#LIKE A SILENT TEN SECONDS WHERE THEYRE ALL JUST LOOKING AT EACH OTHER

[spooksier]

the funniest possible way for moon knight season 2 (said through gritted teeth) to start is a fun montage of jake living her best girlboss life and at the end of this like 10 minute sequence, the camera cuts to a mirror where marc and steven are making this exact expression

[hxneekyuu]

accidental kiss || tsukishima kei, ennoshita chikara, miya atsumu, lev haiba

request :  Hey Can I request a headcanon or one shot with Haikyuu characters (any of your choices) having an accidental kiss with their crush, you know, the cliché romance scene in drama's where the girl fell and male catches her and end ups kissing, or something when the girl turn around not noticing the close distance between the male, and their lips touches. Anything that is accidental

warnings : miya atsumu, Suna Gets a Haircut

a/n : so i did one of those random hq generator things bc i could only decide on one boi and that was tsukki,,, the results made me laugh so here you go -- btw these are all gonna be pre-dating bc thats just wonderful we love that

tsukishima kei

this is definitely all tsukkis fault

you two are at your house just vibing and at some point you head into the kitchen to make food

and hes leaning against the counter right in front of the cabinet you need to get to

but he has the audacity not to move the fuck outta the way when you tell him you need to get past 

so youre like ok fuck it and just reach around him to open it 

but the bowl you need is pretty high up so youre like on your tippy toes tryna get the damn thing and hes just sitting there watching you struggle 

instead of helping you like he isnt damn near 6′3″

but riiiiight as youve got the bowl, you end up grabbing it a little too forcefully and you bring like a million dishes down with it 

so ofc even though he definitely deserves it, youre not trying to concuss the poor guy with literal ceramic dishes raining down on him 

so you kinda lunge forward to stop them all from falling 

and, hearing the crash of dishes over his head, he naturally ducks because he doesnt want to die

honestly,,,, its more of a crash of your noses and foreheads but theres such chaos of like,,, trying not to die?? 

that at some point you just feel his mouth on yours and it deadass just stays there while you both are figuring out what the hell is happening 

eventually he kinda pulls back but only a little bc he knows youre struggling to hold onto the dishes and he doesnt wanna screw that up

and he doesnt even say anything he just reaches up awkwardly and helps you set the dishes back on the shelf

and then he grabs the bowl youd been trying the get the entire time and hands it to you with a completely blank face 

its a very awkward dinner im not gonna lie

mostly bc at some point he just starts cracking jokes about it and refuses to acknowledge it seriously bc he sucks

ennoshita chikara

ennoshita’s taking a break from studying with the second years on the team

mostly bc he never gets any studying done with them 

so youre studying together for a test at his house

and its just been many many hours of studying so ofc youre both exhausted

so its not surprising to him when you just pass out on your notes

but the thing is,,, your heads right on top of a sheet that he needs

and for a while he just kinda studies without it

he studies other stuff and tries to remember it on his own so he can fill in the gap in his notes

but eventually hes like fuck i really need these notes

so he just,,, tries to slide it out from under your head really carefully

and it involves a lot of him getting really close and trying to lift your head and a bunch of really soft cute things that would be super embarrassing for him to be caught doing

like,,, if you happened to wake up

which of course, you do

and youre really confused bc you can feel his breath fanning over your face and his eyes are really close but not focused on you, theyre focused on smth under your face

so you lift your head to see what hes doing

but he freaks out and moves his face when he notices youre awake

and its just a litto brush of your lips over his as your faces are passing each other

but the poor bub jumps back like you just shocked the crap out of him

and then he apologizes for like the next ten minutes and its impossible to get back to studying bc youre both just panicking internally

miya atsumu

this literally happens like it does in the movies

it all starts with a chase scene

that really you should never have been a part of

youre just minding your business walking down the hall after school on your way to get your stuff

and its pretty empty bc you had a club thing so its late afternoon and no ones around

and you just hear it

men screaming

and then he appears, barreling around the corner like his life depends on it

and youre like

this cant be good

and when he sees you hes yelling out for you like HELP ME 

but you somehow always manage to get caught in the miya twin antics so youre like

fuck no im out

but apparently youre not out bc atsumus grabbing your arm and dragging you behind him yelling smth about scissors and a haircut

and when you look back you just see suna rounding the corner, half of his little triangle haircut chopped off so he looks like a sad half onigiri,,,

but you know it was atsumu and that this man is definitely dead when suna catches him

so youre like okay fuck it i guess im helping him AGAIN 

and you get outside to a section of the school where theres still sports teams practicing and lots of people around so you hide in a corner together

but the Suna Energy is approaching so atsumu fuckin freaks and does that cheesy movie thing where he ducks his head down so he wont be seen 

but theres like a group of guys passing by and one of them just bumps into atsumus back and that shit just sends him right into you

and all he can think is “oops”

he only has one brain cell give him a break

but he just stalls completely and forgets about the whole suna thing

but ofc his hair is fucking piss yellow and suna has not forgotten

he ends up totally getting his ass beat  but after that little smooch atsumus definitely a bit keen to see you more often 

lev haiba

i fucking love this gif look at the litto shoyou go

this tall babie does not know the meaning of personal space he has no functional understanding of a Bubble

honestly he probably gets dangerously close to kissing you on a regular basis, considering you’re seatmates in class

he’s just ALWAYS in your space

at first he’s probably shy bc he doesn’t know you

but once you become friends he’s like THIS IS NOT YOUR DESK THIS IS JUST MY SECOND DESK

so every day there’s always one thing that’s super dangerous

last week it was him looking over your shoulder while you did work silently

yesterday it was him reaching across you to open the window on your left side

today he just really wants a bite of the bread you bought and are currently already eating

and when he wants smth, he gets Very Whiny

he’s so clingy and adorable that you can’t ever get mad

he’s like a little puppy how can you resist him

so when you’re finally like okay fine you can have a bite he’s like

MONCH

he doesn’t even wait for you to tear off a piece he just leans in for a bite

but you had said yes while in the middle of biting it so he essentially does that thing where you’re both biting it at the same time

but, again, he doesn’t know what personal space means

so he also doesn’t have the ability to gauge distances well

so he straight up just meets you halfway and presses his mouth to yours while he’s biting down

the boi probably doesn’t even notice

he just pulls back quickly once he has his bite and goes about his life

you literally are going to have to tell him he just kissed you

and after that he’s a total fucking mess

he doesn’t know what to do he never knows what to do

he’s just going to keep causing Chaos while he panics

[cinderspots]

if you're taking prompts i'd love to see something with reader or mia taking care of miranda? maybe as impossible as it seems she gets hurt protecting one of them or something and theyre really shaken by that and how much she loves them

I'm absolutely taking prompts hope you enjoy! ❤

It’d been stupid really.

Mia had wanted to go on a walk, and Miranda had been in her lab for an unhealthy amount of time, so Mia dragged Miranda along with her to breathe in the fresh air and not work herself to death.

Miranda was grumbling the whole way, but Mia noticed the puff of her wings. Happy. Mia was happy too. Mia linked arms with Miranda walking along the priestess’ well-known walking path, villagers and lycans avoided it due to her temper.

It was almost normal if Mia disregarded how Miranda’s wings shifted to shield her from the cold. They walked in relative silence, both happy with that alone. They didn’t need to talk, all they needed was each other.

But whatever I guess, lycan’s gotta be stupid at some point.

(Apparently about three minutes after they left, Alcina, Donna, and Heisenberg had called Miranda. There was an issue with a few lycans and they were now rampaging at Alcina’s castle, and clawing their way inside Donna’s. Just a disaster overall, and now they didn’t listen to orders. Heisenberg was so dead.)

Miranda snarled and vines ripped a lycan apart for even daring to touch her human (but not human). This seemingly was the end of it, and Miranda slightly relaxed. A branch snapped behind them, and Miranda turned to see what it was - on high alert.

But surprise! It was a diversion and Mia was promptly knocked the fuck down by a drooling feral lycan, ready for lunch. Mia did not scream - she was used to this kinda bullshit occurring in her life - and attempted to wrestle herself out of its hold.

The entire interaction was shockingly silent, to the point that Miranda didn’t even realize it was happening until she turned back around to find Mia ten seconds from being food.

Crows everywhere.

Like whoa, Mia didn’t even know that many could exist in one place - what the fuck? Miranda knocked the lycan away, and more fun- they were surrounded. Mia had sinking feeling in her gut because really, there was only so much Miranda could handle. Mia let out a feral growl as the lycan got up like an idiot on a mission and growled at her.

They weren’t special, Mia was infected too, but she wasn’t going around trying to chomp other people’s legs off.

(She just cut people’s hands-off, there’s a difference guys, and it was a chainsaw, not her teeth. She was composed about removing hands.)

There was a tense silence as Miranda attempted to order them back down, and when it didn’t work she seemed to come to the conclusion that her son was in need of serious punishment. But until then, they would have to deal with the rogue pack of lycans that decided today was the day they were gonna pick a fight with a goddess and a vaguely immortal mold woman.

Today.

Of course.

Mia always had a knife on her, she wasn’t about to play no games with her life. The rest is basically a blur, Mia didn’t even want to think about what she was covered in, or the fact she was slaughtering lycans.

In the corner of her eyes, she saw Miranda fending off almost twelve lycans at once, purposefully drawing them away from Mia. The two continued to fight, the lycans slowly dying off.

Until.

Until Miranda couldn’t quite push herself to that limit until Miranda was caught off guard due to just how hard she was pushing herself. Until Miranda got mauled. Miranda’s exhaustion from lack of sleep, physical exertion, and mental strain pushed her to drop like a stone.

Leaving Mia to both panic over her lover’s situation, and panic over the fact that she’s probably like five minutes from death. Except…the world twists everything is different all of the sudden and the lycans start to wail. They’re terrified, and Mia turns, because something is glowing.

Flowers.

Wait a second-

The lycans turn tail and run as fast as they can, and the world sharpens, comes back into focus, and Mia is facing Donna Beneviento.

….who’s wildly out of shape.

“How.”

“Mother can….she can do much more than she lets on.”

Donna had started speaking around Mia long ago, the two hit it off rather quickly, and Mia took to Donna like a mother to child.

Mia suspected, but ultimately it didn’t matter if Miranda could invade others’ minds, all that mattered was that Mia was alive, and needed to get Miranda home to heal. Donna seemed to understand this as well and carefully picked Miranda up, avoiding injuring her wings that were limp and incredibly invasive to the process of carrying her. The two trudged back to their home, Mia didn’t even care that Donna knew where they lived, and set Miranda down on a table.

Mia was sent away, to worry, to fear, as Donna did her best. Once she completed the main part Donna handed Mia a kit, essentially telling her good luck before dipping. Mia swallowed and quickly went to Miranda.

It was shockingly bad.

She was still passed out, and the black blood she bled (say that ten times fast) was glaringly obvious against the lab coat she’d donned to work in. Mia could tell that Donna had helped with the major issue that required actual expertise and not life skills of being kidnapped and fucked with for years.

Mia carefully worked on the smaller injuries, some of them were already patching themselves up. As the adrenaline truly faded Mia felt tears gather in her eyes, she didn’t even know Miranda could be this weak, especially in front of others. But this scared her because Miranda was completely open, weak.

Mia hated it, she was going to get onto Miranda more often for her health, she was going to keep Miranda functioning because what good what she to Eva if she was dead?

(What would Mia do without Miranda?)

Mia found herself staying by Miranda all throughout the night, she was too rattled over the incident to sleep anyways. Early rays of the sun began to warm the area when Miranda stirred.

Or well- when Miranda woke up very quickly and was immediately on high alert, causing Mia to think danger and whip out her knife.

So it’s not smooth.

Once everyone is calmed down, and ruffled feathers have been put back into place Miranda attempts to stand, which is not happening on Mia’s watch and she steps up to Miranda and forces her to lay right back down.

Miranda opens her mouth to argue, but before she can even begin to talk circles around Mia or attempt to trick Mia into something, Mia spoke.

“Don’t you even try it, do you know how hurt you were? I don’t ever want to see you like that again, and guess what? You don’t get to sit in your lab all day and be generally unhealthy about your habits. You’re going to take breaks, eat more - oh yeah I’ve noticed that - and sleep! That’s that, now lay back down and rest.”

Miranda’s wings had fluffed out from partial surprise as well as natural fear. Mia gave Miranda a stern look and Miranda almost in a scolded manner laid back down. Mia moves towards the edge of where Miranda was laying, quiet.

“I was worried.” it’s whispered between Mia’s fingers where she’s letting her headrest. Miranda turns to look at Mia, almost surprised before awkwardly pulling her hand away from her face to hold it.

“I’m alright.”

It’s such a tender moment Mia can hardly believe Miranda is the one she’s speaking to. But Mia looks up at Miranda, who looks concerned over Mia and can’t help but smile.

“You’re alright.”

[lovingonrepeat]

sometimes i like to think of the little sexy secrets the boys have, like a day everyone was so horny and they jerk off together to porn. its their little secret and theyre so ashamed of it but theyd love to do this again bc yeah this is hot. the problem is... they all disagree abt the type of porn they want so each one of them has their turn and they get to see what turns them on... thinking of wayv hihi

HOLY SHIT ANON, YOUR MIND! ALSO I'VE PUT WAY TOO MUCH THOUGHT INTO THIS IN THE PAST HOUR SO HERE WE GO!

They decide that the fairest way to do this is to go in age order and go from oldest to youngest in picking videos. So that leaves Kun to go first and he's way too embarrassed to put anything he really wants to. He can't help but feel like there's so so many eyes on him and his dirtiest secrets, so even tho he has an exact video in mind that he knows will get him there so so fast, he chooses instead to search around and after he gets yelled at by the other members for taking too long, he finally plays something pretty vanilla but that isn't too embarrassing for him. It's good, but it's not earth shattering, and he knows he's definitely gonna need more than it to really get him where he needs to be to finally ease this tension in his body. But he's decently satisfied in his choice, and he feels like he might be able to look his members in the eye after all is said and done.

That is, until Ten's turn. Everyone had stayed more or less respectfully and awkwardly quiet during Kun's video, with everyone being too embarrassed and self conscious to really touch themselves, despite the ache they were all feeling. But when Ten snatches up the laptop and instantly starts playing a video full of edging and begging and the models in shibari, the tension in the room snaps.

They're not really sure who was the member to make the first move, but suddenly hands are stroking themselves and clothes are long discarded.

It's Sicheng's turn next, and he had been dreading it, but he swears his fingers move on their own accord as he searches for a video and finds one with a guy sucking on a girl's nipples. He has an oral fixation and you cannot convince me otherwise. The video plays and this time, they're sure it's Xiaojun that is the first one to let out a sound, a muffled groan into the back of his hand as the woman praises the man tending to her, and with that, it's not long before the room fills with more than the sounds coming from their laptop.

Xuxi gets the next turn, and he chooses a video with a close-up on a guy being instructed on how to finger his girlfriend to get her off. It's a crowd pleaser in the dorm.

Xiajoun's hands are shaky when it's finally his turn, and he doesn't even hesitate to search for a video that he knows he'll enjoy. Problem is, with the state he's in and his lust filled brain driving his actions, he completely forgets that the video is one that he has saved in his most secret folder of mommy kink videos. The room lapses into stunned silence as the pornstar utters the title for the first time, and Xiaojun swears that if the attention would've been on him for just a second longer, he would've came from the sheer embarrassment alone.

It's Hendery turn where things slow down. He is adamant that he wants to skip his turn, saying that he's just not that into porn, but Xuxi calls bullshit at the raging boner and sounds he's been letting out the entire night. Kun suggests instead that maybe he should be allowed another turn, arguing that he didn't realize the night was going to get this... Intimate, and demanding a redo where he gets to watch something he's into more.

But it's Sicheng that figures it out first, leaning over to ask a question in Hendery's ear that had his face paling and cheeks heating up. They jump on it, demanding Sicheng share with the rest of them, but he refuses, granting Hendery his last shred of dignity as he can feel the grip he has on his most shameful secret slipping away.

They start throwing out kinks left and right to try to find out his secret, with everything from omaroshi to a foot fetish to full on pet play being tossed around. But Yangyang is finally the one who gets it right, asking simply, "It's gay, isn't it?"

Hendery honestly doesn't think he's ever felt more embarrassed in his life than in that moment, as he types into the search and finally clicks play on a video of a guy giving another guy a handjob. Their own highs abandoned for a minute, they all watch intently, weighing in their heads if they're into it or not. No one verbally states an opinion except Xuxi, who leans over and tells Hendery that he made a good choice.

Hendery tries his best to zone out, ignoring his members around him and chase his own high, but he can't when he feels so fucking self conscious. He's shocked out of his thoughts when Ten taps him on the shoulder and asks him to stop touching himself for a minute. His brain hasn't even finished processing Ten's request when he all but screams, directing all attention to himself as Ten wraps his hand around Hendery's dick.

The video is abandoned quickly by all members but Ten as they turn their attention to the scene in front of them. But Ten pays them no attention, instead watching the video and trying his damndest to copy each and every movement exactly. Hendery cannot help but be sure that Ten has done this before, but he can't find it in himself to voice it.

Another debate breaks out when it's Yangyang turn, as they're not sure if they're really ready to know what kinda kinky shit their maknae is into. He argued adamantly for his equal treatment, but rethinks it immediately when they cave and he's actually expected to play something. It's obvious that he didn't think this one through, but they won't let him back out now.

Much to everyone's surprise, he plays a video with male orgasm denial, with lots of begging and edging, and Xuxi swears he's never discovered more of his own kinks in one night.

It's Xiaojun that finally ends up cumming first, as silently as he possibly could when the woman on the screen degrades the guy. Kun follows pretty soon after, with Sicheng cumming next.

It leaves Ten, Xuxi, Hendery and Yangyang left. Ten has abandoned his own quest for release in favor of torturing Hendery, and he can barely keep it together when Ten demands that he asks for his release the way the guy in the video does. Hendery can't bring himself to let everyone hear him beg, so he leans over and whispers pleas into Ten's ear, and Ten accepts it. Hendery's shot headfirst into his orgasm, followed by Yangyang. With Hendery's worn out body next to him, Ten goes back to chasing his own high, and it doesn't take him long at all to get there.

The boys barely register that Xuxi hasn't finished, too busy in their own afterglows until he lets a grunt escape his lips. Hendery notices right away that Xuxi is copying the video as well as he can, and so they wait for the video to end and for the man in the video, as well as Xuxi, to be granted the opportunity to cum. Yangyang can't help but wish he had chosen a video where the guy didn't get to finish, just to see what Xuxi would've done, but he won't bring himself to admit it.

They don't talk about that day again, or about how they notice when Sicheng stares too long at a woman's breasts, about how they notice the way Xiaojun gets weak when a woman is mean to him. Ten and Hendery don't mention the events of this day to each other again, even tho Hendery has so many questions to ask him about it, the most important of which being, "God can we do that again?" Xuxi is left with a confusing tangle of new revelations about his sexual preferences to unravel, and none of them can look Yangyang in the eye anymore when conversations start to take a sexual turn.

And Kun will never mention it to them, but he's secretly grateful that this whole event took place on his laptop, and cannot thank the internet gods enough for the wonderful feature that is the search history. He has definitely watched every video at least five times at this point, not that he'd ever admit it to anyone.

[prongssmrrcury]

a very bleak christmas

wolfstar fic /// one shot

word count ( 6.2k ITS LONG SORRY)

fluff, not much smut

this turned out awfully long IM SORRY😭 having that said i hope you enjoy <33 ily mwahh

"you ready wormy?" james said, shutting his trunk and looking at his bed and around the dormitory to make sure hasnt forgotten anything. he looked over at the shorter boy with sandy coloured hair who was bending down apparently trying to get something he dropped from under the bed, but struggling a great deal. he nervously shot his head up giving james a weak smile and said "yes, im ready, i just dropped something here im not sure what-"

"just tell moony to fetch it for you while we're away" james said and peter just agreed and left the dormitory trailing after james with his trunk, shutting the door on his way. the gryffindor common room was emptier than usual, but the fireplace was lit with a couple of people huddling around it to shield themselves from the ruthless cold of december. despite this however, peoples spirits were as light as ever as almost everyone was departing for two weeks to spend christmas with their families, even lily evans stopped rolling her eyes every time james breathed, and started spending more time with him and ( to james' great delight) enjoying his company. speaking of lily, she was standing by the fireplace with her hair up in a ponytail with a furry winter cap on her head. james noticed her at once and made his way down the flight of stairs and tapped her shoulder softly, she turned around and gave him a warm smile, a short hug followed.

"happy holidays james!" she smiled so widely it watered james' eye. she called him james, not potter.

"happy holidays" he managed to respond, taken aback by the sudden affection she just showed him. she looked around furrowing her brows slightly then spoke, "wheres your trunk? have you not packed?"

"oh no i have! i left my trunk with peter to um, you know, come and say hi" he said the second part of the sentence quietly, she let out a soft laugh, god he just wanted to kiss her so bad. "wheres yours?" he asked quickly. she turned around slightly to show him her trunk which was standing behind her, tapping it twice.

"alright then, lets go down to breakfast, minnie wouldnt want us to be late" he told her, taking her hand and leading her out of the common room with him. he looked back at peter who was struggling with his own trunk and james' but peter just shot him a thumbs up as if he got everything under control.

"alright wormy, dont be late" he muttered. the pair of them walked down from the gryffindor tower to the entrance hall and right to the great hall where elaborate christmas decorations were encapsulating the place, giving the entire castle a more homey vibe. the four house tables were emptier than usual, james and lily made their way to the gryffindor table where they were met by a handsome boy with long hair that he managed to scruff in a very messy pony tail, and a taller boy sitting across him who seemed to find his buttering his toast to be a very intriguing activity. lily and james took seats next to them.

"morning" sirius spoke, looking at lily then at james.

"morning sirius, how are you" lily replied, who also began buttering her toast. sirius didnt respond right away, instead he eyed her then finally spoke, "oh im, im very good" it didnt really seem like it, sirius didnt seem to be in his loud, arrogant and flirtatious mood today, instead a rather dull and quiet one. lily looked at james silently trying to understand what had caused the sudden change in sirius behavior, she was met a mere shrug from james. the four of them sat in silence for the next ten minutes, no one breaking silence that seemed to have swallowed them. remus then looked up for the first time and sighed loudly, which made sirius look very attentively at him, waiting for him to say anything.

"im gonna go, im in the dorm if you want me pads. enjoy your holidays james, you too lily" he said lowly, also clearly in a dull mood in contrast to everyones mood right now. he got up and left, shooting them a weak smile before disappearing out of the great hall.

sirius watched him so closely even when he had gotten out of sight. it was common knowledge that the pair are in love and clearly fancied each other, almost everyone in school knew that. maybe its because of sirius' shameless attitude, cuddling with remus in the common room, sitting on his lap in the middle of the great hall, or pushing remus against a wall and just stand in front of him doing god knows what. the only problem was... neither sirius nor remus knew they liked each other. they obviously knew they had a different relationship than anyone else but they were so oblivious to the fact that theyre in love that it sometimes made james just want to scream it in their face.

"you okay pads?" james said mockingly, sirius had been staring at where remus left for at least ten minutes completely transfixed, he came back to his senses at once and looking abruptly between james and lily then back at his doughnut, fiddling with it slightly. he then shot james an alarmed look and said, "dont call me that james". he spoke so firmly, he knew james knew this is what remus calls him. no one was really allowed to use that nickname with him, even he and james who had a light hearted friendship that was basically based on jokes and pranks, sirius pronounced the words looking into james' eyes, which made james know he was being one hundred percent serious. james didnt respond, feeling a rush of guilt in his stomach, he just took a bite of his oatmeal.

"how are things with you two" james asked. sirius once again didnt respond right away but instead took time to ponder his answer.

"what do you mean how are things"

"you know, have you guys had a row or anything?" james asked, stuffing more oatmeal in his mouth.

"oh- um yea no. not really no" sirius hesitated a bit. the truth is that remus and him didnt have a row, but today was one of these occasions where sirius woke up finding himself on remus' bed not knowing how or why. it had happened a couple of times before and when it did, remus would immediately smile warmly at sirius and pamper him with kisses here and there on his cheek and his jaw. however, today, remus woke up a bit more shaky to the fact that he was in the same bed as sirius. he straightened his pyjamas quickly giving sirius an awkward smile and leaving without a word.

james dropped his oatmeal and looked at sirius looking serious for the first time, giving him a smile that carried something between sympathy and support.

"are you ever going to tell him?"

"tell him what" sirius said bluntly

james smirked. even lily suppressed a knowing look. sirius rolled his eyes.

"you guys are not onto that bullshit the whole school talks about right?" he asked cringing slightly.

"if the bullshit includes you and remus being blindly in love then yes" james gave a small laugh.

"literally blindly" lily mumbled, but sirius heard her and gave her a look.

"guys- hes my best mate"

"doing a lot of canoodling with your 'best mate' ?" james smirked rolling his eyes.

"first of all, what the fuck is canoodling james, this isnt the eighteenth century" he ppinted out the weird choice of wording.

"whatever, point is, people dont sleep on their 'best mates' chests every day padfoot" sirius opened his mouth to protest but james cut him again "just save your breath will you. im trying to help"

sirius sighed heavily burying his head in his hands and shaking it.

"i dont fucking know what to do prongs. fuck ugh i hate this so much why cant it be simpler" sirius' voice got weaker.

"mate just talk to him, remus cant read your mind. and its pretty obvious the feelings mutual" james tried to convince him.

"i dont know if hes into- you know, into me" sirius tried to explain. sirius had come out to the entire school three years ago so it was common knowledge that was gay.

"oh he is" lily said

sirius blinked.

"i mean, i spend a lot of time with him in our prefects meetings and in the library and stuff" she explained. sirius blinked again.

"i mean" she began again, "he talks about you an awful lot and seems to be quite fond of you" she smiled.

"look, you'll never know if you dont ask" james said again. "look at me, i had to ask lily out at least fifteen times-"

"james what the fuck this isnt the same, why are you even comparing it" sirius interrupted

"oh of course its not the same, but communication is key, no matter what the relationship is"

"yea and when i ask him out and he just says i misunderstood all his soft affectionate gestures, then stops hanging out with me because im gay and he would know i have feelings for him, that clearly arent mutual. i'll just ruin everything, and i'll lose probably the only person that likes me in this lousy world" sirius spilled, laughing bitterly.

"sirius! you know remus would never stop hanging out with you because of that, you know it!" james said, his voice getting a bit louder.

"yea but it'd be a sticky situation when your gay friend has feelings for you" sirius said, his eyes filled with tears that he wiped right away hoping james and lily didnt see that.

"sirius.." lily said lowly

"lily can you please check up on peter and help him if needs any assistance" james told her firmly, she didnt need telling twice, knowing he wanted to be left alone with sirius. she made her way out of the great hall until she was out of sight, then james look at sirius again who had his head buried in his hands once again.

"sirius i dont know whats gotten into you today, but you know damn well that neither moony or i would ever think of you any differently because you're gay. stop saying that as if its something that hinders you" this was one of the rare occasions where james was serious and firm. he wanted sirius to know meant every word that left his mouth. at this moment he heard a sniff followed by a weak sob.

"james, i sometimes wish i wanst- wasnt, you know, gay" he managed to say between sobs. james' face fell suddenly.

"no dont say that. please dont say that, you know we love you the way you are and we dont give two damns if you're gay or not" james got up and made his way across the table to sit next to sirius rather than in front of him.

"you're me best mate, i dont like seeing you like this. i love you a lot sirius and nothing your little overthinking brain comes up with could change that" he said, pulling sirius into a hug, so hard that he mightve broken a few ribs. he wasnt gonna let go before sirius does, he could stay here all day until sirius was ready to let go. he heard strong sniffs and felt his chest going up and down. sirius broke the hug after a few minutes, looking a lot more content than he had a few minutes before. james gave him his usual cheeky smile.

"your fucking snout sirius" james laughed, picking up a handkerchief trying to clean his shoulder.

"fuck off" sirius managed to laugh, sniffing again.

"thank you" sirius said quietly

"come off it, dont thank me" james smiled at him. he watched him grab a cigarette and right when he was about to light it with the tip of his wand james stopped him hesitantly. james never really liked to mother him about smoking or give him lectures about the effects smoking had, but he noticed sirius was eating less and smoking more the past couple of days. sirius shot a "what-do-you-want" look to which james responded, "um, can you please just eat something before you smoke" james said. he knew this was a touchy subject, he never liked to mention it but they were alone and he knows he's the only one sirius would listen to. sirius gave him a hesitant look, before stuffing the cigarette back in his pocket.

"just for you prongs" he rolled his eyes, taking a bite of his doughnut. james however was filled with so much joy seeing his best friend do that just for him.

"what are you smiling so much at you prat" sirius said between bites. james shook his head softly before saying, "im very proud of you sirius, i hope you know that" sirius smiled and laughed dismissively at that statement, james knew it touched him but sirius never really knew how to respond to affectionate words.

"you're very sappy you know that" sirius laughed slightly.

"whatever" james felt his cheeks go red. "anyway i have to get going before i get minnie mad on christmas" he said, getting up, swinging his backpack on his back leaving the hall.

"tell moony i say merry christmas" james called, leaving the great hall also disappearing out of sight.

~

later that night, james and lily departed home to spend the upcoming weeks with their families to celebrate christmas, so did most of the school. as homey and welcoming as the school felt, everyone loved going back to their family, everyone except sirius. sirius was never fond of his family, he never had a good relationship with them and all they did was make him more miserable, he would take any chance to be away from them. sirius was sat in the library that was emptier than usual (but the ceiling was enchanted to fake snow) he was sitting with two giant books opened in front of him, yellowed by age. he looked over at the books, he hadnt read a single word despite being here for nearly an hour. he came here in an attempt to distract himself from the intensifying amount of nerves and stress, however, he was so lost in his thoughts that not even that gigantic book can save him from his exhausting overthinking. he sighed heavily, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulder, shutting the books that made a loud thud and put them back in their place. sirius swung his backpack on his back and left the library making his way to the gryffindor tower. he just wanted to sleep. yes, sleep, thats what he needed. he went through the fat lady's portrait and climbed up the stairs to his dormitory, finding remus sitting on his four poster bed completely engulfed by a book. remus shot his eyes up the second he heard sirius walking in and gave him a wordless smile, going back to his book. sirius' stomach did a funny lurch.

"i was starting to think youve forgotten your way around the castle" remus said, flipping the page of his book, still reading it. sirius looked at him nervously, not sure what he meant by that.

"what?" sirius asked, he was going to take his shirt off and get in his pyjamas but stopped abruptly. he didnt wanna make remus uncomfortable around him, especially after what happened this morning. they always had a very intimate relationship though, changing in front of each other was never a problem. remus suppressed a chuckle which made sirius look at him, unsure what he found comical in this very intense atmosphere.

"you can take your shirt off if you want sirius" remus said, still poured into his book.

"how can you even see me?" sirius couldnt stop himself. remus looked up from his book and gave him a is-that-even-a-question look. sirius slipped his undone tie, unbuttoning his buttons his fingers shaking horribly for a reason he didn't understand. he knew remus was looking in his book (not that he didnt want remus looking) but he still felt like all the worlds eyes are on him. a couple of awfully long minutes passed and sirius finally was in his pyjama and got into his bed under his blanket and stared absentmindedly into the wall. remus flipped the page once again, he hadnt read a word on the previous page. how could he? he was so preoccupied by sirius changing in front of him. remus did freak out when he found himself on the same bed as sirius this morning. he doesnt know why he freaked out the way he did, its not like its the first time. he knew that this had made sirius extremely self conscious the whole day, he was wearing a very dull look. he had to make up for his unexplainable actions, he cant stand seeing sirius this upset, especially if he was the reason hes feeling like that. he couldnt stand seeing him in such a bad mood on breakfast this morning that he had to dismiss himself early. but sirius' loss of his loud flirtatious attitude was what stirred the pot for remus. he didnt walk in the dorm and try to slip in bed with remus, or get a kiss from him, or remotely try draw any attention to hismelf from remus rather than that book in his hand, which was as un-sirius as one can get.

"why were you late?" remus asked sirius, knowing hes not asleep. sirius mumbled something inaudible from his bed that remus didnt catch onto. remus furrowed his brows slightly. he shut his book and put it on the bed side table, the sound he made when he shut his book made sirius shift in his bed to face remus who was staring back at him.

"where were you?" remus asked

"in the library" sirius said simply, avoiding any sarcasm or any joking around. remus face wore a surprised expression.

"oh- by your own will?" he said with a breathy laugh.

"yea" sirius replied

"what were you reading?" said remus, sounding excited. sirius didnt exactly know why he wad being interrogated by remus about his absence.

"um, i was just doing homework"

"oh, thats actually nice pads" remus smiled. sirius' stomach did another flip at the nickname. god this was so awkward and tense, sirius thought.

"sirius are you mad at me?" remus said, going straight to the point. every muscle in sirius' body went tense and completely still.

"no" sirius said bluntly.

"sure?"

"yea"

"okay. great then. um do you wanna come lay here with me?" remus offered, this was quiet foreign for remus as it was never him who initiated anything sexual or intimate. but he was willing to go out of his comfort zone for sirius. just for sirius.

"uh- sorry moony im really tired" it pained sirius to say these words, if he was being honest, he wanted nothing more than to lay in remus' chest right now and give him soft pecks and kiss his stupid plump lips.

"oh, okay" remus said lowly. "okay then" sirius wasnt sure what he meant by that tone, and before sirius has any other second to think about it, he felt his bed dip slightly and remus climbing on him, placing himself on top of sirius with his legs wide opened around his waist. sirius felt like all the oxygen in the world had escaped his lungs.

"tired, you said you are pads? want a little massage?" remus cooed softly. he leaned down on sirius' chest undoing his pyjama buttons revealing his tattooed chest.

"remus-" sirius tried to stop him. sirius promised himself he wasnt going to do anything like that with remus because he doesnt want to make him uncomfortable or possibly hate him more, however, this is different. its remus thats initiating it. it remus that did it.

"what pads?" remus continued cooing softly, completely stripping sirius of his shirt and attaching his lips on sirius' neck. at this exact moment, sirius moaned louder than he intended. he shifted slightly in his bed and put his hand through remus' hair. remus continued nibbling sirius' neck. he bit and licked at all the right spots, leaving a soft trail of kisses all over his neck and made his way up to his chin and on his lips, where he left a soft peck. sirius however pulled remus' head back towards him to kiss him properly, remus licked sirius' bottom lip which made sirius moan approvingly into the kiss. remus slipped his tongue in sirius' mouth and deepened the kiss, he felt sirius' hand wandering around his shoulder and slipped in his shirt to touch his bare skin.

"god this is so" remus moaned breaking the kiss only to attach his lips on his once again.

"remus-" sirius stopped him abruptly. remus looked down on sirius, his eyes mobing fast between his godly features, furrowing his brows slightly not understanding why sirius stopped him. did he make him uncomfortable? was sirius really not in the mood and remus overstepped a boundry? remus felt a horrible tingling feeling in his stomach as his brain raced between all the possibilities.

"remus im sorry- i cant do this" sirius said, as soon as the words left his mouth he felt horrible, reading the shocked and bewildered expression on remus face, he looked very hurt and unsure of himself.

"oh- fuck okay im sorry" remus said quickly, getting off sirius and leaving his bed, but sirius held his arm to immobilize him and not make him leave. they stared at each other for a few seconds that felt painfully long. both of them felt confused, upset with themselves and unsure of what to do or say next.

"can you please stay" sirius said quietly avoiding remus' eye. remus didnt respond which made sirius feel a horrible pit of nerves in his stomach.

"i- i don't understand. you just asked me to stop and told me you cant do this" remus spoke lowly with a soft rasp in his voice. sirius buried his head in his hand, he was on the brink of tears, he honestly didnt know what or how to explain his confusion to remus. how could he explain it or put it in cohesive words when he himself didn't understand.

"sirius please talk to me" remus said softly, holding sirius' hand

"rem i dont know how-"

"do you trust me?" remus cut him off.

"what- yes of course" sirius said sternly.

"then please tell me how you feel"

"how i feel about what?" sirius asked

"about doing this" remus tried to explain, sirius knew at once he was referring to all the sexual stuff they do.

"remus i love it. i enjoy it a lot, i sometimes just want the day to end only to get in bed with you. i- i dont know how to word my feelings because it's honestly just all a mess inside me" sirius spilled. this was the most he'd spoken all day. remus smiled at the last sentence. "what about you?" sirius asked, feeling the same horrible pit of nerves in his stomach increase. remus however smiled.

"i do things for you pads that id never do to anyone" he said, smiling more. he leaned closer to sirius' face and brushing a few strands of his hair out of his face. "but, if you feel unsure about this, we can stop and just be friends. i'd completely understand"

"no what the fuck moony" sirius said before he could stop himself, remus looked in his eyes. "no im unsure about your feelings to me, not about my feelings to you" he tried to explain.

"you think i dont like you?" remus asked quickly.

"well not exactly but im not sure how you feel towards me". at this, remus leaned down to kiss sirius lips a soft and tender kiss. he took his time to savor every bit of his mouth he could.

"maybe this would give you a good idea about how i feel about you" he smiled at him. "we're both exhausted, its best if we just go to sleep"

"right okay. can you sleep with me?" sirius asked, remus gave a breathy laugh at his sweet request.

"yes darling i can" he said with his usual rasp apparent, getting under the blanket and spooning sirius playing with his hair for the the next foreseeable hours until both of them were sleeping.

soft sun rays illuminated through the window of the gryffindor tower and on the entire hogwarts grounds. the translucent curtains that were in the dormitory were not doing any shielding from the sun rays whatsoever. it fell gently on the two boys that were sleeping together, tangled together, their bodies almost intertwining so perfectly with each other as if they were jigsaw pieces. sirius' head was on remus' chest, remus hugging sirius' body towards him and their legs just tangled. they looked so peaceful, their chests raising and going down every couple of seconds, it was all so perfect that one could confidently bet that even their heartbeats were in sync.

an owl came knocking its beak on the window above the bed theyre on, breaking the gentle yet majestically peaceful the state they were in. sirius shifted slightly in his sleep, opening his eyes to find uninvited sunlight penetrating right through his eyeballs. the owl made another knock on the window trying to grab their attention.

"fine okay" sirius said rasply, he got up sitting upright opening the window for that stupid owl that interrupted his sleep. the owl had two parcels tied on its leg. sirius untied them and the owl flew out at once.

"whos that from?" a raspy voice spoke he immediately knew it was remus.

"um, i think its" he turned the parcel around to see if there was any name, he smiled when he saw the senders name.

"yep, its from prongs" he said looking at remus who also smiled warmly.

"well, we'll open it later, lets just get up quickly now before we miss breakfast" he said, sitting up right and sliding his legs out of the bed. the two boys changed into their normal clothes. remus got into a hand knitted sweater and pants, sirius also got into a baggy sweatshirt and sloppily tied his hair up.

"pads is that mine?" remus smiled looking at the sweater sirius was wearing.

"maybe" sirius replied with a cheeky tone.

"course it is" remus rolled his eyes. "you literally have the biggest closet out of all of us, yet youre never wearing your shit" sirius gave him a weird look.

"not that i mind it darling" remus said softly, playing with sirius' hair slightly. they both left the dormitory and walked down to the common room with the intention to leave to the great hall, however they were met by a small table that was put in front of the fireplace with breakfast food laying on it. they looked at each other exchanging weird looks.

"there was no point of making you leave the common room only to go down and eat when its only you too in the whole school" professor mcgonagall's voice spoke. she was sitting on an armchair wearing her usual green dressing gown. "well anyway, im going down to have breakfast with the rest of the teachers. you two have a merry christmas" she smiled slightly and left the common room.

remus and sirius were just left there standing stupidly in front of the food table.

"well, i guess we're not leaving. sit down lets eat im starving" sirius said sitting himself down and starting to eat toast. they both ate until they were full and just laid on their armchairs to take their breath.

"wanna open the parcel prongs sent?" remus asked after ten minutes of silence.

"uhh sure" sirius said, getting the parcels, handing remus one box and he opened the other one. he tore the wrapping and opened it, a smile breaking on his face.

"he got me a wand polishing set. oh and look, he got me some hair bands" remus laughed a little. sirius put the hair bands in his wrist.

"what are you laughing at, i love it" sirius smiled "what did he get you?"

"he got me part six of 'crows or crowns'. its my favorite book and he knows i couldn't find that volume anywhere" remus' face wore a very big smile from that present. "oh and look! he got me a vest, it's beautiful"

"i'll be wearing that" sirius said at once

"of course darling you can wear it whenever"

"remus open my gift!" sirius said with so much excitement, remus held the huge box wondering what he has inside. he stared at sirius before opening it, unsure of what will meet him when he opens it. his suspicion grew larger when he was met by a cheeky smiling sirius.

"its not gonna blow up in my face right?" remus laughed a little

"only one way to find out" sirius shrugged

"oh god" remus joked. he opened the box and the first thing he saw was a big box inside labeled 'book polishing kit' remus' face fell with shock.

"sirius! sirius is this a book polishing kit? oh my god" he was gasping. sirius felt his cheeks burn by the fond expression on remus' face.

"holy shit pads where did you get this, these are so rare and expensive" he held it close to his face examining it with so much excitement.

"shhh its a gift" sirius was kind of embarrassed fora reason he doesnt know. "theres more stuff"

remus looked inside the box and laughed out loudly when he saw at least a doesnt bars of chocolate.

"what are you laughing at! this is the muggle chocolate you told me you like" sirius said flustered a little.

"yes yes i love it" remus smiled. "thank you"

sirius shrugged, not knowing what to say in situations like this.

"um, right open my gift" remus said looking nervous. remus' gift was something a little different and not very expected, he spent a lot of time thinking whether its a good idea or not. hes so nervous for sirius to see it, he felt his stomach lurch so badly he might vomit. he handed sirius an a4 piece of parchment that was folded into quarters. sirius gave him a confused yet excited look.

"are you giving me your transfiguration homework as a christmas gift moony" he joked.

"oh shut up and open it" every fibre in remus' body was screaming in anticipation and nerves. sirius unfolded the paper and read:

"dear sirius,

i am writing this in the dormitory for the fifteenth time at least. i thought so much about this and decided that its perfect. six years ago when i laid eyes on you for the first time, you had this aura that carried so much charm, something about your stupid gorgeous personality was so seductive and made me in complete lust for you. there aren't enough words in the english language to explain how you make me feel, nothing will come close to describing how i feel when you slip in bed with me every night, when i play with your hair, when i hear your heartbeats, when i hold your hand and stroke it with my thumb, when you kiss my scars, when you sit next to me in class sit there looking pretty doing nothing. i came to the conclusion that every little thing you do has me in utter awe. no one has ever made me feel like that, for a long time i was so confused as to why and how you could do that so effortlessly. i was confused about how i felt about you for so long, i was so confused about myself, and you helped me come to terms with who i am, by being so unapologetically you. at the end of a hard day you're always there to cheer me up, even in my darkest days, when nothing felt like it'll be okay ever again, you're always fucking here to change that. the number of times you've saved my life sirius, i couldnt tell you, by just merely being here. i figured that no matter what happens and no matter where life takes me, i want to always be with you. i never want to see that day i have to depart you, i dont ever see it coming because not even the strongest force from the gods above will make me leave you. im in love with you. im so fucking in love you idiot. im in love with the way you talk, the way you tie your hair, the way you dress, the way your eyes crease when you smile, your bark like laugh, your stupid jokes that i find funny unironically, your chirped nail polish... just in love with you. so sirius, this is me asking, do you want to be my boyfriend?"

sirius read the letters at least three times to make sure he wasnt missing anything, to make sure he was reading it correctly. was remus asking him out? was remus actually in love with him? none of this felt real. sirius felt like he's seeing stars in his vision, like he was going to pass out any second right now. he looked up at remus who was staring attentively on him and watching his every reaction. he met eyes with him and felt like all the worlds oxygen was being drained.

"so?" remus asked, his voice quivering.

"so?" he repeated as if this was a incredulous thing so say, " fuck yes i wanna be your boyfriend" sirius threw himself on remus on his armchair and splattered him with kissed everywhere he could reach.

"i never thought id be the lucky person to actually end up dating you" sirius breathed

"please, im the lucky one here" remus rolled his eyes.

"i mean hell yeah you are" sirius said sarcastically.

the pair of them spent the rest of the day sitting on the armchair cuddled up with the heat of each other, sharing soft intimate touches every now and then. they spent the whole day in peace and delicacy and made the most out of each other’s company. soon enough before they knew it, the holidays were over and students were returning to hogwarts for their second term.

“hi remus! hey sirius, good holiday? how are you two?” james showered them with questions enthusiastically when they saw him come in the gryffindor common room, he seemed to be in a cheerful mood.

“yea, great holiday” remus mumbled finding himself an armchair and sitting in it. the rest followed and sat on armchairs around him but sirius sat on his lap which remus scooted over a little to make space for him. james and lily looked at each other rolling their eyes playfully but happy that theyre on good terms, unlike the last time they saw them.

“what about you two? and you wormy? how was ur holiday” remus asked calmly, playing with sirius’ hair absentmindedly.

“great we had a great a time, i invited lily and wormy over, wormy couldnt make it though. but lily and i had fun, my parents liked her a lot” james smirked looking at her. “obviously they knew her because i always talked about her to them, but they’ve never really- woah WOAH” james’ speach was cut abruptly when he saw sirius attach his lips to remus’ and remus kissed him back fondly. they all exchanged shocked looks but they werent too shocked, they knew something was happening between the pair of them.

“woah guys” james laughed as they broke the kiss apart and giggled at their reaction.

“yea um, remus and i are dating” sirius said, lookinh flustered slightly. remus was still playing with his hair softly.

“does that mea we can go on double dates?” james said at once

“james potter i am not going on double dates with you and sirius thank you very much” lily said sarcastically.

“suit yourself, james and i are going on dates” sirius shrugged

“james and you are what-“ lily looked confused but cant help a laugh.

“thats right evans” sirius said in a dignified tone.

“dont you talk to my girlfriend like that black!” remus said at once. they all laughed at the sitiuation but lily said with a serious voice, “guys im so happy for you, youre finally together” she smiled wamrly. remus and sirius scooted closer next to each other smiling back at her.

“really proud of my mates” james said, trying to keep a serious tone but smirking at the same time.

[malfoys-demigod]

“She is no longer a proud Slytherin to me.” D.M x Reader

Request from @the--queen-of-hell​

-> OOOOH GURL.Hear me out. This isn't a request but if you like it feel free to use this!So, in the events of TDH, when the trio is taken to the manor, let's say reader is caught with them and brought to the manor. She's a slytherin but she fights against Voldemort..But she is also in a secret relationship with our beautiful Draco.So, Bellatrix tells the goons to take them all to the dungeon, including reader.Draco says that HE will be the one to take them, just so he can make sure that reader is fine.He tries his best to be convincing that he HATES them, so he grabs reader and pushes her around til they're in the dungeon.Omce theyre there, Draco starts worrying about her and asks her if he's hurt her, if she's okay... And while she reassures him that she is fine he pulls her close to him and presses a soft kiss on her forehead 🥺🥺🥺🥺BUT every one in the dungeon can see that, but he doesn care. HE WANTS HIS LOVE SAFE AND ALIVE. So he promises to help her...and the others... Escape.They both survive, and live happily together forever 🥺💚

Summary: During the Deathly Hallows, Y/N and the Golden Trio are being brought to the one place she wished to see on any other occasion, Malfoy Manor, to be held captive by Bellatrix and the Malfoys. Will Draco keep his guard and pretend he doesn’t care for you? Or will he save the person he loves the most in his life?

Word Count: 5.5k 

A/N: I finally made this request! Thank you so much, for this lovely request. 

Taglist: @the--queen-of-hell​ @bbeauttyybbx​

There was an immeasurable secret that you have been deeply pledging to yourself to keep until the moment was right to let it all out. On no occasion was there a moment in time where you could shout it to the skies and feel as free as a bird. For the last six years, on no account has there ever been a moment where you could make it known that you were the secret girlfriend of Draco Lucius Malfoy. During this evil time of seventh year, perhaps the secret would stay forever to your heart, should the plan not go as expected for Team Harry. 

There were times when you couldn’t stand keeping the secret. Seeing other couples, freely expressing their love to each other. The adorable yet minimal displays of affections that lovebirds could do with each other started to eat you up inside as the years flew by as you started to blossom into a young adult. 

While you watched the simple things such as someone leaning down on their lover’s shoulder as a smile crept under their soft and light faces as the other held them tightly, squeezing the love out, you were sitting alone, with your friends, who probably had the same situation going, or didn’t happen to care about the things you were watching as you sat as far away from the one person you could be doing the things you were watching. 

But, no. 

You couldn’t watch a quidditch game with heart-shaped eyes as your favorite seeker flew from left to right, up and down. 

You couldn’t agree to go on a date to Hogsmeade with any other boy, as you tried giving the most bizarre reasons that you could think of, letting all the boys assume that you were clearly uninterested in a romantic relationship during your Hogwarts life. 

You couldn’t travel down to Malfoy Manor over the holidays, knowing you wouldn’t even receive a gift at home. sent from the Manor you dreamed of visiting. 

You couldn’t shout that you were in love with Draco Malfoy. 

Despite deeply knowing that it was highly unlikely to go public with the man you love, there have been times wherein you just couldn’t take it anymore. You knew how much this secret should be kept safe, but there were just times where it drove you out of your mind, wherein, yes, you knew, but you just weren’t in the right state of mind. 

FLASHBACK

During the evening of Valentine’s day, every student, whether single or taken, were all having pleasant meals in the Great Hall. Love was truly in the air for most people. The moment the day had started, it was like everyone inhaled love potions created by who knows, as the day was considered a jolly and carefree day for all. 

Smiles were growing from everyone’s faces as they either watched adorable couples hold hands, or be in the position of those couples, smiling as wide as possible as it was a day truly made for them. 

This day could have been for you as well if the world knew of your romantic relationship with Draco. 

Oh, the countless romantic things he could have done for you. He had never dated anyone seriously before but the secret flirting he had experienced with you could already explain how much of a suave and gentleman he could be. 

So, as you watched couples playfully spoon feed each other and make tiny messes during the process, you internally groaned, resting your head on your cupped palm as your elbow placed some weight on the table. 

You had finished only half of your dinner as everything about Valentine’s day had made you lose your appetite. Spending the day pretending to be something that you weren’t, felt like any other day that you have been going through for years. Today just made things more difficult for you since these couples were expressing their love more freely, making you yearn for the things they could do. 

Sick and feeling more hopeless than usual, you slowly stood up from your table, dragging your eyes and feet away from every couple that you dreamed of being as you attempted to nonchalantly exit the Great Hall as if nothing bothered you. 

This attempt was a complete failure through the sneaky eyes of Draco Malfoy who was silently watching you from the ends of the Slytherin table. He had been observing you quietly from his side of the Slytherin table, noticing and feeling the emotions from inside of you. 

Ever since this morning, you had been utterly quiet during classes, either staring at people you didn’t know, or trying to get the sight of those people out of your head as you were focusing in class with an uncomfortable expression.

This obviously led to realizing that it was about the little holiday that lovers were currently celebrating. He knew that there were times when you wanted to shout to the world that you were proudly and madly in love with him. He felt the same, but he was more controlling of himself, not expressing to you that he wanted to do the same thing. 

During meal time in the Great Hall, he came in early, and once you entered, he could already sense the emotions boiling in your system as you slumped on the table, looking like the saddest person in the castle as you tried ignoring your friends or giving them short answers if they tried talking to you. 

As you ate, you tried giving yourself the slowest bites, giving more attention and focus on the deep thoughts you were thinking about. These deep thoughts led you to not finishing the remaining half of your plate and got you to abruptly stand up from the table and exit the Great Hall, being the first one to end her meal time. 

Draco obviously wanted to follow. He counted to a good ten seconds in order not to seem suspicious about following you out of the Great Hall. When ten seconds were over, he told his gang not to follow him as he had, ‘the bad stomach.’ Knowing that nobody wanted to hear that while they were eating, they told him to rush out, telling him not to worry about it. 

When he stood up, he watched his own actions as he smoothly briskly walked out of the Great Hall, hoping to catch up with the girl of his dreams. If he had the Astronomy tower to hide and let out his emotions, you had the Black Lake. 

You were staring at your sad reflexion by the waters of the Black Lake. It was cold outside but this didn’t matter to you anymore as the sadness had clouded your mind and body. 

Watching your reflection by the waters was something you only did when you were either sad or in deep thinking. Tonight you were both. 

You crept down, touching the water with a single finger, causing a ripple that made small movements, resulting in your reflection to move as well. Usually this would make you grow a smile on your face but you were too sad to do that. 

Sighing, you said, “When will this end?” You asked yourself. 

Then, a platinum blonde hair had started creeping up behind your reflection, standing behind you with a small smile. “When this is all over, you know that.” 

You stood up, turning around to see your boyfriend Draco remove his Slytherin scarf from his neck, “Wouldn’t want to see you freezing, love.” He said, wrapping the scarf around your neck gently. 

“I can’t wear this forever, you know people will know, the green apple scent, the fact that I didn’t leave my dorm with a scarf, everything.” You declined the gesture, unwrapping the scarf from your neck. 

As you were doing this, Draco frowned, placing his hands on your neck to prevent you from completely removing the scarf from your neck. “Wear it for now, please, we’re still outside.”

“I won’t be for long,” you said, removing his hands from your neck as you completely removed the scarf, something he tried avoiding, as you were prepared to leave the scene. 

Draco stepped to the side, guarding you from leaving him as he looked at you with a careful look on his face. “You’re here for a reason, and I would like to know why.” 

“It’s nothing, I just wanted some fresh air.” 

“If I’m not mistaken, dear, I think I heard you ask yourself when this secret of ours would end. Correct?”

“No, because technically I didn’t say that. You don’t know if the question is under the same context as what I was thinking.” 

“What else could you be asking yourself what would end? Our relationship?” Draco asked, pouting, knowing that you wouldn’t dare question that. 

“Of course not, you fool,” you rolled your eyes, “Okay so maybe I might have been asking when keeping our secret could come to an end. So, what? I always ask this.” 

Draco crossed his arms, giving you a smirk as he knew the reason why you were being so odd today. You looked at him with a confused look, wondering why he was smirking. 

“But it’s not always Valentine’s Day.” He truthfully said, catching you off guard as your eyes widened, seeing that Draco had gotten the answer right. 

You sighed, looking down at your shoes, “I just can’t stand how we could have been spending our time together like every lovebird today. I can’t stand how we have to keep us a secret.” 

Draco slightly frowned, knowing exactly how you felt. He placed his hands on your shoulders, tilting his head for you to see his face despite looking down at the ground. 

“Y/N/N, my dear, look at me,” he begged, making you look up at him with a sad face, “We’re starting to live in mad times. You know that. Once everything is all over, we can live our lives freely. Hang on right, okay? This is going to be some bumpy road along the way. As long as you keep your faith in us, we will get there. Can you be a patient little lovebird for me?”

You playfully rolled your eyes after hearing him call you a ‘little lovebird’ but still nodded in agreement, making Draco chuckle and smile at your response, saying, “That’s my girl,” then placed a small and quick kiss on your forehead. “Happy Valentine’s Day, love.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Draco.” You greeted back. Then turned around to see some students leave the Great Hall and enter the corridors despite being a little bit far away from the castle. “Would you mind if I left first to not make anything suspicious?”

“Of course, ladies first, dear.” He said, encouraging you to walk away. “See you around, you know I’ll keep an eye on you from afar, yeah?”

“Always,” you smiled, then turned around, running off to the castle, pretending that nothing happened, which slowly broke your heart a little bit. 

Draco huffed in sadness as he realizes he had to do the same thing when it was his turn to leave the lake and return to his dorm. “We’ll get there,” he muttered to himself. 

From there on, Draco and you had continued keeping the secret, whether either of you were weak to your knees or capable of being as strong as possible. 

Through your ups and downs, the both of you had managed to have sealed lips every day. To make things easier, Draco had set up more secret meetings with you, to keep the love in the air as strong as possible. 

These secret meetups were either in the Astronomy Tower, the Black Lake, or any secret place that nobody was seen occupying or passing through frequently. These times together were the only times you could express actual love to the person you pretended to see as a stranger. 

Unfortunately, the battle between You-Know-Who and Harry Potter only became more intense than ever during your seventh year. This tension between the two of them had been going on for quite some time and the actual battle had to come sooner or later, and it did arrive, during your final year at Hogwarts. 

You couldn’t imagine how badly things ended up for it was a traumatic experience for you and Draco to be in different teams of the battle, challenging the relationship the two of you had shared for the last few years. 

When the tension had risen during the first of seventh year, Draco had secretly told you that this was the ultimate thing the two of you had prepared for mentally, emotionally, and physically. Forget the secret meet ups, forget the jealousy of wanting to be like other couples, forget it. 

There was no time for either of you to hold each other tightly while the battle went on. Despite being a pureblood Slytherin, you went your separate ways as you were with the Golden Trio, fighting against You-Know-Who. 

So there you were in the dark night along with the Golden Trio as fellow death-eaters had grabbed a hold of the four of you as they forced you into walking towards the place that you had always wanted to visit in your life. 

Malfoy Manor. 

This was certainly not the way you had wanted your first visit in your boyfriend’s house to be like but what could you do? You would rather go insane and be sent to Azkaban than become a death-eater and hold the most gruesome meetings in Malfoy Manor, serving the Dark Lord himself in plotting against Harry Potter and Hogwarts. 

As you were taking a look of the Manor you had once dreamt of, there seemed to be a figure by the gates, jumping happily and crazily as the figure had seen a glimpse of four teenagers walking towards the gates with death-eaters. 

“Woo-hoo!,” said the voice in a high-pitched manner, “Walk faster, I’d like to see the look on their precious faces.” 

Getting closer to the gates, you saw Bellatrix Lestrange as her whole outfit from top to bottom was all in black. Her hair seemed to be the messiest hair you had ever seen, looking as if she hasn’t had the experience of brushing it properly, only to make it as messy as possible. 

With her hand sticking out of the gate, she pointed at Harry, who was to your left. The death-eater dealing with him smirked and forcefully pushed Harry towards the gates where Bellatrix grabbed him by the shirt. 

She scanned up quickly, as her eyes flew up and down Harry, grinning crazily as possible, probably thinking of something horrible to do with him. She let out a small laugh, “Get. Draco.” she whispered, making Hermione grunt in anger as she tried removing the tight grip the death dealer assigned to her had on the girl. 

Your eyes widened upon hearing the familiar name that she had mentioned. It was only a matter of time for Draco to appear in this situation. After all, this was his house, so it was obvious that he had to be there. 

As Harry was still up-close in front of the maniac Bellatrix, the madwoman extended her arm, holding a tight grip on Harry’s shirt, followed by the death-eaters who were doing the same to you, Hermione, and Ron, tightening their grips on the three of you as they watched Bellatrix nod, giving them a signal they had been prepared to do. 

You were all apparated into the interior of Malfoy Manor. It was quite uneasy after being apparated for the first time. You stumbled a bit, causing to lose balance but gained it in a few seconds as your eyes were now making themselves familiar with the new surroundings you were in. 

Scanning around the unfamiliar manor, there was a grand white fireplace that had no fire in it, there were tables, and other furniture placed by the sides, giving the whole middle area of the room enough space to move around freely. 

This must have been the lively living room that Draco had mentioned to you before. 

Speaking of Draco…

As Bellatrix had pushed Harry down to the floor, grunting and breathing in pain, there happened to be a group of footsteps, casually walking towards you and the rest of the captives. Despite not looking up yet to see the faces of the people who were walking towards you, you exhaled nervously, knowing the possibility of knowing one of the owners of one of the footsteps. 

Carefully, you looked up to see Draco Malfoy, now standing tall in front of you, wearing his trademark of an outfit. He was wearing his black suit gracefully as his parents were wearing the same color, so was Bellatrix. His eyes were on you for a second, and it seemed like there was a mixture of fear and anger as he gave you a quick look. 

Holding himself properly, he then turned his view to Harry as Bellatrix aggressively pulled him up, now kneeling and still breathing in pain. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were too looking at the boy who lived, judging him with such distaste and superiority as if their lives depended on it. They motioned the death-eaters of Hermione and Ron to pull them to their side, pushing them to the other side of the room. 

Forgetting to wonder why they didn’t have you pulled to the other side as well, your eyes were still glued on Draco despite the fact that he was now looking at Harry with the same judgemental eyes as his parents, but there was only a small hint of nervousness or confusion in him. 

Bellatrix started to grow impatient as the Malfoy’s were just staring at the person she had been holding tightly. “Well?” she reminded, pushing herself to continue with the smile she had on her face. 

Draco scanned Harry, up and down quickly, “I can’t be sure,” he shakily replied to his aunt. 

“Draco,” Lucius warned him, walking towards him as he held him by the neck, shaking him slightly as Draco looked uncomfortable with the situation, causing himself to look down to the ground, “Look closely.” 

Then Lucius turned back to Narcissa for a quick second, then back to Draco, still holding him in the neck, “If we want to hand Potter to the Dark Lord, everything will be forgiven! We will all be as it was, don’t you understand?” he pleaded with Draco, trying to get a nod from his son, who only could give a small shaky nod as he was looking closely yet terrifyingly at his father. 

“Now we won’t be forgetting who actually caught him, I hope, Mr. Malfoy?” said one of the death eaters with an insulting attitude. 

Lucius didn’t bother look to see who had insulted him as he looked away, scolding, “Don’t you dare talk to me like that in MY OWN HOUSE-”

Narcissa rushed to her family’s side, holding his husband, pleading, “Lucius,” she whispered, managing to hold and walk him a few steps backwards, leaving a more terrified Draco, inhaling and exhaling quicker. 

You were desperately holding yourself from going to him, comforting him and telling him that everything was going to be alright even though the chances of that were really difficult to talk about at the moment since you were now in the hardest situation in your life so far. ‘

But Bellatrix spoke before you could think more about Draco, “Don’t be shy, sweetie,” she encouraged her nephew, having him walk slowly closer to her and Harry, “Come over,” 

Draco knelt down, closing some space between him and Harry, feeling uncomfortable. 

“Now, if this isn’t who you think it is and we call him, he’ll kill us ALL. We need to be absolutely sure.”

Draco analyzed the boy in front of him, seeming slightly confused aside from being overly terrified. “What’s wrong with his face?”

“Yes! What IS wrong with his face?” Bellatrix asked, sounding actually curious. 

“He came to us like that,” spoke a death eater, “Something he picked up in the forest.”

“Right,” Bellatrix whispered to herself, then turned around to Hermione and Ron, “Was it you two?” she pointed at them with her wand. The two of them remained silent, watching Bellatrix carefully as they were still being held tightly by the death eaters. 

Draco’s eyes were now glancing at you, now that Bellatrix wasn’t able to see that his attention was now on you. He remained the same, just looking at you heavily as if he was trying to mentally tell you something. You looked at quietly, with soft eyes as if you wanted to tell him, ‘Oh, Draco’ with a sigh. 

But seeing that the two of them did not give her an answer, she turned back to you, as you were still by Harry’s side. “Or how about you, dear Y/L/N?”

Surprised, you asked, “You know me?”

“Course I do, little miss Y/L/N, pureblood Slytherin, daughters to respected death eaters who I’d pay good galleons to see the looks on their faces if they were here to see how disappointed and embarrassed they’d be if they were in the same room with their selfish little blood traitor daughter of theirs!”

Embarrassed but at the same time angered at the words coming from her mouth, you silently looked down to the ground, muttering to yourself that you needed to keep yourself together from lashing out and making things worse. You held your words from coming from your mouth, closing your mouth strongly. 

There was a slight angered emotion in Draco’s eyes as he was pained to hear what his aunt said about you. If this was like any normal day, he would hex a nasty spell at whoever dared say something cruel to the nicest person he had in his life. Still kneeling down facing Potter, Draco slowly started removing his wand, trying to stop the temptation of hexing that spell on his aunt. 

Thinking that Draco was pulling his wand for other reasons, Bellatrix happened to have a lightbulb switch on above her head, giving her an excellent idea. 

“Give me a wand,” she said, now looking at Hermione, “I wanna see what her last spell was,” she demanded. 

Hermione turned around stiffly, watching Bellatrix walk past her, as she was in the process of getting a wand. Bellatrix started laughing, pointing at Hermione, “Ah, got you!” 

She continued laughing again, taunting Hermione, as she looked so happy to see that all was going well again now. The smile on her face eventually dropped when she looked forward, seeing what was in front of her with a shock on her face. 

“What’s that?” she asked in curiosity mixed with fear. 

She was looking at a sword, which was held by a death eater, who seemed not so scared yet nonchalant about his situation. 

“Where’d you get that from?”

“It was in her bag, when we searched her,” he truthfully replied, “Reckon it’s mine now.”

Without hesitation in her system, Bellatrix waved her wand, vanishing the death eater that had been holding the sword, as it was now in her hands. Hastily, she then choked the two other death eaters with the wave of her wand, putting them in fear. 

You were also in fear yourself just by witnessing the madness your boyfriend’s aunt had in her. The Golden trio as well were also watching with terror in their eyes, not knowing what to do as they were standing, frozen like an ice sculpture. 

“Get out!,” Bellatrix demanded, showing the death eaters that she had choked, away from the living room. They were limping, trying to get away as fast as they could. 

“Sissy,” she said, walking past by her sister who was pointing her wand at the two, to make sure that they wouldn’t do anything as Bellatrix was now walking towards her. Bellatrix held Ron’s shirt tightly, as he looked at her with fright in his eyes since we were ever so close to Bellatrix, “Put the boys in the cellar!” she demanded. 

Narcissa followed her sister’s command, pushing Ron and now Harry to death eaters who were about to show them the way to the cellars. 

Bellatrix went to Hermione, “I’ll have a little conversation with this one,” she said, “Girl to girl!” she shouted, giving off the same closeness as what she did with Ron. 

Thinking Bellatrix had forgotten about you, you looked at Draco for a fast second, who looked at you back with suspense, knowing exactly what you were about to do. He tried giving you small, pleading eyes, trying not to be obvious, but mentally begging you to not do what he thinks you’re about to do didn’t work. You shook off the death eater that was still holding you, walking right to Bellatrix. 

“I don’t think so, Bellatrix,” you warned her, which made the death eaters assigned to Harry and Ron stop from bringing them to the cellar. “You’ll have to include me in this little conversation of yours before you could lay a hand on my friend.”

Feeling like she was threatened, Bellatrix turned to you with such rage in her eyes. She raised her wand, preventing you from walking closer to her, “Uh, uh, uh,” she warned you, causing you to stop walking, “Stay where you are, Y/L/N, you’re welcome to join our conversation, that is, before I-”

“That’s enough of this monstrosity!” Draco demanded.

Bellatrix lowered her wand slightly from you, looking slightly surprised that her nephew found the courage to actually speak now, since he was quite quiet earlier. 

“Is there a problem, Draco?”

Draco nodded, looking at you with wrath, “Of course there is, it’s the audacity of this blood-traitor to talk to you in such a bloody way.” he said, pointing at you with such disgust. 

Bellatrix flashed a proud smile at her nephew, placing her wand down to give a nod in agreement, “Why, you’re absolutely right, dear, Draco!” she said, playing around as she walked towards him to pat him in the back, “I suppose you can agree that she deserves a proper lesson from me?” 

“Let me handle that for you, aunt.” he replied, giving Bellatrix a mischievous smirk, “I am far more disgusted to be in the same room as this blood-traitor. I stopped considering her an ally and a person worthy of respect and prestigiousness the moment she decided to humiliate her proud, well-known name. She is no longer a proud Slytherin to me.”

“Oh?” Bellatrix asked, letting out a fake gasp as she looked at your ‘hurtful’ face. 

“You have no right-” you were interrupted when Draco advanced forward, pushing you as his grip was now on your arm, “Shut up, blood-traitor,” he scolded, “They are all going down to the cellar on my command now. I will teach them all a lesson.” 

Draco thought he successfully won the argument as he started motioning for you and the boys to move when Bellatrix yelped an, “Ah!” 

Everyone including you and Draco turned around to see that Bellatrix was holding onto Hermione, who looked like she was whimpering in internal fear. 

“I believe this mudblood and I are going to have a conversation, the rest of the blood-traitors can go with you, Draco.” she held Hermione now in the shoulder, waving away Draco and the death-eaters. 

“Very well,” he nodded, “Onto the cellars, you filthy rats.” he said, pushing you. 

While walking away from the living room, you managed to turn around to give Hermione an encouraging look on your face as she was now about to have a little conversation with one of the most psychotic wizards alive. 

She tried giving you the same encouraging look considering that you too, were about to go through some serious things as well. Although, something told you that with Draco’s stellar performance of pretending to despise you, you were going to be taken cared of well. 

So you gave Hermione another facial expression before turning back, it was a slight frown at her, realizing that you were leaving a good friend of yours in serious trouble while you were probably saved from that kind of treatment. 

The short trip to the cellar was quite quiet on your hand. Harry and Ron were speaking of horrible things about Draco to each other, knowing perfectly well that Draco could hear them. 

Walking down to the cellars, Draco looked at the death eaters handling the boys and nodded, “I can take it from here.” 

They simply nodded, walking back up the stairs to return to living room. Draco painterly waited for them to be out of sight as his eyes were watching the shadows of the death eaters starting to vanish. 

When their shadows were long gone, Draco let out a huge sigh, dropping the superior aura he had been carrying all day long as he slouched, opening his arms to envelope you tightly into a massive hug. 

“Oh, my dear, my dear, I missed you!” He confessed. 

You hugged him back, rubbing his back as he started inhaling and exhaling with such pace. “I missed you more, Draco, are you alright?” You asked, pulling away from him, cupping his face with one hand. 

He smiled, raising his hand to hold your hand which was softly rubbing his cheek now. “I’m not the same without you. I could ask you the same, please, are you hurt?” He sounded so cautious, looking at you, up and down to scan if you were alright. 

“I’ve had better days,” you joked, causing him to smile. 

“I know,” he said, “But honestly, my love, I have missed you. I couldn’t stop thinking of every worse situation that could have happened to you. Every night, I pray to Merlin, asking him to keep you safe and alive. I-I have nightmares of you, getting hurt, and not being able to save you, and it pains me, Y/N, I can’t lose you, okay? I’m so fortunate that you’re here alive. I would be so lost without you, I don’t think I could keep this up anymore had I known you were gone.” 

You felt like your heart had just melted as your-not-so-secret boyfriend confessed his love to you in front of the most important people of the battle. If you could see your exact reaction to what Draco had just said, it was like the most sincere puppy eyes you could give him. It was like you were about to tear up and wail like a pained animal. 

Placing your hands on your cheeks, you melted, “Aw, Draco,” 

Draco, without thinking twice, pulled you in, closing the space between the two of you as he hugged you even more tighter than the first hug you gave each other just a few seconds ago. He rubs your back this time, softly stroking it carefully as he remained silent, knowing it was your turn to confess your feelings to him. 

“I don’t want you to ever think about the worse things happening to me, okay? We will get through this together. We are a team, remember? It’s just you and me forever, Draco. I think about you every second of my life and I will never stop doing that because you and I are meant to be, forever. We need to continue watching each other’s backs, okay? We’re the only way we can keep going in life. When I’m far away from you, just remember I’m always in your heart. You got that, Dray?”

“Mhm,” he replied, covering his face on your shoulder, to hide the emotions he was displaying from Harry and Ron, who were shockingly witnessing a relationship that was kept a secret for years and now had gone public. 

Pulling away, he wrapped one arm around you, so he could turn to the shocked Harry and Ron and quietly said, “I will help all of you,” he muttered, “I will help all of you escape.” 

“Thank you, Malfoy,” Harry whispered, giving a nod of respect to Draco, who looked at you with a small smile on his face. 

This was certainly not the ideal way to publicly reveal yourselves as a couple but the love couldn’t keep you and Draco Malfoy from hiding the secret another minute or two longer. The separation the two of you had ever since the battle had started getting more intense had made it harder for the two of you to see each other, or even communicate by owl. 

Seeing each other after such a long time made it very clear that it was time to show everyone what they have been missing for years as the two of you had let go of the very secret you both swore to keep shut until it was the right time. 

Smiling, you looked up to see your boyfriend seem very eager with his word. Knowing that you were looking at him, he turned to you with a relieved smile. He slightly towered down with his head, kissing you in the forehead, which made you giggle slightly, knowing that he enjoyed giving you small forehead kisses. 

Perhaps sometimes love can be unpredictable when it comes to time.

[poptod]

Pull the Stars Out of the Sky (And Gift Them to Me), pt. 10, (Ahkmenrah x Reader)

Description: Relief.

Notes: now ive said this before, but i need to say it again and add on to it. This chapter will NOT make much sense if you do not read Mahjur's story, None Like You. The experience of reading this chapter will also be enhanced if you read Piye's story, Miscreation, but it's not as necessary as Mahjur's story. theyre also long as fuck so heres the important stuff: Piye was born blind and went on a mission when they were about 14 in which they grew their dark skin, massive height, and white hair, and gained some of the sight they'd lost. Mahjur gave up everything to be with Ahk. in the end, Ma'at (Goddess of Truth and Order) forced them apart in the name of the 'holy law'. Ma'at did this because mahjur, as a god, was not supposed to be interfering with the lives of people.

WC: 6.4k

+

Throughout the entirety of your two-day journey, you never left the canoe, leaving your muscles cramped, and strained, and restless. Still, you supposed you were in a better state than Piye, who had yet to sleep or rest from their rowing. On the other hand, Ahk was fine. At one point you asked him if he was worried about the coming events, but he told you that he wouldn't stress until it happened, and continued to swim beside the canoe without a care.

How you wished to have his capability to simply not think about things.

As you passed by Thebes in broad daylight, you looked far across the river from the western bank, searching for the falcon soldiers. Like Aswan, most of what you saw looked vacant or abandoned. Despite that you continued to stare, watching civilization pass by slowly, till city walls faded away to the flush green of the Nile.

"When will we get there?" Ahk moaned, his neck on the edge of the canoe, allowing him to dip his head upside-down, the crown of his hair soaking in water.

"Shut up," Piye said. The Pharaoh obeyed, although begrudgingly.

Night came and went in the blink of a sleep-heavy eye, passing into the dark early morning. Birds had yet to stir, leaving you in the eerie silence––the quiet before the battle. The only to feel such stress appeared to be you and Piye. Ahk slept on as usual, and the rest of the world remained ignorant to your journey.

"How did you meet Ahk?" You asked, desperate for someone elses' voice rather than the one in your head.

"My father was employed by his father, the Pharaoh of the time. I was... nine, maybe?" They said, taking a moment to remember. "Why do you ask?"

"You seem very close."

"I suppose we are." They paused. "He was a great comfort to me when my father died. And other... such things."

"He seems to have a habit of winning people over," you noted quietly.

"Yes, well... he has a certain charm."

As the sun's light began to crest the horizon, Memphis appeared in the distance, and Piye pulled the canoe to a stop on the western shore. Ahead of you lay the city you had so eagerly fled, the silent white walls foreboding in the worst of ways. You were certain the city would be flooded with falcon soldiers, as well as people who had heard of Ahk's treason, and who had decided Gyasi would be a better ruler. There would be few friends in those walls. Those of standing who had openly expressed their support of the Pharaoh Ahkmenrah had been banished.

Once the boat hit the riverbanks, Piye jumped out of it and pulled it the rest of the way onto solid ground. From there they donned a head covering, and shook the water out of their sandals, before helping you out as well onto dry land. No words were exchanged as you fully dressed yourself as well, sheathing knives you had been toying with.

You stepped to the side, tapping Ahk's head and laughing when it lolled to the side. It took a few more pokes before he truly stirred, moaning about a poor night's sleep, before he noticed you above him.

"When are we gonna be there?"

"We're here," Piye said flatly.

"We are?!" Ahk jumped to his feet, nearly falling over in the canoe. "How's the city look? Is it burned?"

"Look for yourself," you said, manually moving his chin to face the city behind him.

"Beautiful as the day I left," he said, seemingly satisfied. "So what are we doing?"

"Following a Goddesses' orders," Piye said as they finished pinning their head covering.

Ahk haphazardly dressed himself, but refused to wear a head covering. Piye explained thoroughly how screwed the three of you would be if Ahk was instantly recognized, and though the Pharaoh argued back for a little while, he was eventually won over. With that decided, the three of you abandoned the canoe and made way for Memphis.

The flush bushes and trees lining the river soon disappeared into empty sand, the land having been cleared for the construction of the great city. From where you now stood you could see guards inside the entrance of the massive walls. Your heart thrummed in your chest, crashing against its' own strings, sending your thoughts into a flurry. Disappearing was your act––returning was not. Facing the consequences of your actions was something you rarely did, since you weren't locked down anywhere, and didn't require anything from anyone but yourself. Now, you had a self-appointed duty––keep your friends safe. After the many years of your travels, you finally had something to lose.

And the thought of that terrified you.

"We aren't using the front entrance, are we?" You murmured, mostly to Piye.

"Of course not. Have you ever scaled a wall?"

"Well... once when I was trying to escape Ahk," you said reluctantly.

"Oh, I remember that," Ahk said with recognition in his eyes. "Then I tied you to the bed."

"Yeah, and then I cried."

"You two are.. I don't even know. You're insane," Piye said. "Now stop being insane and help me here."

You had yet to reach the walls of Memphis, so Piye stopping halfway there confused you for a moment.

"What are we doing?"

"I can't throw a grappling hook straight up that far," Piye said, kneeling and digging into their bag, "so we have to set up here."

Before they could find the hook amongst the mass of other tools set carelessly in their bag, they stopped suddenly, raising their head and looking off to the city. It didn't catch your eye at first, but when they didn't move for a good minute, you noticed, as did Ahk.

"Piye?"

They stood suddenly, the tools in their lap clattering to the ground. Long threads of white hair began to rise, floating mid-air as though Piye stood underwater, or stood suspended in nothing.

Your attention alarmingly caught, you circled round them, finding their eyes white and glowing on a face of night-black skin.

"Piye, this is not a good time to have a revelation!" Ahk chided, reaching for their wrist. Before he could do so, Piye flicked his hand away, making him recoil with a pained gasp.

"There is..." their voice spoke in double, in triplicate, echoing in your skull like the resonance of a gong, "... much to do."

You and Ahk looked to each other, both searching for answers that neither of you had. Piye continued their path forward, leaving you and their belongings behind, as they headed in broad daylight towards the city's gates. Without ever having to reach up, their head scarves and chest coverings fell away till all that remained was their skirt.

What the fuck do we do now, came through your head, but you had little time to voice your question before Ahk ran to Piye. You followed, mimicking his actions when he tried to stop Piye or direct them the other way.

"You're going to get us killed!" Ahk scream-whispered, all too aware of the soldiers surrounding the city's entrance. He leant the entirety of his weight on Piye, attempting to pull them back, but they showed no sign of strain.

"It is meant to be," they said in a hush. "It is meant to be."

Their mouth closed but the words remained, whispered over and over again in your ears. Your own breathing had already hastened, fingers tense with your own terror, worsening as you met the eye of one of the guards.

"Ahk, they're looking at us!" You hissed behind Piye's back, still grasping helplessly at Piye's hands to attempt at pulling them back.

Panic stewed in your heart and leaked into your head, leaving you in a daze of confusion, unsure what to do to protect yourself and your friends. The soldiers were now focusing their attention on you, and Piye's eyes were still glowing.

It was then, within full view of the falcon soldiers and about ten feet from the city itself, that the magi released themself of your terrified grips, rising into the morning air. They opened their mouth and out came a voice that did not belong to them, lodged in their throat as they screamed over the rustling of guards and soldiers readying themselves for battle. Bells began to chime in the city, alerting officials and citizens to the threat now floating above the white walls of Memphis.

"If ye are in Heaven or on Earth, I am the Only One in your bodies," Piye spoke, loud enough to be heard throughout the city.

The sheer volume and the vibrations within the earth that followed had you crouching down, and covering your ears with your hands, a position Ahk soon adopted as well. You watched from the corner of your eye as the soldiers fell victim to that same, screeching pain digging into either side of their heads. Swarms of people began to leave the city through the back entrance, trampling over each other like fleeing rats.

"I am the Pure one – I shall not die a second time. I am He Who is Not Known."

Ahk's eyes darted upwards, recognition flooding him.

"They're calling in Amun," he murmured, just loud enough to hear between the pauses of Piye's words.

"Already?!"

"I don't think they can control it," Ahk said, but as Piye continued, he was forced to cover his ears once more, wincing away.

"Your forms, indeed all forms, are my habitation. My moment is within your bodies. I am The Unveiled," Piye said, and suddenly the aura around them stilled, fixed on a glow brighter than the sun.

For a moment all was silent. Then their mouth opened, gaped and unhinged from the skull as they looked to the sky. An ear-splitting note came from them, running through the earth and sky, even through the water that now bubbled on the shore as though heated by fire. Horror filled your chest, spreading quick through your veins till your body trembled and shook.

Light flooded out of their mouth, a great beam of sun cast into the dark morning sky. Their still-glowing eyes now gave their skull a hollowed look, filled with nothing but light, pouring out with the overflow. Such multitudes could not be contained to a mortal body.

"We need to get the hell out of here!" Ahk yelled over the horrifying screeching, attempting to cover his ears best he could while still reaching for you.

Hopeless, you reached out as well, finding his hand in the space between you and grasping it as though he were a ship in a storm. He pulled you along, stumbling on his feet just as you did. The deep hum running through the earth and water had already worsened, till the ground began to crack, the water of the Nile turning into steam at an alarming rate.

You said nothing to each other, but he led you into the city and you followed without question. Every two seconds you cast looks behind your shoulder, watching events carelessly unfold, and stumbling over yourself whenever Ahk increased his speed. Together, you barrelled down the straight pathway to your destination––the gleaming palace.

"Ahk, what are we going to do?" You asked in a shaky voice, burdened by stumbling feet and a racing heart.

"I don't know," he admitted in his own fear-laced tone. "We need to hide you."

"We can't hide forever!" You wrenched yourself out of his grasp, pulling the both of you into a side alley hidden from Piye's––or Amun's––eyes. "That Goddess wants us here for a reason. We have to face him eventually."

"What if they were just dreaming?" He grasped both your upper arms, looking into you with wide, terrified eyes. "What if that Goddess doesn't come? I. Cannot. Lose you."

"It's our only hope. Don't you believe in your own Gods?"

"Not since Amun tried to steal you from me," he said, still searching your face for something he clearly couldn't find.

"That's your fucking friend up there!" You said, pointing behind you to Piye, who was now floating above the city walls, their hair suspended as they continued to bellow with that horrible ringing sound. "I know for a fact Piye would give their life for you and you should do the same."

"I know, I know," he hissed. "But I won't risk you. I have to hide you –"

He reached for you again, but you swatted his hands away.

"I will not be hidden!"

"No, no, no, no, no," he began to murmur, his gaze flickering between you and Piye, far behind you. "No, you must stay away. Far away."

"Ahk, I'm n––"

He tore his sleeve, a habit he had apparently used enough to become good at, and promptly tied it around your mouth. You protested greatly, pushing and shoving and kicking him away. In the end it was that same struggle you never won––your hands were tied behind your back, quite literally, and your legs followed. Even as you writhed and yelled, you could note the tears streaking down his face.

"Don't you do this!" You said through the gag, your words muffled as he threw you over his shoulder.

"I must keep you safe. I cannot fulfill my role if I am worrying about you," he explained in a weak voice.

With that, he hid you away in an underground cellar, locking the door as he left. Try as you might––and you did try, from yelling to thrashing to crying––you couldn't move from your spot, tied to one of the pillars holding up the dirt ceiling.

As much as he promised not to hurt you or bind you in any way, he sure had done it a lot. Tears began to burn your own eyes, and soon they were falling, soaked up by the gag wrapped around your head.

Piye's unholy screeching had yet to stop, even within the earth. The vibrations you'd felt so fiercely were dulled with distance, a fact you were very relieved about, as any risk of cave-in would've held you mortified. It was a small comfort compared to the severity of your situation, but you tried to revel in it nonetheless.

Every now and then you'd thrash in your bonds again, hoping your continuous struggle had done you some sort of good. Each time you were proven wrong, and still you rubbed your ropes against the splintered wood that kept you there, praying the bonds would break.

A soft hum reverberated in the room, and for a moment you were terrified Amun (in Piye's body, of course,) was knocking at the door. But a popping sound marked the end of the tune, making way for a person to appear, their form tall and still nothing more than a white silhouette.

How many god-damned magic people am I going to meet in Egypt? you thought tiredly. Piye was already enough for you, but the bushy, almost circular hair of this person had you convinced it was someone else.

Eyes pulled themselves open. The only trait on the glowing, ethereal form, and you recognized them. The heat on your skin. The crawling unease trickling down your spine. You recalled a night's sleep spent in a restless haze, and it clicked––it had watched you. This had watched you, now reaching forward as though to touch you. Instinctively you flinched away, but you couldn't go anywhere, not bound to the pillar. You tried your best to cringe and strain away. It still touched you, first by its' fingertips, and the burning heat reached down from your forehead down into your sternum.

"Stop!" You cried when the entirety of its' hand spread over your forehead, sending searing pain through your nerves like electricity. With your shout it withdrew, seemingly surprised by your reaction.

"Whhhat iss your naammmee?" It asked in many voices that spoke one after another, stretching the words.

"... Amoke," you said quietly, still pushing yourself against the pillar, but thankful it was no longer hurting you.

Slowly, starting at their crown and spreading down to their feet, their image appeared through the light. Who stood before you was not someone you recognized, but there was something unearthly about them––as their mouth opened, you found long rows of sharp teeth, all ordered as if it were normal to have that many teeth. But they towered above your shrunken form, fiery gold eyes staring down.

"You are... a friend of Ahkmen's?" They breathed out.

"Y - you mean Ahkmenrah?"

"Yes," they said with a relieved sigh, a smile stretching too-wide across their face. You curled further into yourself at the sight of their sharp teeth. "How is he?"

"Fighting Amun, I think," you said, hoping it would help them along.

"Oh, right," they said, jumping back into action.

Circling you, they bent to untie your ropes, grabbing your hand and wrenching open the lock on the door. Without pause they bounded up the steps with you in tow, leading you out of the alley and back onto the main street. By now the sun had risen, now shining bright with its' familiar warmth, circled by a sky of blue.

"Come, we must –"

"Wait, for one second," you said, pulling on your hand to release their hold, but you couldn't shake them off. "Who are you?"

"... my name is Mahjur," they said in a quiet voice. "I don't know if you know of me."

"I've... heard some things," you said vaguely.

"Shall we go now?"

You nodded, and the two of you were off. The main street still led straight from the gates to the palace, Gyasi to your right and Piye to your left. You had no way of knowing which way Ahk had decided to go, but Mahjur seemed to have some idea, as they set off straight away for Piye.

When you reached the city gates, you found the ground ripped into pieces, lightning-like strikes running through the earth. You stumbled over them and jumped, reaching the riverside where Amun had unleashed a special hell of holy wrath. The Nile was still boiling, and the height of the water had gone down drastically already, matched by the haze of fog and steam now hiding Amun, and Piye, from view. Spilt blood soaked your sandals, reaching up to the soles of your feet in a sticky liqueur. Sickness suddenly overtook you, nearly vomitting from the sensation even despite your previous run-ins with blood-soaked limbs, memories of dry blood tainting your tongue.

"Who has brought me to this form?" He asked from Piye's mouth, too deep for them, too roaring and ear-piercing.

"I am," said a woman, and your attention zipped to a figure standing atop the city gates, looking up at Amun. "I came to a magi in a dream and asked them to summon you."

The Goddess.

"Who is that?" You asked Mahjur quietly.

"Ma'at," they answered. "Goddess of order. I asked her to help. Knew she wouldn't stand by if she knew a God was breaking the natural order."

"Can we help her?"

"Yeah. Just need to wait for Ahkmen to get back from the palace," they said, looking back over their shoulder towards the shining palace in the distance. "He's fetching his royals and their soldiers under the guise of protecting the city. Once they're here, we can take down Amun, and Ahkmen can deliver a final blow. That'll reinstate him as Pharaoh."

"You've thought this through."

"Of course I have. I actually plan ahead, unlike Ahk."

"You can say that again," you mumbled beneath your breath.

Mahjur didn't respond, but took your hand again, pulling you out past the giant walls. The cracks in the ground were large enough that, at times, you needed to jump over the crevices, dodging the crumbling earth leading into a bottom you couldn't see. Before you could ask what to do, Mahjur began to search through the stalls still put together after Amun's rampage.

Caught up in whatever Mahjur was searching for, you remained unaware of Amun's argument with Ma'at, one that had digressed into nothing more than angry yelling. His eyes inevitably fell to you, and the glow within them tripled.

"Amoke," he said in a whisper that still echoed like drums.

You whirled around with eyes big as the moon. He, Piye and Amun, looked upon you with a smile that crawled across the darkened skin, illuminated by both the glow in his eyes and the rising daylight. Petrified into place, you could do nothing but watch as he lowered himself to your level. In Piye's body, Amun still towered over you, just as he had inhabiting his golden statue.

"Don't you look away from me, Amun!" Ma'at yelled from the top of the wall.

Even as the Goddess yelled, he did not tear his gaze from you. You began to back up, looking behind you to try and find Mahjur, but they were as scared stiff as you were. They would not help you, and Ma'at was too far away.

He snatched you in his arms, grinning as though he'd won some sort of prize. In Piye's face, glowing with Amun's power, you found something familiar––hunger. Ahk's hunger, of cannibals, of the rich. Your hands shook, followed by your heart thundering in your chest till you were sure your veins would explode. His smile was too wide, like Mahjur's, but empty and near expressionless.

"Pretty little thing," he said softly, scanning your face.

Wings of green and gold spread out above Amun's head, catching your eye as he attempted to lean in closer to you. Your eyes further widened when they began to descend, growing larger till the ground shook with the landing of heavy feet, marking Ma'at's footprints in the earth that burnt at the touch of her skin.

"How dare you look away from me," she said in a voice that trembled with her fury, barely contained in her mortal form.

A large hand came over Amun's head, wrenching on his––or rather Piye's––long, silver hair. Under Ma'at's control, he turned to face her with ire in his gritted teeth.

The Goddess, who had at first seemed rather small and delicate, had grown to twice the size of even Piye, meaning she seemed much like a statue to you and Mahjur. Her wings that came from nowhere now flared out, appearing to crown her head that she held high. Her eyes did not glow, but her anger reverberated in the air, thrumming in your bones.

"You claim to be a lord of all creation," she said through a fixed jaw, forcing Amun back and kneeing him in the face, hard enough to hear an audible crack that you winced away from. "And then you kill your children, betray the one who saved your armies, attempt to steal from the one who gave you back your power. You were not born yesterday, Amun."

When Ahk left you tied up in a cellar, the tears that lined his face grew cold in the wind of his running footsteps. His pace was slowed by the uphill slant, but he pushed himself as far as he dare, and made it to the bottom of the palace entrance in a short amount of time.

He noted throughout his run an astonishing absence of people. No people in their homes, no markets setting up, no guards at the palace door. As he made his way up the stairs, the reason for it became clear––the sound of many footsteps all trampling over each other came from within the pristine white walls of his home, coupled with fretting voices talking muted behind the walls. He cracked open the door to the inner chambers, and found his hypothesis to be correct.

The whole of the city––or those who had decided not to flee––were hidden within the palace. At the other side of the room sat the raised floor of the throne, and upon it sat Gyasi, flanked by the lesser advisors of Ahk's father. He kept a perfectly still expression, but Ahk knew better––Gyasi panicked under stress but seeked action in times of peace.

Keeping his head low, Ahk crept through the crowd, a hand on the wall to ensure he wouldn't lose himself. A few of the people he passed had hanging swords attached to their hips, and so he stole two just in case, hoping he wouldn't have to use either. Through the mutterings he heard, there were a good deal of complaints about Gyasi––a fact he definitely liked, though his delight was shortlived, as he soon heard a fair amount of criticisms on himself as well.

Murmurings and voices grew louder, more concerned as Amun's voice pierced the thick walls, sparking panic among the crowd. People began to move, bumping against each other and pushing one another aside. Ahk was inevitably hurt as well, thrown against the wall and landing on the floor.

It came to such a height that Gyasi stood, yelling a call to attention above the crowd, who stilled on command.

"Amun will not kill his devotees," he ensured, the skin of his neck dangling as he shouted. "He is searching for the False King and his whore."

Ahk could physically feel his irises shrink as he singled down on Gyasi, hatred boiling in his head.

"He is seeking a citizen," Ahk said, projecting his voice to speak over the old man stealing his throne.

Gasps came from those around him, the crowd suddenly parting completely, leaving him centered out from the bustling heads. Gyasi narrowed his eyes as he saw him.

"A citizen named Amoke. They are my friend, so I must protect them, but I will not abandon my people, leave them helpless in the hands of an artifact," Ahk continued as he stepped forward, making his way to the throne, where Gyasi began to back away. "Do you really think keeping everyone here is going to work?"

"We are dealing with your mess! It is undignified to insult someone cleaning up after you," Gyasi said with furrowed brows, a grimace and a sneer forming simultaneously on his crooked lips.

"I think it's alright if they're doing a godawful job at it," Ahk said flatly. "You need to get the citizens out of here, hide them in the brush of the Nile. If Amun breaches the city walls, this is the first place he will look, and he will demolish every living thing he sees. He is aiming to kill my friend, Amoke, and he does not care if others die in the process."

His words were doing little to quell the audience's worries, but that was his aim, as detrimental as it might be to the health of his citizens.

"You think you know better than I? I have been protecting the people of this city longer than you've been alive."

"You are a remnant of my father's rule. A relic from a time of barbaric violence and meaningless bloodshed. Now get the people to the nearest outcrop of the Nile. You and I have a God to face, if you're truly ready to protect Kemet," Ahk said, offering forward one of his swords.

"... very well," Gyasi said slowly, grasping the sword and drawing it to hilt on his hip. More murmurings came from the crowd that watched the argument. "Pikta, divide the populace and take them in groups. Divide soldiers evenly as you can."

"Yes, sir," said a soldier, who bowed and ran to the front of the room to obey.

"Is Amun outside?" Gyasi asked as he made his way to the entrance of the palace, Ahk at his side.

"He's at the city gates in Piye's body," Ahk said, and as the two of them breached the threshold, he found he could still see Piye's flying body in the distance.

"That beast?" He said with raised brows. "We have quite the battle ahead."

"Hopefully, we won't have to use these swords. We should have the help of a Goddess," Ahk said. "She came to Piye in a dream a little while ago and instructed us on the beginnings of a plan. It is our duty to help her."

"How do you know it isn't a trick?"

"We don't."

The two men began to run down the pathway, both sets of eyes trained on the distant crumbling walls of the city, allowing them to see a tall woman holding a man by his neck against the reflected sun on the Nile. As Ahk noticed two much smaller onlookers, his pace doubled in speed till he bounded down the street. He reached the end much sooner than Gyasi, but it didn't take long till both of them stood shocked, watching Ma'at raise Piye––Amun––into the sky on long, emerald and gold wings.

"I am the Lord of this world," Amun growled, a statement that sent him crashing towards the earth, Ma'at's muscled arm pounding him down.

She stalked over to him, footsteps drumming against the ground till she knelt at his side, grabbing his hair and pulling his face out of the mud.

"I want you to say that to Ptah," she said, before letting his head fall back down. "Mahjur."

Ahk's heart froze at the name. You watched it happen, how his body seized, eyes darting to the God beside you. He lost feeling in all his limbs as Mahjur stepped forward, glancing at Ahk before quickly looking away and joining Ma'at's side.

The two Gods––Ma'at and Mahjur––spoke to each other quietly, and most everyone present listened in with shocked expressions. What you didn't notice, caught up in Ahk's reaction to his old friend, was Amun sinking into the earth. You only realized this as you, too, began to lower into the earth. Beneath you, hands had grasped your ankles and pulled you down.

"Um, Ahk...!" You said in hyperventilated gasps, helpless on how to save yourself.

You no longer had control of your legs, unable to pull them upwards, and there was nowhere your arms could hold onto. Ahk looked to you, shouting when he caught the tail-end of you disappearing wholly into the ground. He ran to where you stood, but it was too late, and Amun was raising himself into the sky with you bound to him.

"Amoke!" Ahk cried.

“They do not belong to you,” Amun said with a smile, unsheathing a knife and baring it to those watching him in an act of vanity. “It’s mine.”

From above, those gathered at the city gates seemed small––even Ma'at, who was twice your height. You watched, unable to breathe through your bindings, as an object materialized in Ma'at's hand and was handed to Ahk with words you couldn't hear. The point of it directed to you, and in an instant you recognized it.

A hornbow.

The tip of the arrow pointed straight to you, and you writhed, desperately trying to escape Amun's grasp and worm out of the way. But he held you fast, and through his speech you couldn't hear over the thundering of your flowing blood, he laughed and held you tighter yet.

Twang.

The drawstring shot back into place, sending the arrow zipping through the sky, and straight into Piye's chest. Amun's arms and magical bindings faded away, and you fell through the open air. Ahk ran to catch you, careening straight into the still-steamy river with open arms. His efforts were not for nothing, as he caught you, using the water to ease your descent as well.

"They asked me to do it," Ahk said through tears pouring out of his eyes, falling as a rainstorm does, as waterfalls do, as blood does from the tip of a sword. "They asked me to shoot them. I didn't think. I saw you, and – and – I didn't –"

"It's going to be alright," you whispered in a shaky voice, comforting best you could even with your trembling hands. His shoulders wracked with heavy sobs as he hid his face in the crook of your neck, wide, haunted eyes cast over your back.

You looked upwards, watching what Ahk could not bear to see. Piye, and Amun, were suspended in open space, the end of a glittering arrow buried in their chest. As the body began to rise higher, your gaze fell to Ma'at and Mahjur still on the shore. They were chanting, both of them––something you couldn't hear, but their eyes began to glow, the veins in their body shining through their skin. You tapped Ahk's shoulders, asking him in a murmur to look. He reluctantly turned to watch.

The heavenly glow emanating from Piye's bones and eyes began to separate from the physical body, peeling away from itself till all that remained of it was a golden shell, shimmering and translucent. Your mouth fell open, watching the two forms pull away from each other.

Once Piye was fully separated from what you guessed was Amun, they fell down into the river, where Ahk also stumbled weakly to catch them. They did not wake, but the slow up and down of their chest marked that they were still breathing despite the arrow piercing them.

You turned back to the power of Amun, transforming from Piye's body to the symbol of the sun. The spells falling from Mahjur and Ma'at grew slowly louder, lifting Amun's essence through the sky, till it dissipated, and fell into the sun.

Silence.

The hum of magic, of broiling Gods and Goddesses came to a halt, and time stood still. It felt as though the world around you had been imbued with enchantments, marinated in it, and then separated entirely, cut off from the feeling of holiness. Your chest had caved in, leaving you near unable to breathe.

No wind. No movement in the water.

Someone was sobbing––you turned to search for the source, and found Ahk knelt in the water with Piye in his arms. His face was buried in his vizier's neck, quiet apologies coming from his trembling lips, matched by fevered hands.

"Bring them here, Ahkmenrah," Ma'at said softly, beckoning the Pharaoh.

He turned to face her, slowly breathed away the tears still building in his eyes, and carried Piye to shore best he could. When he reached Ma'at's feet, he set his friend down to life flat on the earth.

"Oh you young men," Ma'at murmured as she knelt, a hand poised over Piye and the arrow. "Shu of the morning... who have power over those who flash among the sun-folk, whose arms move about and whose heads sway to and fro... may they move about every day."

Piye's eyes fluttered slowly open, a soft groan escaping them as they blinked. The arrow lodged in their chest dissipated to no more than ash. Ahk gasped, a wide grin spreading across his features as he once more knelt to his knees, helping Piye to sit up.

"Are you alright, my friend?" He asked hurriedly, scanning over the healing injury.

"I... I can't see," Piye murmured in a breath, still swaying from the weakness of their muscles. They fell against Ahk. "I can't see anymore."

"What? How –"

"Oh Gods," Piye said, their breathing quickening. "It's as if I am a child again."

"Amun claimed your magic," Ma'at said softly. She hadn't ever looked you in the eye, but she met the magi's, a kinder look on her than ever before. "To save you and your.. friends, I locked Amun into the sun, with help from Mahjur."

Mahjur gingerly stepped up behind Ma'at, looking to you, then Piye, and to the ground below Ahk.

"I am afraid your magic intwined with Amun’s, and I had to lock it into the sky as well, to rid of him," she finished. “Your magic is what gave you eyesight to begin with, if you remember those years.”

"I... do I look.. the same?" They asked in a shaky voice.

"Taller than anything," Ahk said instantly. "Dark skin. White hair. You look the same."

"But with no... magic," they murmured.

"You may still have remnants. Most people do have a base magic. You might be able to do small spells," Mahjur said. You watched Ahk bite into his cheek and look down.

Piye cried––you expected little else, and you waited patiently as they came to process everything that had just happened. When they requested a rundown of the events (as apparently their memory was not fantastic), Ahk happily explained what had come to pass, with his usual dramatic debonair. Ma'at stayed and chuckled at certain points, but stood when Ahk finished.

Movement caught the corner of your eye, and your gaze darted upwards, ready for any return of danger. But what you found instead were people––lots of people, coming from several different directions and circling you, Ahk, the two Gods, Piye, and Gyasi. They were muttering amongst themselves, and from what you heard they appeared to be discussing the validity of Ahk's story.

"I must return to the Duat before anything else decides to unhinge itself from the natural order," Ma'at said at the end of Ahk's retelling. Mahjur, who had taken a seat beside the Goddess, stood as well.

"Wait, Ma'at," Ahk said, standing with a hand out, hoping to halt her. She turned expectantly. "Can I... Mahjur..."

She glanced between the two, who even now were too nervous to look at each other. You watched on though, watched how timid and shaky they both grew, itching terribly to acknowledge one another.

"... very well," Ma'at sighed. "I'll give you a moment."

Ahk didn't even leave time to thank Ma'at for the allowance. He went straight to his friend, colliding with them and wrapping his arms so tight round them you could swear it'd kill a regular human. Mahjur had much of the same attitude, tears and laughter coming simultaneously from them.

"I will be waiting for you," they said with the biggest grin, parting for a very short moment to stroke the side of his face. "I wait for you in the field of reeds."

"I await my death, then," Ahk laughed giddily, followed by his friend bursting into giggles as well. You couldn't help but grin, but you hid it behind your hand.

"Come now, Mahjur," Ma'at commanded, and the two friends reluctantly parted, allowing Mahjur to rejoin Ma'at.

They stood shoulder to shoulder, though Ma'at was still a great deal taller than everyone present, and in a flash they were gone. Murmurings in the crowd grew in volume, people drawing closer as they realized their Pharaoh had never lied.

They had truly seen Ma’at, the Goddess of peace.

Relief––that was the only way to explain it. Pure, unaltered relief, flooding your veins, flooding your thoughts. Tremors in your hand that you didn't even notice were there disappeared, the knot in your brow fading with it. Air felt like it had been made anew, refreshed after a hundred years of a solitary cave, and you could smile. No more Gods.

Finally.

[darknessisafriend]

Hey! I love your writing so much!!! Could i pls request a Joaquin x Reader where they've been close friends for like a couple yrs now and theyre just hanging out or smth together one day and eventually fall asleep together. As one of them is falling asleep tho, they tell the other that they love them (doesn't matter to me who says it first, w/e fits best 😂) nd obv the other overhears it nd then like the next am or w/e they talk about it nd confess their feelings nd start dating. Thank you!!!💖

Hey thank you for the request! I finally wrote it and I hope you will enjoy <3 

Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction inspired by what we see of these people, I do not claim to know them nor to establish this work as the truth about their personal lives, the realities might be completely different.

                                             First date?

“See? This movie was great!” You exclaimed as you entered Joaquin’s home with a big smile.

“Right…I wasn’t expecting it; it was pretty good; I’ll recommend it to my sisters.” He admitted, closing the door behind you, taking off his hoodie and throwing it on the couch.

“I think Rain will particularly love it.” You replied, taking off your shoes with your feet, keeping on your hoodie, well, the hoodie he had given you. Even if the weather was warm, you loved keeping it on, wrapped up in his smell.

“Yeah, definitely.” He passed a hand through his hair, following you to his kitchen. You were so used to come to his place, it was as if you lived in it and it made him smile. Even more, when he saw you being happily greeted by Soda, giggling as he licked your face.

“Awwww I missed you too, my snuggle bear!” you beamed kissing its head before getting up and letting Joaquin pet his dog. You watched him, those two had an incredible bond; you saw it not only now but also every time you came to his home for dinner, to watch a movie or simply because you missed him.

“So, what are we cooking my dear vegan chief?” you put your hands on your hips, hungry and eager to start.

“Well, what do you want to eat?” he grinned putting his hands on the central counter, slightly leaning towards you.

“Why not some vegetables lasagna?” you suggested with an excited grin. He had been vegan for longer than you are, so naturally you loved when he gave you cooking lessons.

“Sure. It’s not a ten-minute thing you know? We’ll have to keep ourselves busy while it cooks.”

“Well it’s not like you were a boring guy.” You teased him, and he arched an eyebrow in return.

“I’m a boring guy.” He declared, shaking his head in disbelief.

“You’re not!” you instantly retorted with a giggle, smashing your hands on the counter.

“Yes I am! What are we gonna do? Like just talk or play or read, nothin’ exciting.” He replied modest, he always had a hard time understanding why people found him interesting.

“But you know I love doing those things with you! Come on let’s start cooking, boring man.” You gave him a big kiss on the cheek and went to take an apron for yourself and him. As your back was turned on him, you didn’t notice his little blush at your kiss; you often did it, but it still had the same effect on him.

The two of you started cooking, rarely talking and mostly focused on your tasks, washing and cutting the vegetables, preparing the pasta. But with Joaquin, often silence spoke better than words…you threw looks at each other, full of tenderness and playfulness. And of course, little smiles followed, but those were more discreet, shy…each time your fingers accidentally brushed over his, your heartbeat would increase and your cheeks get flushed; what you didn’t know is that Joaquin felt the same; just like he didn’t know about the growing affection you had for him.

“Here, put the layers of eggplant like that…” he indicted in a murmur, as if to not trouble the peaceful silence of the room. Joaquin moved to get the tomato sauce on your left side, his arms basically wrapping around you in the process. You didn’t know if you two were always so close, but you only noticed today or maybe Joaquin was being bit more tactile today…in any case you didn’t complain and you enjoyed it.

“Alright, now we let it cook for 45 minutes. Time to be patient.” Joaquin broke the silence; cleaning is hands on a dish towel. You took off your apron and smiled at him, already thinking of what you could do while it cooks.

“Let’s go in the garden; it will be soon dark. Let’s watch the sunset.” You suggested softly, Joaquin nodding with a little smile; he loved to spend time in nature, and even more when it was with you or his family. He followed you outside and Soda too, he was such a clingy dog and you loved it.

You went to sit in the grass and finally laid down, watching the many warm colors of the sky, slowly disappearing, letting a few stars appear…it was always a wonderful sight. Joaquin quietly joined you, laying down beside you, Soda resting his head on his belly, Joaquin’s fingers distractingly scratching its head. He felt your gaze on him and briefly met your eyes, you gave him a gentle smile, slightly blushing; he had caught you staring at him, once again.

The both of you stayed silent, focusing back on looking at the sky and listening to few birds that were still singing at dusk. You thought about this moment you were spending with Joaquin, all the moments you had been spending with him lately. There wasn’t a day where you didn’t at least call him; he was constantly part of your thoughts, how was he feeling? Did he think about you when you are not together? And in which way did he think about you? Could he feel more than friendship for you one day? You were pushed out of your thought by a soft and constant sound, finally realizing it was Joaquin who seemed to have fallen asleep, he was breathing deeply, almost sounding like a light snore.

You slowly shifted towards him, resting on your elbow. You detailed his peaceful face, his thick brows, his pouty lips with his unique scar, his silver hair…the most handsome silver fox you had ever met. You hesitated before slowly letting your fingers brush the features you loved so much.

“I love you…” you whispered, leaning forward to place a feather-like kiss on his cheek, right at the corner of his mouth. You wanted to kiss him, but who knows how he would react…you softly smiled and as gently as you could laid your head on his chest; listening to his heartbeat, you noticed how it was actually rather fast, he must have been really tired…

You quickly drifted off to sleep, lulled by his steady breathing. But that sleep was of a short time when you were awakened by the timer of the oven, it was ready and your nap close to Joaquin already over. You met Joaquin’s look as he realized how close your body was to his, you had really slept on him.

“Come on, let’s check our lasagnas before it burns.” You replied in a low tone, your eyes briefly lingering on his lips; you should go back inside before he asks why you were on him. And you got up, Soda following you eagerly. Joaquin watched you for a few seconds puzzled by the whole situation, he had to talk about this, no matter how uncomfortable it would be. He soon reached you in the kitchen, you were taking out the plate from the oven and put it down on the counter with a smile.

“Damn that looks great! We’re going to-” but you were interrupted by the face your friend made; he looked nervous and careful. “What is it?”

“I heard what you said. Back in the garden.”

You opened and closed your mouth several times, not knowing what to say “Oh…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make un-…” he cut you off by putting his hand on yours, his thumb soothingly stroking your skin.

“Hey, it’s all good! I just want to talk about it...” He flashed you a little smile, perhaps himself a bit nervous and licking his lips before speaking “I like you too…very much.” He started, looking at you to assess your reaction to his words. Your eyes detailed his face, he was waiting for your reaction and honestly you didn’t know how to react. Was he really telling you that the feeling is mutual?

“Huh…really? Very much?” you pushed to make sure you had understood correctly.

“Yes, I…I think I’m in love with you.” He clarified, scratching the back of his head, yes it was a bit uncomfortable to talk about that but if that meant a chance to end up together, he was willing to. Your heart missed a beatt, you pinched your lips together to stop squealing in joy like a crazy girl, but it made you so happy. You moved your fingers to lightly caress the back of his hand, a little smile slowly forming on Joaquin’s face.

“Well, why don’t we make this dinner our first date?” you suggested sweetly, kissing his cheek. Joaquin met your eyes, in the end it wouldn’t change much, you loved each other greatly already but he will finally be able to show you fully how much you mean to him.

Joaquin’s squad: @arcticmonkais​ @amourtiara @sirianfromsixties @sweetness-doesnt-touch-my-face @live-love-loki @lyoongx @skaravile @jaylovesbats @niniita-ah @dirtyginger @valentina15  @cumberbitching @weirdflecksbutok @charlie-sisters @stardancerluv @sgtsavoytruffle @ohcarlesmycarles @rajacero

If you want to be added to the tag list just ask !

[probably-writing-x]

Out of love (Part 2)

(I’ve had to change certain aspects of the actual series to suit but... we move)

Not my Gif

Part 3 coming soon (If anybody actually wants a part three)

Summary - Guzmán has faced a lot over the past year, and you’d always been by his side through it all. It was a given. But there’s only so far that will stretch when he doesn’t reciprocate. How far will you go before you drain yourself of energy and give up on the one boy you’ve ever truly loved?

“(Y/n)?” The teacher calls out registration as every morning goes but it instantly switches from normality when your name isn’t met with a response.

If your name hadn’t already made Guzman’s heart sink, your absence certainly did. You never missed school, especially on important days like this. It was the open day for universities and he knew you’d always had high aspirations for your future. You wouldn’t want to miss the chance to network at something like that.

“She’s not here?” Guzmán mumbles to Ander, hoping for any sort of explanation from your brother.

“Of course not,” Ander rolls his eyes, turning away from Guzmán and facing the front of class.

Guzmán couldn’t even be mad at him for siding with you. He would do the same. He did do the same. He knew he was in the wrong. But his greatest fear was that he wouldn’t be given the chance to fix it. Tears pool in his eyes and he fights a losing battle to stop them from spilling.

- - - - - -

“You still haven’t spoken to him?” Omar frowns, leaning back against the kitchen counter as you sit on the countertop across from him.

“I don’t know what I’d say,” You brush your finger around the circle of the top of your coffee mug.

“Hasn’t he tried to call?” Omar persists, flinching when the toaster pings to say it is complete.

You scoff, “I turned my phone off.”

“(Y/n)!” Omar laughs, “You’re really done with him?”

The statement alone makes so much emotion build in your heart that you’re sure it’s above anything you can handle. The thought of being done with the boy you loved. How could that be? So soon? So abrupt? It didn’t feel right. But, if he didn’t feel the same about you, how could you ever not be done with him?

“Looks like we’re both having a shit time with relationships then,” Omar comments as he hands your breakfast over, “But, unlike me, you still have your education - so get ready for school and show those universities why they should have you.”

He’s right. Ending things with Guzmán, if that’s really what happened, should never be a reason for you to jeopardise your future. So, with a heavy heart and a swirling mind, you choose to take Omar’s suggestion.

- - - - - -

School doesn’t feel the same when you’re not walking through the corridors with Guzmán. When he’s not waiting for you by your locker or his gym bag isn’t crammed into yours because there was no room left in his locker. It feels physically and emotionally empty.

“Hey beautiful!” It’s Valerio that comes up and throws an arm around your shoulder, “No boyfriend today?”

“Go away, Valerio,” You roll your eyes, trying to pull his arm away.

Instead, he doesn’t budge, “Did you finally pluck up the courage to end things?”

You’re silent.

“Probably for the best, huh?” He scoffs, “You’ve deserved better than him for a long time.”

With that, you push him away with enough force that you even surprise yourself. You glare at him with a burning stare, “It’s none of your fucking business!”

He smirks and it makes you want to rip the look right off his face. There’s a crowd of people scattered around the corridor - eyes now on the sweetheart of the school in her evident demise.

“Can you just leave me alone?” When he doesn’t respond, you let out a sharper tone, “Please!”

“Hey, hey, hey...” Valerio begins but it doesn’t take long for him to be quickly cut off.

“She told you to go.”

The cold, harsh tone is only distinctive to Guzmán- there was nobody else that would say it like that. And, just as you’d guessed, he’s there. He steps in between the two of you and holds a hand towards Valerio’s chest until the boy finally gives up. Guzmán turns to you.

“You didn’t need to do that,” You say it quietly because it seems like both of you are broken enough already.

“I know, I just figured if I-“

“Thank you,” You smile lightly, “I should go.”

That was worse than if you’d have yelled in his face and told him to leave you alone just as you had done with Valerio. Instead, you’d just given him ten more reasons to love you even more. Ten more reasons that he seemed incapable of showing properly. His heart sinks as you’re walking away but it doesn’t look like you. Your shoulders have fallen and your steps seem like theyre taking all of your energy from you. No, he’d been the one to take that. Now you were just using up what was left.

You find yourself strolling around the different stalls set up around school, with no real focus on any of them in particular.

“(Y/n)!” It’s Lu that calls you over and you glance up.

She’d always wanted to be with Guzmán, since before the two of you were together and generally for a lot of the time that you were. It’s not that the two of you hated one another but how could you not carry a slight loathing towards her?

“So it seems like things with you and Guzmán aren’t great?” She pouts, treating this like another one of the times where the two of you were fed up of one another. It happened occasionally. Usually because he forgot to come over the night before, or you’d cancelled plans you’d made. It always lasted a day and then brushed away after the two of you couldn’t keep at it any longer.

“Yeah, I guess not,” You comment, your voice quieter and weaker than you’d hoped it would be.

“Hey, you okay?” That’s the thing about Lu - beyond that exterior, she had a heart of gold.

“Sorry, yeah,” You shake your head, “Just, um, a lot going on I guess.”

“Oh come on, its you and Guzmán,” She scoffs, “Somehow, and I don’t know how, that boy is obsessed with you.”

You find yourself looking over to where he stood, leaning against a wall away from everyone else. Obsession. Was that what it was? Did that ever really mean the same as love? Before you can say anything more, Lu is hurrying off to speak to Nadia - likely sending some smart remarks her way in response to their competition for the Columbia scholarship. A big part of you was trying to convince yourself that you should be doing the same, networking with different universities to grab at their best opportunities. But a small part of you didn’t really feel ready to leave Las Encinas, not like this. When you glance up to see Guzmán again, he’s already gone.

- - - - - -

“Hey, I’m not late am I?” You drop your bag as you finally find your Mum Ander and Omar in the hospital.

“No, we should be next,” Ander nods, evidently weaker in his form now as he sits in the same seat as he had done before every appointment.

“Okay,” You let out a breath, hugging your Mum before sitting on the other side of Omar, “You okay?”

Omar looks at you and forces a smile, “No.”

You smile back gently, “Yeah, that makes four of us.”

When you’re called in for the appointment, part of you feels so strongly sure that it would all be okay. That Ander would have already found the light at the end of this falling tunnel. He’d have a way of getting out of all of this and it could be thought of as history.

When the doctor says otherwise, it’s like your whole fake world comes crashing down around you.

“I’m sorry Ander,” The doctor sighs, “But please, rest assured that we will do everything we can to get you through this. And I have strong faith that you have the strength to do so.”

You can tell Anders not listening to a word of it anymore, and none of you are picking up on much. It makes you feel weak to the middle of your bones, like you’re wishing with every ounce of you that you could take his place. It should be me. It should be me. It should be-

“(Y/n)?” It’s Omar that breaks you from your thoughts and, somehow, all of you are out of that room now. You’d not even noticed that you’d moved.

The two of you look at each other and your gazes say enough words that no sound could muster as his arms wrap around you and you do the same for him. Like both of you are holding each other up. You stay like that until Ander joins you, and the three of you aren’t really sure who’s comforting whom anymore.

- - - - - -

It’s the next day when you hear Guzman’s voice downstairs. You hear him talk to Ander about everything and tell him he’ll always be there for him. In the end, you tune out of their conversation and put your earphones in - he’d be gone soon. But an undeniable lump forms in your throat when you hear him coming upstairs.

A text pings through from Ander on your phone - I tried to stop him :/ Sorry

Guzmán knocks softly on your open door and you have to fight with every morsel of you that’s telling you to not look up. He’s still in his school uniform and he has his bag still slung over his shoulder, gym bag held in the other hand.

“Hi,” He begins, waiting as you take out your earphones and sit up straight in bed.

“Hey,” You respond, pushing your laptop from your lap and folding down the screen slightly.

“I won’t stay if you don’t want me to. I just figured I’d come and see if you were okay.” He explains, looking more awkward than ever in a place he’d treated as a second home.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” You nod, running a hand through your messy hair, “Um, did I miss much at school?”

A smile dances on his lips, “Classic,” He chuckles, pulling down his bag and grabbing out some stuff, “I got all of the work you need, and you can copy my notes.”

“Thank you,” You force a smile, taking the books from him and brushing your thumb over the cover where you’d written his name.

He drops his bags down by the door and makes his way over, “Miss mentioned that you hadn’t got your name down for any universities, they could’ve just missed you but-“

“I didn’t write down for any.”

Guzmán frowns and takes a seat on the side of the bed, turning to face you, “What? Why? What happened to Oxford?”

You swallow the lump in your throat, “Things have changed since then.”

It’s like the realisation hits him ten seconds too late, “You were always going to go to Oxford with Marina.”

You cross your legs and look down at their fold to avoid his stare, “I know it seems silly, she’d hate me for even considering not going. But I’m not sure I see myself at any university anymore.”

“Seriously?” He chokes a little - was it because of him?

“I don’t know, I can’t even think about leaving with everything that’s going on,” You shake your head.

“Hey,” Guzmán shifts and his hand falls onto your leg as he squeezes gently, “I’m so sorry about Ander, but the doctor has said they-“

“I know what the doctor said, Guzmán,” It’s too harsh and you wish you could retract it instantly, “But they weren’t right when they said it would work originally.”

“They’re doing all they can,” He encourages, not phased by your irritation, “Ander doesn’t give up easily.”

“That was when he was chasing after Omar, not something like this,” Your bottom lip quivers but you still don’t release any tears. Part of you wishes that you would if it would stop all of the pressure that builds up.

“Here,” He sighs, wrapping an arm around you and pulling you into his chest. The positioning is awkward and everything feels so oddly uncomfortable but you find yourself melting into him like he’s there for all the right reasons. No. You couldn’t cave this quickly.

“You should go Guz,” You sniff, pulling away, “I’ll bring back your notes tomorrow.”

“(Y/n)...” The crease between his brows shows him trying to find all of the right words to say. Instead, he says none.

He picks up his bags and heads back out like he’d never been there.

- - - - - -

It takes a whole other 10 days of the same with you and Guzmán. You’d see him at appointments with Ander but never for too long and never with much conversation. You’d see him at school but always avoid him when you could. He’d bump into you in the corridor, give a light smile and continue about his day. And every piece of every day consisted of the two of you proving that you could live without each other. Or maybe just that you could live without him. Maybe he was handling it just fine. You still saw him with Samu, or saw him yelling about Polo, he still laughed with Ander or dismissed Lu’s advances - in every way, it felt like he was normal but just without you. And maybe that oddly confirmed everything you’d been feeling before. You’d truly managed to make this boy fall out of love with you.

“(Y/n), you look great but if you take any longer, you’ll be going alone,” Omar groans from the doorway as you’re still getting ready, “What else is there for you to do?”

“Find a way of avoiding Guzmán, perhaps,” You sigh, slipping on your shoes and adjusting to the new height, “Maybe I shouldn’t go.”

“Seriously?” Omar rolls his eyes, “We’re not doing this again. It’s a party, I wouldn’t even be surprised if Guzmán doesn’t show.”

As per usual, the party was at the club and you knew Guzmán well enough to know he wouldn’t resist going to something like that. No matter how much he tried.

“Okay, how do I look?”

“Oh my god I’m not saying it again, let’s go! I’m going to be late for my shift!” Omar drags your hand, pulling you out of the room so you couldn’t stress yourself anymore.

There was no reason for any of this partying tonight, no specific reason for you to all get together. Other than the fact that you all just wanted a night to escape.

And that’s exactly what you would do.

The club is already bustling as you say goodbye to Omar and head towards where the rest of the crowd were.Lu greets you quickly before hurrying off and Cayetana gives you a wave as you pass her. It felt like everybody was acting tonight. But when weren’t they at Las Encinas?

“(Y/n)!” Carla calls when she sees you, “How are you? How’s Ander?”

“He’s okay, treatment is underway again so we’ll see what the results are,” You nod, not replying to the first question.

“I’m sorry to hear about you and Guzmán. I always thought you two were meant to be,” She shrugs a little, “But you’ve deserved better than him for a long time.”

It shouldn’t annoy you in the way that it does. You’d ended things with him for that exact reason - he wasn’t good to you. But hearing someone else say it? It was like she’d offended you more than you’d like to admit. Because that wasn’t the case, right? You’d never deserved more than Guzmán. He’d been kind, caring, honest, funny, loyal, protective... all good traits packaged into one boy. Sure, that had changed towards the end of your relationship. But that was because circumstances changed. Everything in both of your worlds was pulling you in a hundred different directions and it meant that you fell out of touch.

“(Y/n)?” Carla waves a hand in front of you, “We should get you a drink!”

You agree to her encouragement and head to the bar with her, eyes trailing over everyone in hopes that you’d see the one boy that stood above the crowd.

And, just as you knew, he was there. You avoid his gaze and keep your eyes focused on Carla ahead of you. If you looked at him, you’d be too weak to look away.

Guzman’s eyes are fixated on you and only you. He watches every move like he’s trying to find out where in the world he went wrong. He had it all and his own arrogance and ignorance made him lose exactly that. It pains him, makes him feel sick to his stomach as he considers the thought of truly living without you. Up until now, he’d just been passing by in the weird grey zone where he knew you were still somewhat there. And he still hadn’t answered your question. When did he fall out of love with you? Fall out of love with everything? Did he ever?

He stays trailing his eyes on you for as long as he can from where he’s stood until it takes all of his strength to look away. His heart breaks just a little more.

- - - - - -

It’s only later into the night, maybe once the alcohol runs through you, that you decide to walk over. There was something that needed to be said.

“Guzmán,” You say it from behind him and half expect the music to drown you out.

But he turns around practically with fear in his eyes, “(Y/n).”

“I just wanted to say...” You stop yourself, taking in every bit of the appearance you adored, “Thank you for the other day at mine. You’ve been a good friend to Ander, and to me.”

“A friend?” He raises his brows, “Anders like my brother. And you know I’d never call you a friend.”

You take a deep breath, “I know that. I just wanted to say-“

“I get it,” His hand reaches up and rubs your arm gently, “It’s fine, I’m always here.”

You swallow the lump in your throat, “I’m going to go.”

You pull yourself together and go to turn away from him. You’d managed for two whole weeks to not kiss those lips, not plead with him to love you again, not break down and tell him you’d do everything to have him back - tonight wouldn’t be the night that it changes.

“(Y/n),” He stops you, standing close behind you as he speaks.

You don’t turn around. The sound of that word falling from his lips is enough to melt any barrier you’d built up hastily.

“I never stopped loving you. Not one part of me, my heart, my soul, ever stopped belonging to you. I just strayed too far from home and made it seem that way. And I know I went wrong,” He confesses it all but it feels so raw, “And you have every right to hate me for the way I treated you.”

You take in a shaky breath and your head starts to pound. This boy was about to make you cry.

“I never fell out of love with you,” He reiterates, “But I will spend every day from now until forever trying to prove to you why you shouldn’t fall out of love with me.”

Your shoulders drop and you feel like you could fall to the ground there and then. And tell him that was practically impossible. But you knew you couldn’t do that - to yourself or to him. He’d hurt you. And you needed to be one hundred percent sure that things would change before you went running back into those open arms.

Deep breath, shoulders back, let that one single tear fall - and walk away.

——————

Tags: @bi-mama @fanficparker

[spacebabehargrove]

Firefighter Billy, Doctor Steve. Something goes horribly wrong and so the keg gang try to cheer them up.

Warnings: descriptions of death and heartbreak. It’s really angsty. Descriptions of fire

-

Tommy was the one to put on the news, and Carol was the one to make the connection. Billy and Steve hadn’t been home in hours. It was late in the morning and Billy and Steve still weren’t back from their shifts. They tried calling, texting, Anything to get ahold of them. Then Tommy turned on the news. A horrible fire had broken out at a nursing home. There were many casualties, and few survivors. It was some freak accident, the news said. A gas leak in the home that turned sour quickly. Robin felt her stomach drop as she watched. There was one confirmed Firefighter death at the scene. The news struck everybody hard. Their texts to Billy Got frantic, their house was filled of people trying to call the firefighter. Heather was crying harshly, Tommy not talking to anybody. Nobody could get ahold of Billy. Carol had thrown up from her anxieties, and robin couldn’t stay in the same room as the news station. Where the fuck was Billy? The news wouldn’t release the name.

“I’m going down to the station.” Tommy told Carol, grabbing his things. The station knew all of the gang well, Billy’s friends there interacting with his friends at home From time to time. Then, the door unlocks and Billy steps inside. He looks awful. He’s got bandages from burn marks, he’s got soot all over him. He smells of smoke. Carol breaks down as she sees him, running and hugging him tightly.

“We thought you died!” She cries as she holds onto Billy tightly. A part of billy wished he did. The fire burned so hot, nothing Could really be saved. He had to make life changing decisions in a matter of seconds. He had to chose who was going to die and who wouldn’t. He didn’t like playing god. He didn’t like the feeling of holding somebodies hand as they died. The night kept flashing in his mind. Trying to triage and save as many people as he could. But the facts were harsh. The more he found people, the more he realized they were already dead. The people he did find were close to death. There were only a few people he could really save. There were the men who he watched cry as they burned. There were the women he held the hands of as they died. He wanted none of that. He knew he signed up for it when he got the job. But he never expected it to be this bad.

“I-I need to go to my room.” He tells Carol quietly. She looks up at him and steps away, tears streaming Down her face harder. He sounds broken. He sounds so drained and exhausted. He sounds Hurt, he sounds angry. Carol hasn’t seen him like this before. The room goes silent as Billy leaves, going to his room and shutting the door. The heaviness of the room stays. Usually when Billy gets home from a shift, he’s eager to tell everybody how it went. He feels so proud of what he’s doing that he can’t help but explain happily to everybody how his day went. But Billy didn’t even look at them. He didn’t acknowledge any of them except Carol, and he barely even spoke to her. He didn’t take a shower, he didn’t get something to eat. He did nothing. That’s when they realize how serious this Is. it’s not till another two hours that Steve is coming home. He’s got blood on his scrubs, shaky hands, tears in his eyes. It’s the first he’s been Able to break down. Tommy goes to say something, but Steve walks right past him and into his and Billy’s shared room. And then there’s Silence again. If you get close to the room, you can hear Steve sobbing harshly, hiccuping and gasping for breaths. That’s the only sound that fills the house. It stays like that for days. The two don’t come out of their room. When they do, they look horrendously upset. The rest of the gang have no idea what to do. They aren’t eating right anymore, they keep calling out of work, they aren’t showering like they usually do. Billy’s taunts don’t fill the air, Steve’s laughs are absent. They won’t let anybody touch them, they won’t accept any food or drinks. They aren’t themselves. Their bedroom door stays shut. The gangs texts go unanswered for hours at a time. The only sounds that come from the room are Steve’s sobs every once in a while. The rest of the house can’t function. Tommy and heather start getting into arguments, Carol won’t talk to anybody, Robin’s anxiety makes her throw up constantly. They’re all falling apart.

It’s robin who decides enough is enough. Tommy is at work, Heather is shopping, so it’s just her and Carol, plus Billy and Steve who are still in their room. They start to make the fries first. Those are the easiest. Steve is picky about how fried they should be. He likes them crispy, almost to where they’re burnt. He hates soggy fries. Next is the enchiladas. Carol has never really made Mexican food before, and they’re using a recipe they found online. They make an absolute mess of the kitchen, but they think that hopefully the food will turn out okay. Then, they do the cupcakes. Steve and Billy’s favorites had always been strawberry. It reminded them of their first real date. Those are probably the easiest to make. How badly can you fuck up store bought batter? It’s the frosting that’s tricky. Robin remembers none of the ice cream cake details she did at scoops, so they just wing it after watching a few YouTube videos. They don’t look too bad. Once theyre done, they set everything to the side and pull out the separate cards. Both are already signed with a note from Tommy and heather. They were heartfelt things, memories of first meetings, joys that they shared with them. Carol Got misty eyed reading some of them. Her and robin put down their own, as well as a free massage gift card at Carol’s work. Once Tommy and heather come home they set everything up. Heather has gotten Billy a new ring , and Steve is getting the matching counterpart. Everything is perfect. Now comes the tricky part, getting Steve and billy to come and join them. They send Tommy to get them, thinking they’ll listen to him.

“Guys? Hey we have an issue out here. I need you guys to come look at it.” Tommy lies. It takes a moment but the door opens. Steve and Billy Look bad. Both of them have unusual stubble across their faces, the bags under their eyes are a dark purple.

“What happened?” Is all billy says.

“Come take a look...it’s bad.” Tommy says. Billy gives Steve a look, and Steve just smiles weakly as he takes Billy’s hand and leads him down the hall. They get into the living room, decorated heavily.

“Surprise!” Carol says, smiling wide at the boys. Steve looks confused.

“What is this for?” He asks softly. Billy won’t let go of Steve’s hand, but there’s a small smile on his face.

“You guys have been down. So we made this all for you! We’ve got your fries here Steve, and Billy we tried some enchiladas. I don’t know how good they turned out but we’re hoping for the best. Oh! And we made these strawberry cupcakes as well!” Robin explains to them both. Tommy smiles wide at them, handing over to the cards to each of them. The two read the cards. Billy’s eyes filled with tears as soon as Steve started bawling next to him.

“You guys...” Steve mumbled in-between a sob. Robin hugged Steve tightly, Steve holding onto her as he sobbed. Billy wiped at his eyes and smiled at the rest.

“Thank you guys...you don’t...you don’t understand what this means to me.” Billy’s voice cracked as more tears rushed down his face. Carol grinned wide.

“You gotta Try these enchiladas.” She said and Billy smiled a bit more.

“You guys didn’t fuck up my happy food did you?” He teased. Heather sighed in relief at the joke. Things were starting to get better. Billy tried the enchiladas, and gave them a solid 8 out of ten. Steve cried harder when he tasted his fries.

“They’re fried perfectly! You guys used my favorite salt!” He grinned wide as he stuffed his mouth full with more. The boys seemed to be doing a lot better now. Carol breathed a sigh of relief, looking over at the others as the boys ate. Everything was getting better again. The boys were eating, they were smiling and laughing. Carol knew there would be more work to be done, but for now she would take every little victory she could.

[rosepetalmark]

Not in the Stars

2.5k words

Renjun x Reader

warnings: alcohol mention

in which you plan to confess your love for your best friend to him at a party, but the universe has other plans in store for the both of you. 

You like Renjun. A lot. 

That was one sentence in your five years of friendship with Huang Renjun that you never thought you’d say to yourself, let alone admit to. 

You don’t know where these feelings came from, but all you know is that they’re strong and on your mind twenty four seven. Everything he says and does captivates your mind, causing your feelings for him to grow even stronger.

It’s as if these feelings for him suddenly hit you like a brick one day. You were strictly best friends last week, and now you have these unexplainable deep feelings for him, eating you alive and begging for you to confess to him.

It’s not that you’re opposed to dating Renjun, it’s just that he’s been your best friend for several years and he means so incredibly much to you. You just don’t want to risk losing him or making things between you two weird if he doesn’t feel the same. 

So you suppress your feelings. As long as you have Renjun as your best friend, that’s all that matters, right?

Jaemin always makes you second guess yourself, explaining that the dynamic duo that you and Renjun are would be ten times more incredible if you were dating. Since you’re already best friends and know everything about each other, why not date? Only bigger and better things can come from it he always says.

Although Jaemin makes strong points, you’re still scared Renjun will turn you away, mainly because you’re ninety nine percent certain that he only views you as a friend, nothing more and nothing less. 

Yeah you have sleepovers  and spend hours late at night talking on the phone with one another, but that’s what best friends do. If Huang Renjun has any feelings for you, you’re sure someone would have said something by now. 

You get the typical stares from old people when you make your daily trek to school in the morning, him waiting outside your house for you at exactly seven forty two, smiling so bright the second you walk out your front door.  

You constantly get mistaken as his girlfriend whenever you go out together on the weekend, which always causes a deep pink blush to appear on Renjun’s cheeks. He’s always quick to brush it off though, making it clear to everyone around you that you’re strictly best friends, and that neither of you view each other in that way. 

Boy is he wrong.

Everything about Renjun makes your heart flutter, and that’s something that scares you.

For starters, he excels so well in school. For someone who spends eighty percent of his time doodling instead of taking notes, he aces every test and can recite every piece of information that’s been discussed in class with no problem.

He’s caring and funny, and so unapologetically himself. He takes you to art museums on your spare time, talks about the latest conspiracy that’s on his mind, and always insists you go for milkshakes every Sunday night.

And boy was he cute. The way he tilts his head all the way back and crinkles his eyes when he laughs makes your heart absolutely melt.

Huang Renjun makes you happy and positive and there’s nothing more in this world that you want than to hold his hand and kiss him in public, as well as call him your boyfriend so bad. 

It wasn’t until you were out late with him, hanging out on the roof at Jeno’s house, trying to escape the loudness that was coming from inside. Jeno was throwing a kickback to celebrate the beginning of summer, something he does ever year, in which there’s always too many people inside, and you and Renjun find yourself on the roof trying to seek solace in the stars. 

Renjun looked so ethereal in the moonlight. There was nothing more that you wanted to do than press your lips ever so gently against his, and hold his hand while staring up at the stars displayed so brightly above you both in the dark sky. 

“What are you thinking about bubs?” Renjun asked, referring to the nickname he gave you when he found out that’s the name you gave your favourite stuffed rabbit when you were a child. 

God the way his voice sounded in this moment made you weak. The tipsiness you both experienced earlier was wearing off, causing your lack of hydration to become present through your raspy voices. 

But you don’t care. You’re with Renjun, and you are warm and comfortable and in love. 

In love. 

You’re in love with Huang Renjun and you can’t keep it in any longer.

Maybe this would be the best time to tell him. Every time you’re completely sober, you push the idea to the side, trying your best to forget your feelings for him even exist. What if Jun doesn’t feel the same? What if he does but months down the line you figure out you’re better off as friends, and then when you try to get back into your non-romantic routine, everything feels off? You always worry that things will go wrong and Renjun will eventually stop being your friend.

Not tonight though. Renjun looks gorgeous in the moonlight and the little bit of alcohol that remains in your system is acting as your source of encouragement, convincing you to confess to him right now and hope for the best outcome possible. 

“Love,” you reply nonchalantly. 

“Love?” he questions, staring back to you, seemingly surprised with your response. 

“Yeah. Just wondering what the universe has in store for me, you know?” you ask, turning your body to face his direction, criss crossing your legs over one another. “The idea of love both intrigues me and freaks me out. It’s exciting anticipating what will come from it, but the fear of something going wrong down the line makes me not want to pursue it, you know?” you say, staring innocently into his eyes.

He cocks his head, an intrigued look falling on his face. He purses his lips, looking as if he’s going to say something, but remains silent. 

You both remain in silence for the next several minutes, which causes your thoughts to wander. What if Renjun has caught on? Maybe he’s thinking of ways to turn you down gently. Or he’s trying to express that he somehow knows you’re talking about him, and he’s trying to do so in a similar manner. 

But the silence is killing you, and you want nothing more than for Renjun to say something. Anything to get your thoughts to shut up, and your heart race to stop rapidly beating.

“I think you shouldn’t be scared of love,” he finally says. 

Taking a deep breath, he looks off into the sky, admiring the many stars laying millions of miles away from you both. “I get that you never know what may come out of it, but I think it’s worth a shot to know you tried, and to experience something you’re not fully sure is going to work,”  he speaks softly.

“Take a look at the universe for example. It’s so big and undiscovered, yet millions of people are fascinated by it. We’re obsessed with the stars and galaxies and the possibility of aliens- which I know for a fact exist by the way, yet we’re not afraid to spend our time discovering them and giving them our attention. I think of love in a similar manner. Yeah the thought seems so broad and scary, as there’s so many things to experience and discover, but I think it’s worth it. You’re only going to learn new things about yourself and life, so why not give it a shot?”

He clears his throat, and pays his attention back to you. He has a look of determination in his eyes, and that only makes you grow even more anxious.

“Aren’t you a wise expert on love, Mr. Huang,” you chuckle.

“Well what can I say? I do a lot of thinking on my spare time when I’m not bickering with you,” he laughs, positioning himself on his arms so he can get a better view of the night sky.

“Hey!” you shout, pushing onto his arm, causing him to lose his newly comfortable position and to fall on his back. “What are you thinking about Ren? You have this sour look on your face.”

“Well your idea of love got me thinking,” he says softly, staring into your eyes.

Nervousness takes over your body. You have no idea what he’s going to say, and every second of silence is eating you up.

“And?” you say abruptly, eager to know what he’s about to say. 

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, and I don’t know, I never thought much of it because I’m a wimp, but I think I’m going to ask Yeri out” he confesses, a small smile forming on his face. 

The mention of Yeri makes your heart sink. Yeri. He wants to ask out Yeri. Not you. 

Of course he likes Yeri. What isn’t there to like about her? She’s really pretty and polite, and they’re both the editors of the school newspaper, so they spend a great amount of time with each other. 

God this hurt. 

“Oh really,” you respond, with a less enthusiastic tone replacing your prior happy one.

“Yeah. We’ve been getting to know each other a lot more ever since we got asked to do this editorial on the basketball team, and I think I may have feelings for her”

“Well, um I think you should go for it Renjun, “ you reply, looking off into the stars to help keep what’s happening off your mind. If you look into his eyes, you’re certain you’ll start crying.

If it’s not you, you’re glad he has an interest in a girl with a golden heart and personality. 

“You think? What if she doesn’t like me?” he asks nervously, fiddling with the rings on his fingers.

“Like you said Ren, you never know what will come from love. Why not give it a shot if it’ll lead to potentially greater things not only within yourselves, but life in general? And if she ends up only seeing you as a friend, it’s okay. You’ll find someone one day who loves every part of you.”

And you can’t help but know deep down that that person is you. If Yeri rejects him, you’ll be right here to help him pick up the pieces, if not, you’ll still be here. As his best friend. Renjun deserves all the love and happiness the universe has to offer him, and despite being sad he shows no romantic interest in you, you’re glad he finds it in an amazing girl. 

“Alright cool, I guess I’ll ask her out on Monday when we meet up to discuss the paper then.” he says, smiling to himself. 

He looks so happy. Ecstatic even. You haven’t seen him smile this big since he won first place in your school’s art show.

“She’s here you know, at the party,” you say to him. “You should do it now.”

“You think?” he asks, eyes wide. 

Renjun was never one to act on impulse. He’s a man with a plan, and always has to do things by the book or else he’ll lose his hair. He likes structure and time, a complete flip from your bold and impulsive self. 

“Yeah, why not? You’re both here, you look really cute right now, and the stars are out in your favour, shining bright to provide you with the courage to do so.” 

This makes Renjun smile. You’ve always been a help in boosting his confidence, and you’re glad to be of assistance in such a nerve-wracking yet exciting period in his life. 

Standing up, he dusts the possible dirt off his legs. He crouches over, looking into your eyes and grabs your hand. “You’re the best y/n. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“As I with you,” you reply, a soft grin forming from your lips. “Now go downstairs and ask her out before she leaves.”

Standing back up, he begins walking to the door. “I’ll let you know how it goes!” he half shouts, pressing his hand to the door handle,  and making his way back into the house. 

You’re now left alone, on the rooftop, with just the stars and your thoughts. 

Why didn’t you bring up your feelings to him sooner, you thought. Now you’re only left sad and alone, because you were too scared to tell your best friend you’re in love with him. Confessing to him seemed so perfect in your mind a couple minutes ago, but sadly the universe has other plans in store for you. 

You decide to get comfortable and lie down, and begin to look at the constellations that are possibly present within the night sky. You can still hear the loud, most likely drunk people just a floor below you, and the vibration of the music hitting your body despite being away from the noise. But you don’t care. It’s just you and the sky, and you’re doing everything in your power to forget about the party below you, and to focus on the stars. 

As you point out the orion in the sky, you feel a buzz in your back pocket, indicating that you’ve got a text. Reaching for it, you unlock your phone, and see a notification stating that Renjun messaged you. Pressing on the messages app, you click on his name and read the following:

jun bug: she said yes!! we’re going out on tueday after we’re done editing :) (2:17 AM)

“Yes.” Yeri said yes. 

You’re happy for your best friend, but for yourself, you’re heartbroken. The possibility of dating him is now slim to none, especially since a potential girlfriend is in the mix, only making you more sad for yourself. 

You make sure to reply quick, and in a way that’ll make him happy, and hopefully provide you with the positivity that everything will be okay.

y/n: i’m so happy for you ren <3 (2:18 AM)

As you press send, you feel the tears start to slide down your cheeks. You’re happy for him, you really are, but you can’t help but wish that things went differently, and that you were in Yeri’s position. 

But as Renjun said before, love can be scary. It’s a learning experience, and if it doesn’t work out, you just need to take what you can from it, and hope for the best in the future. 

So you’ll take his words, and you’ll try your best to move on. 

It’ll be tough, but you hope to god that one day he’ll just be your best friend, and that this heartbreak won’t last with you forever. 

[eggoreviews]

12 ‘Unpopular’ Viddy Game Opinions

I’ve seen this topic floating around a lot, but didn’t think I had enough ‘unpopular but maybe not’ opinions about games to make a post. Turns out I do! So if you see this and I say something blasphemous, remember it’s just my opinion and my personal experiences with the games I list. Hope you enjoy or hey, maybe even agree with some of this!

Note: Can’t stress enough. This is just me. Also, spoilers under the cut!

12. The opening of Kingdom Hearts II isn’t as terrible as everyone says

Okay, so it’s not brilliant, but at the same time, I don’t think it’s the worst. For those not in the know, KH2′s opening is a basically a massive slog where you play as a character you don’t know or care about with seemingly no real link to the events of the previous game. The general consensus is that there’s some interesting stuff in here, but it’s buried among endless dialogue that really doesn’t mean much. And they’re right, but I really think there’s some great stuff here that people tend to gloss over. The music and the motif of Twilight Town is atmospheric, there’s some genuinely intriguing plot elements that are woven into Roxas’ story and believe it or not, the stuff that happens here is intrinsic to the rest of the game. So yeah, it drags on a little, but I don’t think KH2 would be miles better without this opening.

11. I loved Breath of the Wild’s final boss

One of the problems I see talked about with Breath of the Wild is that the boss fights are fairly mediocre, especially the very last one, Dark Beast Ganon. And I couldn’t disagree more. I think every boss in the game is wonderfully crafted, intense, challenging and great for testing you on what you’ve learned throughout the game by encouraging you to make creative use of your slate powers and the flurry rush technique. And while Mr. Pig Man at the end here is sort of easy and short, it serves as a brilliantly epic finale to damn near perfect game. While the difficulty is mostly gone after the mammoth fight with Calamity Ganon, it’s still just as intense as you frantically fire off arrows into the massive beast in front of you. Plus, the design of this thing is one of the best looking monsters in the game, so I really don’t understand the dislike for this ending.

10. I really like Crash of the Titans

Okay, so maybe childhood nostalgia has something to do with this pick, but every Crash fan I’m aware of seems to hate this game. But I don’t really know where the hate comes from! I played the PS2 version of this and I thought it was a genuinely fun 3D platformer with a variety of locations, good visuals, well-designed boss battles and even a vague story you can sort of follow! The game’s main gameplay feature is also brilliantly integrated, as using Aku Aku to possess various monsters throughout the game keeps everything interesting. One thing I will say though, that tiger dude you have to fight about halfway through is the most annoying thing I’ve ever had to endure in a game.

9. Life Is Strange: Before the Storm is BAD

I loved Life Is Strange when it first dropped, so I was beyond excited when they announced a prequel from Chloe’s perspective. But I really think they dropped the ball and they dropped it hard. But everyone else seems to adore this game! For me, this wasn’t a touch on the original. For a start, they dropped out one of the main mechanics of the first game, the time travel, which they then replaced with a much less interesting ‘Backtalk’ feature, which was then only used about twice throughout the game. Instead of interesting, developed characters reacting to genuinely dangerous or heartfelt situations, it felt to me like a bunch of one-dimensional teenagers who are edgy for the sake of being edgy. Chloe spends the majority of the game being a dick to her mother and bunking off class to spend time with Rachel, who she has literally known for like a day and their sudden relationship drops out of nowhere. Not that I didn’t enjoy the emotional moments of their relationship, it just didn’t feel like it stemmed from anywhere, unlike Max and Chloe from the first game. And the game’s attempts at villains were also rubbish compared to the first, with Damien (random scary knife guy who doesn’t really tie into the plot that much) and Eliot (who doesn’t appear for the whole game and suddenly goes full incel on Chloe when she breaks into Rachel’s house). Yeah I think you can tell I had some problems with this one.

8. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider was also a hot mess

I LOVE the Dishonored series. The first game and its DLCs are amazing, the second game was arguably even better. And then this happened. In this one, you play as Billie Lurk, a character I love, and Daud comes back, a character I also love. But both of them are incredibly badly written and it doesn’t feel like there’s any development to them or even much reason for them to do what they’re doing. This entry took the mystery surrounding the Outsider and basically did a big poo on it, giving us the revelation that he was apparently HUMAN this whole time. I think that was the nail in the coffin that made me sort of think this was a bit rubbish. While the combat and side missions were as brilliant as ever, the level designs felt less creative than other entries in the series and lacked variety or colour, all the side characters were entirely forgettable and to wrap it all up, they killed Daud offscreen. Out of nowhere, they just killed him, mentioned it offhand in a cutscene and that was that. If you like this game, fair enough, but it kind of baffles me that more people don’t see this in the game.

7. Mario Galaxy 2 is good. It’s just sort of good

Some people cite this as being one of the best 3D platformers of all time, and that’s fair enough, but I just kind of see this one as ‘good’. Sure, it has a good, satisfying control scheme for the most part, the level design is creative and the bosses and puzzles are pretty standard for a Mario title, but still enjoyable. However, sometimes, the floaty physics and weird knockback effect from jumping into walls led to quite a lot of unfair deaths, especially if I’d been punished for messing up already by losing a life, only to then immediately be punished again by falling into the void. Plus, I found Yoshi near impossible to control at some points with the motion controls. So yeah, this one is genuinely enjoyable, but I don’t think I’d personally put it with the best of all time.

6. I LOVE Dragon Quest IX TO DEATH

This is a game in a legendary franchise that consistently almost always see ranked at the very bottom of the pile in the series. But I really don’t understand how or why. Okay so your protagonist and party are basically silent and don’t have a lot of character, but I don’t see this as a reason to totally write off the game! The side characters, villains and story are all amazing and well-developed, the world is huge, colourful and interesting, the monsters are brilliantly creative and Dragon Quest’s signature lame sense of humour is gratefully carried through the whole game. The music is always brilliant and atmospheric and the bosses are just as memorable as each character you meet. What was everyone’s problem?? This is genuinely one of the best RPGs I’ve ever played and if you haven’t had a chance to pick it up, it is so, so worth it.

5. Sonic Adventure is a broken mess

So before I kick this one off, I’m not someone who hates Sonic and I’m not here to slate the whole franchise, but considering this game is often considered to be one of the best in the series, I thought it was definitely worth addressing. When I first played this, I literally couldn’t believe this was made in 1998, AFTER Mario 64 and yet it’s so broken! The physics and control scheme are totally wonky and hard to control, the unending amount of glitches make a fair amount of the stages almost unplayable, the voice acting and facial animation is cringey and oddly broken and yet, this was all on the Dreamcast. The most powerful console of the time. And I don’t think I even need to mention how boring some of the later stages get, with Big the Cat’s fishing section being the main offender. I can’t vouch for Adventure 2 as I haven’t had a chance to play yet, but I really hope it isn’t like this.

4. Dragon Age Origins is the best Dragon Age

Dragon Age has always been a popular RPG series, but I think it properly shot to fame once Inquisition dropped in 2014. And don’t get me wrong, I liked Inquisition! The world was colourful and expansive and the characters were fairly memorable, but I still think the best experience you can get is in the series’ first entry, Origins. While it’s pretty easy to see that it’s slightly dated considering it’s ten years old now, the best characters and story in the series I think is here. Each companion you recruit is varied and developed and the story wraps up brilliantly in the end with each companion and army you meet playing a different role in the final battle. Plus, I kind of can’t forgive Inquisition for making Leliana lose her sense of humour and making her kinda boring.

3. Oblivion is better than Skyrim

Okay so I’m not sure exactly how unpopular this is, but I just thought Oblivion was miles better than Skyrim ended up being. Just to clear it up, I still love Skyrim and I thought it built on the series’ combat system and variety of enemies really well and still provided an enjoyable experience. But Oblivion feels like more of an adventure you feel at home in. The story is dense and full of twists and turns. The soundtrack has some of the most atmospheric music I’ve ever heard, the world is full of bright colours, each city is vastly different and has its own lore and I found some of this to be absent from Skyrim. I’d go into more detail, but I think the simple fact is that Oblivion had so much more I liked than Skyrim.

2. I don’t think The Witcher III is all that amazing (in some regards)

This by no means says that I don’t like the game, because I do, but I think it has more flaws than people let on. Now, don’t get me wrong, a lot of the stuff people praise about this game is true, the quests are in-depth and masterfully crafted, the characters, especially Geralt, are extremely memorable. In fact, Geralt is one of my favourite game protagonists. But most of the problems I had were in terms of the gameplay. The combat, while fast-paced and satisfying, can sometimes feel a little finicky, so a lot of precision is needed. However, I felt that the world itself didn’t particularly interest me and the music is often ambient but outside of combat, isn’t anything special. Mostly though, the leveling system I found to be a bit wonky. I did absolutely everything I could in the first area of the game; all the side quests, treasure hunts, killed a whole bunch of monsters etc. And then I arrive in the second area and find I’m too underleveled to do literally anything. The majority of the quests have too high a level cap, a lot of the monsters kill me very quickly. And because the bulk of EXP farming is in the quests, I’m sort of stuck in an endless loop of constantly not being strong enough to do anything. On top of that, all my equipment keeps breaking and I’m finding that repair kits are extremely few and far between and that makes me even WEAKER. It’s something I’m gonna need to persevere with I think, but hey, this is just my experience with it.

1. Ocarina of Time, as amazing as it is, may have overstayed its welcome as best game of all time

I reckon this might be the most controversial, so it’s number 1. Let me preface this by saying I really like Ocarina and I agree that it was innovative for the RPG genre at the time. There’s a hell of a lot in this game that we have to thank for the games we have today. But considering how far the gaming industry has come since then and the sheer amount of high quality games we’ve been getting year after year, is still fair to call this the best game ever? When more recent games have taken what Ocarina started and built upon it? Games like Breath of the Wild, Horizon Zero Dawn, Red Dead Redemption II, God of War all gave us expansive, beautiful worlds and a story you can really get stuck into. And all the time, more and more games of this caliber are coming out. So yes, of course Ocarina of Time deserves a place in the hall of fame, it was revolutionary and still holds up really well today! I just can’t help but think there have been plenty of games since then, as flawed as some of them may be, that have improved upon the formula tenfold since Ocarina’s release.

Thanks for reading if you got this far! Just to reiterate, these are all just my opinions and my experiences with the games I mentioned, so pls don’t attack me. Got any viddy game opinions you think are sort of not popular? Drop them down below if you feel like it!

[lovelylapins]

au august day 2

au august day 2: college for @auyeahaugust

as always, i made this way longer than intended. enjoy i guess.

Studying was hard.

Even harder, Marinette supposed, was running around the city of Paris in spandex at the wondrous age of twenty, catching articles on the size of her thighs and waist next to ones demanding the space trash age finally be done with.

“Honestly, who even thinks that Ladybug would look the same after six years of fighting crime? A lot of things have happened, people. Puberty happens,” she complains to Alya, textbooks strewn about them yet ignored. She throws her head back and chugs her coffee, the burn only fueling her anger.

“I feel you,” Alya comments, taking a cool sip from her frappe. “Rena Rouge hasn’t been getting lots of love either these days.”

“But Chat Noir is, of all things. I can’t believe it,” Marinette mutters. She picks up her pencil, tracing designs in the air as she continues talking. “He gets all muscly and lands ten Cosmo articles on how cool and strong he is. You and I suddenly get boobs and next thing you know, we’re shamed in those same articles. They don’t even let Chloé live much these days. I heard her ass was talked about on E! just the other day.”

“What? Jealous about how much love Chat’s getting?” Alya teases. She can’t help it, after all. The envy is practically radiating off of Marinette, filling the coffee shop they’re in with the stench of anger.

“No,” she denies quickly, shaking her head.

Alya throws her a look, one that only her best friend could do.

“Okay, maybe a little,” Marinette admits, sighing. “But, can you blame me? If only I knew who he was, then I could have someone to really push all my anger on.”

“Wait, don’t tell me you two haven’t revealed yourselves yet,” Alya says. “It’s been six years!”

“And?”

“How is it that you still haven’t mustered up the courage to tell that cat? You won’t even let us tell you who he is!”  Alya questions, eyebrow raised. Quicker than Ladybug or Chat Noir could have ever done, Alya, Nino and Chloé had been quick to share their identities amongst their friend group, even going so far as separately telling Chat and Ladybug. The two most revered superheroes, however, have been dodging a confession from each other from years, going so far as purposefully causing the timer on their Miraculous to start to leave the scene quicker.

“It’s different,” Marinette says. And in a way, it is. Chat’s always been different. To her, at least.

“Different my ass. If anything, you know how long he’s been ready to tell you, and I bet you can’t wait to tell him either.”

“Why don’t we get back to studying?” she suggests, trying to change the subject. “Our final is only in two weeks.”

“I’m letting this go for now only because we have to pass, but this is not over,” Alya says, picking up her textbook and opening it up to a random page.

“Okay,” Marinette sighs. She opens up a textbook of her own and reads a section aloud, hoping if she repeats the words enough times it’ll get stuck in her mind. “Although the atom is considered the smallest unit, the atom itself contains smaller particles. Those particles are identified as- “

“Quarks and leptons,” Adrien finishes, sitting down next to Marinette.

“Adrien!” Marinette exclaims, the corners of her mouth raising upwards. After six years, he still manages to bring out the all too familiar feeling of butterflies in her stomach. The only difference now from her fourteen-year-old self was she could actually hold a conversation now (although it did take some time to master). He smiles, lifting up his own copy of the textbook.

“Nino told me you two were studying, and I thought I could lend a hand.”

“You’re a saint,” Alya murmurs, eyes unmoving from her textbook. “We’ve been here for the past thirty minutes with nothing good coming out.”

“Well, what have you guys been doing? Taking notes? Making flashcards?”

“Well, er… kinda just gossiping,” Marinette admits, slightly embarrassed.

“Gossiping?” Adrien raises an eyebrow. “Care to share?”

“It’s a bit on the girl talk side. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to listen in,” Alya says. She grabs her cup of coffee and downs it, feeling the regular caffeine buzz come over her.

“Fair enough. I suppose you’ll let the girl talk rest for a while so we can get to some proper studying?”

“Of course,” Marinette says, beaming. “Do you think you could help explain a bit more on the whole quacks and liptons thing?”

“Quarks and leptons,” he corrects, laughing at how Marinette’s eyes widen. “Hand me a pencil, will you? I’ll write down the definitions for each one.”

Their hands brush a bit as she hands over a pencil, touch lingering for a second. He grabs a flashcard and quickly jots down the definitions, grabbing a highlighter and marking the words for extra measure.

“How can you memorize them so easily? It takes forever for me,” Marinette sighs out, propping her head on her hand.

“I can help you memorize if you want,” he offers, looking at her.

“What? Oh no Adrien, you have to study too!”

“We have all of the same general classes, remember? If anything, it’ll help me out when I become a teacher’s assistant next semester.”

“You’re too nice,” she says, not wanting to trouble him. His schedule is packed to the brim from classes to shoots, and God knows what else.

“I’ll take that as a yes?”

“Only if you let me buy you coffee during study sessions.”

“Deal! When are you free?”

Marinette closes her eyes, racking her brain around for anything coming up. Patrol tonight and Wednesday with Alya, a quick ceremony with Chat in the morning before class on Thursday, and she had planned to go shopping with Chloé and Alya on Saturday.

“I’m free on Friday all day? And I guess I’m free these next few weekdays, but only if we meet up maybe around lunch.”

Adrien frowns, running his schedule through his mind. Tuesday and Friday he had patrol with Nino, and Thursday was a ceremony with Ladybug, with his weekend coated with various photoshoots.

“Yeah, I guess lunch would be a good time for me as well. I guess I’ve been getting a little busy these days!”

“You could say the same for me,” Marinette says, laughing. A familiar blush is on her cheeks, and she feels the slightest shred of teenage excitement ring through her as she realizes she’s agreed to lunch. With Adrien. For the rest of the week.

“Should we get back to studying?” Adrien suggests. “Just point out anything you don’t feel comfortable with.”

“Will do!”

Alya closes her book silently, looking with increasing frustration at the two. God, did she hate how neither knew the other’s identity. It led to moments like this, where she felt tempted to beat up both of her best friends and just scream “How can you not see!?” in their faces. But, it also led to her growing fond of the moments. Even without knowing, Adrien and Marinette reflected their superhero personas outside of the suit with each other. Marinette was leaning slightly on Adrien’s shoulder to better view the words he was writing out, with Adrien scooting close enough so that his hair brushed against hers.

It was almost like they were destined to be together.

Slightly raising her phone, Alya takes a quick picture. Hey, she can’t help it. She’s been a journalist since she got her first phone. It’s like a reflex now to document things like this. Pulling up the groupchat, she starts typing, glad for once that Chat and Ladybug refused to get added in as an attempt to avoid sharing their identities to each other.

Paris’ Baddest Bitches

Alya: y’all we WON today

Alya: [image]

Chloé: holy shit

Chloé: mari is being BOLD

Nino: FINALLY

Nino: who do you think is gonna reveal their identity first

Chloé: mari

Chloé: I love adrien but he’s a lil bitch

Alya: ^^

Nino: true

Alya: but that’s not it

Nino: what else happened??

Chloé: we’re WAITING

Alya: THEYRE GOING ON LUNCH DATES ALL WEEK

Alya: FOR “STUDYING”

Nino: FUCK

Chloé: FUCK

Chloé: THEYRE 10/10 GONNA FUCK

Alya: I KNOW

Chloé: WE WON

Alya: I KNOW

Nino: tell adrien i want notes for the chem final

Chloé: oh shit same

Alya: already planning on taking pics of it xoxo

Chloé: you’re the only bitch in this house i ever respected

Nino: have i ever told you how much i loved you alya

Alya: always

Alya: gotta bounce they’re giving me LOOKS and want me to HELP and FOCUS

Alya: ugh if they don’t end up together at the end of this what’s the point

Nino: uh maybe a degree??

Alya: yeah maybe

[thedistantstorm]

Phoenix Protocol 02

A Zavala x Female Guardian work.

Summary: When the Traveler’s Light was returned to the Guardians after the defeat of the Cabal, it did not manifest itself the same in everyone. Miyu, an Awoken Warlock, finds herself struggling with her abilities, her Light feeling different and not her own. With her Vanguard preoccupied with grief and all eyes turned to the Reef, she finds herself turning to an unlikely source in an attempt to rediscover her connection to the Light and define what it means for her as a Dawnblade.

[Previously]

Ikora always wants more.

By research, Ikora actually means to discuss Miyu stopping hers. Focusing on more important matters. The Reef. Uldren. Miyu wants nothing to do with any of it, and that is why she had willingly offered her services detaining escapees from the Prison of Elders despite not actually wanting to do that at all.

It gives Miyu time to actually complete some more secretive research on the side: why her Light is messed up. Why it feels like when she received hers back, after the war, it felt like it belonged to someone else, the person she used to be but wasn’t any more, coiling uneasily beneath her skin. She’s gone to Io. The Shard. Both under the guise of hunting escapees, but also to seek answers.

Neither place does and very day, the solar sword is more difficult to grasp, wings of flame beyond her reach. Telling her Vanguard that didn’t work. Ikora didn’t understand. The Void has always been at her fingertips, for as long as she’s been connected to the Traveler. With that in mind, Miyu attempts to adapt her argument, listens to Ikora insisting that she push herself and hopes that eventually either her own efforts or Ikora’s reasoning pays off.

Ikora still demands an answer, though. Wants Miyu to give her something. So, Miyu presents her personal thoughts. Based on her research, she finds that her connection to the Light is strongest while meditating or calling upon her abilities in the midst of a healing rift. Ikora is not impressed. Miyu isn’t expecting her to be. She tells Ikora the truth - that she does not believe offensive maneuvers are her true calling, not anymore. It’s something she’s believed for a while now. She can hear Ghost cheering her on in her mind for being honest - for expressing her opinion. That was rare. Miyu hated doing so, especially when she knew it was going to be an unpopular one.

Ikora, in response, cites battles, strikes, accolades. Ikora always measures a Warlock’s worth in accolades.

Miyu measures a person - Guardian, Human, Exo, Awoken, whatever - in terms of character. Heart. Sometimes she thinks that’s why she just doesn’t fit in with her more intellectual colleagues, aside from not being sneaky and clever like the Hidden or having half the honors or titles that Ikora’s top-tier Warlocks have. Put a sword in her hands and Miyu can cut down almost anyone or anything. But have her infiltrate a group and act a certain way, play a role of some sort? She’ll fail right away.

She is not an actress. She’s a Guardian. And to her knowledge, the definition of a Guardian is someone who protects. There has to be some merit in that, she’s told Ghost, and he - her best friend and most honest critic - agrees.

Ikora - Miyu thinks - must not think much of her. Still, the Void user pulls her back from her thoughts with praise. “Grey,” She says, “You are so much more than you give yourself credit for. You need to push yourself harder. Do not give up. I know you are better than this.”

It’s times like this that she wonders. Does Ikora know what her name is, really? Does Ikora even care? Miyu is beginning to think she’s just a faceless person, a puzzle that is challenging and therefore worth the more esteemed woman’s time. Ikora gave her hardly any face-time before the war, before she had these issues.

Regardless, the younger Warlock attempts to retain her composure. “Thank you. However, I would like to pursue my research on a more defensive Solar ability,” Miyu says, barely a whisper of defiance. “I believe it is possible.”

Ikora shakes her head. “Leave shielding for the Titans. A Warlock’s rift is not meant to protect. It is meant to heal or empower, and only briefly. Attempting to augment it is a waste of Light better spent on dispatching our enemies.”

Miyu sighs, but nods. “What would you have me do, then?”

The Warlock Vanguard crosses her arms, turns her back to Miyu and looks out at the City. “Take the most difficult Strikes and Patrols I can give you. Challenge yourself and you will find yourself calling upon your abilities more. If that does not help you to realign yourself with your Light,” She trails off, eyes narrowing on a fixed point beyond the horizon, “I will explore other paths. Your research is unnecessary at this time. If you require a project, I will send you to collect information from the Reef.”

The younger Warlock bows. “I understand,” Miyu says, schooling her features into something blank, and trying to sound collected and grateful, not detached and indifferent. “Thank you.”  This won’t help. She’s already tried this, Miyu thinks, but tries not to let it bleed into her demeanor.

“You’re welcome, Grey. You may go.”

Miyu turns her back to Ikora Rey, but waits until she is nearly to Banshee’s stall in the main portion of the Tower to let the frustration show on her face, a very quiet growl escaping her. Ghost appears at her side immediately. “I can’t believe she wouldn’t listen to you,” He says, sounding even more irritated than Miyu is. “I’m sorry,” He apologizes to her. “But I think you should keep working on it.”

“So do I.”

Ghost bobs, spinning around her in a wide circle of disbelief. “You do?”

“Yes.” Silver eyes cant over toward her Ghost’s single teal one. “I’ll do what she asks, and continue my research on my own. What else can I do?”

He sighs. “I know. I just wish it had gone differently.” He taps her cheek. “If you could have convinced her to watch you summon your-”

“We asked that the last two times and she refused. It’s okay, Ghost. I’m used to it being just you and me.” She reaches up to cup his small being with her hands, and holds him close. “Sometimes, I think it’s better that way.”

Ghost nuzzles against her abdomen in a return of their improvised hug, and wonders not for the first time if she considers leaving. He knows she doesn’t feel like she belongs here, that she’s trying so hard to fit into the roles dictated by social norms. Most of her fellow Guardians hurt her with their lack of understanding, their taunts. Most of them do not know how it feels to have their Light feel foreign to them. Still, she remains as gentle as she can, does her best to be kind to everyone she meets. It’s no wonder they don’t live within the confines of the Tower. The City folk are far kinder to his wayward Guardian than her own brothers and sisters. It’s a shame.

-/

Three days later, news hits the Tower. Cayde-6's killer has been eliminated. Almost everyone is celebrating. Miyu uses the general population's distraction to her advantage, slipping out to the training grounds recently restored near the base of the wall. There should be free space for her to experiment unseen, a rarity in the middle of the day.

She discards her gauntlets and lets the heavy, flame-retardant sleeves of her robes hang down over her palms. Pulls her sword from its sheath at her side. Ghost flutters around her, cones spinning silently in anticipation a safe distance away. She drops to her starting position, kicks off.

What she does not have in stealth or strength, she makes up with in skill. Some of it, Ghost believes, may have been written upon her from her first life, muscle memory and reflexes allowing her to pick up swordplay far more easily than ever anticipated. But not all of it. She worked hard to hone her skills, consulted archives and videos, took every ounce of criticism to heart.

He enjoys watching her dance throughout the training arena with her blade slashing out, parrying imaginary blows, each move fluid yet moving with unbelievable discipline and precision. However, he knows it will come soon. Can feel the tingle of Light, the increasing heat. She’s going to try without the rift. She always does, first. When her mind is clear, when she’s reached that place of blank-white concentration.

The Warlock sheaths her physical blade in a motion like lightning, before reaching out for the heat in the air, calling upon the Light in her soul to manifest the sword that answers the call of her heart. It always looks so effortless from afar.

It isn’t, though. He watches her throw the first one, scorching the dirt. Watches her call upon the second. Watches the flames spiral up her arm, paying no heed to her robes. Watches her grit her teeth and give form to the energy in her hand. This one doesn’t go as far, doesn’t track like the first.

The third fizzles into ash, blackens her fingertips. She screams, drops to her knees, slams her fists into the dirt. He doesn’t approach. He knows she wants to feel this, to commit it to memory - as if she hasn’t already, he thinks, but allows it to continue - and use it to fuel her. It’s how Ikora believes she will improve. Miyu doesn’t believe in it, but she tries anyway. He knows she’d try anything, to feel like herself again.

This is torture, but it’s therapeutic. She needs to let it out, to blaze, like the fiery powers locked inside her, refusing to come out the way they’re supposed to. The way they always had, before the Cabal had ripped them away by force.

Any changes in her personality, since the war, have been subtle. He notices the way her swordhand twitches after she lets the blades burn through her nerves. Can tell that where she might say ten words once, she now says six or five. Notices that where she’d try to be social once in a while, it takes a great deal of encouragement to convince her to approach a friendly face.

Ghost’s cones push out and then back in, spiraling around him in surprise as someone appears on his radar. Someone approaching, quickly. At a run. Miyu is pushing herself up, the rush of a healing rift spiraling out from beneath her. She doesn’t notice.

Another attempt is made to call upon the sword. She growls and braces her sword hand - gripping her left wrist with her right hand. Flames spit and spiral up both arms this time, fighting for purchase against the healing properties of the rift.

“Mi- Miyu?”

The small AI turns at the sound of the familiar voice. Oh, no.

Next

[demons-n-daydreams]

Let Tomorrow Come

Pairing(s): Minho/Reader, Reader & Gally, Reader & Newt, Reader & Alby, angst/fluff

Warnings: violence, blood, injury (PLEASE let me know if I missed something)

Requested by: Anon

Request:

(can u do like a thing? like a super angsty maze runner thing where like the reader and minho are super tight and like each other and theyre running partners but also she gets trapped in the maze???? also i want her to be close with the other gladers esp the OG guys like newt/gally but like not too angst bc im still crying over newt k thx going to go cry now)

Word Count: 5.4K

Author’s Note: OKAY LOOK WHO’S WRITING AGAIN??? Requests open here

Your name: submit What is this?

Sweat was dripping down your neck, legs pumping, your breaths even and measured as you ran alongside Minho. Neither of you had spoken for hours; it was a hot day, and you'd been running a lot longer than usual, trying to map out another section of the ever-changing walls.

After about another half-hour of running, you both stopped to take a break, drinking out of your nearly-empty canteens. Leaning back against the wall, you were grateful for the shade and the coolness of the stone against your sweaty, overheated skin. You took only about two minutes, not wanting to linger in the Maze longer than necessary when you had limited time. You took advantage of the small reprieve to look over your partner, taking in the glorious sight of his toned muscles and flushed skin.

"So," Minho said, slightly panting, pulling his leg up to stretch his hamstring. "Head back? We've got," he checked his wristwatch, "twenty-six minutes. Should be enough time."

You nodded, taking a moment to fix your sliding ponytail back into place, looking up at his face with a little joking smile. "Yeah. Don't want your shank-ass endin' up as Griever meat."

Minho smirked, throwing his arm around your shoulders and swaying you around with a teasing glint in his eye. "How could I this beautiful face end up like that with you-" Minho shifted his grip so that both arms were around your waist and he lifted you into the air, spinning you around as you shrieked and laughed, upper body hanging over his broad shoulder, "lookin' out for me? My brave, brave Y/N!"

You giggled like the klunkin' mess you were, willing your face not to redden at the feeling of his arms around you. He set you down, tugging teasingly at the ends of your hair before slinging his arm back over your shoulders, which were exposed in the dirt-smudged white tank top you were wearing. Throwing your arm around his waist and wrestling with him, you exclaimed playfully, "Slim it, shank! Just don't want Newt and Alby up my ass because you were too slow. They kill me, ain't no other girl to keep you klunkheads in line!"

Minho laughed and released you from his grip, leaving behind a hot, lingering sensation where his skin touched yours. "Don't be like that… You know you love me!"

If you only knew. You couldn't stop the blush from staining your cheeks, and you desperately hoped that it was covered by the flush already present from the heat. Poking his stomach, you were about to respond with a pithy retort when you heard a mechanical whirr, no farther than twenty feet away.

Playful mood abruptly gone, you made swift eye contact with a tense Minho, both of you still and quiet as death. It was really close to the time the doors closed; the Grievers must have come out, and your laughs and shouting must have attracted one. Minho swiftly but quietly pulled an arm around your waist and tugged you against the wall, facing his back outwards to shield you. He buried your bodies into the nearby ivy in hopes of staying out of sight until the Griever went away.

Rather than go straight, down the the path perpendicular to the corridor you both standing in, the Griever turned, going down the same passage but in the opposite direction. You let out a hitched breath, the adrenaline coursing through your body making you nearly dizzy. Minho's firm chest, pressed right up against your front, was nearly shaking with the tension and fear. You stood there for minutes, time slipping away until finally, the Griever was out of sight. You both let out relieved breaths, and Minho leaned down to whisper in your ear quietly, "We have nineteen minutes. We have enough time to get back. Stay close."

You nodded, and you both disengaged your bodies, separating from the wall. You began to run back down the path, trying to move as swiftly and silently as possibly. Hopefully, you wouldn't run into a Griever again.

As if you were that lucky.

You only had ten minutes left to get back when you heard the sounds of a Griever close by again. You and Minho didn't bother to stop, just went from a fast run to an absolute sprint. An ear-splitting shriek came from behind you, and you were being chased, the thundering footsteps of the Griever coming far too close. You kept running, not focusing on the beast behind you, only on the quickest route back to the Glade.

Left. Right. Right. Left. Left. Right.

"Here!" Minho shouted, grabbing your arm, turning left instead of the right you should have been taking. You didn't protest; this route might have been longer, and you didn't have a whole lot of time, but there were narrow paths and plenty of tight turns this way, which would (hopefully) help shake off the Griever. No matter what it could do to the two of you, there was no way you were going to lead it back to the Glade where all the rest of the boys were.

Your heart was pounding, sweat dripping into your eyes, and you were moving your legs faster than you ever thought possible. Despite how fast you were going, though, it felt as if the filthy, cracked ground beneath you was forcing you backward, with how fast the Griever was advancing on the two of you.

Minho's grunts and your desperate gasps as you pushed your bodies to the limit were drowned out by the roars of the Griever chasing you. You had been running for what felt like hours, barely dodging the stinger and claw-like legs that took terrifyingly close swings at you. The Griever was insanely close, but you didn't bother looking back. There was a narrow corridor up ahead, just small enough to fit you and Minho and would block the Griever out, and you were almost there-

"Y/N!" Minho's voice, full of desperation and gut-wrenching fear, pulled you to an abrupt stop. Your breath caught in your throat when you saw the Griever's limb take a swing at his lower legs, the sharp edge cutting deep in his left calf.

"Minho!" you cried, catching him as he stumbled, and you dragged him away from the Griever. Terror filled your bones as you heaved his body towards the restricted path only two feet away, not stopping no matter how exhausted you were, barely dodging the Griever's swiping legs.

You finally pulled him through and the two of you collapsed on the ground, just barely out of the Griever's reach. Scrambling to stand back up, you took a second the take stock of the situation. You'd have to help support Minho- he'd probably be able to support his weight on his leg, but he most likely wouldn't make it to the doors in time unless you helped him run. Your hands shook and your voice trembled, but you were firm in placing Minho's arm across your shoulder as you said, "Come on. We have four minutes left. We have to make it."

Ordinarily, in this route, four minutes would be just enough, but you were already trembling from the exhaustion of the desperate chase despite the adrenaline your system, and Minho was heavy. His much larger body would be hard to haul to now nearly impossible distance to the doors. Never the less, you just set your shoulders determinedly, moving as quickly as you could.

Minho assisted by pushing off with his right leg so you wouldn't have to carry all of his body weight, but after about two tense minutes, he muttered, "It'll be faster if you just-"

"No!" you shouted, not bothering to pause your frantic gait. Your shoulders and back ached almost as badly as your legs from supporting even only part of Minho's heavy weight, but you didn't slow down at all. "I ain't leavin' you here."

Minho just fell silent, not wanting to waste energy arguing with you. He knew you were stubborn as hell, and fighting would just decrease your already slim chances.

It was getting dark really fast when you finally took the last turn, and the doors were finally in sight. The whole Glade had gathered there, and their eyes widened when they caught sight of the two of you, and they began to yell, begging you to go faster.

A resounding crack! went off, and the doors began closing while you were still twenty feet away.

You moved even faster, not knowing how it was possible, but there wasn't enough time. Minho's breath was hot and frantic in your ear, and you were still so far-

Your legs were burning, and tears were beginning to sting your eyes. You weren't going to make it. Only a small opening was available when you were still five feet away, and without thinking, you clumsily threw Minho through it with all the strength left in your worn out body, a wild cry leaving your lips as you collapsed to your hands and knees, making eye contact with him for a split second before the doors slammed shut.

You sat there, panting, aching limbs supporting your heaving body. A small bit of relief went through you that you had gotten Minho out, but that got washed away by the wave of dread that crashed over your body. You were trapped.

No one has ever survived a night in the Maze.

There was dead silence as Minho lay there, collapsed in the grass, leg bleeding sluggishly. He looked uncomprehendingly at the walls that sat before him, still breathing hard. When realization finally dawned on him, he threw his exhausted, pained body against the wall, yelling.

"No!" Minho frantically slammed his fists against the unrelenting stone, the burning pain in his leg barely felt. "Y/N!"

Everyone was suddenly moving very fast, and the world was spinning, and Minho's head abruptly cradled someone's legs. He looked up at Newt's worried face, dizzy and distraught.

"She- she-" he gasped.

"Shh," Newt said, swallowing hard. "We need to get you the Med-jacks. Clint!"

Just as suddenly as he'd fallen, Minho was being hauled up, Clint and Jeff on either side of him, carrying him to the Med-jack room. The crowd around the doors hastily parted for them as they hurried past, Minho dazed and uncomprehending, his legs dragging behind him.

Minho laid there in uncharacteristic silence as they fussed over his leg, someone wiping his dirty face clean and giving him water and food. Everything went down his throat like a lump of cement, and a heaviness pervaded through his entire body, but he didn't let the weight drag him into sleep.

The terrified look on Y/N's face the second before the walls had closed replayed in his mind. He couldn't shake the wide-eyed fear he had seen in her eyes. He just sat there, staring at his now-bandaged leg until a shake against his shoulder startled him out of his trance.

"You good there, shank?" Newt sat at the edge of Minho's bed, brow furrowed in worry. "Bloody gave us a scare, there."

Minho ignored Newt's attempts to distract him. "She's still in there." His voice was hoarse with emotion.

Newt's eyes tightened. He was quiet for a few moments, at a loss for words. Y/N had come up to the Glade just two months after Newt himself had, and in the past couple years, she, Minho and Newt had gotten extremely close. He knew how Minho felt about Y/N. They were more than just running partners; while neither had gotten around to admitting feelings or establishing any sort of relationship, it was commonly known around the Glade that they weren't simply just friends. But Newt knew Y/N just as well as he knew Minho, and he knew that if anyone was stubborn and resilient enough to survive the Maze, it was her. He held onto that hope fiercely, denying any other option.

"She'll make it out," Newt said with quiet conviction. "If anyone can do it, it's her. Now sleep. You'll need some peace and quiet, after..."

Minho nodded, grateful for the reassurance, before finally letting his exhaustion take over him and close his eyes.

His dreams that night weren't peaceful, or quiet.

Eight hours. You only had to be here for eight hours.

You crept slowly along the Maze, trying to be stealthy. You had no idea how close the Griever from earlier was, or how close any other Grievers could be. Any sound made could mean death.

The fear made your heart race and your muscles tense, but you tried to keep your labored breathing as steady as possible, knowing that at any moment you could have to run again.

You had been wandering, quiet and scared, for four hours, according to your wristwatch. You were in a bad way; your legs were tired, and your upper body and back ached from carrying Minho's significantly larger weight. You were out of water and had no food, and your body was trembling from exertion and cold, the afternoon heat giving way to the frigid night air.

Before you could decide whether constant movement or hiding was your best chance of survival, the familiar, dreaded sound of mechanical legs hitting the ground reached you. Your breath caught in your throat and you nearly sobbed in exhaustion, but you broke out into a clumsy run, knowing that stopping for a split second would get you killed.

Adrenaline coursed through your body, and you didn't slow for a moment. The Griever was getting closer, and as you made a sharp turn left, it lashed out, leaving a shallow but long cut along the side of your abdomen, blood immediately starting to soak into your shirt. You stumbled, and before you could regain your footing, the Griever slammed a leg into your injured side, leaving you sprawled on the ground, breathless from the stunning pain.

Fumbling for the knife on your back, you let out a scream as you slashed at the Griever's exposed belly as it stood over you. It reared back, but then lunged for your legs, and your screams echoed against the stone walls around you as you felt white-hot agony race through your lower right leg and the Griever's limb slammed down on it.

Refusing to go down without a fight, you kept slashing and slashing at the Griever's underbelly, sobbing and screaming all the way until, miraculously, it stumbled back and collapsed, twitching violently before lying still.

You laid there on your back, sobbing, clutching your broken leg, ribs burning like hell. You frantically tried to compose yourself; every extra sound, every second there, vulnerable on the ground, led you closer to your death. You had to get out of the open; you couldn't even walk now, much less run. Hiding was the only way to survive.

When you calmed your breaths as much as you could, you took stock of your body; your left side had a long, shallow but bleeding cut, and was bruising heavily from the hit you took. The skin on the front of your right thigh, exposed by your shorts, was torn and also bleeding, but not heavily enough to kill you in the next few hours. The lower part of your right leg, however, was clearly broken in the middle of the bone, and you nearly gagged at the sight of it. The pain from your leg overshadowed every laceration and bruise that littered your body. You were covered in Griever blood, which was more of a black, mucus-like substance. You were absolutely shucked, but you had no choice but to move on; it was either that, or wait in plain sight to die.

About twenty feet away was a wall covered in overgrown ivy; while you definitely couldn't climb, you could try to conceal yourself underneath the big tangle of vines that crawling along the ground.

You took a deep breath and flipped yourself onto your stomach, hurt leg dragging behind you. Taking your right arm, you dragged yourself across the ground, letting out a stifled wail at the pain before biting your lip, body trembling and sweat soaked. Chest heaving, you slowly but surely crawled to the tangle of vines, sobbing softly the whole way.

The Glade was tense, and nobody slept; after silence for a few hours, everyone was on edge.

People had gotten trapped in the Maze at night before; while not a significant part of the population, it was still enough that for the last few they had lost, the boys were resigned to it and would at least fall into a restless sleep, preparing for the inevitable funeral at the Deadheads in the morning.

But this was different. Y/N was the only girl that had ever been in the Glade, the protectiveness that was extended to her, especially by the older Gladers, went above and beyond any other Greenie that had ever come up the Box. Not a single person could sleep; they had all resigned themselves to waiting until morning, hoping and praying she would make it back.

And then they heard the screaming.

It was high-pitched and pain-filled, and everyone, including Minho who'd woken up from a nightmare, was gritting their teeth at the blood-curdling sound. The monstrous roars of a Griever accompanied them, and everyone held their breaths when abruptly, both the roars and screams stopped.

No one said a word; Minho's eyes filled with tears as he sat on the bed in the Med-jack room, and Clint and Jeff said nothing, just exchanging grim glances. Back where everyone else was sleeping in the Homestead, an air of shock and horror muted every boy in the room. Newt and Alby were both tense and upset; Gally, usually so aggressive and outspoken, could do nothing but stare at the ground.

No one dared break the silence.

You finally reached your hiding spot, taking even longer than you thought. By the time you were burying yourself underneath them, completely concealing you from sight, your wristwatch indicated that you had a little over three hours left. The ground below you was dirty and cold, and you shivered. In nothing but the tank top, shorts and running boots that you had been so grateful for during the afternoon's unbearable heat, your body was now recoiling from the cold. Sleep would have been an escape, but you didn't dare; you needed to be alert, just in case, and your heart was pounding too hard in fear to sleep anyways.

So you laid there, in the cold, the pain all over your body a dull roar compared to the merciless throbbing of your broken leg. You laid there for an undetermined amount of time, not wanting it to drag on by constantly checking your watch. The only thing you could see was the darkness beneath the vines, and the dead Griever twenty feet away.

When you finally checked the time, unable to resist, you only had an hour left. You were trembling now, your body cold and exhausted, but your mind still keyed up. The involuntary movement hurt and jostled your leg, but there was nothing you could do about it. You stayed hypervigilant, hoping and praying to the Creators that nothing else would happen. With forty-five minutes left, however, you heard another Griever nearby.

You shut your eyes, tears beginning to stream down your face. Please. No. I'm so close.

You stayed quiet and still, tears cascading down your cheeks noiselessly as the Griever began to walk past slowly. You stifled a whimper as it walked right past you, inches away. Your body was so tense the tremors that had rocked you for hours stopped, and finally, when you heard the mechanical whirrs fade away into the distance, you exhaled, letting out a deep sob.

After taking a long time to finally calm yourself down, you checked your watch. Ten minutes until the doors opened. You were in no condition to even drag yourself out of the tangle of vines, but the Grievers would be gone after the doors opened, and hopefully, the other Gladers would find you. You stuck your uninjured leg out, boot just barely peeking out of the ivy.

You finally let yourself believe you were really going to live, and sighed, relief forcing your body to finally relax from its painfully stiff hold.

You were going to survive.

Alby sighed, frustrated with his injured Keeper of the Runners. "Minho-"

"No, Alby!" Minho interrupted the leader. Usually, despite his hardheadedness, Minho would never disrespect his superior like that, especially in front of all the Keepers during a meeting, but there was no way he was being left behind while they searched for Y/N. He was going to be there. No matter what. "I can walk on it, at least. Jeff and Clint gave me a brace, and they both said that as long as I don't sprint, I should be fine! There's no shucking way I'm staying behind while she's still out there!"

Newt sighed, seeing that this argument was doing nothing but wasting time. The doors were opening in five minutes. Exchanging a resigned look with Alby, he said, "Fine. But you aren't going alone."

Minho relaxed slightly and nodded gruffly at his best friend, grateful. Gally stood up, the rest of the Keepers looked up at him. "I'll go."

Minho didn't bother arguing; it made sense. Fighting against it would just delay finding Y/N. Newt couldn't run, especially since he had aggravated his limp pacing, and Alby was needed, more so now that his second-in-command was out of commission. Gally was physically the strongest Keeper, and Minho's leg wouldn't allow him to carry her out fast enough, if she was injured, or-

Well, if she was injured.

Minho nodded and headed towards the North entrance, Gally trailing behind him.

When the doors opened they immediately began running through the Maze, neither of them speaking. It was nothing like the easy silence of the routine runs with Y/N. It was fraught with tension, and a fear of what they would find. Minho ignored the pain in his leg, hellbent on finding you as quickly as possible.

They ran for almost an hour before Gally said, "Shucking hell-"

Minho whipped his head around the where Gally was staring, and gaped. There was a Griever there, lying on its side, underbelly torn open and a black pool of blood surrounding it. Minho's breath caught in his throat when he saw a trail of both black and red blood smeared along the ground, leading to a tangle of vines, as if someone had crawled away, alive-

Hope immediately rose up inside him, and he fervently prayed please be okay, please be okay.

Gally and Minho both scrambled to the ivy gathered at the wall, and Minho could have sobbed when he saw a small boot, attached to a bruised and cut up leg, sticking out. He couldn't bend down well to drag her away from the vines, but once he stood over where she was, he heard a weak, "Minho-"

Minho collapsed to his knees in relief, heedless of his injury, and Gally knelt down next to him, helping him grab the hands that reached out from the vines. When she was pulled into view, Minho nearly sobbed at the sight of her, heavily injured, skin cold as ice and covered in dirt, and god knew what else, but alive.

Gally and Minho, regardless of their lack of getting along, immediately pulled her into their arms, hugging her between them tightly.

"Ga-gally- Minho-" her voice was hoarse and cracked, and tears were streaming down her face, but damn, it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

The three of them knelt there, hugging and trembling for a few moments, before both boys pulled back to look at her. The side of her face was bruised and a little swollen, and the left side of her shirt was caked in blood. The skin of her right thigh was torn up, and the lower portion of the same leg was bent at an awkward angle, but despite the amount of pain she must have been in, Y/N was beaming, the widest smile Minho had ever seen.

Gally smiled back at her fondly, relief relaxing his usually severe expression, and said, "Alright, shanks, back to the Glade. We need to get you to the Med-jacks."

He helped Minho get onto his feet, a little unsteady, and then pulled Y/N into his arms bridal style. She sucked in a sharp breath at her injuries being jostled but immediately curled into the warmth of Gally's body. They walked back since Minho's leg was hurting, and Gally was being cautious not to hurt Y/N more, all three of them nearly giddy with relief.

Newt's leg already hurt like hell from pacing all night, but that didn't stop him from standing at the Maze entrance like everyone else, fidgeting. Normally, Alby would have forced everyone to go back to work, but even he was standing there, waiting anxiously for Gally and Minho to return with you.

They'd been gone for over an hour, and Newt's anxiety levels were through the roof, when finally, they came into view.

Minho was favoring his hurt leg, Gally walking right beside him, and in his arms-

"Y/N!" Newt's heart dropped at the sight of her limp body, but then she lifted her head weakly, and suddenly, the Glade erupted into yelling and cheers and relieved laughter.

"Y/N! Y/N!" All of the Gladers felt the deep knot of tension that had fallen over the whole population loosen at the sight of that little sign of life. When they walked out of the Maze, everyone gave them some space, but they were all cheering and craning their necks to look at their miraculously alive friend.

"Alright, alright!" Alby yelled over all the noise. He tried to be businesslike, but Newt could see the overwhelming relief in the slump of his shoulders. "You've all slacked enough today. She's back. Get to work, shanks!"

The crowd dispersed, their almost bubbly good mood a big contrast to the grim silence of only minutes ago. Ultimately, the only ones who stayed were Newt, Jeff, Clint, Alby, and Chuck, who patted the ankled of Y/N's unhurt (relatively) leg and then left to go back to work.

"Okay, klunkheads," Jeff said, "Med-jack room. Now!"

Gally carried Y/N, and Clint went to swing Minho's arm over his shoulder. Before Newt could protest, Alby did the same to him, and they were all led by Jeff to get help.

Despite the pain in his leg, Newt had never felt so good, even as he was laid down by Alby onto the uncomfortable Med-jack bed. Once he'd helped Newt get situated, Alby walked over to Y/N, who was getting fussed over by Clint.

"Glad you're okay, girl," Alby said softly, laying a hand on hers. She smiled up at him tiredly, squeezing his hand before he let go, walking out to sort out all the work he'd abandoned that morning. Gally just gave her a nod and a small, rare, genuine smile before leaving the room, letting the door shut behind him.

Jeff, once he'd given him some of the muscle ache cream for his leg, instructed Newt to rest. Newt reassured himself that his friend was okay by looking at her exhausted face one more time, and fell asleep smiling to the sight of Minho staring at her from the next bed over like she was the sun in the sky.

Sweating, you whimpered when Clint took a hold of the foot of your broken leg. Minho moved to sit in the chair next to the bed you were laying on, and he grasped your hand. You squeezed it gratefully, tears running down your face as Clint shifted your leg bone back into place. Finally, he finished, and he brought out the (thankfully) rarely-used leg brace sent up by the Creators.

You were exhausted, every muscle in your body aching terribly. Your thigh and side burned, especially after Clint had to clean out the wounds, but the pain was worth for the familiar sight of Minho's face, just a foot and a half away. You'd never thought you'd see it again.

Once Clint had finished patching you up, even cleaning your exposed skin as much as he could with a wet rag, he stepped away.

"You'll live," he said, slight teasing smile on his face. You grinned up at him tiredly.

"Thanks, shuckhead." Your voice was scratchy and hoarse, but better after the water he'd given you. You looked at him a little closer, noticing the dark circle under his eyes. You frowned. "Go sleep. I'll be fine."

Clint shook his head. "Ain't I supposed to be the Med-jack, shank?"

You didn't take his shit. "Then you should know that sleep is good. Go," you cut off the beginning of his protest. "Unless I need constant lookin' over, sleep, you stubborn shank."

Clint shook his head again, exasperated but fond. "Okay," he relented. "But you best be yellin' up if you'll be needin' anything, alright?"

You nodded. "Go!"

Clint laughed but ultimately left you alone with Minho and Newt. Newt was in the bed on the other side of Minho's, sleeping peacefully.

Minho, however, was getting up from his seat next to you, letting go of your hand. A small jolt of alarm ran through your sluggish body. "What's wrong? Where are you-"

Minho cut you off by dropping himself onto the side of your bed, seated right next to your uninjured side. You stayed quiet, content to look at him in silence for a little while.

His gaze was roaming up and down your body, cataloging every hurt part of you. You were doing the same to him, looking over his bulging biceps and strong legs, wincing a little at the bandage on his calf.

Minho shifted on the bed, careful not to jostle you, so you were lying down side-by-side. You were a lot smaller than him, so even though the beds were for one, there was enough room for the both of you. Without hesitation, he retook your small hand into his.

You laced your fingers together, looking down at your intertwined hands before looking at his face, only inches away.

"Scared the shuck outta me, Y/N," he said softly. "Never do that klunk to me again, okay?"

You nodded, giving him a weak, sleepy smile. "I'll try not to," you said, injecting a bit of a joking tone. It was quiet for a moment.

"If-" he cut himself off, looking frustrated. "If anything happened to you-"

You tightened your grip on his hand. "No, Minho. I'm here now. That's what matters."

He nodded stiffly, looking into your eyes, still looking a little lost. You looked straight back at him, before your vision dipped a little to his lips.

Looking back into his eyes, you noted the darker tone they had taken, and how they looked down to your lips as well. You carefully adjusted your bad leg so that you could lean over to him, and after a little pause, your lips connected.

The position was a little awkward, and you felt like a steaming pile of klunk, but nothing had ever felt better than how the hand not holding yours slid to steady your hip as he held you against him, both of you laying on your sides to face each other. Your free hand slid to the back of his neck, caressing the short hairs at his nape.

The kiss was kept chaste, but when you pulled back, you had never seen such a heated look in anyone's eyes before. Minho looked seemingly straight into your soul before leaning his forehead against yours, both your eyes slipping shut.

"I love you, slinthead, you know that?" he whispered, like a little secret. Your lips nearly split open from how wide your smile was.

"Love you too, shuckface." You opened your eyes and gave him one last peck, before laying back all the way and snuggling as much as you could into his side.

With your hand still cradled in his, the heat of your body warming him, you both fell asleep, safe.

[kissbaekhyunsbuns]

It’s my heart you’re stealing pt. 1

Idol!Chanyeol and Student!Baekhyun

(WARNING!! Strong language)

“The night we kissed”

Baekhyun threw his book at the wall. Sehun stared at him in disbelief. “You gotta be kidding me. Finals are in seven weeks, no worries” He said, now smiling a little, seeing his hyung being like that. “You know, today is the music awards, did he invite you?” Sehun asked and that caught Baekhyuns attention. He smiled sheepisly, trying to cover his face with his hoodie. Every kid in the campus knew that Baekhyun was solo artist Park Chanyeol’s friend and when Chanyeol was worldwide artist who made thousand dollars in a day, Baekhyun was studying so he could go to great university. “Did he invite you?” Sehun repeated and stared at Baekhyun from across the room. Baekhyun took his hood off of his head and nodded, still smiling like a sheep he is. 

“That’s cool I think. By the way, has Jongin told you about that thing between him and Soo?” Sehun asked and turned his head back to the book. He is trying to take control of his studying life finally. “Wait what? They’re dating?” Baekhyun asked pretty rushily, getting up from that lazy position he was sitting on his chair. “They kinda had a one night thing and it spread, and now they’re the school’s top one couple and now that Kyungsoo is school’s president, Jongin has three times better chances to be the dancing clubs president” Sehun said, quietly rubbing his face. Clock was about six, still he was pretty tired. “Even though clearly you and Chanyeol are the top one couple” He smiled and stared at Baekhyun again. Baekhyun’s big ass hoodie covered his whole hands, when he putted his hands on his face, trying to cover his face. He blushed easily and when they were talking about Chayeol, he always blushed. “We are not a couple, you uncultured brat!” He whined and threw his math notebook at Sehuns face. Sehun just laughed and dodged the notebook. They both laughed until someone knocked on the door. Both of the boys glanced each others and then Sehun got up and walked to dorm’s door. He opened the door and in a second Junmyeon walked in, flipping all over the place. “Did you know that Mrs. K. is going to retire next year?” He almost shouted as he walked in, keeping book in his other hand. He was studying to be a CEO. He looked like he was straight from a business trip everyday. He wore a suit, tie or a bow everyday, 24/7. “No, I didnt. Did you know that Baekhyun is going on a date with Chanyeol?” Sehun said with a little sass in his voice. Junmeyon’s face light up and he stared at Baekhyun in disbelief and happiness in his face. “Seriously? I thought it was Jongin and Soo who are the top one couple but now this? You’re going to be a star!” Junmeyon said and sat down at his bed. Baekhyun stared at him, trying to figure out what he’s saying. “So you want me to use him so you can see the defeat in Kyungsoo’s eyes? He doesn’t care about fame!” Baekhyun grunted and threw now biology notebook at Junmyeon. “Yeah, but you know that Minseok and Jongdae are going to be a thing?” Baekhyun said now pretty calmly. That caught Junmyeons attention right away.  “Well I heard that theyre crushed to each others” Baekhyun said, smiling like a sheep again. He was pretty happy about helping Jongdae and Minseok together. They both have been talking to Baekhyun about theyr crush things, and for past couple weeks they both have been talking about each other, and they are so in love. Talking about the devil himself, Baekhyuns phones messagetone rang. He took his phone, opening it. His password was everywhere 2-7-1-6. He pressed thoso numbers and the phone opened. The message was from Jongdae himself. Baekhyun opened the message and started laughing. In his message was linked a picture of a mirror, where was Jongdae. Naked. With his little ding-dong. I got up at the speed of light and ran to the dorm’s hall. Baekhyun saw his dorm’s door open. “Hey idiot!” Baekhyun shouted sheepishly smiling, walking to Jongdae’s and Jongin’s dorm, when he immediatly saw Jongdae suffering on the bed, his phone on the other side of his room. He knew he fucked up. “You sent your nudes to me, so if you want me to keep silent, give me ten dollars and a promise that you go out with Minseok” he laughed, and Jongdaes head popped from the pillows. “With Minseok Kim? H..he is wi.. with Luhan” he stuttered and Baekhyun saw his cheeks getting redder. “Yes! I have seen you with him. ”You have nice clothes” ”Thanks, would you like them 50% off? I sell them myself” ”I would like them 100% off” He is whipped for you, he literally wants to rip your clothes off of you” Baekhyun laughed again, jumping on the same bed as him, just to annoy him. Baekhyun stopped when Jongdae turned, and he clearly was thinking about it. “Ok. Deal” He laughed and Baekhyun showed a happy smirk. “By the way, who were those nudes meant to?” Baekhyun asked and then Jongdae pushed him down from the bed. Baekhyun got up laughing and smiling, running away from the room. 

Okay, now you’re all caught up. Let’s go back to the night when Asian music awards were starting.

I played with my hands, trying to keep the nervousness away. Chanyeol said he was here in five minutes, but that was six minutes ago. It was only a minute, it still made me nervous. I turned my head and immadiately saw black limo curving from the street. I felt my face light up when it drove in front of me. I wited couple of seconds and Chanyeol opened the door. My sheepish smile came back and then I saw the flowers in the backseat behind Chanyeol. “Shall we go?” He asked, smiling back at me. I nodded, as he walked me to the car. I sat down at the backseat and in a second, Chanyeol sat nex to me. “Im so lucky that we met” He whispered, taking the flowers, now giving them to me. I smiled, taking them to my lap. “So... is this a date-date or just a friendly visit at the music awards?” I asked, and that was somehow funny to Chanyeol. He laughed, covering his face a little. “Im giving you flowers, taking you to Asian Music Awards with a limo? I think it is a date, but let’s see what happens” Chanyeol smiled, taking my hand. Not like ‘no homo’, it was like ‘all the homo’. And omg that made me blush. I covered my face with my hand, trying not to look at Chanyeol.  “You’re so cute when you’re blushing” He said, letting my hand go, when he put on his sunglasses. “Why sunglasses? It is almost night?” I asked, looking at him. He laughed and lowered his glasses like in some kind of action movie. “Because I look cool like this, also I have to perform like this” He said, smiling to me his cute smile. He was so much longer than me, but he still was a little baby. “I was thinking... what are the news gonna say? Pop-star Park Chanyeol in AMA’s with a little student from Seoul?” I asked, looking at him. In radio, there was playing actually Chanyeol’s and Punch’s song ‘Stay with me’. It was my favourite collab song from him. “They are going to say what they want. No one cares” He said, smirking a lttle. Suddenly the car stopped. I looked from the window. Are we there already? Chanyeol smiled and opened the door. He stepped out and by his side was too bodyguards. Cameras were everywhere. I stepped out next to him, as he looked at me smiling. I heard some photographers asking who am I, but hanyeol just took my hand and took me with him towards the stadium.The bodyguards told us where to go. We walked from the doors, as we left the photographers with all the questions. We walked together an aisle filled with neon lights. We heard Pentagon’s ‘Shine’ being played and it made the moment weird in a good way. We walked now the aisle down to Chanyeol seat. He was next to Zico and CL. At the same table! This was like a dream come true. I smiled sheepisly as Chanyeol placed me to sit next to him, as he went to get drinks to us. Chaerin glanced at me and then turned to me. “Are you Chanyeol’s... what?” She asked. She looked amazinf She was wearing black hoodie over her bloody red dress. It was a cold night, I cant judge her.  “Oh! I am his friend!” I said, smiling at her. She smiled back, taking a quick sip of her drink. “I have known he for so long, that I see that he might even like you. He never takes anyone here. You’re special” She said, now taking longer sip of the drink. It’s weird that she seems cold and all that, but she is pretty nice. “That dress is special because it gets to be worn by you” I laughed and that made her smile. “Thank you! You are so nice! I hope I see you around!” She said as she stood up. She probably had to go perform. I smiled at her as Chanyeol sat next to me, offering me a drink. I took it, taking a quick sip of it.Then someone hit my seat and made my hand shake. My white shirt was all red because of the drink. I quickly stood up, as Chanyeol stared in shock at my shirt. A little panic took over me and then Chanyeol started to take me to the bathrooms. “Dont worry, it’ll come off!” He said, trying to calm me. He told me where the bathrooms are and I quickly ran there. I opened the door and walked to the sink. I poured the water as warm as I could take it and i tried to was the drink off. Chanyeol stayed at the table. I ruined my shirt. Everything was going wrong. Okay, the shirt was little whiter.  I washed my sleeves too, theyre covered in the drink too. I sighed, giving up. I heard Day6′s ‘Shoot me’ outside. It was a great song. Then I heard someone walking in. I glanced at the mirror. It was Chanyeol. I smiled a little. He walked next to me, smiling back to me. “It was a failure. Im a failure” I whispered and turned around. He was right behind me. I could feel his breath on my skin. “No. You are not a failure. You’re Byun Baekhyun, not a failure” He said, at the same time Jiwon walked in. Chanyeol took a step from me, staring at the floor, until he walked into one of the bathrooms. Now Chanyeol took both of my hands, putting them into my hips. I stared at his eyes. He just smiled. I tried not to look at him, but it felt impossible. “Relax” He said, now leaning in. I was pretty scared, but when he putted his lips onto mine, everything left my mind.