#Now I want an acoustic version....
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Doh Kyungsoo & Lee Suhyun records a full version of "Rewrite the Stars"... We are Blessed. The version that captivated the world...
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#doh kyungsoo#lee suhyun#rewrite the stars#EXO#EXO D.O#exo kyungsoo#Akmu#Akmu lee suhyun#Now I want an acoustic version....#Music#Vocals#Vocalists#Kpop#Korean artists#the greatest showman#Youtube
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the next time someone asks me my favourite music genre i'm just going to say the hunger games soundtrack and when they're like, 'oh you mean the album?' i'll say 'no no the genre' and the people who get it will get it
#listening to the new olivia rodrigo song for the prequel movie and i can feel myself coming alive#safe and sound yellow flicker beat everybody wants to rule the world (lorde's version) come away to the water kingdom come#now tHAT'S what i call music#like yes it's mostly folksy acoustic but it's a very *specific* kind of folksy acoustic that sends shivers down my spine actually#mine#the hunger games#see also songs that aren't on thg soundtrack but *are* part of the genre: the enemy by mumford and sons birds of a feather the civil wars#heartlines by florence and the machine ben howard's cover of video games and also wolves by ben howard#and many more that conincidentally also reside in my 2013/2014 teen wolf playlists lmao
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I wrote a song for just acoustic guitar and voice and I want to record and release it. I'm getting way too far ahead of myself but I'm tired of not releasing anything and I write the songs anyway thus far
#I wonder if there's something else I could play on acoustic guitar so it's not just one song. Maybe Suburban Decay? or a cover of something?#or just see if we can pick a new song or do our own version of Social#I have so much more energy in the evening than the morning now and all I can think about is actually having the band be in the same room#in 3 weeks at our next show#and we have a drummer stepping in for that who's offered to continue to play with us but my other friends who had just joined as drummer#is coming back a week later so I want to show him how I worked on his songs and see if he learned any new SD ones I sent him#I'm trying to book any show I can find for the summer and just learn new songs for those sets in the meantime while I make merch somehow
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Favorite muna song i want to start listing to them and trust your taste and opinions completely
omgg.. <3 you are giving me full reign to lez nerd out rn
i feel like this is a good one to start with i recommend it to everyone!! self love anthem and it’s SAUR fun!! i have a distinct memory of seeing them open for phoebe and whipping my phone out so i’d remember it cause it slays
would probably be criminal not to include her. queer celebration anthem that has made me sob several times over. also naomi laughed last night when i fucked up the ‘right now!’ jo tries to get the crowd to do during the verse so now i think of that <3 also recommend looking up a live version during trumps presidency their added bit to the bridge was rlly beautiful
this is my agenda. it’s so beautiful. the og slays too this is just like. naomi’s vocals katie’s alto realness 😫 and the production!! like. get some headphones and sit back for this one
oh my god. the bridge… ascending
i was abt to say crying on the bathroom floor but around u came on in the car and it is one of my Absolute favorites i play a lot. also fun knowing it’s abt naomi. truly poetry but yeah the whole first album u can sort of follow the songs abt naomi and sort of… back and forth between them i looooove them. i will stop now here is a little top 5 starter pack <3 report back if you’d like at any point
#id also say if you like sortaaaa country vibes listen to kind of girl. so healing abt having a gentler dialogue with yourself. and#in the mv they’re in drag! so sexy lol#i can also give u faves from their self titled. also bonus if u love me now UGH. id recommend looking up their acoustic spotify version#from there good luck soldier. if u WANT my thoughts on getting into the albums i will always talk#but i believe in ur own journey too lol#always just feel free 2 chat w me ab them. also i’ll plug lydia munadyke bc they ALSO love them and they’re an og stan#asks
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so I just finished listening to the drEP and I'm gonna say something controversial: paranoid is my least favourite song on it 😶
#im sure it'll grow on me like roadtrip did but for now even everest sounded better for me like im very particular with sounds#and the music in it just irks me 🫣#give an acoustic version of it and ill love it#i really love slow down and kind of love (THE MV VIDEO WAS SO CUTE ��)#spotlight is just insane and invincible wants to make me cry good job dream
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i want to inject technology is a dead bird and all of its versions into my bloodstream
#i think my favourite version is the johnny k reprise. absolutely fucking incredible i want to inject that shit into my veins#but there's something about the original album version that just. hits#maybe it's the robot voice (connie my beloved i miss you so much)#also between here and now is really short but also fantastic#there's something about that version that makes me wanna stick my head out the window of a moving car at night and feel the wind in my hair#actually most of mars' songs make me wanna do that#and her voice sounds so sweet in the acoustic internet sessions version <3#anyways yeah i fucking love technology is a dead bird#the song and the album#although if we're referring to the whole album i think my favourite song on it is mrs stadler (that music video fucks and so does the song)#but the johnny k version of tiadb (not on the album) is one of my favourite songs period#mars argo#brittany sheets#technology is a dead bird#landfill rambles
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good evening i have rambled so much lately
#🌙.rambles#found out there's an acoustic version of some ff7r songs just now#sector 7 undercity melody.. uwahh tifa 🥹 fuck ff7 fanwars n the best girl n the ships n stuff that annoys me so much but#personally i relate quite a lot to tifa honestly. yeah. n yk aerith's the fav of apollo so. hehe c:#i was going to vent a bit again actually bcs it still.. hurts. yeah. i'm so torn n so confused w everything n#feels so helpless. but#idk even prom i don't really look forward to anymore i guess i can't help but be a bit sad#when i was younger. nah even last year i rmb wondering about it. n. yeah#i won't ever be able to experience myself what i dream of but. yeah.#so.. i just. i haven't met my online friends irl yet yk? i really love them i really want to meet some of them irl one day n then#there's the concert ! i was watching some live stuff earlier n music made me so happy.#i'm really. happy that yk. matty healy he recovered. he's doing so much better now n it gives me hope too#yk. helps me believe that eventually i too wld find my way again.#i really don't know right now but music just makes me happy. like yk all those instruments n it's just so beautiful. it's so beautiful.
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I know all I talk about is Scarlet/Flowers however Scarlet/Harkness is also incredible (and has been canon for years and years now they're married) and I'm listening to my Harkness playlist right now and it always makes me want to start sobbing
#scarlet legacy#playing right now is the acoustic version of take me to church#and i just want you to imagine a war hardened hobgoblin sob singing it to his wife who is also the oracle of his religion#god these characters are going to kill me
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i hardly ever listen to anything frm lover except for paper rings ithk london boy and false god (also listen to the live acoustic versions of cornelia st dbatc and daylight) and i listened to it today and it rly brought me back to winter 2019 when i lived in a different city
#i just do not like the production on the main versions of those acoustic tracks#i wish there was a cruel summer acoustic bc i rly dont vibe with the album version production but i want to like it....#i am Not one of those ppl who is like lover is bad except for and then gives a long list#bc even those songs i listen to i have issues with lover production was just bad. yntcd perfection though thank yew#also immediately cried upon sygb coming on. havent heard that since the one time i did when my mom got diagnosed (its gone now but yknow.#could always come back)
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💖 Day 3.5 is now available! 💖
For the last couple of months, only Server Boosters had access to the 3.5 update... Buuuuut now it's available for everyone to play in the 14DWY Discord — and soon itch.io once I'm happy with the QA and state of the game — so please don't feel pressured to join unless you want to!!
The full devlog + even more screenshots are under the cut ^^
What's been added to the 3.5 version?
📺 Streamer Mode!
I've been told that it's difficult to stream and monetise age-restricted videos on YouTube and Twitch, so I added an option to remove the sexual content and strong language used in the demo.
Now y'all can invite Ren into your bed for cuddles without putting your streamer career on the line /silly /lh
This won't affect the 18+ rating or dark themes/elements of the game, however! Although Streamer Mode will prevent you from seeing any "gruesome" CGs in the future, most of the core elements of the game will still be tied to the choices and decisions you make. So you won't miss out on the overall experience by using streamer mode!!
⚙️ Custom Pronouns!
It only took me one entire year to get around to it, but you can finally choose your own preferred pronouns (or use a set of pronouns instead)... At the cost of being able to change them mid-game ^^;
Since the original pronoun screen wouldn't update until a new scene was displayed, I temporarily disabled the feature. But once I find a workaround, I'll bring it back!
💗 Choose how others perceive you!
You can now choose how the cast and narration perceive you! Originally, the narration was kept strictly gender-neutral (outside of pronouns and genitalia picked by the player), but this will soon change in future updates.
For more clarity: you don't get to choose the words specifically, but you can choose between masculine, feminine, and androgynous terms!
📋 Separate top and bottom genitalia!
You can now choose your tatas and pps separately! >:3
Alongside that, you can also choose your preferred body type!
I removed the "both" genitalia option because a few players still assumed it was an obscure version of "intersex". That wasn't my intention and I don't want to mislead anyone, so I took it out for now ^^;
I also didn't want to include a screenshot of the new genitalia choices in action (because it's NSFW), so y'all get the same character menu screen for the nth time instead lmao
📱 Relationship Screen Overhaul!
You can now change your own status for more immersion, and long-term Server Boosters will eventually be able to submit and use their own icon within the game as well!
Stalking finding your friends has now become easier by using "Buddy Maps"; a new app that allows you to see the location of all the cast members!
I want to offer players more incentive to check the relationship screen since they tend to miss the status updates, so hopefully this might help ;v;
It also says it "updates every few hours" so folks don't go overboard and check every 5 seconds to see where Ren is gdsghf (also keep in mind that he's a hacker lol)
🖤 Additional Scenes Update!
Day 2 received a brand new CG!!!!! Originally, I planned on only adding a few CGs sporadically throughout the game, but it didn't feel right to leave Day 2 so... empty... so I added a brand new CG to (hopefully) make things feel more balanced and natural!
If you decline Teo's offer on Day 3, Leon will now call and try to convince you to reconsider. However, players are still allowed to decline, and if they do, they'll reach a dead end.
After listening to feedback on itch, I changed some of the dialogue during Days 1-3 to make it seem more consistent! They're only small changes though, so it's honestly not worth looking for sdgjssga
🎶 Updated BGM and SFX!
I wanted to try out a different style of music to see if it fits the vibe of 14DWY more! The BGM features more acoustics to suit the "beachy" theme of Corland Bay, though I made a conscious effort to include piano elements as well to stay true to the original!!
I figured it'd be better to give players a live example before I make a poll (to see if they prefer the change or not) and publish it to Itch.
Some new SFX have also been added, though it's very minimal and honestly not that noticeable.
How to download and play the update?
(warning: clicking on the following links will open Discord!!) To download the Day 3.5 update, simply join the 14DWY Discord server, verify your age, and visit the "14dwy-updates" channel!
Alternatively, you can also wait until the update is publicly released on Itch to play it as well!! (It normally gets released shortly after a round of QA testing/getting feedback from the server, though I may release it earlier if I feel like it hehe ^^)
Enjoy!!
#14 days with you#14dwy#💖 — 14 days with queue.#🖤 — updates.#🖤 — spoilers.#I'm not gonna say much about my current doxxing situation because I've got it under control now + it's being handled privately#Plus I don't wanna give it/the people involved any unnecessary attention. I just wanna announce the update and Get Back To It™️#(''it'' bein the grind 💪 It never stops lmao /silly)#OG followers will also know that these topics aren't the vibe I normally have on this blog (or any of my accounts); so I don't think I'll—#—make ANOTHER public post about the situation and bring more attention to it (when I just want everything to be over and put to rest ^^;)#However I also don't want people to think that I'm... ignoring?? the situation entirely (because gettin doxxed is a very endangering thing)#So I DO want to quickly acknowledge it here and say that it's all currently handled + I'm safe and okay + this won't stop me from—#—continuing to work on 14DWY (and other future projects). I also don't want to give these awful people more power and incentive to continue#—this kind of pathetic behaviour; so the less attention and encouragement being shown will ultimately be better in the long run :3#Aaaaaanways!! 😮💨#My other accounts will be restored shortly and my askbox will be opened once I feel comfortable. I'll get around to following folks—#—again in my own time; so please don't feel offended if I unfollowed you during a moment of vulnerability and anxiety!!#This is all EXTREMELY overwhelming and scary for someone with SAD/AvPD; and I /gen can't handle seeing it all over my timeline ;v;#Sorry this got ranty and personal again hjdsgjsdh T_T I said I wouldn't say much; so I'll shut up now hehe#🖤 — shut up sai.
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all night | pjs (m.)
pairing ⇢ jay x reader
genre/au ⇢ fluff, smut, established relationship
wc & rating ⇢ 2k+ | 18+ (minors gtfo)
summary ⇢ all Jongseong wanted was to put you to sleep but you're more than awake to play along with his melodies.
warnings ⇢ cursing • unprotected sex • riding • handjob • fellatio • pet names • praise kink kinda? • aftercare
song ⇢ i love you 3000 - stephanie poetri
a/n: happy national boyfriend day to my main man! i didn't realize that i had an est. rel wip whipped last feb lmao. it's been sitting in my drafts for too long so might as well ^^
the dim lights and the strums of guitar strings are lulling you to sleep.
that's what Jay's been hoping to accomplish anyway after noticing you getting fussy as soon as you arrived earlier. it happens when you’re very tired so he'd love for you to sleep right away after dinner.
now you're plastered on your shared bed, brows scrunching as you try to make yourself comfortable. you look so adorable, just like when you complain about how bright it is every time the lights are on due to your sensitive eyes.
it's a good thing Jay knows just what you need. he turns off some lights but leaves a lamp on so he can still see around the room. walking towards his closet, he grabs his guitar from the inside which you didn't notice. then he sits beside your lying form before placing the body of the guitar on his propped leg.
smiling at your sleepy state, Jay starts tuning the guitar, some random melody already emerging in his mind to play for you. he made it a goal to himself to help you sleep after finding out that it didn't come to you easily.
.
the sound of your boyfriend plucking the strings was making you sleepy until you looked up at him. the sight made you gasp inwardly, the sleepiness leaving your mind as you watched Jay playing his guitar.
he's always been gorgeous but the silhouette of his face looks so defined from your line of vision. the few loose strands of his hair provided some extra flair with his shadow that you'd love to sketch sometime.
but seriously, how the fuck is he this beautiful even with the lights are low?
"baby can you sing for me?" you ask him softly which brings his attention to you. the request made Jay pause in playing, his face now slightly confused which is so cute.
"sing? but i thought you were sleepy that's why i'm playing"
and this is why you fell in love with him. not because of his physical attributes but of his thoughtfulness and how sweet he is. your heart swells that he's trying to help you sleep this way. you’ve been more than grateful that he became a part in your life.
"i wanna hear your voice" you sluggishly reply, burying yourself further in the comforter while your legs nuzzle the huge pillow between your thighs.
since Jay loves you so much, he accepts your request. he chooses to sing an acoustic version of a song that you often play in the background when cuddling him sometimes.
he thought this was it, that you'll finally fall asleep but you’ve started humming along instead, adding harmonies to the song which he didn't really mind since he loves hearing you sing.
"baby" he paused his singing but not playing so it served as an instrumental to your melodies.
"hmmm?" you feigned ignorance with your eyes closed as your hand started to caress his thigh, syncing it with his strumming.
"what are you tryna do?" he queries though he knows what you're doing. if that small quirk in your lips should tell Jay otherwise. your eyes are back on his face when he nudges you, a wolfish smile forming on your lips as your hand creeps closer to his upper inner thigh.
it's out of nowhere but your man's too fucking fine and you're getting horny just by watching him playing his guitar. you can't be blamed for that though, anyone would be if they were in your place.
"can i actually suck you off?" you asked, looking at him sheepishly with those puppy eyes that he couldn't possibly say no to. even without those, he'd say yes, wanting to give you whatever you want.
"come 'ere" he beckons you with one hand after placing his precious guitar by his side. it's at a safe distance thanks to your boyfriend's spacious bed so you have nothing to worry about but still. it's one of his collections, an expensive one so you don't want your clumsiness to damage it. but even if that were to happen, he wouldn't mind really. he can always get it repaired or buy a new one instead.
carefully crawling closer to Jay's lap, you place an arm on the mattress to support your upper body. he's surprisingly hard when you start palming his clothed length, squeezing it briefly which earned a small groan from him.
"oh you are so cute" you giggle, doing it again to watch his reaction.
"don't tease" he huffs, a small pout on his lips.
you might not be able to see his face clearly this far but you know he's struggling to contain his moans. he's fisting the bedsheet so you pull down the hem of his sweats at once, happy to hear the sigh of relief escaping his lips.
his rigid cock slaps against his clothed tummy and you're salivating to have it in your mouth. pumping his dick for a bit, you eventually lowered your head to wrap your lips around its tip. you're thinking of teasing him like you always do but not tonight, it's you who wants his cock in every way possible.
you feel one of Jay's hands on your head once you take him all in, petting your hair and it prompts you to swallow him deeper until his tip hits the back of your throat.
"fuck i love your mouth" his deep groans are sending shivers through you, moaning around his dick which drives Jay insane. he gathers your hair while you continue to suck him off, bucking his hips up when you hollow your cheeks. he didn't mean to but he can't help it, you're just too good at this.
reaching the back of your nape, he pulls you closer as your hand pumps the rest of him that you couldn't fit in your mouth. the warmth of your mouth is pushing him closer to his orgasm but you release his dick all of a sudden, causing a small whimper that he didn't plan on making.
“shhh” you smile teasingly at Jay and he curses, moaning louder when your tongue starts licking the undersides of his cock down to the base.
although it was you who initially started this, he's the one desperate to fuck you right now. he’s been wanting to cum but he tries to hold it back, preferring to do so inside you.
“can you fuck me baby?” he rasps, his hand patting down your head as he closes his eyes. you look too hot sucking him off that he might burst his nut on your face, not like he didn't before but he's craving for your pussy this time.
“m’kay” another giggle escapes you after hearing Jay's request. you did plan on fucking him and you were excited as soon as he let you suck him but you didn’t think he’d beg first tonight.
lifting yourself up from the bed, you took the rest of your clothes off. nothing much since you were just wearing a loose shirt and matching thin sweats along with your underwear.
“these fucking tits” you hear Jay mumble quietly as he reaches for your bare breasts. one thing he loves secretly is how you’re always braless once you’re home. it's easier for him to play with them with his hands or mouth.
a needy moan escapes you when he pinches your nipples before you scramble to straddle him. he proceeds to rid his shirt as well, pulling off his sweats completely so now you’re both completely naked.
looking at each other fondly and you really couldn't stop your intrusive thoughts from coming out.
“you’re so fine what the hell how did i get so lucky”
you say softly as you start grinding against his slick cock, cupping his face with both your hands and you can feel his skin warming up at your words. he averts his eyes from yours once he sees that pretty smile on your face.
"i'm lucky to have you too baby" he responds before his hands hoist you up, grabbing his cock to align it in your soaking entrance.
“are you blushing? awe-ahh..”
yes, Jay is and he has no idea how you can even see it with this dim lighting and your uneven vision. he knew you were gonna tease him like you always and he usually doesn't mind. it's just that all he can think of right now is your pussy, fucking it a lot until you're all spent.
he hasn’t prepped you with his fingers but you love the stretch each time your pussy takes his cock. at first, he was hesitant since he’s always wanted to make sure you’re always ready before sex but you're determined and eventually, you managed to convince him.
“tight..fuck, i’ll never get used to this ugh” he hisses, spewing more praises at how good you feel around him and you’re leaving kisses around his handsome face in return.
“i think i can move now baby” you reassure him, circling your hips to test the waters.
his hands are on your waist, his grip tightening when you start bouncing on him.
"g-gorgeous.." he whispers. "you're so gorgeous my love" he adds quietly and you clenched around him as a result. watching your boyfriend struggle to hold himself because of you boosts your confidence.
the way he reacts to everything that you do encourages you to do it more, wanting to see how good you make him feel.
"j-jongseong.."
it's taking a toll on your legs but you can feel Jay so deep that it's overpowering it. he can feel it though, your waning energy so he sits up before laying you gently on your back without removing himself from you.
"fuck baby, i'm close" he speeds his thrusts once he feels your legs tighten around his waist.
"close, close, mhmm" you're slurring your words, dazedly looking at Jay that he falters in his pace. you're too pretty like this, sprawled under him while he's making you feel so good. there's nothing in this world that makes him happy aside from this.
it pushes him to reach his peak, filling you up like you always wanted.
"you good babe?" he prods, stroking your warm cheeks with the back of his fingers.
"yea..so good.." you're breathless when you respond but your boyfriend's looking at you lovingly. the subtle thrusts of his hips soothe your walls despite the sensitivity, always have been when you're both riding your high.
his deep chuckle reverberates in sync with your heavy breathing, whining when he pulls out of you. he urges you to stand up so you both can clean up at the bathroom, and comply reluctantly. being the caring person that he is, Jay solely cleans you up first even when you keep fighting him off.
you're clearly sleepy now so he helps you in putting on a fresh set of clothes. the entire time that he briefly left you, he was changing the sheets and put your clothes to the laundry so you'd be ready to sleep as soon as you're done.
lying down, you nuzzle the comforter while waiting for your boyfriend to join you in bed. you're dead tired though but he's still in the washroom so you're gonna close your eyes for a bit.
"i love you" you call out to him, the sleep waving over you but you're trying to stay conscious.
"i love you too baby" he responds as he finishes up, eager to join you since sleep's coming to him as well. however, when he came out of the door, he finds you already sleeping.
jay didn’t mean to fuck you to exhaustion but watching you sleep soundly tugs his heart a little. you finally look peaceful unlike the weariness in your face that you tried to hide earlier. all because of him and he's more than happy to do it again, anything for the person he loves the most.
.
e/n: it's been ages lmao and i realized i had this last min 💀. summer and september were so busy for me and i tried writing whenever i can. but now it's October and i'll be more busy? (i go out/party almost every day/week when i'm not working) so i'm gonna focus on my Halloween/scary fics since yk i can only post them this month.
#enhypen#jay x reader#enhypen smut#enhypen fluff#enhypen x reader#jay smut#enhypen imagines#enha smut#enha x reader#enhypen scenarios#jay fluff#jay imagines#jay scenarios#park jay#jay park#park jongseong#jongseong x reader#jongseong fluff#enhypen jay#jay enhypen#enhypen fanfiction#enhypen au#enhypen drabbles#enhypen fic#kpop imagines#kpop scenarios#kpop fanfic#kpop x reader#kpop fanfiction#ensfw
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We can see you guys had a lot of fun watching Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version) with us last night! 🕵️💜
Here’s a clip of I Can See You, the fourth and final acoustic song added to Taylor’s Version of the film. Stream it now, later, or whenever you want on Disney Plus! 🤗
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Where Will All The Martyrs Go [Chapter 13: The Regrets Are Useless] [Series Finale]
A/N: Below are your final predictions. Let's see how you did... 🥰
Series summary: In the midst of the zombie apocalypse, both you and Aemond (and your respective travel companions) find yourselves headed for the West Coast. It’s the 2024 version of the Oregon Trail, but with less dysentery and more undead antagonists. Watch out for snakes! 😉🐍
Series warnings: Language, sexual content (18+ readers only), violence, bodily injury, med school Aemond, character deaths, nature, drinking, smoking, drugs, Adventures With Aegon™️, pregnancy and childbirth, the U.S. Navy, road trip vibes.
Series title is a lyric from: “Letterbomb” by Green Day.
Chapter title is a lyric from: “Whatsername” by Green Day.
Word count: 6.1k
💜 All my writing can be found HERE! 💜
Rain pours outside the cabin, mist-shrouded pine trees and still dark water, a place in southern Oregon called Lake of the Woods. The twin-sized bed with a thin foam mattress was once used by kids attending summer camp, capture the flag and s’mores, hikes and scary stories, but now the children are ghosts and the monsters are real, stumbling down streets and lurking in dark places, licking blood from what’s left of their lips.
Aemond is here but he’s also not, a castaway on an island where the world never ended, his hands in your hair as you straddle him, your hips moving tentatively, his lips and teeth at your throat, the sharp points of his canines like fangs.
“Am I doing this right?” you murmur doubtfully. “I feel like I’m definitely not doing this right…”
“Shh, you’re great, you’re incredible.”
“I’m sorry I don’t know how to do everything already, I’m sorry you have to teach me—”
“Stop,” Aemond commands, a sharp sigh through your hair. “I love this. I love you. I want to teach you things until the day I die.”
The nervous tension in your muscles unravels—peddles thrown into water, campfire smoke vanishing into indigo night—and now his hands are on your hips, steadying you, guiding you. You link your fingers around the back of his neck and try to find a cadence that isn’t uncomfortable, ungainly, effortful. You wanted to try this. You want to experience everything with him.
“Take your time,” Aemond is saying like it’s difficult for him to keep a train of thought, his eye closed, his cheeks flushed, blood-colored blooms like a dusk sky. “I’m fine down here, don’t worry about me…”
Rain drums against the windows; lightning flashes in the sky and thunder growls. From the front porch of one of the other cabins, you can hear the indistinct droning of conversations and Aegon strumming the acoustic guitar he brought from the beach house. It’s something you’ve overheard him singing before, one of his strange midcentury darlings, a song that should be too old for him to know the words to.
“All you big and burly men who roll the trucks along
Better listen, you’ll be thankful when you hear my song
You have really got it made if you’re haulin’ goods
Any place on earth but those Haynesville Woods…”
Your skin gleams with a cool sheen of sweat; there is a draft through the cabin walls that makes you shiver as you cling to Aemond. You roll your hips a certain way and he moans—suddenly, involuntarily—and you know you’ve found the right rhythm.
“It’s a stretch of road up north in Maine
That’s never ever ever seen a smile
If they’d buried all them truckers lost in them woods
There’d be a tombstone every mile
Count ‘em off, there’d be a tombstone every mile…”
Aemond is kissing you deeply, desperately, trembling hands and gasping shallow breaths. And there is not just euphoria written into the lines of his face; there is disorientation, there is wonder. He barely manages: “Alright…um…if you want me to last longer than about thirty more seconds, you should probably slow down…”
“No,” you tease, grinning as you bite at his full lips.
“When you’re loaded with potatoes and you’re headed down
You’ve got to drive the woods to get to Boston town
When it’s winter up in Maine, better check it over twice
That Haynesville road is just a ribbon of ice…”
Aemond cries out, louder than you’ve ever heard him before—you’ve never had privacy, you’ve never truly been alone—and then again, a helpless ecstatic sound, pleasure so overwhelming it almost starts to feel like pain.
“Quiet!” you whisper, giggling, touching two fingers to his mouth. “Everyone’s going to hear you.”
“Oh my God,” Aemond says. He falls back onto the mattress and brings you with him, his arms wrapped around you, kissing your cheeks and your forehead as the two of you lie there panting and entangled, his blue eye astonished. “Okay, okay, I need a minute. I think I just burst an aneurysm.”
“I killed you?” you purr with feigned distress, basking in your conquest.
“You can kill me whenever you want. You can kill me five times a day.”
“When you’re talking to a trucker that’s been haulin’ goods
Down that stretch of road in Maine they call the Haynesville Woods
He’ll tell you that dying and going down below
Won’t be half as bad as driving on that road of ice and snow…”
Aemond stares up at the ceiling—a steep gable roof, a motionless fan—and now you can tell he’s thinking about his family again, discorporate screams, misplaced trust. Otto Hightower’s bones were found in the shower, meaning he likely died before or not long after their power failed and water would have run out in the municipal system. They were probably killed before you and Aemond ever met, distant galaxies lightyears away, remote long-dead stars. And so all the blood you paid to get to California was wasted.
“Do you ever think about the people you have saved?” you ask gently as your fingertips trace the ridge of his scar. “You stitched yourself back together. You healed Aegon’s burns. You sutured Cregan’s arm. You got me and Rio down from that transmission tower.”
“I guess I did,” Aemond says, but his voice is ambivalent, as if none of these things count. He has not found someplace safe for you yet. His job is not finished; his triumphs may only be temporary.
“Aemond…back in Pennsylvania…why did you decide to help us?”
“Luke spotted you guys, and we all talked it over. If it had just been Rio, honestly, I wouldn’t have taken the chance. A man his size, and possibly armed…could be trouble, you know? But I figured since he was traveling with a woman and you seemed to be with him by choice, he was probably okay. And then when we first met, he was so protective of you…didn’t want me touching you, didn’t leave you alone…I realized he had to be a good guy.”
“He was,” you say solemnly. I was supposed to remind him about the racks. I was supposed to warn him. But you didn’t warn Rio about what was waiting to kill him in that sand-swept grocery store in Winnemucca, just like you didn’t warn Jace about radiation or Baela about the way the rungs of the ladder that ran up the side of the grain bin were rusted and creaking, and maybe there is more than enough blame to go around.
“And then after Battle Mountain, as soon as we found the gasoline and ammo, I knew we had to go back for you. It hit me all at once. I couldn’t protect you by leaving you with Rio and Cregan. And I couldn’t let you go. I’ve never had something like this before. I didn’t know it existed. I told the others we were turning around, and Aegon said: Thank fucking God. Rhaena took off sprinting towards the car.” Then Aemond kisses you again, but tenderly this time, slowly, like you’ll have forever and there’s no need to rush. “I’m going to get you to Odessa. I’m going to take you somewhere safe.”
The rain is stopping; there are still a few hours of daylight left.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Hey, Chip Skylark. Check it out,” Aegon says, grinning at you from where he’s sprawled on the wet dock and smoking a cigarette, wearing his neon green plastic sunglasses, his left leg finally freed from its bandages and on full display. You’re all wearing the same things, stolen t-shirts and shorts, sweatshirts at night when it gets cold, sneakers you can walk hundreds of miles in; but Aegon won’t give up his Sperry Bahamas. “It’s nature’s tattoo.”
You sit down beside him and admire the scar tissue, red knots and white cords, jagged terrain like a mountain range, organic highways and bridges and trails. “It’s a roadmap.”
“That’s appropriate.”
You’ve been traveling on foot for two weeks since Criston’s white Tahoe ran out of gas and was abandoned in the town of Mad River, California. Now you are only about ten miles from Odessa, close enough to reach in half a day but too far to get into town before nightfall. This time tomorrow you’ll be there, and it will either be a haven or a wasteland, and if Rio’s parents’ community in Odessa has disappeared then so has your last idea for where to go. Absentmindedly, you skate your fingerprints over the bumps and grooves of Aegon’s leg like a blind man reading braille. He shifts and clears his throat; you’ve made him uncomfortable somehow. You lift your hand away.
“I’m sorry, does that hurt?”
“Nah. I can’t really feel anything besides pressure. The nerve endings got fried.”
“Oh.” But now you don’t know what you did to upset him. Aegon doesn’t provide an explanation. Down the dock a ways towards the shore, Rhaena is reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and listening to the pink Sony Walkman formerly owned by a little girl named Ava. Inside whirls Green Day’s 2004 album American Idiot, which Aegon took from his bedroom at the beach house to add to his CD collection, a cultural archive, a gift for posterity. Cregan is teaching Daeron to fish with poles he found in one of the cabins; Helaena is bringing them worms. Aemond and Luke are gathering things dry enough to burn—books and wooden chairs from inside the cabins—and piling them up so Cregan can cook dinner once it’s caught.
“So,” Aegon says, changing the subject, scrutinizing you as he puffs on a Marlboro Gold. “Everything going okay?”
You know what he means; he must have heard Aemond earlier. “Yup.”
“Got it all figured out?”
“Sure did.”
“Great. I’m happy for you,” Aegon says, and yet there’s a twinge of melancholy he’s trying to hide. It must be hard for him; he and Daeron are the only single ones.
“We’ll find you some suitable candidates for your harem when we get to Odessa.”
He chuckles. “Oh, come on.”
“Guys, girls? Do you have a preference?”
He’s smiling wistfully down into the water, a dark rippling mirror. “I have too specific a preference, that’s the problem.”
“Yacht girls in bikinis. Golf cheerleaders.”
“There are no cheerleaders in golf, you yokel.”
“Okay, well…I’m sure you’ll be very popular with the lonely, traumatized, widowed women of the apocalypse.”
Aegon gazes morosely out over the lake. He pitches the end of his cigarette into the water, and your eyes catch briefly on the black ink of the tattoo on his forearm: It’s not over ‘til you’re underground. “I don’t know. I’ve been sober for two weeks and now everything is annoyingly clear.”
“What’s bothering you?”
He waits a while before he answers, evasive. “I’ve never been good at anything.”
“Everyone feels that way sometimes. Luke thinks he’s not good at anything either.”
“But Luke’s nice. I’m a rat bastard.”
You laugh. “You’re kind of nice, Aegon.”
“Yeah right.”
“No, seriously. I like being around you. You make me feel better. You’re like…” You ponder how to word it. “I feel like I could tell you whatever and not worry about being judged for it.”
He snorts. “As if you’ve ever done anything judgeable.”
You shrug, peering out over the lake. “I abandoned my family. I stopped sending them money, I stopped calling. And when everything happened…the zombies, the world ending…I didn’t even consider going back to Kentucky to try to help them. I went west with Rio instead. And now they’re probably all dead and it’s my fault. That’s evil. I couldn’t have gotten away with that level of betrayal. I must be cursed.”
Aegon is watching you, eyebrows raised. He has never heard this before. “But your family sucked, right?”
“Yeah,” you admit. “I think it would be hard to argue they didn’t.”
“So fuck ‘em,” Aegon says simply.
You smile at him, touched, grateful. “Okay. Fuck ‘em.”
“I’m relieved my family’s gone,” Aegon confesses, something so brutal he’d never tell anyone else. “I mean…I feel kind of bad about my mom and Criston. But as long as they were alive, I’d always be the person they raised. And if I could bring someone back, it wouldn’t be any of them. I’d pick Rio.”
“I would too,” you say softly, staring down at the faint burn marks on your palms from when you were stranded on that transmission tower with him, talking him out of suicide, so adamant that both of you were going to make it to Oregon. And you were wrong.
“So if you’re cursed, Pita Chips, sign me up because I’m right there with you.”
Rhaena pulls out an earbud and says to Aegon: “I don’t get this album.”
“What?!” he exclaims.
“It’s so good!” you concur. On the shore, Cregan is spearing several gutted rainbow trout on sticks so they can be roasted over the fire. Ice is gleefully gulping down fish organs.
Aegon continues: “Whatsername! St. Jimmy! Jesus of Suburbia!”
Rhaena blinks, glancing between you and Aegon. “But neither of you grew up in the suburbs.”
“It’s not about the suburbs, Rhaena!” Aegon replies with frenetic hand gestures. “It’s about being disillusioned and angry and failed by all the adults in your life, and self-medicating, and losing love every time you get a taste of it, and wanting to burn everything down and start over. It’s about hating the world and the world hating you back.”
“Okay, sure. I still don’t get it.”
You say: “You might have had too happy a childhood.” And you and Aegon burst out laughing.
“You guys are so weird,” Rhaena says, but she’s smiling. She stands up, gives Aegon back his Walkman, and walks to the end of the dock where Cregan is cooking the rainbow trout. Aemond and Daeron are gathering up the aluminum buckets found at the campground and set outside earlier today to collect rainwater. There is one five-pound bag of trail mix left to share, and then all the food is gone. If Cregan doesn’t kill something, you won’t eat.
“We should go help them with dinner,” you tell Aegon.
He groans. “Should we really?”
“Yeah. We should.”
“Fine.” He takes your hand when you offer it and struggles to his feet. Then you inhale a lungful of the scent of roasting trout, and startlingly powerful nausea punches through your stomach, so repellant you have to clamp a hand over your mouth to stop yourself from retching.
There has to be something wrong with the fish. It’s never smelled like that before.
Aegon seems baffled. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Does the trout smell right to you?”
Aegon sniffs the air like a labrador. “I guess…? I barely smell anything.”
“Well you probably destroyed your nose cells with all the coke.”
“That’s discriminatory. Addiction is a disease.” But his brow is furrowed with concern. “Seriously, are you okay? You look awful. Not like that. You know what I mean.”
“I’m fine.” You don’t feel fine; but everyone down by the fire is chatting and joking around nonchalantly, and surely if there actually was something wrong they would have noticed. “I’ll be back in a second.”
“Sure,” Aegon says, perplexed.
You hurry past the others and take refuge in the cabin you’re sharing with Aemond. Inside the trout smell isn’t so strong. You sit at the edge of the bed and suck in several deep breaths, trying to calm down, willing the confounding wave of nausea to pass.
Did I eat something bad, did I get bit by a spider or something…?
You are checking your arms and legs for little raised bitemarks when Helaena enters the cabin and shuts the door behind her. When she opens her burlap messenger bag to root around inside, you glimpse photographs she must have taken from the beach house, the frames left empty on the mantle of the fireplace. Then Helaena pulls out a pregnancy test, just one, Clearblue.
You gawk at it. “What are you doing?”
“You look sick,” Helaena says matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, but I don’t think it’s that.”
She is puzzled, wide innocent blue eyes. “Why not?”
“Well…I mean…that would be freakishly quick, wouldn’t it? Like…quick as in immediately. People can’t get pregnant the first time they have sex, right?”
“Huh. They really don’t have sex ed in Kentucky,” Helaena says, and leaves you alone with your pregnancy test. You don’t feel so nauseous anymore, but you sneak around the back of the cabin to take it anyway, because now you’re thinking about the possibility with a vividness you’ve never experienced before: a round blossoming belly and tiny handprints and Aemond cradling his child in his arms. And by the time you get the result, you aren’t even shocked. It feels like something that’s supposed to happen.
You and Aemond don’t have a moment alone together until after dark, sitting on the porch swing outside your cabin for first watch, everyone else asleep, Ice dozing serenely by your feet. The only sounds are the breeze through the pine trees, cool and damp, and the hoots of owls, and the chirping of crickets and cicadas.
“So guess what,” you say casually as moonbeams float rippling and fractured on the surface of the black-glass lake.
Aemond smiles drowsily, not expecting anything. “What?”
“In approximately eight months, I might be having your baby.”
At first, he doesn’t speak; he only studies the test when you hand it to him, and then looks at you like he’s not convinced you aren’t angry, like he can’t quite bring himself to believe that you’d want this with someone like him. “Are you afraid?”
“No,” you answer honestly. Maybe you should be, but you aren’t. “I’m hopeful. I feel like as soon as I realized it, everything got brighter. And now I’m thinking about the future instead of the past.” They’re not going to grow up like I did. They’re never going to think they aren’t loved. “What should we name it?”
“Not Otter.”
You laugh, trying to muffle it so you don’t wake anyone. Ice lifts her head and stares at you curiously, her shaggy grey ears straight up.
“I don’t know, I’m terrible with names,” Aemond says; and now he’s smiling again, a wide radiant smile, and you know he’s thinking about the future too. “Hope or Peace or something. Something happy. Something about starting over.”
You take his hand. “I can’t wait to start over with you.”
“Just one more day,” Aemond says.
One more day.
~~~~~~~~~~
“So what am I going to do in Odessa?” Luke asks as the eight of you—nine, if you count Ice—trek eastbound on Route 140. You are about five miles from Lake of the Woods and halfway to your destination. It’s only 80 degrees and overcast, good walking weather, although there is a looming threat of rain, occasional rogue drops and far-off rumbles of thunder. “Everyone has valuable skills except me. Chips has great aim and can build things, Daeron has his compound bow, Aemond is basically a doctor, Rhaena is learning how to shoot guns and treat injuries…”
“Aegon has skills?” Cregan jokes, casting him a good-natured grin. Aegon acts like he’s going to whack Cregan with his golf club, which he’s spinning around haphazardly. Both his Marlin .22 and acoustic guitar are slung across his back. There aren’t many bullets left, but everyone has a few.
“Aegon can navigate,” Luke says. “And probably impregnate ten women a day. Very useful during a population crisis.”
“We don’t need that in the gene pool,” Rhaena notes.
“You wrote stories in college, right?” you ask Luke.
“Screenplays, yeah,” he says hesitantly. “But I wouldn’t say I was super talented or anything.”
Aegon claps him on the shoulder “Well I’ve got good news for you, kid. A big chunk of the world’s screenwriters are probably dead now. So you’ll look so much better in comparison!”
“Thanks…?” Luke says.
“What I mean is,” you continue. “You could write books for people to read, since there aren’t really libraries or Barnes & Nobles anymore. And you could interview people to get their life stories and then record them so they aren’t lost forever. The next generation should know what the world was like before the zombies.”
“Yeah,” Aegon says as he pets Ice. “Someone has to tell them about blue raspberry Icees, right Blue Raspberry Icee?”
“Maybe,” Luke says thoughtfully, and you notice that he’s smiling a little.
Ice begins whining, and there is a rustling in the woods to the north, low-hanging branches of bigleaf maple and dogwood and Douglas fir trees being forced aside. “Zombie!” Aegon announces, pointing. Immediately, Daeron nocks an arrow and then releases it, and the figure draped in the shifting shadows of foliage drops to the ground.
“Hey Aegon,” Daeron says after a few seconds.
“Yeah?”
“That was actually a zombie, right?”
“Totally,” Aegon replies, but he doesn’t sound certain.
Aemond turns to his older brother accusingly. “How sure are you?”
“Like…50%.”
“Aegon!” Rhaena cries, petrified, and everyone rushes off the road to investigate.
Blessedly, the felled creature is long-dead, a former park ranger whose tan uniform hangs in gore-stained tatters. The nametag reads: Underwood. The arrow pierced its soft rotting skull and remains lodged there until Daeron pulls it out to be used again, giving Aegon an impatient scowl as he does.
“Close call,” Aegon tells him. “Think they would have charged you as an adult?”
“Lord almighty, that gave me a scare,” Cregan says, chuckling. Helaena spies a blackberry bush and begins picking a handful, and Cregan goes over to join her. Rhaena and Luke are telling Aegon that he needs to be more responsible and should have waited for Luke to confirm it was a zombie with his binoculars. You exchange a glance with Aegon: he rolls his eyes, you offer a smirk of commiseration. Ice is already trotting back towards Oregon Route 140.
You haven’t told anyone else that you’re pregnant yet, but eventually they’re going to notice that Aemond won’t leave your side. He sighs and asks you: “Have you had enough of this little field trip?”
“Definitely.” You head for the road. Aemond walks with you, placing you not on his left side but on his right where he can see you. You ask, smiling: “You don’t trust me to watch your blind side anymore, huh?”
“I prefer the view the way it is.”
You are only a few steps from the black artery of pavement that cuts through the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, a 114,000-acre preserve of wilderness that somehow—although it is 2,500 miles away—reminds you a bit of eastern Kentucky, endless emerald forests, the omnipotent shadows of mountains. And because you are on Aemond’s right side, he can look down and see something just in front of you on the earth strewn with knobby roots and pine needles and dead leaves.
“Don’t!” he shouts, snatching your forearm and yanking you backwards, and he’s never touched you like this before—so forcefully, so violently—and you stumble and almost fall, and your arm burns and aches where he grabbed you, and people are asking what’s going on, and you peer up at Aemond with confusion, fear, mistrust.
“Why…?”
And then you hear it rustling from the same place where you were standing a moment ago. The others yelp and dash out of the way as the snake escapes into the woods, a drab spotted olive green, a rattling tail, an angular skull like an arrowhead.
“Aemond?” you say, because he hasn’t moved, hasn’t made a sound. He looks down, and your gaze follows his. On his right calf, just a few inches above his ankle, are two small puncture wounds from the snake’s fangs, each dribbling a thin river of blood.
“Northern Pacific rattlesnake,” Helaena says, her voice shaking, tears welling up in her horrified eyes. “Venomous.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Aemond has one arm draped across Cregan’s shoulders, the other over Aegon’s. He’s moving slower, or is that just your imagination? His steps are less steady, his breathing more labored. His leg is swelling, a deep blue phantom of a bruise spreading beneath his skin, so tight it looks like it might split open.
“We’re almost there,” you say; you keep saying it, because hopefully that will make it true. “We’re only a few miles from Odessa, and we’ll find people who can help us.”
“Aemond, you’re a doctor,” Luke says.
Aemond’s voice is weak, pained, hazy. “I’m not a doctor.”
“You know what I mean!” Luke yells, frantic. “How do we fix you? What can we do?”
“Nothing,” Aemond says listlessly. “There’s nothing you can do without a hospital. I’ll either get better or I won’t.”
“People in Odessa will know how to help,” you insist. “They’re outside all the time, they hike, they hunt, they fish, they’ve seen snakebites before. They must have. They’ll have treatments.”
“Aemond,” Rhaena breathes, and you turn to see there is blood running from his nostrils. You scream, and Aemond touches his fingers to his face and then watches as they come away bloody.
“Put me down,” he tells Cregan and Aegon.
“No—” you begin, but then his knees buckle and he’s on the pavement anyway, blood pouring from his nose and his lips, blood filling up his right eye. Cregan walks to the shoulder of the highway, his head in his hands. Aegon stays beside Aemond, and you’re kneeling there with him, both of you using anything you have to clean the blood from Aemond’s face: the corners of your shirts, your bare hands.
He’s covered in blood, you think. Just like Jace, Baela, Rio.
“Can’t clot,” Aemond is murmuring. “The venom causes coagulotoxicity. Internal bleeding too. I feel like…like there’s all this pressure inside…”
Rhaena is taking Aemond’s pulse like he taught her to, fingers on the underside of his wrist. “It’s really faint,” she says quietly.
You grab a plastic Gatorade bottle filled with rainwater out of your backpack and tilt it against Aemond’s crimson-stained lips. He manages to swallow some of it. “Aemond, listen to me,” you say as calmly as you can. “You’re so close. We’re almost there. I need you to hang on a little longer.”
He shakes his head, slow dizzy motions. “It doesn’t matter.”
“They might have doctors in Odessa.” This is a fantasy, but you can’t resist it.
“Even if they do, there won’t be any antivenom. And it’s too late anyway.”
“No,” you say savagely, a sob ripping through your throat. “We didn’t cross 3,000 miles so you could die here. I won’t let you. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s not fair.”
“Aegon,” Aemond says, reaching for him, drained and fumbling.
Aegon catches his hand. “I’m here.”
His eye—crystalline blue corrupted with red, blood in clear water—drifts to his brother. “You have to get her to Odessa. You have to help take care of everyone.”
Aegon is weeping. “Man, it’s supposed to be you. How can I still be here if you aren’t?”
“You can do this,” Aemond says.
“I’ll try.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, Aemond,” Aegon says, then crawls away on his hands and knees and collapses on the pavement, gutted, inconsolable, hemorrhaging grief instead of gore.
Everyone is crying and touching Aemond—his face, his hands—saying goodbye, accepting tasks, and they come away stained with red, and rain has begun to fall from a dark sky growling with thunder. Rhaena takes his medical kit. Helaena takes his Glock and stows it away in her messenger mag. Then Aemond looks for you, and now you are alone with him here in the middle of the highway, two golden lines on black asphalt, and with your thumbprint you whisk away the rivulet of blood that is spilling from his eye.
“You’re going to be okay,” he whispers as his heart fails, as his lungs fill with blood instead of air, as his pores leak rust and ruin. “Odessa will be everything we hoped for. I just won’t be there with you.”
“You can’t leave me,” you’re saying as rain patters against the road. I left my family and now my family is leaving me.
“Love,” he sighs, almost too softly to hear. “I don’t want to.”
You lie down on the pavement with him and rest your head on his chest, feel it rise and fall beneath you as the rain descends in sheets. And then Aemond exhales, deep and rattling, and he never tastes oxygen again, never speaks, never touches you. You don’t move from where you’re lying. You’re there until you’re drenched to the bones with rain and the world is a cold mist of pine trees, of wilderness, and you can never go back to any of the places you’ve been before, you can never get back the people you’ve left there.
Aegon is shaking you. “We have to keep moving,” he chokes out through tears.
You reply without looking at him. “I’m giving up now.”
“No you’re fucking not. We have to walk to Odessa.”
“Everyone’s dead in Odessa. Everyone’s dead everywhere. I don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t want to stay in a world like this.”
On the periphery of your vision, you can see Aegon glancing at the others, standing just off the highway and under the canopy of the pine trees. He seems defeated, he seems lost.
Then suddenly Aegon turns back to you. “Hey!” he screams, so loudly you jolt upright, your palms on wet pavement, rain dripping from your hair. “I’m still alive. You’re still alive. This isn’t over yet. I said I would get you to Odessa, so that’s where we’re going. Stand up. Right now.”
Aegon holds out his hand. Thunder booms, lightning strobes, and then you take it. He pulls you to your feet and hesitates, as if he didn’t think he would get this far. Then he throws his arms around you, a crushing desperate embrace, a wordless devotion, a silent vow, sobbing into the curve of your neck, tasting the copper and iron of his brother’s blood on your skin.
“We have to keep moving,” he says again, like an apology, like he understands how impossible it feels. “The storm’s getting worse. It’ll be too dark to see soon.”
“We can’t leave him alone like this.”
“That’s not Aemond anymore,” Aegon pleads. “Aemond’s gone. And he would want us to live.”
Now the others are here on the road too: Daeron, Helaena, Cregan, Rhaena, Luke, Ice whimpering and licking scarlet stains of blood off your hands. You’re all holding each other; you’re all any of you have left. Cregan carries Aemond off the pavement and on a patch of grass alongside Route 140, the seven of you cover his body with branches of pine needles and white petals from dogwood trees. Rhaena is the first person to begin walking again, heading east. One by one you follow her. The downpour is torrential; if you are attacked now, you are nearly blind. Aegon stays beside you no matter how slow your steps are. You think if he disappears, you will too; the strings that tie you to the earth will fray and unweave and your bones will turn to mist, your voice will only be the wind howling down mountainsides. You have no way of knowing how long you’ve been walking or how many miles are left. You wonder what will happen to Aemond’s child if there is nothing for you in Odessa.
The rain is stopping. Now you can hear crows, woodpeckers, formations of geese honking in a foggy sky and squirrels scrabbling up tree trunks. Falcons perch watchfully on dead power lines. Rare aisles of sunlight are breaking through dissipating clouds.
They rise up out of the verdant jungle, a tangle of Pacific ninebark and blue elderberry: four figures in green camouflage, two men and two women, all wearing tactical sunglasses and wielding assault rifles, M16s you’re fairly sure, automatic and with 20-round magazines. Daeron moves to nock an arrow and then stops when he sees you’ve put up your hands. The others follow your lead: palms empty, willingly surrendering.
It’s them, you think dazedly. The people in Odessa. They’re alive, they’re real.
“Please cooperate and hand over all your weapons,” one of the women says, fifties, muscular, alert hawkish eyes.
No one moves. Then you unholster your Beretta M9—received from the U.S. Navy almost exactly five years ago, a different lifetime, a different world—and hold it out to the woman in your open palm. And now everybody else is giving their weapons over too: Aegon and Luke’s .22s, Rhaena’s Ruger, the spare Ruger and Aemond’s Glock hidden in Helaena’s burlap messenger bag, Daeron’s compound bow, Cregan’s axe. Ice peers up at Cregan anxiously, her yellowish eyes wide, but she wags her tail when he runs one of his large, calloused hands over her rain-soaked fur.
Aegon is still clutching his golf club. One of the men stares at him, incredulous. “You can keep that, son,” he says.
The woman nods to the men. “Nick and Glen will escort you five miles up the road, and then return your weapons. We ask that you keep moving and do not turn around. We don’t want trouble, but we can defend ourselves. Don’t think you can double back tomorrow and try to loot us or anything. This is your only warning. Do you understand?”
Aegon nudges your hand with his knuckles, then taps you harder when at first you’re too shellshocked to notice. You have to explain. You have to tell them why you’re here.
“I…I…” You begin, unable to make the words leave your lips, rats from a sinking ship, plummeting bodies from a burning building. Here you stand on a precipice, and with so many other people to save. “I served in the Navy with Bryan Osorio. We left Saratoga Springs together. He told me it would be safe here.”
Now they are interested. Slowly, the woman lowers her M16. “You know the Osorios?”
“I do.” I’ve known them for half a decade.
“Could any of them identify you and verify what you’re saying?”
“His wife, Sophie. She’s blonde, and she likes elephants, and she had a baby recently.”
The woman is scanning the faces behind you. “And where’s Bryan?”
“He’s not here anymore,” you say, and now you’re sobbing again. Aegon is squeezing your shoulder, his head bowed. “I’m sorry. I wanted to help him get home. I was supposed to warn him, I was supposed to stop it from biting him, but I didn’t and now he’s gone—”
“Okay, okay.” The woman motions for you to calm down, but her voice is kind. “Who are these guys? Your colleagues, your friends?”
“They’re my family.”
“You can vouch for them?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll all submit to searches for bitemarks?”
“Yes.”
The woman turns to the men she called Nick and Glen. “Take them inside, will you? Get the ID verified and then we’ll process everyone.”
“Got it,” the older man says. And then, to you and your companions: “Follow me.”
Nick and Glen lead you into the forest, the canopy of pine needles so thick the daylight turns to dusk, and you think of lightning bugs, of firelight, of drinking Guinness on the beach with Rio on Diego Garcia. There are several patrols, groups of four or five, that approach to stop you until they see Nick and Glen and wave you through. Then the trees open into a meadow of buttercups and daisies and pink fawn lilies, and beyond that an immense village, some houses decades old, others currently being constructed with logs from pine trees. There are hundreds of people tending to livestock, hanging up laundry to dry on clotheslines, digging in gardens, making candles and soap and butter. There are children playing without fear, giggling as they chase after scampering dogs, challenging each other to games of kickball and Uno.
In front of one of the houses that predates the apocalypse, brick with a screened-in porch, there is a small blonde woman standing in a garden, smiling and chatting with a middle-aged couple. The baby she carries against her chest in a blue sling has dark curly hair like Rio’s.
Sophie and the baby are here. They’ve been alive the whole time.
You rest a palm on your belly without realizing you’re doing it. “What happens now?” you ask Aegon.
“The rest of our lives.”
It is unimaginable, it is impossible, it is so full of luminous potential you feel like the light will spill out of your pores like blood, it’s an oasis, it’s a second chance, it’s an island in the vast lethal untamed blue of the Indian Ocean.
“Let’s go,” Aegon says softly, taking your hand and leading you across the field of wildflowers, kaleidoscopic blooms in the last days of summer.
#aemond targaryen x reader#aemond x you#aemond x y/n#aemond x reader#aemond targaryen x you#aemond targaryen fanfiction
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PICK A CARD 🐣⭒ your partner's reaction to finding out that you're pregnant...
reminder that this is a general reading and messages found here may not apply to everyone. take what resonates, leave what doesn't, and don't force anything if it does not fit.
BOOK A READING WITH ME · LINKTREE · 18+ PATREON · SUGGEST A PAC TOPIC · TIPS ♡ tips, bookings, and feedback are highly appreciated!
GROUP ONE
cards · nine of pentacles, judgement, nine of swords, the magician.
channelled songs · happiness/the gondola man by elliott smith. so good right now by fall out boy. the catch up by ambré.
hey there group one ♡ your partner will have an initial burst of excitement. they may jump up and run to you, and grab your shoulders and hug you.
they’ll start pacing around the room as they talk about all the people you need to tell next, how the nursery is going to look, all the things you need to buy.
but, the more they talk, the more real it will start to feel and the more it will start to stress them out. they’ll start to overreact. they’ll start to worry about the future, finances, and if they will even be a good parent.
you’ll have to calm your partner down and remind them that you are in this together. that no matter what, you will have each other through this whole journey of pregnancy and parenthood.
GROUP TWO
cards · ace of cups, nine of wands, six of swords, justice.
channelled songs · i’m with you by grouplove. alive by empire of the sun. all i want is you by 112.
hey there group two ♡ you and your partner may not be married when you fall pregnant, though some of you may be engaged.
your partner may be a bit traditional in this regard -- and may also take into account that you may not want to be pregnant at the wedding, and look pregnant in your wedding photos -- and so may immediately suggest getting married now. or moving the wedding date sooner, for some of you.
they seem like a methodical, logical person. so while there will be smiles and kisses and excitement, their reaction will be more practical. they may already be doing mental calculations about the cost of raising a child, and the cost of having a wedding or changing the plans around your wedding.
GROUP THREE
cards · page of wands, knight of wands, knight of swords, the hierophant.
channelled songs · war of hearts (acoustic version) by ruelle. meaning of love by nct 127. gondolier by dalida.
hey there group three ♡ your partner may already have children or a child from a previous relationship. they have already done this before, but that does not make them any less excited to be doing this for you.
they will get excited for the pregnancy itself, but they will also get excited that their other child (or children) will now have a new sibling.
your partner may have always wanted a large family and so they will feel fulfilled and will start telling you about all the things they want to do in the future, together, as a big blended family.
they may start rambling about how great it was being a first time parent, and how excited they are for you to have this experience too. and, most of all, for them to be doing this with you.
GROUP FOUR
cards · the devil (reversed), seven of wands, eight of cups, ace of swords.
channelled songs · rose parade by elliott smith. tulsa jesus freak by lana del rey. one mo’ gen by mariah carey.
hey there group four ♡ your partner may feel despondent. they may ask you if you really want to keep it, if you’re sure that pregnancy and parenthood is something you’re really for.
because that is not something that they are ready for. they may not have entered this relationship with seeing a future with you, and will be scared of what a baby could mean for their future. what it could mean for their plans. what it could mean for their dreams.
they may withdraw in that moment, and almost shut down. even if they do not say in that moment that they don’t want this baby, you will be able to tell from their body language alone.
#**#tarot#pick a card#pac#tarotblr#tarotonline#tarotcommunity#tarotcreator#witchblr#witch of color#divination#channelled messages#channeled messages#spirituality#spiritualism
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the clash | iv. london calling
hobie brown x goth!reader
word count: 2.8k
genre: enemies to lovers
warnings: language, insults, hobie hating you, you hating hobie, smoking weed, alcohol, mentions of a gwen canon event, mentions of death, lil angst
a/n: nother long one! i can’t wait to make it crazy angsty bc when i tell u i have THOUGHTS 👀 thank you to everyone who’s reading, i’m trying to update it every day, so hopefully i can stick with that schedule! enjoy this chapter, friends :)
now reading: iv. london calling
previous chapter: iii. black planet
next chapter: v. ever fallen in love
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He fixes his watch to open a portal to his world. Gwen, Miles, and Pavitr basically run to get to it. He motions for you to go ahead, and you walk through. Immediately when you step into his room, you’re hit with the smell of weed and incense. You’d be lying if you said you hated it. You glance around. You see drums, another electric and acoustic guitar, empty spray paint cans, spray paint on the walls, stacks of newspapers (all defaced in some way)… it feels very Hobie to say the least. “Now this. This is a livin’ area,” he says, appearing behind you. You shake your head. “So loud, both figuratively and literally. How do you ever get anything done?”
“By being louder than everyone else, obviously,” he responds, and you roll your eyes. “What a way to live,” you remark. “Better than that quiet, dark, and gloomy, way,” he retorts, and you shrug. “If you say so.”
“Hey, Hobie, do you still have the roof all decorated?” Gwen asks and he nods. “Course I do. I own the place, head on up,” he jerks his head upwards, and Gwen turns to Miles and Pavitr with a smirk. “Race ya!”
“Hey no fair! You have been here so many times!” Pavitr yells as Gwen takes off. “Come on, Miles!” you hear her yell. Miles smiles gently and shakes his head before going after the two of them. “He’s so obsessed with her it’s making me sick,” you mumble, and Hobie snorts. “What? Miles and Gwen’s relationship too much for you? You hate love?”
“Love has never done anything but cause me pain. And not the good kind,” you glance at him with a frown, and he raises his eyebrow. Suddenly his eyes get wide. “Oh shit… you had a Gwen canon event.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” you respond, and he frowns. “You know, actually talkin’ about that kinda shit is a good way to not sit on it and let it build. You could face some serious problems if you keep doin’ that.”
“Who said I gave a fuck what you think? I didn’t ask for the unneeded advice, alright?” you say, and he narrows his eyes at you. “Oh, right. Forgot I was dealing with a bloody doughnut,” he mumbles and point to the window. “Care to go to the roof and get out of my sight?”
“Sound like the best thing you’ve said since I got here,” you say, leaping out of his window and climbing up the side of the building. While clinging to the wall, you glance out at Hobie’s world. His city looks almost exactly like Night of Yore City, except for the fact that there are a shit ton of fires burning, over half of the buildings look abandoned, the sky is a reddish-orangish hue, and it is so much louder. The name is also vastly different, as his version of NYC is New London. Universal differences get weird and confusing. Nonetheless, you’re intrigued, you turn around, putting your back against the wall and supporting yourself with your hands and feet. The graffitied buildings are a nice touch, you must admit. You snort to yourself when you see a mural of Hobie. If only they knew the asshole behind the mask.
“Now why the hell aren’t you up there with everyone else?” you hear his voice pull you out of your thoughts as he crawls up next to you. You shrug. “I’m a sucker for views, I guess.”
“Well, believe it or not, view is a lot better from the top of the buildin’,” he says, and you roll your eyes. “Can I please just be secluded and observe in peace?”
“Absolutely fuckin’ not. Come on,” he says, starting to walk up the wall. You sigh and lazily roll backwards and up the wall to come to standing and follow him up. When you get to the top of the roof, you see a boombox (blaring punk music, of course) and blankets surrounding a barrel with a fire going in it. Multiple coolers decorate the roof which all look stockpiled full of different beers. “Hey, Hobie, you know that they’re all kids, right?”
“New universe, new rules, love. Drinking age is 16 and up ‘round here, not that I’d give a fuck if it wasn’t anyway. So, sit down, shut up, and drink a damn beer. Maybe you’ll loosen up,” he says, tossing you a random bottle. You roll your eyes and sit down but put the beer to the side.
“Hey, Hobie, do you have any of that–” Miles gets cut off by Hobie tossing him another bottle. “Nice. Thanks, dude,” he says excitedly, cracking the top and taking a drink. Gwen gets her beer of choice, and Pavitr does the same. Hobie, you notice, doesn’t drink anything. “So, what were you guys talking about?” Gwen asks, pointing between the two of you with her bottle. “What?” you ask, and she shrugs. “You guys were alone in Hobie’s for a while and no one died, soooo did you guys finally talk about something you could agree on?”
“We can’t agree on nothin’, Gwen. They were just bein’ their usual self and annoyin’ the shit out of me at any chance they could get,” Hobie says, and you shake your head. “Good to know it worked, mate”
“Stop imitatin’ me, poser.”
“No, I don’t think I will.”
“I’ll make you.”
“Try me, Hobart.”
“Alright, that’s enough of that. What were you guys talking about?” Miles asks, and you and Hobie look at each other. “Just asked where the bathroom was,” you say, and he nods. “Yeah. That’s it.”
You weren’t necessarily ready to reveal you faced the Gwen canon event. Especially not to another Gwen. At least Hobie isn’t enough of a dick to bring it up in front of them. “Oh, yeah, you did change into your everyday clothes. Don’t know how I didn’t notice that,” Gwen states, taking another swig of her beer. You had changed in your apartment after cleaning your wound, but you don’t say anything. Hobie nods at you, and you nod back.
“Why aren’t you drinking anything (Y/n)? Here, try this it’s so good,” Pavitr pushes his bottle toward you, and you shake your head. “I don’t want to drink, but thanks Pavitr,” you say, and he frowns. “Awww.” You smile slightly at how disappointed he sounds. “Well, I want to remember everything you all tell me without it being fuzzy because I was hoping you could let me know a little bit more about all the spider people in Spider Society. I’m still new, you four, Peter B. Parker, and Miguel are the only ones I’ve really met.”
With that, Gwen, Miles, and Pavitr start telling you everything they know. You learn about Jessica Drew, Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker, and so many more. Gwen, Miles, and Pavitr talk for hours, and since they’re kids, they do not know when to stop drinking. Eventually, the three of them are passed out. Miles is cradling Gwen’s side with his head on her chest as she wraps one of her arms around him, and Pavitr is laying straight on his back, lightly snoring. You giggle softly at the sight. Suddenly the punk music you’ve been listening to for the past however many hours gets softer. You glance over to where it is and see Hobie bent over and turning it down. “Don’t wanna wake ‘em,” he mumbles, walking over to you. The volume of the city has decreased quite a bit, and with the low hum of music coming from the boombox now, his world is actually kind of enjoyable. Though you’d never tell him that. He motions to the skyline, and you turn and look. He was right, as much as you hate to admit it. The view is a lot better from up here.
“Why didn’t you drink anythin’?” he asks, and you shrug. “Didn’t feel like it. Why didn’t you drink anything?” He shrugs and pulls out a rolled cigarette from his vest pocket. “Got somethin’ better.”
“And you didn’t offer any to them?”
“Hey, they can drink here, they don’t need to mess with this shit. ‘Sides I knew they’d be pissed. Gonna have a god-awful hangover tomorrow,” he says, pulling out a lighter. You shake your head. “They can’t mess with your shit, but I can?”
“The two of us are the same age. We’re ‘adults’ or whatever the fuck that means. Are you too stuck up to be ‘round some grass or somethin’?”
“No, Hobie, I don’t give a fuck if you smoke weed. Building manager might, though.”
“Love, I am the building manager. This place is abandoned, so it belongs to me. And you’re not tellin’ me I’m supposed to smoke this myself?” he asks with a sly smirk on his face. You raise your eyebrow at him. “Actually I am.” He groans, putting the joint to his lips and lighting the end of it.
“Do you know how to have any fun?”
“Do you know how to have any–” Before you can finish, he puts his finger over your mouth, and raises the joint to his lips again. He takes a deep breath in, blowing out the excess smoke and glancing at you. “No.”
“You don’t even know what I was gonna say.”
“Don’t care. The answer is no.”
“Have you ever actually tried listening to anything anyone says?” “Nah. I don’t listen to no one. I’m me, and if people don’t like that, good,” he says, taking another drag. He glances over at you and holds the joint out. “Y’sure you don’t want some?”
“You actually want to share with me?”
“I want you to not be as much as a ragin’ fuckwit, so yes,” he blows smoke in your face, and you glare at him. “If I take one hit, will you shut the fuck up about it?”
“Probably not, but it would sure make me happier.” You roll your eyes, and take the joint from him, taking a drag. He watches you. He’d never admit it, but he wishes you weren’t such an asshole. The way you look doing that in the moonlight? Stunning. You pass the joint back to him, some of the smoke coming out of your nose. “Stop staring at me.”
“Just makin’ sure you did it right and didn’t waste my shit,” he says, taking another drag. “I know how to hit a joint, Hobie.”
“Really? Never would have guessed you’d do anything remotely excitin’.”
“Oh, please. You barely know me,” you say, angrier than you probably should be. “Then tell me about yourself, love.”
“Hard pass,” you say, and he groans. “I get the desire to stay anonymous and mysterious, obviously, but come on. Chances are we’re gonna be seein’ each other more than either of us wants to, so just open up a bit,” he says, and you frown. “There’s nothing you need to know.”
“Bullshit.”
“Oh yeah? Then tell me something about you.”
“I killed Norman Osborn with my guitar after defeatin’ him and all of his V.E.N.O.M. forces and successfully led a rebellion against fascism,” he says smugly, “Until those other fuckin’ Nazis showed up, but one day I promise you this world? Will be capitalist and fascist free.”
“No, it won’t. Am I supposed to be impressed?” you ask with a deadpan face. He scoffs. “Damn, you’re a wanker. I’d like to see you try and defeat the V.E.N.O.M. forces. From what I seen your world’s villains are rubbish,” he says and to his surprise, and yours, you laugh. A hint of a smile plays on his features, but you shake your head. “Green Goblin is, you’re right, but... there are others who are much worse. And what the fuck is a venom force? You’re saying that like I should just know what it is.”
“It was a symbiote that– wait, you sayin’ you don’t know what venom is? That’s something every spider-person deals with at some point,” he says, and you shrug. “Guess I haven’t dealt with it yet.”
“Yeah, well, when you do, call me cause you’ll need my help,” he says and you roll your eyes. “I’d rather die than get help from you.”
“I helped you today, love.”
“I could have done that myself,” you retort, and he shakes his head, taking another drag. “I guess I should thank you though.”
“Hmm?”
“For not telling them what we were really talking about,” you say, and he hums. “What they won’t know won’t kill ‘em. But just so you know I was being so serious. Not talkin’ about that shit is more harmful than good,” he says, and you frown. “I’m not much of a talker.”
“Coulda fooled me.”
“Do you ever shut the fuck up,” you groan, and he laughs. He loves pissing you off, might be his favorite thing to do now. But the conversation might actually need to get serious. He may hate you, but he’s Spider-Punk for the people, and you’re apart of that people. He’s there to help, so he may as well try with you.
“Why not?”
“What?”
“Why not? Why won’t you talk about it?” he asks, and you huff. “Because it was my fault, and I don’t want to think about it.”
“Nah, I bet it wasn’t your fault,” he mumbles, taking another drag. You glare at him. “Oh, right, I forgot you were there when their neck snapped after I tried to save them,” you spit, and he glances at you. You can feel that hit starting to affect you, that’s the only reason you said anything about… the incident. Of course, Hobie has good shit, why wouldn’t he. “What were you trying to save them from?” he asks, his voice oddly calm. “The Prowler,” you reply, “He’s the worst of the worst in my universe.” He hums and nods. “Well then, reckon it’s the Prowler’s fault then, innit?”
“What? But I’m the one who couldn’t get to them in time after he–”
“He did it, (Y/n). You did your best, but it ain’t your fault what happened there. That’s what they want you to think. Try and get that through your thick skull, would you?” he says, and you scoff, “They?”
He nods, and you go quiet. He glances over at you as you just sit and stare out at the city. “Stop doin’ ‘at.”
“Doing what?”
“Blamin’ yourself,” he says, taking another long drag. You sigh. “I can’t help it,” you mumble, and he shakes his head. “You can. Just takes time,” he responds. You scoff, “You’d think three years would be enough time.” You look out at his city. It’s so different from yours, but you can still see the beauty in it. And you can see the stars. None of the constellations of your world are here, but the sky is still beautiful. “If you need a place to crash, my couch is very comfortable and has your name written all over it,” Hobie says, and you shake your head. “I should probably just go back to my universe–”
“No way. No dimension hopping under the influence,” he says, and you roll your eyes. “I had one hit,” you say, and he shrugs. “And one hit is enough for you to think you’re goin’ home only to end up in Peter Porker’s shower. You’re stayin’ here tonight.” You roll your eyes. “You’re insufferable.”
“I’m insufferable for watchin’ out for your well-bein’? Okay, sure.”
“I don’t need you to watch out for me. I don’t need anyone,” you hiss, and he scoffs. “Of course you don’t. Too good for everyone else.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“It was implied.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“Look who’s talking.”
“Like you wouldn’t say the same thing,” you say, and he shrugs. “You’re right. I would say I don’t need anyone, because I don’t. Especially not a miserable thing like you,” he says, and you frown. “Good.”
“Great.”
“Fuck you.”
“Fuck you.”
The two of you just glare at each other for a bit before he flicks the butt of his joint off the building. “Goin’ to bed. See you tomorrow.”
“Unfortunately.”
“Shut up and follow me back to my place,” he says, getting up and walking down the building. You follow, yawning as you realize just how tired you are. When you get back inside Hobie’s place, he points at the couch. “Lay there, and don’t move until mornin’, got it?”
“I’ll do what I want.”
“Amazin’. Just don’t wake me up, and I won’t give a fuck,” he says, walking into his bedroom and kicking his door shut. You roll your eyes and lay down on his couch. It’s actually surprisingly comfortable, and you find yourself actually dozing off faster than you anticipated. Hobie walks out of his room to get a drink of water and ready to fight you verbally again, only to see you passed out on his couch with literally no blanket or pillow.
He sighs, grabbing a throw blanket off his bed and gently placing it on top of you. In the morning, you wake up before everyone else. You notice the blanket, and know only one person could have done that, but you don’t feel like sticking around to say anything. You just go home. But before you do, you leave a little note saying, ‘didn’t need your sympathy, thanks but no thanks,’ and draw a little middle finger.
He’ll get the hint you appreciated it.
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#hobie brown x reader#hobie brown x y/n#hobie brown x you#hobie x reader#spiderpunk x reader#spiderverse x reader#hobie brown#hobie#spiderpunk#spider-punk#spiderverse#theclashofthespiderverse
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HOPE NEW YORK HOLDS YOU TIGHT | BND
PAIRING ; BND X READER (platonic for woonhak)
GENRE ; ANGST (might make a p2 on jaehyuns and leehans bc i have a idea...)
WC ; 2,281
WHAT ! in which your boyfriend tells you he's moving leading him to end things
@onedoornet @miidorei @icyminghao @lionhanie @dongminz @loserlvrss
WARNINGS ; cursing
-
SUNGHO :
"you're what?" you yelled shocked, you didn't mean to raise your voice but you also didn't expect to get the news that the man you stayed up planning your future with just last night wanted to end things because he was moving miles away. he didn't even bother letting you know before packing his things letting you find out when you get home.
"listen the decision was impulsive okay?" he sighed trying to defend himself. no shit it was impulsive. he took your hand in his and kissed it trying to calm you down "i know the situation isn't ideal but we're going to be on two opposite sides of the world living two different lives, there only one solution yn." looking into his eyes you tried reading him, hoping this was some sick joke he had planned "sungho..." your breath shook as you tried composing yourself "you don't even wanna try? you don't believe our relationship could be worked out?" he looked down at his hand and mumbled, "we're both gonna end up hurt, might as well do it now."
his words left you both silent, he sighed before standing up and kissing your forehead before grabbing his luggage. you turned around watching his back as he walked towards the door, his hand went for the knob he paused. secretly you hoped he would realize that he needed you in his life and run back to you. instead, he turned the knob and left.
-
days, months, and years passed when sungho left. your world didn't end when he did leave but it might as well, there wasn't a single day you didn't think of him and as selfish as it sounded, you wish he still thought of you too.
watching out the window as your friend drove you both to a party to stop you from moping because of him. you stared out the window you traced back to the places you had both shared, from the ones you had sweet, sad, and angry moments at but all that mattered was that you had him. from the good to the bad you cherished every slight interaction you had with him.
sighing at the realization that you were focusing on the past you leaned back in your chair. the past was holding you back from experiencing the future, maybe it was time to let go and leave the image of the man who left you.
-
he looked out the window watching the dull blank buildings stare right back at him. he wondered what you were doing now, if you were happy and moved on or were in the same situation as him. his pride was strong, strong enough to not reach out, but not nearly as strong to not realize he lost something huge. someone who made him view life brighter, and as a result he now lives in what feels like a box. resting his head on the window, he pulled out his phone and turned it revealing the wallpaper he had of you as well as a widget of the timezone of where you were. he tried to move on, but it's almost as if fate was pushing him back to you. the future was pushing him back to the past, now it was up to him whether he wanted to pursue it.
-
RIWOO :
"i thought you were supposed to be the person supporting me?" riwoo shouted.
"and i thought i was important enough to you for you to have these conversations with me."
you didnt bother yelling anymore realizing long ago that no matter how loud you were he wouldn't listen to your perspective. he continued arguing since it was clear he had his mind set on this and was ready to leave.
"fine then, go!" you say cutting him off, he stared at you looking defeated as if he wanted you to continue begging for him to stay. he opened his mouth to say something but closed it as he nodded. you stayed in the living room as he stormed into the shared room packing his things. you walked to the bedroom door and stood there debating whether you should stop him.
the door then opened revealing a shocked riwoo. he stood there for a moment before walking past you, letting out a small 'bye' from his lips that could barely be heard.
-
so those were the last words you had said to him before he left. the argument was short but left a long impact and wonders. what if you hadn't abruptly ended the argument? would he still be here? what if he had talked to you about moving earlier? maybe you both could've figured things out before it was too late. you admittedly did think about him most days and thought about the other possibilities you and him could've faced, normally those thoughts send you into a spiral. in the midst of your train of thought, you bump into someone who seems to not have seen you. as you go to apologize, you recognize the face. sure, he may have had a different haircut and hair color, it was an image you could never forget. the same one that brought you so much happiness yet pain. "I'm really sorry for bumping into you," he said as he was about to keep walking
"riwoo?" you said
he paused and turned around
"i'm sorry, do i know you?" he asked turning around
what?
it was him
it had to be him
or did you think about him so much that your brain suddenly made everyone's face slightly resemble him for your comfort and well-being?
"i'm sorry, i must have mistaken you for someone else" you awkwardly laughed as you walked away.
-
he had found you again, he just couldn't hurt you again.
-
JAEHYUN :
"i think for both of us, if things ended it'll be better for both of us"
silence overtook the house
"thank you for telling me" you said as you looked at him. "yeah no problem" jaehyun smiled slightly at you trying to lift up your mood slightly
"you have four days left before you leave?" he nodded at the question wondering where this would lead
"can we be together for these four days?"
-
now there you were, sitting in front of jaehyun as he sipped his milkshake. he looked up to see you spaced out staring at your untouched milkshake that was slowly melting. any other person would've thought this was a look of tiredness after a long day of going out but jaehyun read you much easier than anyone else could. these past 3 days have been nothing but joy, going out to do the things you both planned to do together as a couple. whether it was doing an activity, eating, or both. but now it was only a few hours before he had to leave for the airport
he moved your hair out of your face catching your attention. "I'm gonna miss you, you know that right?" you nodded at his random confession which was a sign of affirmation. "I'm really gonna miss you but this has to be done" you felt a lump in your throat, as you remembered how this would end. it didn't matter that you had him for these 4 days because you'd lose him for the rest of your life.
-
its been 2 years since jaehyun left, you still remember the scent of the airport when you dropped him off as well as the scent he carried when you hugged him, it was nice resonating on the old memories but there was one thing you and jaehyun didn't complete on your bucket list. having a picnic by the park you both always loved, the day you two were supposed to go it was too hot making it unbearable. but you decided if you weren't going to go with him you'd go by yourself.
as you walk looking for a place to sit, you take in the scenery. once you sit down you look around at the many couples cuddling against each other. you smile at the thought of how you and jaehyun would be if he were still here with you. when he left, he reminded you about how much he loves you and how much he'll miss you, but deep down you still wish he were here to prove it.
suddenly you hear a familiar giggle, one that is ingrained in your mind, that your body trained you to automatically look for each time you hear it. turning over you see jaehyun a few feet away from you. his back was faced towards you, only allowing you to get a glimpse of his side profile. and to the left of him, you see a back. a back that he wrapped his arm around, the same way he had done with you. only adding more damage to your heart he kissed their cheek, which caused a tear to roll down yours.
and as salty as you could be, you pushed the feeling back.
cause he deserved to be happy
even if it wasn't with you
he deserved to love and someone to love him
even if you had to watch
-
TAESAN :
today had been awfully quiet from taesan. he didn't respond to any of your messages, or even bother reading them.
did you do something wrong?
if you remember correctly, you didn't do anything
maybe he just needed space
right?
that was until you got home to an empty home, but emptier than usual. that's weird, taesan wasn't working today.
you looked around and realized everything that was taesan was gone, as well as the photos on the walls of you two.
you pull out your phone and start texting him asking him where his stuff went and where are your guy's pictures, and this time he finally reads your message, but instead of a response you're left on read. you text him once again
only to realize you were blocked
-
you hate to say it but you grew a resentment for taesan after he blocked you leaving you with no answers. you were left in an empty home, with your tears, 10 things i hate about you and yourself. you ended up finding the answers you wanted from his friends that he moved countries which hurt you more than it should've after you claimed you hated him. you just wondered why.
why did he keep it from you
why didn't he say bye
did he even love you?
that wasn't a why question but okay.
-
you promised yourself the next time you saw him you'd sucker punch that bitch
so what happens when you hear the bell of your music store rings, making you turn and you face a familiar face. you turned right back around ignoring him. unfortunately, he walked right up to you.
"hey, i thought you'd be here" he said panting a bit
you look up at him slightly before looking away
"listen, im sorry"
"you should be" you said looking at your hands
"i just panicked okay
i didn't know how to tell you and i had that day to leave" he tried explaining
"so you leave me for months, almost a year just to come back for that stupid apology?
i really didnt think i could hate you more taesan."
you saw his face drop and your heart ached a little
maybe sucker punching him wouldve been better...
(insert sad blue emoji)
-
LEEHAN :
"so youre going to transfer universities and leave me here?" you asked getting a bit frustrated at leehan's idea
"you don't trust me or what?" he got a bit defensive
"no i trust you, its just dumb. why would you leave and go to a whole new state for the same major, which this school offers the same thing, is just kinda dumb to me." turning to look at him you see his eyebrows furrowed "well i don't need a partner who finds my decisions dumb." he said rather harshly before walking to your guys room.
thinking this would be a dumb argument you ignore him, he's probably sulking anyway.
you then heard shuffling from your room, turning your attention to the movement you see leehan come out with his bags. you panic and step in front of him "hey, hey what are you doing?"
"i said i don't need a partner who wouldn't find their decisions dumb."
"leehan you ARE being dumb right now, don't leave. lets talk about this, please."
he scoffed and walked past you leaving.
you tried running after him but he managed to leave before you could catch up, after trying to text and call him you gave up.
maybe, just maybe he'd turn the car around and run back to you.
-
spoiler its been a year and that dumbass didn't do it.
he kept driving and now he's stuck at a party sitting in a chair in the far far corner wondering what you were doing.
he watched as people interacted easily being able to tell who was a couple because they interacted the same way you two used to
well until he messed up and kept driving, constantly he was fighting with himself debating whether to go back or not. but by the time he wanted to go back, he was already at the university.
he snapped out of his daze when his friend ran up to him and showed him an Instagram account
your Instagram account.
he snatched the phone and started scrolling to see a photo of you and someone, holding and looking at you the way he use to
he shouldve listened to you
cause it was a fucking dumb decision.
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