#STOP MAKING HIM TALL HE IS TINY !!!!!!!!! SHORT KING <- still taller than me
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adding onto the size difference thing they had to make james wear heels in first class to make him taller 😭
chat quick who has that fuckin promo pic for dofp where james is wearing wedges and he's next to michael because i've been reminded of it and imvl eavkjalkjvlwkvj
#snap chats#PLEASE ITS SO FUNNY#STOP MAKING HIM TALL HE IS TINY !!!!!!!!! SHORT KING <- still taller than me#i think they did that for hugh jackman too im like 90% sure they did that for him in at least ONE of the xmen movies#which. is just ESPECIALLY funny considering he's playing wolverine of all characters. notorious short stack wolverine#aint no reason wolverine should ever be taller than someone ...... not any of the xmen ....#ESPECIAILLY /HUGH JACKMAN/ WHO'S LIKE. 6FT? STOP.#i tell you this now chat should i ever draw movie wolverine again im not making him hugh jackman height it goes against my principles#genuinely so funny the focus on making actors taller for like. no apparent reason#the only valid reason i can think of is scully from x-files but thats cause she was so short she was physically Not in shots#or it was just framed weird. if i remember right idk ive never watched x files i just know thats a Fun Fact vJAELVKAJ#the scully box...... i love film making ..
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REPUTATION|| Min Yoongi
Summary:
You were in the top. There was no person in the world who didn't know your name, either for your success or your reputation, believing that the only thing you should do is smile, be a good girl, don't force your opinions on people, and NOT for any reason deny the dating rumors. But then a gummy smile and a sweet accent came to change all your believe system, from a friends with benefits to falling in love, you encounter a new fear: would he love you despite your reputation
Pairings: Idol!Min Yoongi(SUGA) x singer!reader
Warnings: distorted body image and unwarranted fear of gaining weight. Unhealthy habits like starvation, underage alcohol consuption. Mild smut and age gap (Yoongi is 25 and reader is 20) but everything is consensual). If i miss something please let me know.
Gorgeous
You should take it as a compliment That I got drunk and made fun of the way you talk You should think about the consequence Of your magnetic field being a little too strong And I got a boyfriend, he's older than us He's in the club doing, I don't know what You're so cool, it makes me hate you so much
You make me so happy, it turns back to sad, yeah There's nothing I hate more than what I can't have Guess I'll just stumble on home to my cats Alone, unless you wanna come along, oh
Anxiety was a familiar feeling, a daily occurrence even before you knew how to call it. The constant fear of making the wrong move, not filling everybody's expectations. But it never gets easier, walking a red carpet was nerve wracking at 20 like it was when you were 13, but expectations were higher, every single album need it to be different, different sound, different style, you need it to be more mature but not to sexy because then you were to provocative for kids who follow you, but not to demure because then you are a prim. And then, you were too fat, and then too skinny, or you would have the nice flat stomach that people expect but you didn't have the hourglass figure. So everything you stand in an outfit risky enough for you, you would shake like a leaf, praying that the apple and the water that you had eaten would not somehow make you look bloated. That you contour was blended, that the powder under your eyes would not flash in camera.
You were about to promote your second single of your album, a song who was for a ex manager and ended up seeing as a call out for war for a singer whom you were friends but ended up splitting ways when she started dating an ex boyfriend, an ex boyfriend that you don't actually love but it was still awkward going out with the new girlfriend of your ex. Your team takes it as publicity, even if there was not an actual feud, good or bad, publicity is publicity, and so the music video only seems to spark even more fire. Still you invited all of your friends, friends that you met through other friends, in fashion shows or while performing in lingerie runways, the kind of friends that you partied with in your mansion in Coney Island or the one in Malibu. But that only sends a spark of worry, appearing in a music video with models with perfect bodies only makes you even more insecure about your own, and you were scared about what people would think about it.
A tug in your arm pulled you out of the dazed of the camera's flash and your thoughts, Calum King was a producer, a handsome embodiment of masculinity, a strong build body, a short beard, barely there but enough to let you know that he was a man. He was older than you by a lot, not enough to be scandalous but enough to raise a few eyebrows.
He smile and you copied and hold his arm to the cameras, the lady assisting the red carpet gesture you to move and once you were out of the sight of the camera you let a shaky breath a pound in the head and the emptiness of your stomach make you feel dizzy and your publicist move quickly, holding a hard candy to you.
“Are you okay?” Calum asks, still holding you, you nod immediately and put the candy in your mouth.
“I´m good, the lights make me feel light headed but nothing that a little bit of sugar does´n fix” you say tasting the candy, feeling a little bit less tired, he nods but his sight was already far away from you.
“Baby, i´m going to say hello to a few friends, I¨ll see you in our seats, okay?” He doesn't wait for an answer, his manager following behind, you let a sigh of relief, relieved that you don't have to keep pretending anymore, Calum and you met a few months ago while visiting a friend of your to the studio, a paparazzi saw you having coffee and after that you kept seeing each other, he would be your date in events and to the world, you were official, but you didn't even be intimate,barely hold hands while walking in the streets, or kiss each other more than a few pecks when winning a prize, but even that, it felt forced. Your publicist looks away from her phone to look at you and gives you an indifferent look.
“A new korean band is in here, apparently they are very famous and are contending against you for one of the awards, maybe you should go and see them so people see that you support new talents”
Curiosity sparks within you “Korean band, is it BTS?” you asked, sipping your water you publicist arch an eyebrow
“Yes, did you know them?” she looks rarely interested, you nod reminiscing how a few weeks ago you had stumbled on a fan edit of you and one of the members titled “1997 golden babies” seeing the dark haired boy dancing and performing with that much passion caught your attention, looking at his name and thus his group, fascinated enough that you had expend a few hour looking at the music videos and some of their performances, a bubble of excitement grew in your stomach making you feel energized again and you started to walk knowing your publicist was going to take you to them, skipping to some people you got to the corner where a group of at least 10 men stand, you immediately felt short and tiny and intimidated but you put your confident face and wait for your publicist to talk with one of the men, who yo assume was their manager, he look surprised and his gazed fall to you where you standing sandwiched between your bodyguards, he nod and went to say something to the remaining men 7 of them wipe their heads instantly to you and you smile, you make the remaining and they scatter in formation, pushing the taller men in front, he gives you a smile and flashed with a set of dimples.
“Hii, is so nice to meet you guys” You break the ice, you scanned every single one of them, from the tall broad shoulder one to Jungkook, the one of the edit and then your eyes fall to one of them, instantly draw for the way he looks at you, like he knew something your eyes goes back to the taller guy as he start to talk.
“It's so incredible to meet, we are big fans of your music” he says, you had heard that a lot but he sound genuine and the rest of the boy nodded, your eyes went back to the guy with the feline eyes and you see something that you had seen before but rarely from another artist, admiration, but also understanding, like he understanded something and he was fascinated by it.
“Are you performing tonight?” you asked trying to shake the feeling that he was reading you like a book he understands the language.
“Ummm, no, not tonight, hopefully someday” he looked a little ashamed but that only made you feel more admiration for them, they are escalating little by little.
“Id watched some of your performance” a chorus of ¨whoas¨ breaks their silence and you smile wider “You would have made us look like kids beside you, you are truly amazing” you compliment, the words flooding with ease, all of them let a ¨thank you¨ and when you meet eyes with the feline eyed boy he gives you the most beautiful and shy gummy smile, something inside you felt warm and fuzzy and you enjoy it so much that you wish it never went away. Your publicist asked for a picture and you stand with them.
The flash was quick, you changed the pose and at the same time you felt a delicate brush of fingers in your back. Tingles run down your spine and your hair stands, how was it possible that a man could make you feel that way without talking, without knowing him? You didn't even know his name, or how he was, he could be an asshole.
The camera stop flashing and the warm fingers leave your trembling body (you didn't know if it was of starvation or the adrenaline running through your veins) You look at him, the man with the gummy smile, cat-like eyes and the rose petal lips, he bow and you did the same as a reflex, that make him smile fully and the giddy, warm feeling bubble in your stomach all the way up your chest. You broke eye contact and with warm cheeks you went to hug the taller guy hugging all of them (not without almost melting in gummy smile boy, and breathing deeply his mainly citrus smell).
Your entrance was cut out by your manager, who led you backstage and you hope you bump into them, to talk to him, to hear him and let his fingers pay with your skin, but you were immediately trap in the changing room pulling other set of clothes and when you get out your publicist was waiting with a mint and a glass of ice you chew while letting the makeup artist retouch your makeup.
You had already stood up 5 times to receive an award and Top Social Artist was the last nomination before going to change for your performance. Sitting on the front row with Calum on your side being the perfect supporting boyfriend and with Zendaya on the other side beside her a bunch of other models friends, big names in the industry who appeared in the music video that had already premiered a few awards ago. And although you should've be worried if you would win the category you were already seeing black spots, nausea and heavy eyelids accompanying, and sitting beside with the most beautiful, tallest, slimmest, women of the moment didn't make you feel better, you could barely hear anything but the sound of blood pumping through your ears but after hearing your name and the loud cheers of your fans a smile appear in your clammy face, you wonder if you could even stand to get the award if you win, a louder cheer broke in the arena and looking to the screen you saw the south korean band announced and when it disappears it took a few seconds for the screams to stop, the announcers opened the envelope, two seconds of silence in the speakers and then...“BTS!” You jump clapping finding strength out of nowhere and with a smile you saw the band walk in front of your eyes with wide eyes, open mouth and smiles, a single hand sticking out for you and knowing who it was you brush his hand with yours.
Then you turn back and with a bodyguard in front and another in your heels, you walk into the main stage of the arena.
Everything was blurry, you followed the guard into the hallway and crouched to get in the elevator, holding the mic and letting your head go over the choreography. And when the voice in your in ear says “one”you feel the lift move and stand.You felt like you were going to faint, but still make your moves as smooth as possibly, it felt like forever but when you give the final move and look at the camera you give the most convincing smile ever. Wait for the count to end and the light to ade out to let your body fall to the ground. But the light did not fade, and the camera was still on you.
The host appeared to your side to announce that your music had already broken a record and that you had won another 2 awards. You accept the award and let the host hug you and unintentionally your body stumbles, your eyes give a turn and feel almost lost conscious.“It's okay” you said to the man and pulled out with a smile, looking to the worried crowd,”It's okay” you repeat in the mic ” I very excited, to be here and to win this awards, thank you to everybody that make this possible, my fans, my family, my team, everybody that listen my music and the art i make, thank you so much, i love you” You said, making well rehearsed words leave your mouth, you leave following the lady with the awards, numb.
The act seemed innocent and so quickly and random that nobody should have noted, but it set something, pieces clicking in place, for you felt illicit, scandalous, it ignited something that you have never let your body cave in, lust. A sin so impure that only thinking about it makes you flustered, but it only took a couple of glances, some brushes of skin and a hug for you to continue the seduction game he started. And you wanted him to win, to ditch all the circus and let him take you to the hotel, seeing him all in black contrasting with his soft creamy skin, a fallen angel.
Wanting to feel something, did you deserve the awards? Your music had moved so much from your original goal that you barely felt it was good. So you didn't feel proud, and you did not feel happy, or sad, or angry. You felt hungry, and tired.
How dare he be so cool? With the glinting earrings and the necklaces and the deep voice and side smile, a dream, you never thought he was just your type. Was it possible for you to have him? A quick internet research let you know his name, his position on the group and his age, he was a little over five years older than you, younger than your “exes” but so much different, he felt real, a real man, but at the same time he was surreal, to perfect, to gorgeous. And you wanted to know all about him.
You sit alone in the buffet of your hotel, with other people who also went to the awards, munching on a chicken salad with some delicious sauce and bread sticks and a glass of orange juice. Your orange juice, of course, was spiked with alcohol by your manager, a way to make you last giggly and awake for the rest of the night. Feeling already full with your second plate and with already a certain amount of alcohol in your system, you felt better, enough to keep looking at the table in front of you. Where 7 boy sit holding a camera laughing at one of them knocking the glass with the camera gummy smile boy who had, just like you, been looking at you smile with you and you hold the big stack of tissues at him, he walk to you and brushing fingers he take it from your hands “thanks” he said with a deep voice, one that you had already heard in his music videos but never compared to the real thing.
It took you 30 minutes to shower, dry your hair, put light makeup and a flowy black dress, that fall above your knees, do a quick google research of what to expect at losing your virginity and chugging the mini bottle of wine of your mini fridge, cleaning all of the clothes on the bed and quickly fix it. And when you thought that he wouldn't come a knock was heard. You look for the last time in the mirror and open the door.
And he was there, his hair now completely straight and soft looking and his face was bare, no necklace and simple cotton shirt and black cargo pants. Like he couldn't be more gorgeous. Oh wait, he could, looking at you with the damn smile. “Hi” you said, already losing the game “Hi”, deep voice and cute accent, you can't help but giggle, boozing alcohol in your veins.
“Please, please come in” You open the door all the way “ I´m y/n, by the way” you said and he looks at you, “I know, I´m Yoongi” he says laughing “I know” you respondHe lifted an eyebrow “you do?” he said with a smug smile, “of course i know, i'm not that dump to hook up with a guy i don't even know the name of” you widen your eyes and blame the alcohol by your blunt remark, but feel relieved when he laughs. He let you lead the way to the living room and when he sits on the couch he notices the object on the coffee table, an unopened copy of BTS 'latest album you had.
They said goodbye and you broke contact, gulping the last of your orange juice and immediately got replaced, you looked back at your manager and publicist, talking to their manager, using the translator that look flustered, and you knew why, after yourself had talked with your manager about your request, voice confident but cheeks flushed, your manager didn't even had to approach BTS manager before he was already on his way, at that you felt a weird feeling, a territorial frown in your eyes, but you couldn't blame him. Every celebrity you have met has done this. A simple deal, a way for celebrities to keep their affairs as private and publicly clean, both sides agreed to keep it quiet and not slip ups. When they finally look at you, turn again to him, his manager walking to him, and slipping a black plastic card. A key to the room to one of the suites. Your suite.
“I thought you could signed for me” you explained with a shy tone “I found it on the airport bookstore and since i kinda collect music album i thought it was a nice addition”
He grabbed it “can i open it?” he said with the cute accent, you nod excited and he carefully start to unwrap you sit by his side to get a better look, when he finished it, he looks at you
“it has a photocard” he explains and you giggle again at the way he pronounce the last word, feeling the warm feeling in your stomach and he send your favorite smile at you.He opens the book and stop at the page with the card stuck to it “It's random so is a surprise, go, turn it around” he gesture to the book, you grab it and turn it around,
“Oww” you let out a disappointed sound when you look at the man that clearly wasn't your Min Yoongi, he laughs and you pout “what can i do if i want one of you?” you ask with a distressed look. He dares to look flustered and he reach to his neck and the his hair, you wanted yours in its place, you licked your lips and look at lis face, “You could buy lots of album until mine come out” hmmm
“That's a good idea” his stare became intense and his eyes darken, his tongue brushed his bottom lip and someone must move forward because your lips replaced his tongue was now kissing his lips.
Your fingers grab his shirt while his palms was cupping your cheeks, thumb brushing against it, the darkest desires in your mind, the need to be touch to be taken care of,taking his hand in yours you put it on your thigh, where your dress had lift and he complied to your silent request, pushing the fabric up and caressing your skin, but not where you need it him.
You lean in the couch bringing him with you, but he pull from the kiss, leaving you gasping, “are you sure?” he ask, with his soft, dark eyes, lips swollen and flushed cheeks, you nod, but he shakes his head “are you sure?” he repeats, you think for a second looking at your giddy, boozy brain, “yes, i'm sure” you said with the most confident voice you could muster, he kiss you again and then its your turn to pull away from the kiss ”wait, wait, i, i haven't, i never have i ever before, i mean, i never had done this before” you confess and he looks at you still panting, he nods, and ask again “are you sure?” and you are.
He didn't let you lay in the couch.
He let you run your fingers through his torso and take his shirt off.
You let him pull down the strips of your dress.
He let you know how much he desires you.
You let him touch for the first time against the wall, making you see stars and blow away in a climax.
He takes to the bed, carrying like you were a leaf.
You let him stole sweet moans out of your mouth
He takes it slowly, touching skin like you were fine china.
You feel like a confident woman when you whisper “you are so gorgeous, I can say anything to your face.”
He lets a deep chuckle and gives a deep thrust making you scream of pleasure.
A mix of sloppy kisses, discreet love bites, nails against skin and pasional hip thrust between the sheets you let yourself think for a second that is not a one time thing, that euphoric feeling you were experimenting and that it was the most happy you had been in years was going to finish the moment he finish panting against your neck.
You tried to not look disappointed when he stood up and walked to the bathroom, closing your eyes, letting yourself feel the remnants of your climax.
He came back a few minutes later, cleaning between your legs and leaving a soft kiss in your thigh before slipping your underwear in its place, holding you in his arms.
You cried for the first time in front of a person.
He tells you that he knew you were hungry, he had felt it before. Not by his own choice.
You tell him about the empty feeling in your stage while on stage.
He kisses your face while rubbing circles in your back.
When the morning sun came up you watched his sleeping figure, his back up and belly down, face facing you and his arm around you.
You mindlessly start writing invisible letters, your name. Wishing he could be more than a stranger.
He lets you a note. His number. Breakfast. And a single pink flower and a book from the souvenir store “ The meaning of flowers”
Azalea
The azalea is the flower that ushers in springtime in the southern United States. That’s one reason it’s so closely associated with beauty and rebirth.
These blooms are often given as a symbolic message to, “Take care of yourself,” which is an important sentiment to extend to the bereaved.
Little-Known fact:
Azaleas are celebrated in festivals throughout the world, especially the U.S. and Asia. In Chinese culture, the azalea is known as the “thinking of home bush” and was immortalized in the poetry of a famous poet during the Tang dynasty.
HIIIIIIIIII
SO
I FINISH THIS CHAPTER
It took years, but my mental health has been bad lately and also was hard to write the first meeting, if it look to rushed, dont worry its kinda the point, they are not in love but definetly know that they felt something. But they dont know each other, i like to think of them as soulmates.
We see how she was physically and mentaly hitting rock bottom and her team is not as innocent as it look.
If i was vague about everything, when the managers were talking, they were basically negociating the one night stand, that way the public wouldnt found out. A normal ocurrence in this AU.
Everything you feel courius about, please let me know.
Thank you so much for reading, i love you
#bts#bts smau#min yoongi#yoongi x reader#yoongi smau#bts fic#bts yoongi#bts social media au#bts social au#bts idol#bts jhope#bts namjoon#BTS jin#BTS jimin#bts taehyung#BTS jungkook#reputationminyoongi
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Taller
Written for @kataang-week
Day 1: Height Difference
Words: 1,546
Read on AO3
Readon FF.net
******
Despite the ever-present cold, Katara wiped sweat from her brow as she stood back to look proudly at the building made of ice she had just finished. The Southern Water Tribe was swelling faster than anyone had anticipated, and now looked much more like its northern counterpart, with actual streets, canals, and buildings carved with waterbending, instead of the hodgepodge of tents and igloos that Katara had grown up in.
A large part of it had been personally built by Katara herself, and if she was being honest with herself it had long since become unnecessary. A migration of people from the Northern Tribe had come to help rebuilding, swelling the population, and even some Earth Kingdom natives had taken up residence, hoping to establish trade between the two nations for the first time in a hundred years, but they still weren't enough to compare to the population of a proper major city, so large sections of the construction Katara had been working on would remain empty for the foreseeable future.
She knew why she kept going, though. It took her mind off how much she missed Aang.
They had gotten a few months together in peaceful, laugh-filled bliss. But ironically, the same newfound peace that had allowed her to finally slow down and sort out her feelings for Aang, was also what made her finally realize how homesick she was. She had been running all over the world for close to a year, never really having time to think about Gran Gran or all the other people she had left, but as happy as she was in her new daily routine, it still didn't feel like home. Plus, her father had been away from home even longer than she had, and she wanted to make up for lost time. So when he had told Katara and Sokka that he was about to make the journey south, they had both known that they had to join him.
But the world still needed their Avatar, and they needed him in the thick of things, not at the bottom of the world. A hundred years of tension and hostility between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom hadn't vanished overnight, and new fighting threatened to break out every day, even if it wasn't being ordered by the Earth King or Fire Lord, so Aang had his hands full with his duty as peacekeeper and mediator. He couldn't go home with her.
It had broken her heart, and she hadn't known how to tell him she was leaving, but of course she hadn't needed to. With a smile, her sweet boyfriend had been the one to bring it up, insisting that she needed to go with her family, or Sokka would surely cause some kind of catastrophe without her there to look after him, and promised that he would follow her as soon as he could.
That had been seven months ago, and while the pain of missing Aang wasn't as sharp anymore, there were still multiple times a day when she thought about looking down into his gray eyes, or how nicely he fit curled up against her as they lounged on sofas or grassy hillsides.
And her inability to get Aang off her mind certainly wasn't helped by the fact that everyone in the tribe was constantly teasing her about being the Avatar's girlfriend. Every time she would walk past a group of younger girls, they would giggle loudly with each other and, if they were feeling bold, ask if the Avatar was a good kisser. Even Sokka was still coming up with new immature jokes every day; one would think he would get tired of it by now.
So here she was, enjoying her rare piece of solitude on the outskirts of the ever-growing ice city, making it even bigger.
"You know, the basic idea of going home to your family is to actually spend time with your family." Sokka's voice from behind her made her jump.
"Only if Gran Gran stops making wedding plans for both of us," she answered over her shoulder with a laugh.
"You're in luck, it's actually far worse than that," Sokka sighed, putting an arm around his sister's shoulder. "Her target has shifted, now she's of the opinion that it's time for Dad to find another wife."
Katara spun away from him to face him and her mouth gaped open. "WHAT!?" she shrieked so loudly it echoed off of the surrounding ice.
"Yeah, so stop being a loner and come back with me, we need a united front to squash this," said Sokka, and Katara was more than willing to start following him back towards the center of the settlement.
They were approaching their family's hut, right near the edge of the ice shelf where most of the villagers were still clustered, when something made both of them stop dead in their tracks.
To the north, across the water, she heard the distant sound of a loud, low roar. The unique sound of the roar of a sky bison.
Katara and Sokka looked at each other and their faces split into wide grins. They forgot their current familial crisis and ran towards the edge of the ice, waving frantically at the dark dot growing bigger in the distance. Katara was jumping up and down by the time Appa came in for a landing and she could make out Aang's beaming face. The bison's feet hadn't even touched snow yet when Aang leapt off his head and landed in front of Katara, and they both threw their arms around each other and shared a passionate kiss, trying to pour seven months worth of affection into it.
Katara felt like she was floating. She couldn't stop a very girly giggle rising up from her throat as she pulled Aang's face down to kiss him harder—
Wait. Down?
Her eyes snapped open and she suddenly pushed him away to arm's length.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she looked up and down at her boyfriend. No, she hadn't imagined it. He now had a few inches on her. He had shot up so far so fast that he looked like he had been stretched like taffy, his build skinnier than ever and lanky.
Aang frowned in confusion at her reaction. "What's wrong?"
"You're taller," said Katara, like this was a grave betrayal on his part.
"Than what?"
"Than me."
"I've always been taller than you!"
She put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at him to say, Really? But Aang maintained his completely straight face. "Aang, everyone knows, I'm the tall, intimidating waterbending master, you're my tiny, adorable squirrelmunk of a boyfriend."
"What? NO!" Sokka's voice called from Appa's side.
Katara and Aang turned to see Sokka's look of despair. He had finally noticed Aang's change after helping a very grumpy and now-actually-blind Toph down from Appa's back and onto the ice.
"Ugh, I know, right?" grumbled Toph. "I've had to switch from short jokes to skinny jokes, which aren't nearly as fun."
"But I've got seven months worth of short jokes I've been sitting on!" Sokka whined pitifully. He, Toph, and Zuko had greatly enjoyed making fun of Aang for being shorter than his girlfriend.
Katara looked triumphantly back at Aang, daring him to keep the charade up, but he couldn't keep it in anymore and his face broke out into a mischievous grin, and soon he was laughing heartily, which Katara joined him in, despite her best efforts.
"Okay, you got me," said Aang. "But in my defense, I never expected you to get this….upset about it? I actually thought you'd be impressed, and maybe more than a little attracted. Is it really a bad thing that I'm taller than you?"
"Well I don't know….maybe," she said with a pout she hoped looked cute. "You were the perfect height for me to kiss you on the forehead. Now I have to pull you down." She did exactly that and planted a kiss in the center of his arrow. "See? Far too much effort."
"You're right, I'll miss that," admitted Aang. "However, if I may make a counterpoint," he pulled her close and easily planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Hmmm," Katara hummed in contentment, closing her eyes and smiling. "I suppose we can make due with that."
Their romantic moment was interrupted by Sokka and Toph doing a loud duet of simulated vomiting noises.
"Oh, like you wouldn't be doing the same thing if Suki were here!" said Katara nastily.
"Yeah, sorry Sokka, but the Kyoshi Warriors are providing additional security for Zuko," said Aang more kindly.
Sokka's face fell, and he sighed. But then, his face lit up and he gave a wicked smile that Katara didn't like at all. "Well, there is one upside to that. That means all the attention will be on you two."
"What attention?" asked Aang.
Leading Toph with one hand, Sokka placed his other one on Katara's shoulder and started leading her back to their family hut.
"Come on, sister, with the Tribe's biggest golden couple reunited again, it won't be Dad's love life that Gran Gran is sticking her nose into."
Katara groaned and considered jumping into the ocean.
#kataang#kataang week#kataang week 2021#aang x katara#katara and aang#aang#avatar aang#katara#fanfic prompt#atla fanfic#ao3 fanfic#atla#avatar: tla#avatar the last airbender#avatar#height difference#forehead kisses#kataang-week#kw 2021#day 1: height difference
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tall, blonde and gorgeous • jeon jeongguk
plot — when jeongguk dyes his hair blonde, it might just be the push you both need to finally talk about the feelings you have for each other.
words — 5.7K
You woke up in the middle of the night, craving some apple juice. You knew there was in the kitchen fridge, because Taehyung always made sure to stock up whenever you come for a weekend visit.
Speaking of your brother, he was passed out next to you, the two of you sharing his King sized bed while you visited. Like you always did. It was mostly just you two, but sometimes Jimin would join you. You don't mind, you known both of them since forever and Jimin is your brother as much as Taehyung is.
Quietly, you got out of bed. You didn't want to wake your brother, he works so hard and needs his rest.
The dorm was silent, which was a little weird because there was usually always someone up. It was only when on tour that all seven of the boys would sometimes be asleep at once, but even that was rare.
Shrugging it off, you padded the rest of the way to the kitchen, only to come to a halt in the doorway, freezing.
Someone with a mop of blond hair stood with his back to you, digging through the fridge.
The digging through the fridge wasn't what surprised you, no, it was the hair because as far as you knew, no one in Bangtan had blonde hair right now.
You knew because your brother was always spamming your phone, whenever he had time, with pictures, videos, voice notes and messages. You and Taehyung have always been close and he always made the effort to keep you up-to-date with his life but also made a point to keep you out of the spotlight, which you appreciate more than you tell him. Come to think of it, more than half your gallery is made up of pictures of Bangtan. The other half is made up of your rare selfies, pictures with your friends, of your dog or your brother's dog.
The point is, if someone colored their hair, you would know within five minutes - with pictures and everything. And Taehyung hasn't spammed your phone since yesterday morning when he and Jimin accidentally got Hobi instead of Jeongguk with a water balloon.
So, the question is, who is the blonde currently rummaging through the fridge?
You looked him up and down, noticing the very nice, very broad and clearly strong shoulders covered with a black t-shirt that hid the rest of the guy's figure. Your gaze went down a nice ass and long legs that was wearing grey sweatpants and finally stopping at bare feet.
Something flashed in your mind.
Wait a minute.
You know that ass. You've looked at it enough over the last seven years to recognize it anywhere in a crowd.
"Jeongguk?" You called, a little satisfied when he jumped upright, turning to you with wide eyes. Your heart decided to double its pace.
"Ah, tiny, you're awake. I thought you were sleeping, trying to grow some more." He teased, his heartbeat slowly calming down from the freight you gave him. His eyes quickly scanned you over, and he had to suppress a smile when he saw the bright orange pajamas. It was ugly as hell - he made sure to tell you many times but you always just roll your eyes at him or if you were feeling particularly moody, you'd flip him a finger.
Now, ordinarily, you'd snap at him for calling you tiny because you aren't (it doesn't matter that Jimin is 12 centimeters taller than you, it doesn't make you tiny, short maybe, but not tiny) but right now, you could only focus on one thing.
"Y-your hair." You stuttered, which was new because you never stutter in Jeongguk's presence. Your heart may race, your legs may turn into jelly, your hands may tremble and your stomach may fill with butterflies but you never stutter. And you never let him know what you're feeling.
He ran a hand through his freshly dyed blonde hair, only a little self-conscious with the intense stare you were giving him. He couldn't tell if it was positive or negative. "Yeah, I just wanted a change, something different."
"Well, it's definitely different. Mission accomplished." You informed him, walking into the kitchen fully, your voice miraculously even as you were internally panicking. This was like that time he dyed his hair pink all over again. Oh god. You hoped you could form coherent sentences this time around instead of just giving him the silent treatment for two weeks.
Like you said, you don't stutter around Jeongguk. Ever.
Jeongguk tilted his head at you curiously. "Bad different?"
"No!" You exclaimed, not wanting him to think that. You shook your head vigorously. "Not all. It looks good actually. Really good." So good, in fact, that your fingers itched to touch, to run your hands through it, play with the dyed locks of hair.
Jeongguk looked at you in pleasant surprise, lips stretching into that familiar bunny smile that made you swoon. He bit his bottom lip before saying. "I think that's the first time you ever paid me a compliment."
You frowned, "That can't be true."
"It is." Jeongguk's tone was matter-of-fact. "In seven years, you've never once given me a compliment. I would have remembered."
You pursed your lips, a sudden surge of guilt rushing through your chest at the look on his face - hurt.
"Well, you get lots of compliments from other people, right?" You said, trying to deflect because you never once thought that by staying quiet around Jeongguk, just to hide your feelings, that you'd hurt him.
"But never from you." Jeongguk said, words low and heavy with something you didn't understand. He stared at you, eyes open and strangely vulnerable. You didn't understand what he was trying to tell you.
You frowned at him again, "What does it matter?"
Something in Jeongguk's eyes shuttered at that, like he let you see something but now he pulled his walls back up. You still didn't understand it and he wasn't volunteering an answer.
Finally, he shrugged, "It doesn't, I guess." and he turned back to the refrigerator.
You had a feeling he was lying but you weren't going to call him out because that wasn't your place and it wasn't the kind of thing you and Jeongguk did. Whenever things seemed to go in a direction where feelings were involved - and not about other people but about each other, like what you think of Jeongguk and what he thinks of you - one of you stops the conversation before it can go deeper.
You tease each other good-naturedly, comfortable with each other because you are the same age, and you've listened to him rant when he was frustrated and even held his hand at times when he cried because the pressure of it all got a little to much.
It struck you, suddenly, how Jeongguk always comes to you first. Whether he's stupidly happy about something, or whether he's sad and wants a shoulder to cry on. You two could talk about anything under the sun or moon but whenever it comes to your feelings for each other, you shut down. You've never even admitted that you are, at the very least, friends and that you do care about each other.
You wondered if maybe it was time to change that.
You looked at Jeongguk's back and wanted to ask if thinks of you as a friend, if nothing else but what came out was, "Can you hand me a juice box please?"
He did so, without a word, and you decided to go back to bed. You stopped in the doorway again, turning back to him. "Jeongguk?"
"Yeah?" His tone, his eyes, was strangely hopeful and it made your heart twist. You looked at him, and somehow fell a little bit more in love with him.
"You know that I care about you, right? I mean, I know we've never talked about it, but I do." Your hands was shaking and you gripped the juice box. Luckily you didn't press the straw in yet or your hands would be full of apple juice right now.
The smile Jeongguk gave you was brilliant and it made your heart feel lighter than ever. He nodded his head, "I know."
"Good."
"I-" He started, breath catching a bit but forced himself to go on because if you could be brave, then so could he. "I care about you, too."
You grinned at him before turning away and going back to Taehyung's room, a definite skip in your step.
* * *
"So, what do you think?" Taehyung asked eagerly the next morning after breakfast, when everyone cooed and screeched over Jeongguk's hair.
You were back in your brother's room, scrolling through your Twitter feed. You looked at him, not sure what he was talking about. When it comes to Taehyung it can anything from the lines for a song he's working on to his next prank on one of the members.
"Of what?" You asked.
"About Jeonggukie." He said, waving with a hand at his head, so that the meaning was clear.
"Ah, you mean his transformation from tall, dark and handsome to tall, blonde and gorgeous?"
"Yes! What do you think?" Your brother looked at you expectantly.
"I think my previous question is an answer to that question." You smirked at him, snickering when he just scoffed before pouting at you.
"I hate it when you go all smartass on me." He said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I love you, too." You sing-songed with a lighthearted giggled.
* * *
Later that afternoon, you decided to watch a movie and was joined by Jeongguk, Taehyung, Hoseok and Jimin.
"Jeongguk-ah." You called from where you were sitting on the two seater couch next to Hoseok. Jimin and Taehyung was laying cuddled on the three seater and Jeongguk was sitting on the floor, against the front of the coffee table. You weren't sure where the rest are right now.
He turned to you, eyes narrowed suspiciously, "What do you want?"
You gaped at him, "What makes you think I want something?"
"Because you only call me 'Jeongguk-ah' when you want something." He was matter-of-fact.
The other three was watching the two of you instead of the movie.
"Like what? I rarely ask you anything." You frowned at him.
"Like getting your phone from Taehyung-hyung's room, making you tea, bringing you a blanket, getting your food." Jeongguk said and you huffed. Okay, so maybe you do that but this time what you want would benefit him too.
"Okay, first of all, you didn't have to do any of what I asked, you know. And second, you'll like this too." You assured him, then added after a moment. "I think."
Jeongguk looked at you warily as Jimin and Taehyung exchanged smirks. "What do you want?"
"I want to play with your hair." You shrugged nonchalantly, not showing a hint of how nervous you are, no showing how it took you the whole morning to pluck enough courage together to ask.
Jeongguk's mouth fell open in surprise, "Seriously?"
"Yeah, I mean I've always liked your hair but this blonde hair is really doing for you." You smiled at him, a little more confident when you saw more confusion than anything else on his face. Satisfaction rolled through you when you noticed his red ears.
"Whatever, fine." He muttered in agreement, looking away from you as he stood up right and came to sit down infront of you.
"Thank you." You grinned, clapping your hands in glee as you crossed your legs on the couch, knees touching Jeongguk's shoulders.
"Just don't tangle it." Jeongguk said, eyes fixed on the TV screen.
"I won't." You promised before reaching out and running your hands through his hair. It was just as soft as you hoped, instead of being dry and rough from the dye - it made you feel giddy.
Jeongguk tensed under the touch for a second but relaxed when you continued your gentle ministrations, nails scraping softly against his scalp. You tuned out the rest of the room, having watched the movie before - you've watched all the Marvel movies with Jeongguk at least three times - and continued playing with the blonde tresses.
Still, something caught your attention and you said, "Jimin-oppa, put away that phone."
"I don't know what you're talking about." He said innocently, hiding his phone behind his back.
"Sure you don't."
It was silent for fifteen seconds before he whined, "But no one will believe me if I don't have proof."
"They'll believe Hobi-oppa." You retorted, nodding to the ray of sunshine sitting besides you.
Jimin huffed indignantly but dutifully put his phone away.
You continued playing with Jeongguk's hair, twirled and braided and separated and bunched it together like a pineapple stem atop his hair. The movie finished and Taehyung picked another one and you still played with Jeongguk's hair.
Twenty minutes into the new movie, Jeongguk's head fell back, onto your legs, eyes closed. You gaped at the blonde.
"Jeongguk." You whispered, not wanting to wake him if he is sleeping but not sure if he's playing either.
"Did he fall asleep?" Your brother asked, laughter in his voice, making his eyes sparkle.
"I think so." You nodded, in a state of bewilderment and disbelief.
"You must have magic hands." Hoseok said before pressing a hand over his mouth to muffle the sounds of his laughter.
Your glared at them. "Not one more word out of the three of you, or I'll change the sugar in your coffee for salt for the indefinite future."
"I didn't say anything." Jimin protested and you just gave him a pointed look.
They thankfully kept quiet after that, but you could see them glancing at you and Jeongguk every now and again. You ignored their gazes as you continued playing with his hair.
Your heart was thumping happily in your chest, glad that Jeongguk enjoy you playing with his hair so much that it lulled him to sleep. It made you feel so content that you didn't want to move again.
You even turned a blind eye when you saw Jimin turning his phone in your direction ten minutes later.
At the end of the movie, you decided to wake Jeongguk up. As much as you like him sleeping on your legs, they were starting to fall asleep and he would get a stiff neck if he keeps sleeping like that.
So, you shooed everyone out of the room before gently shaking his shoulder. "Jeongguk-ah, wake up."
He groaned and you repeated your actions, watching as his eyes fluttered open. You looked into his sleepy eyes, wanting to coo as you watched him blink his way out of sleep. He quickly recognised you, even upside down, and immediately sat upright, looking at you with wide eyes.
"Y/N?" His voice was husky with sleep and it made your cheeks heat up. "What happened?"
"You feel asleep." You explained. You watched as he nodded slowly, processing this and felt the urge to tease him a little, so you added, "On my lap."
Jeongguk's cheeks flushed pink and you couldn't help the fond smile on your lips. He ducked his head shyly and spoke a soft, "Sorry."
"It's okay." You waved him off. You wanted to even the field between you because it felt unbalanced somehow, like you had something over Jeongguk. You didn't like it, you wanted to be right besides him. Not above or below him. (Although many people would say he's way above you, you know that he doesn't care about that and neither do you.) Finally you admitted, "I liked it, it was nice that you felt relaxed enough because of me to fall asleep."
"I liked it, too."
You smiled, a little shy but also feeling bold by his admission. "I'll do it again sometime then."
"Okay." He grinned.
* * *
After that weekend, it took three weeks before you had another free weekend to go and visit your brother. With your bag slung over your shoulder and a bouquet of red tulips in your hand, you opened the door and called a loud hello to anyone inside. You made you way to the kitchen first, wanting to put the flowers in some water.
You found Jeongguk - who was still blonde, and your heart instantly picked up its pace - and Namjoon in the kitchen, the leader busy by the microwave and Jeongguk waiting as far as humanly possible from it. You quickly realised what was happening and supressed a smile. Namjoon must be heating food up for Jeongguk, who is afraid of microwaves.
You exchanged greetings and you quickly started looking through the cupboards for a vase.
"Those are pretty flowers." Namjoon remarked, leaning against the counter.
"I know right."
"Where did you get them?" Jeongguk asked, eyes on the admittedly pretty flowers.
"Oh, some guy gave them to me before asking me out." You answered absentmindedly as you continued your search for a vase.
Behind you, Jeongguk tensed, his hands curling into fists.
"Really?" Namjoon asked, more to see Jeongguk's reaction than anything else.
"Yeah, I almost said yes, too, just for the fact that he gave me flowers." You nodded over your shoulder. "Do you guys have a vase? I swear Jin-oppa had one in the old dorm."
"Under the sink." Namjoon answered, arms crossed over his chest as he looked back and forth between an oblivious-you and a jealous-Jeongguk, a smile on the corners of his lips.
"Thanks." You grinned before walking over to the sink and crouching down. You opened the cupboard and had to dig past the sponges, cloths, windowlene, bleach and dishwashing liquid before spotting the crystal vase. "I love flowers, you know? Not many people know because it's not something I advertise but Taehyung-oppa always gives me flowers for my birthday, every year since I was thirteen." You babbled as you gently pulled out the vase, not wanting to knock it against one of the pipes and crack or shatter it by accident. It was a little dusty, so you rinsed it before filling it halfway with water.
"Do you have a favorite flower?" Namjoon asked, partly to fill the silence because Jeongguk was glaring at the ceiling, tongue in cheek, and partly because he genuinely wants to know.
"Nope," You shook your head, removing the protective plastic around the flowers and putting them in the water. "I like all kinds of flowers. Roses, lillies, forget-me-nots, proteas, tulips, sunflowers - you name it, I love it. And in all colours too. There's just too many to pick a favorite. Although I really like pink lotus flowers. I'd love to grow them when I have my own garden someday. I'll have to install a shallow pond, of course, because they grow in mud but yeah, that's something I'd really like to try." You rambled on. Namjoon watched you fondly and glanced at the maknae, seeing that Jeongguk was still tense.
"Did you say yes?" Jeongguk burst out asking the moment you stopped talking.
"Huh?" You frowned at him, a little lost because you were completely caught up in thoughts of flowers.
"The date." He said, voice taking a sharp edge. "Did you say yes?"
"Oh." Realisation dawned on you and you shook your head. "No, I didn't."
"Then why did you take his flowers? You'll give him the wrong idea." Jeongguk grumbled.
Namjoon thought that right now was the best time to become a missing person and quickly exited the kitchen. He is not playing referee, should this turn into an arguement. No, thank you, he's done it enough between these two.
You rolled your eyes at Jeongguk, "I made myself perfectly clear, Jeongguk. I told him that while I adore the flowers, I don't like him."
"Still, you shouldn't have taken them." Jeongguk insisted, stepping closer to you.
Your temper flared, "Excuse me? Why not?"
"What if someone had seen? What if they start thinking that you two are dating?" Jeongguk's tone was something crossed between horror and panic.
"And so what if they think that?" You frowned at Jeongguk because what does it matter what other people think when you know the truth?
"So you do want people to think you're dating." Jeongguk said, voice cutting and accusing.
"What?" You stepped closer to Jeongguk, getting angrier by the second.
"Do you actually like this guy?" Jeongguk asked, sounding distressed with the thought but you were to angry to pay any attention to that.
You scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous."
"I'm ridiculous?" He pointed to himself, shocked.
"Yes! They're just fucking flowers!" Your voice was raised as you snapped at him, louder and harsher than it's been in a long time towards Jeongguk, of all people.
You didn't have time to feel guilty because his next words matched yours in volume, "That some other guy bought for you!"
"And your point is what exactly?!" Your voice didn't lower.
"My point is that I can buy you flowers!" Jeongguk shouted back.
The words take a second to sink in, and when it does, it catches you completely off guard and you deflate like a popped balloon, you anger evaporating like mist under the sun. You squint up at the blonde, who you finally noticed was a lot closer than when you started this arguement. "What?"
His voice was soft this time around, all the fight having left him, too. "If you want flowers, just ask me. I'll buy you any flowers you want. Just-" He cut himself off with a sigh, closing his eyes. "Don't take someone else's flowers again. Please."
You looked at him, opening your mouth to snap at him but saw the sincere, the utterly vulnerable look in his eyes, and the breath was knocked from your lungs. You looked away, taking a few steps back as your heart twisted and you inhaled deeply to fill your lungs again. You noticed that Namjoon had left the kitchen. You didn't blame him.
A lengthy silence later, you finally looked at Jeongguk again, your hands trembling. "Is it really that important to you?"
"Yes." Jeongguk answered softly but firmly, no question in his voice, even as he looked down at the tiled floor.
"Okay." You nodded.
His eyes snapped to yours, and he echoed, "Okay?"
"Yeah, okay." You gave him a slow smile, then, just to break the heavy tension around you two, you said, "Just know that there is no backing out now and flowers are expensive. You aren't allowed to complain that I'm denting your bank account later."
"Deal." Jeongguk laughed, warmth spreading through his chest as the last of his jealousy faded.
* * *
"You know that one day you are going to have to talk about the feelings between you and Jeongguk, right?" Taehyung asked his sister later that night when they were laying in bed. He heard the story from Jimin, who heard it from Seokjin and Yoongi, who heard it from Hoseok, who heard it from Namjoon.
"What feelings?" You asked innocently.
Taehyung sighed in frustration but wasn't very surprised. The one thing that Taehyung has never been able to get out of his sister is the truth about her feelings for Jeongguk. But even without her saying anything, he knew. The eyes don't lie. "Denying it won't make it go away, Y/N."
You sighed, too, "Yeah, I know."
Taehyung didn't say anything for a few moments. This was the closest his sister ever gotten to admitting her feelings out loud, in seven years. "I'm here for you. Always."
"Thanks." You smiled, as if you didn't know that already.
* * *
Before you went home that Sunday, your brother told you that they were going on vacation as a group and you're invited because according to Taehyung, right after Jimin, you are the one person he can't live without. You rolled your eyes at the dramatics but agree to go with them none the less.
So, you put in a week's leave for two weeks from now and asked your brother where you would be going for this vacation. The answer was a secluded beach house where no one would be able to reach you.
And no phones was allowed.
You laughed a bit at that rule when you arrived at the house and saw that there is WiFi. Your brother was quick to remind everyone of the rule, telling them that the WiFi was only allowed to be used for YouTube and Netflix. Games was added to the list after an objection from Jeongguk and Seokjin.
"This is gonna go great." You laughed as walked up the stairs to pick a room. You get first choice after winning the rock, paper, scissors game in the car.
"Pick us a nice room, sis!" Taehyung shouted up after you.
There was only four rooms because the whole point of this vacation is to spend time together, which means that everyone was doubling up. They decided to pair up by age and it turned out - Seokjin and Yoongi, Hoseok and Namjoon, Jimin and Jeonguk, and naturally, you and Taehyung were paired up. (You tried not to think about the fact that if you kept to the age pairing that you and Jeongguk would've been sharing a room.) That lead to a lot of pouting from Jimin because he wanted to pair up with his soulmate.
"If your so eager to share a bed with him, why don't you marry him?" You remember teasing Jimin.
"Maybe I will." He shot back without thinking and you weren't sure who was redder once his words set in - Jimin or Taehyung.
You picked a room with a small balcony and a nice view of the ocean. The day passed peacefully, everyone full of energy but after dinner on the beach, everyone quickly retired to bed, the sea air getting to them.
You decided to watch the ocean a little while longer and Jeongguk joined you. Neither of you spoke as you sat on the sand, watching as the waves crashed on the shore, water retreating back into the vast expanse of ocean. It was captivating, in a kind of terrifying way but if there is one thing in your life you've never been scared of, it's water.
"Life is a lot like the ocean." You eventually said, breaking the silence between you.
"How so?"
"You can read about it in so many books, but you still won't know everything about it."
"That's deep." Jeongguk said, voice soft.
You shrugged, feeling a little self-conscious. "Yeah, well, I've never been a shallow person."
"I know." You saw him nodding out of the corner of your eyes. "You're a beautiful person. Inside and out." He said it so matter-of-factly, so sincerely, that your stomach flipped and your cheeks flushed.
"Thanks." You smiled over at him.
It was silent again, but just like the first silence, you didn't mind it. You like the comfortable quiet between you two. Finally, you sighed and pushed to your feet, "Come on, let's go inside."
"Okay." Jeongguk got to his feet and you walked the path home.
You walked on the side of the pool where you all swam earlier that day, and didn't notice the small puddle of water that hasn't dried yet and you slipped. You reached for Jeongguk but his hands missed yours by millimeters, so you just took a breath and resigned yourself to falling into the water. You didn't mind it all that much, nothing some towels couldn't fix.
When you surfaced, you saw a laughing Jeongguk on the side. An idea formed in your mind but you made sure to keep your expression neutral as you reached a hand out to him. "Give a girl a hand, please."
Jeongguk - nice, kind, unsuspecting Jeongguk - reached a helping hand out to you immediately, only realising your true intentions when you gave a forceful yank and pulled him into the pool.
When he surfaced, glaring at you - but there was no heat behind it, so it didn't count - you couldn't help but laugh heartily. "I forget how similar you and Taehyung-hyung really are sometimes."
"Sucks for you." You smirked. The smirk turned into spluttering when Jeongguk splashed water into your face. You looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Oh, you're on."
You splashed at each other like proper five year olds, giggling and everything. Finally you called a ceasefire before you woke up everyone inside.
You looked at Jeongguk, blonde hair dripping wet, droplets of water rolling down his tan skin, that little mole under his bottom lip that you've wanted to kiss so many times you've lost count and suddenly, all of your resolve broke down like a house of cards and your common sense shortcircuited. You surged forward and kissed him firmly, clutching at his shoulders to pull him close.
His lips were a little cold from the water but was still petal soft and you wondered what it would be like to kiss him everyday.
Your common sense returned a second later and you pulled away, almost loosing your footing and slipping. Your whole body was on fire and you couldn't look Jeongguk in the eyes. "Fuck. Shit, Jeongguk, I'm so, so sorry."
You turned away from him, every intention of getting out of this pool and hiding away until you die.
Only you didn't get anywhere before a strong hand circled your wrist in the one second and in the next second you found yourself pushed up against the wall of the swimming pool, barricaded in by a hand on each side of you. You looked up at Jeongguk and your mouth went dry at the sight of those dark eyes that made you shiver. His voice was low when he spoke, "I didn't get to kiss back."
Your eyes widened and that was all you had time to do before he leaned down to capture your lips. Your head told you to pull away. That this is a very bad idea. Your heart told you to kiss him back and make the most of it. You've been listening to your head for seven years, so you decided to listen to your heart for once and kissed Jeongguk back with years of pent up longing and yearning.
The kiss turn turned really hot, really fast.
Jeongguk hoisted you up and you quickly got with the program and wrapped your legs around his waist. Everywhere his hands touched, it left a blazing trail behind, causing you to shiver and erupt into goosebumps. Distantly you wondered how it was possible to feel so heated in cold water.
You kissed and kissed until your lungs burned, your toes curling as you squeezed as close to Jeongguk as possible. Finally, you couldn't take it anymore and you pulled away, both of you heaving lungfuls of air.
"So now what?" You asked him, when you regained some common sense and breathing didn't leave you breathless anymore.
"Well, right now I'd like to kiss you some more, but later on, I'd really like to take you out." Jeongguk told you bluntly and if you were standing, your legs would have given out.
"What?"
And just like that, gone was confident Jeongguk and back was shy Jeongguk. He ducked his head, adverting his eyes from yours. "If you want."
"Yeah, I want too." You told him, watching as his eyes glittered with happiness. You could relate.
Jeongguk was onto something with the kissing some more right now, though, so you pushed that away and you dived back in. Right now you were more interested in mapping the inside of Jeongguk's mouth and finding out what his skin tastes like than anything else in this world.
* * *
The next morning your brother squinted at you suspiciously from across the breakfast table. You were seated in between Jeongguk and Hoseok, across from Taehyung and Jimin. Namjoon sat next to Hoseok. Yoongi and Jin was busy making breakfast in the kitchen. The six of you were waiting patiently.
Finally you couldn't take the staring anymore. "Is there something on my face, Taehyung-oppa?"
"Something happened." Taehyung said, pointing the pair of chopsticks he was fiddling with at you.
You rose a brow, not surprised at all that your brother picked up on it. That doesn't mean you are going to make it easy for him. You put on an innocent face, "Really?"
"Yeah, Taehyung-ah is right, you're like-" Jimin agreed, waving his hands around as he searched for the right word. "...glowing."
"I am not glowing." You said indignantly. Out of the corner of your eyes, you caught a smirk lifting on Jeongguk's lips. You turned and narrowed your eyes at him, "You, stop looking so smug."
"What does Jeonggukie have to do with-" Taehyung cut himself off and you could see how he put the dots together. The look on his face was hilarious as he turned to Jeongguk with a fierce gaze, "Jeon Jeongguk, what have you done to my baby sister?"
Jeongguk, despite being bigger and stronger, still looked a bit terrified of Taehyung as he squeaked, "Nothing, hyung."
"Nothing, hyung. Hah! Do you take me for an idiot? Something happened. I know it did. What is it?"
You giggled and leaned over to Jeongguk and whispered in his ear, "Don't tell him anything. Watching him squirm and drawing his own conclusions, slowly going insane with curiousity will be much funnier than telling him the truth."
Jeongguk brightened at your suggestion and immediately nodded in agreement.
"What are you two whispering about?" Taehyung demanded, voice higher than normal, despite having the deepest voice of the lot. "Hobi-hyung, tell me what they're saying."
"Sorry, Taehyung-ah, I can't hear." Hoseok said with laughter in his tone.
Yoongi and Jin came in with the food before Taehyung could interrogate you further. Taehyung looked before you and Jeongguk, "This isn't over."
You laughed, looking forward to teasing your brother a bit, when suddenly a hand slipped into yours. You looked at Jeongguk, who was steadfastly avoiding your eyes. You noticed his red ears and smiled softly, twisting your hand so you could lace your fingers through his. As the two of you held hands under the table while eating breakfast, you felt giddy and more excited about the future than you have in a long time.
There was still a lot you and Jeongguk had to talk about, but that was for later. You had enough time to figure it all out. Together.
the end.
#bangtan#bangtan fanfic#bts fic#bts jungkook#jeon jungkook x you#jeon jungkook x reader#jeon jungkook#jungkook x you#jungkook imagine#jungkook x reader#jungkook#jeongguk
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Pull the Stars Out of the Sky (And Gift Them to Me), pt. 4 (Ahkmenrah x Reader)
Description: He needs to listen. He needs to understand.
Notes: i havent been able to write recently bc ive been spending a lot of time with my boytoy but hes off being a firefighter rn so ive just been nonstop writing and drawing. its ridiculous. i finished pt 3 and 4 in like three days. WC: 5.5k
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There were less paintings in Thebes. White marble walls and pillars reigned supreme, a stark contrast from the colorful streets of Memphis. You decided not to bring it up, or at least not at the moment you realized it, as in that moment you were face to face with the mayor of Thebes. He was shaking Ahkmenrah's hand, a polite smile on his lips.
"It's good to see you again, Piye," Ahk said. You had to stop and go over the sentence again to make sure you heard it right. Piye wasn't on the same boat as yours, and wouldn't arrive for another day.
"As it is you, my King," the mayor replied.
A trail of servants, soldiers, and slaves passed both behind and in front of you, lugging the offerings to specific temples, and the royal belongings behind the Pharaoh. Haji was put to the use, as unfortunate as it was, and you couldn't help but apologize when he was asked to haul a massive reed basket full of dried dates.
"It's alright," he said, huffing with effort. "I've done this before. Not usually uphill, though."
"Sorry," you said again, wincing at the way sweat beaded on his forehead.
The massive block of shade casted by the royal house's overhang was a relief for those carrying items, and for Ahk as well, as this was his home-away-from-home. Images of Ahkmenrah remained painted across the walls, the only color in the crystal city. The Nile flowed steadily beside the house, short fences leading to a plentiful garden through which the water came, and date trees that grew taller than any building.
The mayor, who you slowly realized was also named Piye, left your group there with a bid for a good evening. Along with that, he invited the Pharaoh and you––his pet––to dinner with him and his family. You weren't sure how enjoyable that would be, but either way the decision was out of your hands.
Following Ahkmenrah, you found yourselves in a large room with a domed ceiling, tall arches framed by red curtains. Outside, trees rustled in the gentle wind with no hint of society. You silently cheered––it was better, you believed, to have a view of the land, rather than of the city.
"Tomorrow I shall take you on a true tour of the city," Ahk said, coming up behind you till his breath fell sudden on your shoulder. You jumped slightly, but arms around your waist stilled you, pulling you into an unfortunately familiar warmth. "How does that sound?"
You said nothing, staring into the silent night.
"We can go through the markets," he suggested, shifting so he held you tighter. "If you want for anything, I will give it to you. I'm sure you've gone through many markets unable to afford anything, so now's a chance to make up for some of that."
"... thank you," you said, very nearly whispered, as hesitance seized you fiercely. Giving into his words––you said you'd never do that. He was not threatening you in any way, so why would you try to please him?
"Are you tired yet?" He asked.
"Not especially," you said, voice still strained.
"How does a game of Senet sound, then?"
"I've... never heard of it," you said honestly, glancing to the side as your fingers fiddled with each other.
"Really? I think you'll quite like it. It's a game of wits and chance. Are you interested?"
You paused before saying, "sure."
He grinned, leaving you alone in the moonlit room as he raced to the servants bringing in his personal belongings. While you waited, you stared out the massive, pale arches, bright as the moon in the perfectly clear sky. Barely a breeze passed by, leaving the warm, humid climate to cling to your skin, slowing your breath as peace reached you. Thebes was nice––just not the city. The countryside was beautiful, and Ahkmenrah's home here was beautiful.
It was not hard for a room to be better than your previous room, tied up in the middle of inescapable stone walls, still you took special care to appreciate the freedom here. Yes, there was a large drop between the pristine upper floor and the ground, but that hardly mattered to you. By your reckoning, you could milk Ahkmenrah's affection for you. If he truly would not let you go, you might as well make the most of it, and earn whatever you longed for in your poorer life.
Steps echoing in the empty hall grew closer, leading to the creaking hinges of the large, wooden doors behind you. You turned, coming to see the Pharaoh grinning like a dope, entirely uncharacteristic for his royal attire.
"I brought my board from home, but I've got one here as well. Made of crystal and ivory, actually, but I don't like it as much as my wooden one," he said, rambling as he set the board down on the carpeted floor.
The board was presented as a tiny, rectangular table with black and red squares for the pieces to move on. Dark wood legs held up the board, within which was contained a drawer filled with the pieces, numbering two pairs of five. One style was a long pillar with a head on top, and the other was a round-base pyramid.
Over the course of the next couple minutes, Ahkmenrah explained the rules to you, how the pieces moved forward, and that whoever got all their pieces off first won. The basics were gone over, but you soon started without much knowledge on how to play. He taught as you went along, and soon you were truly playing, concentrated deeply on your strategy and how to win. There were a few different tactics you could try to slow down Ahk or speed yourself up, but as you grew engrossed in the game, you hardly noticed the smile spreading across the Pharaoh's face.
"You might actually beat me," he said as you took another one of his pieces, sending it back five paces.
"What, you didn't think I was smart enough at first?" You said with an almost sly grin.
"No, I – actually," he paused, "yes. Sorry. I might've underestimated you."
"Don't worry," you said, handing the dice to him. "You're not the first."
"Really?"
"I ran into this stand at one point. It was a man who took your coin and hid it under one of three cups, switched them all up, and asked you where the coins were. If you got it right, you were paid in double, and if you got it wrong, he took your money."
"Basic deal."
"Yes. I came as a young child, a stranger to the city. He thought I'd be easy prey, so he did his trick, but I noticed he was dropping the coins off the edge of the table and into his lap. So I pick-pocketed him for all the money he took from people."
"That... doesn't sound like he underestimated your smarts so much as underestimating your conniving."
"Perhaps so," you said, moving another one of your pieces to steal one of his, sending it back by three. "But for me, the two go hand in hand."
"I can see," he chuckled, his blush visible even in the moonlight.
After a long time spent finishing the game, as the last move off the board had to be an exact number, you won mostly by chance. Still you cheered, grinning satisfied as Ahk held his head low in failure. He chuckled though, his shoulders shaking with the silent laughter, bringing you great gratification.
"Where did you learn these tactics?"
"Ever been to Nubia?"
"A couple times," he said, looking to the side as he attempted to recall it. "My father was rather cruel to them, so I try not to visit too much. They don't really like the royal family."
"Understandably so," you said with crossed arms, watching him deftly pick up the pieces and cram them back in the drawer. "They memorized your father's military movements, and I assumed you learned your own tactics from him. Applying that to the fact that you're more passive aggressive than actually aggressive, I decided you'd probably be more on defensive, creating strong barriers instead of stealing my pieces."
"... Wow."
"You're also less likely to overcome my pieces because you're trying to gain my favor."
"Okay, I don't need an in depth analysis of my childhood and psyche," he said, holding his hand up but still laughing.
"You asked," you reminded him.
"I did. And I'd like to hear more, when I'm conscious enough to actually understand it," he said as he set away the board. He returned quickly to you, pulling you into a tight hug, before promptly releasing you with a kiss to your neck.
"Tired?"
"Mhm," he hummed, hand trailing down to tangle in yours.
Once affirmed of your presence, he led you along the barren, white floor, your reflections standing beneath you with chests pressed together. The plush of linen sheets and pillows caught you when he pushed you, and soon your body was cradled by the bed and overshadowed by the Pharaoh above you. Crownless, barren of cape or gold, and caught enraptured in your eyes.
As he loomed above you, seemingly caught in his adoration for you, you noted with much confusion that you were breathing normally. Your heart raced horribly in your chest, that still remained a constant sickness. Yet your muscles relaxed, sleepiness seeping into your bones, hypnotized by his loving gaze.
"You're cute," he said with a sudden, wide smile. You huffed, rolling your eyes as you put your hands on his face, pushing him away. He just laughed, falling over onto his back.
"Go to sleep," you told him, lying down on your side.
"Very well. But in the morning," he leaned over your turned shoulder, kissing your cheek, "be ready to be out in public with me."
His arms once more wrapped tight around your middle, tugging you into his heat as he tucked you under his chin. You had several questions, both concerning his statement and other things, but you decided to wait until tomorrow. Tears were budding in your eyes from your incessant yawning, and sleep was a blink away.
You dreamed of a lake that night––laced with lily pads, blue and purple petals sprouting from green buds. Inside each pocket full of pollen, a sun glowed and illuminated your searching fingers. A black stone sky towered above you, dark and cold with wind, creating a deep contrast between it and the warm water.
You awoke to a different stone sky, shaped in the same dome. This one was made of white quartz, carved delicately, and lit by the strength of the sun. Recognition came to you instantaneously, and you recalled the trip to Thebes and the game from the night before. The only difference was the absence of heat, of pressure on your waist, breath on your neck. Sitting up, you realized you were alone in the room. How rare a chance––unsupervised, with massive windows beside you that you could easily climb out of.
Before you could even think of how to act in the presence of such opportunity, the doors slowly opened, revealing Ahk with a tray in his hand. You furrowed your brow. Couldn't he have asked one of his servants to get that? Or in the very least, open the door for him.
"I have never claimed to be a chef. I want you to know that before you eat this," he said, which was a very alarming thing to be told before being presented a meal.
"Ummm..."
"That sounded bad. Let me restart. I am not a very good cook, but I did what I could."
"Why can't the chefs cook?"
"I'm not asking anyone to work during the Opet festival," he said with a frown, before calling out, "Naguib?!"
"Yeah?" He called back, footsteps soon nearing.
"What about him?" You asked.
"Oh, he's not here for work," Ahk said in a bright tone, looking over his shoulder to see Naguib entering the room.
"I'm just here to make sure he doesn't burn down the house," Naguib chuckled, leaning on the door frame.
"Yes, and thank you for that. Come here," Ahk said, motioning the servant either. He dutifully obeyed, and Ahk pulled out a small pouch, handing it to him. "Have fun."
"Thank you, sir," Naguib said, bowing to the King before ducking out.
"Funny little man, that," Ahk said once he was sure Naguib was out of sight.
"How so?" You asked, mildly amused at their antics.
"He's the only one who can switch readily between free time and work time. Not many people have that switch, you know," he said, turning back to you.
"Do you?"
"I like to think so. What do you think?" He raised himself to tower above you, his expression suddenly falling into a shadowed cold. "Can I put on the face of a King?"
That cocky bastard knew the answer perfectly well. A man so aware of his own emotions, of the way he carried himself, would obviously know about this aspect of himself. Many go their whole lives without ever cracking into who they truly are; but not the Pharaoh. He knew every crevice of himself, and he used it to his advantage. Every weakness hidden. Every strength glorified.
"I'll take that as a yes," he said, a cocky smirk on his face as you emerged from your thoughts.
You frowned.
"Oh, don't pout now, pet," he cooed as his finger trailed down the side of your face. "Let's see how breakfast turned out, hmm?"
He soothed and gained your vice attention at once with that little motion, that little motion he'd used a number of times before. Like himself, he had taken it upon himself to know you, to understand why you reacted in certain ways just as much as how you reacted. His expression gave little of that information away, so instead you turned to the tray and scanned its' contents.
You first noticed the wooden bowl of dates, set off in the corner of the platter beside two slats of seared meat. In the middle of it all was the largest plate, upon which he had placed an array of stirfry vegetables, garnished with an anise flower. Two cups were set to the side, filled with a faintly yellow tea. You reached for that first, as you had no idea what it was, and curiosity was always your main concern.
"What is this?" You asked, scanning the drink thoroughly.
"Blue lotus tea. Couldn't find any stores of beer, and I wanted to show you the flower. It's quite helpful in a number of things, medicinally... and recreationally," he said, biting at his bottom lip as he took the other glass.
"So... a drug," you said, raising a single brow.
"You could say that," he said as he took a sip, never breaking eye contact with you.
"Why don't I trust you?"
"Because I'm untrustworthy," he said, winking.
In the end you did end up drinking the tea, and the honey stirred within the warm water had you finishing the entire cup. Along with that, the two of you ate the various dishes Ahk had made with the help of Naguib, finding most of them––in the very least––edible. The meat was definitely burnt, and the stirfry was a little heavy on the anise. Overall, not bad––you probably shouldn’t expect more than that from a Pharaoh who had been handfed all his life.
He dressed himself once all was said and done concerning breakfast, twirling in the mirror to scan every inch of his outfit. There was no effort within it to conceal his identity as Pharaoh––in fact, it was enlarged, prominent and obvious on every golden brace and silk thread imbued within it. A regal, tall crown made of gold and bearing a poised cobra ended it all off, concealing the soft brown curls atop his head.
A few questions remained on the tip of your tongue, waiting for your brain to decide it was the right time to ask. After a little while of holding back, you decided that the 'right' moment would never come, and asked your question forthwith.
"Why are we here again?" You asked, thoughtlessly rubbing the sheets between your thumb and forefinger.
"The Opet festival," he answered, preening his cape. "It's an event that celebrates the strength of the Pharaoh. It'll be my first... since my father gave up the throne. We pray and make offerings to Amun, and the commonfolk are welcomed to ask their own prayers upon Amun's statue. Perhaps you've noticed it?"
Ah. That would explain the 11 foot tall statue made of gold.
"We'll be celebrating wealth for a little while, but in a week we take the barge to Luxor, where we shall enter the temple of Amun, and hopefully converse with the Gods. Amun, specifically."
"Yeah, I gathered that much. So all that food... it's offerings for this God?"
"Some of it, yes. Everyone brings their own offerings, and as I am a man of plenty, I brought plenty of offerings. It is also our duty as the government and protector of the people to replenish my citizens' energy, and so much of that food is actually for those who travel days and weeks to pray at Amun's feet. You, and the worshippers of Amun, will be well-looked after," he said, taking your hands softly in his and coercing you to your feet.
"Is that how it's always been?"
"As long as I remember. It wavers with cruel leaders... but never really vanishes. Our magic is as important as night and day, essential as fruitful trees, and as entwined with our lives as water. It is hard to break the worship engrained in generations."
While he spoke, he began to undress you, pulling at the buttons and knots until the fabric fell from you. Off your shoulders, off your hips, down your arms, until the white linen pooled on the marble floor. Soon you stood naked before him, but he kept his eyes on yours. Never strayed from your given attention.
"I know you don't adhere to our religion. I want you to know I don't mind. I would not force you into anything, especially not something as controversially widespread as religion," he said, cocking his chin upwards with a smile.
He took your hand again and led you out of the room. Chill breeze brushed by your naked stomach, sending shivers down the sensitive skin so readily bared. Once you reached the main entrance room, he let go of your hand, kneeling to dig into one of the massive bags packed before the trip. Most of them had been dumped in the front room, as the servants and soldiers were tired and ready for sleep the night before.
You attempted to look over his shoulder, an endeavor that was fruitless as it was needless. Soon he found what he was looking for, and he turned to you, presenting it in his open arms.
"Your clothes. From before. I had them washed and packed," he said, handing them to you.
Everything was there. Your long, red vest coat, your skirt with the panel tied into the waist, your buttoned shirt with the collar raised high onto your neck. Things you didn't genuinely expect to see again, and certainly not in the same shape as before.
"Thank you," you murmured, brow furrowed as you flipped through the layers. Without haste you pulled on the skirt, settling into your stolen shirt and the long coat over it. The only thing missing was your weapon––a staff with two spikes hammered into the end. Not the greatest weapon, but it served you well.
"New places can make me nervous, and personally it helps when I have something familiar with me. So I understand why you wanted them back."
"Yes, it's... good to be back in my clothes. Your style is a little much for me," you confessed, remembering the dress with no coverage of your chest except the straps holding the skirt up. A skirt that was see through.
"That's alright. I'm confused by yours as well."
If you were told anything by the various Egyptians you'd met in your travels, it was that Egypt was hot. Always sunny. Always humid. As you looked upwards, wide eyes meeting the grey sky, you nearly jumped. It had been a while since you'd seen a fully overcast sky, where clouds blocked out the sun and the horizons.
"Hmm," Ahk hummed as the two of you left the tiny palace, his hand encasing yours.
"Is it usually like this here?" You asked, looking up to Ahk. To your surprise, you had to squint, the sun still shining bright, white light through the fog.
"No," he said, beginning to walk down the steps, and taking you with. "Actually, it's usually a tad warmer than Memphis. No problem. I'm sure it'll clear out before the ceremony. We've got a week, after all."
He took you into the unfamiliar streets, through graffitied walls until stone turned to marble, great pillars surrounding a massive circle market. Stalls of various types spiraled down into the middle, where a towering obelisk overlooked all trade. Indecipherable hieroglyphs lined each side, though the base of the black stone remained invisible, hidden behind wooden stalls.
Once you entered the center, you noted brick beneath your feet, black stones running into a spiral in the midst of the white bricks. If you followed the path of the black stones, you would find yourself in the center of the market. As tantalizing as that exploration sounded, your hand was firmly set in Ahk's palm, and he had different plans.
You must've passed by a dozen carts before he finally stopped, halting you before a wooden stand showcasing a number of scarves. Each held a sheerness so intricate that you could see straight through it. The seller noticed your amazement, an amazement that had to be common, as he knew exactly what had caught your attention.
"These are made out of silk from China. Wonderful seamstresses they have, there. So thin you may draw the whole shawl through a common ring," the seller said, thumbing through a couple before pulling a blood red scarf out from beneath the stack.
He pulled a ring off his finger, and with great care, threaded the whole scarf through it. Before you could even react to the performance, Ahk was pulling a handful of coins out of his purse and setting them on the counter. The seller grinned, thanked him for the purchase, and just like that the interaction was complete. Ahk took your hand once more and led you away, continuing through the outer ring of the market.
"Beautiful color, isn't it?" He said, watching the way it wrinkled and fell in his hand. You made to nod, but paused as his arms drew over your head, placing the scarf over your shoulders.
"This is yours," you tried to say, but he shushed you, tutting sweetly.
"It's yours. And it looks fantastic on you," he said with a smile, pulling your entwined hands to his lips, where he kissed the back of your hand.
You pressed your lips into a thin line, trying your best not to say anything. That's how this day would go––he would buy you anything you looked at, flaunt his wealth in your face, utterly spoiling you in front of a whole city. Already your face felt as though it were aflame, nervous eyes set fiercely on the ground in front of you.
Along the way, Ahk stopped at a few jewelry carts, where he bought you an array of golden bracelets, faience necklaces, and ivory rings. It wasn't long till there was barely any room left for new gifts, though you suspected that was his plan.
"Here," he said, pausing your stride with a hand on your chest. "One of my friends here in Thebes runs a bakery. He makes the best tiger rolls I've ever had."
Must be good considering how much of them he's had, you thought dully. As usual, you kept your thought to yourself, and followed Ahk inside without complaint.
You were no longer scared of Ahk, you realized, watching him greet his friend with a gusto you rarely ever saw. He was just... irritating. Annoyingly sweet, painfully perceptive, and desperate to earn your favor. The things he dragged you along to do with him were the worst––markets too crowded for your tastes, too rich and uptight for your liking, or boats that you clearly stated you were uncomfortable being on.
The only good part was that outside, he didn't pay as much attention to you. While sitting around in the palace, his hands wandered you constantly, eyes set unmoving upon your body. He memorized those curves, the dips, the intricate veins, and the way you moved in those long hours. Outside, he was preoccupied with other stimulus and left you mostly alone.
Bitterness settled on your tongue. Your old routine was entirely lost, cast to the wind by the Pharaoh's greedy hands. The routine you loved, that kept you sane, and more importantly, kept you moving.
"Do you want anything, Amoke?" Ahk asked, leaning in to speak more intimately. You, of course, shied away, but was mostly stopped by Ahk's hand on your upper arm.
"Um... no. I'm not very hungry," you mumbled, and though he paused to glare suspiciously at you, he relented.
"Alright," he said, kissing your forehead before rushing back to the counter.
With a bag of tiger rolls in hand you left, Ahk continuing to pull you along just as before. This time he did take you down the spiral, and as you passed each stall, you realized it was a conglomeration of different cultures; an amalgamation of the western world. Art from Mali caught your eye. You had gone through there a few times, and the style of their statues had always intrigued you.
The Pharaoh noted your interest, and paused to take you there. He let you decide what you wanted, payed for it in full, and complimented your taste.
"You have a good eye," he had said, "for the divine."
"The divine?" you repeated, looking down at the statue. The form of a plush woman lay in your hands, smooth stone showcasing wide hips, large breasts, and a tiny head.
"A woman, a mortal who creates life, is as close to Gods as we will ever be," he said, looking over your shoulder to scan the figure as well.
The crowd had yet to notice the golden fabric of a Pharaoh, but the singular citizens who did notice were shellshocked, and hadn't the right mind to react at all. Dumbfoundedness gave way the closer you got to the center of the market, and by the time the black pyre casted you entirely in shadow, people were bowing at the King's feet, murmuring astounded praise as he passed by.
You looked up to gauge Ahk's mindset, finding something that terrified you more than it should have; he was smiling. Self-satisfied, pride puffing out his chest, silently declaring their praise to be a necessity.
A man intoxicated by his own fumes is dangerous––you knew that all too well, and fear began to seep back into your image of him, sending mold that tore down your irritation and replaced it with nauseous anxiety. His hand holding yours was now an anchor that sank you into a bottomless sea, instead of the earlier annoyance.
The combination of your own growing panic and the increasingly loud and desperate voices of the crowd sent you into overdrive. Hands reached up from bowed heads to touch the face of Ahkmenrah, to feel his grace and holiness overtake their bodies. Prayers surrounded you, and with the Pharaoh preoccupied, you fell to the ground and crawled out of the mass of the black land's people.
Once free from the writhing confines, you left the market sniffling, headed for somewhere lonelier. You hated to rely on others to heal you, but for a moment you longed for Haji. He had been kind to you. He would understand. Ahkmenrah didn't, and he never would––you swore this to yourself, your back sliding down the graffitied wall of someone's home.
Hiding your face in your hands, you pressed your knees to your chest, and curled up tight. No one would bother you; you looked like a homeless person, after all.
"Amoke?" Came a soft voice from above you.
You didn't move.
"Let's get home," Ahk murmured, his hands slowly moving up your arms till he gracefully pulled you to your feet.
Your eyes, once hidden and blurred, now opened to the grey light of today.
Ahk had no clothes on.
That was the first thing you noticed. The second thing you noticed was that he was smiling apologetically at you, nervous tics appearing as he chewed on his lip.
"Why are you naked?" You asked in a pathetically weak voice.
"Well, um... it was a little hard to leave the crowd, so I removed all my identifiers. They'll probably steal my clothes, so, um.. hopefully Naguib packed my other nice outfit," he said, beginning the walk back home. You followed quickly behind, still going over his bare skin.
"You could've left your underwear on, you know," you said.
"Oh." He paused. "The thought hadn't occurred to me."
You chuckled weakly, half-hearted as you trudged up the little hill. By the time you reached the doors of the tiny palace, the silence had stretched uncomfortably between you, and you were eager to hide away.
Ahk pulled the door open for you and said, "I'm sorry, by the way," before following after you and shutting the door behind him. The click of metal echoed in the empty, marble house, bouncing off the bare walls.
"For what?" You asked, unable to face him as your voice cracked.
"Bringing you to the market while I'm all dressed up. I knew I would get a lot of attention, but I didn't know how it would affect you," he said as he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling your head into his chest to hug you.
For a moment you were comforted, until you very abruptly realized that he was still naked. At that point you wriggled out of his grasp, though your plan backfired a little, as the moment you drew away your eyes scanned the entirety of him, from his feet to his head, and he ardently noticed your interest. Your panic had absorbed you so entirely that you hardly felt your cheeks burning with a bright red blush.
"I'll... go put some clothes on," he said with a smile, shaking his head.
He left you alone in the big, empty drawing room, occupied by a vacant kitchen on the far side of the house, and three bags of luggage laid haphazardly in the middle. Your steps that took you deeper into the walls echoed around you, causing you to move slow and careful.
Eventually you explored the whole of the room, finding a small door to the right of the entrance, one that led into a long pathway. The chill wind snuck through the thick hedges as you padded down the stone walkway, lines of sand between the rocks sticking to the bottom of your feet. Through the thin walls, you glimpsed a sliver of a garden, the sight of a white fountain bringing the sound of rushing water to you.
The fountain, alabaster centerpiece of the small garden, flowed with crystal clear water that pooled on the ground in such depth that lilies had sprouted from the bottom. Green pads floated on the cool water, and the blue lotus flowers were all closed up in the sun's absence. The trail that had led you there continued within it, circling the fountain, and ultimately leading to a small, sandstone gazebo.
You sat on the gazebo's step, elbow on your knee as you leaned your cheek on the palm of your hand. Here the wind was not as harsh, only occasionally brushing against your hair, though the cold had yet to cease. It was a good explanation for the silent garden, barren of animal life. No, this was a haven of silence, of loneliness, and of plants. Beautiful, quiet plants.
As many things as there were on your mind, there was nothing truly in your head. Abstract ideas and emotions relating to your position, to your relationship with Ahkmenrah, to the tired nerves burnt out from your earlier panic.
"It's a bit cold," Ahk murmured in his low voice, placing a blanket over your hunched shoulders.
You whirled around to see Ahkmenrah standing above you, fully clothed. With a slight huff he sat down beside you, settling onto the hard step, his thigh pressed to yours.
"I hate my life," you mumbled, falling and landing on Ahk. You could feel the way he tensed, how his breath caught in his throat at the given contact.
"I –"
"And it's all your fault," you said, face still hidden in his shoulder.
"... I know."
#ahkmenrah x reader#Ahkmenrah#Night at the Museum#rami malek#rami malek character#ahkmenrah x male reader#ahkmenrah x female reader
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kings of unconventional (part three) ROMAN
Again! Late as fuck! I’m sorry, I had no motivation for what felt like forever. Hey, listen to Experience by Ludovico Einaudi while you’re writing btw. Also the thing abt me getting an AO3 account? The stupid blocker on my computer that I can’t figure out how to turn off deemed the website unworthy, and frankly I don’t have the energy.
Warnings: Kissing I suppose? I consider it a blessing but whatever. It’s kind of just a fluffy meet cute.
Tagging: @emiisanxious @genderfluidmoma @my-life-is-an-artistic-mess @penguins-penguins @jinxedrose101 Imma cross my fingers and hope I tagged everyone.
Still short, but it’s a tiny bit longer this time! Yay! Fic under the cut.
ROMAN inhaled the familiar scent of orange aerosol as he checked into the bookshop as a volunteer. Though he wasn’t a big reader, he came in on Thursdays to help supervise the meetings of Inqueery, a new book club that was quickly gaining speed due to its focus on LGBT+ content from all different types of genres. It was designed to help curious or queer youth label themselves if they preferred and to introduce people to media put out by the LGBT+ community.
Roman knew he was polyamorous and gay already, and he was very comfortable with his sexuality. Although, it helped a bit when your destiny was written across your arm. Many people came into these meetings simply to meet people and make sense of their soulmark. It was especially hard for kids with gender neutral names like ‘Alex’ or ‘Riley.’ But since it was technically still a book club, Roman came here to help guide the curious and confused so readers could discuss their books in peace. Mr. Sanders used to do it, but as he got older, he split his time between resting and keeping his business afloat.
He got a head start on changing the displays as he waited for Joan, an official hire. What Roman liked about Mr. Sanders’s Books is that every other day, the displays rotated, so lesser known authors and books got their chance in the spotlight. Even if it was some extra work. He had just finished with all of the display shelves when someone tapped him on the arm, prompting him to turn around.
“Well hello there, cutie.” In front of him, a curly haired young man with square glasses smiled brightly. He proudly sported a rainbow pin, a he/him pin, and a poly pride pin, all attached to his gray cardigan that fell loosely around his shoulders. He beamed at the compliment. (And blushed a little. Roman considered that a win.)
“Hi! I was wondering if you knew where the sign up sheet for Inqueery was? I can’t seem to find it. I’m new in town, so I was hoping I could make friends.” Well wasn’t he precious. Roman felt his heart melting into a puddle of goo.
“Of course! It’s actually behind the counter, which is why you couldn’t find it. There’s a bit of a waiting list simply due to funding. Unless you can buy your own book, in which case you can join as soon as they start a new one.” Roman grabbed the clipboard and a blue marker from under the counter. “Here you go sir! Oh, hey Joan! I finished the displays, so I’ll be out of your hair in a bit.” Their fond smile made Roman grin as they passed him to go to the back. “So yeah, just sign right here.”
“Thanks! I can buy my own book, which means that I check off this box here, right?” Roman nodded and watched as Patton signed his-
Patton.
“I’m Roman and I really want to kiss you right now,” he blurted like an absolute idiot. But Patton looked up, nearly in awe. They pulled their sleeves up simultaneously, and true enough, Patton’s name was in simple blue half cursive, nearly identical to his signature on the sign up sheet. Roman’s name was in big red letters on Patton’s arm, fancy swirls underlining it. But directly underneath, ‘Logan’ was written in scribbly dark blue handwriting, just barely decipherable. Both ‘Virgil’ and ‘Janus’ were still in neat black print. “You met him? What’s he like?” Patton giggled.
“He kind of ran away from me in a moment of gay panic. But he complimented me first, and he seemed really sweet.” Roman’s face must have fallen slightly because Patton leaned over the counter and booped his nose, making him snort with laughter. “We’ll find him again, don’t you worry. We’re meant to be together.” Roman leaned over the counter as well, getting much farther forward than Patton had.
“It’s destiny.” Patton’s eyes widened and his face reddened, but he captured Roman’s lips in a soft, sweet kiss. They both closed their eyes and melted, Roman bringing his hand up to caress Patton’s cheek. No fireworks went off, but it was like burying your face in a ton of cotton candy at the fair - sugary and exhilarating. His mind traveled to the fair as they deepened the kiss. God, that’d be a beautiful date. He imagined the food, the ferris wheel, the bumper cars - but the loud crash that sounded wasn’t in his head. Roman broke away from the kiss and saw an absolutely mortified young man desperately picking up way too many books for one person to carry.
“Oh, are you okay?” Roman had officially decided Patton was perfect as he rushed to the young man’s side. Roman quickly followed, putting stacks of books on the counter. He offered out his hand, and the guy shakily accepted it.
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine, just a little shaken-” His eyes dropped to Roman’s arm and his jaw went slack. Roman and Patton followed his gaze. In purple, relatively neat print. Virgil. “Up.” Virgil scrambled to his feet. “So you’re...“ He pulled up his sleeve. “Roman and Patton?”
“Two of your soulmates at your service. Roman Regio. Lovely… lovely to meet you, Virgil.” The words almost died in his throat as his breath was taken away by the man. Virgil was tall. And Roman was taller than average, but wow. Oh god that was hot. Why was that hot? He inhaled sharply. Man, he really wanted to kiss him right now.
“I have such handsome soulmates!” Patton exclaimed. Roman felt his face warm, but Virgil went full on red. “I know we just met, but I feel so close to you two already. We should get ice cream! And then we can learn all about each other and we can-”
“Slow down sweetheart, I think we’re overwhelming our poor Virgil.” Virgil seemed as if he was gonna fall over again, though he had his hand on the wall to steady himself. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m… I’m great. I’m so, so… great.” Virgil glanced between them and smiled like he was close to shouting that this was the best day of his life. It certainly was the best of Roman’s. “I- uh, wow.” Roman looked over at Patton, who, even though he had known him for all of five minutes, looked at him like he could read his mind. Patton nodded excitedly, so Roman stepped slightly closer.
“May I kiss you?” Virgil stumbled then, and Roman’s arm shot out to steady him, and as Virgil looked over at Patton, who was still smiling, (thank goodness Roman hadn’t misinterpreted his expression) Roman stood on his toes and gripped Virgil’s patchy jacket. Virgil glanced back with longing in his eyes. “May-”
“Oh God yes.” Roman didn’t need to hear another thing. He yanked Virgil down and there. There were the fucking fireworks. Kissing him wasn’t better or worse than kissing Patton, it was just different. So different. He was nearly unable to stop himself from shoving his tongue in Virgil’s mouth right away, but Virgil opened his mouth hungrily for him anyway. This was an explosion, all the blood rushing in his head told him that. But they didn’t need an explosion quite yet. Ice cream sounded nice. So Roman pulled away, smiling as Virgil tried to follow him with his lips. “I-” Roman stepped back, and Virgil flushed hotly in embarrassment, but he then nodded to Patton, who beamed.
“May I?” Virgil nodded, looking dumbfounded and completely overwhelmed, but in a good way. Patton giggled as he got closer, his hands slipping up to clasp around Virgil’s neck. Roman sighed as their lips connected, knowing that Patton was leading the chaste, soft kiss and knowing exactly how it felt. He grinned and nearly laughed as the tips of Virgil’s ears went red, but when they separated, his grin only widened at the smile on Virgil’s face. Patton’s kisses were so sweet, they were enough to distract Virgil from anything else.
“So my darlings, I think that ice cream sounds great. How about you?”
#kings of unconventional#ts sanders sides#thomas sanders#sanders side fic#sanders sides fics#patton sanders#roman sanders#virgil sanders#ts patton#ts roman#ts virgil#kind of?#character thomas#character joan#they're both mentioned at least#mention of#logan sanders#ts logan#eventual dlamp#dlamp#ts dlamp#polyamory#gay
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So I’ve been thinking of some height headcanons for when most of the characters stop growing because why not so here they are:
Main kid gang:
Ferb— 6’7 ft (I’m sorry but there’s absolutely no way Ferb isn’t ridiculously tall. There’s just no way)
Buford— 6’0 ft (Idk him being exactly 6 foot just feels right. He’s always been on the taller side)
Isabella— 5’6 1/2 (I’ve always felt like Isabella was above average height for a girl but still not a tall girl you know?? So her being right down the middle seems cool)
Phineas— 5’6 (HE’S SHORT THERE’S NO OTHER WAY TO PUT IT. He was always meant to be short. Especially compared to Ferb)
Baljeet— 5’5 (Another short king, Baljeet had always felt like he was going to be short in stature but 6’5 in intelligence.)
I also ended up making headcanons for the Fireside Girls as well bc whatevs:
Ginger— 6’2 (Okay, okay listen, listen to me. She’s always been the tallest out of her friends and she has major tall girl vibes. Like tall and athletic girl vibes. Probably does rugby in highschool and destroys everyone vibes)
Adyson— 5’9 (Adyson was never that far behind Ginger in height so she would be tallish girl too.)
(If this was an alignment chart Isabella would go right here)
Katie and Holly— 5’4 (they have like the same energy but in somehow complete opposite ways. Idk I just feel like they’d stay equal in height)
Milly— 5’2 (Okay I know she was way too short in AYA but like I don’t really mind shortish Milly. I mean she has to get picked up when carrying something she’s tiny)
Gretchen— 5’0 (AYA is full of lies, we all know this. There’s no way she becomes the tallest girl. She remains short forever, it is her burden to bear)
Another couple height headcanons:
Everybody thinks Ginger is low key scary but she’s actually a gentle giant. Gretchen is the one to be feared (“Say goodbye to your kneecaps”).
Everyone makes fun of Phineas and Isabella cause she’s half an inch taller than him but they mostly laugh it off. But sometimes it gets annoying cause they both can’t reach the top of the cupboards.
When sometimes inventing Phineas will forget to not make the blueprints match both his and Ferb’s heights so Ferb gets squished by fun sized rooms or cockpits for rocket ships.
Stacy is 5’6 and when Ginger very quickly passes her height she is devastated for weeks. Candace only half relates because she felt the same when Ferb got taller but can still say Phineas is for sure her LITTLE brother.
Also very guilty pleasure ship hc for Balginger but everybody is really surprised when they find out they’re together. Nobody would think the super tall, athletic Ginger and the short very nerdy Baljeet would like each other but they do. And they’re one of the cutest couples in school.
#phineas and ferb#fireside girls#isabella garcia shapiro#adyson sweetwater#ginger hirano#phineas flynn#ferb fletcher#buford van stomm#baljeet tjinder#headcanons#I call balginger a guilty pleasure ship cause it’s only cute when they’re kids but just awful in AYA#but this is headcanon so lol
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Blume, I think Thara is a chaotic king, but apart from that he's a bit too "perfect". I want Frong to see his vulnerable side or his dark side so they can be on more equal terms.
I think it’s true that, for now, we haven’t really seen a vulnerable or dark side of Thara beside him opening up about his father but it was, again, in the context of him comforting Frong. I thought long about what his dark side could be and I hope you like this little story ^.^
Darkness is just an illusion || [AO3 Link]
Thara felt the pulse of the man under his fingers, the nervous flutter, spiking, the rate faster and faster the more pressure Thara put on his neck. He was bigger than Thara, almost a head taller, but there was sweat on his temple and his eyes showed fear.
It was a paradox, Thara thought, or maybe not. Someone who put drugs in other people’s drinks was a coward, the scum under the scum, not someone who would stand his ground. He had tried to argue against Thara’s accusations but the little bottle they had found in his jacket and Bohn who had seen him putting the stuff into Boss’ drink wasn’t something he could go against.
Bohn was ready to go for blood and the way he had his hands around the man’s collar was threatening, the way he yelled into his face and it seemed weird, Thara thought, that he didn’t seem to realize that Thara had his hand around the man’s throat. A little more pressure there Thara thought and stared at his own fingers. A little more pressure and there would be unconsciousness. Easy as that. He knew exactly where to—
“P’?”
Frong stood in the door that led to the corridor they were all assembled in, next to him a short woman with dyed red hair, it shone like a halo with the light behind her coming from the main room of the bar. She looked petit, but her eyes were fixated on the man against the wall and it was a mixture of murderous intent and tightly contained rage.
“P’?”, Frong said again and his eyes laid on Thara’s hand. Thara wasn’t sure why he didn’t immediately snatch his hand away. Maybe it was the voice in his head that wasn’t satisfied with the outcome of this. That this was his to deal with.
“Did they call the police?”, he asked, and the bar owner looked over to him briefly. Two men, giants, tall as well as broad appeared behind her.
“We are going to take care of him,” she said, and as Bohn wanted to argue Frong seemed to have enough of the situation and took both of them by their arms and dragged them with him.
“I wasn’t done with him!”, Bohn yelled and Frong let go of his arm to push him softly away.
“Boss is throwing up,” he said and nodded towards the gathering of their friends around Boss. His complexion was damp and ashy, he visibly shook and was bent over a bucket. It didn’t take more for Bohn to switch from angry to concerned and he quickly walked away.
Frong’s other hand was still around Thara’s wrist and it was the same hand he had had around the man’s throat and he stretched his fingers, startling Frong into looking down.
There was a frown between his eyebrows, but no disgust just concern, and Thara felt the need to say something. He didn’t even know what he would say. An apology, an explanation? But before he could open his mouth Frong looked up again and tugged him along.
“You should look after Boss. Duen has already called an ambulance.”
And just like that, a switch flipped inside Thara and he took over Boss’ care until the paramedics arrived.
At the hospital, he handed the little bottle over, so they would know what they were dealing with, and during all of it— During reassuring a distressed Mek that everything was going to be okay. During explaining to the ER doctors what happened. During the hours of waiting for the drugs to flush out of Boss’ system, during all of it Frong made sure to stay as close to Thara as possible. Whenever they stood or sat next to each other he touched him. He entwined their fingers, put his hand on Thara’s shoulder, pressed their thighs together or even just laid a warm hand on the small of Thara’s back.
Frong didn’t avoid touch. They had held hands or had greeted each other with a peck on the lips in public often enough that Thara knew he wasn’t against public display of affection, but this level of tactile contact was new. Not that Thara was complaining.
He just was confused.
Frong had seen him choking that guy, right?
They waited until they were told Boss was okay and that he would stay overnight. Bohn and Duen went first to pick up some clothes for Mek and Boss, followed by Ram and King, and when they climbed into a taxi Frong asked him softly: “Are you okay?”
And maybe he should have waited until they weren’t in a car together with a stranger but Frong’s calmness irked him.
“Not really,” he murmured and looked down when Frong intertwined their fingers on the middle seat. He didn’t retreat his hand.
It was grounding.
“Yeah… that was frightening what happened to Boss. It was luck that Bohn saw what happened.”
“Yes,” Thara confirmed slowly, “and…”
Was Frong being oblivious on purpose?
“You saw what I did, right? It wasn’t that dark in the hallway.”
Frong threw him a look and nodded. He started to caress Thara’s hand with his thumb and looked ahead again.
Thara felt his heart in his throat because he knew Frong wanted to say something. Had he just concealed his concerns?
“It’s nice,” Frong said and the little movements of his thumb on Thara’s hand was almost hypnotic. He tilted his head, and the street lamps of Bangkok illuminated his face in an uneven rhythm. “Maybe not nice… but reassuring.”
Thara raised an eyebrow. “Reassuring that I,” he quickly glanced towards the taxi driver and bent to get closer to Frong and murmured, “reassuring that I almost choked someone?”
“Do you mean that instead of almost you definitely defended someone? That you put a stop to someone being hurt?”
“I wasn’t…” But he couldn’t end his sentence as they stopped at the curb of Frong’s dormitory and the driver turned towards them to collect his fee. Thara hadn’t even realized that Frong had told him the address of his residence.
+++
“You make it sound nicer than it was.” Like he had been some hero. Frong looked at him through his reflection in the mirror, toothbrush in his mouth, and just raised an eyebrow. Yeah. Maybe continuing their conversation while Frong was unable to answer wasn’t the best idea, but he needed to say some stuff without Frong trying to dismantle them.
“I was ready to hurt that man! Ready and willing.” He heavily sat down on the toilet seat. It was a very small bathroom so he essentially blocked Frong’s way who could either step over Thara’s legs or sit down on his lap. He did neither. He turned and leaned against the tiny sink.
“I’m a med student,” Thara said and willed Frong to understand, “I’m not supposed to want to hurt someone.”
Frong continued to brush his teeth and seemed to wait for Thara to say something else but everything that had been in his mind was gone. Because in the end, it boiled down to him not being allowed to have those urges. It doesn’t matter how he voiced it. It was wrong.
“Let me ask you this,” Frong said finally and put his toothbrush back in the holder next to Thara’s. “If they brought the man in now, and you would work in the emergency room, and he was injured… would you help him?”
“Of course,” Thara said because that wasn’t the point and—
“You would treat him because you want to be a doctor because you want to help people regardless of what you already know about them… I think it’s allowed for you to be a human being and feel human emotion especially when your friends are involved. No one wants you to be a robot. You will have to make tough decisions soon enough, don’t beat yourself up about this.”
Thara sighed and stared down at his hands.
“Do you think they ‘took care of him’?”
Frong shrugged and pushed against Thara’s legs with his own until Thara made space for him to stand between them.
“It’s a gay bar. In the end, even if they called the police, we always have to look out for us ourselves, right?”
Thara mhmmed and put his forehead on Frong’s stomach, which was surprisingly comfortable for the sixpack-situation going on under his shirt.
“What did you mean with reassuring when we were in the taxi?”, he asked, because that had sat in the back of his mind since Frong had said it. Itching and irritating.
He felt how Thara bent a bit over him and put his hands on his shoulder, massaging the tension in Thara’s back with gentle strokes.
“It’s reassuring that you have vulnerable moments too.”
“I’m plenty vulnerable,” Thara murmured. What was Frong talking about?
“You like to solve my problems, yes, but that doesn’t mean that you are as vulnerable with me as I’m with you.”
“It’s my j—”
“If you were going to say it’s your job, I will kick you out. I’m not your job.”
Thara pressed his lips together. He wanted to say that. He felt responsible for Frong, for his wellbeing, for his happiness.
“I’m part of this relationship, too,” Frong murmured and the tone of his voice told Thara that he had wanted to say this for a long time now. “You can be vulnerable with me.”
Thara knew that. But it was hard.
He breathed in, smelled the bar on Frong, the aftershave he used, a bit of the minty toothpaste. Took another deep breath and tried to breathe the tension out.
“I wanted to hurt him so badly,” he finally whispered, a broken sound, the words more slurred than pronounced and Frong was still bent over him, like a warm cage of reassurance, his hands on Thara’s back and the warmth seeped through his shirt.
“I know,” he murmured. “Me too.”
end
#florbexter writes#my engineer the series#tharafrong#established relationship#canon divergence#ao3 link#hurt/comfort
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I give up, here’s Chapter 17
I should’ve posted this a week ago, but I’ve been like “nuuu it’s cool no one minds a 25,000-word chapter” and yeah here’s only 15k that I finally split off into its own thing. Chapter is here, hi @lostmypotatoes
The Grand Hall lived up to its name: Frisk had never been to the nicer parts of the humans’ castle, but there was no way it could be more amazing than this place, which had a ceiling hundreds of feet tall blanketed with tiny lights, speckled marble columns that reached nearly all the way up, and beautiful murals on the walls showing forests, rivers, even the ocean! Monsters stood in long lines along a central aisle of sparkling white sand, so new that it had obviously been made for the humans’ visit, stretching up a gentle slope to the foot of the grand staircase leading into the Underground.
Queen Toriel had taken Frisk from the house in the Ruins through a snowy town – how did it snow inside the mountain? – and on her first-ever boat ride, which ended all too soon in a place called “Waterfall”; from there, they hurried down to the Grand Hall just in time for the Royal Guard to announce the human delegation. Luckily, instead of having to walk through all those monsters, they used a partly-hidden network of hallways to emerge right at the head of the staircase. Toriel gave the child one more pat, telling her to be good and stay where she was, before the Queen walked out to take her place beside Asgore, nodding to the guards.
Frisk was glad she didn’t have to talk to the King yet; he looked like a bigger, hairier, scarier version of his wife or son, scowling and fidgeting around until Toriel cleared her throat. They stood just in front of Prince Asriel, who noticed the child and gave her a friendly nod before he turned to face the aisle. Frisk crept out far enough to look around the rest of the cavern, wondering why humans talked about the Underground as if it was some kind of filthy mudhole. It was such a beautiful place, with boat rides and snow and twinkling lights…
Something like trumpets sounded, and the Grand Hall’s enormous bronze gates swung open. The monsters all put on their politest expressions as the delegation came through the entrance and headed up the aisle, with the frontmost humans stopping at the bottom of the staircase. “Greetings,” boomed King Asgore, extending his arms and flaring his purple cape out like great wings. “Welcome to the Underground, one and all!”
On cue, the monsters broke into cheers and applause. As the echoes faded, a fussy-looking human stepped forward to give a long speech about greetings and honor and honorable blah blah blah; it was starting to get boring when he was cut short by a cry of “Mama!” and someone rushing past him.
“Chara!” Forgetting her dignity, the Queen of monsters hitched up her robe to run to her estranged daughter. They nearly crashed into each other halfway down the stairs, Toriel’s crown falling askew as the human leapt into her embrace. There was a lot of murmuring and more genuine applause, which swelled into a full ovation as Toriel sank to her knees, holding on as though her child was drowning and her arms were a life preserver.
Asriel had also hurried down to meet his sister, and Asgore was starting toward them when it happened: Chara looked up for the briefest second, and when she saw Frisk near the head of the stairs, the woman’s eyes flashed sheer hatred, as though she wanted her dead on the spot.
Frisk jerked back so hard that she stumbled and nearly fell. When she caught her balance, she found herself looking down at Asgore; he was staring at Chara, and followed the woman’s gaze back up to Frisk. For a long second, the King regarded the human child with a question in his eyes, as though he wanted to say something, but knew better; then Chara was all teary smiles again, hugging Asriel and extending an arm to “Papa!”
The applause grew even louder as Asgore joined them, parents and siblings joyously reunited, and Frisk could have cried with rage. Why did Chara have to hate her for being there when she was lucky enough to have her own perfect family? Couldn’t Frisk have had more than a couple of minutes with those wonderful monsters before Chara stole them back?
It was too much. The child sniffled, and turned to trudge back down the hallway, trying not to think of what her mother was going to say when she found out where Frisk had been.
But as she approached the branching path that led to the Grand Hall floor, she came to a sudden halt: someone further down the hall was shouting, “I’M TELLING YOU, IT IS DEFINITELY THIS WAY!”
“sure, bro,” another person mumbled, his deeper voice echoing up the passage.
“SANS, PLEASE! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY THE CORRECT DIRECTION THIS TIME! THERE IS NO NEED TO LOOK AT ME IN THAT TONE OF VOICE!”
“relax, pap. i’m just impressed you know all these different ways to go.”
The voices weren’t moving—she was trapped up here. Frisk held her breath as the louder person demanded, “REALLY? THEN WHY ARE YOU GIVING ME THAT SMIRK?”
“…uh, bro? this is how I always—”
“DON’T LIE TO ME, BROTHER! THE GREAT PAPYRUS KNOWS WHAT A SMIRK LOOKS LIKE! IT’S A REGULAR SMILE, BUT IN THAT TONE OF VOICE!!”
“you got me. it means ‘pap is the coolest and knows all the directions.’ you like it?”
“…I SEE! NYEH-HEH. YES, I DO LIKE IT! FROM NOW ON, YOU MAY SMIRK ALL YOU WANT!”
“aww, thanks, bro. you’re the best…and that’s the tooth.”
The joke was so dumb that Frisk had to laugh. Whoever it was, they sounded friendly enough, not to mention silly. Were they humans she hadn’t talked to on the way here? Or—
“DID YOU HEAR THAT, BROTHER?” She jumped as the voice came closer. “IS SOMEONE THERE? SOMEONE WITH EXTREMELY BAD TASTE?”
“hey! i think they’ve got great taste. i mean, they obviously speak our tongue.”
Frisk laughed again, and was only a little afraid when the strange pair came into view. They were skeletons—not just thin people, but actual, literal bones that walked and talked. One was very tall, dressed in showy red boots and some kind of fake armor, while the other was much shorter, in clothes far too casual for an event like this. Why was he wearing pink slippers?
Both of them were also looking her over. With the tiny little lights in his sockets trained on Frisk, the taller one bent down to whisper to his brother. “OH MY GOD, SANS!” he yelled. “IS THAT A HUMAN?”
The short one stared at her for a moment, then nodded, and somehow closed one socket in a wink. “i dunno, pap. he doesn’t look that monstrous to me. who’re you, kid?”
“My name is F—Kris,” she said, giving them a bow, “and you’re right. I’m a human.”
“OF COURSE I AM RIGHT, HUMAN, FOR I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! HOW PLEASANT FOR YOU TO MEET ME!” The tall skeleton struck a heroic pose. “HAVE NO FEAR! WE MONSTERS HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED TO MAKE YOUR ACQUAINTANCE AND THEN BECOME FRIENDS! THEREFORE, YOU MAY SIMPLY REFER TO ME AS ‘PAPYRUS,’ EVEN IF IT IS ONLY HALFWAY CORRECT.” He indicated the other skeleton. “THIS IS MY OLDER BROTHER, SANS. DO NOT BE DISTRAUGHT THAT HE IS NOT AS GREAT AS I AM, AND TRY TO BEAR WITH HIS TERRIBLE JOKES, NYEHH.” Nudge. “SANS! SAY SOMETHING THAT IS NOT TERRIBLE!”
Sans was watching her carefully; he looked like he was smiling, but Frisk had the feeling it was just how his face was made. He wasn’t happy to see her at all. “sure,” he said coolly. “the name’s sans. sans the skeleton.” Papyrus nudged him again, and Sans sighed, as if resigning himself to his fate. “yeah, i know what his majesty said.” He put on a wider grin. “welp, nice to meet you, kris.”
Fakeness or not, the monsters she’d met so far were still much better than any humans she knew. So Frisk smiled shyly at him, and whispered, “It’s nice to meet you, too, Sans.”
His smile dropped a little. They regarded each other for a few seconds; to her delight, his mouth rose again in genuine approval. “heh. you seem like a nice kid.” Shrug. “pap’s right. we’re all gonna be pals, so…”
Papyrus looked pleased as Sans took his hand from his jacket pocket. But as Frisk reached out to shake it, Pap’s smile suddenly vanished. “WAAAIT A MOMENT,” the taller brother said suspiciously. “SANS, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT—”
Too late. The moment Frisk grasped the skeleton’s hand, something erupted in a palm-tickling explosion of Pfffffftttttppppppfffffffff…ffffffppp…pppf…pp……p.
Silence.
“OH. MY. GOD,” Papyrus said in the voice of doom, and rounded on his brother. “SANS, YOU IMBECILE! YOU HAVE BROKEN THE HUMAN! LOOK, IT ISN’T MOVING! IT—”
Frisk couldn’t hold it in: she howled with laughter, and only got louder as Sans pulled his hand back to reveal the rubbery, air-filled contraption that had made the rude noise. “what can i say? it’s always funny,” he said proudly. “quite a gas.”
“HOW COULD YOU, BROTHER?! THIS IS A CLEAR VIOLATION OF ACQUAINTANCE ETIQUETTE!” raged Papyrus. “HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO ASCEND THE HEIGHTS OF TRUE FRIENDSHIP NOW THAT YOUR IDIOTIC PRANK HAS DAMAGED THE SMALL HUMAN?!” Papyrus stabbed a gloved finger at Frisk, who was now doubled over. “IF THIS IS HOW YOU ARE GOING TO BEHAVE, YOU MIGHT AS WELL GO HOME NOW! YES, HOME! YOU CAN PICK UP YOUR ROOM IN CASE WE HAVE HUMAN GUESTS!”
“i dunno, bro,” said Sans, winking at Frisk again. “it’s probably too heavy for me. you should get it instead.”
“NYEHHH! I MOST CERTAINLY WILL NOT GET IT!”
“aw, pap, don’t be so hard on yourself. i’m sure if you just try harder—”
“LEAVE!! NOW!!!”
Funny as the brothers were, that seemed harsh to Frisk—the nearest houses had to be pretty far away from the Grand Hall, and making Sans walk all the way back because of a few jokes was a little much. She eyed Papyrus doubtfully, wondering if he was like humans after all.
“it’s fine, kiddo,” Sans told her, as if reading her thoughts. He winked one more time. “don’t worry, i know a shortcut. so, eye will see ya later.”
Before Frisk could react, Sans was…gone. Baffled, she looked around, then up at Papyrus. “HM? OH, YES. SANS HAS DEVELOPED HIS MAGIC EXACTLY ENOUGH TO BE AS LAZY AS POSSIBLE,” the tall skeleton said distastefully. “I CAN ONLY HOPE HE IS ACTUALLY CLEANING HIS ROOM NOW. MORE LIKELY, HE IS—”
There was a sound of clapping and cheering from the Grand Hall. “THAT’S RIGHT!” Papyrus threw his red scarf over his collarbone. “COME ALONG, HUMAN! I SHALL INTRODUCE YOU TO THE OTHER MONSTERS! YOU WILL BE DELIGHTED TO MEET THEM, ESPECIALLY THE ROYAL GUARD, AND THE FEELING WILL BE MUTUAL! NYEH-HEH! FOLLOW ME, NEW ACQUAINTANCE!”
“Um…” Frisk bit her lip. Papyrus was a lot to take in, especially without warning, but he didn’t seem to be faking his enthusiasm, or his kindness. Frisk looked at him, made up her mind, and smiled again. “Can we be friends now?” she asked, holding up her hand.
The skeleton’s cheekbones turned bright pink, somehow, eye sockets going wide and glittery. “REALLY?!? WOWIE! I CAN’T BELIEVE I—” He made a noise like a cough. “I MEAN…O-OF COURSE YOU WANT TO BE MY FRIEND, KRIS! I AM EXTREMELY GREAT.” Papyrus leaned down a little to take her hand. “COME ALONG! AS A FRIEND OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS, YOU SHALL BE KNOWN AND LOVED BY ALL! NYEH-HEH-HEH!”
Frisk sure hoped so, especially if the other monsters were as nice as he was. Even if they weren’t, she’d already made new friends, exactly like she was supposed to. Mama couldn’t be mad at her for that, and Chara couldn’t take them away from her!
~
The dream with Asriel was a fitting end to a frustrating night. Sans had picked the biggest inn he could find and asked for a room with the biggest bed they had, only to find that it still wasn’t big enough for him. He didn’t want to try sleeping in his disguise, which meant another night stretched out on the floor, longing for the massive bed in the High Priestess’ quarters. He never would have thought he’d want to go back to the humans’ castle—that damn bed had spoiled him for life! Not to mention that when he was sleeping in it, he had Frisk all to himself…
He had just started dozing off when the door to the next room opened and closed, a couple of human voices whispering back and forth. Sans made the mistake of concluding that that was it, and was completely unprepared for the sounds that exploded through the wall a minute later.
Sans was not an expert on human…anything, but he knew was he was hearing, and that he was hearing it very very loudly. At that point, he had several options; after mulling exactly one of them over, he sat up and ran a thread of magic through the lamp fixture over the bed, worming it through the conduits in the wall and into the next room. From there, he could feel the vibrations of the bed moving – ugh – and spread his magic in a thin layer under one side of the mattress; then he twitched his hand, and grinned at the shrieks and thuds of the couple being dumped onto the floor.
Unsurprisingly, he didn’t need to do anything else. The humans got dressed in a hurry, grabbed their things, and left, and did not come back. Sans let his magic dissipate and settled down, feeling a little smug, but mostly annoyed that the sounds were still stuck in his head.
The giant skeleton tossed and turned, dreamed, and got up in the morning a lot later than he intended; he was so unrested, and so disturbed at having seen Asriel – had it been real? Why and how would the Prince visit him of all people? Why now? – that he barely remembered to put his chain back on before he left the room. He forgot to ask directions when he checked out and had to grump his way around town at random, looking for the stables the warehouse lady had mentioned. He had to get the carts and horses, then go to all the stupid places and get the stupid things…
Well, this wasn’t the right way: he was on a street lined with cute little cafes and humans sitting around in fancy metal chairs. He stopped to get his bearings, and nearly swore as his stomach growled. At least there were food stands everywhere…but what the hell was a “crepe”?
A minute later, he found a place to sit down and gnaw on a couple of folded-over, chocolatey things, which were actually pretty good. There wasn’t much to do as he ate but people-watch, which would have been kind of neat if the people in question weren’t humans. They followed the overall pattern he’d observed at the castle, where the men were loud and stupid-looking, while the women were also loud and ranged from scrawny to actually-lumpy to extremely lumpy. Even the ones with nice faces were still too…human, without any soothing voices, or graceful movements, or sweet expressions…
It made him wonder yet again if Frisk’s SOUL was the real reason he’d been so drawn to her; the first time he’d seen it, he was scared shitless, and then he wanted to rip it out for strictly non-romantic purposes. Was it because she’d reminded him so much of Kris? Or would he have just eventually fallen in love with any human who was powerful enough for him, even if she was a gross person on the outside or inside?
…Nope. It was because she was Frisk. Satisfied with that line of introspection, Sans finished the second crepe and tossed the wrappers in a trash can, forgetting that she wasn’t there to yell at him for littering. Time to ask someone for directions to a more useful part of town.
The first person he talked to just shrugged, and the next pointed him the wrong way entirely, but an irate half-hour later, Sans was back on the right track. This street seemed much dingier, with fewer people around; it smelled weird, too, like horse pee and desperation.
Maybe that was why someone had started following him. Sans smiled to himself, wiggling his fingers inside his coat pockets. Should he get further into the back alleyways before he confronted the guy, or—
“Heya.”
Sans glanced to his right. A man in his early twenties was standing by a side street, nodding at him. “C’mon this way,” he said. “Got somethin’ to show you.”
“I don’t think so, pal,” said the disguised boss monster. “Whatever ya want, you’re wastin’ yer time. Don’t have any cash on me.” Without waiting for an answer, he speed-walked further ahead, grinning as he heard a soft whistle behind him.
Sure enough, someone was waiting right around the next corner, an older man in nice clothes. “Excuse me, sir,” he said loudly, “but do you have the time?”
Sans thought of the old woman again and snorted. “Nope,” he replied, and tried to walk around him.
The man quick-stepped back into Sans’ way. “My. Her Eminence doesn’t pay you enough to buy a watch?” he asked innocently.
What the hell? He wasn’t wearing the armband. “Who said anythin’ about—”
The distraction almost worked: the guy made a sudden feint toward him, and if Sans had been any less alert, he’d have backed right into the human sneaking up to grab his neck with a wire loop. Instead, Sans pivoted and slammed an elbow into his would-be assailant so hard that he felt the guy’s ribs crack. The man who’d stopped him cursed under his breath, turning to run.
Almost absent-mindedly, Sans waved a finger in the fleeing human’s direction. There was a shnk of bone erupting from the pavement, and a muffled scream as the man’s ankle was impaled mid-flight. The rest of his body yanked to a stop and hit the ground in a twisted heap.
Footsteps pounded toward them, and Sans turned to face the first guy who’d talked to him, then one other human. They sized up the situation and moved to either side of him, one armed with some kind of club and the other sporting a huge knife.
Sans gave a low laugh as bloodlust started bubbling to the surface. Finally! This was what he’d been waiting for! No more playing cute and harmless! No more letting people do whatever the hell they wanted with him! No witnesses!
Really, the only problem was that it was too easy. Sans let the one with the knife get in close, then grabbed his arm and broke it at the elbow, spinning the would-be assassin around and shoving him into the guy with the club. Both humans hit the ground, but the knife guy was up in a moment, scrabbling for his weapon with his good hand. Sans kicked the knife away, pinned both of his palms to the ground with a couple more bones, and lifted the remaining human by the neck with his magic.
Was that it? He glanced around at the one with the wire loop – on the ground, struggling to breathe – then the guy with the impaled ankle, who seemed to have passed out. The third was staring at his hands and making weird noises – not very knife of him, ha ha – and the last one dangled a few inches off the ground, clawing at the red mist around his throat.
Sans hummed under his breath, surveying the four men with an artistic eye. Well! Where to begin? Might as well start with the one he was holding up. The human windpipe was so fragile that one good crunch would do it…but no one said it’d have to be a quick crunch. Sans began to apply pressure, slow and hard, and grinned as the man’s eyes bulged in terror—
Out of nowhere, he froze mid-squeeze as a strange emotion hit him. It was…nostalgia, and then—guilt? That was it; the longer Sans stared at the captive human, the less he enjoyed the guy’s fear and despair. He knew exactly what it felt like to be trapped by someone stronger, didn’t he? Back in his jail cell, cowering behind a human witch’s barrier, knowing she could do any damn thing she pleased to him—had he looked like this to her?
Sans shook his head in irritation. What was he thinking? That was different! He wasn’t Frisk, and these guys had tried to kill him!
…just like he’d tried to kill her before and after she stopped him from hurting anyone. What had she done to retaliate? Kept him safe, given him her own stupidly oversized bed, let him sleep for over a day, and fed him more in one sitting than he’d eaten in goddamn weeks.
Sans tried again to shake it off, to rationalize that no one in their right mind would hold a psycho like him to Frisk’s standards, but when he looked again at the human in his grasp…
No, dammit! These assholes had attacked him out of nowhere, and he’d defended himself! Surely she wouldn’t expect him to just stand there and get murdered?
…But none of these guys could move under their own power anymore, much less hurt him. Now Sans could see Frisk snarling up at him in all her tiny, furious glory: “If you kill anyone and you cannot look me in the eye to tell me why it was necessary, I don't want you to come back at all!”
Argh! It wasn’t fair! She wasn’t here to stop him—she would never even know! Why should he quit right when it was finally getting good? Couldn’t he at least nick ‘em a few more times, enough to make them sorry? They might be pretty sorry already, but… “But,” Sans mumbled out loud, scowling.
Now he was thinking of Dr. Serif. The boss monster could practically hear his cool, smug voice: “But what, Sans?”
Tch. If he had to be hearing things, he’d much rather it be Frisk. He knew he should’ve taken a shortcut back to the Underground last night. Then he could’ve seen her and…done…something? Maybe he wouldn’t be so damn frustrated now, his mind jumping all over the place…
“Sans.”
Oh, shit. What about the fortune-teller? “Don’t kill anyone.” That guy had been right about stuff so far; would something happen to Frisk if Sans ignored his stupid, cheap advice? For all he knew, it could—
“SANS.”
“What?” he snapped. “Whaddya want, Doc…tor?” He gaped at Dr. Serif, who was standing only a few yards away, arms folded. “The fuck are you doin’ here?” demanded Sans, releasing the human from mid-air and ignoring his wheezing.
Dr. Serif came closer and made two gestures. A skeletal hand popped up and seized the fallen human by the throat, glowing green before vanishing. “He should live,” the royal sorcerer said crisply. He glanced at the man whose hands were affixed to the pavement, and the one up ahead. “In the meantime, do you plan to leave these gentlemen like that?”
Sans was still mad that he couldn’t leave them dead, but… He made a disgusted noise, and the bones all vanished. “Ya gonna tell me why you’re here, or what?”
“What.” Dr. Serif walked past Sans and snapped his fingers. Two pairs of disembodied hands sprang out of thin air, and one latched onto each human’s head; to Sans’ immense discomfort, the hands glowed blue, and each man obediently got up with sluggish, jerky motions – even the one with the shattered ankle – to come sit in a row, legs crossed like schoolchildren. “Why did you attack this man?” Dr. Serif inquired. “Only speak if you have useful information.”
The human with the broken ribs mumbled, “He’s the High Priestess’ agent,” in a voice that made Sans feel even weirder. There was good old-fashioned violence, and there was this. “Gonna hold him for ransom and lure in the skeleton.”
“Do not lie to me.” The humans jerked, eyes going glassy as the blue intensified. “This is not an instrument of live capture,” said the royal sorcerer, retrieving the wire loop with yet another hand. “Why do you, or your employers, want him dead?”
There was a round of silence. Evidently, no one knew, or probably cared. They’d had their orders, and that was that.
Sans stepped closer. “Were you the ones going after Frisk a few weeks ago—the High Priestess? Are you gonna try it again?”
“Wasn’t us,” said one.
“No one’s supposed to kill her anymore,” said another, and his associates nodded slowly.
Dr. Serif blinked a few times. “According to who, and since when?”
“Last week. Someone paid the Assassin’s Guild to blacklist her. She’s untouchable—anyone who goes after her gets a bounty put on his head.”
Sans had never seen the royal sorcerer so taken aback. “I didn’t know that was even possible. It would cost several hundred thou—no, a million dinar to make it worth their while,” he muttered. “Do you have any idea who did it?”
More silence. Meanwhile, Sans was not that surprised to find out there was a formal guild for murderers. Humans were such fucking scumbags.
“Are you affiliated with poachers, then?” was Dr. Serif’s next question.
“Yeah,” they all said at once.
The doctor’s foot tapped a few times. “Does your attack on the priestess’ agent have to do with the timing of his delivery to the Underground? Fewer monsters will be venturing outside if food is being brought directly to them—I assume you wanted to prevent this?”
Sans watched the men’s faces stay blank. That was probably too many words for them. “What’re you gonna do if ya can’t catch any monsters?” he asked instead.
The blue light intensified again, and someone finally mumbled, “Ransom. The High Priestess will pay to get her agent back. She won’t know he’s dead yet.”
Dr. Serif frowned. “And you’re hoping she’ll send the boss monster to rescue him?”
Nods. “It’s worth a hell of a lot of money.”
There was an odd pause. “For his magic?” the doctor asked.
“And ransom. She’s screwin’ it,” one man said tonelessly.
Dr. Serif grabbed Sans’ shoulder to restrain him. “Surely you’re not taking that rumor seriously,” he said. “It can’t be worth the danger of trying to capture such a powerful monster—he was relatively weak when he was first caught, and two men still died of their injuries.”
“Lady payin’ us says it’s true. She doesn’t want Her Eminence arrested for mis…missen—”
“Miscegenation?” growled Sans.
“Yeah. That. She wants us to catch it, but not kill it. We’ll keep it and get a shitload of magic, then sell it back later. Win-win.”
“Hm. So, your employer is a woman who wants to help the High Priestess? What is her name?”
No one answered. The blue light flickered, and one man finally said, “Dunno. We just got a few letters, and payment up front. Pretty sure it’s a rich lady ‘cause of the handwriting and the way the paper smelled, but we don’t know for sure.”
The doctor stared the man down, still holding Sans’ shoulder. “And she has hired you to hold the skeleton prisoner…for how long, exactly? And through what means?”
The human shrugged. “She said she’d tell us more once we killed this guy.”
Dr. Serif thought about it for a moment, then snapped his fingers again. The skeletal hands tightened, and Sans watched the men writhe in tandem and fall sideways like puppets with cut strings. “Well, that was more interesting than expected,” said the royal sorcerer. His hand tightened on Sans’ shoulder. “Come along.”
Sans shut his eyes as magic surged around them. It didn’t have the rushing-through-space feel of his shortcuts; this was more as if the ground had jumped out from beneath their feet and just as quickly hopped back into place. He opened his eyes and started. “Where—”
They were standing outside a large, well-kept stable. The doctor released him, saying, “I must commend you for not killing any of those men. We’ve acquired valuable information, and once they wake up, word will get around that the High Priestess’ agent is not to be trifled with.” He smiled, ever so slightly. “They will not recall I was even there.”
Sans gestured impatiently. “What the fuck was that about? Someone wants human-me dead, but they just wanna borrow real me to keep Frisk outta jail? An’ someone else’s paid out the ass to keep her alive? What’s—”
“It could well be the same person.” The royal sorcerer brushed some dust off his robe. “What is miscegenation?” he asked curtly.
Sans’ toes curled. “Boning a monster. It’s a literal crime. I heard somebody talking about it last night.”
“Interesting,” the doctor said slowly. “No one spreading that rumor in the city seems to know about it yet.” Sigh. “If you overheard it here, I suppose it’s only a matter of time before everyone knows.”
Sans didn’t want to talk about that right now, or ever. “How long were you following me?” he asked instead.
Pause. “Long enough.”
The boss monster didn’t like that, either. “Whatever,” Sans mumbled. “But thanks fer gettin’ all that stuff out of ‘em. You’re pretty freaky, but I guess ya come in handy.”
He heard the familiar sound of someone ignoring a pun, and then “You’re welcome.” Dr. Serif crossed his arms. “I was sent here to intercept you and the High Priestess. Given that I have not seen Her Eminence with you, may I assume you were foolish enough to come alone?”
“Uh…”
“As you were also foolish enough to leave the castle when and how you both did, I am not surprised.”
Sans snorted. “Ya think that was my idea?”
“No, but this almost certainly was.” The royal sorcerer gestured to the smushed roll of papers in Sans’ front pocket. “Come along. There should be three carts on reserve in Frisk’s name here, for when you were supposed to have picked them up on your way to the Underground.”
Sans followed him into the stable. “What, ya didn’t like us bailin’ on you?” he asked, taking childish pleasure in the older skeleton’s annoyance.
The doctor reached back without looking and took the papers from Sans’ pocket. “Hello,” Dr. Serif said cordially to the human behind the counter, who stepped right up to assist them.
This turned out to be prophetic: the doctor not only accompanied him everywhere for the rest of the morning and afternoon, he took complete charge. He made things so much smoother that Sans couldn’t even be mad about it; people listened to him, and he could fully answer their questions while Sans inspected the cargo and supervised the loading. The doctor also signed the bills of lading, reminding Sans after the first visit that as a perfectly normal human and not a monster in disguise, he was not “Sans” and needed to pick a pseudonym already.
They had almost no time to eat lunch or dinner, electing to grab a couple of sandwiches as the drivers brought the carts to the second-to-last warehouse. “So, was it your idea to swoop in on us like this?” Sans asked. “I know it was annoying to wake up and have us gone, but—”
“His Majesty is extremely unamused by his daughter’s behavior,” said the royal sorcerer, in a tone that wiped the smirk off Sans’ face. “To be very honest, I am glad I will not be there when Her Eminence receives this.” He extracted a long, expensive-looking envelope from his robe. “His Majesty assembled the paperwork yesterday for—”
“The adoption thing?” Sans interrupted. “Is it true?”
Dr. Serif made a face. “No matter where I go, the speed of gossip remains constant.” Another sigh. “Whatever you’ve heard is likely true. Should Frisk’s mission prove successful, His Majesty is prepared not only to pardon her theft, but place her directly in the line of succession.”
Sans took a long sip of water, trying and failing to figure that one out. “I thought ya said he was pissed off at her. Why…?”
“Tell me, Sans. Knowing Frisk, do you think she would appreciate being pressured into accepting such a heavy responsibility, especially in anticipation of her little brother’s death? His Majesty knows exactly how she will feel about it.” Dr. Serif paused for a huge bite of his sandwich. “Also, he may personally be unhappy with her actions, but he knows better than anyone that if she can outmaneuver him, then she is worthy of the throne.”
Fuck. “Yeah, when ya put it like that—”
The royal sorcerer glanced at him. “Out of curiosity, when did you learn that the King was her father?”
“Not till we were almost t’the Underground. I kinda found out by accident.”
Dr. Serif half-smiled. “It’s been common knowledge ever since she was brought to St. Brigid’s. And…by any chance, did she ever tell you anything about her mother?”
Sans had to whack himself in the chest as the last wad of his sandwich threatened to get stuck in his windpipe. Why did human bodies use the same damn tube for breathing and eating? “Only that she’s dead,” he rasped. “Why?”
“Wipe your hands, please, and put this somewhere safe until you can give it to her.” Dr. Serif held out the gilt envelope. “It contains copies of all the relevant documents, including an investiture of nobility—she would technically become a duchess first, then Crown Princess upon the death of the King or the Prince.”
Sans scrubbed his hands on his shirt and took the envelope. He was thinking so hard that he almost didn’t notice Frisk’s full name in fancy cursive across the front; then he looked again, and stared at it for a minute, and finally said, “Huh.”
“You don’t seem entirely surprised,” the doctor observed, sounding almost disappointed. “Have you already heard something to that effect?”
“Yeah. I had a long talk with Grillby the other day, and…I wasn’t gonna ask Frisk, but I was kinda wondering, and then she said…” Had the King done the calligraphy himself? “I never did hear her last name. I figured the High Priestess just doesn’t need one.”
“It was not hers to use for most of her life, and I would be very surprised if she chose to do so now, or ever. According to what I have gleaned from Rosa, the name does not have pleasant associations for Frisk—another fact of which the King is very aware.”
“Holy shit.” Sans looked at the envelope again. “He’s callin’ her that ta piss her off?”
“It is technically her legal name and belongs on a document of this importance. So, yes.”
“Shit.” Sans scratched the back of his head, thinking even harder. “So whoever filled out the paperwork for him knows her name, too? Which means everyone is gonna know about it by the time we get back?”
The doctor raised an eyebrow. “You’re coming back with her, then?” He let the question hang in the air, and Sans ignored it till Dr. Serif continued, “You are correct. I am genuinely sorry to leave this with you, but you will have to give her the news before you return, or else she will be completely blindsided. Please don’t do that to her.”
Sans wasn’t going to admit that the thought had already crossed his mind: throw the envelope away, let her enjoy the rest of her time in the Underground, and feign astonishment when they got back – hopefully triumphant – and found out she’d someday have the power to do literally anything she pleased, such as freeing monsters with a single decree.
Except…she was already helping monsters, and had already spent three lonely, stressful years as High Priestess. How much worse would her life be if she became the actual Queen? Would it technically fit that second fortune? Fear stabbed him so hard that he could barely breathe—what if she got surrounded by advisers and hangers-on determined to harass him away from her? There was no telling how long her father and half-brother would be around, and they probably wouldn’t let her keep a pet skeleton around, not to mention a suspiciously bony kid…
Sans couldn’t help it. Dr. Serif eyed him warily as the boss monster snickered again: a fucking crime. It was too perfect.
The carts were ready now. The boss monster tucked the fancy envelope into an inner pocket and resolved to quit thinking about it for now. Frisk could handle this; she’d know what to do. If she didn’t, they’d figure it out together.
~
Thankfully, the rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful. By the time they were ready to head back to the Underground, the sun was just touching the horizon.
Everything had fit into three large-ish carts, which Frisk had accurately predicted would be a better idea than two really huge ones. The drivers were nervous about starting so late in the day, but Dr. Serif had implied that they were just headed to the city, the road to which was well-lit and patrolled by watchmen. Sans got a huge kick out of seeing the humans’ faces when the procession reached the outskirts of the village, went about a hundred yards, and came to a sudden halt. “You may remove the horses now,” said the doctor. “Please return to the village. Here is a small gratuity for your trouble.”
If the humans had questions, they were effectively answered by the five-hundred-dinar pieces Dr. Serif placed in each of their hands. They unhitched the horses and jogged them back in the fast-fading light without a backward glance, leaving the loaded carts sitting in the road.
From there, the disguised monsters waited until no one was in sight – not difficult, given the hour and the cold – and then enacted the plan they’d agreed upon earlier: Sans encased the lightest cart in a film of red magic, thought carefully about the place by the river where Undyne had attacked him, and teleported the whole thing there. No more than ten seconds later, a large patch of blackness crept over the pale bedrock; Gaster rose from it head-first, followed by the carts, and everything settled into place as the ground shimmered back into ordinary rock-ness.
“What the crap?” Sans pulled his chain off. “How do you even have that much magic?”
Gaster brushed himself off again with two extra hands, keeping his own tucked beneath his flowing black coat. He glided in a circle around the carts, checking that they had made the journey safely, and nodded. “Surely you’re not worn out from one spell?”
“No, but I’m a damn boss monster!”
The older skeleton smiled. A hand appeared in front of Sans, holding a gray orb slightly bigger than the hole in its palm. “Humans use these to store magic. Keep at least one on your person at all times and let it absorb your ambient power. Put it away when full, then repeat the process. Do so regularly, and you will soon have a supply built up for contingencies exactly like this.” The hand vanished. “Has Her Eminence used the teleportation spell I gave her yet?”
Sans remembered the brooch she’d gotten on All Souls Day, and shook his head. “I don’t think so, but she wears it a lot.”
“Good.” Gaster looked at the nearly-night sky. “Lead the way.”
The boss monster wondered exactly how many more of those stones Gaster had squirreled away in whatever fold of subspace he was using, and contented himself with the fact that the creepy bastard still seemed to be on their side—Sans hadn’t forgotten the fortune about bewaring him, but right now, he didn’t have much choice. Even the lightest of the carts was much heavier than the wagons full of monsters had been, and as tired as he was, he doubted he could’ve pulled or teleported them all on his own.
Gaster’s extra hands were pulling and pushing two of the carts with apparent ease as they followed the river. Sans tried to think of something that would pass the time without leading to invasive questions, and finally thought to ask, “The solar panel demonstration went okay?”
“Oh, yes.” Gaster’s voice was neutral, and it was impossible to read his expression in profile. “Someone attempted to sabotage it by cutting several of the wires on the main panel, so I used my own magic as a substitute. It was most impressive, if I say so myself.”
That sounded like one problem too many. They had enough crap to deal with in the Underground without worrying about sabotage or the King being passive-aggressive or some random lady who wanted to keep him away from Frisk! Get in line, he thought bitterly.
“How is Her Eminence’s mission going?” asked Gaster, as if reading his mind.
“Pretty good, I think. Asgore hasn’t met with her yet, but he’s letting her do whatever.” Sans felt the corners of his mouth lift. “She’s spent a couple nights with Undyne and Alphys at Toriel’s house, havin’ some girl time. They went shopping yesterday, ‘n pro’ly today.”
Gaster nodded. “I don’t know how you intended to do this alone,” he said, glancing at the carts, “but given your accelerated timeline, I suppose it was the best way to let her enjoy herself for a day or two. It will also help her cause if the monsters see a great deal of her firsthand.”
Sans knew what he meant—all Frisk had to do to win them over was be herself. He didn’t notice that he was smiling until he felt Gaster’s stare; the other skeleton was suddenly in front of him, drifting backwards as Sans walked. “Don’t mind me,” murmured the royal sorcerer, examining the boss monster’s sternum.
“What’s my LV?” Sans asked bluntly.
Gaster reappeared beside the cart. “You are at LV 16.”
Sans was…almost surprised. Gaster gave him a hard look. “The first time I checked, you were—”
A sound off to their left made both skeletons stop to listen. It was faint, but unmistakable. “Keep going,” Gaster said, and they picked up the pace, both assuming their disguises.
There was no question of outrunning the humans, so they let the sound of hoofbeats gradually overtake them. “Well, well,” said the first rider, pulling up in front of the carts and forcing them to stop. Two more poachers rode up alongside, and three more brought up the rear. Each man had a coil of chain slung over his shoulder, and their leader carried a heavy crossbow. “What are you doing out here so late?” he demanded. “Where you headed with all that?”
“The Underground,” Dr. Serif said calmly. “We have no monsters or valuables with us, so if you would kindl—”
“Bullshit.” The leader nodded to the other men. “Search ‘em. There’s gotta be—”
Sans didn’t even see what happened next: an unseen force yanked each man out of the saddle to hit the bedrock, filling the air with thumps, whinnying, and curses. “This is your last warning,” said Dr. Serif, still sounding very reasonable. “Leave us, or you will suffer.”
When the men didn’t answer – except for more profanity – the doctor made a gesture. This time, Sans glimpsed the skeletal hands smacking the horses on the rump, one after another; the animals screamed in panic, nearly trampling their riders as they bolted in different directions.
The poachers gaped at each other, then at the human-shaped skeletons. “What the fuck are you?” demanded the leader. With no warning, he whipped up his crossbow to fire at—
—Gaster, whose body had vanished, leaving nothing but an eerie smile and empty sockets. “Well, then,” he murmured, his eyes lighting blue and yellow. He glanced at Sans. “Please go on without me. I will see you back at the castle in…” He paused, counting on a set of hands. “…nine days.” The fingers snapped once, twice, thrice. “My regards to Her Eminence.”
Sans opened his mouth to object, and the ground dropped out from beneath him.
~
Silence descended in his wake, leaving the poachers in abject terror. Without the carts’ lanterns, it was impossible to see anything but the light in Gaster’s sockets. “Well,” the monster said. He looked at the men with mild curiosity, like a child with a jar full of insects. The leader jerked as a hand suddenly latched onto his face. “Can I trust you to keep this little encounter a secret?” asked Gaster.
The man nodded frantically, clawing at the hand as blood began welling under its phalanges. The others nodded, too, babbling reassurance.
“Good,” the skeleton said pleasantly. The humans had exactly enough time to start hoping before his eye-lights dilated, illuminating the hideous, masklike face. “What a pity that I do not believe you.”
There was a gruesome sound, and another, and another, and another. Silence; a tide of magic rose and swept over the bedrock, leaving nothing behind but a few splashes of blood.
Gaster nodded in satisfaction and turned to rinse his hands in the river, humming Sans’ favorite song. He paused long enough to chuckle to himself, then brushed his coat off once more, extracted a fresh stone from his coat, and vanished.
~
The sentries outside the Grand Hall’s gates rolled their eyes as another knock came from within. “Any sign of him?” someone asked through the crack.
“No,” the rabbit monster snapped. “For the last time, you don’t need to keep asking every ten minutes! We’ll tell you when he—”
A long, low sound from the opposite direction cut him short. “Sans?” called the guard.
“The one an’ only,” a gruff voice answered over the rise. In the still, cold air, they could now hear the sound of wheels on sandy rock, and the labored breathing of a boss monster managing three heavily laden carts by himself. “Can I get some damn help here?”
Twenty minutes later, Sans had recovered enough to get up from the cavern floor and hobble through the swarm of hungry monsters by the gates, some of whom had been waiting all day for their share of the food. “You guys don’t need to inspect it,” the colossal skeleton informed the guards, who were busy walking around the carts and poking them at random. “Me an’…someone I trust watched ‘em load it up.”
The rabbit guard looked at his partner, then at Sans. “This came from humans, right? It’s probably gotta be—”
“It’s gotta get out to people now,” Sans growled. He pointed at someone randomly. “Go get more help, whoever’s awake. I’m gonna go find Her Majesty.”
“No need,” said a clear voice. The monsters all bowed out of the way as Toriel stepped off the patchy gray sand of the central aisle. “I am glad to see you back safely, Sans. Thank you so much for your efforts,” said the former Queen. “Please, get some sleep. I will handle the rest.”
Sans was so tired that he could barely stay upright, but he shook his head. “I’m gonna check in with Asgore first.” Toriel’s face darkened, and he sighed. “C’mon, To—Your Majesty, ya know he’ll freak out if he finds out this came in without ‘im knowing.”
The other boss monster sighed, closing her eyes. “True. And if you go now, you may run into the Captain and Dr. Alphys. They will also want to know you’ve arrived safely. But after that, I want you go straight home! Do you hear me?”
He did, but sleep could wait: if those two were at Asgore’s house, then Frisk might be, too. His magic flared up, and without another thought, the skeleton took himself straight there.
Remembering how easily the women had detected him before, Sans aimed for the end of the house near the master bedroom, and caught himself with only a slight stagger into the wall. Voices were coming from the living room; the boss monster waited for his vision to clear, then pushed himself upright and crept down the hall to listen.
“It is lovely,” Asgore was murmuring. There was a musical clinking of fine metal and china—the King must be looking at the tea service Frisk had picked out for him.
“Yeah, she was pretty proud of it. Everything she’s brought has been awesome,” agreed Undyne.
Sans scowled. Frisk wasn’t here after all. Well, he didn’t have enough magic to zero in on wherever she was, and Undyne was still talking, so he might as well eavesdrop. “She got me some targets, and comi—uh, battle strategies, and stuff for my scales. It was really thoughtful,” said the Royal Guard Captain.
“And I can finally finish Adventure Lady!” Alphys exclaimed. “C-can you believe it?!”
To Sans’ surprise, Asgore chuckled. He didn’t think the King knew how to do that anymore. “I’m glad to hear it, Doctor. I know how much that was bothering you.” Clink. “What about the agricultural implements Sans mentioned?”
“Yes, Y-Your Majesty. We spent a few hours today looking them over—she knows how to treat plants so that they can go days without being watered! We t-talked about different chemicals that can improve the quality of our soil, specific nutrients for whichever crops we decide to plant first, and all the seeds she brought. The next step is to decide which fields to convert to pasture if we want to raise c-cattle or sheep.”
“Hmm. Yes, that would be wonderful.” Sans heard tea being poured and china clinking again. “What else has she been up to?” asked the King.
“We went shopping for clothes yesterday,” the Captain said, “and Mettaton is teaching her how to dance. It was pretty fun—did you hear he wants to have a big party before she leaves?”
“Yes, I have. Some festivities could be good for our people, but…we’ll see.”
“Right.” She cleared her throat. “And just so you know, Majesty, we’ve spent the past couple nights at the Ruins.”
A long pause. “I…see. Did you have a good time?”
“Yeah,” Undyne said quietly. “Everyone did.”
“That…” Asgore heaved a great sigh. “That’s good to hear. What about today?”
Undyne’s chair creaked. “Today was a little more complicated. She checked on some of the people she brought back—not that she busted in on anyone,” the fish monster added hastily. “She only got started ‘cause Vulkin asked her to come visit.”
Asgore made a startled noise. “Vulkin wanted to see her? Why?”
Sans wanted to run in and shake the King like the idiot he was, but he edged back and tried to think nicer thoughts as Undyne answered, “She said Frisk was the only human who ever gave a crap about them, basically, and her family wanted to meet her. We ended up staying for over an hour.” Another pause. “Also, Majesty…Frisk’s got this thing she does where she can hum something at you, and it’s…really nice. Not hypnosis or anything sneaky, it just…” Sans could almost hear Undyne shrug. “Right before we left, Vulkin started getting worked up, and Frisk calmed her down just like that.”
“She’s done it for us, too, right before bedtime,” said Alphys. “I haven’t s-slept so well in forever.”
“Hm. She has other abilities, then, besides creating barriers?” He poured more tea. “Have you investigated her capabilities in that respect?”
“N-No, Your Majesty. She wanted to have your permission before she made any, even j-just to study them in the lab.”
Sans got the feeling that Asgore was a little put out by Frisk conducting herself so well. “If you believe she is trustworthy,” said the King, “then by all means, study her barriers as fully as you can. The knowledge may prove…useful.” More clinking. “Thank you for your time, both of you. Get some rest. And…” His voice softened. “Please thank her for the gift.”
The giant skeleton smiled a little. Before they could get up and notice him lurking in the hall, Sans used the tiniest wisp of magic – all that he had left – to whisk himself outside to the courtyard. He waited by the tree, foot raised as if in mid-step; when the door opened, Asgore saw him and started. “Sans! You’re back!”
“Hey, Majesty.” Sans raised a genuinely weary hand. “Yeah, I just got in with all the stuff. Everything’s fine. Just wanted to let you know.”
“Thank you very much,” the King said heartily, another trace of his old self showing. “I’ll be down right away.”
“Uh.” The bigger boss monster fake-coughed. “Please don’t, Yer Majesty. Someone’s already got it under control.”
Blink. “Some…oh.”
“Hey, you,” Undyne said, moving around Asgore and hopping down the stairs in one easy bound. “How’d it go? Are you okay?”
“It’s fine, ‘m just worn out.” Sans let out a full-force yawn. “I’ll walk back with you guys,” he said as Alphys came down the steps.
“All right, then,” Asgore murmured. “Thank you again, Sans.” The skeleton nodded, and they politely waited for the door to close before turning to leave.
“Don’t even think about it” was the first thing out of Undyne’s mouth. “She’s asleep already.”
Sans was too tired not to ask, “Where? Tori’s again?”
“I’m not telling you!” snapped the fish-woman. “We had a lot of fun yesterday, but today was pretty rough on her.” She eyed him as they stepped into the elevator and waited for the grating to close. “You don’t look so hot, either.”
“I will be in a minute.” Sans swayed on his feet as the elevator descended. “After all, we’re goin’ to Hotland.”
Undyne twitched. “Nope. We’re not doing those.”
“Aww, c’mon, fish-face.” Yawn. “I’m just gettin’ warmed up.”
Twitch. “I’m serious, boss. Drop it.”
“Drop it like…it’s hot?”
“I SAID—”
The elevator ground to a halt, and he felt Alphys tug on his coat. “L-let’s go to my lab, Sans. You can take a nap and get some magic back befo—not yet!”
Sans had the impression of falling and something grabbing him, but he didn’t pay much attention till Undyne heaved him onto the lab’s concrete floor. “Ow,” he tried to say, but it was too much effort; he decided to pass out instead.
~
They weren’t heading to the family’s main house; for some reason, Asriel had insisted she come with him to the one in the Ruins, where he and his mother had been living before the delegation arrived. He’d told her that he had a surprise for her, but he was so anxious that she didn’t think it was going to be a good one.
Good or not, she had to admit that when Asriel opened the bedroom door and motioned her inside, she was very surprised: she backpedaled so hard that she crashed into his legs.
“It’s all right,” said Chara, very quietly, from her seat on the bed. “I wouldn’t be glad to see me, either.”
“Chara,” Asriel protested.
“It’s true.” The woman watched Frisk lean into Asriel, clutching his robe with one small hand. “Isn’t it, Frisk?” she added.
The child inhaled sharply, looking up at the Prince in alarm. “It’s all right,” he told her, smiling with such affection that she had to smile back. “I know all about you, Frisk. You’re ten years old, and you’re a girl, and you belong here. In fact, you could say you’ve come home.” He looked at Chara, beaming. “Right, sis?”
~
Sans must have teleported from the lab at some point – maybe in his sleep – because when he properly awoke, he was in his own room. The boss monster sat up and turned the light on with a speck of magic. A glance at the clock made him do a double take: how was it almost ten o’clock?! Sans sprang to his feet and zipped down to the living room.
No one was there, but he heard children running around outside, with the occasional shriek of happiness, or anger, or possibly disembowelment—he never could tell with kids. There was Papyrus’ voice, and Undyne’s; then he heard Frisk, and without thinking, he took another shortcut out beside the house.
Before San could get his bearings, a handful of snow hit him upside the head. “Morning, boss!” shouted Undyne. “About time!”
“GOOD MORNING, BROTHER!” Papyrus raised his head from beneath a pile of children. “WE ARE AT WAR! WOULD YOU CARE TO JOIN US?”
Sans blinked. “War?”
“Yes, indeed,” Frisk said gravely, and he looked up to see her standing on the balcony, not far above his eye level. Magic rippled through him in gentle waves as she smiled. “Is everyone ready?” she asked the monsters.
The giant skeleton came forward for a better view as the children sprang to their feet, or paws, or seahorse tail. Frisk dipped something into a narrow bottle, raised it to her mouth, and leaned over the railing to blow a stream of huge, wobbly, fast-floating bubbles.
In an instant, the kids were charging after them, leaping and clawing and even biting them joyfully out of the air. Frisk dipped the stick again and angled herself toward Papyrus to blow another round of bubbles; instead of popping them, the younger skeleton surrounded each one in blue and sent them flying in all directions, which was Undyne’s cue to materialize a short spear and leap after them, yelling, “Come back here, you cowards!”
When the last bubble had been vanquished, Frisk made even more of them, almost obscuring the pack of children; this time, Papyrus used his magic to grab all the bubbles, and instead of chasing after them, the kids tackled him again. Undyne coordinated the assault, directing her troops to surround the enemy and attack as a unit, ignoring Papyrus’ protests of being muuuurdered and that she could not have his pirate-ship bed once he was dust, because for the hundredth time even if she did have an eyepatch that did not mean she deserved to be a pirate more than him. Then everyone scattered again for Frisk to send another batch the kids’ way, and two more groups for Papyrus to keep away from Undyne.
It was hard to say who was enjoying themselves the most. Sans hadn’t seen his brother playing like this in…how long? Even some of the adult monsters were coming over to watch, standing around and chatting with each other, or asking Frisk how she’d made the bubbles and happily accepting the extra bottles she tossed down for them. It was like she’d never left…
A thought struck him, and he backed further away from the house to crane his neck all the way upward. There it was, the thin brown haze of negative energy that’d been accumulating since he absorbed the last round of it. …But—
Sans had avoided looking too directly at Frisk, and tried to take another quick peek now, only for his eyes to lock onto her. She’d taken off her cloak, revealing one of probably many new outfits: a dark-green velvet dress that accented the curves of her bust and hips, silver earrings that shimmered as she bent down to refill the bottle, and gray boots that reminded him of the fact that she had feet.
And when he finally managed to look back up toward her face, he was ambushed by the sight of a black choker. The damn thing looked like a collar, but it wasn’t even trying to be practical; it was just a little bit of lace hugging her neck, and a flagrant reminder that most things wearing collars had nothing else on. He’d contemplated keeping her as a pet, once upon a time, before he even—
Suddenly, Undyne vaulted onto his shoulder, crashing his nasal ridge into the bottom edge of the balcony. The Royal Guard Captain rapped him on the skull with the butt of her spear, dispelling the last of his lust-induced stupor. “Quit staring, moron,” she hissed, and gestured to Frisk. “C’mon, lady, we need more bad guys to kill,” the fish monster said in a normal tone, raising her voice to finish, “unless Papyrus is too weak to keep going!”
“I AM NOT!” The skeleton stomped his foot in feeble rage, trying to catch his breath as Undyne leapt down. “BUT PERHAPS…PERHAPS WE COULD TAKE A BREAK, FOR THE CHILDREN?” Two small monsters ran circles around him as he desperately added, “THEY SEEM VERY TIRED, NYEH-HEH!”
Frisk bit her lip, and Sans wanted more than ever to scoop her up for a giant hug—not only was it always hot when she did that, it meant she wanted to help Pap without hurting his feelings. Luckily for everyone, his mouth-related thoughts suddenly turned in a more wholesome direction. “Hey,” Sans murmured, catching her attention. “Ya know what you oughta do?”
The others stopped as Frisk leaned down to hear him whisper. “That’s a wonderful idea,” the priestess said warmly, and Sans felt his skull turn red. “Here, Undyne, I want the children to help me try something,” Frisk told her, dipping the wand again. “You two can supervise.”
Papyrus was happy to accept his new role, and Sans also paid close attention to Frisk’s lips as she blew a long, low stream of smaller bubbles. The kids grabbed at them and squealed as a sound followed each pop—to their delight, every bubble now contained a tiny burst of music.
Undyne reached out to poke one. “What, did you whistle into ‘em?” She jumped at the sudden sound, then laughed, popping another one. “That’s so damn cool!”
“Sans thought of it,” Frisk said. She was grinning from ear to ear, almost prancing in place. “Here!” This time, instead of a single pitch, she whistled a scale of several notes, sliding up and back down; when the children popped them, it produced a whole tangle of sounds. The adult monsters drew closer as more bubbles drifted and burst, scattering bits of music through the chilly air.
“Yo!” cried Monster Kid, bounding nearly straight up for emphasis. “Guys! Let’s try to make ‘em into a song again!”
The adults chuckled and shook their heads, but the children loved the idea. And as it turned out, they were right: the sheer futility of trying to break the bubbles in the right order was so much fun that, before they knew it, nearly every monster in the field was chasing after them. No one could hear much of anything over all the shouting and laughter, but that was okay. Everything was okay.
“Sans?”
Still smiling, the giant skeleton turned to face Toriel, noting that she was coming from the ferry and not the Ruins. “What’s all this?” she asked.
“We’re slaughtering our foes in glorious battle,” a cute little bunny said in passing. “It sounds pretty!”
“LIKE THIS, YOUR MAJESTY!” Papyrus demonstrated with a couple of quick jabs.
Toriel’s eyes widened as the sounds made a faint chord. “How wonderful!” She looked in amazement at the crowd of happy, energetic monsters. “You haven’t even received your rations yet—is this an early celebration?”
“Nah, it’s just fun,” Undyne said cheerfully. “People were fighting over who was gonna get what, and the kids were upset, so Frisk showed ‘em how she could make this stuff. Next thing you know—” Quick as scaled lightning, the Captain flicked an energy-toothpick at a bubble overhead, grinning at the resultant chime. “F sharp! Nice.” With a salute to Toriel, Undyne was off again, lifting a couple of random children onto her shoulders.
“How wonderful,” Toriel said again. She sighed, looking fondly up at the balcony. Frisk was starting to puff a bit, but clearly determined to keep going. “What a fine young woman she’s become! It’s almost like having Chara back with us.”
Sans shuffled his slippered feet. He knew it was the highest compliment Toriel could give, but the comparison really rubbed him the wrong way. Not only had he heard a lot of things recently, he couldn’t shake the dream he’d just had—the Prince so eager to have Frisk and Chara back together, and the child trying to be good, but unable to hide her fear and uncertainty…
And speaking of Asriel: “Tell her I’m sorry.” What was that about? Who was—
Suddenly, the dreams clicked together in his mind like puzzle pieces. Asriel had tricked Frisk into meeting with Chara, knowing perfectly well that the poor kid didn’t want to. Was he only sorry for that, or had something else happened afterward, awful enough to make Asriel want to apologize from beyond the friggin’ grave?
Toriel was saying something, and the skeleton shook his head. “Sorry, Tori. What was that?”
She cleared her throat. “I was asking if you’ve met the boy who’s courting her. Frisk said he’s very kind, and wealthy, but…she didn’t seem terribly enthusiastic.”
Sans almost laughed out loud. So much crap was going on that he’d actually forgotten about that guy! “Had some girl talk, huh?” he asked carelessly, shoving his emotions way, way back down and hoping his eyes weren’t glowing.
The goat monster chuckled, still watching the field. “We stayed up the other night to discuss where to distribute all the food you were bringing. Afterward, yes, we did talk about her love life.”
He made an indifferent noise. He was fine. He could do this. “I met the guy once,” he said. “Kinda boring, but I guess he could be worse.”
Toriel nodded. Her ear twitched as a longer, sweeter trill came from above—Frisk was pulling out all the stops, Sans thought proudly. “Were you there when she spoke to the fortune-teller?” she asked.
The skeleton made himself shrug, as if he wasn’t screaming internally. Stupid girl talk! How much had Frisk told her?
Well, the fact that Toriel hadn’t murdered the shit out of him meant she probably didn’t know everything yet. How she was failing to connect the dots between Frisk and Sans’ human love interest was beyond him, but he’d keep playing along for now. “Yeah, I went with her to that festival,” he said. “Pretty weird stuff. Apparently, she’s on track to have a kid soon.”
Toriel grimaced. “I certainly hope not. Frisk is much too young for that kind of responsibility.”
Sans snorted, and Toriel turned to glare at him. “Sorry, but ya haven’t seen her in action,” he said. “The first time I met her, she kept me from killin’ a whole bunch of people, all by herself, an’ she wouldn’t let ‘em kill me back. She got all bloody fixin’ up some kid who came to ‘er for help at two in the morning, she’s payin’ everything for three or four different orphanages that I know of, she keeps tabs on anyone in the whole damn kingdom who might need help, and she’s workin’ on freein’ us, too.” He shook his head. “She’s not a little kid anymore, Tori. She’s got so much crap ta deal with, and she’s been takin’ care of it all on her own. As long as she finds the right guy, it’s…”
He had to stop before he got any more worked up. Luckily, Toriel was too deep in thought to notice. “That does sound impressive, but you’re right. Her happiness depends on whether she can find a good husband, one she can trust to stand by her and care about her children—”
Now they were both grim and silent. “Just a few more,” the human called from above them.
She sounded so breathless that Sans shook his head, reaching up to tap on the railing. “Hey, Frisk? Quit it before ya pass out.”
Toriel listened for a moment, then nodded. Sans watched her stride out to the middle of the field and clap her hands. “Everyone,” she said, “I am glad you’ve enjoyed yourselves, but please return to your homes now. The Royal Guard will be here shortly to deliver your share of the supplies that Frisk arranged for us and Sans brought in last night.” The former Queen nodded benignly in their direction. “Thank you, both of you.”
The giant skeleton was rather embarrassed by the round of applause that followed, though Frisk seemed to take it in stride. Then again, it could be the fact that she was barely conscious. “Time to come in, Pap,” Sans said, jerking his head as the monsters bid each other cheerful farewells and went their separate ways. The children still seemed more excited about the bubbles than the prospect of food—were the poor little bastards just used to being hungry by now?
There was no need to ask Undyne to take care of Frisk: she had already jumped straight onto the balcony and was assisting the human inside. Sans teleported into the living room, where he immediately got in the way of the Captain half-carrying her down to the couch. “’m fine,” Frisk muttered.
Sans leaned over her, scowling. “Ya need your breath, kid. Don’t use it all up next time.” Now that he was closer, he could also see dark circles under her eyes. “How much sleep didja get last night?” he demanded, and looked at Undyne. “Were you guys at Tori’s house?”
“No,” the goat monster said, shutting the door behind her and coming to sit beside Frisk. “Mettaton kept her up so late that she spent the night at the resort.” Toriel’s hand came up, glowing green, and brushed Frisk’s cheek. “If you had stayed with me, child, I’d have made sure you rested properly.”
The priestess rubbed some feeling back into her lips. “I beg to differ,” she said a moment later. “Remember how afraid I was to fall asleep that second night? Undyne was already mad because I caught her cheating at cards—”
The Captain swelled like a pufferfish. “For the last time, I didn’t frickin’ cheat! My 6 got stuck behind my queen, and I didn’t know it was there when you asked for it!”
“Mmmm-hm.” Frisk let her head fall against Toriel’s shoulder as the goat monster stroked her hair. Sans had to look away, more irritated than ever—how stupid was it to be jealous of someone mothering her? Especially considering what she’d had for an actual mom…
“Anyway,” said Undyne. She glanced at Sans, saw his expression, and whacked him again to get his attention. “You know what your damn human did to me?” Frisk smirked as Undyne pantomimed writing huge letters across her own face. “GO FISH. Is that the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard, or what?”
Sans snickered. “What? She was probably just being supportive. You know, ‘go—”
Frisk and Toriel dissolved into laughter as the Captain smacked her forehead with one webbed hand. “Argh! That’s the same dumb thing she said!”
“It’s all right,” the human said, in what Sans gleefully recognized as her pre-pun voice. “I guess our humor is just that sofishticated.”
“NOOOOO,” moaned Papyrus, who had just come inside. “NOT YOU, TOO, NYEHH!”
“What’s wrong?” asked Sans, winking at Toriel as she covered her face with one hand. “Are you mad enough to krill someone?”
“SO HELP ME, YOU TWO, I WILL LEAVE THIS HOUSE AND NEVER—”
“But it’s so nice to sea you,” Frisk said, and Sans snorted so hard that he had to sit down before he fell over. Toriel was giggling uncontrollably, clutching her sides; Undyne just shook her head and retreated into the storage room behind the kitchen cabinet.
Papyrus looked mollified. “YES, I KNOW. BUT I—” He stopped, and they nearly died as they watched it hit him. “GRAAAAH! IF HER MAJESTY WAS NOT HERE, I’D—”
“It’s all right, Papyrus,” Toriel said behind her hand. “I know I can trust you to control your temper.” Papyrus nodded, and the goat monster added, “You’ve always been a pacifisht!”
Undyne poked her head into the kitchen, raising her voice over the din: “Pap! Get away from those nerds and come help me! We need to make room for your stuff when it gets here.”
The younger skeleton sighed dramatically, even for him. “NYEH-HEH! I SUPPOSE I MAY AS WELL. AT LEAST SOMEONE AROUND HERE WILL BE DOING SOMETHING USEFUL!”
“Thank you. You’re the least shellfish person we know,” squeaked Frisk, at which Papyrus made an incoherent sound and stormed off into the kitchen.
Sans was pounding the floor, the women nearly sobbing. “Children—children, please,” Toriel said weakly, wiping her eyes. “Really, it’s time to calm down now.” A long pause… “We can’t keep kraken up like this!”
“Oh my God, they’re gonna kill themselves,” Undyne grumbled from the storage room. They had closed the cabinet door, but it wasn’t soundproof enough. “Let’s move some of this stuff to the shed, and…hey, what’s this?” She picked up a heavy package lying in the back corner. “Huh. Looks like one of Frisk’s. Pap, go ask—”
“SANS! POSSIBLY FRISK!” Papyrus charged into the living room, hoisting the box over his head and nearly tripping over his brother. “IS THIS A FORGOTTEN PUZZLE?! MAY I OPEN IT TO KEEP IT COMPANY?”
“Oh!” Frisk gave a last snrk and accepted a clean handkerchief from Toriel to wipe her face. “Actually, Papyrus, that one is for Sans.”
“Wha?” The giant skeleton sat up and quirked a brow at her. “What’re you talkin’ about? I was with ya when we bought all this crap, and I don’t remember you gettin’ me anything.”
“That’s because you weren’t paying attention,” the priestess retorted.
…She had a point. There had been quite a few times when they were in a shop and he was so bored that she could’ve been plotting the death of all monsterkind without him noticing.
“SURPRISE PUZZLES ARE THE BEST KIND! OPEN IT ALREADY!” urged Papyrus, shoving the gift at his brother’s face.
“Yeah, boss,” Undyne said from the kitchen. “Don’t be so damn shy.”
“I’m not bein’ shy! I just…I wasn’t expectin’ it.” Scowling, Sans grabbed the package and dug his phalanges into the lid. One good rip would get this over w—
“Sans!” Frisk’s voice made him hunch his shoulders like a guilty kid. “If you tear it open like that and break something, I will end you! Do you understand?”
The others watched the colossal skeleton set the package down gently, unwrapping the paper and moving it aside as though it was made of glass. Toriel and Undyne exchanged disbelieving glances as Sans located the box’s tucked-in corners, eased them loose, and picked at the ribbons tying it shut.
But a moment later, as he removed the last layers of tissue paper, their amusement faded into gasps and murmurs. Inside the box lay a chessboard gleaming in white marble and flawless onyx, each of the pieces individually wrapped and set in neat rows.
Undyne chose one at random and peeled the paper away to reveal a knight astride a black pegasus, wings spread and hooves ready to strike. “Whoa!” She picked another, this one a rook carved in the shape of a ruined tower, complete with crumbling bricks and a few tiny bird’s nests in the windows. “Where’d you find this?! Are you gonna teach him how to play?”
“We did most nights back at the castle.” Frisk shrugged. “He beat me every time.”
“Incredible,” murmured Toriel. She took the knight and held it up to examine the sculpting of its plumelike tail. “Humans have such an amazing capacity for beauty. I never could understand…” The goat monster sighed, handing the piece back. “What do you think, Sans?”
Sans couldn’t answer. He’d calmed down a lot after all the fish puns, and he would have been fine just hanging out with everyone until the Royal Guard came by. He hadn’t known Frisk was going to give him anything, much less something beautiful and thoughtful and completely perfect—like her, dammit. How was he supposed to stop feeling all these feelings when she kept doing things?
The pause became more and more uncomfortable as he glowered at the chessboard, heat building around his SOUL until he wanted more than ever to just rip his clothes off right there. “PSST! BROTHER!” Papyrus nudged him. “YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO SAY, ‘THANK YOU FOR THE MAGNIFICENT PUZZLE, NYEH-HEH! I SHOULD ASK THE GREAT PAPYRUS TO PLAY IT WITH ME, AND WEEP GENTLY WHEN I LOSE!’”
Sans fidgeted, and Frisk looked expectant. “This’s…ya know, ya didn’t hafta waste a bunch more money on somethin’ we—” His head snapped up, startling everyone. “Hey, there’s the Royal Guard! They probably need help, right? Let’s go help!”
“SANS,” Papyrus began, and huffed as his brother disappeared. “THAT’S NOT WHAT I TOLD HIM TO SAY AT ALL! HOW DID HE GET IT SO VERY WRONG?”
~
Sans was not surprised by the others’ reactions when they joined him a few minutes later at the cart by the town Christmas tree. He could only imagine what they’d been saying, though the glare Undyne was giving him made her opinion pretty clear.
“Good day,” Toriel said to the cat monster holding the supply list, ignoring Sans entirely. The cart had just come through Waterfall, the sacks and crates patterned with condensation that was already freezing into ice crystals. “I have a very selfish request,” the former Queen continued. “As you know, I was awake for the entire night, and I am extremely weary. I would like to bring my share home with me now, unless of course you need me to—”
“You were up the whole night, Lady Toriel?” Frisk repeated, one hand on the side of the cart. She frowned, then rounded on Sans so fast that he flinched. “You want to be helpful, don’t you? Then you can take her and her things back to the Ruins!” An imperious gesture at the three guards. “The list, please,” she ordered in her High Priestess voice.
The cat-lady handed it over, bemused. The tiny human ran her finger down the page, nodded, and turned to the cart. “It should all in that crate, there, and that stack of—look where I’m pointing! Yes, that one, and those over there. No, don’t put it—”
Sans obeyed her as fast as he could, setting the boxes neatly beside Toriel. Frisk checked them over again, then handed the list back to the feline guard. “That should be correct, but if you find any discrepancies, let me know. Has everything gone according to plan so far? No thefts or serious disputes?”
“No, milady,” the guard replied. “We should be finished by this evening at the latest.”
Frisk smiled. “Excellent work. Please keep it up.”
The Royal Guard all saluted. Toriel’s eyebrows were raised, and Sans wished she’d look at him so he could mouth Told you so. “Good job, guys,” said Undyne, not bothering to hide her grin. “It looks like you’ve got this under control, so Frisk and I are gonna go see Alphys now. You coming, Pap?”
“HMM.” He glanced from her to his brother and crossed his arms, clearly torn. “SHOULDN’T I STAY AND HELP PUT OUR FOOD AWAY?”
“Oh, but Sans wants to help so much, we shouldn’t take that from him.” Undyne looked daggers – spears? – at the giant skeleton. “He can come right back here and do it after he drops off Her Majesty. Right?”
Dammit. “Right,” grunted Sans.
Frisk was already starting to turn away. He cast around for an excuse to talk to her again, and said, “Hey.” She glanced at him as he rummaged in his inner pockets. “Ya want those invoices back?”
The priestess frowned at him. He hated it when she did that, especially when he deserved it. “I suppose it could be useful when I talk to His Majesty.” She started to extend a hand, and her eyes widened. “That’s right,” she said to the guards. “Did you give him my note?”
“Yes.” The dragon guard cleared his throat. “He said no.”
“What R02 meant to say,” the cat monster, “is that King Asgore regrets he will not be available to speak with anyone today.”
“But he does want to talk to Sans,” the rabbit said helpfully, “and Dr. Alphys.”
“I see,” Frisk murmured. “Thank you.” As Undyne glared at R01, the human stepped back, pulling her cloak around her. “You’d better keep them to show His Majesty, then.”
Sans shrugged, rolled the papers back up, and opened his coat wider to find exactly where they’d been. All he could think about was reaching over to tug down her choker where it was riding too high on her throat; he forgot what else was in his pockets till he noticed her staring at something inside his coat. His SOUL tingled in alarm: the King’s golden envelope was sticking up partway, with the letters FRISK D showing. “Sans? What is that?”
“…Uh.” Fuck. It was too late to disappear again. He glanced around at everyone listening, and at Frisk, who was already unhappy because of him. Was this really the time to tell her what her father was planning, and that the humans all knew her name now? “It’s…I-I’ll show ya later, I promise. There’s a bunch of stuff we’ve gotta talk about.”
Her frown deepened. “Agreed.” Just like that, Frisk turned to smile at Papyrus. “Shall we?”
“CERTAINLY!” He gallantly held his arm out to her, neither of them noticing how Sans’ socket twitched.
Before the bigger skeleton could say something stupid, a touch on his radius made him spin around. “If you could take me home now, I would greatly appreciate it,” Toriel said quietly.
“Sure.” He gave Frisk one last glance. “Have fun, guys.”
Undyne made another face at him, and Papyrus waved. “GOODBYE, SANS! HAVE FUN! PLEASE BE USEFUL TO HER MAJESTY AND NOT RUN OFF AGAIN BECAUSE YOU ARE EMOTIONALLY INCOMPETENT!”
Sans twitched again, and Frisk smirked. “Have a good rest, Lady Toriel,” she said over her shoulder.
“Enjoy yourselves,” Toriel replied cheerfully. But the moment the trio was out of sight, the goat monster’s smile vanished. “Back to the Ruins, please,” she said coolly.
Sans had a headache already. “Yes’m,” he mumbled. At least all this inner turmoil meant he was generating plenty of magic: she laid a hand on his arm, he made a swiping gesture at the crates, and they were all standing in the entryway of Toriel’s house, easy as butterscotch-cinnamon pie.
“I wish I could do that,” the goat monster commented, not for the first time. “Can you bring those to the kitchen for me?” She strode ahead, briskly opening cabinets and moving things aside to make room. “Also, please tell me what the matter is.”
Sans grunted, twitching a finger to waft the crates over. “Do me a favor, Tori, and gimme a check. You can probably see it for yerself.”
Toriel obligingly turned and squinted at his SOUL. “Good heavens,” she said after a moment, and looked up at him. “Sans, what in the world…?”
If it looked half as turbulent as it felt, then it was probably pretty scary. “I wasn’t kiddin’ the other night,” he muttered.
“I…didn’t think you were. Still…” She rubbed her eyes, swaying a little with sheer tiredness. “I did want to ask you something. I heard you telling the guards last night that you inspected the carts alongside someone you trusted. By any chance, was that…?”
Well, there was a convenient misunderstanding if he’d ever heard one. “Was that what? Someone I’m totally nuts about an’ hafta stay away from because she’s a human, and just friggin’ deal with it?” He rapped on his chest. “Does it look like I’m dealin’ with it?”
“No, you are not.” Toriel crossed her arms at the waist. “Sans. I know this must be difficult for you, but—”
“Let’s play pretend for a minute,” he said conversationally. “Imagine I came up to you sometime real soon with a human an’ said, ‘Here ya go, meet the wife.’” Just saying the word made his SOUL ache further. “What would you do?”
Her eyes narrowed to golden slits. “It would depend,” Toriel said with deceptive calmness, “whether you would prefer I be kind, or truthful. Do you want my blessing to try and find happiness for a few short years, and to be even more alone in the world once she d—”
That did it. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Tori! Ya think I don’t know how screwed I am?” Sans snarled, and her mouth fell open. “I didn’t tell you about this so you could give me a kick in the goddamn teeth! I told ya ‘cause I wanted to talk with somebody who might have some idea what I’m goin’ through! If that’s too much to ask, just fuckin’ forget about it!”
“I am sorry, Sans! I truly am!” There was a puff of smoke as Toriel threw her hands up. “If you could marry a human, I would be the first to congratulate you! But as things are…” Her face contorted. “What does my opinion even matter? You know that I have no power here, no matter how many people keep calling me ‘Majesty’! I can do nothing to help you!”
“You could still be my goddamn friend! That’s all I wanted!” He kicked at nothing. “But no, yer so worried about botherin’ little ol’ Gorey that—”
Whump.
Sans stared at the scorch mark at his feet, a smoking, blackened ring on the tiles. Then he looked at Toriel, whose hand was still aimed at the floor, her chest heaving as though she’d run the entire length of the Underground. “Do not. Talk to me. About. Asgore,” she said through gritted fangs. “That wretched man has already cost me my entire family! Do you think I enjoy catering to his paranoia and living in fear that someone else I care for will be banished, or die? What do you think he would do if you were to wed a human? What would happen to you, and to her? If Asgore decided you were truly a threat—”
He could feel his eyes burning, and didn’t trust himself to say anything. Toriel gulped. “It is not safe for you to marry a human, Sans. It is not safe for any human down here! You’ve seen it for yourself! Frisk is the only one he will even tolerate, and he could still…” Another shake of her head, ears flapping against her cheeks. “You know Asgore. All he has to do is ignore her until she leaves. It would be so easy, wouldn’t it?” The goat-woman buried her face in her hands. “Those damned men would just shrug and say that she failed in her mission, and I would never see her again! I can’t lose anyone else, Sans! I can’t—”
The skeleton’s anger subsided as he watched the former Queen’s shoulders rise and fall. He took a couple of steps toward her, sliding his hands into his pockets. “What happened with Chara?” he asked quietly. “Why wouldn’t he let her come back?”
Toriel’s fingers curled, claws digging into her muzzle. “It wasn’t her fault,” she muttered, eyes hard and dry. “He said he didn’t blame her, but he still agreed to send her away. And when that bastard human would not marry her as he promised, Chara needed us—she needed her family! But Asgore said she was lying, and he sent her away again! I didn’t see my little girl for ten years, Sans! And then—”
Sans stayed silent. Toriel let her arms fall, and slid down against the cabinet until she was slumped on the kitchen floor. “I got her back, and it was too late. She hated us both,” she said dully. “She died hating me, Sans. And she was right. I couldn’t protect her from Asgore, and when the accident happened, I could not protect her or Asriel. I was right there, and I could do nothing! All I did was send the humans away, and he even begrudged me that!” The goat monster gripped her robe, nearly puncturing the fabric. “Now my only friend comes to me for a sympathetic ear, and what do I do? I sneer at him for confiding in me and complain about my troubles!” She scrubbed her eyes with her sleeve. “I’m completely useless, as always.”
“Don’t say that, Tori! Remember that one little thing where ya kept the humans from declarin’ war on us an’ sealing the whole damn Underground? Besides…” Sans shuddered as something else came to him. “For all we know, he woulda had Kris killed, too.” He crouched to her eye level. “You saved Frisk’s life, Tori. Are you sayin’ that wasn’t worth somethin’?”
She swallowed again. “I…I don’t—”
“An’ she grew up to be High Priestess, and she saved my life when I got caught. If it wasn’t for you, she’d be dead, and I’d be dead or worse.” He shook his head. “If she was dead, we wouldn’t be gettin’ any food deliveries, or monsters comin’ home, or random bubble parties—” Despite himself, he chuckled. “Or fish puns—”
Toriel managed a smile. “That was fun, wasn’t it? Poor Papyrus.” She gave a long, deep sigh. “I may have saved her life, but as far as I am concerned, you are the reason she has come back to us. Thank you, Sans.” The goat monster got to her feet and wiped her eyes again on her sleeve. “I…I still don’t know what to tell you about your human. I haven’t even asked you her name, what she is like, how far your relationship has progressed—may I assume you intend to keep courting her?”
“Uh…” Sans ducked his head, scuffing his slipper over the burned floor tiles. “Tell you the truth, she’s kinda the one courtin’ me.”
“Sans!” the goat monster scolded him. “You’ve found a woman with enough magic, strength of mind, and good taste to fall in love with you, and you’re letting her do all the work?”
The skeleton scratched his neck vertebrae. “…Yeah?”
Toriel gave him one of her squinty, pursed-mouth glares, and he held up his hands. “I know, I know! It’s just…there’s all this stuff, but it’s her, an’ I never met a her before, an’ I—”
“All right, all right.” Toriel sighed again. “I still wish you would change your mind, but I understand that it’s not so simple.” She couldn’t conceal a yawn. “We can talk more when I’ve had some rest. I promise.” To his surprise, she took his hand and gave it a good squeeze. “In the meantime, go and help the Royal Guards, and then apologize to Frisk. That was the most lovely gift imaginable, and you behaved as though she’d handed you a steaming pile of—”
“Yeah, yeah.” Sans lifted one shoulder. “Okay, Ma, I promise I’ll be good. Go get some sleep.”
“Yes, dear. And, Sans—” She gave him a look he couldn’t interpret. “I hate to be intrusive, but…if everyone is gathered again this evening, could I please join you? If it’s all right with the others?”
Sans made a rude noise. “Of course I’ll come ‘n get you. We’re almost halfway through her offishal visit.”
Toriel laughed. “Well, water you still doing here? Go on!”
He chucked, raising a hand. “‘Kay. See ya, Toriel.”
“Thank you, Sans.” She swatted at him playfully, letting him dodge out of the way. “Now, shoo!”
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Deliciously Taboo
Chromeskull x Reader x The Collector
Chromeskull alias Jesse Cromeans
The Collector alias Asa Emory
Warning: NSFW content
Part 1 here
PART 2
Authors Note: Finally the part 2 of this dandy story. Just mark me as horny and frustrated. I was a little reluctant to do it, but the hell with it. Enjoy!~
Seeing your friend so excited made you let out a chuckle. She was more excited than you for this date with two so-called 'sugar daddies'. You were currently seated in the chair next to your vanity as she curled your hair, very careful with every wave that the curler in her hands did.
"You look so gorgeous [Name], you will make them fall on their knees for you, babe." she naughtily said, biting her lower lip and suggestively wiggling her eyebrows. You rolled your eyes and huffed in exasperation.
As she finished your hair, she took another good look at your make-up, making sure that everything was perfect.
"So what are you gonna wear, darling?" she asked. You bite your lower lip again; well you never thought of that. She rolled her eyes at you, walking to her dresser, pulling tons of clothes out, creating a chaotic mess. She turned around with a strapless classic black dress that was a little too short, but you knew you couldn't argue with her. She will probably give you another argument about 'Show what ya mama gave ya'. So you just stayed silent, until she gave you a little white box with a tiny red bow on it.
"What is this?" you asked, inspecting the box, wondering what she planned in her devious head. Your friend motioned for you to open it and you did. Looking inside, you pulled out a pair of skin-color stockings, each one with a pink bow up, where the thigh is, plus there was a pair of baby-pink laced panties. Your eyes widened at the gift, looking up at your friend who only smirked.
"You gotta look good, honey. The first impression is always important." she explained, giving you the pair of pink stilettos.
You huffed, getting ready for the big night. From the mail that you received from the supposed sugar daddies, you three were gonna go to a restaurant, have some drinks and discuss the terms of this 'relationship'.
Exiting your apartment, you thanked God it was warm outside, so you didn't need a coat, although it kind of would have been salvation from your skimpy outfit, that your friend said you looked good enough to be eaten.
A black and good-looking car pulled over slowly next to you. From your knowledge of cars, it was a Bentley, and an expensive one. You could only dream to get inside such a car.
The doors opened and two men in black fine suits got out. Your eyes ranked over the two tall figures. The shorter one had sandy brown hair that was swiped to the side a little, with unique shiny black eyes. The other one was much taller, with a bald head and brown eyes, his face looked to be scarred, giving him a malicious look, but he was still handsome; that dangerous, alluring look. Both of them were pretty big and buff, pure masculine power.
You could feel your face heat up, so you looked down until a deep voice called out your name. It was the brown-haired one, looking you up and down. You nodded, trying to act cool, although it was pretty hard.
"My name is Asa Emory and my friend over here is Jesse Cromeans. Please excuse him for his silence, he is mute." Asa said all professionally. Oh, that was a first.
Jesse only looked you up and down, more intense than Asa did, with no shame, making your blush deepen, only for the bald man to give you a lop-sided smirk.
"Shall we?" Asa asked, opened the backdoor to the Bently for you. At last, he was a gentleman, so you got inside; the two men getting into their front seats, with Jesse driving.
The whole drive was silent, you didn't even know how to begin a discussion on this unusual date, so you opted to stay put, for now.
The drive was pretty short, finally getting to the local where your date would be. It was a pretty expensive one, seeing it before but only from outside, never having money to eat here.
Asa opened the door, so you could get out. Shutting it after you were by his side, Jesse gave the keys to one of the red-dressed body-servants so they could park it.
Getting inside, you were mesmerized by how the place looked, so fancy and it made you feel kinda out of the place. Following the two men, you saw that they were escorting you to a private lounge.
Jesse pulled out the chair for you, making you give him a small smile. As the two men sat down, they both looked at you.
"Look...I've never done something like this before an-" before you could finish Jesse raised a palm, in a sigh to stop your talking, making you feel a little nervous.
"We could tell, but don't worry. We are gonna explain everything...in the form of a contract." Asa explained, giving you from the looks of it as a business contract.
"We are serious about this, don't take it as a joke." A deep robotic, but still manly voice said. It came from Jesses Mobil. Well, at last, he could make out what he wanted. Asa pushed the contract to your hands. You took it and looked over it, not knowing exactly what to do.
"I will explain it to you in simpler words. The contract says that you belong to us, think about it as a polyamorous relationship, that means we get to share you, no ifs or buts....And there are rules that you need to follow to make this relationship work." Asa said, his face serious, making you feel small under his gaze.
Your eyes scanned the contract, coming on the paragraph with the list of rules.
RULES OF THIS RELATIONSHIP:
You belong to us, meaning any kind of other relationships is to be done with. No cheating.
You will get an allowance of 10.000$ every month plus gifts that you will receive from both of us, depending on how good you behaved.
Because of our jobs, we are pretty busy, so you will be contacted when we will meet and date.
We will pay your rent and college tuition.
Good behavior is very important. This is not a simple boyfriend-girlfriend relationship that you can do whatever you want.
In the department of sex, we will both share with you, a quick warning that vanilla is not our type; you need to understand the full concept of it.
You didn't know what to say. It sounded too tempting to be true, but if you said no you will lose the biggest chance of having a life that you could only dream about.
The waiter came in, bringing a bottle of Dalmore Kind whiskey with a bucket of ice, pouring three glasses of the expensive liquor with ice, then leaving without saying a word.
Jesse pulled out a pack of cigarettes labeled Nat Sherman from the looks of it, along with a silver lighter with a skull on it. Lighting up one, he puffed out smoke, then sipping on the whiskey.
You took a sip yourself and coughed up a little, making Jesse smirk your way.
"So [Name]...What is gonna be?" Asa asked, taking himself a sip, licking his lips after.
You didn't know what to say or do. It was so tempting, not to mention both men were so good-looking, talk about devilish handsome. Thinking back about having two jobs that didn't pay enough to pay rent and college, let's not talk about even getting food and necessities to live.
"Say yes and all your dreams will come true. Gucci bags, DIOR perfumes, Louboutin shoes, Swarovski jewelry? You name it, doll." Jesse robotic phone app explained. He took another drag of his cigarette, blowing the smoke in your direction, making you cough.
Asa only glared at the man next to him. Jesse sure knew how to persuade someone.
Your mind was racing a hundred miles an hour, the more devious part of your brain only purring at the delicious offer these two men gave you on a silver platter.
"Yes...." you whispered as your eyes looked up at them. Asa gave you a lop-sided smile, while Jesse was practically grinning.
"Perfect. Just sign at the end of the contract that you are aware and agree with the terms." Asa said.
Without any more words, you signed in cursive letters your name.
After you all finished your drinks you headed to the black Bently, so they could take you home. It was a weird date to put it all, but you were intrigued by these men.
Stopping the car in front of the apartment complex, Asa got out to open the door for you.
"It was a great date. Thank you." you shyly said, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear. Asa nodded and smiled at you.
"Our pleasure. Have a good night, [Name]" Asa said and gave your cheek a small peck, Jesse leaning on the side of the car looking at both of you.
Asa moved to the car, getting inside, but not before looking into Jesses eyes with a serious emotionless face.
Jesse leaned from the car moving to you. He was so much taller than Asa, making you feel so small. He smirked down at you, pulling you flush against him, giving your lips a bruising kiss that lasted only some seconds.
Pulling away, your face looked so red with embarasment. Jesse waved at you, getting inside the car and starting the engine. You looked as the car drove away, your mind a blank pallet from what just happened.
Getting inside the apartment you thanked God that your friend was asleep. You didn't need to explain to her all the juicy details of your first date.
At Jesses mansion...
The mansion was empty, let alone from the trail of clothes that lead to the master bedroom. Behind the closed double-doors on the black king-sized bed with silver details, where the two men, the pillows on the floor and tangled sheets under them.
Asa was gripping the black-wooded bedframe as his life depended on it, teeth grinding together as Jesse tugged on the black-tie from Asa's neck like a leash.
The bald man's trusts were hard and deep, making the smaller male groan and grind his ass on Jesse. If you would have looked it was probably the most erotic scene. The bigger male rutting inside the smaller male backdoor, one of his hands grasping his hips, nails digging into the flesh, leaving crescent marks.
One of Jesse's hands moved into the sandy brown locks of his partner, tugging as his pace quickened, his length hitting his insides just at the right point.
Asa's cock rubbed on the black silk sheets under them, a string of pre-cum connected from the head of his length to the mattress, glistening in the moonlight from the big windows of the bedroom.
"Nrghh....H-Harder....so close." Asa whispered, feeling like he was gonna explode from all the things he was feeling right now.
The taller man picked up the speed, his balls slapping against his lovers' ones. The sound of skin slapping against skin and the groans and moans were music to both of them.
They knew both were close, so with one hard trust from Jesse, he stilled inside Asa, balls deep, as both of them were hit with powerful climaxes. Asa's load hitting the bedsheets and frame of the bed, while Jesse finished inside the brown-haired male.
Normally they would have used a condom, but coming from that date, seeing you all dolled up, and for them; it made their libido sky-rock.
They stayed like this for some minutes to catch their breaths, until Jesse pulled out slowly, his cum dripping from Asa, coating the black sheets in white.
Asa was exhausted, laying on his belly, as he closed his eyes in bliss.
Jesse stayed on the edge of the bed, rubbing Asa's voluptuous buttcheeks.
Jesse's mind went to you as he pulled a cigarette from his pack, lighting it and taking a long drag.
His lips curled into a devilish smirk.
Oh yes, they couldn't way for your little self to join them.
#the collector 2009#the collection 2012#the collector x reader#Asa Emory x reader#Laid to rest#Chromeskull#chromeskull x reader#the collector x reader x chromeskull#jesse cromeans x reader#Jesse Cromeans#jesse cromeans x reader x asa emory#slasher x reader
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Poor Unfortunate Souls
Summary:
Jonah came to the Monstro Lounge to find a possible way to save his friends from Azul's contract. It looks like a deal needed to be made between the tiny pirate and the benevolent sea merchant. In a musical style.
(’Twisted-Wonderland: Our Precious Treasure’ 100 kudos celebration!)
(Spoiler for Episode 3!)
Jonah always enjoyed coming to the Monstro Lounge. The staff was so nice to him. He always got excited when Floyd performs his bartender skill or when Jade entertains every Friday night with his singing. Sometimes, Azul even comes out from his office just for a little chat with him.
Though, today was different.
He could see it was more packed and the staff was more uncoordinated than usual. He spotted Deuce, who was carrying a tray of drinks, nearly tripping over, while Ace tried his best to keep up with the costumers' order. No sign of Grim though…
"Welcome~" A voice familiar voice called him, followed by two pairs of footsteps. Jade put a hand on his chest and bow slightly like a butler. "Welcome to Monstro Lounge~ Table for two, I presume?" Next to him, Floyd still has his goofy smile on his face as he waved his hand at the newcomers.
Jack, who stood behind Jonah, crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You like to ask questions you already know the answer to, don't you?"
"Heeh~," Floyd said, resting his elbow at Jade's shoulder. "Don't be so grumpy, urchin~"
"Don't call me 'urchin'!" Jack growled, barring his fangs, which only made Floyd even more amused. Jonah raised his hand, blocking Jack before he could attack their senior. The wolf boy glanced at Jonah, and he glanced back. This is not the time to act rashly. Jack huffed, stepping back.
"You know why we came here," Jonah said, taking one step forward. "Where's your boss?"
"Azul is currently attending to another customer," said Jade. "Can I ask you to wait for a short while? We'll show you your table." He turned slightly, clapping his hands. "Mr. Anemone, please escort our guest to an empty table, please!"
Only a few tables from them Ace and Deuce perked up. "We're busy here!" yelled Ace in an annoyed tone and Jonah could understand him. "Can't you ask someone else?"
Jade frown slightly. "Another disobedient anemone?" He reached to his breast pocket where, Jonah noticed, he tucked his Magical Pen. He squeezed the violet crystal and suddenly Ace and Deuce started screaming.
"Ow-ow-ow-ow!" Ace grabbed his head, dropping the menus from his hands.
Deuce stopped his track before he could spill all of his drinks, trembling as the anemone on top of his head looked like it was trying to get off from his head. "Don't pull the anemone!"
"Senior Jade! Stop it!" Jonah took quick steps forward, grabbing Jade's hand and pulled it away from his Magical Pen. Slightly glancing to the side, he saw Ace and Deuce stopped screaming but still winching in pain. He turned back to Jade who watched him with an amused face.
"They're maybe under your boss' contract, but they are still my shipmate," Jonah said with a low voice, glaring at the older Leech brother. "I do not appreciate someone harming what's mine…"
But Jade didn't even look offended. "Forgive me, dear customer, but it seems that you nearly broke the rule."
Jonah just kept glaring. He didn't even look away when he felt Floyd's hand on his shoulder. He felt the other twin leaned down, lips so close to his ear. "Anyone who doesn't play fair will get some squeezing~" He was drumming his fingers, threatening to reach for is neck…
The hands were immediately gone, followed by a growl of a wolf. Glancing back, he saw Jack pulled Floyd away from him, glaring at the senior who still has that goofy smile. "Stay away from him," Jack said between his gritted teeth. "Watching you guys picking on newbies leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
Floyd, completely unafraid, tilted his head to the side. "Then why don't you help us out in their place?"
There was silence between them. Jonah watched Jack who was thinking hard. He knew he shouldn't have brought him here. This was between him and Azul. Jack has nothing to do with this, and yet he volunteered to join in this sticky situation…
"Jack, you don't have to do this," Jonah finally said to him. That seemed to bring bought Jack back from his deep thought though. He let go of his hands from Floyd's jacket. Floyd took a step back, looking so smug.
"Fine. I'll work for you," Jack grumbled. He looked at Jonah who was shaking his head at him. "I'll be fine," he reassured him. "It's just a little work. You can handle Azul."
Jonah inwardly cursed. Damn it. He couldn't stop Jack from getting roped into this trouble as well?
"Oh, goodie~" Floyd cheered, clapping his hands as he slipped behind Jack. He pushed Jack away from Jonah and Jade, joining Ace and Deuce who looked so grateful. "Let's get to work, urchin~"
Right. He had to handle Azul. He glanced back at Jade. The smile hadn't left his face, which only made Jonah even more ticked off. Weird, he usually enjoyed the Leech twin's antics, but maybe today had been a stressful day, he didn't feel like laughing with them. Or maybe because his friends were in peril!
He slowly let go of his hand. Jade rubbed his wrist. Did he grab it too hard? He bowed again. "I'll show you to your table, Sir."
Jonah sighed and followed his senior. He led him to an empty table at the corner of the room, far away from all the noise. This should be a red flag for Jonah, but he couldn't complain unless he wanted to ruin this chance. He sat on one of the sofas as Jade bow again and left him alone. Jonah sighed again, playing with the string of his eye-patch. Should he take it off? People usually take him seriously when he shows his eye. Though that usually happen during a fight, and he had his crew on his side. His practically alone now, will his eye work?
"Ah~ My favorite customer."
Jonah looked up. Azul was walking toward him in his dorm tuxedo, fedora, and purple scarf. He didn't ask for Jonah's permission when he took a seat across the table in front of him. He had that sly smile on his face. A smile that he usually wears when he knew he would win during the weekly Mario Party game at the Board Game Club.
"How are you doing?" he asked, elbows on the table and fingers intertwining with each other. "I've heard you did well in your test."
"Oh, everything is quite pleasant, Mister Ashengrotto," Jonah said in a fake cheerful tone, just to amused him. "Though my day will be better if you could just let my shipmates go. The others as well, please"
Azul chuckled, resting his chin on top of his fingers. "You know I can't do that, Mister Argentum. I can't just let go of all of those 225 clients Jade and Floyd gathered. It will be rude of me to waste all of their hard work."
Oh, is that how are you going to play? "I am a kind captain, you see," Jonah said, resting his arms on top of each other of the table as he leaned closer. He smiled dangerously. "If my crew is in trouble, I need to get their sorry ass out of there."
"I can see that." Azul didn't feel threatened at all. He looked amused. "But, Mister Argentum, I'm not making them do any work that goes against labor standards. They agreed to my terms before signing the contract. You can't just nullify a contract just because you think they're pathetic. In other words…" The senior smirked at him. "You are too late."
He knew Azul would say that. Azul is many things, but going against his word is not one of them. Then… Let's play that game…
"Then how about I strike you a deal?" Jonah said. Azul raised an eyebrow at him. He took the bait. Jonah continued with an overdramatic voice. "I'm desperate, can't you see? I need… Ah, a miracle, if it's possible." He paused, giving time for Azul to think before he ended with a low voice. "Can you do that?"
Azul was silent for a moment before chuckling. He leaned back at the back of his chair. "My dear, sweet child~ That's what I do," he said as he crossed his legs and put his folded fingers on his thighs. "It's what I live for: to help unfortunate people like yourself. Poor souls with no one else to turn to…"
Acutely, Jonah was aware that the light suddenly dimmed down. Or was it just him. The glow from the window made the atmosphere even more mysterious. He heard footsteps and saw the Leech brothers walked up to behind Azul's sofa. "I admit that in the past I've been a nasty," the silvernette sang as he put a hand on his chest. "They weren't kidding when they called me kinda strange."
The leech brother laughed and Azul gave them a playful glance before waving his hand, signaling for them to go away for a while. "But you'll find that nowadays, I've mended all my ways. Repented, seen the light, and made a change." He tiled his head to the side and smiled. "True, yes~”
Jonah raised an eyebrow at him but Azul just kept ongoing. "And I fortunately know a little secret. It's a talent that I always have possessed." He clapped his hands and Jonah looked up when he saw two students walking toward them, each carrying a tray.
"And, young captain, please don't laugh~" Jonah turned his head back to Azul. "I use it on behalf. Of the miserable, the lonely, and depressed…" In the last part, the two students put two cups of tea on their table and a plate of garlic bread.
Azul suddenly stood up, fixing his jacket as he muttered, "Pathetic."
He started to walk toward him, while still singing, "Poor unfortunate souls… In pain…" He sat on the table, still looking at Jonah. "In need…" He then pointed at one of the waiters. "This one wanted to get taller." And pointed at the other. "That one wants to get good grades. And do I help them?" He snapped his fingers and smoke puffed out from them. When it disappeared, the first waiter is as tall as Jack while the other is wearing a graduation cap. "Yes, indeed!"
Jonah watched the two waiters bowed down at Azul, like a king he was, who glanced at him with a smirk as if he was showing off what he could do. "Those poor unfortunate souls… So sad… So true…
Not far from them, Jack just finished delivering the last order of the night. He looked up as he saw Jonah and Azul. The negotiation could end up terrible. He needed to find those three idiots and show them what they had done.
"They come flocking to me crying, 'Will you help us, pretty please?' And I help them! Yes I do." Azul then sighed, resting his chin on the palm of his hand and his elbow on his thigh.
"Now it's happened once or twice. Someone couldn't pay the price…" A smile formed on his face. A terrible smile. He waved his fingers and one again smoke covered the two waiters. When the smoke disappeared, the familiar anemones appeared on their head. They looked at Azul in panic, but the prefect just kept smiling. "And I'm afraid I had to rake 'em 'cross the coals~" He snapped his fingers and the anemones pulled them away, screaming but couldn't deny.
"Yes I've had the odd complaint." Azul jumped off the table. "But on the whole I've been a saint~" He glanced behind him before spinning in a circle for dramatic effect. "To those poor unfortunate souls!"
Azul ended his spinning, facing Jonah, with a chuckle. "I think I have a perfect deal for you, Mister Argentum."
Jonah nodded. "Please, do tell."
Azul sat back on his sofa across Jonah. "I'll be giving you three days to retrieve a certain photo from the Atlantica Museum. The photo of Prince Rielle's visit to the museum about ten years ago. If you can bring the photo back to me, I will let go of all my new employees, including your little crew."
Around this time, Jack had already gathered Ace, Deuce, and Grim with him. They stood not far from the negotiation table. "I need to remind you that he's doing this for you," Jack whispered to them. The trio winched. Damn it, they got their captain in trouble again…
Jonah frowned. Something's not right… "And if I don't?"
"Then you have to pay the price…" Azul smiled dangerously again. "You must give the right to use the Ramshackle Dorm you look after."
Ace eyes widened. "You've been aiming for that dorm all along, haven't you?!" he screamed, pointing his finger accusingly at Azul. "Why I oughta-"
"Ace, stop!" Deuce immediately grabbed Ace. "We can't interfere!" Both Jack and Grim stood back, unable to do anything. They noticed the Leech twins are standing not far from them with a dangerous glint in their eyes and sadistic smiles.
Jonah ignored the others and focused only on Azul. "Why you want the dorm?"
Azul sighed, pulling his fedora down. "Well, Mister Argentum, you don't have any power you could offer to me, right?"
Jonah's hands curled up into a fist. So, Azul didn't know anything about his eye? Or he purposely ignores it? Either reason, Jonah was glad he didn't need to plug his eye out.
"And you’re not the sole heir of a kingdom," Azul continued. "And I'm sure you wouldn't give up your meddling crew." Behind him, Ace was trying to get away from Deuce grip and Jack grabbed Grim before he could fly toward the table. None of them took being called 'meddling crew' lightly.
Azul smiled again. "I'm giving you a generous offer here."
Jonah kept frowning. "Are you trying to make me homeless? And how am I supposed to swim to the museum-"
Azul cut him off by standing up from his seat. He leaned forward and poke Jonah's forehead. "You have your brain!" Then he pinched his cheek. "Your cutesy face!" Jonah slapped the hand away. Azul walked out of his seat and stood in front of the smaller boy. "And don't underestimate the importance of-" He pulled out his scarf and put it around Jonah's body, pulling it as if he was drying his back. "BODY LANGUAGE, HA!"
He glanced toward the group of junior. "Your small crew there sure like a lot of blabbers," he said, giving Jonah a sideways glance which Jonah respond with a glare and hissed, "Don't you dare touch them!" Azul laughed. He pinched Jonah's cheek again and pulled back before the boy could bite him. "I think a boy who shut up is a bore~" He pulled his scarf, forcing Jonah to stand up. "Yet down here it's much preferred for captains to say lots of words~ And after all dear, isn't that idle prattle for?"
And all of a sudden, Azul dropped his scarf and pulled Jonah's hand. The boy nearly tumbled in surprised but he managed to get his footing back. The smaller boy was being pulled again as Azul took him in a spin. "Azul, let me go! This is serious!"
But Azul just laughed. "Come on, we're here for those impressive conversations~ True gentlemen embrace it in their band~"
He pulled Jonah closer. Deathly close… Jack was fuming behind them. "Azul!" He let go of Grim and ran toward the duo. Jonah's head turned toward him, eyes widened. Nononono! Jack stay away!
But all it took was just Azul glancing at him and all of a sudden Floyd appeared between the duo and the wolf boy. Jack didn't get enough time to react when Floyd, sadistic smile plastered on his face, kick him on the stomach, sending him flying back to the floor. Before the boy could get up, Jade appeared from behind him, stomping his back, keeping him on the ground.
The others were shocked how the Leech twin could take down Jack so very easily. On one hand, they wanted to be free from this cursed anemone. But on the other hand, seeing their captain in the hand of their enemy…
"Let him go, Azul!" Ace screamed as he, Deuce, and Grim ran toward Azul but before they could even touch him, their anemone was being pulled again. "DAMN IT!"
Deuce grabbed his head. The pain was unbearable. He fell to his knees. "OW! STOP IT!"
"MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" Grim cried, falling to the ground.
"Guys!" Jonah was terrified, seeing his friend keeling on the grounds. He glared at Azul. "Azul, stop this!"
But Azul just laughed. "Why should, captain~?" He grabbed Jonah's chin as his smile widened. "'Cause I'll dote and swoon and fawn, on a boy who's not withdrawn~ It's he who lets his tongue loose gets my hand!"
Jonah was being pulled again, Azul led him into a dance, circling their fallen friends in a very mocking manner. "Come on you poor unfortunate soul! Go ahead! Choose your form! I'm a very busy person and I haven't got all day! It won't cost much!" Azul suddenly dipped him and Jonah wished he was dropped instead. "Just your dorm!"
Azul pulled him again, taking him into another dance. "You poor unfortunate soul! It's sad but true~" Azul suddenly pulled himself away and Jonah took that opportunity to step back. He glanced worriedly at his friend. Ace and Deuce was still kneeling on the ground, being watched over by Jade, while Grim was curled up in pain between them. Jack was still trying to get up, but Floyd was sitting on his back so he couldn't escape. This has gone way too far…
Azul took out his Magical Pen and waved it. "If you want to cross the bridge, my sweet, you've got the pay the toll. Take a gulp and take a breath, and go ahead and sign the scroll!"
Suddenly a golden scroll appeared in front of Jonah. I hereby grant unto Azul Ashengrotto the rights to the Ramshackle Dorm… This was their deal. This is it! Jonah re-read the contract, making sure it was correct. There was no way he would mess this up. His friends are counting on him!
Azul started to walk toward Jonah He threw the pathetic crew a sideways glance. "Pay attention, 'cause I've got him, boys…" he said toward them, his smirk became wider and wider. "The boss is on a ROLL!"
He stopped in front of Jonah who looked up at him, still glaring. Azul flicked his Magical Pen, turning it into a white feather. "Well…?"
Without any further delaying, Jonah grabbed the feather, and with no hesitation, wrote his name at the bottom of the scroll. Azul couldn't stop smiling as a violet magic circle appeared behind Jonah's signature, sealing the deal. It shone one last time before it folded itself and flew toward Azul's hand.
"THIS POOR UNFORTUNATE SOUL!"
With one last bright light, the contract as sealed. The light suddenly went off but everyone could still hear Azul's voice echoing in the dark.
"It was nice doing business with you, Captain Argentum…”
#twisted wonderland#disney twisted wonderland#twst#twisted wonderland fic#twisted wonderland fanfiction#twisted wonderland fanfic#twisted wonderland oc#twst oc#twst fic#jonah argentum (my oc)#azul ashengrotto#jade leech#floyd leech#jack howl#ace trappola#deuce spade#grim (twisted wonderland)#songfic#100 kudos celebration#poor unfortunate souls#azul would do this every tuesday#what do you mean azul wouldn't sing like this?#azul is a theater kid#jonah is trying to be a good captain#ace deuce and grim is trying to be a good crew#jack is already a good boy#the leech twins are already good sidekicks#cross-posted on ao3#tw:opt gaiden#serving blueberry
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Of Rocks and Robots Ch. 8 - The First Day of School
Today was the first day of school and Hiro had volunteered to show Varian around. Their other friends all had earlier classes and would join up with them later, but for now it was just the two boys.
While he had received a quick tour with Professor Granville last week, there were still more things that Hiro had to walk Varian through. Like, picking up his schedule, getting him his student ID, showing him where his individual classes were, and walking him through the ends and outs of campus life that only students knew or understood; such as the best places to study or which grumpy teacher to avoid.
"And this is the Quad." Hiro explained as they walked across a large open field towards a short bridge with a stream running underneath, "Students like to come out here and study or test their inventions. It's usually more crowded than it is. I guess ‘cause it's the summer semester. That’s the robotics building over there and this….this is the new exhibition hall."
Hiro’s voice became more hesitant as they stopped in front of a building with tall windows surrounded by a small pond that the stream ran into. As Varian surveyed the site, Hiro continued on, trying to ignore the bad memories that wanted to float to the top of his mind.
“Here you’ll present your final projects and such.”
Varian walked forward to get a better look, but stopped to peer at a marble block that stood in front of the building. There was an inscription carved into the stone and Hiro’s heart dropped as he knew what was coming next.
“The San Fransokyo Institute of Technology: Exhibition Hall. This building is dedicated to the memory of Tadashi Hamada, a true hero.” Varian read out-loud in a disquieted voice. He turned to look questioningly at Hiro.
Hiro heaved a heavy sigh and walked over to join his new friend, never taking his own eyes off of the memorial. He hadn’t had to recount how his brother had died before now. It was just common knowledge to anyone remotely familiar with the school. The event had made all of the local news channels at the time and Tadashi had become a legend among the faculty and student body. Hiro still heard hushed whispers from time to time from other classmates when he was around. They were the usual mix of pity and platitudes. He tried to ignore them as best as he could.
“There was a fire.” He said slowly, trying to find the words without crying. “Tadashi ran back in to try and save someone...he.. didn’t make it back out.” His voice shook at that last confession, but he somehow managed to keep his composure. He then waited for Varian to go through the usual motions most everyone did; the apologies, the prying questions, the trite aphorisms, the unhelpful but well meaning advice, and sometimes a ‘what can I do?” as if anything could be done.
But Varian didn’t do any of this. He simply stared at the block of stone as if deep in thought. Then after a while, still without looking at Hiro, he asked, “Did he save them?”
Hiro looked back at him surprised. He hadn’t expected that response. When he didn’t answer immediately, Varian finally met his eyes and then rephrased the question. “Did he save the person he went back in for?”
Hiro only stared back at the other boy, stunned. He tried to work his mouth but no sound would come out. How could he explain?
“No.” He eventually said “ Turns out they didn’t even need saving.” Hiro could have laughed at the irony of that statement if not for the stabbing pain in his chest.
“The guy he went back in to save, was the one who started the fire in the first place.” The bitterness in his voice hung in the air like a dead weight. Once again he waited for Varian to respond to this revelation, but the boy only turned back to looking at the marble inscription; his lower jaw jutted out in thought as his eyes scanned the words again.
The silence between the two of them was oppressive and Hiro found himself wanting to talk more just to make the awkwardness end. Yet now that he had started he also found that he didn’t want to stop either.
“The school holds a showcase every year for prospective students. I had entered with an invention of my own. I called them microbots. They were really, really small robots. Super tiny and you could control thousands of them at a time with a neurotransmitter.” Hiro explained as he personally recalled making them, with his brother’s help. The fondness of that memory gave way to resigned anger as he pressed on with his story.
“Professor Callaghan, the head of the robotic apartment here at SFIT, wanted them for himself. He staged the fire in order to steal them and faked his own death. When we first found out that they were stolen, the police wouldn’t believe us, so that’s when we created our super suits in order to stop him. Aaand we’ve just kept on superheroing since.” Hiro finished and silence fell between them once more.
“Why did he want the microbots?” Varian eventually asked, still not looking at him.
“He... wanted to use them to get revenge on Krei. He’s the guy who funded the Silent Sparrow project. Callaghan’s daughter was the original test pilot. She went through the portal, but never came back out. And he blamed Keri for sending her through.”
“Abigail.” Varian said and Hiro looked at him, once again in surprise.
“I read the project files you gave me.” He clarified.
“Oh, Yeah.” Hiro remembered. ”Well the good news is Baymax and I rescued her. So she’s back home now, safe.”
It was Varian’s turn to look at Hiro in surprise. “You mean after everything he did, you still helped him?” He asked in disbelief.
Now Hiro really hadn’t expected that question. He looked back at the other boy and he noticed a storm behind his piercing blue eyes. But what that meant, Hiro could only guess.
“Well, yeah, Abigail didn’t do anything wrong and she was the one in trouble,” Hiro paused and mulled over the question again. Then he took a deep breath and admitted a hard truth, more for himself than anything, “Also I didn’t want to wind-up like he did. I didn’t want anger and hate to make me forget who I really was and what’s really important.”
This time Hiro met Varian’s gaze with resolve, there was something consoling in just saying those words out loud. But Varian eyes darted back and forth as if trying to read Hiro’s face, at war with himself over what to say or do next. Finally he jerked his head back towards the memorial to stare at it once more, or rather to stare past it.
Hiro followed his gaze and also looked out at the newly rebuilt building. This time he allowed himself to remember things, not the tragic event itself, but small things, like setting up for his presentation, the cheers of congratulations from his friends when he told them he was accepted into the school, his final conversation with Tadashi on the bridge nearby, and the speech he had given a few weeks ago to commemorate it’s reopening and to honor his brother. That was when Varian interrupted his thoughts.
“What happened to Callaghan?” He questioned.
“He went to jail. There’s an official court date, sometime next year, but he’s already pleaded guilty so it’ll just be about giving him an actual sentence.” Hiro said with a sigh. He was not looking forward to standing before a judge and jury and having all of this dredged back up again. “I could never get through it, through any of this, if it wasn’t for Baymax, Aunt Cass, and my friends.”
“Yeah, I guess having friends would make things easier.” Varian agreed quietly and then went back to vaguely staring out into the middle distance, contemplating Hiro’s story. As for Hiro himself, he could only look at his shoes, unsure of what to say. Several awkward minutes passed with neither boy looking at each other or saying anything.
After some time, Hiro broke the silence first. “It’s almost lunchtime. How...how about I show you where the cafeteria is next?”
Varian finally looked at him and agreed. “Alright.” He said and made to follow him.
--------------------------
Varian mulled over everything Hiro had said as he followed the other boy back across the yard. He couldn’t imagine anyone being so noble. Hiro’s commitment to doing what he believed was right was humbling. Varian would have killed the man, had he been in Hiro’s shoes.
“I didn’t want to wind-up like he did.”
Varian’s stomach churned while recalling those words. Isn’t that actually what he had done though. Had he not hurt other people while seeking revenge against a rich and powerful foe? But what else was he to do? It wasn’t like he could bring the king to trial and have him sent to jail instead.
Varian wrestled with these questions and not for the first time. He had spent a whole year battling his rage, sadness, and guilt; his darker emotions always bubbling under the surface, threatening to spillover at any moment.
Sometimes Varian felt as if his cheery demeanor was just like a dam next to an ocean, made to hold back his more violent feelings, which constantly beat against the crumbling structure. Any leak or rupture could bring the whole thing tumbling down and he’d be swept away in a sea of his own hate. Along with anyone else caught in his path.
In truth this frightened him. But he knew nothing else other than to keep up the facade. So he slapped on a cheerful smile as he entered the cafeteria.
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The cafeteria was far more busy than the courtyard had been. Students milled about everywhere, eating and talking. The two boys got in line to order food.
Hiro was just deciding on what he should get, and annoying a very grouchy looking lunch-lady while at it, when he heard someone yell his name out.
"Hiro!" A taller girl, wearing a turtleneck and with long brown hair tied up in a ponytail, was waving frantically at him as she made her way over to them.
"Karmi?" Hiro's disbelief quickly turned to joy when realization struck him. "Karmi!" He yelled and ran to scoop the woman into a hug. The forcefulness of which sent them both spinning and laughing in exuberance.
When they finally untangled themselves Hiro asked, "What, what are you doing here? I thought your parents sent you away."
"Well, we spent the past two months arguing about it. I didn't want to go. So they agreed that I could come back for the next semester." she smiled and then explained, "I just have to call, like everyday, and go home every other weekend. Also no more internships." She said this last bit sadly. Last term she had been kidnapped and experimented on by the lady she was interning for. Hiro had managed to rescue her, but her parents had unrolled her and took her back upstate to where they lived.
"Well, I'm glad you're back," Hiro gave her a warm smile and she returned it. "Oh, I almost forgot. This is Varian." He said while turning to his new friend, "He's just moved here from Europe."
Varian walked over to meet them and Hiro continued with the introductions. "Varian, this is my friend Karmi. She's one of the younger students here at SFIT, like us."
“Hi” He said and held out his hand for Karmi to shake.
“Oh! So you got into college early too?”Karmi excitedly exclaimed while vigorously shaking his hand. “Are you Hiro’s age?”
“I’m sixteen.” He answered.
“So am I! Well, actually, I’ll be seventeen in a few months but, still it’s nice to finally meet someone here who is my age. What are you majoring in?”
Varian looked back down at the schedule he was holding,”Uhh... Applied Physics and Engineering.” He read out-loud. Apparently alchemy wasn’t a major he could study here, and Professor Granville had told him that this was the best one for what he was trying to achieve.
“So you’re a physicist. I’m going for a Biotech degree. I want to become a microbiologist and right now I’m studying viruses to try and create a new vaccine.” She eagerly explained her ongoing research.
Varian took a moment to absorb this information, some of the words she used were new to him, but he did understand that vaccines were a type of medicine. “So you’re studying to become a physician?” He asked, putting what she had said into a context that he knew.
Karmi nodded yes and embolden, Varian tried to use some of the new vernacular he had been learning. “That’s, what’s the word, cold? My mother was a medic.” He added trying to find a point of connection in order to keep the conversation going. But Karmi only looked at him in confusion.
“Cold?” She said.
“I think you mean ‘cool’.” Hiro chimed in.
“Oh, right.” Varian realized his mistake, “Sorry I’m still getting used to the slang here.” He chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head.
“Oh, that’s right. Hiro said you were from Europe. What language do you usually speak?” She asked.
“Oh lots.” He replied, happy to brag about something he did know. “English, German, Russian, Latin, Italian…”
He was listing off all the ones he knew, or at least could read, if not speak, when Karmi interrupted him excitedly.
“Do you speak French?” She blurted out.
“Oui.” He returned in French and they both started to giggle.
Hiro looked back and forth between the two of them, unable to figure out what was so funny. He had been watching their ongoing conversation with a growing unease. He was beginning to feel left out and a twinge of jealousy started to cloud his thoughts. Though if you had asked him, he couldn’t have told you why. He should have been happy that his friends were getting along, shouldn’t he?
“Oh, do you two wanna sit with me at lunch?” She asked, never looking away from Varian.
Hiro found himself sliding between the two of them trying to get into Karmi's line of sight, if only to get her to stop looking at the other boy for just a moment.
“No. Sorry, but we gotta go?” He said, his voice going high like it always did when he lied or made an excuse.
“But I thought we came over here just to eat?” Varian asked in confusion and Hiro’s mind began to race. What was he doing? Why had he said that? How could he get out of this situation and keep Karmi from talking to Varian anymore? And why did he even care?
“Uh.. we did...but I just remembered thaaaat...I hadn’t shown you the lab you will be working in. We wanna get there and get you set up before the other students come in and , uh… hog all the … tools.” Hiro cringed. It was the lamest excuse he’d ever given. Oh, why did he have to be so bad at lying?
Varian and Karmi only exchanged questioning looks at one another and shrugged.
“Okay, just let me grab an apple to go.” Varian agreed and turned back to the line.
“You, go do that.” Hiro said in a strained but relieved voice. He then turned to Karmi who was giving him a worried look.
“Is everything ok?” She asked.
“It’s fine.” His voice squeaked. He then let out a heavy sigh and added, “Look, I’m really glad you’re back. I’ll see you around?”
“Yeah,” She agreed and gave him a soft smile. Varian walked over to join them again, having procured his apple, when Karmi waved goodbye to them both.
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Hiro stormed ahead down the hall, his hands in his pockets and his eyes lowered to the ground. He was still embarrassed and angry at himself over the incident in the cafeteria and didn’t really feel like talking. Varian tagged along blithely, munching on his apple. If the other boy had noticed Hiro’s mood he made no show of it. This only made Hiro’s resentment grow, which in turn only made him even more confused about his feelings.
“You know what?” Varian asked cheerfully as he took another bite of his apple.
“No, what?” Hiro responded deadpan, not looking at him as he read the numbers on the doors as they passed by them.
“I read online that there are over three hundred varieties of apples sold in America.” He said and Hiro stopped to look at him confused. What did apples have to do with anything?
“I wanna see if I can buy one of each and take them back home with me.” Varian said with a sly smile. “It would explode Dad’s mind. He’d be so happy!”
“Explode? You mean, ‘blow his mind.” Hiro corrected.
“Yeah, that’s what I said.” Varian took another bite, seeming to ignore his blunder, and then flashed Hiro a winning smile.
Hiro could only laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, which apparently was the reaction Varian had been hoping for, and they both broke down snickering.
“Can you imagine? Just a pile of apples taller than my dad, and he’s a pretty tall guy.” Varian said, holding his hand high above his head indicating his father’s height.
“Yeah, he’ll cry with joy.” Hiro agreed through his laughter, and just like that all of his previous anger just melted away and he couldn’t even remember why he had been upset at the guy.
“Oh, this is it,” Hiro stopped and pointed to a door up ahead. As they walked towards it he continued, “This is the communal lab you’ll be working in. Granville made sure to give you one to share with Wasabi and the others. That way there’ll be people that you know around who you can ask for help if you need it.”
He opened the door and Varian walked past him to explore the large room. He spun around once and then turned back to Hiro.
“Will you be working here too?” He asked.
“Uh, sometimes, but I have my own lab in the robotics building.” Hiro explained. “They give out private labs to students who prove themselves, as like, a reward or something. I didn’t really do anything to earn one, myself, I just got Tadashi’s old lab. I guess Granville didn’t have the heart to clean it out and give it to someone else.”
He recalled finding Tadashi’s old baseball cap in the office, and sadly looked out into the middle distance for a moment. When he came back to the present, he found Varian frowning at him in worry so he sprung back with a smile and joke.
“If you thought living with Wasabi was a chore, just wait till you have to work with him.”
This sent both boys laughing again, knowing how fastidious their friend could be.
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Behind the two boys loomed a shadow, the owner of which was hidden away in even more shadow. As they laughed, ignorant of the danger they were in, their stalker paused and looked on. It would be so easy, the villain thought, so easy to attack now and rid the world of these two meddlesome pests while they were both alone, unarmed, and unaware of who was after them. But that could upset the balance. There was a needed timing to these things, one couldn’t rush the future, and if there was anything that the occupant in the shadows knew, it was patience.
#of rocks and robots#varian#Hiro Hamada#karmi#tangled#tangled the series#tts#rapunzel's tangled adventure#rta#BH6 the series#bh6#big hero 6#big hero six
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His love ( 1 )
Pair: Thorin x oc Miira
Warning: fluff, a tiny Little bit angst
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Miira's POV:
Hello my name is Miira and I am half dwarf half hobbit. Even though I am a dwarf I do not have any facial or body hair, but I do have little hairs on my big feet.
I'm not very tall for a half dwarf. I'm way smaller than the average dwarf but a little taller than the average hobbit. I'm 15 years old and I live with my three brothers and my father on a farm near Erebor.
My best friend is Dis younger sister of the princes Thorin and Frerin. Daughter of Thrain. And I'm gonna tell you a little secret nobody knows but Dis who fancies this. I'm in love with Thorin even though I know it will never happen him and I. Well that's what I thought.
One day I was wandering around the markets in dale. I wanted to buy a birthday present for my best friend Dis who would have her birthday in a weeks time from today on.
She loved everything which had to do with fashion. She even was a little spoiled, being her fathers and brothers little princess. Sometimes I whished I had such a strong bond with my brothers.
Sure I loved them and all but we weren't that close. While my brothers were outside learning to fight with my father I was doing the household which I learned from my mother. Means cooking, cleaning, being on the field.
I wanted to learn how to fight as well. Wanted to learn how I could defend myself if something were about to happen. Anyway back to the birthday present. I was searching for something when someone ran past me and knocked me to the floor.
Cursing I tried to stand up when I saw a hand appearing in front of me. Sighing quietly I took the hand and let myself being pulled up by this stranger. But as I wanted to thank the person in front of me the smile on my face froze.
In front of me was standing Thorin with a somewhat stern look which held a little mischief in it. But the stern look turned into a soft look and he gave me smirk. I blushed furiously and made a curtsy.
Thorin just shook his head and softly pulled me up by my chin. " you don't have to curtsy in front of me. You're my sisters best friend" he said to me. And of course my heart sunk at his words but it didn't stop my heart from beating heavily inside my chest as he spoke.
His voice made me weak in the knees. So I just nodded quickly. But his words kept repeating themselves in my head again and again ' you're my sisters best friend '. Hearing these words from him hurted me more than everything else would have.
I just looked at him and he quickly put his stoic expression back on his face as others came walking towards us and he went forwards before giving me a sign to follow him. With my head hung low I followed him. I still had no presents for Dis and her birthday was in a weeks time already!
And I had plenty to do before that. I probably would have to sneak out tomorrow to buy that gift for her or else I would be a bad friend. Even if that means getting yelled at by my brothers. And that I really had not enough gold to buy an expensive present.
Back at Erebor Thorin walked me to Dis chambers where she is with her mother. We stopped in front of the chambers doors and I turned to him giving him a short curtsy and whispering under my breath " thank you for walking me here, your Majesty " and quickly hiding inside the chambers.
Whilst Thorin still stood in front of the chambers and looked surprised at why I have disappeared so quickly. But then he shook his head and walked away to talk with Balin about something important.
Dis must've heard me because she called out " Miira is that you?" I took a deep breath before responding " yes, yes Dis it is me" and walked into her bed chambers to see her sitting on the bed with her mother behind her doing her hair.
I gave them a weak smile before slumping down onto a chair and watching Thora, Dis' mother, doing her daughters hair into a braided bun on the back of her head before turning to me and asking me " Miira dear shall I braid your hair, too" that made me giggle a little.
So I nodded my head yes and swapped places with Dis. Thora began to braid my hair on two sides of my head. She was also something like a mother to me since mine has died two winter ago. It still broke my heart and I missed my mother dearly. She taught me everything I know now.
I let out a soft but heavy sigh and stared holes into the wall in front of me and so I didn't see how Dis and her mother exchanged a worried glance with each other. Only as Dis coughed lightly I fell out of my ' dizziness '.
Then a huge smile began to form on her face and even Thora smiled brightly. Both of them probably knew that someone who brought me in such a state. Indeed Thora knew about my feelings for Thorin. If I could believe her everyone knew but Thorin.
That he's the only one oblivious to the fact that I had fallen head over heels for him. Well and my brothers. They'd rather leave me in the wild getting eaten by wolves than seeing their sister being in love with a soon to be king.
A quiet sniffle leaves me at this thought and tears began to stream down my face. Dis who saw this first made her way over to me and gave me a slight hug before whispering in my ear " it's him , isn't it?" I could only nod. The pain I felt making it even more difficult to answer properly.
I was utterly in love with him and it hurted to not be with him. People said that it was just a crush and that it will end soon. But does it hurt so much to not be with the person you crush on when you wouldn't love that person?
Thora even told me once that Thrain would be happy if I was the person who would make their son happy. And not some princess who was just after his title. They wanted someone who would love Thorin with his difficulty and all his flaws. And I loved everything about him even when he could be really intimidating. But his grandfather was kind of in the way. I'd probably never get any way near Thorin as long as Thror does have to say something.
At that I let out a chuckle and I was sure I also was flushed. Dis grinning showed me exactly that. But I couldn't believe that they wanted me to be with their son. I mean I was just a farmers daughter. Had almost no money and didn't know how to actually behave in front of monarchs.
I knew the important things of course but now when it came to etiquette. With a sigh I looked at Thora and who smiled at me and showed me that she was done doing my hair. So I stood up and walked to the big wall mirror and watched myself in the mirror with a small smile.
Then Dis came and took my hand and we ran out of her chambers with Thora laughing at our excitement. We went to find Frerin. We found him in the stalls with his pony. Dis screamed after him and Frerin's pony rose and almost kicked Frerin in the guts who shot Dis a glare.
Frerin wanted to show us how to ride and today was our first " lesson". Dis was the first. Frerin showed Dis what she had to do to climb the pony properly without hurting it or herself.
So Dis climbed onto the pony gently and I walked outside standing in front of the gates and waiting for Dis to come outside with the pony. When she did she already galloped. The pony ran around the outer pasture.
Smiling happily she encouraged the pony to gallop even faster. When Dis was finished I went back inside the stable. Back inside Dis climbed off of the pony and made place for me. Frerin also told me what I had to do. He said " you have to hold the reins loose, and just hold onto them when you really have to. The pony knows what it has to do".
I nodded at that and gently climbed onto the pony. On top I softly patted its head and whispered into his ear. Frerin gave me an approving look and gave his pony a slight slap to its backside. The pony ran out and I had problems keeping myself on top of the pony.
As soon as i managed to get the pony to slow down I could have a good look around the pasture. Around the fence stood several more dwarfs than before. They must've seen Dis and had made their way over to watch.
I could make out my brothers, Dis, Frerin, Thora, Thrain and even Thorin. My heart began to beat unsteadily and I felt very uneasy about myself suddenly. Thorin was watching and I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of him. Or Thrain.
I took in a deep breath and let out a quiet sigh, then I softly kicked the pony into its flanks so it would start into gallop. And so it did. It took of quickly and ran around the pasture. Letting out a squeak of enjoyment, a big smile placed itself onto my features.
But then out of nowhere a wolf jumped in front of the pony and it began to rise. I threatened to fall of the saddle and then the wolf began to attack. The pony tried to keep me on its back but it couldn't help and I fell off the saddle. But before I could hit the ground I felt two strong arms around me.
Full of panic and held onto the person tightly and the pony ran away into safety. Now the stranger and I were facing the wolf all alone. The stranger shed their sword and kept the wolf away from us. Ready to kill the beast. Opening my eyes for the first time I looked up and saw who my saviour was.
It was Thorin. My heart began to beat three times faster than normally. Hoping he wouldn't notice that I buried my head into his neck, closing my eyes again. Too scared to look back and see the wolf. But then finally the other dwarves arrived and Thorin ran back and to the mountain, with me still into his arms.
Letting out a sigh I looked over his shoulder to see if the others were ok. Then blackness took over me and I fell unconscious in his arms.
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Darksiders Arthurian Tales Revisited
Chapter 13: The Hunt Begins
Strife immediately panics and goes looking through his inventory to find a crystal. Death however grabs him by the shoulders.
"STRIFE! Calm down, Miriam should be fine. Uther likely won't pay attention to her. As far as he's concerned, he's probably among the group that doesn't view her race as people."
"Still worth checking on her, you know? I do not want tiny getting punted." Strife states.
"She can actually avoid getting stepped on you know. I taught her a spell to make herself taller. A better disguise than her running around in country bumpkin dress."
"Ok she can do a whole lot more than just country bumpkin, I know, I helped" Strife tells him annoyed.
"Right, and you have such a good style." Death remarks sarcastically.
Strife rolls his eyes before calling Miriam up finally. Miriam meanwhile is reading another romance novel as per usual in the city library. She ends up hearing her crystal go off and quickly hops down from her powder puff for a bed. From there Miriam hopped across a thin line with decorative lanterns on it, using said lanterns as platforms. Once across the line she gets down to the table her crystal is on using a bucket for a elevator. Finally upon reaching it she answers the call in a very cute, high pitched voice.
"Hello there?"
"Miriam you alright?"
"Mmhmm, you know I am my big gunslinger. What's cooking?"
Death suddenly busts out laughing in the background, "Did she just utter the expression 'big gunslinger'!?"
"Oh go sit on Harker's dick Death!" Miriam shouts in a mini explosion.
"Uhm no thank you. Ahem."
Then Puck walks in, "Already did it for him."
"Wait a minute.....Strife did you get into trouble at another bar?" Miriam asks.
"No no not at all my Sugarplum Fairy." Strife tells her gulping.
Puck looks at him funny, "Wait are you and her an item? I didn't know you were into shots of hard alcohol."
As Death continued to try and die of laughter, Strife retorted to both of them, "First off, she's a shot of Jaeger. Second off, you, shut up."
Miriam is of course squeeing at the comment, "Awwwwwwwww. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee."
"AH! Sugarplum you're gonna crack the windows, tone it down a peg. Anyway, I'm calling to ask if you're alright."
"As I said I'm fine. Why so worried?" Miriam inquires gingerly.
"Uhm just uh...telling ya....uh....if anyone bad mouths my brother, keep your head down. Don't speak up about it ok?"
"Oh sure, but what's he done this time?" Miriam asks.
"Uhmmmm.....I may have pissed off a King, again."
He hears a tiny facepalm, "Really?"
"To be honest, I was trying to stop him from harming an innocent person." Death expresses.
Strife adds on, "Yeah, he's got on crush on her too."
"Zip it."
"Hey you make fun of my love life, I make fun of yours. This is the game we play brother, this is the game we play." Strife states.
Suddenly Miriam hears the bell above the front door ring and glances over, "Oh, I gotta go now. May need to help with this customer. It's how I earn my keep here you know."
"Right right, just stay out of trouble. Swear to me you'll be safe ok?"
"Of course honeybuns, talk later." Miriam says before ending the call with a smooch. She then scurries to the front desk where a rather scary looking pirate is. The old librarian is noticeably concerned upon meeting them.
"Uh ah.......Mr Ding.......uh-uh I mean Captain Leatherbeard. What brings you to my humble library? A romance novel perhaps?"
"Heheheh haha....Nah nah, you know I'm not into those books. They're nowhere near realistic, or worth my taste." The bald man said simply. His 'beard' lived up to his name. Scarred tissue and calloused skin that when touched was comparative to leather. He had no true hands, as one was replaced by a massive anchor. The other looked like an unfinished prosthetic, that is unless it morphed another tool. A constantly changing piece of work that could become multiple things, using the mechanical parts mixed with a good dose of magic. Course he hadn't expected to hear a sudden small voice pipe up next to him.
"Actually sir, the romance novels can be very realistic."
He glanced over to the small Pixie Elf girl, "Hmhmhmhm....how so?"
"They just are, I assure you." Miriam insisted a bit flustered.
"Heheh....and have you experienced any of those things in your books?" The Captain inquired, getting closer to her.
"Why would I be so inappropriate as to tell a customer such things?"
"Heheh....I hear it's inappropriate to call a customer 'wrong' on a subject."
Miriam gulped, "Sir it was only an assurance."
"Oh assurance was it? So, you're saying this poor lonely soul of mine could find love? Have a peaceful life? Could have someone accept me for the way I look? The way I talk...heheh? For the way I act? You're saying I can find love? So naive. So filled with hope in this cruel dark world."
"I have love, and he appreciates me for who I am. Never judges my little stature." Miriam states.
"Heheheheh....Well I mean you are quite a pipsqueak but, I've seen smaller. And besides, how tall is your great prince? Is he as tall as me? Or is he as tall as my beautiful first mate here?" Leatherbeard asks her whilst pulling his first mate over, a female surprisingly.
"Shorter than both of you actually, but I still love him very much." Miriam says all dreamy.
"Oh well then, since there is a small height difference, you mind telling me how you get all 'snuggly' with him?"
"I'm afraid I can't say, it's private." Miriam states firmly.
"Hmm, we've already gone this far? Why can't we go any further?" Leatherbeard questions before suddenly snatching her in his fist. Squishing her big time he inquires further, "Give me a good reason why I shouldn't pop you? What makes you unique enough for me NOT to SQUEEZE?"
Miriam finally utters the spell under breath, which knocks Leatherbeard back slightly. As the light from the spell clears, he sees she's taller now. Slightly taller than a halfling, lithe, and actually rather 'blessed' as well.
"Hohohoh....now I can see it. Hahaha." Leatherbeard says before putting his hands on both her shoulders, "Now I can see why someone as tall as him could find someone like you pleasurable. Mind if I take a peek?"
"I'd rather you didn't....." Miriam says backing away like a frightened fawn. Her black doe eyes certainly don't help her image.
"Oh come now, you already gave me one good peek. What's wrong with seeing the whole show, as it were? I'm sure your, man, won't mind. He isn't here to give any trouble now is he?"
Miriam began looking around frantically and finally just forced herself through a window. Naturally she was cut by the glass but in her terror she paid no heed to her bleeding arms and feet. Scurrying away like there was no tomorrow. Only for Leatherbeard to pursue her. He takes a shard of glass, and upon sniffing it, "Got ya. Run run as fast as you can, nowhere to hide from me."
Miriam kept running, leaving a trail of even more blood as she went on in her fear. Meanwhile the librarian takes the opportunity to call Strife, "Strife you need to get down here, Miriam's in trouble."
Strife freezes and asks, "Wait what do you mean by trouble? What's going on?" Suddenly he hears the poor man being choked out and yells, "What's happening what's happening!?"
The first mate then picks up for him, "Captain's about to get himself a new gift. Thank you for her, honestly. Captain's been feeling a bit antsy today."
"Bitch where's my girl?!"
"Look honey my time is short, so if you know what's good for ya, let this happen. Or you can just get yourself killed, your choice buddy. Either way, this one's on you." She tells him before slitting the librarian's throat and ending the call.
Suddenly Death gets his own call from a very scared Miriam, "DEATH HELP ME!!"
"Ah! What's going on, and please speak calmly if you can?"
"Just get me out of here! Please!" Miriam screams at him.
"Merlin, get a portal ready! Miriam you need to keep running, who's chasing you?"
Suddenly Death hears a yelp and a voice he never thought he'd never hear again, "So your name's Miriam eh? Heheheh...and I can hear your friend there. Hello there Death, been a while. Hahaha ha..." Leatherbeard tells him before singing the song Oh Death.
Course he's interrupted by Strife, as he explodes whilst hearing Miriam whimpering on Death's crystal, "You motherfucking son of a bitch! Fucking damn you, you goddamn monster! I won't let anyone I care about become one of your playthings! No matter how demented you are, so come at me you bitch!"
Leatherbeard actually looks impressed, "Strife? Heh, last time I remember you were just a squirt. Heheh...been a while, been a while indeed."
"What the hell are you on about? Last I checked, we never met!" Strife yells at him.
Death notices Morgen looking a bit scared again, and inquires quietly, "Do you know him?"
"He's one of Uther's privateers." Morgen says in her fear.
"Shit. Strife you need to cool it." Death tries to tell Strife before they hear Leatherbeard singing that song again.
He then actually lets Miriam go surprisingly, and menacingly calls after her, "Keep running, just...keep...RUNNING.."
From there everyone hears the painful transformation that Leatherbeard undergoes. His 'screams' of pain more like moans that slowly become a strained hissing sound. The bones snapping in place, limbs and teeth growing. Every visceral detail and bloody pop they hear on the crystal. Finally a low hiss is all that's heard next before the crystal is smashed to bits. The wereshark has begun his frenzy. Strife begins having a panic attack, imagining whatever twisted being he fears Leatherbeard may be now. He can't get the image of Miriam being devoured by some twisted amalgamation out of his head. No matter how hard he tries.
"Shit fuck....shit!"
"Calm down calm down, Merlin get that portal ready damn it!" Death shouts.
"Working on it working on it! I can't keep a good lock on it when she's running around as fast as she is!" Merlin shouts back.
"Then let ME find her! My crystal's still intact so you can track me with that right?" Strife tells him.
"Riiiiiight." Merlin says.
"Be careful, he's a vicious monster and you still don't know what you're going into." Death warns Strife.
"I think I got this." Strife states confidently.
"Don't be cocky."
"Bitch please, I know what I'm doing. He's a Therianthrope, magic can still work against him right?" Strife questions.
"You have no idea who or what he is. That's it, I'm going with you in case you get yourself killed."
"I have this covered." Strife insists.
"Now is not a good time to argue. If you want to save Miriam, we need go now. Merlin get that portal ready!"
Merlin shouts back, "I already got it ready, now stand in the circle!"
As they do so, Miriam turns into her normal self. Letting a loud little shriek as she does so. As the glass still stuck in her scratches her up more. Miriam then slowly climbs up a wall pipe and after getting comfy she slowly begins losing consciousness. Course Strife heard her shriek of pain and immediately bolts in that direction. With Death running after him in worry. Miriam's extra blood however, brings Leatherbeard's attention all the more. Eventually Strife finds the blood trail Miriam left, and he and Death then hear Leatherbeard breathing nearby.
"You go get her, I'll take care of this guy." Death tells Strife before taking a stance for combat.
Strife nods and hurries on, finding the blood trail has led to the pipe she's hiding in, and it's practically leaking out of the pipe. He panics and quickly whispers up the pipe, "Miriam, you alright in there? Miriam I need you to say something."
He doesn't get much of a response, beyond a sudden rapid group of little thumps going down the pipe. Finally Miriam falls out of it, covered in her blood and scaring Strife shitless.
"Miriam!" Strife shouts in his panic whilst trying to patch her up. Even ripping her clothes off to get to her injuries better. As he's working on getting the glass out and wrapping her up quickly. Occasionally he nudges her with a finger and each little moan she lets out gives him the reassurance he needs. All of a sudden, Death is sent flying through a building. Landing conviently right beside his younger sibling.
" What the fuck?!" Strife shouts before looking behind him. Seeing a massive wereshark staring him down.
"Heheheh...three birds, one stone." Leatherbeard says in a low, hissing voice.
Strife pulls out Redemption and uses charge shot on him. The first shot sends him back a ways. Leatherbeard looks at Strife, then at where the bullet hit him, and laughs. Strife then realizes, the bullet didn't even penetrate through that thick bastard.
"The fuck?"
"Heheheh, cute." Leatherbeard laughs before flexing the bullet off of his skin. It left a dent, but nothing more. Not even blood.
As Strife is trying to think something to do, he feels something grasp his hand. Looking down he sees Miriam hugging his hand as tight as she can in her state. Shaking a little bit as she does so. Strife then hears Death behind him getting up.
"Nnngh...try the electric shock and run!"
Strife does so and hopes for the best. Using his electric shock on Leatherbeard seems to be somewhat effective. The electricity slows him down and it pumps through his body. Strife then immediately takes the borrowed time to try and help Death up.
"Go! I'll be right behind you!"
"I'm not leaving you behind!" Strife hollers before getting Death on his shoulder. His other hand grasping onto Miriam still. From there he hurries as best he can to get himself and the others out of there. Suddenly Leatherbeard forms his prosthetic into a massive anchor flail and then slams it down in front of Strife.
"No more running boy. Heh....you grew up big and strong. Compared to the pipsqueak you were when you were young. Absalom didn't see your potential, while THAT ONE on your shoulder nearly smothered it out. Heheheheh...."
"Last time I checked, if there's one thing my brother taught......don't give a shit about what others think. Give a shit about what you think. And personally, I think you're an asshole." Then he set Miriam in Death's hand pulls out Mercy, and aims at Leatherbeard's dick. Using a lazershot he continues, "And just for you scaring my lady, prepare to lose your dick!"
Strife begins firing, whilst Leatherbeard pulls his anchor back to deflect the shot. He succeeds in doing so to Strife's anger. Strife brings out his daggers but sees even those seem to not affect him. As unfortunately his silver enchantment doesn't work as he'd hoped. He's then bitch slapped backwards into the square, hitting a fountain at the center. Strife then gets up with some effort and fights on, only to get slammed in the ribcage by the anchor. He spits out blood briefly and Death meanwhile finally searches his mind and finds Crom.
"I need a little bit of your power, that's it."
"A small bit, in return for your time later." Crom states to Death's confusion.
Death suddenly feels a surge of power in him, like a rising flame, a burning sensation as vines begin growing around him. He then shields Miriam in a small bubble before going on the attack. The vines catching a flame and wrapping around Leatherbeard as Death begins floating in midair. A raged fuelled fire consuming him, slowly eating away at his sense, as he begins burning Leatherbeard. Even thorns form eventually that hold Leatherbeard in place as he burns within the vines' grasp. The shield bubble housing Miriam soon harmlessly bounces towards Strife, who's looking at his older brother in horror and shock. As the vines are also wrapped around him and burning him as much as they are Leatherbeard.
Scooping the bubble up he shouts at Death, "That's enough! We've got her let's go!", Strife then hollers out, "Merlin we've got her! Get us out of here now!"
Death however gives no indication that he's hearing him. Fighting the power as much as he is using it. Unable to do much else beyond attacking and fighting for control of himself. The pain making it even harder.
He thinks he can hear Strife shouting at him, "Death snap out of it! Merlin pull us out now!"
"If Death's like that I can't! He'll pose a danger to others! If I bring him here he'll probably burn this whole place to the ground, try and snap him out of it!"
Strife then yells at his brother one more time, as he can see Leatherbeard smirking. Healing from the flames as fast as Death could burn him, "Dude it isn't even working on him, stop!"
"I.....must burn...." Death shouts as he begins to lose control of himself, then in Strife's mind he tells him, "Douse..me.....now!"
Strife nods and sees the broken fountain spewing water. He only needs to redirect it. Strife takes a manhole and tries redirecting the water towards Death. The water hits Leatherbeard at first but isn't doused. Death however is then hit square in the chest and is doused. Death reacts quickly by throwing an attack at Strife, being under the influence of the power still. It misses luckily and Death grabs his head suddenly. Finally coming to his senses with effort, and realizing he is massively burnt. He begins healing and gets over to Strife, only to turn around as he hears Leatherbeard snapping the vines. Death takes off towards Strife despite his extreme pain, then shouts,
"GET US THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"
Merlin then finally does so," Got it got it, it's on its way."
"We're low on time! Death's hurt bad and Leatherbeard's coming right at us!" Strife replies.
The circle then begins forming around him, and Death manages to get into the circle. However his achilles tendon is suddenly scratched by Leatherbeard's prosthetic hand, which he morphed into a harpoon gun. Just as the group finally teleports away, Leatherbeard picks up the bloodied harpoon bolt. Death meanwhile is screaming in pain as the adrenaline shuts off, he can feel the burns all over his body and his injured tendon. War immediately grabs Death, throwing him over his shoulder.
"Gah! Could you please be gentle!?"
"Sorry." War says simply before hurrying to find a medic.
Strife meanwhile stays behind with Miriam after getting her out of the shield bubble. Merlin is about to ask but Harker comes in and does it for him, "What the hell's happening here? Why is your brother screaming bloody murder?"
Strife only shook his head, "Leatherbeard....nnngh....", he then holds his side as the adrenaline rush in him dies down too.
"You, sit down. I'll take care of your girl as best I can. Ok lassie, geez what'd ya do to yerself in order to cause this?"
Miriam shakily explains, "I was big at first....and broke through a window....got glass in me though. Me going small again.....well you can probably guess what happened...."
Strife then looks at her, "Seriously, you shrunk down with glass in you?"
"I was scared......but it was even scarier while I was hiding......I thought.....I thought......" Miriam begins to say before sniffling.
"Take it easy, he's not after you right now. Plus he doesn't know where we are, and he can't find us." Strife tells her whilst nuzzling her with his finger.
Then everyone freezes as they hear Leatherbeard call them up and begin singing Oh Death once again. Harker drops to the floor, screaming, "NO!", over and over again. Having a full blown panic attack. Miriam hugs Strife's hand right away and begins sobbing into his palm. The taunting singing goes on until after the third or fourth time Harker screams no.
"Ah Harker, I didn't know you were here. Heheh I'm on my way to wherever you land lovers are. And Harker, keep yourself warm for me. I don't want it to be too hard on ya."
Harker immediately hides in his serpent form inside an empty pot. Muttering gaelic swears to himself in fear and occasionally uttering things that suggest pleading. Eventually they hear him having what sounds like a PTSD flashback in there. Death comes back into the room with help from War and Morgen, having heard the commotion.
"What's going on? I heard Harker screaming." Death inquires with a slight hitch to his tone.
Strife points at the pot, "He's having a....'moment' in the pot there. Might want to go check on him."
As Death goes to do so, Leatherbeard has one final thing to say to Strife, "So, how often do you use the cocksleeve?"
"You son of a...!" Strife goes to retort before the crystal hangs up. He then notices Miriam looking extremely hurt by that. Naturally he scoops Miriam up and brings her close to him. Gently placing her to his face after removing his helm. She of course hugged his nose for being so sweet to her, a gave a teensie peck to it's bridge. His warm smile gave her a big reassurance as he oh so tenderly returned the kiss to the side of her head.
"Sugarplum, I love you more than anything. You're so much more to me than a cocksleeve. You give me what matters, you accept me just as much I do you. And that's just fine by me, in fact it's perfect."
"Awwwwwww.....you always know what to say." Miriam replies blushing hard.
"And she's completely red, you sure she's bandaged correctly?" Death states sarcastically.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure I patched her up just right. And uh what did Leatherbeard mean by he'll see us soon, he has no idea where we are? Right?" Strife inquires of him.
He thinks back, and remembers how effective a shark's sense of smell is. And both of he and Miriam have bled profusely between themselves, "He has both our scents. Damn it!"
"How the fuck did he do that?"
"He's a shark! Think about it." Death growls at him.
Both Strife and Miriam get a horrified look, and Miriam in particular begins having a mini panic attack. "Don't worry, I won't let him get to you. I'm gonna find a way to kill this bastard, you hear me?" Strife tells her calmly whilst cupping her in both of his hands.
Death then remembers Harker and checks on him inside the pot. "You in there?" Death asks tapping the outside of it.
Harker then comes up from the pot and is now in a smaller version of his true form. Being about the size of a house cat once he comes out. He then hops into Death's arms and begins to make a slight purring noise.
"Seriously?" Death asks before petting him like a house cat.
"Thanks Death. I know it's......probably not the best....time right now but.........thank you." Harker expresses slowly.
"Don't mention it. I'm only doing this to calm you down." Death states.
Harker sighs before telling him, "Thanks anyway, it helped."
Death notes his depressed and hurt tone, and can't help but say something, "Sorry if my cold, callous nature is making itself too apparent. Just trying to handle all that's happened."
Harker perks a bit at that and questions him, "How's Miriam? Is she alright?"
"I daresay she's probably about as scared as you are. Perhaps it'd do her good to hear from a person who knows how she feels right now." Death tells him simply.
"You think so?"
"Yes, I do."
Harker thought a moment before deciding to make his way over. Going into his serpent form and floating over in a flowing motion. He lands on the table near Strife and coils up into a circle before asking him, "May I speak with you and Miriam by chance?"
"Yeah sure." Strife responds before revealing Miriam from within his hands. She looks over to Harker and waves a bit despondently, "Hello Harker."
"You doing alright?"
"Better now, just still not great." Miriam replies snuggling her man's hand.
"That bastard. He just knows how to get inside your head, and mess with you." Strife adds on in anger.
"Yeah he gets inside your head and messes with you, real bad." Harker responds simply.
Miriam lays down on Strife's hand and tries to fall asleep, course Strife has a better idea for her. He stands up and thanks Harker for the brief talk, even suggesting they continue another time. For now he takes Miriam to his room, placing her on his bed and breathing heavily as he removes his armor. Still in pain all his own, but masking it as best he can for her sake. Wanting nothing more than to make sure she's fine. He soon has his armor off and checks himself in the mirror. Making sure he's not hurt too badly as he looks over his massive bruising.
"Damn, he really did a number on me. But it's worth it. Nnnnngh." Strife says before hissing as he turns around, looking at his back next. Covered in scrapes and bruises from the fountain.
"Ah damn it!" Strife hisses out when scratching his head, right where a bump happened to be.
Strife ultimately sighed to himself and laid down at last. Seeing Miriam all curled up on the bed was both warming and adorable all at once. Gently he stroked her teenie body up and down with his finger, only for her to hug it. He couldn't help but continue to let her hold him that way. Falling asleep slowly as he watched her keenly. The next morning Miriam woke up and seeing Strife asleep with his finger in her grasp made her truly happy. Gushing and squeeing on the inside, Miriam gently kissed his finger before carefully maneuvering around so as not to wake him up. Granted it was easy, given that she was barely the size of his hand. Eventually she made it to the floor and made a pitter patter sound running along it. Miriam upon reaching the door placed her tiny hand to her chin and began thinking of a plan. She wanted to test to see if it was locked. She found some long wire and formed the end into a hook shape. From there she tried to place it on the door knob, which took a few attempts. Once she finally hooked the door knob, she began to shimmy up the wire. Once all the way up it took some effort to balance herself on the knob. But after managing this, she hopped from the knob to the latch lock. From there she checked it's position and saw it wasn't locked, so she thusly latched it that way. She heard Strife stir with a light groan but he didn't wake up. Miriam then sighed with relief before hopping onto the hook wire and sliding down it to the floor. She then went behind the room's partition and decided to borrow a chair cushion to sit on the floor. Her grabbing of the cushion's tassel was enough to pull it down surprisingly, but it landed on her as well. Causing her to get smothered a little before she made her way out from under it.
"Mmmmmph.....mmmmnnngh....eeh! Whew. Ok. Now to wait." Miriam whispered to herself before getting on top of the cushion.
Strife then curled his hand up and realized Miriam wasn't there. He bolted up, "Miriam, agh........damn! Knew I was gonna be sore in the morning. Uh Miriam, you here? You alright?" He goes to get up but is way too sore to move.
Miriam however finally answers, "Over here honey! Behind this big, tall.....thingy! I wanted to surprise you with something."
"Oh ok, whew."
War however comes on by and tries the door. Seeing as it's locked, he can't open it normally. So he knocks and calls out to Strife, "Is it alright to come in?"
"Yeah it's alright, none of us are doing anything. You can come in now."
"The door's locked." War states.
"Well I can't exactly get up!" Strife retorts.
As War begins searching for a key, Miriam calls out, "Sorry, was hoping to surprise your brother with something. But, I guess it can wait.....want me to unlock the door?"
War laughs, "Uh yes, I need to check on him. Make sure he's able to move."
"Dude, I'm having a really hard time moving my arms, my legs.....just nope." Strife informs him.
"I could do without the mocking, but I'll unlock the door." Miriam states before going the through her earlier process all over again.
This time Strife is awake to see what she's doing. Naturally he can't help but give some comments and encouragement, "Doing pretty well, although one thing would make this easier and better. Try swinging, it makes it easier. We practiced on your landing remember?"
Miriam sighs and begins swinging like he says to. Course she ends up going in circles and in her little panic forgets to let go. "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhaaaaaaaaahhaaaaaah!"
"Let go let go let go!" Strife shouts at her.
War meanwhile hears the commotion and readies his fist to punch through the door to catch her.
Miriam finally lets go and has her eyes shut the whole time. Strife then let's her know, "You're fine, if you kept your eyes open you'd have gotten a 9.5 landing. That's an 8.5."
"Hmmm? Oh....ok whew. Also, zip it." Miriam retorts before hopping to the door's lock from the knob and then unlocking it this time.
War settles down at this and then opens the door. Seeing Strife stuck on the bed and letting Miriam hop onto his massive gauntlet hand. He then lets Miriam down onto the bed and begins checking Strife over.
"I've never seen you this fucked up. Even up against Moloch."
Strife gains an grumpy face, "I would flip you off, but I can't seem to move my fingers."
War shakes his head, "You're probably just exaggerating.", then upon seeing all the welts and massive bruises he has when removing the covers, "By the nine hells, what happened? Next time you go up against him, I'm coming with you."
Strife then told him, "He punched Death through a building! This guy then bitch slapped me through a fountain, and he threw an anchor at my chest! Who the fuck brings an anchor to a fight!?"
"Oh my gosh! Is that why these look so bad?! I'm so sorry." Miriam says before cuddling Strife.
"Not your fault, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ow." Strife assures her.
"What would win, his anchor or my fist?" War inquires.
"Depends, how close are you going to get?" Death questions from behind War, whilst on crutches.
"What the fuck happened to you?" Strife immediately asked.
"A harpoon to my achilles tendon doesn't bode well for me. Although the question you asked me is one I have to ask you. What the hell ha-?"
"Anchor to the chest, and being smashed into a fountain too. Yeah be happy you're able use crutches. I can't do shit." Strife tells him.
Miriam meanwhile curls up onto Strife's neck and snuggles him a little. Course Death has an idea.
"I have some ointments that can help heal....all that. But I'm not doing it, Miriam, if you'd be so kind. I'm going to get check on breakfast, War let's give them some privacy."
"Why must we?" War inquires.
"Do you really want to our brother naked?"
War immediately shakes his head and follows a snickering Death outside the room. Once it's closed Miriam taps Strife's face to get his attention.
"Yes Sugarplum?"
"Think I could show you that one thing? Since we're alone now, and because it might make things easier." Miriam suggests.
"Yeah go ahead and show me."
Strife then watches as Miriam goes behind the partition again after using the blankets to climb down to the floor. Then after a moment he sees a flash of light and hears her speak again. But her voice sounds a smidge lower now,
"Are you ready?"
"As ready as I can be."
Strife then sees Miriam step out as a nude short woman. With long black hair and quite the 'blessing' for such a small girl. The curves she has aren't that bad either, in fact it's a welcoming sight. Only her eyes remained the same, pure black like a raven's.
"How do I look?"
"I'm glad that one muscle's working." Strife smugly remarks.
Miriam's giggle makes him smile warmly as she walks over to him to get the ointments on. "Guess that means you like it then? I was worried you might not..."
"Miriam, all I need is you."
She gushes and does her best to hold in the squee before finally beginning to get the ointment on him. Being as gentle as possible so that he doesn't feel pain. She hears a few pops and feels them too as things go back into place. Strife groaning and moaning all the while.
Meanwhile Morgen began tossing in her sleep again. She could hear that one voice again, in that ever dark void. Immediately she screams for Death to help her. But is taunted by the being for the effort.
"Why scream for such a man who cannot understand us for what we are? My sweet Ilona."
"Please Death, if you can hear me, help me....please." Morgen continued to beg, ignoring the voice as best she could.
Suddenly she heard a brand new voice, one just as terrifying though, "Let the poor girl rest. She needs it after all. Don't you have anything better to do, other than tormenting children?"
The voice from before answered, "You know as well as I do, this is no mere child."
"What is going on? Please just....no more....Let me go..." Morgen begs the two voices in her fear. One presence tries to pull her away, another however keeps her in place.
"She must stay." The voice spoke up.
The other however explained angrily, "I will not allow her to remain here. Release her now or else."
"Or else what?" The original voice laughed from beyond the haze.
Death is using the crutches to get around, and catches a sudden dizzy spell. Nearly toppling over but catching himself with the strength he's got left in him. He then hears a creepy, grandiose voice speak in his mind, "Prepare yourself for an unexpected trip."
"I'm not exactly in the best condition for...oooh" Death begins to warn him before completely faceplanting on the floor.
He comes to in a darkened plane, one with a swirling blackness that he can't begin to make sense of. He hears the screams of several men, women, and children. Then he hears a familiar voice from within. One that he recognizes above all the rest in that void,
"Please stop.....please...."
"What the? Morgen? Morgen?! Is that you?! Where are you?!" He shouts into the void.
"Death!? Death please help me!" Morgen replied as a sudden light quickly bursts from her chest.
Quickly the light travels forth and finds Death after a moment. Circling him briefly before leading him along. Good thing the Horsemen's mental strength is enough so that he can actually run. Chasing the light down, and hoping it's leading him to Morgen. Luckily he's correct in his assumption, and grabs Morgen once he reaches her. Morgen naturally hugs him in her panic.
"Morgen are you alright, what's going on here?" Death quickly inquires.
"Morgen? Funny name. You're not supposed to be here."
"Neither are you, whatever this place is." Death retorts.
"It's all in my head, that's where we are." Morgen explains whilst shaking.
"Come out and show yourself coward!" Death shouts into the void.
"Coward? I find that hilarious coming from you. Given your fear."
On cue some burning worms begin traveling up Death's body. He tries swiping them off and stomping on them, only for a pile to begin forming. Morgen quickly reaches into the pile after him and searches for his hand. Course the more frantic in her search she gets, the more her light begins shining. Finally it bursts from her entire body, engulfing the worms in a bluish white light, as well as the void around them. Morgen is left dazed after the experience but pulls herself together enough to make her way over to Death. Death's on his knees when feeling Morgen's hand on his shoulder. He glances up to see her looking dazed still and the world around them is now a bluish white void instead. Only a few patches of black remain, like parasites in her head.
"What's going on?" Death asks sighing.
"I truly don't know. Either it's an evolving nightmare, or some unknown tormentor. But this has happened twice now. It horrifying each time I go through this." Morgen informs him whilst sitting down to try and manage her dazed state better.
"Are you alright?" Death implored.
"I'm fine, just dazed." Morgen replies doing her best to stand up, nearly falling down.
Death of course stands up to catch her, "Woah easy there. I have you. You sure you're alright?"
"Yes, I'm only dazed. But thank you regardless. What about you? That looked horrifying." Morgen says to him.
"Little shaken up, that's all. Now, where the hell are we?"
"My head, like I told you before." Morgen replies simply.
"Ok I must've been seriously messed up from that incident."
"Uhm so long as I wake up we should be fine, I think. We just need to find a way to achieve that." Morgen explains a bit unsure.
"Please tell me that there is no ridiculous requirements or tasks to get the hell out of here."
"I'm trying to think of something believe me. Perhaps knock me out here and see what happens? Shove me off a cliff maybe? Falling dreams do wake people up usually." Morgen tells him.
"Are you insane, where are we going to find a cliff here? Secondly why would I even do that?"
"Then let's hear yours then smartass." Morgen retorts.
"Uhm let me think let me think, let me think of something good."
Morgen looks at skeptically before she starts hearing something. Turning around she sees the black spots pulsating. They're silent, then one begins talking and starts to sound eerily familiar.
"Hello little bun oven. When you grow up you're probably gonna be all nice and pretty. Yeah your Papa's pride and joy, and other things maybe, heheh..." Morgen heard Leatherbeard say.
#Darksiders Fandom#Darksiders Fanfics#Darksiders OCs#Darksiders Arthurian Tales Revisited#Death#Strife#War
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THE SUMMERWINE
DISCLAIMER: In light of the recent leaks, and some consequent worry, I decided to reveal one of the clues I found in the books that confirms Jon/Sansa and at the same time PoliticalJon. It is neither the biggest nor the sweetest to me... but it is the first one I found, the one that allowed me to discover all the others, and since it basically does nothing but confirm the theory that we all supported in the past months, plus some recent spoilers, I think I won't ruin anyone's party by revealing it. Now, for those of you who rightfully prefer to watch the new season for confirmations, I'm going to put a wall here, you decide whether to look beyond to see the burning candle…
As we all probably know by now, GRRM loves his symbolism, and that often results in wondering what he is really talking about most of the time, what he’s hinting at, even if the answer is right there in plain sight. I’d say confusion is the main key for GRRM!
That's what happens with the wine and the scenes that involve the wine, by which we learn some important things that I think are no news for many of you. The show made some changes, but remaining in the books, I’m going to tell you briefly.
Starting with the ARBOR GOLD, that we find it’s linked to LIES. We’re informed directly by Littlefinger:
“We shall serve him lies and Arbor gold, and he’ll drink them down and ask for more, I promise you... You see the wonders that can be worked with lies and Arbor gold?” (AFFC - SANSA I)
And thanks to him, Sansa learns it too:
“Lies and Arbor gold, she thought. "I am Alayne, Father. Who else would I be?" .
But the examples are numerous: Baelish serves arbor gold while scheming and lying to his guests; Illyrio offers it to Tyrion while telling him the fake story of fAegon; fAegon says Varys gave a jug to fdeadAegon’s father for the hypothetical switching; Sansa and Tyrion drink it during their unconsummated wedding night; it’s the wine of Ramsey and fArya wedding… and so on.
Then there is the ARBOR RED, which is used to hide poisons and poisonous intentions: Joffrey drinks a poisoned cup before dying, Tyrion uses it to drug Cersei, Maester Cressen tries to kill Melisandre with a poisoned cup of it, only to be the one who ends up dead instead...
There’s still so much more to say, but let’s move on to the precise topic of this post.
The SUMMERWINE
RED. DORNISH. SWEET. SUMMER. WINE.
Don’t you think it’s pretty clear what we’re talking about here just by reading that? But in AGOT King Robert spills the truth, GRRM way, to convince Ned to go to King’s Landing:
Flowers everywhere, the markets bursting with food, the summerwines so cheap and so good that you can get drunk just breathing the air. Everyone is fat and drunk and rich." He laughed and slapped his own ample stomach a thump. "And the girls, Ned!" he exclaimed, his eyes sparkling. "I swear, women lose all modesty in the heat. They swim naked in the river, right beneath the castle. Even in the streets, it's too damn hot for wool or fur, so they go around in these short gowns, silk if they have the silver and cotton if not, but it's all the same when they start sweating and the cloth sticks to their skin, they might as well be naked." The king laughed happily. (AGOT - NED I)
The reference is clear for me: in King’s Landing you can find in every corner the easiest version of LOVE, the kind that you can find in one of the many brothels the city seems to be famous for...
With this important symbolism it’s interesting that in the books we have very few mentions of the SUMMERWINE, and only three times they are significant, all in A GAME OF THRONES: JON I, SANSA II, DAENERYS VI.
In both Jon and Sansa’s chapters the setting is very similar: there’s a feast (Winterfell’s Great Hall for King Robert / in King’s Landing for The Hand’s Tourney), the music of the singers (playing the high harp and reciting a ballad /filling the dusk with music), a knight (Jamie, the Lion of Lannister /Loras, a true knight), an uncle (Benjen /Jaime), a dog (the Hound/Ghost) and a fool (Robb, grinning like a fool /Moon Boy, the king's own fool). Among all these common ingredients, the best part is that Jon and Sansa both get drunk on summerwine for the first time.
“(Joffrey) raised his hand to summon a servant with a flagon of iced summerwine, and poured her a cup... The servants kept the cups filled all night, yet afterward Sansa could not recall ever tasting the wine. She needed no wine. She was drunk on the magic of the night.” (AGOT - SANSA II)
Sansa is drunk on summerwine even if she doesn’t actually drink it, which means that she is only drunk on the promise of the beautiful life in front of her, like probably every sweet romantic child in her position. She’s not in love with Joffrey, she doesn’t know him at this point, she doesn’t know what a monster he is. She is in love with the idea of being in love with the Prince, being betrothed to him, becoming a Queen, of all her dreams of princesses and knights coming true. She is only drunk with the idea of summerwine!
But do you know who is realllllllly drunk in love on summerwine? Jon is!
”He settled back in his place on the bench among the younger squires and drank. The sweet, fruity taste of summerwine filled his mouth and brought a smile to his lips... Down here on the benches, there was no one to stop Jon drinking as much as he had a thirst for. And he was finding that he had a man’s thirst, to the raucous delight of the youths around him, who urged him on every time he drained a glass... Jon had started drinking then, and he had not stopped... He swallowed another gulp of wine... Benjen Stark straddled the bench with long legs and took the wine cup out of Jon’s hand. “Summerwine,” he said after a taste. “Nothing so sweet. How many cups have you had, Jon?” Jon smiled. Ben Stark laughed. “As I feared. Ah, well. I believe I was younger than you the first time I got truly and sincerely drunk.” (AGOT - JON I)
The show, again, hid some important clues by not having Jon attending the feast, but what remains the same is his request to uncle Benjen to go with him to the Wall and so have a chance to be a knightly kind of honourable man (like Lord Royce son Waymar, just to pick someone at random...) even if he’s a bastard.
It’s also useful to point out that in this occasion, we see FOR THE ONE AND ONLY TIME IN ALL THE BOOKS, jealous Jon flourishing:
-“Joffrey, younger than Jon or Robb, but taller than either, to Jon’s VAST DISMAY”;
-“Sansa looked RADIANT as she walked beside him”; “Prince Joffrey had his sister’s hair and his mother’s deep green eyes. A thick tangle of blond curls dripped down past his golden choker and high velvet collar… but Jon did not like Joffrey’s pouty lips“; but what he thinks of Jaime, who looks exactly like the young Prince? He was “tall and golden, with flashing green eyes and a smile that cut like a knife… Jon found it hard to look away from him. This is what a king should look like” (if Joffrey looks like Jamie and Jaime looks like a king, then Joffrey looks like a king too... just saying!)
From other POV we also learn that:
- while there’s a hunt with the king to provide a very wild boar for the feast, “Jon and his wolf were nowhere to be found”; “Jon seemed to be angry at everyone these days.” (BRAN)
- when Jon gives Arya “Needle”, he explicitly tells her: “And whatever you do...” Arya knew what was coming next. They said it together “Don’t... tell... Sansa!”. But talking with Sansa about Prince Joffrey Aria says: “Jon says he looks like a girl”. (ARYA) I think he forgot to tell her to shut up this particular time!
How can I say it simply:
JON HAS ALWAYS HAD FEELINGS FOR HIS SISTER
and that’s it! I know many of you don’t like the idea very much and I really wanted to make a post about it to get everyone on board because in the books there are interesting things on the matter (I still have hope for a flashback of little Jon and little Sansa). I didn’t for lack of time and some specific spoilers... (if you want you can read HERE and HERE where I explain it a tiny bit), but remember that they were children, both in love with the stories of chivalry and heroism, it’s easy to think that sweet little Sansa was his precious jewel to protect, like she probably was for Robb; in the purest way, the same way your older brother is your hero when you’re a baby girl.
But then the “bastard” word came in and everything changed: Jon, already rejected from Catelyn, the only mother he’s ever known, was forced to distance himself from both of them, and probably started to develop not less pure but different feelings, born primarily from an instinct of love and protectiveness that he couldn’t possibly satisfy. That’s when it all became muddled. And, well, he has Targaryen blood in his veins…
But let’s see what happens in DAENERYS VI so I can close this case. I sum up the important part because it is too long:
At the WESTERN market Dany comes across a wine merchant: a small man from Lys (known as LYS THE LOVELY and THE PERFUMED SISTER), slender and handsome, his flaxen hair curled, who has a sweet red from Dorne that sings of plums and cherries and rich dark oak; he says: “A cask, a cup, a swallow? One taste, and you will name your child after me”. “I will try your summerwine,” she says. But then the merchant realizes that she is THE MOTHER OF DRAGONS and responds to her: “That? Dornish swill. It is not worthy of a princess. I have a dry red from the Arbor, crisp and delectable. Please, let me give you a cask …there is no finer drink.” She accepts: “You honor me, ser.” But Jorah stops her and says “I have a thirst” and sniffs the wine, frowning. It turns out that the wine is poisoned because King Robert wants her dead: “No. He cannot have my son.. The Usurper has woken the dragon now” she told herself, and her eyes went to the dragon’s eggs resting in their nest of dark velvet… Was it madness that seized her then, born of fear? Or some strange wisdom buried in her blood? Dany could not have said. She heard her own voice saying, “Ser Jorah, light the brazier.”
Sooooo…..
A SLENDER and HANDSOME man with CURLED HAIR and SMALL of stature,
who comes from THE LOVELY and PERFUMED SISTER
offers Daenerys a swallow of his sweet red Dornish wine, i.e. SUMMERWINE, i.e. LOVE, promising her a child named after him.
But knowing she’s the MOTHER OF DRAGONS
what he really intends to give her is a poisoned ARBOR RED, which comes FROM THE REACH.
She has no reason not to trust the courteous man, she is HONORED that he thinks she deserves his most precious load
So she accepts his offer. But Jorah, who has A THIRST like the man’s thirst Jon had the night of the feast when Sansa looked RADIANT and he was jealous,
senses that something is wrong. He is right. So she goes berserk: “HE WON’T HAVE MY CHILD” (I let you decide if she is symbolically speaking of a baby or a dragon), a MADNESS seizes her… and so she decides it’s time to LIGHT A PIT...
Sounds familiar?
Enjoy the new season guys...
Thanks for listening!
P.S. All the gifs are from GOOGLE
#jonsa#jon x sansa#political jon#jonsa meta#sansa stark#jon snow#asoiaf#my meta#mine#JONSA TALES#NO MORE PANIC#HAPPY SEASON 8
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Frostbitten (Chapter Four)
Previous Part
Y/N L/N is a child of a Jotun and an Asgardian. She spends her life hidden in the dungeons of Asgard, with no one to talk to other than one of the princes- a man who seems completely incapable of leaving her alone and entirely unable to give up on helping her. Y/N and Loki Odinson have always been inseparable, it seems- even when there is a cell wall, or a village, or an entire kingdom between them.
Even when he disappears, even when you run away, and even when his world falls apart; you are inseparable.
Happy 4th, if you live in the U.S.!! I listened to Hamilton twice today and then rewatched 1776, and then finished this, because that’s the only way I know how to celebrate. Sorry this took so long to get out! Also, enjoy this peace while it lasts, because this story isn’t gonna stay happy for long :)
Okay. Alright. This is fine.
The Asgardians will be completely okay in the dungeons. They can fend for themselves, right? There's no point in worrying about them, especially since it has only been moments since their departure, and since there’s no doubt that Odin will find a way to retrieve them very soon. You can worry about that later, you decide, trying to focus on the occurrences at hand.
The two guards at your sides walk you down a large dining hall, fitted with a table that has probably been set for years. A thick layer of dust is settled on the top of the tablecloth and spread along the grey, stone plates. It matches the rest of the castle: abandoned, unkempt, empty. The building seems to lack a soul.
The next hall that the guards lead you down is slightly less the part. It looks swept, at least. Portraits on the walls are crooked and cracked, but clouds of dirt do not rise to meet you every time you take a step, so it’s still, in a way, better. Some doors down this hallway are cracked open, and you can see beds left unmade. Plates of decaying food are left unattended on silver platters, with no hints as to why or to who left them there. At the end of the hallway, a large door to the left of you is the only one left closed. The guards pause at this door, ushering you forward. Since the door was clearly made for much taller beings, the handle is at your shoulder- nearly at your neck, but you wrap both hands around it and pull.
At first, the room is dark and silent, the only traces of light entering from the space behind you. You take a step in, and a small ball of light emits from near the back of the room, stemming from the fingers of a rather young looking Jotun, not much shorter than yourself. His hair, long and a ratty mess, reaches down across his oversized grey robes. He sets the orb of light down, as if it were solid, and ties his hair back, away from his face, before straightening up and truly addressing you.
"Who're you?" He asks quietly, his voice high, but calm. "You're awfully small."
"Loric," groans a second voice after a moment's delay, accompanied by a quiet tossing of sheets. "Stop... Magic... No one is..." the voice trails off, and you squint into the dim light, searching for the owner of the second voice. "Oh, damn. Light it up."
Loric spreads his hands, and light floods the ceiling of the long, musty room, illuminating two columns of "beds," piles of sheets lined up along the stone walls. There are six. Two are empty, four are filled. Two of the children are awake, and the others begin to stir, poking their tiny heads out of the clutters of fabric.
They look like twins, each of them being very young girls. The boy who performed the magic seems slightly older, probably in his early teens, and the one who spoke to you is much taller than you, though, assuming he'll grow to the size of the guards or the king, he's probably years younger. He studies you, flabbergasted, and waves a hand to the space behind you.
"Guards, you are dismissed," he says. The two giants leave their posts, shutting the door behind you.
The two twins, rubbing their eyes, each turn toward you.
"Hi," you say, blinking uncomfortably. Your voice is dry, and a bit weak. "I, hello, I'm Y/N. You're all very tall."
"Y/N," echoes the eldest, shifting in his pile of sheets. "You're quite short for a giant."
"I'm only half-" you start, on instinct, and then quickly cut off. These sons and daughters of Laufey do not need to know that you’re half Asgardian. "I suppose I'll be about half your size. It's a birth defect."
"How was prison?" Asks Loric, staring at you with large red eyes. "That's where you're from, isn't it? You are Laufey's lost child. We were told you’d come."
"You're here to join us?" Asks one of the twins, using a small hand to push her hair out of her face. Beneath the veil of hair is a round, makeshift eyepatch, fashioned from the sole of a shoe and bit of cloth. "There's no room. Where are you to sleep?"
"She'll sleep in one of the other beds, stupid," says the second twin, rolling her eyes. "They're plenty empty. She'll sleep next to you, even."
"That's where Elora sleeps!" The first twin shoots back. "We're not kicking her out!"
"Elora isn't here!"
"Quiet, you two," the eldest interrupts. The twins shut up very quickly, staring away from each other. "Y/N, we'll get you new bedding. You'll not want to use any of these."
You look at the crumpled piles along the walls and don't make a move to disagree. "Thank you, ah..."
"Vaire," he finishes. He is studying your face, appearing troubled. "And that's Loric, and the twins are named Kolla and Arna. The one with the eyepatch is Kolla."
Kolla smiles at the sound of her name, staring attentively at a spot on the wall. Arna waves at you in greeting, but her eyes are on her sister, gazing with a certain kind of restrained grief. Each of them has long, straight hair and pale blue skin- contrasted from the darker shades in Vaire's and Loric's skin. Now that you think about it, other than the twins, they don't look much alike at all. They look more distantly related. Like cousins.
Or, you think, like step-siblings. Same father, different mothers.
"Well," you look over the four, "I'm, are there others? The other beds, are they normally.." you trail off when you notice everyone's eyes suddenly avoiding you, deciding that you may not want to know the answers to your questions. "I, it's nice to meet you."
"Likewise," says Loric, faintly.
"I pity you if you thought this would be any better than where you were on Asgard," says Vaire, absentmindedly running a thumb under his jaw, which is over pronounced, sharp from malnourishment. "Though, it may get better for you sometime soon, since you've singlehandedly managed to steal the throne."
There it is. There’s the bad side.
"I, sorry if I did, but I didn't mean to steal anything." You sigh, looking away from the people who you're pretending to be related to. "Besides, look at me. Do you think Laufey is going to let me anywhere near the throne? I look like a splinter in an armory. I'm completely unintimidating."
"Do not mistake my words for contempt," Vaire says quickly, putting his hands in the air in surrender. He seems genuine, immediately regretful. "I didn't mean that in a bad sense- I'm actually quite glad I'm not the heir. I have no interest in the throne."
"Vaire wanted to give it up to me," Loric says, lacing his fingers together. "He thinks I'll be a very powerful ruler. But Laufey forbids it. He says that I'm a wizard, not a king."
Boy. Where have I heard that before.
"That doesn't make any sense," you comment. Vaire nods solemnly.
"Nothing does.” He looks at Kolla, who is mumbling to herself and staring at the bed next to her, then looks at Loric, who hugs his legs to his chest, staring right back at him. You'll get used to it."
You grow quiet. The room goes stale, reduced to shuffles and breathing. Then Loric lets out a loud, semi-annoyed sigh, and he stands up.
"You want to see your friends," he says, to your immediate surprise. "Don't be so shocked. I can see it written on your face!"
"To be perfectly honest, I guessed too," says Vaire, clearly grateful for a change in subject. "But I didn't think they were your friends. I figured you'd want to bid farewell."
You blink. "I, one of them is a friend. The others are allies. I don't intend to let them die."
"Won't they starve?" Arna asks, head tilted curiously. "Are they nice?"
"No," you say plainly. “Most of them are actually quite awful. But they're innocent, and one of them..." you bite your lip. "One of them is quite important to me."
"Oh? Do explain." Vaire grins, narrowing his eyes. "I do love a good romance story, and we haven’t many of them in the library."
You flush, cheeks warming, and stare at the ground. "No, no. It's not, we're, no, he's just the one who kept me company while I was in prison."
"A guard?" Arna suggests.
"No, he was.." your blush deepens, creeping down your neck. You probably look just as ridiculous as you sound. "...he was a prince."
"Thor!?" Kolla is suddenly snapped from her gaze, staring with one big eye. Then she turns her gaze to the empty pile of blankets beside her, lowering her voice. "Did you hear that, Ellie? She's courting Thor!"
"No!" You say quickly, sounding quite a bit disgusted. "No, gods no. It's his brother."
"Thor has a brother?" Loric asks.
"Oh, I've heard of him. Prince Loki, I believe. God of Mischief and Lies," speaks Vaire, thinking deeply.
You nod, but halfway through the motion, you stop, frowning. "I've never heard of him by that name. But yes. Loki."
Loric begins to grin along with his brother, walking toward you and stopping just a couple steps away. "And you're in love with him?"
"No!"
"Are you sure?"
"...Yes."
"Does he love you?"
"No."
"That sounded disappointed."
"I'm not!"
"Is he?"
"Is he what?"
"Is he disappointed in the lack of amorous air between you?"
You roll your eyes. "I'll have to ask him next time I'm in the dungeons."
Loric nods thoughtfully, then all the light from the ceiling drops to the floor and flies into his hands. "Alright. Let's go! Vaire, we'll be back soon."
Vaire seems unfazed. He waves at you, then disappears back into his blankets. "Bring back food."
"Of course."
You blink. “What?”
“We’re going to the dungeons!” Loric exclaims, grabbing your wrist, which immediately freaks you out considering that you haven’t directly been touched in a very long time. You somehow manage not to rip your hand away.
“Won’t you get in trouble? I’ve only just met you- you don’t have to-”
“Oh, Loric is excellent at not getting into trouble. Don’t you worry,” mutters Arvid, speaking through a yawn, and not a second later you're being dragged down the hallway, Loric's fingers holding tightly around your wrist as he flies past oblivious guards and open doors. He slows down for a moment in the dining hall, pulling you off into a small side room and grabbing a stale loaf of bread off of one of the shelves.
He snaps the loaf in half and hands one half to you, eyes sparkling with mischief. "Half for us, half for your... Allies."
You take the bread and hold it tenderly, smiling at the eagerness of the young child. Maybe it's his generosity, or his magic, or his name- but he reminds you distinctly of Loki.
"They've only been in the dungeons for about twenty seconds, but thank you," you say as he grabs your wrist once again. “Are all of you this nice? On Asgard we have a very specifically awful image of Jotuns.”
"There are plenty of good ones here, just not many in the palace," he returns. "Oh, and in case you haven't realized, I'm making us invisible. I’ll let go when we're in the dark."
"Alright."
He starts off again, heading toward the entrance hall and then pulling you down a dark staircase, so dim you have to squint to make sure you don't hit the guards standing by the walls. When you reach the cells, Loric doesn't immediately let go. Instead, he leans over to you, whispering.
"I think your friends are special prisoners. They won't be close to the front."
"Oh?" You frown. "Where will they be?"
"Near the back, probably, where it's hardest to escape," says Sif, her voice popping up very suddenly from behind you. You spin around, only to find that she's hidden behind a thick, metal door- the only access to the outside world is from a small window at the top. Even that is barred off. "Though, for some reason, they presume I'm not special enough. They'll regret that, eventually."
When he hears no guards, Loric releases your wrist, conjuring a small ball of light. You move to the door and grip the bars, trying to see through to her. "The Odinsons are further down?"
"Loki controlled you," she says, dodging the question. "Are you here to get revenge?" Sif is at the back of her cell, but when she sees you she begins to move forward, arms crossed defiantly. "He's a magician, might I remind you."
"You're being extraordinarily annoying," you comment in retaliation, backing a step away from the bars and ripping off a chunk of the bread. "And Loki wasn't controlling me. I was telling the truth. You three are innocent."
"Oh?" She cocks an eyebrow, stepping to the front. Her eyes fall to the bread, then to Loric. "And who's this?"
"Loric Laufeyson," Loric says, smiling gently. He seems unfazed by her attitude. "You've lovely eyes, miss."
You stare daggers at Sif the minute he says his name. Don't blow my cover, you scream at her, mentally. Then we'll both die.
She stares at him for a moment, confused, and then looks back to you. Realization starts to dawn on her face. Slowly, but surely, you see her resolve to hate you flicker away. There's almost guilt in her expression. Almost. "You're serious?"
You nod. "I'm serious. You're hungry?"
She looks ready to reject the offer, but swallows her pride, sighing. "I didn't exactly eat breakfast."
You hold the bread through the bars. It's surprisingly unfrozen, and she takes it.
"I don't trust you," she says, inspecting the bread. "But I don't think you're so much evil, just stupid."
"Thanks." You smile sarcastically, backing up from the bars. "I'll let you know if the Allfather drops out of the sky to retrieve you."
She pauses, and then looks down, shaking her head. "If all goes well, that will be soon."
You leave her behind with that, not offering a response. Loric leads you away, father back into the prison. He's smiling.
"I like her," he says. "She seems very fierce."
"Stubborn, more like. I hear she's excellent on the field, though."
"Is she your guide?"
You shake your head. "We.." you pause, realizing that you probably can't tell him about Arvid. "..Jotunheim Is small. We figured that no guide was needed."
He nods, contemplating this until you reach your next destination.
It's not an energy barrier, thank the gods, and the only thing that separates this cell from Sif's is that through the bars on the door you can see Thor has his hands in cuffs chained to the wall. He seems to have a few feet of walking space, but that's all.
"Oh, it's you," he grunts, eyes following you from the back of his cell. "You know, you're lucky the other prisoners are asleep. They'd rip you to pieces if they saw you visiting us."
You stare. "Thor, I realize you don’t like me much, but I'm trying to help."
Loric frowns. "Is this the man you love?"
"No, this is Thor. He's awful. Also, I don't love Loki either."
Thor looks alarmed. "You love my brother?"
"You know what?" You tear a piece off of the bread, throw it, and watch as it hits him square in the face. "Take the bread. I'll talk to you tomorrow, if you’re still here by then."
He says something else, but you're already walking away before you have time to hear it. Loric chuckles at your change in stature, following you toward the back of the room and pointing you to a hallway to your left. "You don't like him," he comments, smiling. "Why not?"
"With the Odinsons, you just have to like one and hate the other."
"You picked Loki?"
"I'd hope so," joins a third voice from farther down the hall, warm and familiar. Both you and Loric turn toward the cell which holds the voice, and through Loric’s light, your eyes lock with beautiful blue. "Y/N is practically the only thing my brother can't take from me."
You step up to the foot of his cell. The bars are full length in his cell- ceiling to the floor instead of solid walls. The door is the same as the others. "I chose you because you’re not arrogant and insufferable. Don’t change my mind by whining.”
“Wow, so bold now that we’ve switched positions.” He grins, and bows swiftly, keeping eye-contact the whole time. "As you wish, your majesty."
"Should I leave you two alone a moment?" Asks Loric's tiny voice, laced with mischevious intent. "It'll be dark, but I doubt you need light to speak."
"Oh, Loric, there's no need-"
The light goes out. It grows silent, and then Loki begins to laugh.
"I like him," he says, quieting his voice.
“That’s Loric Laufeyson,” you mutter, laughing gently along with him. “I like him too.”
"How have you been? It's been quite a while. Maybe a bit too long."
"Maybe?” You chuckle. “I'd slap you if I wasn't sure I'd freeze your nose off, but I'm pretty sure there was no way for you to visit, so I'll let it slide."
"I would have visited if I could, I promise. It nearly killed me to be away for so long."
You scoff, but smile through the darkness. "Drama queen. You were fine."
"No, really, I didn't realize how much of my life..." he trails off, then laughs lightly. You hear him shuffle a bit. "Everyone else is either insanely secretive and deceptive, or arrogant and shameless. Since Thor got this assignment from father, he's been an absolute nuisance."
"More than usual?"
"More than usual,” he agrees. “Thor may be a bit arrogant, but he's also very easy to love. He's like a, well, like a horse- simple, easy to operate, kindhearted, loyal-"
"But a complete idiot?"
"Not necessarily, it's just that... He's a bit slow sometimes."
You snort, feeling for the bars and leaning against them, taking some of the weight off your legs. "We'll have something in common. It's been ten years and I still can't control whether or not I take someone's hand off."
"Oh, Hogun will be alright. He was being an imbecile." There's a soft, outward sigh, and you feel his shoulder brush yours as he leans on the other side of the bars. "You weren't level-headed. You controlled it fine when..."
"When you were there," you finish with a sigh. "Everything is always horrible when you're gone. If you ever leave again I might have to come find you."
"I'd be more worried about yourself." You feel a gentle brush of skin on the hand you have resting against the bars, and quickly pull your fingers away. Loki immediately expresses concern. "What's wrong?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Loki. You can't touch me."
"Because you don't want me to, or because you're afraid it will hurt me?"
"It will hurt you."
"You won't."
"I can't control that."
His voice gets closer. "Y/N, you could cut off my legs in my sleep and I'd still adore you. If you give me frostbite, I'll heal it and forget this ever happened, but I doubt I'll ever need to."
You hesitate, the word adore lingering in the air. "I.. Loki, I would never forgive myself. You'd do the same for me."
"This isn't about me. This is about you. If there were no consequences-" he breaks off. When he speaks next, he sounds amused. "Fine. Coward."
"Loki, don't-!"
His skin meets yours with a sudden shock, so sudden that your hand jolts upward. He grips your hand gently, steadying you as you screw your eyes shut, trying to calm down and control the ice. His fingers slip delicately around yours, and your hand is lifted upward until the soft skin of his lips hits your knuckles. The contact is short, but it carries a lifetime of meaning.
"See, was that so bad?" His voice rings, and you can almost hear him smirk as your hands, shaking, wrap around his.
"You're going to kill me one day," you said, voice shaking, your heart beating at an alarming rate. "By the nine, Loki-"
"Hush, it's alright. We're alright." He takes your hands, one in each of his, and places them on the sides of his face, as if to confirm this fact. “You’re not even cold.”
You soak in the feeling of his skin, breath evening out. You take a moment to touch him, thumbs brushing under his eyes and fingers wrapping around his jaw. He mirrors you, gently taking your face in his hands and holding you, so close that you can feel his breath on your face. You can hear your heart thrumming in your ears. You can feel the light, weightless, tingling feeling spreading into your limbs. You feel the thrum of his pulse against your fingers, and... Is it? Yes, it's surely faster than usual. You wonder if he can feel your pulse as well or if his fingers have grown numb atop your skin.
When you don’t even think it’s possible to get closer to him, there is a brief, soft brush of lips. The shadow of a kiss. Intoxicating and unfinished, leaving you to revel in silent, confusing longing. After a moment of deep breathing and heavy silence, Loki plants a kiss on the corner of your mouth, chuckling softly. "Getting a bit close, are we?"
"A bit," you whisper in soft response, not sure what to call the feelings awakening inside you. "Is this what it always feels like?"
"What what feels like, dear?"
"Well, you know.. Touch." Your fingers brush for a final time over his face, pausing on his cheekbones. Under your fingers, you swear there are small ridges on his skin. Raised places, forming delicate lines down his face. "Does... Is there always...this?"
There's a silence, your hands still on each others' skin, and Loki plants a second kiss on the top of your head. "No," he whispers, so faintly you nearly don't hear. Then his hands leave your skin, and he takes a step back. "You should probably go find your brother."
"He's not my brother," you remind him. Your hands slowly, shakily leave his skin. "But yes, I suppose so. He's quite a dear. I'd not want to get him in trouble."
"I'll be waiting for you," he says. His voice is fainter, lower. "Try not to forget me while you’re living in the lap of luxury."
“Don’t count on it,” you murmur, throwing the last chunk of bread at his face and quickly exiting the premises, heart still rushing.
Frostbitten Tags:
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