#I will get this second chapter done this week (delusional) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

h0ranghaae · 5 months

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from the first hi to the first i love you, chapter I:

the first time we stayed alone (but in the crowd)

mason mount series

genre: angst, fluff, smut, comedy attempts

warnings: language

word count: 2,7k

a/n: god knows i wanted it to be a one-shot thing, but then i realized how many chapter ideas i got, so i didn't want to rush and make it look like a brief description of each timeline. please, please tell me what you think about it 🤧 all genres and warnings will depend on a chapter!! (the story starts on may, 14th, 2023)

"Babe, I'm really sorry, but they'll eat me alive if I don't finish it in time," your best friend, Sonia, says with pleading eyes, and you pout. You came to London from Manchester to spend your week off with her, but her boss had different plans. "I know, I promised you a fantastic time here, so I've figured things out for tonight."

"How so?" the interest in your voice is genuine.

"I asked Mason to take you out today, so get ready for The National Gallery, the tickets are already boug-"

"Whoa, stop talking so fast – I know you want to confuse me so I will say yes," you place both of your hands on the kitchen table to steady yourself – mentally. Sonia looks closely at you across the table, so you continue. "Firstly, my fantastic time can only be spent with my best friend, not with her husband's friend."

"But you've known each other for around three years," she scowls. "He gave you so many rides."

"When I was with you," you protest. "When your Ricky was with us. And, secondly, The National Gallery? I can admire you, sitting in front of your computer, with the same pleasure."

"No, you’re going with Mason. You need to get out. Besides, he already bought the tickets. When he’s done at the training center, he will pick you up – so you have, like, two hours to get ready."

You sigh. Sonia feels guilty for not being the best entertainer – but you never expected her to be one. Still, she comes up with the weird decision you can’t decline yourself, because then you will be the one who feels guilty. Also, you are pretty sure Mason said yes to her for the same reasons.

Mason is a nice, polite, funny guy with warm doe eyes and a perfect nose. But he is not your friend. You don’t really know how to act around him – partly because you are sure that if not for Ricky, your paths will never cross. He is from a different planet – a planet of fame, interviews on national channels, trips all around the globe, and big money. And you don’t have a rocket to visit this faraway planet.

There is another reason to avoid him like a plague, though.

You have a little – or medium-sized – crush on him and you can’t allow it to gain any control over your brain. Or your heart especially.

"Do you want me to help you with your hair?" Sonia asks you, and you narrow your eyes at her through the bathroom mirror.

"Aren't you supposed to be working?" you huff, wrapping a strand of your hair around the barrel of the curling iron.

"I took a break," she rolls her eyes. "It's like you're getting ready for prom and the school heartthrob is already waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs. I can't miss it."

You shake your head at her giggles. "You're acting like a crazy teenager."

"Then why are you smiling?"

"Because you're funny!" you exclaim. "It's just Mason, and suddenly you're making a big deal out of it."

"But you're finally getting to the next level with him," Sonia raises her eyebrows, and you finally turn to face her, finished with your preparations.

"Yeah, from getting lifts anytime I'm in London to going to museums without even planning and wanting it. Besides, don't forget there is Jacob back in Manchester."

"Yeah," she rolls her eyes for the second time in less than three minutes. "When was the last time you saw him? Two weeks ago? Three? Sounds legit, for sure. Absolutely worthy."

Your weak attempt to disagree is killed with the sound of the intercom, and you're relieved you don't have to come up with delusional excuses to make your (almost) relationship with Jacob look not that bad as it is in reality.

You really like him, and you're so ready to open your heart to him – if you haven't done it already – but the local DJ (and you're wondering why this pathetic fact of him still doesn't give you an ick) is too busy, afraid, or just stupid to commit to anyone.

Or just to you. Or it's you who are just stupid.

"The heartthrob's here!" Sonia yelps, already pressing the button to let Mason in. You've never seen her move that fast. She was the worst at PE in high school.

"Oh dear God," you sigh, while putting on your jacket. Well, it's way easier to act annoyed when your knees are weak because of how nervous you are. You're right, you tell yourself, a very pale version of yourself in the mirror, it's just Mason, the old good lad Mason, and you're just making yourself crazy for nothing. At the end of the day, you really like Mason and don't want your frustration to be projected onto him.

Things with Jacob will get better, and even if Mason isn't your friend, you can still have a good time together tonight. And he can become your friend. And just the thought of it makes your heart swell.

"Hi there," you turn your head toward his gentle voice, always remembering how surprised you were the first time you heard him speak. His voice is so delicate and warm — the exact opposite of how manly he looks.

"Hi," you return his smile, letting him pull you in for a side hug.

"I didn't know you were in London until yesterday," Mason says.

"Yeah, because you weren't on my bingo card," you muse. "But the best event planner ever knows better, I suppose."

"Oh, get out already and let me work and you have fun. And don't come back earlier than after 4 hours. You know the directions, Mason, so take my bestie and go," Sonia taps on the wall next to the front door.

"Never felt more welcomed, bestie," you say, following Mason out of the apartment. And while he's standing in front of the lift, pressing the silver button, you turn to Sonia to whisper, "Text me every two minutes, so he won't think I'm some sort of hermit."

"Constant notifications can kill the vibe," she whispers back.

"What the fuck?" you make your words audible only for her. "That makes no sense."

"Sorry to interrupt, ladies, but the metal carriage is waiting," Mason distracts you, and Sonia takes this opportunity to shut the front door of her apartment. "After you," he gestures for you to step into the lift first, and you can't help but smile at him, entering the cabin.

The doors are closed now, and you're standing extremely close to him so you can smell his cologne – magnetic and just... Delicious.

"I like your perfume," you blurt out. "Is it Tom Ford?"

He hums in agreement, a smile playing at the corner of his lips. "You're lucky, I took a shower after training. Just for you."

"How thoughtful," you reply. "But if I'm really lucky today, the universe will spare me from your amazing jokes."

"Nah, you're not that lucky, sorry," and with this, your trip through eighteen floors of the building is over. "Buckle up and let's explore the art. But let me warn you," he places his hand on your shoulder in a secretive manner and whispers in your ear, "The real art is you and me, so be ready – people will stare."

"Are we late?" you ask, and Mason just shrugs, scratching the back of his neck, totally unsure. The doors of the gallery are closed, despite his several attempts to pull and push the door handles.

"It seems to be fate," Mason says with a smile. "So, Starbucks for starters?"

"Just admit you manifested it," you follow him, silently appreciating that he slowed his usual pace for you. "I doubt you ever wanted to go here."

"Yeah, that's why I picked you up at five o'clock – I knew they close at six."

"Really?!"

Mason stops and looks at you in pure disbelief, "Of course not," he huffs. "It was sarcasm," he explains, but can't suppress a giggle escaping his mouth.

"You're so unserious," now it's your turn to huff, but when he places his hand on your lower back while you cross the road at the green light, you're suddenly out of words.

Your skin burns at this spot despite two layers of clothes – not a good sign at all. But the questions that are generated in your head – oh, they're even worse. Why does he do it? To make sure you're matching his pace? Does he want you to be safe? Did Sonia ask him to do so? Do all well-mannered men do it?

Does he like you?

The disgustingly sweet coffee you both ordered at Starbucks helps you get rid of these confusing and unnecessary thoughts. Not for long, unfortunately.

"I can feel my teeth rotting at this moment," Mason moans after taking a sip from his cardboard cup. "But it's so good. Let me taste yours."

You willingly hand him your cup, and he wraps his palm around yours, positioning both of your hands higher – this simple action makes you hold your breath without even realising it.

"Wow, that was easy to get," he laughs and wraps his lips around the straw.

"Drink it already," you roll your eyes. "And I will start praying that you don’t have any contagious diseases."

He makes a face at you, swallowing the coffee like it's fish oil – or something even worse tasting. "You should have warned me – it's terrible. Right now, I'm doing my best not to stick out my tongue in disgust."

"Oh, Mason, you're so brave. Thank you for telling us your story," your hand slides out of his tender grip as you continue to walk. "For the record, mine has one syrup less than yours."

"It's what you call a difference maker."

"Stop it already, I know it's a reference to you on the pitch," you laugh. You genuinely laugh. Mason is effortlessly funny – you knew it already, but today you finally had a chance to experience it to the maximum. And he's witty too – amazing with words, and you really like the way he talks – passionately, but in a calm voice, looking straight in your eyes, following every reaction of yours.

Mason closes the distance between the two of you in one wide step and lowers his head to your level. "By the way, I don't have any diseases," his whisper causes goosebumps all over the skin of your neck and you hum in response. "For the future."

The future and you are divided by a distance, you think, while Mason and you, at least at this moment, are not.

He insisted that you have to sit not across from each other at this fancy restaurant in the heart of London, but next to each other, and you silently agree, not wanting to miss the opportunity to feel him closer. His shoulder brushes yours when he's slicing the steak, and you turn your head to him.

"Did you make the reservation months in advance or did your fame help you sneak in ahead of turn?"

Mason just smiles at you, even though he's not happy that you asked the question while he's chewing and can't respond to your words, and you raise your brow.

"I'm surprised you're not talking with your mouth full," you mock him, and he playfully rolls his eyes.

"I booked it three months in advance," he says as you thankfully nod at the waiter refilling your glass of wine. "Three months ago, I knew that May fourteenth would be marked as our first date on my wall calendar."

"Oh, that infamous Mason's wall calendar with pictures of kittens?" you half expected him to say something along those lines, something bold yet simple, but what you didn't expect was him handing you his fork with a slice of meat on it. The gesture was nice, caring, and... heartwarming?

"Kittens in flower gardens," Mason corrects you as a content smile appears on his features when you take the slice off the fork and into your mouth, chewing slowly.

The food is great, the wine is even better, and your entertainer is one of England's most eligible bachelors. Sometimes life is good.

"It's a shame you can't drink," you whine, holding Mason by his forearms, and he shows his perfect teeth, still not destroyed by the sugary coffee he had, in a wide smile.

"Let's drink when I'm on summer break?" he suggests, his hands rubbing your sides. His chocolate eyes follow yours, and you can't help but get magnetised by his soft gaze. He calls your name softly, feeling that he has to get the needed answer from you. "So, how does it sound?"

"See you on your summer break then," you lightly pat his chest and he laughs.

"What about before? You know I'm all fun even sober."

"Let's see, Mason. It's not like I have a door in my Manchester flat that leads me directly to you."

"It's changeable, though," he says, looking above your head. It feels like he's talking more to himself than to you, but you elaborate anyway.

"Changeable? Mason Mount, are you a constructor of a teleportation machine?" you ask in mock disbelief.

"Maybe so," he plays along, and you laugh. Suddenly, after five glasses of fine wine, everything Mason says sounds even funnier than before.

He wraps his arms around your shoulders, and you mirror his motion, holding onto his waist.

"Thank you for today," your voice is muffled as you mumble into his beige bomber jacket – which smells just so amazing, enveloping you in an aroma cloud. "I really liked it."

"So did I," Mason says, and you're thankful he doesn't reject your clingiest side, never breaking the hug you dragged him into in the first place. "Pinky promise we will go out more?"

"Sure, but I'm done for today," you say. "It's a good thing you didn't drink, though – at least I have you as my personal driver back home."

"Oh, look at you," he imitates an adoring voice. "Making me feel so needed and desired."

"In high demand, yep," you confirm. "Promise me I'm your favorite passenger."

You can feel Mason pulling back from the hug so he can raise his pinky, and you shove off his hand with a smile. The dark-haired man smiles back at you, so sweet and tender – it makes your poor heart beat a hundred times faster.

"Oh my god," Sonia squeezes you in a hug as soon as you get to her apartment. "You look so happy! And... Wait a second, are you drunk?"

"Not drunk, just a little tipsy, that's all, but-"

You tell her everything, trying not to sound too excited, and Sonia, being the best friend ever, asks for every possible and impossible detail. Seizing the opportunity, you ask the same question you asked Mason in the restaurant.

"Does it matter?" Sonia asks in return. "Other things are way more important!"

"No, they're not. What if the only reason we ended up in this restaurant was that he was dumped by someone? Or did he dump someone? And here I am, just a backup plan."

"Oh, shit," Sonia breathes out, and you lift your head, your fingers stopping their random patterns on the soft material of the cushion. Well, you’re anxious now. "You're already thinking about it, aren’t you?"

You roll your eyes as she laughs, but when you stay silent, she goes on. "I’m pretty sure he’s famous and rich enough to get a reservation in four hours max. You had a wonderful evening – all kudos to me – so don’t spoil the aftertaste with your thoughts!"

"Yeah, my thoughts… Completely unnecessary as always," you laugh, raising your hands in defeat.

It was a wonderful evening, and you even want to jokingly think that this evening proves that all "bros before hoes" manifestos can be thrown out of the window, but, in reality, you can’t. Because Mason, as you thought before, is closer to becoming your bro than anything else. But at the end of the day, the distance will divide Mason and you again. You and your long-distance friend.

#mason mount scenarios #mason mount #mason mount scenario #mason mount imagine #mason mount imagines #mason mount fanfic #mason mount fluff #mason mount x reader #mason mount x y/n

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clovermarigold · 4 months

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Daggers & Daffodils Chap. 27

Dagur x Reader I'm back!!! And better yet. I am done with my schooling (until I seek higher education). I was stuck writing in-between my equivalent of finals and study sessions, and on top of that I had a last second surgery that basically put me out of commission for a week and kind of out of it, but I have had absolute brain rot over this fictional man. Someone over on my Tumblr said he should be named Dagur the delusional and I've been rolling in my grave ever since. Thank you all for the wait and your support, you all sent wonderful messages and I read every one of them, enjoy the chapter <3

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You stepped back from Dagur's iron grip as he cackled uncontrollably "It took you long enough. And here I was thinking Hiccup tempered you". "You've gone mad" you wheeze out when Dagur's arms squeeze the air out of your lungs in a gripping side hug. "Couldn't have. Always have been" with a dramatic flop the two of you fell to the bed, his arms still wrapped around you.

You laid uncomfortably, staring at the ceiling while Dagur was content to bury his face into your hair. "You know you can yell at me, right?" you caught off guard by Dagur's sudden speech. You huff out your nose, "If I were to start now, then I'd never stop".

"If it means I would get to listen to you for the rest of my life, so be it" his fingers began to play with your hair, twisting it in loops around his index.

"...My father is going to kill you" The bed began to shake as Dagur let out wheezing laughter, different from his usual obnoxious and loud deranged laughter. No. This was unnerving, he was actually trying to reel himself in. Tears brimmed the edges of his eyes as his body shook violently, hissing laughter escaping through gritted teeth. Pupils narrowed, eyes watery, and red, trained on you left you feeling terrified for both your father and brother, "He'd try".

"Where is my Dragon, Dagur?" Suddenly you needed to know where your dragon was. It was clear that whatever was going on with Dagur was getting worse, looks like he isn't one for long distance relationships. Dagur didn't respond, wiping the tears from his eyes and clearing his throat, "You know, the lizard could be a bit more comfortable if you were to answer a few questions. Say... How many riders are at that base of yours". Riders? The edge didn't have any riders. At least not any that were manning the helm in your absence. You certainly weren't going to tell him that. "Drop dead" Dagur's eye twitched, though whether it was from irritation or excitement both confused and terrified you, and you were not curious enough to go through all the trouble that question would certainly entail.

"What did you do to her?" You of course meant Heather, while Silver Tongue was no doubt your priority, you needed to know. While you understood that she was in a vulnerable situation and Dagur was the only family she had left, you would at least think she would come to you first. "It's not dead if that's what you're asking" Dagur rolled his eyes.

"What? No. Heather. Silver Tongue is a boy" Dagur propped himself up with an elbow. "Ha! Silver Tongue? You know if you wanted a silver tongue, I've got one right here" Dagur began to laugh hysterically as you shoved him off the bed glaring at him, "You're disgusting!".

He gave a small shrug, smiling lazily, "eh, a no is a no. But it's always here when you need it". "Well, that's never going to happen" you cross your arms looking down at him. "I have other options too-", "Stop talking!" Dagur entered a coughing fit, laughing and nearly crying at the redness overtaking your features.

"You are the most immature and selfish person I have ever met" you shake your head in disbelief, "I thought we all had it bad with Snotlout but you're something else entirely. Not only are you the absolute maniac I thought you were, who gets off to violence, you're an absolute sadist who enjoys making a fool out of me".

"Hey, I get off to many things about you. Making a fool of you is not one of them" Dagur said slyly. "Unbelievable. And to top things off you can't take anything seriously!" Dagur looked at you, having fully caught his breath "I take you very seriously, love. I just also see that you have a habit of taking things too seriously".

"Being upset at being kidnaped and having my boundaries repeatedly violated is too serious?" you look at him, sarcasm and irritation evident. "First of all, kidnapping is a bit dramatic. And second, if it makes you upset, I'll be more respectful of your boundaries. No more.... risky jokes" He looks over at you and wiggles his eyebrows like a wierdo.

"Want to respect my boundaries? Here's the big one. Don't kidnap me!" Dagur flopped back on the bed, ignoring your attempts to shove him off and away from you. "Y/N, when was the last time you got to make a decision for yourself?" what, what did that have to do with anything.

"Because, from where I'm standing, you were dragged away from Berk to 'catch' me the second I got out of that prison. When was the last time you got a break?" You stayed quiet, "Knowing my brother he's had you jumping from one heroic act to the next".

"Thats our job-" Dagur cut you off, "Not yours! I found you barely able to breathe with your brother no less than an arm's length away. If you don't see what's wrong with that than you need to be away from him much more than I thought".

"Heather was going to kill you. What? Did you want him to let her?" Dagur grew more agitated. "I think I've made it pretty clear that I'm going to kill Hiccup. If he prioritizes saving his murderer over his own sister, then I'm going to have to make it a lot more painful than I first thought".

"He was doing it for Heather, not for you" Dagur though sour, strained to keep himself from screaming. "My sister. Not his. Mine. You can argue all you want about her being your friend. That was a family matter. And he neglected his own in favor of mine.... Then again, I suppose it will be his too soon enough".

"Thats unfair" you felt backed into a corner, you didn't know how you felt about that moment. You had gone so long without having a panic attack and here you were being confronted about it a second time. "What' unfair is that you were put in this situation at all", Dagur's hand wrapped around your forearm, "You don't need to see what happens to your 'friends' when Viggo gets them".

"Viggo?" that was a new name, "You'll meet him soon enough, he's big man Rykee's older brother. Poor thing seems scared of him. Couldn't imagine. Then again, I have a good relationship with my siblings" he laughed making you wonder how serious he was.

"My point is, this is not 'kidnapping'. Hiccup just made you think that it is" you rolled your eyes. "What did you do to Heather?" you gave up on this new conversation Dagur had steered you toward in favor of asking your original question.

"Honestly, nothing" you gave his a look at his obvious lie. "Really. She found me. Told me she had thought it over and realized we were the only family we had left. And blood trumps all, isn't that right?" that didn't sound like Heather.

A loud bell rang from outside, no doubt an alarm system of some sort. "Come on. It seems your friends are a bit over excited" Dagur pulled you up off the bed, "Come? Me too?". "Respectfully, leaving you alone doesn't tend to go well", His hand intertwined with your as he dragged you out the door right behind him.

Well, there went your plan to break out through the window

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End chapter notes:

Sorry this chapter is a little shorter than usual. I realized it had been almost half a year since my last update and really wanted to get something out.

Dagur would choose the bear..... so, he could wrestle it. But he'd choose the bear none the less

@demogorgon-master1

@mj-jabami

@alicee-carter

@amearla

#httyd #dagur the deranged #httyd dagur #dagur #dagur x reader #race to the edge

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onim5 · 27 days

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Yandere Portgas D. Ace, 7

Final Chapter 7: Explain

Female reader

Warnings: .:.:. Idk

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It was hard for Ace to keep himself from murdering anyone. You were right next to him, safe and sound. But there were so many men looking at you. "So Y/n do you enjoy this welcome party?" Thatch asked. "Yes, but some seem to be a bit down." You answered, circling the liquid in your glass. "Oh, it's because of Teach. . . . ." Thatch answered, with a sad frown. "What about him?" You asked, confused. "You haven't told her?" Thatch asked Ace. "Didn't want to worry her," Ace answers, glancing down in his glass. "What's wrong with Teach?" You asked already, having a feeling Ace might be the culprit. Thatch sighed, of course, Ace hadn't told you this could give you an unsafe image of being here.

"He's gone missing, we have no idea if he left on his own, or if it was an accident that might have happened," Thatch explained. "Don't you think it could have been someone?" You asked, glancing at Ace. "I try not to think like that. But if that's the case, the guilty one will be burned." Ace answered, holding up his lightened fist. I guess it's not him. You thought.

The weeks passed, and you did your best to be the perfect woman for Ace. You sat in his room in an armchair he had gotten for you. Ace walked in and then locked the door. Your mind immediately went to the worst-case scenario, the old burn marks he had given you started to itch. Putting away your book, you gave Ace a fake smile. "Is everything alright?" The sweet tone you used made Ace freeze for a second. Then he sighed and sat down on his bed. The silence was that now laid over the room, which made you gulp.

Ace gaze was locked on you. After what felt like hours, he finally spoke. "Do you remember when I told you about my past?" Ace asked. The question caught you off guard. "I do remember. Why?" Ace frowned and then covered his eyes. "That was the first and only time you ever smiled for real, to me. I wanna know what I did so I can do it again. I have barely touched you for these past weeks since you get all that fear in your eyes. I have given you gifts and compliments, but it doesn't make you smile at all. All I get is that fake smile." Ace explained.

You were confused. Did Ace actually care about you in another way? Would he be able to hide or press his obsession away? The things he said are true, after all. He had acted like a real boyfriend. When you didn't answer, Ace continued. "I know what, I have done. I'm not completely delusional. Though I admit I might have been really delusional in the beginning." You looked at Ace's frown. Did he maybe regret what he's done? "What do you mean when you say in the beginning?" You asked changing position.

Ace explained that before he and you left that small little island. You're home. He'd been thinking, dreaming, and, in the end, believing. You were his love and that you love him back. But when he actually started being with you, it felt hollow. And the hard reality hit him. So he tried to ignore it and keep you. "Ace, why did you fall in love with me from the start?" You asked. The question had been there, but you were too afraid to ask. "Do you remember our first encounter?" Ace asked, fidgeting a little with his hat.

After a while of thinking about it, you nooded. "After awhile, you said. "You could be Gold Roger's son, and my love for you still wouldn't change." That sentence changed everything in me since he's my, he's my father." Ace confessed, gritting his teeth. When his eyes scanned you over for any sign of leaving him, the only thing he found was understanding. You looked like someone just gave you all the answers in this very world.

"That explains so much. Both why and a lot from your back story." You mumbled, going through it in your head. "Can I have a second chance, a chance to make us both happy?" Ace asked. Glancing at the mirror, you watched the reflection of both. It was another gift from Ace, one you hadn't asked for. But it was beautiful and really helped you stay sane. In the beginning, Ace burned you. But these past weeks, he's been so nice, kind, and maybe a little bit overprotective. Just like a real boyfriend would.

You didn't want to admit it, but you kinda started to get Stockholm syndrome. He just made it hard to keep on hating him. "Let's try. But I'm gonna need time, so please don't rush me or you."

"The end."

#portgas d. ace #yandere portgas d ace #one piece #fire fist ace #one piece x reader #portgas #portgas d ace #portgas d ace x reader #portgas d ace x y/n #onepiece #one piece ace #yandere portgas d ace x reader #yandere Portgas D Ace 7

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raaorqtpbpdy · 1 year

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Death by Exposure

Written for the Phic Phight Prompts: At first Danny had been worried sick that Wes had figured out that he was Phantom, but when no one believed him it had sort of become funny. Still, after the anti-ecto act, and the GIW, and his own parents very public very violently vitriolic screeds against ghosts, Danny had to wonder what he'd ever done to Wes that the guy would risk exposing Danny to all that. (from @hpwotters-blog, or at least I think that's you're tumblr.), Wes Weston wakes up to find an injured Phantom on the fire escape. (from @half-deadmagicperson), With how much time he spends on basketball and his delusional conspiracy theories, no one would ever suspect that Wes Weston has another secret hobby… (from @kadziduo), And Wes has been spending more and more time around Fenton and Co. lately - hey! he’s only trying to get some much-needed evidence against them, not trying to get all buddy-buddy with them. And anyway, they’re an entirely annoying bunch, so he wholeheartedly blames them for the fact that he’s currently being monologued at by the ghost holding him hostage. (from @a-closet-emo)

Chapter 5: Exposed

AO3 Link

[Warnings death mentions and kidnapping]

Much to both boys' surprise, Wes and Danny bonded during the remaining days of spring break. Even after Danny was fully healed and could go home, they hung out together. Wes even helped him in a ghost fight once or twice. When Sam and Tucker got back from their respective trips, they were dumbfounded.

"Danny, this is definitely just another ploy to gather evidence that you're Phantom," Sam pointed out. "I know you're not the brightest bulb, but even you have to see that."

"First of all, rude. And second of all, I showed up on his fire escape, bleeding out, and he patched me up," Danny told her. He'd already told her twice before. "I really don't think he's all that eager to expose me anymore. For now, at least."

"And how long is that gonna last?" Tucker asked. "How do you know he'll still feel that way tomorrow? Or next week?"

"I rarely ever say this, but Tucker's right," Sam said, crossing her arms. "Your parents and the Guys in White have created a propaganda machine that's constantly pumping out new anti-ghost sentiments. Wes may have resisted so far, but for how much longer?"

"Will you two just trust me?" Danny pleaded. "Ever since he figured out I'm Phantom, Wes has learned a lot more about ghosts than your average Amity Parker. He knows as well as we do that the Guys in White are lying about ghosts being non-sentient. And you're right, he still wants people to know I'm Phantom, but you were also right a couple months ago when you said he didn't want me to get hurt. Do you remember that?"

"We do trust you, Danny," Tucker said. "We just don't understand why you'd trust Wes, unless you're like, being overshadowed, or you lost your mind or something."

"Is that it?" Sam asked. "Have you gone completely insane? Next thing you're gonna tell us is that you've started thinking of Vlad as a father figure."

"Ew," Danny cringed. "It's nothing like that. I just think maybe we misjudged Wes a little bit."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Sam scoffed.

"Great, 'cause he's having lunch with us on Monday, when school starts back up again."

"WHAT?"

Sam and Tucker were none too pleased when Wes joined them in the cafeteria, just like Danny had said he would. But he didn't go on his usual tangent about Danny's secret identity, and, "How am I the only one seeing this? Wake up!" Even when Danny openly mentioned something that happened while fighting ghosts as Phantom, Wes kept it confined to their table.

He did ask a lot of questions about ghosts, though, and every time Danny answered them, Sam and Tucker would give him a look like he'd just sold Fenton Works for a handful of beans.

"What are you doing?" Sam hissed in his ear. "He's going to use this information to expose you!"

"Eventually, maybe, but relax," Danny muttered back. "He's changing his tack, okay? He wants to prove ghosts are sentient first and get the anti-ecto acts repealed."

"Oh, sure, that's a totally attainable goal for a high school student." She rolled her eyes. "Do you really believe he's going to do that?"

"I don't know, but he seems to," Danny told her with a shrug.

"I know you guys are talking about me," Wes said. "If you won't say it to my face, don't say it at all. Put up or shut up."

"Sam says she has no faith in you," Danny told him, and she gasped and punched him in the shoulder. "Ow!"

"That's fair," Wes said. "She's gonna eat those words, though."

"I'd like to see you make me!" she sneered.

"I'd like to see that, too," Tucker piped up cheerfully. "It's always fun to watch Sam eat her words. Those words better be vegan, am I right?"

Danny laughed before saying, "actually, I think words are technically an animal product, since they come from humans. Guess Sam may have to go off her diet." The two of them busted up while Sam scowled, and Wes looked confused for a moment before chuckling awkwardly, just so he wouldn't be left out.

Wes continued to spend more time with the three of them. He could often be found taking notes on things they said about ghosts for his new conspiracy theory about the G.I.W. covering up the fact that ghosts are sentient in order to enact the legal genocide of an intelligent species.

"What are you doing hanging out with that loser so often?" Dash asked derisively as he caught the ball Wes sent his way and passed it to Josh. Wes had just told him that he was meeting Danny and his friends once basketball practice was over. Dash faked a gag for dramatic effect.

"Lay off, dude, I'm gathering evidence," Wes said. The whole school still thought Wes was obsessed with his 'Fenton is Phantom' theory, and he didn't have enough evidence to start spreading his new theory yet, so he used that as his cover. It was harder than he thought to prove that ghosts were genuinely sentient when the commonly held belief was that they were pretending to be sentient, for God only knew what reason. "If I spend time around them, they'll eventually slip up and give me everything I need."

"Dude, you're off your nut if you're still trying to prove your stupid theory," Dash said with a snort. "He's not Phantom. Just admit you're crushing on him and stop making excuses."

"I am not crushing on Danny Fenton!" Wes snapped, insulted by the insinuation, one that was made far too often for Wes' liking. "Fenton's a complete dumbass, a liar, and an asshole. I'm gay, not stupid. I would never be attracted to someone like that."

"Uh-huh, sure." Dash clearly didn't believe it. Wes just sighed and stopped arguing, knowing it would be useless if he did. Nobody ever believed anything Wes said, so that was hardly new. It was annoying though.

When basketball practice ended, he headed to Fenton's house. Sam, Danny, and Tucker were all going to teach Wes how to play Doomed, which promised to be an... interesting experience.

Wes had never really played any video games before. He'd tried out a few at an arcade once, years ago. Kyle got to pick where they had their party on odd numbered years, so they went to one for their eleventh birthday. Wes hadn't lasted more than five minutes on any of the games there, and it ranked among the worst birthday parties he'd ever had for the pure frustration. He got back at Kyle for their twelfth though, when Wes got to choose the place and they had their birthday party at a bird sanctuary.

He knocked on the door when he arrived, and Danny answered it and immediately ushered Wes up to his room before his parents could intercept and trap Wes in a one-sided conversation about ghosts. Well, actually, with Wes there might've been some audience participation.

After an hour, Wes had made a character and approximately nine thousand derisive comments about video games, but he hadn't even managed to beat the first level. The other three were extremely amused.

"I told you I'm not good at video games," he reminded them, having to shout to be heard over their uproarious laughter as he repeatedly ran his character into a wall... again. "I told you all, like, a dozen times, but you insisted!" Even Sam had, which had surprised Wes, because she didn't seem like the gamer type. "I don't have the finger reflexes and shit."

"You spend all day behind a camera!" Tucker pointed out, panting with laughter. "How do you not have finger reflexes?"

"It's different reflexes!"

"You know what, Wes, maybe you should stick to bird watching," Danny said, patting his shoulder with fake sympathy.

"I didn't want to play in the first pla—"

"Bird watching?!" Tucker shouted, interrupting him. "You're shitting me right now."

"No, I saw his bird watching journal," Danny said. "It's intensely nerdy." Wes shot to his feet to chew him out for exposing his shameful secret, but whatever he said, it couldn't be heard over Sam's witch-like cackle.

In the end, Wes couldn't help getting dragged in, and started laughing himself. Even as he said, "Fuck you guys," he was smiling.

They took a break from gaming when Danny's parents left to check out a ghostly disturbance that Tucker had called in a fake tip about. The four of them headed downstairs to the lab to give Wes a tour.

"If he's going to hang out with us, he needs to at least know how the ghost portal works," Danny insisted, though Sam and Tucker grumbled complaints the whole way down the stairs. "Let me show you." Danny gave him a demonstration of how he returned ghosts from the thermos into the Ghost Zone, and how to know when the portal was just closed, and when it was actually sealed.

"This is pretty cool, actually," Wes said. He'd heard about the portal, of course, the Doctors Fenton could hardly shut up about it, but looking at it was a different story, "seeing another dimension."

Danny snorted. "Careful, Wes," he warned lightly. "That's the same thing I said, right before I died in it." Wes stopped cold.

"You what?"

"Oh... I guess I forgot that for all your yelling, you don't actually know how I became half ghost, do you?" Danny's smiled turned pained. "Yeah. The portal didn't work at first, and Sam and Tucker convinced me to check out the inside. It uh... kinda turned on while I was in there and...." Danny trailed off for a moment, swallowing and furrowing his eyebrows, as though he was remembering something deeply unpleasant. "Well, short version is it kinda killed me, kinda didn't, and that's why I am the way that I am."

"Just so you know, Wes," Sam said darkly, "It's super rude to ask a ghost how they died."

"It's okay, Sam," Danny told her, pulling himself together. "I'm the one who brought it up."

Wes refrained from making a biting comment about how he wasn't the one who'd goaded Danny to his death to begin with. It seemed like it would be in poor taste, given the setting and present company. Danny clearly didn't like thinking about it. Instead, Wes pointed out a huge object against one wall, covered in a tarp, and asked what it was.

Danny jumped on the subject change and tore the tarp away to reveal the Specter Speeder, and told Wes all about how it worked. "Maybe some other time, we'll take you with us on one of our trips into the Ghost Zone," Danny offered.

"Really? That would be awesome!"

Sam and Tucker groaned. They still weren't fully on board with Wes spending more time around them, and it wasn't like Wes wanted to get all buddy-buddy with them either. If anyone brought it up, he'd tell them the same thing he told Dash. He was gathering evidence against them, nothing more. They were all annoying, anyway.

Wes left when it was starting to get dark out. All told, despite monumentally sucking at Doomed, he'd gathered a lot of good information on ghosts and ectology when he was in the lab, and he could definitely use it to support his theory. As soon as he stepped off the front porch, something grabbed him out of nowhere, and he was flying away.

"What the?!" Wes struggled, but it was no use. He looked up to see his kidnapper, the ghost of some kind of medieval nobleman or something, wearing fine purple and black robes and a bitter expression on his blue face. "Fan-fucking-tastic." Wes pouted and crossed his arms. Of course something like this would happen. This is what he got for befriending Danny Fenton.

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#phic phight #phic phight 2023 #fic #things i wrote #death by exposure #danny fenton #wes weston #sam manson #tucker foley #dp #danny phantom

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xtaketwox · 1 year

Text

It Looks As Though You're Letting Go - Chapter 2

Summary: Everyone is born with an arrow on the back of their hand which points to their soulmate at midnight on their eighteenth birthday. After her parents' disastrous marriage and her father's subsequent depression following her mother's death, Nesta realized a soulmate is nothing more than guaranteed heartache and ruination. On the eve of her eighteenth birthday, she packs up her car and leaves her family and life behind forever. What she doesn't count on, however, is having a soulmate like Cassian, who may be the one to prove to her that a soulmate is what she needs.

Fic Rating: Explicit

Warnings: None

Chapter Word Count: 4514

Based on this prompt

Read on AO3, Fic Masterlist

@nessianweek

Chapter 2

Cassian had returned to work the day after that disastrous dinner, figuring it was best to give Nesta some time to cool off. He supposed he had sort of ambushed her when she was both sleep and food deprived. Based on her sudden temper, he must have hit a sore spot for her. She likely wasn’t used to anyone taking care of her.

Given his own background—living in poverty with his mother while his father ignored Cassian’s very existence until her death forced him to provide a home for his son—he could understand the hesitancy to accept help. He’d give her a couple days to orient herself in her new life and then he’d send her a text. Perhaps he had simply overstepped and moved too quickly.

Not contacting her for two days proved more difficult than he expected, but when forty-eight hours had finally passed, he sent her a text.

C: Hey Nes. Just wanted to say sorry for overstepping. I hope you’re ok.

He held his breath, waiting for her to reply, but after several minutes he set his phone down. She was probably busy. He didn’t really know her work schedule. Maybe she worked the evening shift sometimes.

Several hours later, when his phone pinged during his workout, he hastily dropped his weights and grabbed his phone.

N: It’s fine.

He chuckled.

C: That’s all the response I get? N: What, do you want a medal for apologizing? C: Not a medal, but maybe something more than “it’s fine.” N: Sorry to disappoint, but that’s all you get.

Cassian smiled, waving away the guy who asked if he was done with the weights as he walked over to a bench and sat down.

C: I can see I’m going to have to work hard to get back into your good graces. N: Who said you were in my good graces to begin with? C: I saw you making heart eyes at me.

He could practically hear her snort from here.

N: You’re delusional if you think I look at you with anything but contempt. C: If I had to guess, I’d say contempt is your love language, so I’ll take that as a compliment. N: 🙄 C: 😘

She didn’t respond after that, but Cassian still couldn’t keep the smile off his face. At least she was talking to him again.

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

Over the following couple of weeks Cassian and Nesta kept up a steady stream of texts. Cassian tried to force himself to keep from visiting her again, to simply text her, but by the end of the second week, he was itching to see her again. Deciding it was best to warn her he was coming, he shot her a text as he got into his car, not waiting for a response before he headed to her.

When he reached her apartment, he texted that he was there.

N: The door’s unlocked.

He frowned as he walked through the door, locking it behind him, and headed up the stairs. He knocked lightly before entering.

“You really shouldn’t leave your door unlocked—” His reprimand died on his lips when he looked around at the now fully furnished loft. The furniture was all clearly second hand, but also seemed to be good quality.

He looked over at her where she sat at a table drinking something hot from a mug. “You’ve clearly been busy. Where’d you get all this?”

He walked over to sit opposite her as she shrugged. “I figured I might as well put your tip money to good use.”

He chuckled, looking around. “This is definitely more than my tip money.”

“I’m a good waitress.”

His heart skipped a beat at the smirk on her face. God she was beautiful. “I know you are.”

After a beat, she set down her mug. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

He swallowed, feeling his face heat. He couldn’t very well tell her he was desperate to see her. She would probably take it as a sign that their bargain was broken and make him leave.

“Friends hang out.”

She tilted her head. “Are we friends?”

He leaned back in his chair. “I text you more than most of my friends, so yeah, we’re friends.”

She just hmm’d and picked up her mug again. Cassian looked around the room, trying to think of something to say, something to do to keep him here. If he played his cards right, maybe he wouldn’t have to drive home that night. He wasn’t opposed to sleeping on the couch, although it was definitely too short for him to sleep comfortably.

His eyes snagged on a tv. “How about a movie?”

He looked back at her. She gave nothing away as she drank from her mug.

Just when he was about to rescind the suggestion, she shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

He stood. “Great. Any movie in particular you wanna watch?”

“I don’t really care,” she said, taking her mug to the sink.

She was acting so aloof, he didn’t know what to make of it. Had he been reading into their banter? Maybe she hadn’t been flirting back. Maybe he was just a colossal dumb fuck for thinking she was in any way interested in him. After all, she had made it perfectly clear she wanted nothing to do with a soulmate.

He turned on the tv, ignoring the anxious thump of his heart, and scrolled through the movie selection before picking one at random. The couch was only a two-seater and he wasn’t a small guy, but Nesta still managed to lean as far away from him as possible.

He crossed his ankle over his knee, trying to pay attention to the movie and failing miserably. He glanced at Nesta, finding her looking unbothered and bored as she watched the screen.

She turned her head and caught him looking at her. “What?”

Cassian looked back at the tv. “Nothing.”

He could feel her watching him for a few moments before turning back to the movie. He wanted to touch her so badly. He had been thinking of the brush of her skin so often it was a wonder his cock wasn’t chafed.

Knowing he was being neither subtle nor smooth, he put his arm across the back of the couch. His fingers brushed against Nesta’s hair and he grit his teeth to keep from playing with it. He forced himself to keep staring at the screen as he felt the couch shift, waiting for Nesta to tell him to keep his hands to himself. When she said nothing, he exhaled.

By the time the movie was over, Cassian had no idea what it was even about. It had taken all his mental energy not to lean towards Nesta, to hold her hand, to play with her hair. If she hadn’t seemed completely unaffected he might have given in. As it was, however, he didn’t want to risk losing her, so he forced himself to remain still.

They sat in silence as the credits rolled. He didn’t know how to broach the idea of staying the night without it looking like he was expecting something from her.

He turned to suggest another movie when Nesta leaned towards him, her hands on his thigh as she pressed her lips to his. He froze as his mind attempted to catch up with what was happening.

After a second, Nesta pulled away.

“Sorry—”

Before she could say more, Cassian, grabbed the back of her head, pulling her back towards him. He tangled his fingers in her hair, holding back a groan when she opened her mouth and slid her tongue against his. He reached his other hand towards her waist, pulling gently. She swung her leg over his, straddling him and grasping onto his hair.

A voice in the back of his mind worried about whether this was a bad idea, about how Nesta would react given her rules, but he quickly shoved it away as his cock hardened. He groaned as her nails scratched along his scalp. He let go of her hair in favor of sliding his hands along her waist under her shirt.

He thought he might die when she groaned lightly into his mouth as he traced his fingers up her spine. She broke the kiss to inhale when he brushed his knuckles along the side of her breast. He nipped lightly at her lips before kissing his way along her jaw as he gently kneaded her breast. Her sharp inhale emboldened him to kiss his way down the column of her throat, gently leaning her back. He sucked lightly at the juncture between her neck and shoulder, smiling against her skin at her sharp inhale before continuing downward.

When he reached the collar of her t-shirt, she pulled away long enough to yank it off, tossing it to the side. Cassian’s breath was ragged as he looked at her. Nesta was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

He glanced up, finding her watching him with a vulnerable look in her eyes. “You’re so beautiful,” he breathed.

When she visibly relaxed, he returned his gaze to her chest. He reached behind for the clasp of her bra, pausing to wait for Nesta’s nod before he unclasped it and pulled it away.

His throat ran dry and he swallowed hard, his heart pounding in his chest. He curled his hands over her shoulders, his thumbs lightly tracing across her collarbones as he bent his head, groaning when he sucked her nipple into his mouth. He swirled his tongue, listening to Nesta’s breaths to discover what she did and didn’t like.

He moved to the next breast, repeating the process as Nesta’s breathing turned to near gasping, her chest heaving as her hips started shifting on his lap. He let go of her breast with a pop, sloppily kissing his way back up her neck to her lips.

She whined in the back of her throat when her nipples brushed against his still-clothed chest. Her hands dropped to his shirt, pulling it up. He pulled away long enough to toss his shirt next to hers before he returned his lips to hers. He would never tire of kissing her, of feeling the slide of her tongue against his. He groaned when she lightly scratched her nails up his spine, shuddering.

Cassian jerked when she rolled her hips sliding over his very hard cock, an inelegant whimper leaving his lips. He felt Nesta smile against his lips and decided he’d whimper as much as she wanted if it made her happy.

He traced a hand along the edge of her pants, dipping his hand into the back of her underwear to squeeze at her ass, pushing her harder against him. Now it was Nesta’s turn to whimper.

He pulled away, both of them breathing hard as he looked between Nesta’s eyes, trying to decide if he should take things further.

Nesta swallowed hard. “Um. You should know I’ve never done this before.”

Cassian stilled. “Ok.” He willed some blood to return to his brain so he could think. “Do you want to stop?”

Nesta shook her head. “No. I just thought that was something you should probably know.”

“Are you sure? Nothing has to happen.” He meant it. Cassian wouldn’t dream of forcing a woman, but more than that, Nesta was his soulmate. This was important. She was important, and he would rather cut his own heart out than have her first time ruined by not being ready.

She smirked. “I know nothing has to happen. I just thought it might be some useful information for you to have.”

He huffed a laugh. “It certainly cements what I plan to do to you.” He brushed a hand along her spine. “With your permission of course.” He looked around. “Maybe we should do this on your bed.”

Nesta raised an eyebrow. “Getting ahead of yourself aren’t you.”

Cassian laughed. “No. You can tell me to stop at any time, no questions ask and no bitching from me. I just figured it might be easier to…move around on the bed.”

He caught the flash of uncertainty in her eyes. “Hey.” He cupped her jaw, willing her to see that he was serious. “I mean it. You can say stop at any time. I don’t expect anything from you.” When she didn’t say anything he added, “We can stop right now, if you want. I don’t want you to feel pressured at all. I can—”

He stopped rambling when Nesta placed a finger on his lips. “Stop talking,” she said. “I want to do this. I just—needed a moment.”

She stood up, walking to the bed at the other end of the loft, hidden behind a folding screen. Cassian followed behind her, his mouth going dry when she shucked off her pants and underwear and sat on the bed, leaning back against her elbows.

When he made no move to get closer, she raised her eyebrows. “Are you going to stare all night?”

He swallowed, his gaze roving over her body. “I just might.”

She sat up and reached for his belt, pulling him towards her. She looked up at him as she unbuckled the belt, sliding it off and tossing it away before slipping the button of his jeans open. His breathing grew shallow when she slid the zipper down, hooking her fingers into the waist of his boxers and sliding his clothes down. He took over when she paused, her eyes growing wide when his cock sprang free.

Kicking his remaining clothes away, he hooked a finger under her chin, tilting her head so that her wide eyes met his. “Remember, nothing has to happen. I want you to promise me you’ll tell me if you don’t like something or if you want to stop.”

She stared at him a moment, the vulnerability behind her eyes tugging at his heart. Just when he was about to grab his clothes and call the whole thing off, she nodded.

He rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. “I need to hear the words from your mouth.”

“I promise,” she whispered.

He nodded. “Ok. Lay back.”

She hesitated for a moment before doing as he asked, but propped herself up on her elbows again as he knelt in front of her. “What are you doing?”

He forced himself to look away from her tantalizing flesh and into her eyes. “I want to eat you out…if that’s ok.”

Nesta’s eyes widened before the corner of her mouth lifted and she laid back down. “Go ahead.”

Cassian smiled at her attempt at nonchalance as he lowered his head. He licked a stripe up and swirled his tongue around her clit, feeling immensely satisfied when she sucked in a breath and gripped her comforter with both hands.

He grabbed her legs and threw them over his shoulder to give him better access to her. He tried not to let the fact that this was her first time get into his head. Instead, he listened intently to every noise Nesta made, to the what caused her to gasp, to groan, to bow off the bed.

He slid a finger inside her, groaning against her skin as her heat wrapped around him. He was going to have to go slow to make sure he didn’t hurt her. He pumped in and out, taking his time as she relaxed around him before he curled his finger as he again sucked her clit into his mouth. She bowed off the bed as she orgasmed, her legs wrapping around his ears like a vice as she screamed.

As she pulsed around him, Cassian slid a second finger in, pumping her through the orgasm. He turned his head to kiss the inside of her thigh as her body relaxed around his fingers. She whined when he slid a third finger inside, pumping slowly.

“Does this hurt?” he asked, his voice gruff as he palmed himself to take the edge off.

“No,” Nesta gasped. “It feels amazing.” Her hands scrabbled to grab his hair, tugging him towards her. “Please. I want to kiss you.”

He slid his fingers out, watching her as he licked each one clean before kissing his way up her body. She scooted backwards until she was fully on the bed. When he leaned down to kiss her, his stomach flipped at the sweetness behind it.

He wasn’t sure how long they made out for, him in no hurry, before she wrapped both legs around his back and pulled away just enough to ask if he had a condom.

Cassian swallowed, mouth suddenly dry. “Will you hate me if I say yes?”

Nesta smirked up at him. “Only a little.”

He laughed, pulling back to grab the condom he had stuck in his wallet as a just-in-case, never expecting to use it. He tore the foil wrapper open and rolled the condom quickly up his cock before returning to Nesta.

She opened her arms and wrapped her legs back around him as he settle between them. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked, cupping her face with one hand.

“Stop asking me if I want to stop and fuck me already,” was her reply.

He leaned down to kiss her, grasping his cock in one hand to guide it toward her entrance. He caught her gasp between his lips when he slid in slowly. Pulling away, he held himself still, trying to calm his breathing as he gasped out “Tell me if I hurt you.”

He opened his eyes at her hand on his face. “It doesn’t hurt,” she whispered.

He swallowed, pulled out and pushed back in, a little further this time. Nesta’s head tilted up as she groaned, using her heels to push him in even further.

“Fuck!”

His head fell to her collarbone as she chuckled in his ear. “I’m not going to break.”

Cassian pulled out slowly, both of them groaning at the slide as he pushed back in. He continued the slow slide in and out until he was fully seated inside her. He lifted his head from her collarbone, not caring if she could see the utter devastation in his eyes. He had never experienced sex like this. It felt overwhelming, knowing she was his soulmate and he was her first. He wouldn’t have cared if he wasn’t, but to know he was did something strange to his heart.

He leaned down to kiss her again as he started moving, Nesta tilting her hips up to meet him. He groaned against her lips, willing himself to last when the feel of her was driving him out of his mind. He kissed his way along her jaw, sucking her earlobe into his mouth and biting gently. She bowed against him, whining softly. He brushed his hands along her shoulders, leaning on his elbows. Her hands fell to either side of her head, and he trailed his fingers from her elbow down her wrist, threading his fingers into her.

He pulled back, staring down at her. Her wide eyes stared back at him, the moment so intimate, it felt as if his soul was being knit to hers. She bit her lip as he snapped his hips harder, now sliding easily in and out.

Eventually, he knew he wasn’t lasting much longer and he desperately wanted her to come on his cock. He pulled away to sit back on his knees, trailing his thumb along her jaw and over her lips, pushing it inside for her to suck on. She swirled her tongue around it, sucking gently until he pulled it back out and began swirling it around her clit, one hand on her hip as he resumed snapping his hips.

Nesta threw an arm over her eyes as she started gasping, her knees tightening around his hips. He picked up the pace of both his finger and his cock, all but pounding into her as he twirled his finger around her clit. When she opened her mouth in a silent scream, her legs shaking around him as she pulsed around his cock, he grabbed both her hips, his own orgasm rushing through him. He pumped a few more times before collapsing on top of Nesta, barely remembering to throw his arms out so he didn’t crush her.

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him to her as they both gasped.

“That was—”

“Yeah.” He leaned his head against her collarbone, trying to gather himself back together after what could only be described as a life-altering experience.

When he felt like he had some semblance of control over his emotions, he pulled away and gently tugged Nesta to her feet. He pulled back the covers of her bed, sliding in and pulling her down next to him. He tucked her into his side, his legs twining with hers as her head rested against his bicep.

It was on the tip of his tongue to say something stupid, like I love you. He just barely restrained himself with the reminder that they’d technically only been talking for a few weeks and Nesta likely wouldn’t respond well to a hastily murmured love confession.

Neither of them seemed to know what to say, or perhaps neither of them wanted to break the spell between them. After several minutes, Nesta’s breathing evened out, and Cassian allowed himself to relax, drifting away shortly afterward.

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

Nesta woke the next morning momentarily confused about why there was someone else in her bed. She looked up and the night before came crashing back to her, making her toes curl.

She wondered if sex was always like that or if Cassian was just really good at it. Her face was mushed into his chest as Cassian had both arms wrapped around her, hugging her close in his sleep. She basked in the feel of his arms around her for several minutes before the reality of her situation crashed into her.

She closed her eyes, dread dropping like a stone in her stomach. She was going to have to end it. Block his number. Tell him to leave.

Tears pricked at her eyes, angry at herself for letting it get so far. She had known the minute she agreed to be friends with him that it was a bad idea, but she was so lonely out here with no friends or family, and Cassian was so sweet to her. She had known in her heart that sleeping with him would mean she’d have to break it off, but she had wanted him to be her first. She wanted at least one good memory before he hated her forever.

A small voice in the back of her head told her she didn’t have to do it. She could just take her chances with her soulmate, take the risk that things wouldn’t turn out badly.

She quashed it. She couldn’t afford to take the risk. She had made up her mind years ago, and she had to hold firm. She could not let herself be that vulnerable, to take the risk that she and Cassian wouldn’t fight every day of their lives together like her parents, that she wouldn’t end up a heartbroken shell like her father.

No. It was better that she end it now and keep the previous night as a fond memory.

“Cassian.” She started to pull away but his arms tightened on her as he groaned in his sleep. She pushed against him. “Cassian,” she said louder.

His arms relaxed as he blinked open his eyes. She swallowed at the open happiness there, hating herself for being the one to take it away. “You have to go.”

Cassian’s arms dropped from her entirely as he frowned. “What?”

Her heart thumped in her chest as she forced herself to look at him with steel in her expression. “This was a mistake.”

The color drained from Cassian’s face as he sat up. “What?”

She rolled over, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and pressing her lips together, willing herself to keep it together. She looked around. Her clothes were strewn in a trail across her apartment. Without looking back at him, she walked over to her pants and pulled them on.

“You broke my rules.”

There was silence as she grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her head, turning to cross her arms and stare at him with what she hoped was a stern expression.

“I broke your rules?”

She nodded. “I said no kissing, and I think we can agree that we did a lot more than that.”

She averted her gaze when he scrambled out of the bed, reaching her in two strides.

“You kissed me first,” he reminded her.

She couldn’t stop her wince in time. “And it was a mistake.”

“How can you say that?” he breathed. She couldn’t help but look at him, her heart breaking at the utter devastation in her eyes. She forced herself to continue.

“Because it was. We never should have done anything. This just proves that we can’t work as friends.” She squared her shoulders. “I think it’s best we end things now.”

“You don’t mean that,” he said, his voice hollow.

“I do.”

“Nesta, I don’t know what happened to make you want to avoid a soulmate, but—”

“Get out.” She pressed her lips together hard in what she hoped looked like anger, willing the tears pricking in her eyes to go away.

Cassian froze at her tone, imbued with as much frostiness as she could muster. “Nesta,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion, “Please, lets talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” She pointed towards her door. “Go.”

“Nesta—”

“Go!”

Cassian flinched and then nodded, turning to put his clothes back on, his shoulders tight. Nesta willed herself to uphold her cold exterior, to not give in and tell him she was sorry. When he was dressed, she walked to the door, opening it and gesturing for him to move through.

He stopped at the door. “I’ll text you later?”

Nesta swallowed and shook her head. “We can’t do that anymore. I’m blocking your number as soon as you leave.”

His already pale expression grew paler. “You can’t mean that.”

She forced herself to look directly at him. “We’re done. I don’t want to see you or hear from you ever again.”

Before he could respond, she shut the door in his face, locking it to prevent him from coming back in. She expected him to bang on her door, but she was greeted with silence. She didn’t know which was worse, that he didn’t fight back or that she wanted him to.

When she heard him plodding down the steps, she walked to her bed, flopping back down on it. She grabbed her phone, the screen blurring in front of her as she navigated to Cassian’s number and hit block.

Tossing her phone aside, she curled up, hugging her knees to her chest as the tears fell silently down her face.

________________________________

A/N: This was brutal. This is the worst of the angst (although there is still more to come...just not as brutal.) I'll be updating again on Monday so stay tuned.

#Nessian #nessianweek2023 #nesta archeron #cassian #nessian fanfic #nessian fanfiction #nessian fic

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pinklikeroses · 2 years

Text

Lo ep 231// spoilers

Sighs buckle up buttercup bc this is gonna be looong

I knew about the proposal well before this episode, gonna say a week or two in advance.

Now I knew this chapter would be bad, nay— terrible

But I didn’t think it’d be as terrible if not worse than I thought it was. This is far far worse than the previous ep retconning Demeter’s character as a whole. While writing in going back and forth through the ep to break it all down , so I can gather my thoughts properly, stay on topic and not derail from the subject matter

Okay

Here we go:

The chapter starts off with an ominous logo change (eye roll) indicating it’s gonna “ different from past chapters. Spoiler alert it’s not. just a repeat of what our two protagonists have been doing from the get go

-Persephone laments about how she thought she was special bc of how overprotective her mother was of her, that she did her best ruling the mortal realm, making her own choices and that she’ll never be able to fulfill the expectations or live the life her mother wanted for her.

(Something we didn’t see her show any concern for while on Olympus)

She goes on to say she knows how her mother is treating her isn’t right, yet all she wanted to do is please her, to have that constant praise, and that had this been anyone else she would’ve put them in their place.

-I don’t like the chains used in this panel as symbolism bc it’s far from what we’ve seen of Demeter in previous eps. It’s stated from the beginning Demeter is overprotective, her controlling paranoid behavior clearly stems from generational trauma, seeing her mother eaten, her sister cut in half. Her explaining her theory of fertility goddesses, which was later proved CORRECT! Btw! Her putting Persephone into the TGoEM to keep her safe from gods that could use her for their own personal gain. This holds no weight, only to persuade the audience how bad mother Demeter is from Persephone’s perspective it doesn’t hold up

Second, Persephone had no problem turning minthe into plant for rightfully ratting her out about mass genocide. She had no problem bullying an ex classmate from college, who had no choice but be nice to her bc of his job as a customer service representative.

The only ppl Persephone “puts in their place” are ones that can’t fight back, no Kronos doesn’t count.

-Now I just wanna say standing up to an overprotective, controlling parent isn’t easy. I have two myself it’s hard setting boundaries I’m not dismissing that. It’s a struggle. Especially when it’s someone who raised and cared for you, yet constantly told you they know what’s best for you instead of you yourself.

But Persephone is a 30 yr old woman, who’s had next to no character development. So why should we expect that? Before and After the trial arc she’s done nothing but act like a spoiled brat. Helplessly running to hades to solve her problems and shield her from the consequences of her own actions.

Not once thinking of her mother, forgetting her completely after the big fight with Kronos and not bothering to ask about her further when Zeus tells her she’s fine.

Persephone is nothing more than a selfish brat who cares only for herself, bullying others and seeking entitlement she hasn’t earned.

-she goes on to say how could someone she holds in such high reguard hold contempt for her choices.

In context, mind you, Demeter is against her relationship with Hades. A man she knew only for four fucking weeks, didn’t see for 10yrs who she’s living with! Four weeks! She’s known this guy! They had one date. Only one! Not even rebuilding their friendship or catching up they just jump into being a couple.

It’s valid that her mother wouldn’t approve this! And just makes Persephone look like a delusional idiot. Honey you don’t know this guy. He tricked and manipulated you into a relationship. You were the other woman. You were the home wrecker. You knew he was in a relationship and pursued him anyway. And he pursued you! You’re mother is concerned for your well being.

-We’re supposed to see Demeter as this controlling evil parent when in reality she’s a concerned mother. Those of us who are critical with this comic see right through the shallow narrative and attempt to get the audience to side with our protagonist and see Demeter as a manipulative hag who only wants full and total control of her daughter. But this is flawed this is a retcon. This backfired.

The only reason we see the emotional manipulation is bc it was thrown in as a plot device and excuse for rs to use for her poor writing and mislead us into thinking this is how Demeter’s always been. When it came out Of nowhere. We’ve never seen her this way up until now. This trauma is used as a connivence. Like the SA was used to make hades look better, the emotional manipulation was used to make Demeter look bad.

And as someone who’s experienced this with their own parents I am disgusted with the way it was used in this story. I hate it. When the fast pass first came out there was no trigger warning at the beginning of the previous episode! That was only added AFTER it became public bc so many readers told Rachel under instagram post. This is something she shouldn’t need to be told! And the fact that it triggered so many ppl is infuriating! I myself had a hard time reading it, and had to control my breathing bc I was getting g so worked up and that was AFTER the public post of the comic!

RS only uses trauma as plot devices with no resolution. Only to demonize and up lift characters.Point blank period.

Demeter says ruling the underworld would be too much for Persephone and points out the tree she grew there, the same tree that awakened frigging Kronos.

She’s right. Ruling the mortal realm was too much for her. So much so Persephone was struggling, draining herself with her powers just to keep up with her moms work. But she did work and work hard. Not as hard as she thought she was as confirmed in previous episodes with Zeus failing her and the previous one her mother pointing out all the unfinished work and damage.

Hades called that tree a gift, but it was that very tree that led to his and many other gods laying dormant for 10yrs!! Peres wasn’t responsible with her powers on Olympus and in the underworld coddled by hades. Since her return, he doesn’t want her to work! It seems as well intentioned bc she “worked SO hard in the mortal realm” but it’s not. This is a man who wants to keep a woman under his thumb. She was supposed to work! That was the point of her punishment and she couldn’t even do that right.

She isn’t fit to rule a kingdom, shes bullying lower class citizens and is okay staying at home without questioning her partner!

Okay I don’t wanna derail too much so now I’ll talk about the proposal. My god the proposal!!!

This was god awful! So awful.

Nothing about this was empowering, uplifting or romantic. It was manipulative, shallow, self indulgent, conceited and self absorbed. It’s safe to say Hades has become one of my least favorite characters. And it’s not hard to see why.

He goes on to say being from the beginning of time and space deem Persephone worthy of ruling the underworld, a clear jab at Demeter (what a prick that Hades).

-he goes on this long annoying self absorbed tangent. Putting Persephone on this ridiculously high pedestal while lamenting about himself. Me me me! You did this for ME. You made ME feel this way, IM so lucky to have you. It’s all about him. Persephone isn’t her own person in his eyes. It’s all about how she is WITH HIM!. She’s HIS savior, shes nothing more than HIS queen, not a queen HIS queen.

It’s so possessive and demeaning and gross.

This is right after/during her emotional roller coster with her mom!!! Who just emotionally manipulated her not one episode ago! And he’s doing it with this proposal! In front of dozens of ppl and her mother!

But bc he’s her partner and he “loves” her it’s okay. It’s framed as sentimental when it’s no different from the emotional manipulation we just saw! He’s scumbag, talking advantage of an emotionally vulnerable person abs it’s framed as good! Its terrible.

And finally we see her hands turn pink again from the wedding ring. Another jab at Demeter. I guess to symbolize her freedom?? But to me ? It undoes all the hard work that came with them. Persephone’s green hands I guess were meant to symbolize her trying to be like her mother, but to me it showed the one good thing about her character. It showed she had to WORK for her powers. She had to work hard to maintain them. She had to get off her butt and figure out her way of doing things.

Her hands turning pink isn’t a flex it’s a representation that she’d rather be pampered and coddled by a partner. Reaping the benefits of slave labor and live a life of luxury instead of nature.

It’s not romantic running from an overprotective parent only thrust yourself into a marriage To a person you’ve barely known. This wasn’t sweet or sentimental. This was rushed, sloppy, shallow and manipulative.

What I wanted out of this chapter?

Persephone to stand up to her mother even if they didn’t meet a middle ground, for her to voice her opinion, put her foot down and say her choices were her own.

Instead? We once again get white knight Hades making this whole thing about himself. And Persephone letting him. Demeter is jabbed at, demonized and made a villain. Hades is praised despite doing the same emotionally abusive tactic.

This was absolute garbage. And we’re well past disappointment. No depth. No substance just trash.

#lo critical #critical lo #lore olympus spoilers #lore Olympus 231 #me ramblings #lo persephone #lo hades #lo Demeter #lo eris #long post #shakes head #it’s getting worse and worse at this point #lore Olympus #WEBTOON

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theshatteredrose · 5 months

Text

Secrets: Best Left Untold? (Chapter 17) - Etrian Odyssey Untold 2 Fanfiction

AN: I really need to stop skipping forward to write future scenes XD Anyway, hope you enjoy reading~

Ao3 | Wattpad | Inkitt | FFNet

Chapter 17:

Fafnir idly twisted a strand of Flavio’s soft, dark hair around his finger. Curled up against his chest, Flavio slept soundly, nestled under the blankets of his bed. All the stress of the last week had finally been released and he collapsed into his arms and willingly sunk into bed when Fafnir urged him to lay down to get some rest.

Flavio…he was so tired. So stressed. More than he realised himself.

Keeping up a happy front. Diligently working at the restaurant without a single complaint. Smiling. Laughing. Joking. Pretending to be ok.

All the while dealing with unwanted flowers, notes, letters, and threats – and Fafnir had been oblivious the entire time.

That was what infuriated him the most.

How could he have been so blind?

He was frustrated at Flavio for hiding everything for so long, keeping all his fears and stress to himself, but he was pissed at himself. They had been together since childhood. He knew Flavio inside and out. He should have known earlier. He should have picked up on the warning signs. He should have done something.

But he hadn’t.

He also found himself annoyed at how he was constantly pulled away from Flavio during the past week. Constantly sent on errands, shoved out the back to sort through stock even though it was not remotely necessary.

It was wrong to be angry at Regina and Arianna, with the former clearly playing matchmaker for the latter, and at the restaurant for keeping him and Flavio apart, he knew that. But there was still some resentment there. If he had not been kept away from Flavio, he may have picked up on his distress sooner. And he could have done something about it.

That was what he liked to tell himself at least.

Could he have saved the restaurant? Highly unlikely. Anyone deranged enough to burn down a building because of rejection was clearly an unhinged individual. If they had not done it last night, they may have done it sooner, with far more devastating consequences.

Or done something else. Something far more drastic. Something bare not worth thinking about.

But the bastard escalated things. They had drawn in the attention of not only Fafnir, but the rest of their companions plus the Grand Duchy.

Flavio shifted in his sleep, his brow furrowing with discomfort. Fafnir immediately tightened his arms around him, drawing him closer, a motion that brought Flavio comfort in his dreams. He relaxed and snuggled against Fafnir’s chest, falling back into a peaceful slumber.

Unfortunately, that arsonist from last night was not the only one Fafnir had to be worried about.

They were clearly the one stalking Flavio, true. The unwanted gift flowers, notes that turned threatening, and finally admitting to the arson of the restaurant for ‘his’ sake. Whoever they were, they were the definition of a stalker.

The other two, Flavio was hesitant to label of stalkers. That was hardly a surprise. He was likely in denial about the first guy for a couple of days. Until the knife incident.

But, in Fafnir’s mind, they were also stalkers. Just because they had different motives did not mean they were not stalkers.

The second appeared to be a conspiracy theorist of sorts. If his ramblings about that Mandelson that wandered about High Lagaard not being the same as the one that stood for the photo found in Stickleback Bar was to be believed. They could be nothing more than ramblings of a delusional crackhead, but Fafnir would take his claims that Flavio’s life was in danger seriously. For they were true, regardless of where he believed they came from.

As for Mandelson himself, he was a little more complex. Fafnir remembered that name. Met him once, found him obnoxious. Seemed to know a little too much about their guild, about the restaurant, about Flavio in general. Flavio did not believe that he was involved with the previous two stalkers, but Fafnir was unwilling to rule out the possibility.

There were too many coincidences. The first note starting with ‘beloved wife’, his obvious hatred toward the restaurant, only for the restaurant to be the target of an arson.

The three individuals had to be involved with one another. Conspiracy Theorist was because of Mandelson, and Mandelson was somehow related to the stalker turned arsonist.

Fafnir sighed and gently slipped his fingers through Flavio’s hair.

Flavio truly was too selfless for his own good. Always putting others first. Always putting Fafnir’s needs before his own.

In a way, Fafnir was to blame for Flavio’s reluctance to come forward to ask for help. He terrified him, back in Ginnungagap. To the point that he was petrified of losing him again, to cause him unnecessary stress. As if the smallest inconvenience would cause him to disappear again.

All he wanted was to make Flavio happy.

All that Flavio wanted was to make happy memories with him.

And he would. Fafnir would ensure it. He was not about to allow anyone to hurt Flavio, to take his future away from him. Away from them. Fafnir did not care who he had to fight. Three different stalkers or that so-called ancient evil residing withing Ginnungagap. It did not matter.

He made a promise to himself that he was going to show Flavio how much he meant to him, and he was going to keep it.

Fafnir kept his arms around Flavio, idly running his fingers through his hair until the light in the room began to darken. He did not want to move and he especially did not want to leave Flavio alone, but he needed to head to the hospital to escort Arianna back to the inn.

The three stalkers had kept their attention focused entirely on Flavio, but as things began to escalate, he could not afford to have his guild separated. For any reason.

“Flavio.” Fafnir gently began to urge Flavio from his slumber.

“Hmm,” Flavio murmured cutely as he started to stir, nuzzling his cheek against Fafnir’s chest, unwilling to wake just yet.

Flavio truly needed his sleep; it was clear that he had not slept well during the last week. But Fafnir was most certainly not going to leave Flavio asleep and alone, and vulnerable in his room.

Fafnir tightened his arms around Flavio and sat up, bringing his sleeping beauty with him. Flavio furrowed his brow and murmured something incoherent. His eyes soon flickered opened, however, and he gazed sleepily at him. It took a few moments for the fog to lift, and when it did, realisation flickered across Flavio’s face.

A sigh escaped his lips and he leaned forward, thumping his forehead against Fafnir’s shoulder. “You know everything.”

“I do.”

“What happens now?”

Fafnir rested his hand against the back of Flavio’s head and entangled his fingers through his hair. “First, I need to pick Arianna up from the hospital, then I need to tell everyone what has been happening.”

He felt Flavio tense against him. His hands moved up to grasp at the front of his shirt, his fingers twisting around the material tightly. It was one of his fears come true; he was causing trouble for others.

Of course, to Fafnir, he was doing no such thing. But in Flavio’s mind, he was. There were sure to be a lot of unnecessary apologies from him in the future. Fafnir better be prepared to counter them with words of reassurance.

“There is no other way, is there?” Flavio asked quietly.

“You’re not causing any trouble,” Fafnir quickly returned. “We’ll deal with this, Flavio.”

Flavio sighed and turned his head to the side, his forehead resting against Fafnir’s chin. “I just want it to be over with. I just want to make happy memories with you. I want to experience Christmas with you. I just want…”

Fafnir wrapped him up in his arms, holding him tightly. “And you will. We will.”

Flavio did not respond immediately. He took a few moments, simply resting against Fafnir, finding comforting in his arms. After a short while, he uttered another sigh as he lifted his head up and looked at him. “Alright.”

Fafnir cupped the side of Flavio’s face. “Lock your door, barricade it like you have been doing. I’ll be right next door, but I’ll return soon.”

All Flavio could muster was a small nod of his head, and it took all of Fafnir’s strength to pull away from him. After all that he had learnt, every protective cell in his body wanted to stay as close to Flavio as possible, to never have him out of his sight for longer than a few seconds, if at all.

But he needed to bring the others into the fold, alert them to their situation. And he needed to respect Flavio’s wishes not to be in on the conversation. So, just one more time they needed to part. After that, he was all but gluing himself to Flavio’s side and only the most extreme of circumstances were to pull them apart again.

Fafnir paused by the desk to pick up the drawer that held all the evidence and gathered everything he needed to explain the situation to the others. He would keep things short and to the point.

Flavio followed him to the door. As Fafnir stepped out into the hallway, Flavio leaned against the door tiredly. “I’m officially under your protective custody now, huh?”

“You better believe it.”

That finally brought a small smile to Flavio’s lips. “You know, I had wanted to spend more time with you. I guess I should have been more specific as to how.”

Fafnir lifted a hand to brush his fingers against Flavio’s cheek. “I’ll take whatever excuse I can.”

Finally, a small chuckle. “Alright. Don’t take long, ok?”

“I’ll be back soon,” Fafnir promised.

Flavio nodded his head again and stepped back from the door. He silently closed it and Fafnir stood still, waiting for the lock to be engaged. When he heard the telling click, he turned away himself, heading for his own room to place the evidence away. He would call for Bertrand and Chloe later; he would pick Arianna up first. He did not want to risk her walking through the streets alone.

He made doubly sure that his room was locked before he headed down into the foyer. Yet, as he moved to the exit, he was startled when the doors opened in front of him and a certain purple-haired princess stepped in.

“Arianna?”

Arianna smiled politely, seemingly have anticipated his surprise. “Sir Fafnir.”

“What are you-?”

“I decided to return on my own,” she explained as she attempted to close the door to keep the cold afternoon air out. “It appeared that Sir Flavio needed you more.”

While Fafnir was not pleased that Arianna walked back to the inn by herself, he was relieved that he did not have to wander too far from Flavio. “You have no idea how much.”

Arianna tilted her head questioningly to the side. “Hm?”

Fafnir motioned toward the stairs with a wave of his hand. “Come. There’s something I need to speak with you and the others about. It’s very important.”

Wordlessly, though her curiosity obviously piqued, Arianna followed Fafnir up the stairs. He paused outside of his room to unlock the door and motioned Arianna to step inside before he moved to knock on Bertrand’s door, his room just across the hall from his.

“Bertrand? I need you and Chloe to stepped into my room for a bit. We need to talk.”

He waited for a response, unsure if the two occupants were still in the room. They could have wandered down stairs during the hours since he had last seen them. But a moment later he heard the latch on the lock unfasten. He stepped back when the door opened, and a certain blond-haired protector and pink-haired war magus appeared.

Fafnir simple tilted his head toward his room, motioning for the two to follow him. The two stepped inside before him and he made the motion to close the door behind him.

Arianna looked around the room before she tilted her head to the side. “Is Sir Flavio not joining us?”

Fafnir shook his head as he closed the door. “This is about Flavio.”

Bertrand released a huff in the form of a sigh as he folded his arms across his chest. “I figured there was something up with the kid.”

“Have any of you noticed anything in particular?” Fafnir asked, looking at his guildmates each in turn.

Chloe fiddled with her glasses. “I haven’t noticed anything, just that he kept working hard as the restaurant’s waiter.”

“The kid has always been skinny, but he’s been more haggard looking lately,” Bertrand revealed. “Not to mentioned washed out.”

Arianna nodded her head. “Yes. And he is most upset about what happened to the restaurant.”

Bertrand arched an eyebrow as he gave Fafnir a pointed look. “I take it there’s something else?”

“There is.”

Fafnir turned to his desk where the drawer sat and just like Flavio had with him hours ago, he pulled out the folded cards that came with the flowers, and began to explain to the others the fear that Flavio had endured on his own.

He received a series of reactions; shock, disbelief, exasperation, guilt. Emotions that Fafnir went through himself. His was exponentially stronger, however, mixed with anger, concern, and protectiveness.

Bertrand uttered a loud, exasperated sigh and pinched the bridge of his noise. “Should have realised something was up. A survivalist that is both self-efficient and selfless? Never a good combination.”

He was not wrong about that. Fafnir could never emphasize enough just how selfless Flavio could be.

Bertrand dropped his arm to fold it across his chest once more. “How long has he been keeping this a secret?”

“A week.”

Arianna released a loud gasp and her hands flew up to cover her mouth. “A week…? D-during the week of…?”

Fafnir nodded. “Yeah. During the entire week of celebrations.”

Arianna grew pale and her eyes widened. She took a half step backwards and her eyes darted off to the side. A realisation had occurred to her and it was devastating. One that Fafnir himself had come to himself.

One he did not like, either. Of course, he held no ill will toward Arianna nor Regina. But, perhaps, if he were not forced into those matchmaking scenarios, maybe, just maybe, he could have seen something was bothering Flavio sooner.

“So,” Bertrand began. “We gotta deal with a stalker, huh?”

Fafnir placed the notes onto the desk and turned back to the drawer. “There appears to be more than one.”

“Huh?”

Fafnir fished out the letters and handed them to Bertrand. “Someone else has decided to get involved.”

A deep crease appeared in Bertrand’s brow as he began to read through the short letters. He appeared momentarily confused before his brow smoothed out and his gaze shifted to look out into the distance, remembering something.

“So, that was the guy’s name, huh?” he muttered under his breath. He shook his head a second after and turned his attention back to Fafnir. “But what does this guy have to do with this?”

“According to Flavio, and from what the guy said to him, Flavio looks like his recently deceased wife,” Fafnir explained plainly. “And from what Cass says, he’s right.”

Bertrand scowled and handed back the letters. “That’s his excuse, huh?”

“Appears so.” Fafnir shook his head. “Flavio admits that the guy keeps popping up wherever he goes.”

“So, that means we have three guys we need to worry about,” Bertrant stated before he shook his head with a sigh. “I knew the kid was popular, but this is a bit much. He doesn’t do things by halves, does he?”

Fafnir placed the letters next to the notes. He decided to leave the knife within the drawer as everything he had revealed so far was shocking enough. However, it was the next note he had yet to reveal that was the most concerning. And it was the potential reactions to said item that Flavio feared the most.

“That’s not the worst of it,” Fafnir said as he pulled out the final folded card. “This is why Flavio is so gutted about the restaurant.”

He unfurled the note and presented it toward the others. They had to huddled around, leaning forward to read it. The words written on the white piece of cardboard were short, to the point. But they were important. And everyone soon understood their significance.

They went through a series of powerful emotions within a matter of seconds. Disbelief, realisation, and devastation.

Bertrand dragged a hand over his face. “God damn it. So, it was arson.”

Fafnir nodded his head grimly and dropped the note onto the table. “Flavio blames himself. He’s absolutely gutted about what happened. Not able to eat, not able to sleep properly. It took me ages to convince him that it wasn’t his fault.”

“We’re obviously dealing with an unhinged individual here,” Bertrand stated.

“Yeah. Delivering flowers to burning down a building is quite a step.”

Bertrand folded his arms tightly across his chest, an intense scowl on his face. “Yeah. It’s possible, if we had interfered earlier, than this flower guy would have amped up his violence earlier, too. It’s clear that he, or they, or whoever the hell they are, have no problem jumping straight into violence. They could have targeted the restaurant while it was full, in the middle of dinner rush. They could have done something else. Something far more drastic.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Fafnir roughly ran a hand through his hair. “Flavio was hoping that after a couple of silent rejections they would take the hint and leave. But that obviously didn’t happen.”

Flavio was too naïve sometimes.

“What are you going to do?” Bertrand suddenly asked him. “Are you going to move into his room or have Flavio move into yours?”

Fafnir held his kind in thought. “I’m still debating that. If I move into his, I have a higher chance of meeting this ‘admirer’ of his. But if he moves into mine, he’ll likely be safer.”

“For a while.”

“True. And this stalker might target other rooms.”

That left him with just one option.

Fafnir turned toward his desk and scooped up the letters and notes, placing them back into the drawer. And then started to gather up his own belongings.

“It’s probably best that I move into Flavio’s room. I better start packing.”

#etrian odyssey #etrian odyssey untold 2 #fanfiction #fafnir/flavio #flavio #fafnir #secrets: best left untold?

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harrygoeswest · 2 years

Photo

Trigger Warnings: sweary sweary language, bullying

Word count: 12,550

Chapters seven & eight

nine

“You know, that woman is so delusional sometimes.”

I looked at Geri, and then followed her gaze towards Lorraine who was ushering children into the hut for the start of the late kid’s club.

I grunted. “I can think of many, many more words than delusional to describe her.”

“Does one begin with a ‘C’ and end in a ‘T’?”

“Number one on the list actually.”

Geri sniggered. “I thought so.”

“She’s just rude and entitled and needs a smack round the face.”

“Violence is never the answer, Floss.” She teased, wrapping an arm around my waist.

“It should be.”

We watched as Lorraine made her way over to the car park from the hut, me with a much more unwelcoming demeanour than Geri. She kept her distance from me, as she should, but she made such a big deal out of it, feigning a look of terror in order to gain some sympathy from the other parents. I couldn’t tell you what she needed sympathy for, but I’m sure she was going to make it about the little explosion I had the week after Easter.

Debbie rubbed her shoulder as Lorraine passed her by, and everyone kept asking her if she was okay.

“You’ve got to be joking me.” I scoffed.

“You gotta give it to her - she puts on a good show.” Geri muttered, still watching her.

“I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“I know you haven’t. She’s up to something.”

Lorraine made it to her car and rummaged around inside the boot for a moment, but quickly locked it back up. Then she started walking towards us.

“Oh no,” Geri said, barely audible.

I squared my shoulders. I didn’t know what she wanted but I was ready for whatever nonsense she was about to come out with.

“Florence,” She started, holding a piece of paper in her hand. She was facing away from the other parents now, so her expression was completely different from the look of terror she’d been acting on seconds before. “This is your final bill.”

My brows furrowed. “What?”

“The final payment you owe me for the morning child care.”

I narrowed my gaze. I knew I was all paid up. I paid in advance, not post-term and I always had done. “I don’t think so.”

She was glaring at me. “I think I know how much you’ve paid, Florence. And it’s not enough.”

“Are you seriously trying to embarrass me in front of the other parents?”

“Not at all, it never even crossed my mind.” Her voice and her face didn’t match.

“Really?” I retorted. “This isn’t just a big show to get the other parents on side and make you feel better about yourself?”

“You sound ridiculous, Florence. How else am I supposed to tell you?”

“In an email? Or on the phone, in a text, literally any other way.”

“I like to tell people in person.” She shrugged.

I snatched the bill from her. “I have paid this and I am going to prove it to you.”

“Well, you have until the end of the week.”

“I’ll do it whenever I fucking like, thank you very much.”

The other waiting parents were muttering between one another now. I knew I probably hadn’t shown myself in a very good light, but I didn’t care. The woman was evil and needed to be knocked down a peg. Or ten.

Lorraine finally stalked off, and the first thing I did was make sure the other parents knew I wasn’t pissing around. Silently. I glared at them.

“What a cunt.” Geri mumbled.

I didn’t say another word until Ruby appeared, with Oscar right behind her.

“Hi Mummy!” She shouted.

“Hi, baby.” I cooed, and stroked a hand over her hair. “Hi, Oscar.”

“Hello Ruby’s mum.”

“How we doing - did we have a good day at school?”

“It was okay. We don’t really like Mondays because we have to do P.E.”

“Oh wow, she’s definitely your child.” Geri laughed.

I smirked. “Shush you.” I said, and turned back to the children. “Are you ready to go? I need to make sure Oscar gets fed before his daddy comes to get him.”

“Yep! We’re ready!”

“You’re looking after the dentist’s kid?” Geri whispered.

“Yeah. Because we can’t send them to the morning club anymore I need to get some time back, and so does Harry. So on Mondays I look after Oscar and on Wednesdays and Thursdays Harry looks after Ruby.”

“Right…” Geri looked suspicious. “I thought you were scared of the dentist?”

I wasn’t sure if she was generalising or if she meant the new sexy dentist specifically. “I am.” It was still true either way. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I loaded the kids up into the car and drove home. The first thing I did inside was turn the oven on, and then I helped Ruby change into some play clothes before I let her and Oscar run riot in the garden before dinner.

Geri’s comment about hating P.E had amused me somewhat, because Ruby actually loved being active when it was all on her terms. As soon as someone else told her she had to do exercise she wasn’t interested. Perhaps because the word ‘exercise’ implied it was more a chore.

I dipped in and out of the garden, keeping an eye on both them and their dinner. Oscar seemed to be such a calm child in comparison to Ruby, who never stopped talking or moving. Oscar simply sat there and did whatever she told him to.

The children ate their dinner quickly, eager to get back outside and play. I gave them choc ices for dessert to cool down, but as per usual they seemed to get more of it around their faces than actually in their mouths. I made sure Oscar wasn’t covered in chocolate by the time his dad came to collect him.

Harry knocked on the door at just gone six o’clock. He was still in his scrubs, head to toe, hair a little scruffy, and for the first time I noticed a stubble on him.

He smiled as soon as he saw me, eyes again drawn to the t-shirt I was wearing. He cocked his head, smirking. “Is it?”

I looked down at myself and laughed when I realised which t-shirt I was wearing. It was grey with the words ‘THIS IS MY DOG WALKING T-SHIRT’ printed on the front. “By the weekend it will be.”

“Getting a dog-,”

I shushed him, panicked. I looked over my shoulder and then pulled the door closed behind me, taking a step outside.

“Ruby doesn’t know yet.” I whispered.

“Oh shit,” he laughed, “sorry.”

“It’s fine. She’s been banging on about it for months but I’ve never agreed to it in words to her.”

“I see. I’m sure she’ll be over the moon.”

“Bloody better be, he’s cost me an arm and a leg.”

Harry continued to smile at me, but I didn’t know what else to say. I felt like an obscure statue in a local park.

“How has Oscar been anyway?”

“Oh right, yeah.” I’m an idiot. “He’s been an angel, actually. He’s so calm.”

I opened the front door again and took a step inside. “Oscar, your dad is here!”

“He is a very placid child.” Harry agreed, hands now shoved into the pockets of his scrubs.

I didn’t know what placid meant. I pretended to. “Yeah, Ruby just orders him around and he does it. Feel like I maybe need to tell her to reel it in.”

“No, she’s fine.” Harry shook his head. “I think he likes it, he’s just happy to have a friend.”

That comment stirred me a little. Did he not have any friends before?

I realised it was rude of me to make Harry wait outside, and I was sure Oscar hadn't heard me. “Let me just go and get him - they’re in the garden. Come in,”

“Oh, thank you.”

I left Harry there while I went out to the garden to find the children. They were still playing, completely oblivious to the world around them.

“Oscar, your daddy is here to take you home.”

“Oh,” Ruby said with a sad pout.

Oscar was already standing and had started making his way towards the house.

“You still get to see him tomorrow, Rubes.” I reminded her.

“I know but it was fun having him here.” She whined, following Oscar.

“And you get to do it again next week. And you’re going to Oscar’s house on Wednesday and Thursday. So you will have lots of occasions like this to come, won’t you?”

She huffed at me. “Yes.”

“Yes. Exactly.”

Harry was still waiting in the hallway, barely having moved. “Hey, little man.” He grinned at the sight of his child.

“Hi, daddy.” Oscar smiled up to him.

“D’you have a good time?”

“I did.”

“Good lad. Say thank you to Ruby and her mum for looking after you, then.”

“Thank you Ruby, thank you Ruby’s mum.”

He was so cute I wanted to burst. “You’re very welcome.”

“Bye Oscar!” Ruby shouted. “Bye Harry!”

“Bye, Ruby.” Harry chuckled. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

We waited for them to reach their car before I closed the door and locked us in. Ruby was standing in the middle of the hall as if she suddenly didn’t know what to do with herself.

“Ready for a bath, poppet?”

She hummed, the sound disconnected.

“Come on then.”

I helped Ruby bathe, though she didn’t play like she normally would. She let me wash her hair and scrub her down, and then she got out. I wrapped her up in a towel and dried her off, plaited her hair and tucked her into bed. A minute later she was asleep.

My house had been turned into a bombsite for Ruby’s party. Not that it was the definition of pristine on a normal day, but even for a small party with close family and a few friends, my mother decided to bring an overkill of food and drink and decorations. I left her to it.

Zara and Mickey had come, with Geri, her husband Owen and Milly. Mum and Dad had been there for hours, Frank and Diane with them. The only people we were waiting for now were Oscar and his dad, and Ruby’s other friend Scarlett.

I knew I was rubbish at hosting but I couldn’t ask Mum and Dad to host a birthday party after everything else they were doing for us, so I bit the bullet, pulled my big girl trousers up and just got on with it. Dad actually ended up answering the door more than I did. I just tried to make sure everyone had enough to drink to keep hydrated before the food came out.

Harry turned up with Oscar just as Mum was arranging all the food on the table. Of course they were the only people I actually answered the door to.

“Hello, welcome!” I tried to put on my best happy and excited voice, even though I was sure I sounded constipated.

“Hi, thank you.” Harry smiled, nudging Oscar in first. “Go on, mate.”

“Everyone is in the garden, you’re just in time for food.”

I walked through the house after them to make sure they went the right way, not that there was much room to get lost in my modest little home.

As soon as Oscar spotted the other children he was off like a shot, leaving Harry and I alone. I felt awkward and didn’t know what to say.

“Decorations are cool.” Harry commented as he gazed around the garden.

I grimaced to myself because I actually hated them. My Colombian mother had set the garden up like a Hawaiian luau (make it make sense!), with inflatable palm trees and flamingos, palm leaf bunting, lei headbands, wristbands and garlands. My dining table looked like a giant hay bale, and there were paper pineapples in every direction but I didn’t know why.

“My mother is to thank for this. I was just gonna give her a tiara and a sash.”

Harry looked at me with a smirk. “The ones she’s wearing now?”

I nodded. “Yep. Drink?”

“Love one.”

I helped Harry find a non-alcoholic beverage, sourcing one for myself too.

Mum had gone all out on the Colombian niceties, including Lulada - a smoothie-like drink which was notoriously hard to come by in this country.

“Floss,” she hurried over to me with a tray of cholados, “¿Puedes volver a ponerlos en el congelador? Se derretirán antes de que nadie se los coma.” She asked me to put them back in the freezer before they melted.

“Sí,” I took the tray from her, “las sacaré en 30 minutos más o menos.” I said I’d bring them back out in about half an hour.

“Gracias, mí querida.” Thank you, my darling. She kissed my cheek before I disappeared inside.

I stored them in the freezer in the top drawer and told myself to keep an eye on when everyone was finished with the savoury food before I brought them back again.

Back outside, I grabbed a plate and called for Ruby to come and get something to eat. Oscar was already with his daddy next to me looking over the spread with confused expressions.

“Florence?”

I looked at Harry when he spoke my name.

“Sorry, Floss.” He was obviously getting irritated having to correct himself all the time. “Er, what is everything?”

I bit back a flattered smile. It wasn’t very often I was the one someone went to for information. “Yeah, it’s all Colombian, but it’s actually more normal than it looks. So, the deep-fried things are empanadas, done the Colombian way, with chicken and potato fillings. Next to that in the weird-looking green leaf bags are tamales. They’ve got chicken, pork and peas in them, and the leaf around the outside is a plantain leaf which you can eat. And the bread is pan de bono which is cheese and yuca bread. So, it’s cheesy bread but made with yuca starch, and they are bangin’ when they’re still warm.”

Harry laughed, “Alright.”

“The pitta-looking things are arepas - Mum usually fills them with pulled pork and tomato, and they’ve been grilled on the barbecue. All this meat,” I gestured vaguely to the wide selection of charred meats, “is what we call carne a la llanera, so it’s been slow cooked on a barbecue on, like a tall round spit, and you have it with the steamed potatoes and guacamole. The two big pots are ajiaco and cazuela de mariscos, which are chicken and potato soup and a seafood soup.

“Then for desserts you’ve got cocadas which are like coconut cookies, and obleas which are wafer sandwiches with fruit, nuts, cream and chocolate. I’ve also just put cholados in the freezer which are frozen fruit cups - like a frappe but not.”

“Wow.” Harry nodded, smiling, “okay. Thank you.”

“Any time.” I smiled back.

I filled my plate up and made sure Ruby had done hers, and then went to sit with Geri and Zara while I ate.

“Floss, do you ever regret jilting the dentist?”

I snapped my head in Zara’s direction, glaring at her. “Shut up.” I made sure said dentist wasn’t paying attention before I continued. “No I don’t.”

“Really? You seem to get on so well, it must play on you a little bit.”

“No, it doesn’t. I am fine.”

“So, there’s nothing there?” Geri’s question was inquisitive. “No… flirting or anything like that?”

“We literally just look after each other’s children sometimes. Not that deep.”

The pair of them narrowed their eyes at me. “We shall see.”

I ignored them and carried on eating.

The party continued for a few hours, with Ruby opening her gifts while everyone was still there and the cholados finally being served because I definitely forgot. I disappeared for a little while because I was concerned about the state of the kitchen, but Ruby was left in good hands.

I heard so much while I was in the kitchen. There wasn’t an abundance of couples at this child’s birthday, but 3 out of 4 managed to have an argument in the living room without realising I was only in the room next door.

Zara and Mickey were first, although it was more like bickering than an actual argument. Mickey wanted to leave early for something and Zara kept saying no. I wasn’t necessarily offended that he wanted to leave early. He wasn’t too great friends with anyone here and he didn’t have any children to appreciate a children’s party.

The arguments only really got intense when Geri and Owen started digging at one another.

“Where are you going?” Geri hissed.

I didn’t know whether I should keep going with my tidying or stop entirely so they weren’t interrupted.

“I’m going home, Geri.” Owen said, not concerned with whispering.

“Why? You can’t just leave without saying anything - people will find it strange.”

“People in this village find everything strange if it’s not entirely to their view of normal.”

“I know this. Look at what Floss has had to put up with recently.”

“Floss brings most of her own troubles on herself.”

Ouch.

“Don’t be so archaic, Owen. That’s not fair and you know it.” Geri’s voice came much harsher than before. “You said you wanted to keep up appearances for Milly’s sake, and you leaving in the middle of a party because you’re pissed off with me is not what I would consider keeping up appearances.”

“I just can’t do it. I can’t go around behaving like we’re still happy and in love or whatever when you don’t want me anymore.”

“I still care about you! I’ll always care about you - that doesn’t just go away!”

“Not enough to stay with me!”

“You can’t keep me forced in a marriage this way, Owen!”

“Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you fucking married me!”

I’d heard way more than I should’ve, but I couldn’t start making noises now, one of them might kill me. I bit my lip and continued standing still in the middle of the room in silence. I had a wet pan in my hands and it was dripping onto the floor. I started drying it with a tea towel as quietly as possible.

After a painful period of silence, Geri finally sighed. “Go home, then. I’ll make up some shitty excuse as to why you’ve fucked off without saying anything.”

“Maybe you should tell everyone the truth. We are in this stupid mess because of you in the first place.”

“I wouldn’t want to deny you the pleasure of telling everyone yourself how evil I am.”

“I will never take any pleasure in telling people that my wife is leaving me. Especially not for a woman. It’s embarrassing.”

“You’re only embarrassed because it emasculates you. Get your head out your arse.”

A second later the front door slammed, and I flinched. I heard Geri’s footsteps disappear back outside. I went back to cleaning up my kitchen with tense shoulders and tinnitus.

Frank and Diane were next, although I had no interest as to what they were arguing about, nor did I care whether they could hear me or not. I did the washing up as loudly as I pleased.

Whatever the two of them were arguing about didn’t last very long, and Diane went back to the garden to enjoy the remainder of Ruby’s afternoon. Frank, however, obviously couldn’t help himself.

The door creaked when he opened it. “What’re you hiding in here for, Florence?”

“I’m not hiding.” I retorted, refusing to look at him.

Frank made a sceptical sound, but I knew it was a farce. The man’s entire life was a farce. He started picking at the leftover food on the counter. “This is all lovely but I do miss a good sausage roll and pork pie.”

I took a deep breath. “Bring your own next time, then.”

“Oh, no - I could never insult your mother like that.”

“But you’ll do it behind her back?”

I could feel Frank’s eyes burning the back of my head. “I’m just saying… We English people like to eat English food.”

I’d paused in doing the washing up, too angry to speak. I clenched my fist around the sponge, dishwater pouring out of it over my pruning hand.

“I don’t mean to offend you, Florence.”

“Really?” I scoffed. “Because you’re doing an excellent job of it.”

“Don’t be like that.”

I threw the sponge into the sink and turned a glare on him. “In future, if you don’t like the food my mother pours herself into for hours on end, don’t fucking come.”

He shushed me, that smarmy look on his face again, and he placed his hands on my waist.

I felt sick.

“Calm down, I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just airing my thoughts. I love Daniela’s food - always have.”

“Please take your hands off me.”

“Florence, come on,”

“Floss.” I corrected him through gritted teeth, trying to move away from him.

He laughed at me. “What’s got you so wound up today, aye?” He started stroking my sides.

“Lo juro por Dios, si no me quitas las manos de encima te castro.” I threatened to cut his dick off if he didn’t stop touching me.

Someone cleared their throat and knocked on the kitchen door. Frank took a frantic step back, and I could feel my face burning.

Harry was standing just outside the door, with Oscar and Ruby playing just behind him. He looked a little pale in the face, expression unreadable. “Sorry to interrupt,”

“No, no,” Frank raised his hands, “you’re fine, young man. I was just heading back out anyway - you carry on.”

I couldn’t help but notice the subtle glare on Harry’s face as he watched Frank leave the room. I was already gawking at him when he met my gaze again.

“I, um, just wanted to let you know that we’re gonna head off, if you don’t mind?”

“Oh,” I shook my head, “of course not. Um, did you both have a good time?”

“I did.” Harry smiled, though it wasn’t quite as genuine as I’d seen before. “Oscar, have you had a good time?”

Oscar stopped whatever it was he was doing with Ruby and peered up at me. “Yes, thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.” I smiled back at him.

Harry stroked a hand over his son’s floppy curls. “Ready to go?”

Oscar silently nodded.

Ruby and I walked the dentist and his son to the door and waited for them to safely get into their car and drive off, waving at them the whole time like those Chinese cat statues with the funny arms.

“Having a good day, poppet?”

Ruby stood right in front of me, her head craned to look up at me with the biggest smile. “Yes, thank you, Mummy.”

“Good girl. We’ll have a nice day tomorrow as well, just me, you and niñera y abuelo, sí?”

“¡Sí!” She shouted back, and opened her arms wide.

I giggled, leaning down to pick her up around her middle. She clung to me like a koala did a tree - her arms around my shoulders and her legs hooked behind my back. I pecked her nose and her cheek, and she did the same right back to me.

“Te amo, Mamá.” I love you, Mummy.

I hummed loudly with the proudest grin on my face. I loved hearing her speak Spanish. “Yo también te amo, querida.” I love you too, darling.

Early on Sunday morning, I pulled everything for the puppy’s arrival out of the shed in the back garden and set it up in the living room. Dad was already on his way back from Wisbech with the puppy in tow, apparently fast asleep in the front passenger seat.

I’d bought a penn for him because I couldn’t have him running riot around the whole house in the middle of the night, and I wasn’t particularly keen on having him in bed with me or Ruby.

I had to be as quiet as possible because I desperately didn’t want Ruby to wake up before Dad arrived with him, otherwise it would ruin the whole surprise. I made sure everything was ready for the dog, and then I started decorating the living room with more age appropriate decorations than the lual nonsense from yesterday. I’d bought a big pink foil balloon shaped like a number 6 yesterday before her party, and I was pleased to see it had managed to last overnight.

Mum and Dad turned up just after 8 o’clock, which was lucky because I was starting to worry Ruby would’ve been awake 2 hours before, but I hadn’t heard a peep from her.

I made sure the door didn’t make a sound when it opened, and Dad had the puppy on a short lead so there was no chance of him going on a mad rampage through the house before I got Ruby out of bed. He was keen to look around, so Dad walked him around the house for a bit to get him familiar with his new home. After ten minutes of mooching, I sat with him on the floor to calm him down a little.

“There’s that handsome young man I remember seeing!” I whispered, stroking over his head over and over while he licked up my arms. “You are so beautiful, Ruby’s going to be such a happy little girl today.”

The dog flailed around in my lap, ferociously wagging his tail and grunting with all his excitement.

“Can you do me a favour, mister?” I still spoke to the dog, stroking my hands down the length of his little body in the hopes it would settle him. “I need to go and get Ruby so she can come and meet you, but you need to be really good and really patient while I do. Can you do that?”

The dog ruffed, and I started to get antsy.

“I’m gonna take that as a yes!”

I pecked the top of his head a couple of times, and left him with Dad again while I stood up and brushed myself off.

“Shall I make her some breakfast, Floss?” My mum asked, clearly itching to get in the kitchen.

“She wanted some of the leftover obleas - it’s all in the fridge.”

Daniela nodded. “I’ll get them out and ready - make it look nice and pretty for her.”

I lifted my head slightly, biting away a smirk. “Alright.”

I made my way upstairs, lightly knocking on her bedroom door as I peeked my head in.

Ruby lifted her head up, eyes struggling to open and mouth formed in a little ‘o’.

“Buenos dias, cumpleañera.” I said in my quietest voice.

“Buenos dias, Mummy.” She grinned in a gravelly whisper.

I sat on the edge of her bed, smiling at her pretty little face. I wiped the corners of her eyes where sleep had collected, and then stroked the back of my finger against her soft cheek. “Must’ve needed that sleep, it’s nearly 9 o’clock.”

She nodded, rubbing at her own eyes. “I was tired.”

“Shall we get you some breakfast, then? Grandma and Grandad are waiting downstairs, I think they’re hungry.”

“Okay.”

I helped Ruby out of bed and downstairs, letting her go first. As soon as she walked into the living room, she saw the puppy waiting for her. He was sitting like an angel, and either Mum or Dad had wrapped a ginormous blue bow around him.

Ruby squealed, and the dog yapped excitedly, running straight for her out of Dad’s grip. He leapt into her lap, licking her face and trying to crawl all over her. I’d never seen such joy on her face and it almost brought me to tears. Dad was laughing and Mum kept repeating, “Que preciosa,” how precious and, “Hermosa,” beautiful over and over again.

Eventually the dog got so excited that he started running between everyone else for attention as well, and I did have to say it was joyous to watch.

Ruby immediately came to me once she was able to, and wrapped her arms tightly around me. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“It’s not just me - Grandma and Grandad helped get him too. He’s from all of us.”

She kept saying thank you as she skipped around the room to each of us. “I’m so happy! He’s exactly what I wanted!”

Thank God. I felt like a physical weight had been lifted off me.

“After we’ve all had some breakfast we can take him for a walk.” Dad said, stroking over her hair. “Hopefully it’ll wear him out a bit.”

“Okay!” Ruby grinned.

Seeing my baby that happy was overwhelming. I knew that in that moment, no matter what stress that animal might cause me ever the next few months while he adjusted, it would be worth it to see Ruby constantly delighted like that.

ten

We drove out to the Sherborne Park Estate at around lunchtime, parked up, and began walking. We started easy, far enough that Bongo would exert some energy for when we stopped to eat, but not so much that we’d be carrying him around for the rest of the day.

We walked through the centre of the park first, through the woods and around to the village. In the village we had lunch in the local and always popular tea room, charging up ready for the rest of the afternoon. From the village we did a huge loop, walking east all the way to River Windrush and then following it along to the Watermeadows, and finally back down to the car park through the common and Picardy Copse.

It was a beautiful day for a walk like that, and a beautiful day to celebrate my baby’s birthday with her new best friend.

Bongo was incredibly well-behaved for such a young puppy. People stopped constantly to give him attention, and he lapped it up like any good boy would. He never barked, he never jumped, he never bit, he never growled. He just basked in his new life of being the most popular dog around. In the car on the way back he stretched across the backseat, with his chin resting on Ruby’s knee and his paws poking into my thigh.

I was overly conscious about our nighttime routine with him. While he was so young I wanted him to stay in his penn because I’d read horror stories about sofas being destroyed and fridges being raided. I was desperate for that not to happen.

“Mummy, can he sleep with me in my bed tonight?” Ruby asked in the evening just before I was about to put her to bed. She was sitting at the end of the sofa with the dog in her lap, stroking over the top of his head.

“We need to get him used to his cage, muffin. If we let him sleep wherever he wants to he won’t be disciplined when he’s older and he’ll be too big for that.”

“Oh,” she pouted, a devastated sigh leaving her. She never argued any further.

I went up with her, resting my head on the side of her bed while she talked herself to sleep. Bongo had decided to join us but I wouldn’t let him on the bed, so he sat next to me, ferociously wagging his tail. Once Ruby was safely off, I took the puppy back downstairs with me.

“You’ve had a long day, haven’t you, mate?” I chuckled as he stretched out next me, his chin on my thigh. I stroked him from his head to his back over and over.

I watched TV for a little while longer, but I was tired too and eventually decided to go up early.

I ushered Bongo into the penn, gave him a couple of chin scratches and a peck on the head, and then dropped some biscuits into his bed. Obviously he ate the treats without question, and I made my escape.

Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs, he started whimpering. I stalled, guilted but the sound. My chest tightened and I tried not to turn back to him to give him the attention he wanted. I was out of sight so he didn’t know that I’d stopped, and I waited to see if he would calm down.

I knew the longer I waited listening to him the more likely I would be to give in to him, so I marched upstairs and pretended I hadn’t heard it. I readied for bed and tucked myself in, dozy as soon as my head hit the pillow.

It was quiet. All I could hear was the wind whistling through the houses from the field. I didn’t hear a car, I didn’t hear a conversation, and I didn’t hear the puppy downstairs.

Until he barked.

When he started barking, it wasn’t fully formed. It was like those little yappy things you hear on dogs that are smaller than cats. But it was still loud, and I was scared Ruby would wake.

I whined and sat up, throwing the covers off me. I hurried back downstairs while making as little noise as I possibly could, and sat on my knees in front of the puppy before he could make another sound.

I shushed him, stroking over the top of his head where he sat upright in his bed. He licked my face and hands, like it was some kind of bribe for me to stay with him. I was stupid but I wasn’t that stupid.

I waited with him for ten minutes before I tried again, because I could barely keep my eyes open, but all the events from my original attempt repeated themselves. Bongo started crying as soon as I was out of sight, and two minutes after he started barking.

“Fuck sake,” I muttered, and marched my way back downstairs.

I stood in front of him with my arms folded and a scowl on my face. “Right, let’s get one thing straight, mister. I am in charge of this house, not you. You stay down here at nighttime and you go to sleep like a good boy, and I go to bed upstairs like a normal human being. Got it?”

He stared at me, completely silent.

“Good. Now, I’m going to bed, and you will stay here quietly.”

I turned around and opened the latch on the penn. In the next second, Bongo had shot out and was on his way to the stairs.

“Oh, you little shitbag.” I said through gritted teeth.

When I found him he was charging excitedly from the landing, into my room and back again. Once he spotted me, he ran back into the bedroom and jumped onto my bed. He padded his way around it for a while and then plonked himself down in the middle of the two pillows.

I dragged a hand down my face and tried not to squeal.

Crawling onto the bed, I shooed him away with my hand and hiss-like noises. He growled playfully and ran to the end of the bed, and I took my opportunity to settle back down. Bongo curled up right next to me only seconds later.

Once again, as I was close to drifting off, I was interrupted by something else.

“Mummy!” Ruby shouted in a whisper from the doorway.

“Ruby, go back to bed.” I said without even opening my eyes.

“You said Bongo had to stay downstairs!” She argued, climbing up onto my bed. “You lied, you just wanted him all for yourself!”

“That’s not true.” I shook my head against my pillow, eyes still shut. “He was barking and escaped.”

“I think you should let me sleep in here with you to say sorry for lying to me.”

I rolled onto my back, utterly bewildered. She was smarter than me, that was for sure. “Fine, but you have to go to sleep, Ruby. You can’t stay awake all night and play with the dog - he needs to learn a routine and you need to keep yours.”

She hummed thoughtfully, over-exaggerating with it in that way that children do, and then grinned. “Okay.”

She crawled under the covers on the empty side of the bed and settled right down. “Night night, Mummy.”

“Buenas noches, querida.”

In the morning I took Ruby to school and she got upset because she couldn’t take Bongo with her. It must’ve been frustrating for her - I could understand where she was coming from. Yesterday all she’d done was spend time with her puppy, it was all the world revolved around, and now she was being dragged back down to Earth. All it took for her to calm was the reminder that he’d be waiting for her when she finished, and it was our day to look after Oscar. She ran off towards the school gates, nearly face-planting on her way there.

“Now that is a handsome boy.” Zara said once she arrived at the garage, abandoning her things in the middle of the floor and dropping to her knees in front of the puppy.

I watched with a small smile as Bongo made himself familiar with the new face and his new surroundings, tentatively lifting his muzzle up towards Zara and sniffing her before he decided she was acceptable.

“What was she calling him again?”

“Bongo.” I said, and zipped up my coveralls.

“Great name. How did something so smart come out of you - your child is a genius?”

I shook my head. “No idea. Must be something from her Dad. Tea?”

“Go on, then.”

I slipped out of the office to the kitchenette at the back of the garage and made a round of tea for us. I drank it while I was going through the pile of forms for cars that needed to be fixed. There was a lot.

“Did you notice anything weird between Geri and Owen on Saturday?” Zara asked, perching on the edge of the desk. She took forms from me as I handed them to her - jobs that she could easily do.

“Nope.” I lied.

Of course I hadn’t forgotten about the argument they’d had in the living room while I was pretending not to be in the near vicinity in the kitchen. But Geri’s issues with her husband were none of my business, and I didn’t intend to find it out without her telling me on her own accord.

“They were behaving so weirdly, I swear. He wouldn’t look at her.”

“Maybe they’d just had an argument.” I shrugged.

“Me and Mickey had had an argument, but we didn’t just not talk to each other. And Owen left without saying anything. Not a chance in hell did he leave early because he was sick. He was slurping down those frozen things that your mum puts alcohol in like nobody’s business.”

“Cholados.” I reminded her. “I think you’re reading too much into it, Z.”

“I’m gonna ask her.” She decided in that instance. “Was she at the school this morning?”

“I didn’t see her, but I don’t in the mornings very often.”

Zara wandered off with her job forms in hand, leaving me to feel more concerned than I had over the weekend. I appreciated that Zara was probably just trying to be a good friend, but I knew what Geri was like, and I knew that she didn’t like other people poking into her business. If what Owen had said was true and she was leaving him, that was something she needed to come to us with, not the other way around.

Later on Zara told me that Geri had replied to her text, but she’d said nothing was wrong and she and Owen were fine. I told her to leave everything alone after that.

That evening I was curious as to what would happen with Bongo. I couldn’t have him stay in bed with me again - it disrupted Ruby’s bedtime routine.

I decided to stay up as late as possible, putting him in his cage before I went up but staying up with him for a little while longer. He did curl up in his bed after a while of sitting and staring at me, and I turned the TV right down so I could hear his breathing.

It took a bit longer than I’d have liked, but I remained patient. He kept standing up, circling a few times on the spot and then plonking back down again. He did this maybe ten times before he finally nodded off. I listened to him snoozing for another hour before I took myself to bed.

I was glad when I got to the stairs and he didn’t cry, and more so when I got into bed and fell asleep, and was not awoken by the sound of his barks downstairs.

I don’t know what time it was when I woke up and needed the toilet, but I hadn’t heard a peep out of him. I decided to look in on Ruby to make sure she was alright before I used the bathroom.

I tried not to lose my temper when I saw that at some point she’d woken up, gone downstairs, and brought the puppy upstairs to sleep with her. He was curled up next to her by her feet, snoring away. I knocked my forehead against the doorframe.

I couldn’t wake them up now. I’d have a barking dog and an upset child.

That morning, I made sure she knew she wasn’t to do it again.

“But he was crying, Mummy!” She insisted, a little scowl on her face. “I didn’t want him to be alone and I didn’t want him to wake you up.”

“Ruby, he has got to get into a routine with us, we can’t just let him all over the house because he cries at night - he needs discipline.”

“It was just last night, I promise! I won’t let him with me again.”

I knew at that point all I could do was take her word for it.

On Tuesday afternoon I was ready for a fight. I’d prepared all of my receipts from sending Ruby to that awful morning club, and was just waiting to pounce on Lorraine. I took Bongo out of the car and let him drag me by the lead. Geri was standing alone, which I found odd at first considering Harry was also waiting, but then I realised he was being heckled by three other mums. I didn’t know what he was saying but it couldn’t have been as funny as Debbie was making it out to be.

“What’s going on there?” I asked, tightening Bongo’s lead as I stood next to Geri.

She leant down with a smile to pet the animal, greeting him with the same cooed, “Hi, gorgeous boy,” as she did yesterday. “Just pointless flirting. I was talking to him to begin with, and then one of the mums I don’t know joined us and started asking about molars and flossing. But she was flirting so I gave up and left.”

I snorted. “Sounds painful.”

“It was really weird, I won’t lie. Like, I know he’s a dentist, but I don’t think talking about molars in a flirtatious way is going to get the bloke to like you.”

“What even are molars?”

Geri turned to me with a frown. “They’re… teeth, Floss.”

“Oh.” Was all I said.

I looked in the direction of the dentist. He was wearing scrubs on his bottoms again and a plain white t-shirt, one arm folded across his front and supporting the other, rubbing his hand into his stubbly cheek. He also didn’t say a single word, while Debbie didn’t look like she was ever going to shut up.

In the next second he glanced in my general direction, meeting my gaze. He lifted his hand away from his face by way of a wave. I didn’t know what to do, then. I’d been caught staring. I forced a smile, but looked back to the gate.

“Why are you so afraid of that man?” Geri asked. I wasn’t looking at her but I was sure she was smirking.

“I’m not afraid of him.” I lied.

“Floss, you couldn’t be more terrified of him if you tried. I know he’s a dentist, but he’s harmless.”

“Dunno what you mean.”

Seconds later, Bongo suddenly got excited, weaving through my legs and away from me.

“Hey,” I said, following where he was trying to run off to as I gripped his lead tighter, “stay here, please.”

It turned out Harry had excused himself from conversation about general dentistry to come and speak to us. Or the dog, I wasn’t sure.

“Hello,” He said immediately to the puppy, crouching down to give him some fuss, “hello.”

I watched, stunned and frozen in my place while the dentist gave the dog his full attention for a solid minute, stroking and cooing included. I couldn’t not watch - it would be almost rude not to. A good-looking man in scrubs and a cute puppy fawning over one another? They made whole calendars with this kind of content.

Geri nudged me, and I finally looked away to find that everyone else was watching him too. I felt under pressure.

Harry finally stood to his full height and smiled at me. “Y’alright?”

I nodded tightly. “Yep, you?”

“I’m fine.” He shrugged. “Much better for seeing this good boy.”

Bongo was still fighting for his attention with hand licks and standing on his back legs while pawing up Harry’s front.

We waited in silence for the children to appear, with me staring ahead and trying not to draw attention to myself, Geri picking her nails, and Harry still playing with the dog.

Then, I spotted Lorraine across the car park talking to one of the dads, and I forgot about everything else around me. “Excuse me,” I muttered.

From where she was standing it looked like she might have been trying to avoid me, but she had a fat chance of that happening. As soon as she noticed I was coming, her initial expression was shock, and then she squared herself off.

Bongo was trotting alongside me and stopped when I did. Then he did something I didn’t expect - he looked up at the woman I was ready to fight with, and immediately growled.

Interesting!

“Come to pay the money you owe me, Florence?” Lorraine goaded.

“No. How many months in total was Ruby coming to you?” I demanded.

She scoffed at me. “I don’t know.”

“Considering you’re asking me for more money, do you not perhaps think you should know?”

Lorraine opened her mouth, but never actually said anything.

“How many months?” I repeated.

“I don’t know!”

“Then go and find out!”

Her expression fell, mouth parted. Then, in a snap movement, she shook her head and marched away, scowling. I watched her as she yomped across the car park, muttering away to herself.

The dad she was talking to before gave me a judgemental look. I glared at him when I turned away.

“I have never seen you like that before.” Geri said, eyes wide but quite obviously entertained by my little outburst.

Harry snorted. “I have.”

Bongo was fussing around my legs, little squeaks coming out of him. I sighed and bent down to pick him up. He licked my cheek and then pushed his head into it.

“I’m sorry, but I am not going to be bullied by that ridiculous woman. I don’t care what she’s told the other parents and whether they believe her, she’s a cunt.”

I waited and waited for Lorraine, or Ruby, to appear from the school. Something was obviously keeping the children back but we hadn’t been told anything about it if that was the case. Sometimes they held these emergency assemblies and sent us an email about it an hour before the end of the day. If they had sent one, I hadn’t seen it.

Lorraine finally came back, cheeks pink and her shoulders slumped. She didn’t usually look so miserable. She made her way straight over to me, but she was obviously conscious of the other parents watching. I put Bongo back on the floor, and he’d already begun growling at her.

“22 months.” She said, barely audible.

“Sorry?”

“22 months.” She repeated, much clearer, followed by a defeated huff.

“Right.” I shoved my pile of bank statements into her chest and folded my arms. “Count them.”

She looked at the receipts and then at me. “What?”

“They’re all there, highlighted to make it easier for you. So I want you to count them.”

People were starting to whisper and it was irritating me. I knew we were a spectacle for the bored parents of this sleepy village, but I wanted them to see that no matter how stupid I made myself look, I wasn’t going to let other people get away with it.

Lorraine stood and counted every highlighted transaction on the papers in front of her. She held her breath at the end, the paper crumpling in her hands, and then she counted them again.

“Well?”

She swallowed. “22. There’s 22 here.”

“I thought so.” I said, snatching the paper back from her. “Thank you very much.”

“It was an honest mistake, Floss.”

“I don’t care if it was an honest mistake.” I said, folding my arms. “You were pissed off that I went mad at you in the car park, and you found the first thing you could to try and make me look bad in front of all of these people like some kind of dumb revenge. You knew exactly what you were doing, whether the error was genuine or not. Did you really think that as someone who runs her own company I wouldn’t know how to handle my fucking finances?

“I’m so sick of this fucking nonsense with you. You fucked up by trying to hide the fact that your son is a bully, and that you enabled him. Whispering shit to him about my life so that he could use it against my child. And then I called you out on it and you got angry, so you bitched about me to the other parents and then tried to embarrass me in front of them. Do you know how petty that is?”

Lorraine swallowed, “I’m sorry.”

“I know I am not the smartest person in this village. I know people think I’m crazy, but I don’t care. I have never cared what people think of me as a person. However I will not accept someone taking their dislike for me and trying to make me look like a bad parent, because I know that is one thing I’m good at.”

“Mummy!”

At the sound of Ruby’s call I took a deep breath and searched for her. She was running towards us, finally, and my face broke into a smile.

“Hola, querida,” I said, crouching down to accept the hug she always gave me.

Ruby choosing to hug me first over the dog helped me emphasise my point to Lorraine without me even having to.

When I stood up again, Lorraine had already gone.

“¿Vamos a casa de la abuela?” Are we going to Grandma’s?

I stood back at her fully formed question, laughing. “Who taught you that?!”

“Someone came in today to teach us some Spanish! I asked at the end of the day so I could say it to you.”

I shook my head with a smile. “That’s… okay. Well, did you know the most out of everyone else?”

“Yeah! No one else knew any Spanish.”

“Well, there we go. Did you learn any other phrases?”

“Hay una serpiente en mi bota.”

I narrowed my gaze and remembered one of the kids in her class was mad about Toy Story. I snorted. “Of course.”

“What does that mean?” Geri asked.

“There’s a snake in my boot.”

Harry giggled.

Geri smirked and looked down at Ruby. “Hugo?”

She nodded with a big grin.

“Alright, let’s get going. Grandma will be dying to hear about Spanish classes.” I put my free hand to Ruby’s back. “Say bye to everyone.”

“Bye everyone!”

eleven

On Wednesday when I got to the garage there was already someone waiting on the forecourt outside. I didn’t recognise him as local, and he was leaning against the side of his blue Lamborghini Huracan with his arms folded and a pair of sunglasses on that looked too big for his face.

I parked in my usual place out of the way of everything else and stepped out of the car, feeling much less glamorous than he looked.

“Good morning,” I said to him with an expectant expression, but went straight to the garage door to unlock it.

He seemed taken back by my genuine greeting. He looked at his watch and then back at me. “Are you always this tardy?”

I frowned. “I don’t know what that means.”

The strange man pushed away from his car and made his way towards me. Meanwhile, I tussled with the garage door until it finally gave in.

“Are you always this late?”

I looked at him, offended by his question. Up this close I noticed things I couldn’t see before. He was an older man but not old, maybe in his late thirties or early forties. I only guessed this from the salt and pepper hairs around his ears. He had a very square face, but in a kind of attractive way, and when he took his glasses off I found a very blue pair of eyes. He was dressed smartly, in a white dress shirt not buttoned all the way up, and black tailored suit trousers. He looked exactly like the type of person who would drive a blue Lamborghini.

Before I could respond to his rude question, he made a comment that confused me.

“Wow.” He said, taking a step back when I tried to stand straighter.

“What?” I asked with a furrowed brow, but moved towards the buttons on the side of the doorway to finish opening the garage door. It was loud while I did, too loud to hear a man speak.

The stranger’s gaze flicked between me and the ascending garage door, trying not to express his amusement.

I waited for him to finally say what was so… wow, trying not to appear as irritated as I was.

“You’re very beautiful.”

I blinked at him. I couldn’t see how that had anything to do with me being late. “What’s your point?”

Now he looked confused. “I… don’t have a point.”

I took a deep breath. “Okay,” I said around my exhale, and turned away from him to get Bongo out of the car. He was sitting in the window when I reappeared with a cocked head, and it was quite cute.

“How long will it take to sort the car?” The weird man asked, following me as I walked Bongo through to the office.

“Well, I’d need to know what’s wrong with it first.”

“There’s nothing wrong with it, it just needs a service.”

“Right,” I rolled my eyes, but he couldn’t see me do it. I settled Bongo down in his bed and then found a form for the customer to fill out. “It usually takes a few hours.”

“So I’ll have it back soon? Like, today soon?”

I stared at him blankly, and looked out into the crammed garage, and then back to him. “Not today, no.”

“Why not?”

“Because all those cars in the garage have actual things wrong with them and they’ve been waiting longer.”

“I can pay you more to prioritise it. Money is no issue.”

Must be nice.

I gave him another perplexed stare. “If you’re so keen to get it done, why didn’t you take it to an actual Lamborghini garage?”

“Because a friend recommended you. And the Lamborghini garage charges an arm and a leg for a service.”

“You’ve literally just said money isn’t an issue.”

He took a moment, unsure what to say, but his bemused smirk said it all. “Alright, fair enough. But you were recommended to me and I’d really like it to be done today. Please.”

“No.” I shook my head, handing him the form on a clipboard.

“Why not? I’ll literally pay you double whatever you would normally charge.”

“I won’t be bought. Sorry.”

“Oh, come on.” He laughed in a kind of pained way. “These other people won’t know.”

“These other people can’t afford to pay me double. That Nissan has been there for three days, and you can sod off if you think I’m not going to start on it right away because you’re too impatient to wait.”

He pressed his lips together tightly. “What’s your name?”

“Floss.”

He tipped his head. “Floss, as in the dental stuff?”

“No, Floss as in Florence.”

He was obviously confused but he was still smirking. “Well, Floss. You drive a hard bargain. Is there anything I can do to convince you otherwise?”

“No.”

“Really? My son is looking to become a mechanic, I could get him to come and help you. Maybe if it works out you could give him a job.”

“If your son is looking to become a mechanic, maybe you should get him to service your car.”

He laughed again, like he was in agony, towards the ceiling. “Come on, Floss. What’s a man gotta do to get his car serviced around here?”

“Wait.” I said, and folded my arms. “Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but we could talk about this all day and it won’t change anything, and I’ve already wasted too much time talking about it. You either leave it here, or you don’t. Your choice.”

The man looked at me for a while, and he was obviously fighting with himself. “You know it’s not very often I don’t get my own way.”

“I believe you.”

He sighed and started filling the form out, but he was enjoying himself. “You know, I quite like the idea of having my car looked at by you. And on the plus side of leaving it here, I get to come back and see that pretty face of yours again.”

I took the form from him when he handed it to me, and hooked the clipboard under my arm. “Do you need a courtesy car?”

He bit away a smile. “I might do.”

“Is that a ye-,”

“-Morning!” Zara announced herself. She was carrying a small brown paper bag and a two-slot tray with coffees on the top.

I lifted my head at her as she passed, and she wasn’t shy in eyeing up the man standing in front of me.

“Don’t worry about the courtesy car.” He said rather quickly. “Just give me a call when you’re done with her.”

“Okay.”

I was admittedly relieved to see him go, and my tense posture dropped once he finally left the garage.

Zara came to stand next to me, chewing on a croissant. “Who was he?”

“Some minted Lambo owner.” I said, looking at the information on the form. Darren was his name. He looked like a Darren.

“He was sexy.”

“He was annoying.”

“Yeah, but he was sexy.”

I grunted at her and turned away.

“What did he want?”

“A service.”

Zara’s laugh was dirty. “You could give him a right good service if you tried hard enough. And he’d enjoy it.”

I paused, narrowing my gaze at her. “You’re not talking about the car, are you?”

“No I’m bloody not, he was delicious. Let me tell you, if I was single I’d-,”

“-You don’t need to tell me, Z. Leave some for the imagination.”

I wandered into the office and left Darren’s form on the bottom of our to-do pile. Or rather, on the bottom of Zara’s to-do pile, since she usually did the service jobs.

“Cheers for the coffee.”

“My pleasure. I was running late so it was the least I could do.”

I spent the rest of the day stressed at how much work I had to do, and found myself late collecting Ruby from the dentist’s house again. He must’ve thought I was utterly useless.

I had no idea what I looked like marching across the pebbles up to the front door, but at that point in the day I didn’t really care. I knocked twice and then folded my arms.

It took Harry barely a minute to come and answer. He swung the door open, an easy smile on his face again and in a pair of bright green jogging bottoms and a white t-shirt. “Hi,” he started, and then he frowned at the sight of me, “are you alright?”

“I’m fine, I’ve just had a busy day.” I shrugged, trying not to make a big deal out of it.

Harry pressed his lips together, still frowning at me like he was debating something. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, it’s alright. Honestly. I really just need to get Ruby home and fed.”

He studied me for a little bit longer. “I don’t mind if you want to have a little bitch, Floss. ‘M all ears.” He flicked behind his right ear with a little smile.

I bit away my own. “I appreciate that, but-,”

“-Mummy!”

Ruby appeared behind Harry in the hallway, a big grin on her face, and she sped out to me to give me a hug.

“Hola, querida.” I said as I hugged her back. I picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my shoulders. She was warm and it felt wonderful around me. “¿Cómo estás?”

She looked at me with a hum, playing with my hair in the ponytail I had it in. “Soy bueno.”

“Buena.” I reminded her. “You’re a lady.”

“Ruby,” Harry said, and we both looked back his way. Oscar was standing by his legs with a little smile on his face. “Do you and your mum want to stay for dinner?”

Ruby gasped and looked at me, eyes bright and warm. “Can we, Mummy? Please, please, please?”

“Er…” I was lost for words.

“Please?” She begged.

I looked back at Harry, who had a smug grin on his face, probably because he knew I didn’t have a way of saying no.

“Mummy, please?”

I sighed and put her back on her feet. “I guess we can, yeah.”

“Yay!” Ruby squealed, and started jumping up and down. “Can I go and get Bongo?”

Shit, I’d forgotten about the dog.

I met Harry’s gaze again. “I’ve got a blanket he can sit on.” He offered.

“Oh, are you sure? I’ve got one in my car if you’d prefer?”

“No, it’s fine. I don’t mind.”

I gave Ruby the key to the car so she could go and retrieve her puppy, watching carefully to make sure there wasn’t an accident where he ran off or accidentally tripped her over. She ran straight into the house with him and Oscar, leaving the key with me. I locked the car from where I stood.

“That was really naughty of you.” I said to Harry as he took a step back to let me in.

He laughed, cheeks a little rosy. “What? It was Oscar’s idea - blame him.”

I toed my shoes off by the front door and followed the dentist through to the kitchen in the next room.

Even though the house looked big from the outside, inside it was still very much like a cottage, with low ceilings and exposed beams. The kitchen was open plan with a dining room, spread from the front to the back of the house, the counters overlooking the garden, and then a four-seater breakfast table in the front window, with a cushioned bench.

In the next room was the lounge, where the children had toys spread out everywhere, of which Bongo was animatedly sniffing.

“Ruby, you keep a close eye on him.” I warned her, “And don’t let him get on any of the furniture, alright?”

“Okay!” She agreed, but I wasn’t convinced she’d actually listened to a word I said.

Harry put a large woollen blanket on the floor by the back door, folded up multiple times so that it was comfortable enough for him. “That alright?”

“More than alright, thank you.”

“What do you want for dinner, kids? Takeaway?”

“Yeah!” They screamed in unison.

I gave Harry a bemused frown. “Where are you gonna get a takeaway from in Bibury?”

“The Catherine Wheel.”

“They don’t deliver…”

He smirked. “They do to me. What would you like, Ruby?”

I watched with fascination as Harry took the children’s orders, and then he nodded me back into the kitchen and told me to make myself comfortable. I gingerly sat at the dining table, not comfortable at all.

He moved around his kitchen with ease. It was like watching a practised dance as he found glasses out of cupboards and bottles out of racks. His arms were everywhere and his legs swanned around. His back muscles rippled with every slight movement and it was embarrassing how closely I watched his every move. I was so fascinated by him I didn’t realise what he was doing until he screwed the top back on the wine bottle.

“Harry, I can’t have a drink.” I shook my head as he presented me with a glass of red wine.

“Why not?”

“It’s a school night, and I have to drive home.”

He shrugged, and sat in the chair next to mine. “It’s only one - you’ll be fine.”

I set my jaw, but I tried not to give away just how frustrated I was. Today was not the day for this. I didn’t need to get hot under the collar over this man after my horrendous day.

“What happened at work?”

I stared at him, noting the relaxed posture he held. He was sitting, but in a rather laid-back way, literally. He’d sunk into the chair, legs stretched under the table, and his right hand was resting on the base of his wine glass.

I tried to make myself as small as possible. “It was just busy - it has been all week. But things just kept coming and kept coming. I’m only one person.”

“Haven’t you got, um,” he scratched his face as he tried to remember, “Zara there with you?”

“I do, but she’s not a mechanic.”

“Oh. What does she do, then?”

“Literally everything else. Services, anything cosmetic, if you know what I mean?” He nodded, so I carried on. “If someone needs a temporary car she’ll handle it. Basically anything that doesn’t involve fixing a car, she does. But at the moment there’s a lot of cars that need fixing.”

“I see.” He nodded again. “Well, I’m sorry you’ve had a shit day.”

I shrugged. “It might not have been so bad if I hadn’t started off the day talking to some utter prick.”

Harry tapped the table. “Tell me more.”

I rolled my eyes. “He was rich. Like, richie-rich. Turned up in a bright blue Lamborghini Huracan and asked why I was late.” I scoffed. “Then when he actually looked at me he was… well, I guess he was flirting with me, and it was odd. Then he wanted to pay extra for me to get the service done faster and I told him no, and he got really funny about it.”

“Funny how?”

“He said he had a son who was training to be a mechanic and tried to get me to hire him to help.”

“That’s weird.”

“I know.”

“Also, Lamborghini garages have services where you can drop your car off and get it serviced there and then.”

“That’s what I said!” I nearly shouted. “But he didn’t want to pay for it, which was ridiculous because he was offering to pay me double the price for the service just to get it done quicker.”

“I mean… from an income point of view, that might not have been a terrible thing.”

“Harry, I’ve got cars sitting in that garage that have been there nearly a week because I haven’t had time to get to them. I’m not going to pander to a spoilt rich man just because he couldn’t be bothered to wait.”

“Alright, I guess I kind of see your point. What was the outcome?”

I grimaced. “He left it with me because he said at least he got to see me again, or something.”

Harry giggled. “God loves a trier.”

“He was a cock.”

“How do you manage to attract these weird men all the time?”

“Dunno, but it might explain why I’m sat here with you.”

The dentist’s mouth fell, and he brought his hand to his chest. “Ouch.”

I took a drink from the glass Harry had poured for me, and I had to admit it was an incredibly satisfying feeling. It made me feel warm inside. Still on the tail end of the comment about weird men, I thought about what Harry had seen on Saturday with Frank.

“I’m not having an affair with Frank, by the way.”

Harry’s head craned back a bit, eyes wide and with a tight smile. “What a statement to make.”

“Oh,” I smacked my face into my palm.

“I don’t even think I know who Frank is, but I’m glad we cleared that up, Floss.” He was laughing, breath around his wine glass making it sing a little as he took a sip.

“No, because I know you saw something on Saturday, and I don’t want you to think-,”

“-Oh, that bloke!” Harry sat forward, patting the table again. “I was going to mention something after but I didn’t want to make you more uncomfortable, which it was obvious you were, by the way.”

“Well, I wasn’t sure how it looked from an outside point of view.”

“You looked like you wanted to murder the man, Florence.”

I screwed my face up, feeling hot. “I did.”

“What did you say to him?”

“What do you mean?”

Harry swallowed another sip of wine. “I heard you say something to him in Spanish.”

“Oh,” I laughed but it was nervous, “I think I said I’d chop his dick off if he didn’t stop touching me.”

Harry nodded with a smile. “Nice. Can he speak Spanish?”

“Not as far as I’m aware. But he’d spent 5 minutes bitching about the fact that my mum only ever made Colombian food when we have a party. Speaking to him in a language he didn’t understand made me feel kind of…”

“Powerful?”

“Yeah? I guess?”

“Well, I’ll tell you it makes you superior to him, that’s for sure.”

I smiled at the table, and I knew I was blushing - I could feel it in my cheeks. “When I was little my mum always used to say she hated that man, and still does now, but I didn’t really know why. And then as I got older it started making sense. Now I hate him more than my mum does.”

“Who even is he?”

“One of Dad’s friends. His wife is also really good friends with my mum, but she’s fuckin’ blind. I think my mum told her once that Frank is a nonce, but it didn’t go down very well.”

Harry's laughter was like barking. “Did she really call him a nonce?”

“Something like that. I don’t think she realised the real meaning of the word at the time.”

“That’s funny. I do like your mum.”

I was nodding around a smile. “Most people do. She’s so Latin in so many ways, like she’s fiery and a bit loud, and very opinionated. But she’s also really… nice? Like a really good kind of nice. Kind, gentle… you know.”

“I do. My mum is the same. Just not Latin.”

That made me giggle for some reason. “You don’t think about how important it is to have a good motherly figure in your life until you’re older, do you?”

Harry took a deep breath and looked towards the living room. “No, you don’t.”

I realised then that he was probably thinking about Oscar and the lack of someone like that in his life. “Oh shit, I’m sorry.”

He looked at me with a frown. “About what?”

“That stupid comment I just made, I didn’t mean to-,”

“-Jesus, Floss.” He shook his head, laughing breathily. “You don’t need to apologise. We moved down here for a reason - I miss my mum but Oscar needed to form that relationship with his other grandparents too, and I couldn’t do that where I was before.”

I watched him for a moment, but he didn’t seem upset. “Do you miss home?”

He pursed his lips. “Sometimes. I think it was a shock to the system at first, but I maybe kinda prefer it here.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! It’s so quiet, the school is good. Well, apart from the bullying incident, but it is good everywhere else. The people are nice, excluding Lorraine. I like it here.”

“That felt like a very small list.”

“I’m serious! I can’t explain it, but it’s just… it’s lovely here. And Oscar is happy and that’s all that matters.”

I took a deep breath. “Well, I can’t argue with that.”

“Would you ever consider moving for Ruby?”

“I’d do anything for Ruby.” I said without hesitation. “I mean, we have everything here that we need - my parents are here, I grew up here and I wouldn’t want to pull her away from that, but if I needed to for whatever reason then I definitely would.

“I actually sometimes think about going to Colombia or one of the other countries down there, but my mother hated it so I’m not entirely convinced it would be any good for us.”

“I don’t know anything about Colombia so I couldn’t say, but I imagine uprooting her life like that might not be best. To move to a new town or city is one thing, but to move to a completely different country is entirely another.”

I smirked. “They your words of wisdom, are they?”

Harry laughed. “Absolutely. Although it was more observation than wisdom.”

I wished he wouldn’t use big words like that.

When the food arrived Harry asked the children to come and sit with us, apparently not keen on Oscar eating in the living room. I hadn’t ever thought about a rule like that - Ruby and I just always ate together at the kitchen table.

After we finished eating I also asked for a pint of water and necked the whole thing for sobriety purposes, not that I was drunk. Ruby thanked Harry and Oscar for having us before even I did, and then we drove home.

Even though I was exhausted we still had to take Bongo for a walk. Ruby could barely keep her eyes open and I ended up carrying her half way around. We called it a night and I promised Bongo a longer walk in the morning before work.

Chapters twelve, thirteen & fourteen

#harry styles #harry styles imagine #harry styles imagines #harry styles fic #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles writing #harry styles smut #harry styles fluff #harry styles angst imagine

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askaniritual · 1 year

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oh the one specific thing i do need to free from my brain immediately tho is the end of the main story which. ok i have done my best in the course of reading this fic not to just summarize plot points because like who cares lmfao but here i will do so just to stop thinking about it

tw mania and unreality and also injury i guess? and also spoilers for the end of the fic if Literally Anybody Cares

so basically like its the final chapters of the fic, theyve set up this big elaborate plan that absolutely everybody is involved w to beat the condesce and then like a week before everything is supposed to happen sollux goes manic and like fully delusional and is convinced that he is completely essential to the functioning of this plan and that its destined to work out and he cant lose

and of course everybody is like "you absolutely cannot come with to do this plan anymore" so he goes to another character and basically gets him to mind control every single person who cares about sollux to compel him to attend

so like its the day of the plan, he's there to do his part, everybody is freaking out bc now he's a massive liability in this huge plan, and of course he immediately goes off the rails because he's convinced he knows better than everybody else and basically gets in a situation where he's alone and fighting the psiionic who essentially eyeball lasers him to death and like the very second before he gets obliterated he has a brief moment of clarity like "oh i wasnt right i wasnt destined to win this fight i was just delusional and now im going to die" and then basically everybody finds his like mangled corpse

and like of course he lives because of shenanigans or whatever but it was upsetting!!! it was upsetting just like on its face, and it was upsetting to read like this very detailed second person account of mania and it was upsetting in the context of a story that has entirely been about how sollux doesn't always have to be the one to sacrifice himself. to just at the last minute have to throw out every lesson he learned to this effect for like 800,000 words prior or whatever and in the end he's not even coherent enough to remember it and it gets him killed. like what the fuck!!! and im not saying this is like. a failing on him or whatever like i get that sometimes its like that but like jesus christ!! anyway.

#allegory of the hive

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valleynix · 1 year

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I am so late 😭 as much as I love how massive the chapters are I struggle to find the energy to go through such big text that requires of me to use my brain 😔 But here we go 🏃🏻‍♂️

1. Have mercy over the poor Bela 😭 She can't get any of Reader because everyone is constantly interrupting her and now THIS 😭

2. YOU NEED TO STOP HURTING ME.

But if she built it when she was a human that was a brave move to rearrange Alcina's library.

3. "Your company is better on lonesome nights."

:') my eyes are sweating

4. Idk if you ever seen it but it reminds me of that one scene in the movie "Annihilation" when there was a mutated bear that after it ate(?) a person it mimicked their voice (I mean it hardly sounded human but still) calling for help.

Both are extremely disturbing.

5. Can they shut the fuck up.

To summarise the experience of this chapter:

6. I love how Luantic begins to find comfort in Reader and they can have someone other than Miranda :( and that Reader starts to care about Lunatic. (and pls the scene when the bird Lunny lies down besides Reader and watches over the door :'))

Also I trust this little (big) traumatised bird with my life and Watcher is becoming more and more sus🤨

7. I don't have the brain to think further about what the hell happened with that strange creature chasing Reader😭 But since Dimis kinda have the beasty side of them, like when Dani or Bela are out for blood not caring about who they attack, maybe it was Reader's? Since Lunatic told them they weren't responsible for hurting Dimis this time. Idk.

8. ALSO THE WHOLE SCENE WITH MIRANDA HELLO??? HAVEN'T I CRIED ENOUGH? ??

They called her mother and her brain got an error and she went soft for a hot moment there before it was all ruined 😔 but that's gonna keep me delusional, I WANT HER FIXED I WANT THIS MESSED UP FAMILY OF BIRDS TO BE HAPPY PLEASE.

I love her too much to give up on her character 😭

9. I can barely make sense of the things that just happened there 😭 but I do like the chapter and the changes that occurred. I was crying and screaming, it was both sweet and painful.

LISTEN i want y’all to take care of yourselves first ‼️ as much as i love the analyses of these chapters, your health comes first <33

BUT ALSO WAS VERY EXCITED WHEN I GOT THIS NOTIF- onto the replies >:3

1. Bela genuinely cannot catch a break LMAO 😭 but she’ll have her time in upcoming chapters, perhaps the next one?? but that scene was lowkey really funny to write

2. MWAHAHA. and she did build it when she was human; just doesn’t remember ever doing it, but her sisters do and had kept it preserved for her :D i don’t think Alcina would have minded, since she had already considered Daniela her kid pre-experiment

3. MY BABIES I LOVE THEM

4. I HAVE SEEN THAT MOVIE- honestly forgot about it until you mentioned it but i can see the resemblance. that thing scared me for like a week straight i won’t lie 😭

5. i see some Watcher haters in the chat ‼️

6. Lunatic really does deserve to have someone that’s able to comfort and understand them :( and it’s good that it happens to be Reader who, despite all they’ve done, still finds room for them in their heart </3

7. this is a very good guess :3 i can’t quite say what it was just yet, as it would likely ruin the Surprise, but i like this theory hehehehe

8. THERE IS STILL HOPE FOR HER ‼️ i love Miranda dearly and while she IS the villain of this story, even Lunatic got a redemption, so… we shall see :) i think the family of fucked up birds deserves to be happy after all of this

9. IM REALLY GLAD YOU LIKED IT!! i apologize that is took me a hot second to get to this (work was very busy 😔), but reading your thoughts and reactions was enough to make my day a lot better :D <33 !!

#asks #HEHE LOVED READING THIS #my fav birds got their moment #i wanna write so badly but i have Original Works thoughts rn #and i’m also at work #sad times for me today

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justtluffythings · 2 years

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HOME: Book 3 - CHAPTER ONE

MASTERLIST

As Veronica turned the corner onto one of the deserted corridors on the third floor, she walked about halfway before stopping and turning to face the way she had come. Seconds later, she came face to face with the person she knew had been secretly, yet not so secretly, following her around the school: Archie.

Archie's detentions from Dumbledore had ended last year, and despite many protests from Veronica, Charlie and even Snape, the headmaster was adamant about not extending them. He believed in second chances and redemption, and he wanted to give Archie a chance to change. Snape continued giving Archie as many detentions as he could, but Archie had completely stopped misbehaving around him, and there were only so many times he could be given detention for walking weirdly or talking too quietly. This meant Archie had a lot more free time than he did last year, and his anger had only increased tenfold.

Which is how they ended up in this situation now. After lunch, Charlie had gone to Quidditch practice, and Veronica was on her way to the library when she felt like someone was following her. She had decided to make her way to this deserted corridor to confirm her suspicions, knowing full well that if there really was someone following her, it had to be Archie. And when he came around the corner, she could do nothing but shake her head and sigh in frustration.

"What do you want, Archie? Why are you following me?"

"How did..." Archie shook his head. "Nevermind, it doesn't matter. I've been trying to get you alone for weeks now. I need to get you back for all those detentions you made me have last year," he growled angrily under his breath as he glared daggers at her.

Veronica's jaw dropped as she stared at him in disbelief. Was he really that delusional? He couldn't seriously blame her for his detentions after what he did. As quickly as it came, her shock turned to rage. That's it, she'd had enough of his shit. She refused to keep putting up with this. "You know what Archie? Fuck you," she snarled. Veronica could swear like a sailor when she was upset; it was one of the few things she got from her parents. This side of her didn't come out often, but when it did, you knew it was serious. "You tried to fucking kill me, what did you seriously expect would happen? You thought you'd be able to get away with it scot-free? That's not how life works."

"Oh, calm down. Stop being so dramatic!" he exclaimed as he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "I wasn't going to kill you, I was just trying to scare you into giving up the Beater position."

"Wow, you think that's better? You think that makes it okay? You used my biggest fear against me, and whether or not you intended it, I almost died. The consequences of your actions are on you, not me!"

Archie didn't even skip a beat, unphased by her words. "Well, you never should have gotten picked over me anyway! That was complete and utter bullshit!"

It was Veronica's turn to roll her eyes now as she fumed. "Oh, fucking hell! Get over it, Archie! You're such a bitter old hag. I beat you fair and square. If you wanted to get the position, you should have done better. Plain and fucking simple."

At that, Archie had heard enough. His face was redder than the Weasleys' hair, and if this were a muggle cartoon, he would have smoke coming out of his ears. However, Veronica stood there with her hands on her hips, completely unphased. She knew she could take him any day, and that only seemed to piss him off more. Archie began raising his wand, preparing to hex her, but before he could even begin an incantation, Veronica had him hanging by his ankles in the air in front of her.

Archie's shock was palpable. "Ho- How did you do that? You didn't even have your wand, you... You didn't even say the incantation. Th- That's not possible. My parents can't even perform non-verbal wandless magic," he whispered with wide eyes.

Veronica stood inches from his face, looked him straight in the eye and smirked. "Well, your parents aren't me," she laughed sardonically. "So I would suggest you remember that the next time you try to challenge me. I can disarm you without even batting an eye. This time, it happened in an empty hallway, so no one will know how weak you really are. But next time..." she released her hold on him and let him come crashing down with a hard thud. She slowly crouched down beside him as he groaned softly. "You might not be so lucky. You may just find yourself hanging upside down with your trousers at your ankles in front of the whole school. How embarrassing that would be for you." Veronica chuckled darkly before standing up. "Leave me alone, Archie. I mean it. Get over it, get over yourself, and leave me the fuck alone, you understand me?"

Veronica left him there on the floor and walked around him, going back down the hallway the way they had come, ready to finally go to the library and get her potions essay done. As she turned the corner, she was startled to see someone leaning against the wall, smirking at her. She hadn't expected anyone to be there, and they had scared the crap out of her, causing her to jump back and cast Flipendo with her hand on her heart, slamming them into the wall.

"Shit!" Veronica rushed over with her hands over her mouth once she recognized who it was. "I'm so sorry!"

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writingforatwistedworld · 2 years

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Can I have a self aware au like player gets into an accident which resulted in her/them getting memory loss about certain parts in her/their life and completely forgets about twisted wonderland so she doesn't/they don't open the game for like a week and a half and when they get curious about this strange game in her/their phone, she opens the game and starts remembering things ofc including her/their beloved favorite character, and so (name) starts telling them about everything that has happened and apologizes for not opening the game for a long time. So how would Lilia, Vil, Leona, Malleus react to all this new information about their dear player?

If the characters are too much you don't have to do Leona and Malleus (p.s you're literally my favorite twisted wonderland author thank you for writing and just existing in general (◕ᴗ◕✿), remember to take breaks and stay hydrated and yo don't have to accept this request no pressure <3 )

Aww thank you so much. This is so sweet! I have to take accident part out bc it could be triggering to some but hmm... let's say that you had completely forgotten about TWST for some reason.

Self-aware au

I do not take any responsibility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from!

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, obsessive behavior, possessive behavior, unhealthy mindset, delusional

Lilia Vanrouge/Vil Schoenheit-Remebering Twisted Wonderland

You heard from a friend about the game Twisted Wonderland

It sounded familiar

Too familiar

Even after seeing the icon on your screen you still couldn't remember where you had seen it before

And why the heck were parts of the story already unlockedd without you playing through the chapters before them??!

Then it hit you

TWST!

Right!

How could you have ever forgotten it??!

So many hours simply grinding and getting angry because your level was sometimes too low to proceed...

Apologizing to the screen you almost felt embarresed

There was no way this had any impact (besides taking away some of the guilt off your consciousness)

If only you knew that a certain someone was listening to you...

Of course it's the little shi... the charming young general (this is all for comedic purpose I am not hating on Lilia)

How long had he waited for this moment?

After you left suddenly one day nothing was the same

The days felt even duller than before, the flow of time agonizing slower

Lilia felt like someone had ripped out his soul and left his body like a shell left to rot away

It felt like millions of years had passed yet the fact that his old schoolmates were still here disproved this

When you started to apologize he felt touched

He never wanted you to feel bad for leaving, just wanting you to return

You nearly made him cry because he was so touched

The great overseer being sad because they weren't there all this time

How touching and...

What absolute nonsense

He should be the one bowing down, apologizing for being so inattentive which would lead to your leave

Don't expect him to let you wander away again

There is a nice cozy room in his home just for you...

He was devastated when you were gone

All this time he thought that he had disappointed you

Vil sees himself as one of those that are a example for the pursuit of your perfection

This makes him believe that his performance was so disappointing that you left

But... now you are back?

What had he done to deserve the honor of a second chance?

And how did he look??! Hair not properly brushed, makeup smudged and so many more flaws...

To you it seems like everything is as you left it but behind that screen there is a desperate man

Your apologies just enter one ear and leave the other

He is in such a state of mind that he can't think of a different possibility

After all, if the flaw wasn't with him then he could never correct it

So his mind makes things up so he can cope with your disappearance better

Vil goes now to even greater extremes to gain your favour

He knows that he is not capable of handling such situation again

So just look at him, only him! You are only allowed to see perfect things and even if he is still far away from your standard, he is closer than anyone else to it!

#yandere twst #yandere twisted wonderland #yandere twisted wonderland x reader #yandere twst x reader #self aware au #yandere lilia x reader #yandere lilia vanrouge #yandere vil #yandere vil schoenheit #tw: yandere #tw: obsessive behavior #tw: possessive behavior #tw: unhealthy mindset #tw: delusional

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pantoneyoongi · 2 years

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02 || head up in the clouds

series ; in love with love (with you) description ; you’re a romantic. jungkook? jungkook is not.

chapter 02 ; head up in the clouds prev || next

word count ; 3.6k

tags ; high school bullying references, otherwise it’s just fluff i think, pls go to masterlist for more / general tags

picking up jisoo from the airport is always a two-person effort. not that jungkook wouldn’t go with you to begin with, since he’s every bit jisoo’s friend that you are, but mostly it’s because jisoo always packs for a decade when she’s only here for a month.

“jisoo!” you squeal, running straight into her arms as she immediately releases the three suitcases (that she’s somehow wheeling by herself) to hug you back, jumping around like a bunch of high school girls. jungkook heaves a sigh when he goes chasing after one of the suitcases that started rolling away, snatching it before it can get too far.

“hi,” she beams past her scarf. out of your small group of friends, jisoo went the farthest, landing a job on the other side of the country. her eyes sparkle to see you and jungkook, laughing amusedly when jungkook finally makes his way back to the two of you.

“why do you always pack like you’re moving back?” jungkook complains, but you can see the fondness in his eyes, happy to have jisoo back on your side of the coast.

“baby koo,” jisoo coos, tiptoeing to ruffle his hair. jungkook is oddly respectful about his elders or whatever - or maybe his tiny crush on her back when he was fourteen still lends him a soft spot for jisoo - either way, he lets her mess him up, only sighing quietly with a small curve to his lips.

“you just don’t understand what a lady’s got to pack,” jisoo quips when she’s done thoroughly ruining the state of his hair. “a month is a long time, you know.”

“don’t your parents have a laundry machine in their house?” he squints at her, but she smiles prettily back, and he just grabs the handle of a second suitcase, clicking his mouth shut, knowing he won’t win this one.

you take jisoo’s third suitcase, jisoo hooking her arm into the crook of your elbow, dragging you along. jungkook follows slowly behind, and you let jisoo pull you, not realizing she’s tugging you till you’re just out of earshot from jungkook.

“so? have you and jungkook become hate-fuck-buddies yet?” she asks casually. you nearly choke, stumbling over your feet, only jisoo’s grasp on your arm keeping you upright.

“what in god’s name are you talking about?”

jisoo cackles loudly. “it’s cuffing season,” she sings, letting go of you to twirl around. “i know you’re a sucker for a good romance.”

the smile she has on her face is positively evil. you shake your head with a wide grin - only jisoo could get away with talking like this. if it were the boys - oh you’d knock them out in a heartbeat, decade-long friendship be damned.

“you’re fucking delusional,” you laugh. “it’s jungkook.”

“it’s me, what?” jungkook tugs the handle of the suitcase you’re holding, yanking you backwards. you realize you were just about to walk straight past his car, his eyebrows shooting upwards when he looks at you.

“nothing,” you respond, a little too quickly. he’s packed two of the suitcases into his trunk, and is hauling the third one into the backseat. he rests one arm on the open door of his car, looking unconvinced by your answer. you bite the inside of your cheek.

“i was just asking if you two are getting along any better,” jisoo saves you, winking at you while jungkook still has his eyes on you.

“hey,” he says defensively, shutting the car door. “i gave her hot chocolate like last week.”

“it was supposed to be coffee for jaehyun,” you remind him, and he shuts his mouth. you think you imagine it, the light flush of pink across jungkook’s cheeks, but he’s turned around already, climbing into his car.

“come on, get in,” he grumbles. “troublemaking tag team.”

jisoo giggles. she urges you to the front seat - “i brought the suitcases, i sit with the suitcases,” - but you catch the usual mischievous twinkle in her eyes. there’s something underlying it that isn’t typically there, and it makes you feel off-kilter as you slide into the front passenger seat. but jisoo throws her arms around you from the backseat, singing loudly to whatever jungkook’s got playing on the radio, and you forget about it, letting her serenade the three of you back home.

you lean back in your seat, watching as jungkook yet again bowls a perfect strike. hoseok whoops loudly in his seat - even though his score is positively abysmal in comparison - as jungkook returns to your table, grinning widely.

it was jisoo’s pick, to come bowling and catch up with hoseok and yoongi. jungkook and jisoo have few things in common, but their uncanny skill in bowling is one of them. you figure that’s what lent to jungkook’s baby crush on jisoo years ago - well, that and jisoo has been stupid pretty since she was born, and jungkook has always had an eye for the pretty ones.

you tense in surprise when you feel yoongi lean closer to you from his spot on your left. “this can’t be fair,” he murmurs into your ear, giving you a knowing look as jungkook plops down next to hoseok, enjoying hoseok’s obnoxious encouragement. you chuckle, missing his warmth immediately as yoongi pats his hands on his thighs and stands up to take his turn.

you know he leaned in close only so you could hear him over the loud music in the alley, but you can’t deny the way your heart pounds in your chest at what felt like a secret conversation between the two of you. yoongi’s terribly handsome - adorable as he concentrates carefully - and particularly so when he almost bowls a gutter ball, save for the lucky pin he managed to clip on the end. you wince for him.

“that’s okay,” hoseok hollers. “just knock ‘em out in the next shot!”

“that’s absolutely not happening,” jisoo snickers, as yoongi lands his fourth gutter ball of the night.

“want me to teach you, hyung?” jungkook teases when yoongi makes his way back, yoongi narrowing his eyes at the younger.

“just try it,” yoongi clips back, one hand coming to swipe at the back of jungkook’s head playfully. jisoo gets up to take her shot and you think that yoongi will sit beside hoseok, but then he comes back to you, collapsing beside you, head leaning back against the seat. you can’t help but giggle at the defeated look on his face, and his head lolls over to look at you, eyebrows arched.

“what’s so funny, kid?”

you bite your lip. “oh, nothing,” you shrug innocently, but yoongi has known you since you were eight, so he narrows his eyes at the spark in your eyes. “i was just wondering if you wanted me to ask for kid rails.”

he makes a low noise, nose scrunching in offense. “i don’t see you doing any better,” he retorts, eyes looking pointedly at your near identical scores. the only person with a score impossibly lower than either of you is your brother’s, bordering on zero.

you pout, and it makes yoongi chuckle. “we can be in the losers’ lane together,” he reassures. “you, me, and - “ he pauses, like he’s considering something. hoseok happily bowls a gutter ball and yoongi winces, nodding. “yeah, never mind. hobi is in a league of his own.”

you laugh, a soft, affectionate sound, shy and enamoured. jungkook glances up right at that moment, eyes shifting over the way your knee brushes against yoongi’s, then flicking up to the way you lean towards yoongi instinctively. your eyes shine when you look at him, and it’s only the dark toned lighting of the bowling alley coloring everyone shades of red and purple hiding the blush jungkook’s certain is scattered across your cheeks right now.

he bites his cheek. his eyebrows shoot up when you laugh louder at something yoongi says, your hand reaching out to press against yoongi’s arm for a brief minute. something in jungkook’s chest tightens at the sight, how you hold onto yoongi’s every word like he single-handedly carries the moon and the stars.

when you get up to take your turn, jungkook hops out of his seat, coming up behind you. you glance at him, confused. “it’s my turn.”

“i know,” a crooked grin forms on his face. “you need all the help you can get.”

the way you look at jungkook is the complete opposite of the way you look at yoongi. your eye twitches in annoyance, and you shove a cackling jungkook out of your way, taking your time to select a bowling ball.

“that one’s too heavy,” jungkook’s voice comes from right next to your ear, head hovering over your shoulder. on pure instinct you elbow him in the stomach, but jungkook just snickers. he doesn’t even budge an inch, just laughs louder when you pick up the ball and find that he’s right and have to put it back down.

“this one,” he points helpfully to a neon green ball, and he looks so genuinely earnest that the glare you’d whipped around to give him falls off your face, replaced with a hesitant look.

he beams at you, gesturing for you to try. he’s right, because of course he is, but he’s giving you one of his rare (well, rare for you, not so much anyone else) full blown smiles, all bunny teeth and bright eyes, so you don’t say anything, just quirk your lips upwards in return. you heft the ball up and head towards the lane, launching it awkwardly down.

to jungkook’s credit, you do actually manage to strike down a few pins. barely. you turn back to see jungkook rubbing the back of his neck, head tilted downwards, but he’s not hiding nearly enough to cover the way he’s biting his lip hard to hold back a laugh.

“don’t laugh,” you warn, and it has jungkook biting down harder, eyes lit up in amusement. “i’m not kidding jeon, if you laugh, i’m dropping one of these on you.”

“i’m not laughing,” he says entirely unconvincingly, raising his hands defensively. he points to a pretty blue and pink swirled ball. “try,” he clears his throat, needing a minute to swallow down chuckles. “try that one this time.”

you narrow your eyes at him but snatch the ball up anyway. you can hear him letting out quiet snickers when you step away, but you ignore him to try and line up your shot, taking a deep breath before swinging. the ball veers slightly to the right, but then it slides back closer to the center and knocks down all pins but two. you can hear hoseok cheering in the background, but you’re too busy running back to jungkook, mouth open in a happy laugh, throwing your arms around his neck in your excitement. you hear him grunt in surprise, hands briefly catching your waist to steady you before he realizes what he’s doing and tears his hands off to hover instead of actually holding you.

you don’t care. quite frankly, you don’t even notice, too busy yelling in his ear did you see that jungkook did you see that’s like the highest score i’ve gotten all night-

you feel the rumble of his laughter, and his hands slowly lower to rest on your waist again. with his touch so cautious and light, you realize all of a sudden that you’re wrapped around him, and over his shoulder you can see jisoo grinning widely. immediately you rip yourself away, taking a couple steps backwards for good measure.

“uh,” you say intelligently. you feel flustered, body having already memorized the warmth of jungkook’s, the way he felt solid against you, his fingers feather light on your waist. jungkook doesn’t notice your embarrassment, tilting his head at you and offering a small smile.

“would you look at that,” he teases. “maybe you can bowl, after all.”

he brushes past you to take his turn, leaving you to shake off the feeling of having quite literally just thrown yourself at jungkook. you catch sight of the buzzer for your food going off and quickly snatch it off the table, “i’ll go get it.”

you hop up the stairs and over to the bar, sliding the buzzer to the waitstaff. they slide a tray over to you, and you’re about to grab it and head back to the table when a voice stops you. “y/n?”

you turn your head. the feeling that hits you is instant, dread latching its claws into you. “oh my god, it is you,” hyejin laughs, oblivious to the way you tense. “look nayeon, it’s jisoo’s little pet.” the smile she wears feels sickening.

beside her, nayeon giggles into her hand, and you breathe out an uncomfortable chuckle, forcing a smile onto your face. “hi hyejin,” you greet, hands tightening slightly on your tray. you don’t want to stick around for conversation.

jisoo was popular in high school. the kind of person that made everyone want to follow her around, like she had an invisible crown adorned at all times. her charisma had only increased as she got older, something that didn’t particularly bother you - because to you, jisoo was just jisoo. silly and kind and prone to singing loudly in cars.

but to others, she was elegant. intelligent, poised, charming. you still remember how stark a difference it’d made in high school - a girl, two years your older, friends with the silly little dreamer. you were the childish one. foolish. naive. jisoo’s charity case.

hyejin and nayeon were the kind of girls who were always trying to befriend jisoo, but jisoo saw right through them. she refused to give them the time of day, but that didn’t stop them from trying no matter how clear jisoo tried to be.

“well,” you clear your throat. “i have friends waiting for me so-”

“aw, c’mon, y/n-ie,” hyejin puts a hand around your wrist to stop you. “catch up with us a little. still following jisoo around these days?” hyejin laughs, the sound grating on your ears. “you were so cute. like a lost puppy.”

you don’t like the way her lips curl around your name, and you despise the condescension you can hear slip through when she talks about your friendship with jisoo. you’re more than enough years away from college, never mind high school; you don’t need to put up with this bullshit anymore. but somehow hyejin still makes you feel small, feel stupid, like they were right about you being jisoo’s charity case and not her friend.

“you still chasing yoongi around?” she purses her lips, smacking them together. “you did always have your head up in the clouds.”

why can’t you speak up? why do you shrink around these girls who don’t really know anything about you? you know, you know - they’re just like this because they’re jealous, jealous that jisoo liked you, jealous that yoongi took care of you, jealous that taehyung and jimin and jungkook were friends with you. you were the outlier, the loser, just hoseok’s kid sister who got taken in by the popular kids like a stray dog. because to them it’s unfathomable that guys like taehyung and jimin and jungkook could want to be around a dork like you, who proudly paraded around your love of rom-coms and books and all things related to love. who wore your heart on your sleeve, tripping over yourself just to get to your popular brother’s best friend.

“hey tell me,” hyejin’s hand shifts from your wrist to your upper arm, drawing you ever so slightly closer to her. the touch burns. “are you still friends with taehyung, too?”

you clench your jaw. you want to rip her arm off, tell her off, tell her if she wants to fuck taehyung then she can keep fucking dreaming. but before you can, there’s someone else tearing her hand off you forcibly, so rough that even you flinch and stumble backwards into a hard chest, those same hands coming to rest gently but firmly just below your shoulders, steadying you.

“does it matter?”

it’s jungkook’s voice that comes from behind you. he’s close enough still that you can feel his warmth, suddenly starkly aware of how broad he is, the way he towers over all of you. when you turn to look at him, your eyes widen, shocked by the cold expression he wears as he glares at hyejin and nayeon.

“oh, kookie,” nayeon gasps.

“don’t call me that,” he snaps immediately, and she jerks backwards like he’s slapped her. “you didn’t have the right to in high school and you still don’t now.”

you’ve never seen jungkook like this before. jungkook is playful, generally cheerful, a little annoying (a lot annoying), but nonetheless - an easy-going guy. he didn’t get riled up like you do, in fact, he was always the one that did the riling up. but he looks angry now - dark eyes threatening in a way you’ve never seen them before.

“we were just talking, kook,” hyejin smiles sweetly. “just catching up with y/n.”

“do you think i’m stupid?” he asks dryly. he shifts himself so that he’s slightly in front of you, hands shoved into his pockets. “i told you not to call me that name. and i’m pretty sure i also told you never to speak to y/n again. it might’ve been a couple years but i don’t think you’re going senile that fast, are you?”

you stare at him, shocked. you knew at some point your sophomore year hyejin and nayeon finally stopped bothering you, even the quiet sneers behind your back muting into nothing, but you figured they’d just grown tired of you, and probably gave up on being jisoo’s friend, too. you never once thought jungkook was involved, but the way he rotates his jaw in annoyance now, stance protective in front of you - you wonder exactly what kind of hand he must’ve had in it.

hyejin takes a step back, huffing out a laugh. “wow, jungkook,” she smirks but even you can tell it’s a sad excuse for a brave act. “you really don’t change.”

he stares down at her, unforgivingly. “neither have you,” he says lowly. “guess i was right about you peaking in high school.”

with that, he grabs the tray, glancing to you. your heart does a surprised flip in your chest at the way his eyes scan over you, like he’s searching for any place where you might be hurt. when he’s satisfied, he nods. “let’s go,” his tone much gentler with you. he nods his head forward, and you obey, heading back towards the steps down to the bowling lanes with him following close behind you.

you want to say thanks. you want to ask so many questions - what did he tell nayeon and hyejin in high school? why did hyejin say he hasn’t changed? why did he come get you?

but when you look at him, you can feel his anger still rolling off him in waves. it scares you a little - you know he won’t lash out at you but his jaw is set tight, shoulders stiff. his lips are pressed into a fine line even as he sets the food down before throwing himself back onto the seats, glaring at empty space.

you reach out before you even realize what you’re doing. your fingers brush his knee when you sit beside him, and then there he is again, stormy expression clearing when he looks at you, eyes bright. he flashes a grin at you, those bunny teeth poking out again.

“ready to keep getting your ass kicked?” he quips, and yeah, he’s definitely back, back to being annoying jungkook with mischievous lights in his eyes, but still, you can see something burning behind them, a low fire that he’s keeping contained. for you.

you open your mouth to respond, to say anything to acknowledge what he’d done for you, but he cocks his head challengingly, and you swallow your words down, figuring he just doesn’t want to talk about it.

the fingers you have resting on his knee shift to grip him tightly, tossing his leg as hard as you can, your whole body scooting next to him to shove him over so you can reach the fries. “bite me, jungkook.”

“well if you insist,” he grins cheekily, and you roll your eyes.

truth is, jungkook does want to say more. he wants to ask if you’re okay, if those girls said anything that might’ve bruised old wounds. you always smiled brightly and happily - content with your own little world, of daydreams and fairytales and romance. your scowls were saved only for jungkook, because boy did he love to watch the way your nose scrunched and eyebrows furrowed as he teased you. but he hated it when you withdrew into yourself, curling into your shell, hated it when you made yourself small because of other people.

but it’s not his place to ask. he knows you better than you think, knows that if you want him - if you need him - you would come find him. he’s tried, before, to reach you first, but you’ve always shut him out, leaving him stuck with the image of scalding but terribly sad eyes, too many versions of which he’s seen over the years but can never seem to forget.

when you smile at him, his heart does a funny thing in his chest. he decides it’s relief, relief that you don’t look too affected by old high school bullies, relief that your shoulders keep bumping into his as the two of you bicker over french fries and onion rings. it’s relief because it’s all the different ways that you’re telling him you’re okay, without having to say it out loud.

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taglist ; @ahundredtimesover @nadzzzblog

#jungkook x you #jungkook x reader #jungkook x yn #jungkook x y/n #jungkook #series: ilwl #i meant to post this yesterday but i didnt have time :( but it's here today!!

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acourtoffaeandfanfic · 2 years

Text

A Court of Flames and Sorrow || Eris Vanserra || Chapter 3

Synopsis: Lynette Vesper. Daughter of Winter and Night. Lover of a problematic red head who used to be engaged to her best friend.

Series Masterlist

Taglist: @baebeepeach @marigold-morelli

A/N: Sorry that this is a few days past my usual Thursday update, this week has been hectic. Next chapter should be up on Thursday.

***

“Welcome back, Eris,” The High Lord said in a bored tone. “It’s been what--five centuries since you last set foot in here?”

Lynette couldn’t believe her eyes and ears. He was here, really here, and Rhysand knew. Didn’t bother to warn anyone. Her eyes went to Mor, who was staring at Rhysand with so much hurt and betrayal. He knew what Eris’ presence would do to Mor, knew the memories that it would stir up, and brought him here regardless.

Eris took the last seat at the table, right next to Keir, right in front of Lynette. He didn’t bother to look at anyone else except Rhys when he responded. “It has indeed been awhile.” Then he decided to spare Lyn a glance to which she responded to with a glare. He just smirked in return. Smug bastard.

“You once wanted to build ties to Autumn, Keir,” Rhysand said, setting down his goblet of wine, arms leaning on the table. “Well, here’s your chance. Eris is willing to offer you a formal alliance--in exchange for your services in this war.”

Keir leaned back in his chair, contemplated it for a second then spoke again. “It is not enough.”

Eris snorted, pouring himself his own goblet of wine. “I’d forgotten why I was so relieved when our bargain fell apart the last time.”

A warning look was sent in his direction but he just ignored it as he drank from his goblet.

“What is it that you want, then, Keir?” Rhys purred.

“I want out. I want space. I want my people free of this mountain.” Keir simply said.

“You have every comfort,” Feyre snapped. “And yet it is not enough?”

Keir seemed to have ignored the High Lady’s comment, not even bothering to look in her direction as he spoke to Rhysand.

“You have been keeping secrets, High Lord,” he started, that sickening grin coming back onto his face, hands resting over the deep gashes in the table. “I always wondered--where all of you went when you weren’t here. Hybern answered that question at last--thanks to that attack on … what is its name? Velaris. Yes. On Velaris. The City of Starlight.”

Lynette felt Mor go rigid. Dangerously still, silently praying that the next words would not dare be uttered.

“I want access to the city, for me, and my court.”

“No.” Mor said.

Of course that’d be what he wanted. To spread the cruelty and hatred of the Court of Nightmares to one of the only truly good places in Prythian.

Lynette stared at Rhysand, waiting for him to laugh in Keir’s face, to tell him that he was delusional. But he didn’t. “There would be conditions.”

She couldn’t believe him. Was this meeting a joke?

Mor gaped at Rhys. Azriel laid a comforting hand on top of Mor’s but she had just snatched it away, curling into herself. Eris let out a soft chuckle that earned him another glare. He was testing Lynette’s patience.

“I want unrestricted access.” Eris wasn’t the only one testing her patience. Keir was still in first place.

“You will not get it,” at least Rhysand had not lost all common sense. “There will be limited stays, limited numbers allowed in. To be decided later.”

Keir finally looked at Mor, smiled at the hurt and anger.

“Done.” He said, not breaking eye contact with her while saying it.

“There is one more thing, one more request.” Feyre added.

“Oh?” Keir asked, eyebrow raised as he side-eyed the High Lady.

Lynette had tuned them out as they continued their conversation. She was staring at Eris, again. Watching as he sipped the wine from his goblet. Watching as his mouth slightly parted when the goblet started to near. Watching as he licked the leftover wine from his lips. Watching as he dipped his head down ever so slightly just so he could catch her eyes. Watching as he smirked at her. She glared in response.

Was this going to be her existence now? Now that both of them were aware of the dreaded bond that connected them. Go off on her emissary duties only to see him once every few years and lose her mind. That’s what it felt like, like she had lost all sense cause of that deep pull.

Her ears finally decided to work again once she saw his mouth start to move, but the words weren’t directed at her, and oddly that stung. “You look well, Mor.”

“You don’t speak to her.” Azriel said, moving closer to the table, slightly positioning himself between Mor and Eris. She realized that Keir was no longer there as well, only one unwanted figure remained in the room now.

“I see you’re still holding a grudge.” Eris responded, that signature smirk not wavering for a second.

“This arrangement, Eris,” Rhysand started, “relies solely upon you keeping your mouth shut.”

A small, breathy laugh escaped his lips, “And haven’t I done an excellent job? Not even my father suspected when I left tonight.”

“How did this come about?” The High Lady asked.

The fiery redhead sent her an amused look. “You didn’t think that I knew your shadowsinger would come sniffing around to see if I had told my father about your … powers? Especially after my brothers so mysteriously forgot about them, too. I knew it was a matter of time before one of you arrived to take care of my memory as well.” Eris tapped the side of his head as he mentioned memory. “ Too bad for you, I learned a thing or two about daemati. Too bad for my brothers that I never bothered to teach them.”

Lyn had never had much contact with the Autumn Court, but she was surprised to hear about how smart Eris was in comparison to his brothers. She had met Lucien, and Lucien seemed well educated but did lack some common sense when it came to family, he learned the hard way. Apparently none of the other brothers learned much either.

Eris picked up his goblet once again, making eye contact with Lynette as he took a sip. He looked away from her and carried on with the conversation.

“Of course I didn’t tell my father. Why waste that sort of information on the bastard? His answer would be to hunt you down and kill you--not realizing not much shit we’re in with Hybern and that you might be the key to stopping it.”

“So he plans to join us, then.” The High Lord said.

“Not if he learns about your little secret.” Eris smirked.

Mor sent a cold glare in his direction. “So what’s the asking price, Eris?” the blonde demanded, leaning away from Azriel and instead onto the table. “Another little bride for you to torture?”

He seemed to hesitate, and she noticed the small shift in his eyes. “I don’t know who fed you those lies to begin with, Morrigan.” Eris said, attempting to keep calm at the touchy subject. “Likely the bastards you surround yourself with.” A sneer was thrown in Azriel’s direction, then his eyes locked onto the emissary once again. “Although I wouldn’t mind Lynette’s hand in marriage if that’s what you’re offering up?”

It was like he had a death wish. He knew better than to tease Mor about Lyn.

Mor was quick to react and threw her arm in front of Lynette, not caring that her emotions were on full display.

“You never have any evidence to the contrary. Certainly not when you left me in those woods.” Mor snarled, deciding to not comment on Lynette, her body language being enough of a response.

“There were forces at work that you have never considered,” Eris stated coldly. “And I am not going to waste my breath explaining them to you. Believe what you want about me.”

“You hunted me down like an animal.” Feyre seethed out in anger. “I think we’ll choose to believe the worst.”

“I was given an order. And sent to do it with two of my … brothers.” He said.

“And what of the brother you hunted down alongside me? The one whose lover you helped execute before his eyes.”

That last line hit its mark. A hand slammed down on the table and Eris shot the High Lady a burning look. “You know nothing about what happened that day. Nothing.” He seethed out through gritted teeth, holding himself back.

The room went silent. No one knowing where they should look. The heir who looked like he was about to pounce if the wrong thing was said or the High Lady who held her head high who acted like she was invincible.

“Indulge me.”

The staring match continued between the two, tension thick enough that it could be cut with a knife.

“How do you think he made it to the Spring border,” he said quietly. “I wasn’t there--when they did it. Ask him. I refused. It was the first and only time I have denied my father anything. He punished me. And by the time I got free … They were going to kill him, too. I made sure they didn’t. Made sure Tamlin got word--anonymously--to get the hell over to his own border.”

Lynette knew what had happened after that, had heard the stories from her own connections in the Spring Court. Three of the brothers followed him to the border, only one came back.

“Not all of us were so lucky in our friends and family as you, Rhysand.” Eris said boredly, the cold mask back up after letting a small bit of vulnerability out.

“It would seem so.”

“What is the asking price?” Feyre repeated.

“The same thing I told Azriel when I found him snooping through my father’s woods yesterday.” He said, not even looking up as he picked at his nails.

Lynette felt Mor push herself against the emissary’s shoulder. She could barely see the expression her friend had but she knew it must’ve been one of pain. Azriel couldn’t even look at anyone when he stated what Eris wanted. “When the time comes … we are to support Eris’ bid to take the throne.”

“The request still stands, Rhysand, to just kill my father and be done with it. I can pledge troops right now.” Eris said, a glint in his eyes at the thought of finally being rid of his tyrannical father.

“Tempting, but too messy,” Rhys said, still pondering the thought. “Beron sided with us in the War. Hopefully he’ll sway that way again.”

“He will.” Eris promised. “And will remain blissfully unaware of Feyre’s … gifts.”

“Promise Keir nothing you care about.” The High Lord waved a hand in dismissal and Eris rose from his seat.

“We’ll see.” Eris said and just frowned in Mor’s direction. “I’m surprised you still can’t control yourself around him. You had every emotion written right on that pretty face of yours.”

“Watch it.” Azriel snarled out in warning.

The Autumn Heir just smiled as he looked between the two. “I wouldn’t have touched you,” he spoke again to Mor. “But when you fucked that other bastard--” he got cut off as Rhysand and Feyre snarled at him. “I knew why you did it.” An almost sympathetic look graced his face, or was it pity, all emotions besides smug confidence and annoyance looked foreign on his face so one really couldn’t tell what he truly felt at the moment. “So I gave you your freedom, ending the betrothal in no uncertain terms.”

“And what happened next?” Azriel glared up at the High Fae male, disgust and rage evident on his face as he remembered finding Mor’s broken body in the woods.

“There are few things I regret. That is one of them. But … perhaps one day, now that we are allies, I shall tell you why. What it cost me.”

“I don’t give a shit,” Mor said quietly, just wanting the meeting to be over with. Lynette could tell as she could see Mor’s hands under the table, balled into fists, knuckles turning white. She silently grabbed one hand and forced her to unclench it, nervous that her friend might cut her hands with her nails on accident. Mor pulled herself away though, her chair skidding back a foot as she basically jumped out of her seat and pointed at the door. “Get out.”

Eris gave a mocking bow to all. “See you at the meeting in twelve days.”

He turned away and started to leave when Rhysand stopped him. “Wait. I’d like Lynette to go with you.”

“You can’t be serious.” Mor groaned and turned away from the table, walking towards the balcony on the other side of the room.

“Just to make sure you keep your word. We’ll play it off as a long overdue visit, we need to start up trade again anyway.” Rhys shrugged.

“I don’t require a babysitter.”

“I’d beg to differ.” Azriel muttered under his breath, causing another glare to be thrown at him.

“It is not up for debate. Lynette will pay a visit to the Autumn Court.”

She met his widened eyes with fear. She had no choice, she wouldn’t be able to run from it anymore. She couldn’t tell her High Lord no, this was for the safety of her court.

“Of course. A visit has been long overdue.” Lynette said, smiling and nodding her head in acceptance.

“I don’t like this.” Mor said, storming back over to the table, glaring at Rhysand.

“It doesn’t matter what you like, I am emissary of the Night Court. It is my job.” Lyn said, standing up from seat and walking over to Eris. Her breath hitching as she got closer, she prayed no one was listening too closely to her breathing. “Shall we go?”

He looked her up and down for a second, not truly believing that she accepted it so quickly. Eris expected her to fight back, knowing enough about her that she was not one to go quietly. Maybe she actually wanted to be around him. At least, that’s what he hoped.

“Yes.” he finally said and offered her his arm to take. She softly held on as he led them out of the room.

***

She had assumed that he’d winnow them back to the Autumn Court as soon as they left the council room. Isn’t that why he had offered her his arm? For the convenience of winnowing to the same place in the court? Apparently not since they still walked the halls of Hewn City. She could hear the murmuring as they passed residences. It was quite a sight, the Heir of Autumn paraded the Emissary of the Night Court around her own home.

That was until they ended up in another empty hallway leading to an even lower level of the mountain. Lynette silently wondered how Eris was handling his visit here after finally being freed from Amarantha’s reign Under The Mountain. What horrors had he seen over those 49 years? Rhysand could barely speak of it. Eris probably didn’t have it as bad as Rhysand, he didn’t whore himself out for his court, but he still witnessed atrocious acts while there she had no doubt. Now he was in the court that Amarantha modeled hers after. Lyn felt bad for Eris, she oddly wanted to comfort him.

He flinched away from her and looked down at her in shock. Lynette stood confused as to what caused the reaction until she realized she had sent waves of comfort down the bond. She then felt a wave of emotion coming at her, a calming feeling that said I’m okay. She didn’t understand how it worked, how she even sent those comforting waves in the first place, but at least she got an answer to her unasked question. He’s okay.

“We need to talk.” Eris suddenly said and pulled her into the first empty room. A large study that must’ve been for one of the many Lords in the court. Eris dropped his hands from her arm and ran his hands through his hair, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before turning to look at Lynette again.

“You know, don't you?” He asked, eyes burning into the back of her skull.

Lyn observed the large desk in the middle of the room, fixating on the small nick nacks and stationary, preferring to focus on that instead of the conversation. “Know what?” she said coldly, play dumb, regretting sending that comforting feeling down the bond.

“You’re not an idiot, Lynette. Stop acting like one.” Eris hissed at her, not having the patience to delay the conversation even more. He had waited 49 years for this, he wasn’t going to wait a second more.

“I’ve known for centuries.”

That took him by surprise. Eris had already anticipated this conversation going in a million different horrible directions, this was not one of them, this one made him feel betrayed. His mate. The person made for him, the one that was supposed to be his equal, had known of the bond and had not said a word.

Lynette dared to look behind her, sitting on top of the desk now and staring emotionless as Eris looked at her with hurt in his eyes and a slack jaw. He quickly shook it off. She watched as he swallowed hard and turned away from her, facing one of the many bookcases in the room. The silence engulfed them for the next few minutes, she just stared at his back, watched as he regulated his breath and ran his hands down the spines of the books on the shelf.

“And to think I actually wanted you.” He scoffed as he pushed himself away from the bookcase, turning to look at her once more.

“You never wanted me.” Lynette rolled her eyes at his comment. She must’ve annoyed him even more because he stalked over to her, standing in front of her and leaned down, having arms on either side of her with hands resting behind her.

He eyed her features, attempting to find any tell that she was joking. “I can’t tell if you’re serious or not.” He slammed his hands on the desk making her jump slightly causing him to back away from her. “Never wanted you? What insanity you speak of.” He laughed, shaking his head back and forth. “I wanted you before that damned bond snapped into place.”

“Then you only wanted me to hurt Mor, why else would you want me? You know how close I am to her.” It was Lynette’s turn to scoff.

“You forget that you are also one of the most desirable ladies in all of Prythian. Ties to Winter and Night and crazy powerful. The true question is who wouldn’t want you?” Eris stated. “I wanted you because you are exquisitely terrifying, beautiful, smart, cunning, and powerful beyond measure. What more would a future High Lord want? You’d be the smart choice for anyone to marry.”

Lynette knew that already, she had denied multiple proposals over the years from men in power who just wanted her as a political alliance. She was tired of hearing of it, tired of being treated as if she was just a pawn. Only being seen as a tie to two courts. Two birds, one stone. That was what she was seen as. She was done being a pawn.

Lynette standing up captured his attention, especially as she walked towards him. Face to face, she looked up at him causing his breath to hitch at the sight of her so close. Then she was gone, having ripped open the door to the left of him and started a fast pace down the halls.

***

He stared at her for what felt like hours, it honestly could’ve been. Eris decided to approach her though, to risk the wrath of Lynette Vesper was a risk worth taking. “You knew before me and never said anything.” That’s all he could say to her, still questioning how she had hid it for so long and no one had figured out what she was hiding. But who would have honestly guessed that her mate was her best friend’s enemy?

Lynette let out a sarcastic laugh and snapped her head towards him. “Why would I?” She fully faced him now, a dark look grazing her features. “My best friend was betrothed to you, sold to you. You should know the rest, how she hated it so much that she did anything to get out of it.” Lyn mindlessly took step after step towards him, the despicable, handsome, red head who she hated more than life but still wanted to reach out to him. “Her father tortured her and then dumped her on your doorstep and you just left her there.”

“I couldn’t help her, I wanted to help her, but I couldn’t without damning her to a worse life.” He seethed out, taking a step towards her.

“Say I believe that bullshit for a second, what makes you think I’d even want to be with you? Be anywhere near your court? We may all seem blind but we know, we know what goes on there! How Beron abuses his power, abuses you, your brothers, your mother! What makes you think I’d subject myself to that?” She stepped even closer, face to face, barely any room left between them now. “Be another pawn? Like hell!” She seethed into that gorgeous face that sneered down at her.

Eris grabbed her face and finally smashed his lips into hers, breaking down all the tension but building up a new one as he slammed her back into the wall that she was leaning into just a minute ago. Her hands running up his chest, up his face, and then finally tangling into his hair, pulling him even closer. Small gasps of air was the only sound that echoed throughout the dark hallway now, anyone able to walk in and spot the two of them viscously making out against the wall, hands found in places that they shouldn't have been. He finally pulled away and looked down at her once again, gently holding and caressing her face in his hands as he whispered to her, “You’ll never be a pawn.”

She wanted to believe him, wanted to believe that she wouldn’t be used if she decided to be with him. It just wasn’t reality, at least not at the moment with how the Autumn Court was run. He knew that too, but he was going to change that, was going to kill his father and change the Autumn Court for the better once he was High Lord.

Lynette pushed him back. They were still in the hallway where anyone could see them. “It doesn’t matter.” She said, eyes closed and head leaning back against the wall. “We can’t do anything.”

“Can’t or won’t?” He barked back at her, anger and disappointment evident in his eyes. “We’re mates, we can do anything we want and no one can say anything against it.”

She clapped her hand over his mouth. “Keep your voice down.” Lynette hissed out through gritted teeth.

Eris just threw her hand away from his face and took a step closer to her. “What? Don’t want people to know you’re mated to me? Cause that’s what we are, Lynette. We’re mates!” He was acting irrational and knew it but was growing tired of watching her deny the bond.

“I only care if one person finds out and I don’t know where she is right now.” She stated, eyes narrowing at Eris.

“Then let’s go somewhere that we can continue this conversation, privately.” Eris smirked down at her, grabbed her arm and winnowed them out of the Night Court.

#a court of flames and sorrow #acotar #acowar #eris vanserra #a court of thorns and roses #a court of wings and ruin #acomaf #eris acotar #eris vanserra x reader #eris vanserra x oc #eris x reader #eris x oc

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