hehe...♡”

Yes. You’re going to say yes. You always had said yes in the game as there was absolutely no reason for you to say otherwise. Everything that happened before this went according to plan, he followed every route, said the correct dialogue choices, so there’s no way that he can fuck this one up. He had definitely conquered your route for real this time!

“Ah...” But he had to wonder though, why were you averting your eyes for? That’s cute, but you don’t have to be shy...Just say that you love him too, he can hardly wait! “Idia-senpai...”

“...I’m sorry.”

Idia blinked, his body freezing on its spot as you bowed in front of him so respectfully. Your mouth began to move to deliver more words of explanation for him to understand, but he just couldn’t hear anything else anymore.

What did you say? You’re...sorry? Haha...For what though? That’s weird, that’s not what you were supposed to say, even if this was set in extra hard mode. He did everything correctly so, no matter what difficulty he’s in, you should be able to accept his confession every time.

...Is it a bug in the system? A glitch that he didn’t see?

You called out to him once again, you called out his name and upon looking up, he could only see your face. So full of concern and pity, but no signs of falling in love whatsover. No...You shouldn’t be looking at him like that, what the hell just happened?

This is all wrong...!

Before Idia could even properly process anything, he had found himself on top of you, both frustration and anger building up inside him. His hand, albeit really shaky, had found itself a dangerous clasp around your neck and your expression suddenly turned white. You’re struggling underneath him, like a deer caught by a hunter, kicking and scratching his arms away. But you were scared, he could tell by that look in your eyes, he could easily squeeze your neck in this position after all.

“I-Idia-senpai...!” He heard you call out but your voice just bounced off his ears, he was too distracted by his own shock. This was not in any of the scenarios that he formulated inside his mind, and he created thousands, for Hades’ sake! His breathing became unstable as he began to hyperventilate, sweating immensely as he tries to wreck his brain for whatever the hell he was supposed to do in this scenario. This wasn’t how the game continues after a confession event! Was he too inexperience or under-level to conquer your route? Did he miss a side quest from you or something? What did he do wrong? Was it the lack of gifts of affection? Normally, you were supposed to say that you love him too, embrace him before the two of you share a kiss and-

...A kiss?

Oh...Oh, that’s right! Maybe this is where the code got rewritten and that the kiss should come first now? Maybe your character was taking a different turn, you were probably shifting to other character types to accommodate your new-found feelings...You’re being a Tsundere, aren’t you~? So cute, but you don’t have to push him away though, he’ll keep coming back to you anyways.

...And so, in hopes of desperation, that’s exactly what he did, he leaned down at you as he smashed his lips onto yours. You widened your eyes with a muffled scream coming out of you, but Idia kept your mouth busy as it is. He was on cloud-nine, enjoying your soft lips against his chapped ones so much so that he just instinctively started grinding his hips against yours. You were starting to panic, but that’s fine, that’s a normal reaction. Both in real life and in-game.

By the time that he finished selfishly sucking up your lips, ultimately creating a little bruise on the side, he pulled away with a string of saliva connecting both your tongues together. Idia giggled to himself, the feeling of your lips and tongue was still lingering on his that he can’t help but be hungry for more. However, looking back at you, he blinked as tears suddenly began to stream down your cheeks. Your chest heaving up and down as small hiccups comes out of your every sob.

It made him panic slightly at first, but then remembered a scenario like this once in the game...Though, it wasn’t a scenario as drastic as this one, that he’ll admit. “A-Ah, you shouldn’t cry...” He tried comforting, letting go of your neck and wiping your tears away with a nervous smile. “Y-You’re not supposed to cry after a c-confession event, it’s not in your file...”

You flinched at his touch. “S-Stop, please...L-Let me go...” You whimpered, lifting your arms up to try and shield yourself away from him. “I-I won’t tell anyone, I-I swear-!”

Idia’s hand twitched, quickly covering your mouth as a nervous rection so that he wouldn’t hear the words that he doesn’t want to hear anymore. He felt scared to touch you now, seeing how defensive you got, his little angel’s crying and it’s all because of him. Your words certainly impacted him, but he shook his head instead, he has to keep himself from looking down.

“...You shouldn’t say that either, that’s not in your script.” He said with a bit of stricter tone onto it, attempting to show you how capable he can really be. He grabbed your wrist and forced your hands open, revealing your terrified expression. “Don’t worry...It’s just a little twist on the story, I’m sure. I just have to restart the system, right...?”

“I-I’ll fix you up soon enough, H-Honey~” You watched him with eyes slowly widening in realization and terror as he started to untie his tie, to remove the birthday outfit that he clearly dislikes. You were frozen, you can’t move, not like you could do much with someone as big as Idia straddling above your stomach but you were left immobile with fear. His use of love words sounds extremely clumsy and Idia himself cringes at the sound of it coming from his own mouth but he’s enthusiastic. That doesn’t make it any less terrifying for you at all.

The game’s not finish yet. It’s just as he expected, there was a little glitch that needs a little fixing. It was the cause of a scenario as unreasonable as this one to appear. But it’s fine. He can fix it all up, he can fix you all up and when he’s done with that, he’ll definitely conquer your route for real this time.

After all, there’s no game that he can’t finish, that would be a shame to his Otaku title! It doesn’t matter if it’s his birthday, he’s going to work all night to fix this very unpleasant glitch in you. What a pain~ Idia wonders what kind of price he’ll get from you after this.

...Not that he’s going to complain anytime soon lol

Idia has the personality of an ugly bastard. Just saying *cough*

[doomstypewriter]

Excuse me while I panic

New chapter, yay! Didn't I tell you I'd be faster?

Thanks for all of the lovely comments and interest, it really motivates me to write more.

Word count: 3041 | AO3 | <<Previous

Summary: Roman gets to work. Wooing Virgil will be a piece of cake!

Right?

CW: Swearing, anxiety, mild angst, maybe unsympathetic Janus (I don't really think so but it could somehow be interpreted as such because of Virgil and Roman talking about him, so I might as well give a warning). I don't think there's anything else, but, if you spot it, do tell.

Be yourself and let things develop naturally... that's just boring

Once he returned to the main living area, the noises of arguing and Logan’s screams could not be heard anymore. They were instead replaced by the clicking of spoons against teacups and mugs.

The moment the three noticed him they looked upwards at the same time. Patton, Logan and Janus were sitting at the table, drinking hot chocolate, coffee and tea respectively. The lights in the kitchen were on, illuminating them partially.

Logan nodded at him.

“How did it go?” he asked.

Meanwhile, Patton smiled and Janus stared at him inquisitively.

Roman went fully downstairs, hurrying to move a chair back. With his hands still on the backrest, he began to speak.

----

“Haha… I actually wanted to ask you…”

“Did something happen?” Virgil held his breath. “Is it about me?”

Roman could not stand the tension emanating from every pore of Virgil’s body. Thinking optimistically, he probably had no idea about his real motivations to come there, still, the thought of it eliciting such a reaction made Roman feel even more frozen in place.

“No!” he answered all too fast.

His body language went even stiffer with worry, to the point where he raised a hand to his mouth and began to nibble on the sides of the tip of his thumb.

“Then…”

“Everything is fine, Pierce the Nerves, I promise”.

“Okay… hmm what’s up with the rose?”

“It’s… uh…” Roman looked at it and began to felt ridiculous. “I just picked it up and it’s the same red as my sash!” he laughed as he placed it on the lapel of his suit.

“No comments. What did you want to ask me?”

----

Janus looked at him with a mix of horror and disbelief as Roman finished his recollection of the events.

“So I panicked and then I said that you had decided to help Patton bake something and now we need to make cookies this instant because Virgil will suspect something if we don’t!”

For a moment there was silence. Then, Janus ran his hands over his face.

“Roman, please take a seat already or put the chair back in place”, said Logan.

“Yeah, right” Roman sat down.

“Brilliant idea, Roman, there’s no way Virgil won’t buy that I’m making cookies and, of all things, invited him to try them. Why would you get me directly involved in it?”

Roman stood up, earning an exasperated eye roll from Logan.

“I drew a blank! I cannot come up with perfect stories on the spot while under pressure!”

“So you thought putting me in it would just magically fix how terrible you are at talking to your crush?”

“He’s not my--” Roman went deadly quiet, rethinking his life in a matter of microseconds. “Look, if I can trust you to do something is lie. So when Virgil comes down those stairs you need to help me fix this! You were the one who insisted I talk to him, so it’s your problem too”.

“Can I trust YOU not to mess up any of my--”

“Hey”.

“Aaaah!” Roman and Janus screamed in unison.

One sigh later, Virgil added:

“You invited me to have cookies”.

“Oh, yeah, well… about that…” Roman began saying. “Patton and Janus haven’t started--”

“Kiddo, we already got them ready while you went to call Virgil” Patton interrupted him. “They’re cooling in the kitchen” he pointed.

“If you had paid attention you would have noticed the bowls in the sink” Logan added without bothering to look at him.

“Roman, close your mouth, you’ll catch flies” Janus finished the series of comments directed at him.

----

Virgil’s chair moved back as he stood up.

“Well, uh…” he said. “Thanks for the cookies. Hmm…”

A frown appeared on Virgil’s face as he was leaving. His feet stopped all of a sudden and he turned around.

“Janus?” it sounded like saying the name itself pained him.

The side in question raised his head, looking openly confused. Or was it an act?

“Yeah?”

“Hmm… Roman told me you invited me. And that’s… em…” he bought time, wondering what to say. Whether to lie or not. “Suspicious. So, a word?”

Janus raised his eyebrows, not buying it, but he followed him nonetheless.

They left the room, both walking at a distance from each other. For a second, Roman thought he saw worry in Janus’ face.

“What the hell was that?” Roman asked no one in particular.

“He’s trying to be nice” Patton smiled. “I’m so proud of him!” his tone was ecstatic.

“I guess… hey, padre, how did you know I’d ask you for the cookies?”

“Patton anticipated a few outcomes from your confession attempt and decided cookies would serve as a suitable response for either” Logan replied matter-of-factly.

“Yes…” he grimaced apologetically. “I thought that if everything went well we could celebrate, and if it didn’t… well, we’d be there for you, so the cookies might cheer you up”.

----

A few days after the confession fiasco, Roman decided to try again and woo him a little before pouring his heart out.

He popped into the living room, only to find Virgil and Janus sitting six feet apart. One was listening to music and, presumably, checking out Tumblr, while the other read a thick book.

With the volume of the music, Virgil didn’t notice him, Janus on the other hand…

His face stopped being obscured by the wing of his hat as he looked up at him.

Janus shook his wrist, making Logan’s watch appear on it. The other side wouldn’t be happy about that, but if Janus had survived stealing his crofters, Roman figured he could get away with pretty much anything.

“Well, look at the time!” he said theatrically as he stared at the watch. “I need to take care of other things, pitty to miss out on your company”.

Virgil moved his headphone to the side, managing to listen to the last part of what Janus had said.

“At least he doesn’t make it awkward”.

“What?” Roman asked.

“Yeah, you’re still angry with each other, right? I can ignore him, but having the two of us in the same room with him would be like asking for an argument”.

One short stare later, Virgil spoke again, a bit unsure.

“Do you want me to move so you can sit here too?”

“No”

“Oh, okay”

“I mean, I didn’t come here to be on the couch, actually I came to see you”.

“Miss me that much?” he teased.

And it was too good of a bait to just let go without reply.

“Terribly, I’ve been swooning and mopping because I didn’t have someone blasting Paramore around me!” Roman answered draping a hand over his forehead.

“Truly tragic”.

“I know. Anyhow, I was wondering…”

Virgil raised one of his hands to stop him right there.

“If you want me to do something stupid and dangerous in the imagination with you, I’ll pass”.

“Afraid you won’t be able to keep up?”

“No, it’s more like I don’t want to have to drag your ass back here when you get hurt”.

“Hey, I’ll have you know I’m the best swordsman in there”.

“So is it like, empty then?”

Roman gasped.

“Tss. It seems like it is”.

“No it’s not!”

“Well, if you keep inviting me, I guess it isn’t, even if we are the only people in there”.

“Virgil, you have seen my servants”.

“Hmm… yeah” he looked to the ceiling playfully, then back at Roman,

“I don’t seem to remember about it”.

“Okay, well, I guess I won’t ask the royal artisans to frame your painting, since they don’t exist”.

“What painting? Are you also hallucinating art?”

“No. I was about to ask you if I could paint you!”

“Wha-- really? You want to paint ME?” Virgil pointed at himself as if to make it somehow clearer.

“If you’re willing”.

----

The whole painting idea had gone well. Still, Roman wasn’t able to get the right atmosphere to confess with Virgil constantly teasing them. To be honest, he ended up forgetting about it once they began to get caught up in the conversation.

He had tried other things, of course.

None had gone as planned.

Writing poems would just make Virgil uncomfortable or even correct him, because, apparently, listening to all of those lyrics from obscure indie bands had made him a better poet than him.

Then there was the whole incident with the ukelele.

Roman had been trying to play something to catch his attention, set the tone and just tell him, but the string snapped and hit him in the face. Now he had an ugly cut and some bruising on his cheek.

He felt stuck.

Worse than all of that, Janus kept lurking around Virgil. Pretending to be nice and reformed.

But never mind about everything else. He needed to keep trying.

Eventually, Roman would manage to get it right.

-----

Finally, he had a plan!

The last time Roman had gone to Virgil’s room to confess, he had panicked and let the effect of the room get to him. But, none of that could happen if he didn’t speak.

This would be perfect because Virgil would love it. Roman had recorded a playlist of their favourite songs into a vinyl record, just to make it a bit fancier. He’ll gift it to him and Virgil would understand.

Maybe he’d even ask him to dance to it!

Roman crossed the darkness of the entrance almost running.

This could work!

His mood deflated instantly when he emerged into the room.

Virgil was sitting on his bed, knees to his chest, hiding all of his upper body inside his hoodie. He left the vinyl on Virgil’s desk and walked up to the bed, making sure to be a bit noisy so Virgil wouldn’t be caught by surprise.

The other let a long breath out in some kind of acknowledgement.

Eventually, Roman sat next to him.

“What’s wrong?”

Virgil sighed and let his face come out of the cocoon of his hood.

“It’s not that something’s wrong per se. I…”

Without thinking, Roman placed his hand on top of Virgil’s. The contact made him feel like nothing bad could happen to Virgil as long as he held onto him.

Roman got the sudden realisation that he would be willing to protect him from anything. Which wasn’t too groundbreaking of a concept. He’d try to save pretty much everyone if given the chance, but that was his need to be the hero, to be “good”, whatever that eventually entailed. With Virgil, though… he just didn’t know what he’d do without him.

“Whatever it is, I’m here and I’ll make sure you’re okay” Roman promised.

Virgil chuckled. It stung a little.

“You can’t just say those things so seriously when I’m feeling bad, Princey, I never know how to react when you’re being so…”

“Annoying?” Roman tried to complete the sentence.

His head turned to the other side. He still didn’t let go of Virgil’s hand, but he could afford to, at least, not let him see how self-conscious he felt right now.

“Princey, look at me”.

“I’m not sure I want to, Virge”.

“Hey, I’m the one who’s feeling low. Don’t try to steal the spotlight, it’s kind of an asshole move…”

Hearing that only made him feel worse, now adding guilt to the mix.

“Especially since”, Virgil continued, “I was about to say you’re nice”.

“I’m sorry I reacted poorly” Roman finally managed to stare at him, “here you are, feeling like crap and I’m only thinking about myself. I can be very selfish sometimes. I apologise”.

Virgil frowned.

“Okay. Fuck off”.

“Did I--”

“No. Listen to me. Whatever you’re thinking I’m thinking right now is wrong. I know what you’re doing because I do it all the time. I’m not mad. And you’re not selfish. Not one bit. You’re self-centred, very much so, but not selfish”.

“Virge, I’m pretty sure those are the same thing”.

Virgil shook his head.

“You can be annoying when you make everything about yourself and try to be the centre of attention. But you never ignore people when they need you, even if that doesn’t benefit you. You’re willing to give up things you want just to do what you think is right. Hell, Princey, you let go of your pride just to be friends with me. How could anyone think you’re selfish when you’re so stupidly wonderful?”

“I--”

“Don’t get too smug about it” Virgil cut him.

It got quiet for a second. Roman savoured the moment and squeezed Virgil’s hand. His smile began to return to him a little bit.

“Thank you. It means a lot, you have no idea” Roman muttered.

Virgil visibly relaxed. He slumped a bit more, letting himself fall against Roman’s side. The dark hair tickled his collarbone, but Roman wouldn’t ever dream of complaining about it.

“Yeah I do” Virgil whispered, so quietly Roman could have imagined it.

Having Virgil’s head on his shoulder made sense. Like it was meant to be there all along.

“What were you sulking about?” Roman asked.

“Not sulking”.

“Sure thing, All the time low”.

He felt Virgil muffle a laugh against the shoulder pads of his suit.

The laugher died down soon after a long sigh.

“I’ve been thinking about doing something”.

Roman stayed quiet for once, leaving him room to breathe and let things out at his own pace.

“I… I am considering forgiving Janus”, Virgil paused, twisting his neck to see Roman’s expression. “Maybe be friends again if it comes to it”.

A sigh.

His thumb started to move in circles, caressing the back of Virgil’s hand. Roman swallowed.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” he asked tentatively.

“You’re not mad?”

“I don’t know. Should I be? It’s not like I’ve exactly forgotten about all of the bad blood between us. But… he makes Patton very happy and it seems like he’s trying to help, so I don’t know what to feel about it”.

“Roman, I know he hurt you”.

“Is that what you’re worried about?”

“In part. There’s more to it. But I can’t just go and bury the hatchet with him if that would hurt you again”.

A small part of Roman felt good knowing Virgil would keep on being angry with Janus if he wanted him to. In a way, it showed his willingness to stay by his side.

That’s why Roman couldn’t ask him that.

Besides, Janus had been helping him too. It wouldn’t be right for him either, as much as it stung to admit it.

“If that makes you happy, I will be happy too”.

“Yeah, but that’s not what I’m asking. I don’t want to know if you would ignore your issues with Janus for my sake”.

“I really don’t mind--”

“And I know that. But… fuck, Roman, you shouldn’t be constantly forced to put everyone first just to make things better for everybody else except you”.

That was… a lot to take in. Roman didn’t know very well what to respond. Eventually, Virgil must have interpreted his silence as him doing something wrong.

“You’re my friend. I… I care about you. I won’t do something you’re not okay with. You’re more important”.

“No need. It’s okay. Getting over my stuff with Janus is my own

problem. I also care about you, a lot. If you want to be friends with him I’ll support you, it has nothing to do with my problems. You won’t hurt me. I promise”.

“That’s good to hear. I mean, I’m still struggling with the decision and I don’t think I’ll be making up my mind anytime soon. But knowing that helps a lot”.

“Do you want to talk about it more?”

“Hmm. It’s… it’s so confusing. I thought nothing he did could rub off how angry I’ve been at him, make me want to trust him again. Before… well, no need to get into the specifics, but it made me feel very betrayed” his voice trembled a little. “The problem is, he didn’t exactly betray me, so I guess the doubts about whether or not things could go back to what they were, remained”.

Virgil swallowed, trying to compose himself.

“And it sucks because there’s a part of me that can’t tell if this is all part of a big scheme and he’s just trying so hard to be nice to me because he wants something, or because he actually cares. I’m scared of letting my guard down and have him ruin everything I’ve tried to achieve. What if I go back to how I used to be?”

“I won’t let that happen”.

“How can you be sure? How can we be sure of anything when it comes to him?”

“We can’t. But I have no doubts that, no matter what happens, we’ll figure it out. Even if it gets to the worst, you know me and I know you. Most importantly, I believe in you, Virge. I’m not going to tell you, of all people, that there’s nothing to be afraid of. But if you’re scared, know that you can trust me and you can trust who you’ve become. We’ll be fine”.

“Roman…”

For a second, it seemed like Virgil was going to cry, or worse, do something like hug him AND cry.

“To be fair, though”, Roman went back to his usual self. Both would welcome the respite after… well, big conversation to unpack. “I honestly don’t think Janus is planning anything. He’s even trying to get on my good side just to make you happy. I’m not the best side for him to manipulate anymore, not after everything, and he isn’t that stupid. So I’d say the bitch is being sincere. That being clear, it would still be a pleasure to punch him if you asked”.

Virgil shifted a bit.

“Ouch!” Roman shouted after Virgil elbowed him. “What did I do now?”

“You’re dumb”.

“So are you, emo, what’s your excuse?”

“I’m friends with you and I think it might be starting to affect me”.

“Well, it’s about time. I knew even you weren’t impervious to my dashing good looks”.

Oh. Perhaps he had let on too much. Roman tensed up the slightest bit.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever lets you sleep at night, Princey”.

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Taglist: @itsjust-la-me , @bard-in-blue , @simplestoryteller , @winterwynd , @extraintrovertedalien , @some-fander , @the-sad-strawberry

If anyone else wishes to be tagged, just let me know!

[weighty-ghosts]

‘My Favourite Dark Creature’ (wolfstar)

My Favourite Dark Creature, by weightyghosts

“‘The flirtations were getting out of control, and either Sirius knew the effect he had on Remus and enjoyed torturing him, or he was completely oblivious and Remus would have to put up with it for the rest of his miserable, lonely life.’

A story of fantasies and fears, pining, and love languages.”

Rating: Teen

Word count: 2729

Pairing: Remus x Sirius

Published: March 10, 2021

Warnings: None

 https://archiveofourown.org/works/29950935

   “I swear you’ll be the death of me one day,” Remus grumbled at Sirius, straightening up after having almost been decapitated by the case of butterbeer Sirius was levitating.

“It’s possible,” Sirius quipped, “I am heart-stoppingly good looking.”

“‘Stoppingly’ is not a word,” Remus sighed as they continued down the underground tunnel, illuminated only by the bright blue flames Remus had charmed to float above their heads. He twisted his wand so that his own case did an elegant flip over Sirius’. They’d learned by now to put protection charms on the bottles for the hike back from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts. Sirius tended to get bored.

“At least you agree about my looks,” Sirius remarked with a casual toss of his long hair.

“What gave you that idea?”  

“You didn’t disagree,” he replied simply.

“Yeah, but I didn’t agree,” Remus countered.

“Yeah, but you didn’t disagree.”

“Considering my heart is pounding away in my chest,” Remus pointed out in a patronizing tone, “Your theory must be incorrect.”

“Oh it’s pounding away, is it?” Sirius raised his eyebrows, a teasing smile on his lips.

“Don’t make a dirty joke because I said pounding,” Remus pleaded, and neatly skirted his case out of the way when Sirius tried to knock it against the wall.

“I don’t know where your mind is, Mr. Moony-”

“Unfortunately spending too much time with you, Mr. Padfoot.”

“-But I was only going to ask if it’s normal for your heart to be pounding while walking at a leisurely pace? Or,” Sirius stopped abruptly, and pulled Remus to a halt beside him, “Is it being in proximity to an outrageously gorgeous bloke, such as myself, that makes your pulse race?”

“My pulse isn’t racing, thank you very much,” Remus lied, his voice much more stable than he felt. He was mesmerized by the way the dark lighting threw deep indigo shadows on Sirius’ face, accentuating his sharp cheekbones and alluring Cupid’s bow.

“Shall we see?” Sirius whispered. He reached out and brushed his fingers along Remus’ neck, just above his collarbone and up to a spot below his jaw, right where Sirius would be able to feel his frantic heart.

Remus cleared his suddenly dry throat. “My heart rate is faster than yours,” he quickly grasped for an excuse, “Werewolf thing.”

“Really?” Sirius asked, looking from Remus’ neck back up to his eyes as his curiosity was piqued. It was enough of a distraction for Remus to wriggle away from him.

“No,” he grinned over his shoulder as he fled the scene, trying to walk as fast as he could without it seeming like he was actually running from Sirius.

His case of butterbeer bounced off the wall as he rushed around a corner, and he finally spotted the false wall that hid the entrance to the secret passageway. Remus almost groaned with relief. He had to get away from Sirius; the flirtations were getting out of control, and either Sirius knew the effect he had on Remus and enjoyed torturing him, or he was completely oblivious and Remus would have to put up with it for the rest of his miserable, lonely life.

“You know,” Sirius remarked as he appeared behind Remus, “Lying is a huge turn off, Moony.”

“So is your massive ego, Padfoot,” Remus replied.

They set their cases on the ground, tapping them with their wands so that they shrunk down to pocket size. After straightening up with the bottles safely tucked away, Sirius pulled James’ invisibility cloak from his robes and, once again, stepped up to Remus. “I only state the facts, Moony.”

“It’s not like I was trying to turn you on,” Remus said, trying to sound defensive, but failing as his voice wavered when Sirius crowded into his space. He took out his wand and extinguished the blue flames so that Sirius couldn’t see his panicked face, plunging them into near darkness.

“Good,” Sirius retorted in a low voice, and threw the cloak over them. “Neither was I.”

“Good,” Remus echoed, and looked away under the pretence of bending his neck so they would fit without their feet showing. He didn’t know why he played this game with Sirius. It always ended with Sirius having the upper hand, and Remus blushing and running away. He could easily change the subject, talk about disgusting things like bubotuber pus or whatever was growing under Pete’s bed, but apparently he couldn’t help himself.

He could feel Sirius watching him for a moment before he turned and opened the hidden entrance. They came out onto the first floor, stepping around the statue of Gregory the Smarmy as the concealed wall silently moved back into place on its own. They made their way to the main staircase, and Remus braced himself for the intimate trek to Gryffindor tower, intensely aware of the warm air they were sharing, as well as every place their limbs brushed against each other.

“Pete’s birthday should be fun tomorrow,” Remus blurted out, desperate for something to focus on that wasn’t the enticing scent of his best mate’s hair.

“Yeah,” Sirius agreed, glancing sideways at Remus, “As long as we make sure he’s the centre of attention, he’ll have a great time.”

“You mean as long as you sacrifice your own time in the spotlight?” Remus mocked, playfully elbowing Sirius in the side.

“Oi!” Sirius protested, reciprocating with his own elbow jab, “I’m happy to shine the spotlight on a mate when it’s his birthday.”

“So all the girls that will undoubtedly be fawning over you, you’ll send them Pete’s way?”

“Of course.”

“But then who will you let out all of your charm on, Sirius?” Remus pretended to be utterly concerned by this, “I think you might implode if you don’t flirt your way into someone’s knickers at a party.”

Sirius scowled at him in a way that Remus thought he shouldn’t find so damn attractive, but then again, he was fairly sure Sirius could have his eyebrows hexed off and Remus would still want to snog him silly.

“I sense a challenge, Moony,” Sirius declared, “And I accept.”

“I didn’t challenge you,” Remus pointed out, “But I don’t think you could do it anyway.”

“You might be right.” Sirius tapped his chin as he mused on this. “I need an outlet,” he concluded, turning to Remus with a cheeky smile, “How about you, my Moony dearest? Perhaps I’ll woo you at the party tomorrow.”

“Woo me?” Remus snorted, pushing down the frenzied butterflies that had spawned in his stomach. “No, thank you.”

“I see. Well, maybe that’s for the best,” Sirius said with a shrug of casual indifference, “I doubt you could handle the full power of the Sirius Black charm.”

“You don’t think so?”

“Nope. I haven’t met anyone yet who’s been able to resist.”

Remus snickered. “McGonagall does a pretty good job.”

“Nah, Minnie loves it,” Sirius dismissed him with a wave of his hand, “She wants me.”

“What a fun little fantasy world you live in, Sirius.”

“Trust me, Remus,” Sirius dropped his voice as if he were letting Remus in on a furtive secret, “If we were in my fantasy world, this evening would have gone a lot differently.”

Remus stopped walking so suddenly that Sirius almost entirely slipped out from under the cloak. He quickly backtracked and sidled up to Remus, surreptitiously looking around to make sure no one had seen the lower half of his body.  

“What is it?”

What is it? Did Sirius really expect Remus not to pause at his remark? At the possible implication that Sirius might be having fantasies about him? He felt a hot blush creep up his neck, colouring his cheeks.

Sirius must have been able to see his flushed face even in the dimly lit castle, or maybe he could feel the heat radiating off Remus, because he smirked in a thoroughly smug (and distractingly sexy) way. “Told you that you couldn’t handle my charm, Moony.”

“No,” Remus huffed with indignation, “It’s not that.” He tried to reassure himself that Sirius was just kidding. Sure, this might have been taking the flirting further than he ever had before, but Sirius flirted with everyone. What made Remus any different?

“Then what is it?” Sirius asked tentatively. He was chewing on the inside of his cheek, a habit he couldn’t control when he was unsure or nervous, and Remus didn't know what to make of that.

“I was just...” Just thinking about my own fantasies that you star in almost every night, Sirius. No, he couldn’t do it. He didn’t understand Sirius’ feelings or motivations, and not understanding something made Remus uneasy. He swivelled back to familiar territory, “Er, just thinking what a dark and terrifying place your fantasy world must be.”

“Oh,” Sirius exhaled with a shaky laugh. “Yeah, you definitely wouldn’t want to go there,” he said, as they started to softly walk through the halls again, “Spooky stuff.”

“Full of ghosts and ghouls and dark creatures?” Remus teased.

“Yeah, but don’t worry,” Sirius reassured, his mouth pulled into a warm half-smile, “My favourite dark creature is there to keep me company.”

Before Remus could respond, they arrived at the portrait hole, and Sirius looked around for any roaming prefects or professors, before tugging the invisibility cloak off of them. “Treacle tart,” he said to the Great Lady, who grumbled sleepily at them and opened the hidden door to their common room, which was empty due to the late hour.

Remus climbed through first, his thoughts reeling as he waited for Sirius. Remus liked to think he knew Sirius well after more than six years. Sirius wasn’t one to spell out his innermost thoughts and feelings; he hinted at things, showing his emotions through actions, not words. And how did he act with Remus?

Moments of their friendship played inside his mind, quickly flipping past like the scenery through the windows of the Hogwarts Express: Sirius’ gentle hands on him after the full moon; Sirius bringing him his favourite tea; helping Remus with his homework when he’s too exhausted to think straight; pulling a blanket over him when he’s fallen asleep reading; becoming an animagus for him so that he doesn’t have to spend the worst nights of his life alone every month…

It was hard for Remus to admit. Even though his parents had done what they could to make him feel loved, a part of him always suspected that that was out of guilt or obligation. He had spent so much of his life believing he wasn’t good enough, or human enough, to truly be loved. But didn’t Sirius spend every day showing Remus how much he loved him?

They ascended the stairs to the boy’s dorms silently, both lost in thought, and Remus’ doubts began to filter in as quickly as his hope had. Sirius would be mad to choose a dark creature over a whole, healthy human. While Sirius claimed to never be afraid of Remus, friendship was different from a romantic relationship. Wouldn’t he be scared to spend his life with someone like Remus?

They reached their dorm and paused outside it, turning so they faced each other.

“You’re not afraid of him, then?” Remus asked in a low voice, fidgeting with his shirt sleeve.

“Who?” Sirius asked, blinking as if coming out of a haze. He also kept his voice down so as not to alert James or Peter that they were there. “My favourite dark creature?”

Remus nodded minutely. “Must be dangerous, no?”

“Nah,” Sirius grinned as he dismissed that as a ridiculous question, “He’s as harmless as a crup.”

Remus snorted in disbelief, though there was no humour in it.

“It’s true,” Sirius insisted. “Besides,” he murmured, sliding closer so they were almost toe to toe, “What’s life without a little danger, Moony?”

All Remus could hear was his pulse hammering in his ears, and all Remus could see was Sirius looking up at him, his dark grey eyes brewing with a storm of emotion that was yet unfamiliar to Remus. He was pulled towards Sirius as if the gravity that grounded him to the earth had now flowed to the beautiful person in front of him, and he could feel a tectonic shift occurring under the surface of their friendship.

He moved closer, until Sirius’ breath came as warm puffs of air on his face, and just as Remus’ eyes slid down to his lips, they parted as Sirius spoke.

“I am a little afraid, I think,” he confided in a soft voice.

Remus jerked back, not having realized just how close he’d been leaning in, his eyes wide with alarm. He’s afraid of me, he’s afraid of me, I knew it.  

“No!” Sirius exclaimed, “No, Moony, not...I’m not afraid of you,” he hastened to explain. He put his hands up, as if he were going to reach out and place them on Remus’ chest, but reconsidered and dropped them lower, playing with the fabric on the front of Remus’ robes. He was chewing on his cheek again, his gaze focused on his fingers. “I’m just... I don’t want…”

Remus felt that magnetic pull again, like his heart was trying to jump out of his chest and into Sirius’ hands. “You don’t want what?”

Sirius’ shimmering eyes flicked back up to his, and he whispered, “I don’t want-”

They both jumped a foot in the air as the dormitory door was abruptly yanked open, and they leapt apart when James’ confused face peered out.

“What’re you two doing?” He asked, frowning with suspicion.

Sirius put on a smile and patted James’ shoulder. “Just talking about how much we missed you this evening, Prongsie.” He sidled past James without another glance at Remus.

James rolled his eyes and moved aside for Remus to follow. “More like plotting how you’ll get me and Wormy to go on the next Hogsmeade run so you lazy arses don’t have to.”

“We were happy to do it for our Wormy’s birthday,” Sirius refuted in a dignified voice. He stepped over to Peter, who was laying on his bed, and took out his miniature case of butterbeer to hand it to him. Peter grinned as he accepted it.

Remus walked over and did the same, watching as Peter tucked them away in his trunk with the other supplies for the party, and avoided looking at Sirius as they settled in to go over the birthday plan again.

A little while later, Remus was in his pyjamas, brushing his teeth alone in the bathroom, when Sirius came in. He wandered over to the sinks and hovered next to Remus, methodically taking out his toothbrush and squeezing on his favourite rhubarb toothpaste, a thoughtful expression on his face. Remus was rinsing his mouth and about to bolt from the room when Sirius spoke.

“I was thinking, Moony,” he garbled around his toothbrush, looking up into the mirror so their eyes met. “I don’t know if we have enough butterbeer for tomorrow.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” Sirius nodded earnestly, “We might have to go back to Hogsmeade before the party.”

Remus saw a glint of a promise, a secret, in Sirius’ eyes, and he felt those same frenzied butterflies migrate back into his stomach.

“‘We’ as in…”

“You and me, of course,” Sirius stated, as if this were obvious, and leaned down to spit into the sink before rinsing his mouth. He turned towards Remus, their faces inches away, and Sirius reached out to tug gently on the hem of Remus’ shirt, “That tunnel is spooky,” he continued in a low voice, “I’ll need my werewolf there with me.”

Remus could see in the mirror that his mouth had popped open in surprise, but he couldn’t seem to get his brain working again to do something about it. He should respond, but his mind was completely empty, except for the vague thought that Sirius still looked gorgeous with toothpaste on his chin.

Sirius suddenly dropped his hand and stepped back, beaming at Remus. “‘Night, Moons,” he said cheerily, then dashed out of the room, leaving Remus staring after him.

That night, it took Remus a long time to fall asleep, but when he did, it was with a smile on his face, and the words, ‘my werewolf,’ playing on repeat in his head.

*

[scarletjedi]

Untitled Untamed Time Travel Fixit AU but make it Mingcheng

@piyo-13

Part 1

Part 2A

PART 2B: GUSU UNLEASHED

Nie Huaisang immediately grabs a piece of blank paper to write a message back to Nie Mingjue, leaving Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian staring at each other. “Well,” Wei Wuxian said after a minute. “Aren’t you going to write to him, too?”

Jiang Cheng startled, he’d been too caught up in Huaisang’s words, “He’s alive!”. He had been prepared to go through the process of meeting Nie Mingjue again, of hopefully catching his attention, of watching A-Jue fall for him the way Jiang Cheng had fallen years ago — that his lover was here, alive, and *knew him* had not had time to process.

Trembling, Jiang Cheng moved from his bed, weak limbs pouring him like water until he was sat up against the table, taking the paper that Huaisang handed him. He stared, blankly. What to *say*?

“Tell him you love him,” Wei Wuxian said from his bed.

“Tsk, he knows that,” Jiang Cheng said with little snap.

“Then tell him you want to fuc—”

“Ah, la la la la!” Nie Huaisang said, covering his ears, and Wei Wuxian fell back laughing. Nie Huaisang winked at him. “Be honest,” he said. “But be short,” he looked down at his own missive. “All of this needs to fit on the bird.”

Nodding, Jiang Cheng picked up his brush. After a moment, he put ink to paper, writing in quick, sure strokes. He fanned the paper back and forth a few times to dry the ink faster, and folded the note to hand to Huaisang. Huaisang took it with a grin and ran from the room to send the message back.

“What did you write?” Wei Wuxian asked.

“None of your business.”

Two days later Nie Zonghui would bring the messages to Nie Mingjue, who would open Huaisang’s note, only to have a smaller note fall free. He would pick it up with a small frown before reading Huaisang’s note, smiling — blinking, then reading the note again. “If he put nearly have the effort into studying...” he muttered and Zongui would hide a smile. Then, Mingjue would open the smaller missive, nearly dropping the paper in shock, scrambling to catch it. “Sect Leader?” Zonghui would ask, and when Nie Mingjue looked up, he would be beaming.

Now, Nie Mingjue, who had fought, lead, and won a war, lead a sect, and died a slow, agonizing descent into his greatest fears, finds himself once more at 19, newly made Section Leader, and the clearest minded he’s been in years, without the damage caused by cultivating a war and...well. He wasn’t actually sure *how* Meng Yao managed to kill him, just that he knew he had.

Which was another problem. By this point, Huaisang was safely in Cloud Recesses, but Meng Yao was on his way back to Qinghe. It would take him most of a week to return, traveling on horseback as he was, and Nie Mingjue wasn’t sure what reception Meng Yao should receive.

Meng Yao, long before he was renamed by his father, had acted in ways that were counter to the values of the Nie sect. Even if Nie Mingjue were to overlook the crimes he committed as Jin Guangyao, or the atrocities he participated in as a torturer for Wen Ruohan, his crimes began in Qinghe.

Crimes that, as far as Nie Mingjue was aware, had not yet happened. Even before Meng Yao had used the chaos of an attack to kill the captain of his guardNie, Mingjue was never sure how much Meng Yao spoke was the truth — just knew that at one point he was sure Meng Yao had never lied to him, and then was never sure Meng Yao was not lying.

In his previous life, Nie Mingjue turned most often to Lan Xichen for council, particularly wher Meng— Jin Guangyao was concerned. Then, as years passed, Xichen would turn ever more towards Jin Guangyao first, and Nie Mingjue found himself turning to Jiang Wanyin as their wartime sparring turned to tent-side comfort, to comraderie to courtship.

A-Cheng.

For all that Mingjue had more years of experience leading a sect, Wanyin’s experience was a similar enough trial by fire to grant him insight, and an outsider enough to the triumvirate to offer an outsider’s clarity.

Truly, his love possessed an uncanny wisdom hidden behind brusque words and toothless threats.

He wished for Wanyin’s council now. He wished for his presence. It had already been too long since they had last seen each other before Mingjue made his last, fateful visit to Jinlintai. It would likely be several months, if not years, before their paths would cross once more.

And— he missed his lover as a lover. Wanyin was a beautiful man, strong and proud and fierce and so sweet in private. A joy and a challenge.

Getting Huaisang’s letter was bittersweet because his didi had already suffered so much: even the first time, Mingjue had wanted Hauisang’s youth to be as worry free as possible, to have the freedom to be careless in a way Mingjue never had. And sweet, because it meant that Mingjue wasn’t alone in this.

Getting Wanyin’s message was a blessing and a curse. He had already resigned himself to wait, to reach out to the Jiang Sect in support to save Wanyin his own heartbreak, to court him properly from the beginning. To know that his love was here, and yet still so far out of reach...

Huaisang’s letter boiled down to “plan in motion. Do not engage.” Which...

“Didi,” Nie Mingjue muttered. “What are you doing?”

Because, the thing is, Mingjue would *like* to listen to Huaisang. Mingjue was tired, and doing the right thing was an increasingly difficult and murky task....but Mingjue was also a just and righteous man. Certain actions he would take no matter what...and certain actions he would not.

The facts were thus:

Meng Yao had killed him in a way that was both intensely malicious and duplicitous. (Nie Mingjue was unsure as to his motive. What did Meng Yao gain aside from petty revenge? No, the method was revenge. The act...the act was something different).

Meng Yao had not, as of yet, committed any crime, nor was he currently capable of the technique that had been used to kill Mingjue.

Nie Mingjue could not in good conscience kill a man who had committed no crime, nor could he stand by and allow another to fall off the righteous path when it was within his power to prevent. (Was it within his power?)

So, Nie Mingjue could neither punish Meng Yao for crimes he had not yet committed, nor could was he able to relax in Meng Yao’s presence the way he had the first time around.

...Maybe Huaisang had ideas.

[later] “I can’t believe this!” Huaisang glared at the letter from his brother. Jiang Cheng’s own letter sat in his pocket to be perused later. It felt almost hot, the way his focus continually drifted towards the folded paper, but he knew better than to read his lover’s letter in front of Huaisang. Not if he wanted to keep any pretense to dignity.

“What is it?” he prompted when Huaisang fell silent, re-reading furiously.

“He wants to rehabilitate Meng Yao! His own murderer!”

“Meng Yao didn’t come back with the rest of us,” Jiang Cheng offered. “He’s not the man who killed your brother. Not yet, anyway.”

“You didn’t see—” Huaisang cut himself off, looking away and biting his lip. Jiang Cheng shifted, focusing on the letter to let the heat of its presence chase away the chill of the reminder that when his lover had died, Jiang Cheng wasn’t there.

“A tiger can not change his stripes,” Nie Huaisang muttered, and hid his face behind his fan.

[The discussion over what happens to Meng Yao plays out thusly:

NHS: I don’t want to kill Meng Yao, Da-ge! I just don’t want him alive. Anymore.

NMJ: Didi, no.

NHS: Didi, yes!

Ultimately, NMJ pulls the big brother/sect leader card and says they have time to deal with Meng Yao, and since Meng Yao was currently NMJ’s problem, he would deal with it. NHS threw a tantrum that reminded everyone that yes, NHS is related to NMJ by blood, but finally went: “fine! It’s not like the *whole reason* we came back wasn’t to fuck up all of his shit!” and adjusted his plans again.]

When he goes back to his room, Jiang Cheng finds himself alone. He can bet that Wei Wuxian will be off with Lan Wangji (and no, Jiang Cheng doesn’t know why Wei Wuxian hasn’t just moved in with his boyfriend, considering how often he comes skittering into the room just on the wrong side of curfew, mussed and bruised in a very specific way that Jiang Cheng a) wants to know no more about and b)isn’t jealous of, fuck off.), so he has time to read his letter.

Cheng-er,

We never were a pair for letters, you and I, preferring to steal time for each other like a pair of romantic thieves. I regret, now, not making more time to woo and court you properly then — though I fear I already had all you could give — not desire, you showed me your hunger for me readily enough, matched only by my hunger for you — but hours of the day.

I think very fondly of our nights.

This second chance makes me desire to do better, to build you a place in my life from the start, as I hope you build a place for me. We are young, yet, and have time to hope.

I miss you, Wanyin. Cheng-er. Please write to me. A letter is a poor substitute for your fire, but I will cherish even these scraps above silence.

Yours,

A-Jue

Jiang Cheng wasn’t sure how long he was there, re-reading the letter, when Wei Wuxian tumbled in, only to stop when he caught sight of Jiang Cheng.

“Jiang Cheng! You’re pink!” Wei Wuxian crowed, pointing a finger and laughing at the way Jiang Cheng startled. “Who wrote to you to make you blush? What did he say?”

“None of your business,” Jaing Cheng snapped, tucking the letter away.

A-Jue,

Who gave you the right to write such a letter? Who would believe the NIe Sect leader to be so shameless? You can take a lesson from your brother in poetry if you are planning to continue!

Building a space — as if I did not rebuild my piers with a place for you. As if you had not already crawled into my heart to live.

I lost you once, A-Jue. I will not lose you again.

I await your next letter,

Yours, always,

Cheng-er

Jiang Cheng hands the folded paper to Nie Huaisang, face burning. For once, Nie Huaisang doesn’t tease, doesn’t give him a knowing smirk. Instead, his eyes are kind, and he takes the letter with little fanfare, tucking it neatly into his own missive to be sent off at once.

When the next letter comes, Jiang Cheng doesn’t even bother waiting, taking the letter and retreating to the sound of Nie Huaisang’s laughter.

Cheng-er

You want poetry, do you?...

Jiang Cheng’s eyes skip over the page and he gasps aloud, face burning as he looks around to see that no one else is near. To write such things! Shameless! But...oh, how it lights a fire in him, and he’s breathless with his, dizzy with sudden, frustrated want that he cannot satisfy.

In the end, Nie Mingjue was right. The words are a poor substitute, but Jiang Cheng would not trade this letter for anything.

The next morning, Jiang Cheng approaches Wei Wuxian with an idea for a long-distance communication array, one that could be personally powered and used. The reasons he gives are all to do with military strategy, but he needn’t have bothered. The challenge to create something new has Wei Wuxian distracted immediately, and he wanders off to the library mid-sentence.

The next free afternoon they have in Caiyi, Jiang Cheng purchases a wooden box, cleverly built with locking compartments and false bottoms. It is perfectly sized for folded letters.

Time passes. Now that Jiang Cheng has thirteen years of lived experience - and hard years of war and cuthroat sect politics and rebuilding his sect - the lessons aren’t easier, per say, but they have context that he missed the first time. HIs understanding is more in depth, which quickly makes him a favorite of Lan Qiren to call on — even if his actual answer (usually “threaten them with Zidian”) wasn’t the answer he provided in class. Wei Wuxian was also a calmer presence in class - still questioning, still pushing limits, but when Lan Qiren calls on Wei Wuxian to answer his questions, Wei Wuxian’s answers are thoughtful, inventive, but within the bounds of conventionality. Surprisingly, it’s Lan Wangji who suggests solutions that boarder on the heretical — solutions that Jiang Cheng knows come to pass, such as the spirit attraction flags.

It’s enough to make Lan Qiren change colors, and judging by the tiny smirk on LWJ’s face, it’s absolutely deliberate. (The one class that Lan Xichen sits in on is, actually, hilarious, as he seems consistently torn between laughter and exasperation at his brother’s small rebellion).

Nie Huaisang, however, seems to be *genuinely struggling* with the material. So much so that Jiang Cheng takes pity and drags him (and Wangxian) into the library one afternoon to actually study rather than their usual spot by the river where they would refine their plan to keep everyone alive that they actually cared about keeping alive, and killing those who needed killing as efficently as possible. (“That’s a rather blunt way of thinning about this, Jaing Cheng,” WWX said to him. JC had just shrugged. He didn’t see the reason to couch the truth in political double speak when he didn’t have to”)

After an hour or so, Nie Huaisang slumped forward over the table, thumping his forehead against he lacquered wood. “It’s no use. I’m going to have to repeat this year again, *again*”

“I don’t understand it,” Jiang Cheng said. He knew that Huaisang was smart; he figured out Jin Guangyao’s plot, he successfully modified the time travel array — Jiang Cheng was pretty sure he ran Qinghe’s spy rin duing the war, though that had never been confirmed. “I know you know things.”

“I don’t,” he wailed. “I don’t know anything. Don’t ask me.”

“I don’t mean to alarm anyone,” Wei Wuxian said, leaning in and keeping his voice low. “But we have a spy in our midst.”

“Those rumors were never proven,” Huaisang said, sniffling.

“Not you,” Wei Wuxian said, and angled his head in a way that he only thought was subtle towards where Jin Zixuan was sitting, stiff and imperious, with an exasperated Luo Qingyang. “He’s been doing that a lot,” he said.

Jiang Cheng watched him for a long moment, trying to remember the frustration he felt with a young Jin Zixuan who hadn’t yet unlearned the smug superiority of Jinlintai...but all he could see was little Jin Ling, awkward from growing up alone and desperately lonely (except Jin Ling had picked up Jiang Cheng’s bad habit of expressing any emotion as anger, and it seemed Zixuan had chosen...smug silence.)

“Aw, crap,” Jiang Cheng muttered, because as soon as he realized it, he knew what he had to do. Pushing himself up, he stalked over to Jin Zixuan, ignoring the hissed complaints of Wei Wuxian, and stared down at him, arms crossed.

“What do you want?” Jin Zixuan sneered. Behind him, Luo Qingyang rolled her eyes, and Jiang Cheng huffed.

“Cute. But you got nothing on my mother.” Jin Zixuan blinked, surprise loosening some of the stiffness in his posture. Rolling his eyes, Jiang Cheng snapped. “Look. You’re not subtle. We see you. So do you want to sit with us or not?” He looked between them. “Both of you.”

Jin Zixuan nodded, then blinked as if surprised at himself. Luo Qingyang stood to salute, but Jiang Cheng waved it off.

“Great, come on,” Jiang Cheng said, and turned around, not waiting to see if they. He sat back in his seat, shifting books to make room. He didn’t really want to sit next to Zixuan, but with Nie Huaisang sprawled over his books and Wei Wuxian practically in Lan Wangji’s lap, it was the only safe place for them.

Nie Huaisang sat back, looking at Jiang Cheng over his fan. “What?” He snapped.

“Softie,” Nie Huaisang said softly, and Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes.

“He needs to learn, and Luo Qingyang is the only one at Jinlintai right now that I trust,” he muttered.

Wei Ying squinted at Jiang Cheng, as if trying to figure something out, but when Jin Zixuan and Luo Qingyang appeared, he blinked at her, surprised, and perked up in recognition. “Mianmian!”

Which, of course, was the wrong thing to say. Jin Zixuan puffed up, and Lan Wangji hissed a pained Wei Ying, and Nie Huaisang was being no help. So, Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes again and translated.

“No offense meant, Lady Luo,” he said. “My brother’s memory for names is notoriously bad, but he means no disrespect by his over familiarity.”

Thankfully Luo Qingyang smiled. “No offence taken, Young Master Jiang. If your offer is genuine, and we are to be friends, then you may call me Mianmian.”

Jaing Cheng smiled. “Then please join us, Mianmian. I am Jiang Cheng.”

That caused everyone to look at him, and he glared. “What?! I have manners.”

“Jiang-xiong is quite a gentleman,” Nie Huaisang agreed, mildly, and Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes. That tone always meant mischief.

“And you’re a pain in my—”

“No excess talking in the library,” Lan Wangji interrupted, staring placidly back when Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng both glared at him. Well, Jiang Cheng glared. Nie Huaisang pouted.

After a moment, Jin Zixuan grunted softly, as if someone had elbowed him in his ribs. He cleared his throat. “What are you working on?” he asked woodenly, as if speaking from a poorly rehearsed script. Out of the corner of his eye, Jiang Cheng saw Mianmian nod encouragingly.

“We’re trying to help Nie-xiong pass the next exam,” Wei Wuxian offered.

“Who’s we?” Jiang Cheng muttered, flipping his book open once more. “Unless sitting in Lan Wangji’s lap is a new study method.”

Nie Huaisang giggled behind his fan as Wei Wuxian squawked, reaching out to smack Jiang Cheng’s shoulder, only to be hauled back with apparent ease by Lan Wangji.

Lan Wangji who, arms wrapped securely around Wei Wuxian, stared square at Jiang Cheng and said. “It is an advanced technique.”

“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian protested, going pink in the face, and Nie Huaisang’s giggles turned to outright laughter.

Jin Zixuan leaned into to Jiang Cheng. “Is it always like this?”

Jiang Cheng shrugged. “Pretty much. Those two decided shame was for other people a long time ago.”

“I...have questions,” Jin Zixuan said.

Jiang Cheng turned and looked at him. “You know, so do I. But mine might involve yelling, so the library probably isn’t the best place for them.”

(It takes a while to build up to the conversation, a few weeks until Jin Zixuan is comfortable enough to sit with them without Mianmian as a social buffer. He’s still insufferable, but more and more Jiang Cheng sees the kid he remembers from childhood visits, and even shades of the proud yet just man that he almost had a chance to fully grow into being.)

Meanwhile, something is shifting between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, the simmering tension between them boiling over, and Jiang Cheng is both sure that they’ve actively started fucking and and sure that he wants *absolutely nothing to do with it.* He does not want to hear it, see it, smell it — which makes it difficult when Wei Wuxian proves that he has no filter, and Lan Wangji proves he has no shame.

What had actually happened was Lan Xichen had approached Lan Wangji and said that he was glad LWJ was making friends, and hey, haven’t you been spending an awful lot of time with that Wei Wuxian kid? Don’t worry, little brother, I’ll keep Uncle off your back.” LWJ was unsure if Xichen knew that LWJ and WWX were together, but was unsure how to clarify. Every time he tried, LXC seemed to double down on his interpretation of their relationship as being the same as his with NMJ (and while NMJ thought LXC was pretty, he was more interested in Xichen’s swordplay than his *swordplay*) - and LWJ decided that the best course of action was to kiss Wei Wuxian as much as possible as often as possible.

For the record, Lan Xichen was well aware of his little brother’s inclinations, and was quite enjoying his own spot of harmless rebellion by encouraging Wangji’s shamelessness. Besides, Wei Wuxian was a good match for Wangji, and it was a relief to see Wangji smiling. Perhaps it was time to begin drafting some marital paperwork. It wouldn’t do to be caught unprepared, afterall.

He hoped they married in the spring. He always loved a spring wedding...

Somewhere, Jiang Cheng felt a chill.

NEXT TIME - THE RETURN OF THE MAIN PLOT