#a little longer than I had hoped so sorry about that

[satxnsupreme666]

Risk this heart of mine: Agatha Harkness x fem!reader x Rio Vidal

Masterlist

Requested by: @midnight-lestrange

Summary:  You are Agatha´s girlfriend, and you have been with her for over 10 years, you are also the one who freed Agatha from Wanda´s spell after almost three years, Agatha decided to stay in Westview to work on regaining her magic, but what happens when a teenager breaks into your house looking for Agatha, asking her to take him to the witches´ road, Agatha fearing for your safety and caring about you, is not sure if she wants to go and take you as well to the witches´ road, but as always you managed to convince her to do what you wanted.

You have been feeling sick for the past few weeks, making Agatha feel worried sick about you for not knowing what is going on with you, what you didn´t know, was that you were pregnant with Agatha´s child, and none of you knew about this, until Rio arrives and is the first one to notice this about you.

Rio who has been visiting you for the past years only leaving flowers to you never staying to talk visits Agatha again, and instead of talking thing out, they fight as always, but this time Rio decided to come fight with Agatha because she thought the blue-eyed witch had let you go, after knowing you were still with her and realizing you were pregnant, Rio, who cannot tell you nor Agatha the reason as to why you have been feeling sick over the past weeks, decides to go with you to the witches´ road, to try and keep you safe from whatever the road would make them face.

What happens when the truth is revealed to Agatha? How is Agatha going to react knowing that her girlfriend is pregnant and on the witches´ road?

Warnings: Angst, unknown pregnancy, angst, I think that´s it.

Word count: 29k+

Author’s notes: Hello, so, this was requested a while ago by the amazing mind of the creative @midnight-lestrange, I have always loved her requests because she has such an amazing imagination and writing her requests is always a joy, thank you for requesting, by the way I always have loved your amazing ideas! Sorry that this took me too long to finish, you know I had some bad days, things happened, then I got a temporary job just to keep my mind busy, and now I finally was able to finish writing this, also, I am sorry that my stories keep getting longer, I will try to write a little bit less next time, also I decided to add a small prompt someone sent regarding Agatha putting some of her own cologne on reader´s neck because I thought it would be a nice addition to this story as well.

In this story Rio is in love with reader and Agath knows it, since Rio is the only one who is aware of you being pregnant, she worries a lot for you.

Another thing I want to say about this story is, that in this one, the road will be real and not something Billy created.

I hope all of you enjoy this!

Taglist: @italianaidiota @midnight-lestrange @eliscannotdance

Agatha had been taking a shower when you heard the noises coming from the other room, and confused, you went to see what was going on, opening slowly the door of the room and turning the lights on, you saw a surprised teen with half of his body in the room trying to get unstuck.

“Do you need help?” You had asked him with a chuckle and the boy in front of you just stayed there completely frozen not knowing what to do or say.

You couldn’t help but laugh and seeing that the boy in front of you was not going to move or do something else, you walked slowly towards him, and stretched your hand out for him to take, he looked at your hand and then at your face, unsure of what to do but you gave him a soft smile and he slowly started to stretch his hand out to take yours.

You helped him to get him inside the room and he started to look around the place nervously, after some seconds of you analyzing him and seeing that he didn’t seem to be more than 16 years old or even less he uncovered his face and he gave you an awkward smile.

“I am sorry, I thought someone else lived here” His voice was timid as if he was ashamed and you got curious for whom he had been looking for.

“Who did you think lived here?” You asked him gently and pointed at a chair so he could sit there, he sat in the char and you sat as well in front of him in the single bed to look at him properly.

“I was told Agatha Harkness lived here” He said without taking his eyes off the floor, and you raised your eyebrow.

What did this boy want from Agatha, your girlfriend? You didn’t want to scare him off so you started to think properly how to ask the next questions.

“Agatha Harkness? One of the most powerful witches? Why are you looking for her?” You asked him in a soft voice trying to get as much information as you could before making sure how you had to act.

“I know it may seem as something dumb, and many people say it doesn’t even exist to where I need her to take me to, but I really was waiting for her to be here, someone told me she was under some kind of spell and I came here to break that spell, I really need her help” Interesting, you thought, and if you were right, he seemed to be talking about the witches’ road, the teen didn’t seem to be a threat and he sounded sincere, you would have sensed if he had been threat, but this boy didn’t seem to actual want to harm you or her.

“So, you needed a personal object from hers to break the spell, right?” You asked him and he lifted his head hastily to look at you with his mouth open in surprise.

“I know the spell, it is sweet that you want to break her spell, but you’re about six months late” The dark-haired boy frowned and you laughed.

“You are lucky I was the one who caught you, Agatha would have tied you first and then ask the questions” He opened his eyes widely and you laughed again.

“You are funny, maybe I can convince Agatha to keep you, she is taking a shower, do you want to go to the kitchen? I can offer you tea, coffee” You stopped talking to think a little bit more of what you could offer him.

“We also have water if you prefer” You remembered the way hours ago he had walked with you to the kitchen and shyly took the cup of tea you were offering to him, he seemed to be curious and to you it seemed he also had a lot of questions so you decided to encourage him to ask you whatever was on his mind.

“I know you have a lot of question so, now it’s your opportunity to make them” You smiled at him to show him you were sincere, he took a sip of the tea and then put it back on the plate.

He cleared his throat and prepared himself mentally to ask every question he had.

“How do you know Agatha Harkness? How is she not under Wanda Maximoff’s spell? Why are you here on her house?” He asked everything so fast you had to make sure not to forget his questions.

“I have known her for many years now, I released her from the spell she was under and I live here with her” You squinted your eyes and laughed slightly, you heard the steps coming to the kitchen and smiled, Agatha had already finished her shower.

“Honey, where are you?” Agatha asked out loud and entered the kitchen, she already had the purple pajamas you had given to her on, and had a hand in her hair, brushing it to the side, her still slightly wet hair, she was too focused on trying to get her hair in place that she didn’t notice the teen sitting on the other side of the table, his expression completely priceless.

Agatha came to you and pressed her hand in your waist, hugging you she left a soft kiss on your forehead.

“I thought you were already in bed doll” She commented while she pulled you closer to her, you happily rested your head on her chest while she caressed your waist lovingly.

The teen had his mouth open, out of all the things he could have thought and waited, this was not what he was waiting for.

“We have a guest” You said to her and lifted your face to look at her, she froze for a second and then after making sure her hair was completely in place she hastily turned to look where you were looking.

She saw the awkward teen sitting on the chair, sipping his tea for too long, and she squinted her eyes, the teen nervously started to shake a little, and then Agatha looked at you again with a smile on her face.

“Do you want some tea? I can prepare it for you” You said and started to stand up, but Agatha gently placed her hand on your shoulder to stop you from standing completely.

“It’s fine doll, you can finish your tea I will make mine alright?” You nodded and Agatha leant to kiss your lips, she started to deepen the kiss and playfully you pushed her away, not wanting for the kid to witness the scene, Agatha winked at you and walked towards the stove to pour herself some tea.

“So, who is this teenager, who seems to have arrived at…” She quickly turned her face to look at the clock on the wall, it read 10:45 and then looked at the teen to shook her head, disapprovingly.

“At 10:45, shouldn’t you be in bed by now?” Agatha asked raising her eyebrow and still shaking her head, trying to make the teen feel guilty for appearing at this hour.

“I am sorry, I thought you were, I mean, I thought no one else was here, I thought no one could caught me if I entered through the window…“ The teen started to stutter and you closed your eyes, you knew Agatha would get angry at his last sentence.

He kept talking saying he didn´t want to intrude and that he really wasn´t thinking properly, but the way Agatha stopped doing what she was doing with the cup, and placed it slowly on the counter, showing that Agatha was analyzing what he was saying, your girlfriend slowly turned herself around and walked idly until she was next to the talking teenager, you saw the way he slowly backed his body up, or at least he tried since he was still sitting, he was about to say something else, when out of nowhere Agatha kicked the teen out of the chair you quickly stood up to see if he had hurt himself but he seemed fine, so you decided to sit back and let Agatha handle the situation, and smile a little.

“Oh my god, what was that for?” The teen asked out loud grabbing his shoulder and Agatha rolled her eyes, she moved the chair out of the way, and kneeled down to grab the teen by his shirt.

“You broke into my house! And you are expecting to be received with open arms and gentleness?” The teen frowned and stuttered because he didn´t know what to do or say.

Agatha was still tense, because even if she knew you also had powers and you were able to protect yourself if something happened, she still feared that someone could actually hurt you and she would not be able to do something, someone entered to your house and she was not even able to sense it like before! So, of course she felt scared and angry for not having her powers and being able to protect you.

“I- I already said I´m sorry, and I was not going to hurt you, I didn´t even know there was someone else living here! I wanted to release you from the spell you supposedly were under!” Agatha furrowed her eyebrows again and looked at him straight into his eyes, trying to see if he was lying but she did not find any type of deception in his voice, he sounded sincere but decided to have an eye on him, she pursed her lips and released him from her grip.

“How did you know I was here? And how did you know I was under a spell, but most important, why were you looking for me?” Agatha sounded serious, and you decided not to interrupt her, you wanted for her to handle this the way she knew, so you only stayed the in the chair, sipping your tea and listening to the two of them talk.

“I did my research, a man told me about you, about the Wanda Maximoff incident, he told me that it was told you were under a spell, I swear I don´t know how he knew about it, and I was looking for you because I want to go to the witches´ road” You stopped drinking your tea at the mention of the witches´ road, it was just a myth right?

“The road doesn’t exist” Agatha said to him, and finally, stood up to get her cup of tea, after she prepared her tea, she went to sit next to you, she pulled the chair next to yours and placed it closer to you, you gave her a smile, when Agatha saw you were smiling at her she felt herself relaxing a little.

“You and I need to talk doll” She said gently almost whispering and you nodded, she may had been smiling but you still could see the worry in her eyes, she took the sit next to yours and you leaned into her body, resting your heat against her shoulder.

“You can sit down again, you know?” You said with a smile, loud enough for the teenager to hear who was still on the floor, some noises were heard and the teen slowly rose from the floor to sit back on the chair.

“What’s your name?” Agatha asked again after a couple of minutes of silence but what surprised her was that she was not able to hear what he had said and a symbol appeared over his mouth.

Agatha turned to look at you, realizing you were to looking at your almost empty cup and noticing you hadn´t seen the symbol appearing on the teenager´s mouth, you hadn´t seen what happened, but there was no doubt that the boy had a sigil on him.

“Interesting” Your girlfriend commented while eyeing the boy in front of you, she had so many questions but decided not to ask anything.

“We can keep talking in the morning, we have a spare room-“ You were going to offer him to stay in the other room but Agatha interrupted you and talked directly to the teen.

“You are sleeping on the floor” Chuckling slightly you looked back at Agatha who was drinking from her tea slowly and nonchalantly, rolling your eyes playfully at her you went to look back at the dark-haired boy who had his eyes wide open and you shook your head, you mouthed to him a quiet “Don´t worry” and he visibly relaxed.

The three of you just stayed there not saying anything else and waited until all of you finished your respective cups of tea, after that, you made sure to take the teenager back to the  bedroom where he had first entered through the window, Agatha kept saying he had to sleep on the floor and use his own jacket to cover himself but you only laughed at Agatha’s comments, you told her not to worry and kissed her after you told her she could go back to your shared bedroom to get ready for bed and to wait there for you, she nodded and pressed her hands on your waist to give you a quick hug before walking towards your bedroom, you entered to the room in which the boy would be staying the night and you found him standing in the middle of the room looking awkwardly at the ceiling.

“I told you, you were lucky I was the one who found you when you were trying to break in” He tried to laugh but the sound that came from him was more of a whine.

“You can sleep in that bed, and use the same covers, this room has never been used and everything is clean so you don’t have to worry, alright?” He nodded slowly and you looked back at him, he seemed familiar but you were not sure why.

“So, you’re a witch too, right?” The boy asked you suddenly and you nodded, he seemed to think deeply and you just shrugged your shoulders, you needed to go back to Agatha to talk to her about what had happened and what you would do.

“I’ll let you rest, please, don’t try something dumb, Agatha will notice and I’m afraid I will not interfere, alright?” He nodded quickly and you left the room, laughing a little.

Opening the door of your bedroom you saw Agatha standing in the middle of the room, she had her hand on her face and seemed to be deep in thought, not wanting to interrupt her thoughts you decided to go and sit on your bed, after a couple of minutes of watching her making faces and brushing her hair, she finally looked at you and smiled at you.

“So, are we going to take him to the witches’ road?” You were really curious, there were many stories that said the road was real but there were also a lot of stories that said the road was a lie, Agatha had never actually told you anything related to the witches’ road and you had never asked, so you were really curious about it.

Agatha visibly tensed, the way she suddenly straightened herself and pursed her lips showed you she was not sure, you just kept looking at her with a curious expression and Agatha suddenly knelt in front of you, putting her hands on your knees and brushing them gently.

“The road is a death wish” Her baby blue eyes stared right into your eyes, her expression completely serious, it was strange to see her this serious.

“So, it’s real?” You placed your hand on one of her hands that was brushing your knee and started to caress the back of her hand, Agatha nodded and tried to smile.

“It is, but just a few have been able to get to the end, many witches died on the road” If it was true, then it was true that at the end the ones that finished it got what they wanted right?

“You can get your powers back” She realized where this conversation was going and decided to stop you right there.

“No, the road is dangerous, too cruel, too harsh, it is never known what awaits in the road, we are not going, I-“ She stopped for a moment taking a  deep breath before speaking again.

“I don’t want anything to happen to you, just look at what happened tonight! I didn’t sense someone had broken in, what if it had been someone worse! Someone who could’ve wanted to hurt me? I wouldn’t even have been able to protect you” Agatha felt useless, without her magic she was not able to make sure you were safe, her worst fear was losing you, and she hated the fact that being powerless meant not being able to keep you safe, you saw the way she was so tense and you didn´t want to make her feel more worried, so you decided to leave the talk for tomorrow, right now you just wanted to lay down with Agatha and let her hold you, you still would have the chance to talk about the road with her, so you decided not to mention again the road for tonight.

｡ ˚ ︶︶✩︶︶ ₊ ˚ ︶︶✩

“What was that?” The teen asked you suddenly when you heard a loud crash on the first floor of the house, you quickly got up from the chair, out of the bedroom and headed downstairs to look where the sound had come from.

And what you saw surprised you, there was another woman pressing Agatha against the wall, you were about to use your powers to push away the woman who was covered completely in black, but something about her seemed familiar, and as you sensed no threat you decided not to use your magic and try to talk things out.

You had started to walk slowly towards them and the laugh that came from the taller woman made you remember who she was.

Agatha hadn’t tell you completely what had happened exactly between Rio and her, and you never tried to push her into telling you everything, but the first time you had met her had been years ago and it had been in a very similar situation as this one, they had been fighting until you arrived to stop them from hurting the other.

You panicked when you saw the knife in Agatha’s throat but you tried to keep calm, trying to think of how to approach them, in order not to make things worse.

“Hey, I don’t know what’s going on, but can you please put the knife down?” You asked out lout while walking slowly towards the two of them with your hands in the air in order to show the woman in black that you meant no threat, you tried to keep your voice steady, but it was hard seeing a trickle of blood in Agatha’s chest.

The two women hastily turned their heads to look at you, Agatha felt a wave of fear taking over her whole body, afraid that her former lover could do something to you to get back at her, so the next thing she did was done out of pure impulse.

Agatha grabbed the other woman by her neck with her left hand and with the right one she grabbed the hand that was holding the knife to put it as far as she could, up in the air, the brown-eyed woman grabbed Agatha’s neck, which left the two of them in the same position, grabbing the other’s neck and with two hands up in the air.

“Can we please take a moment to breathe and stop wanting to hurt each other?” You asked them slowly and made sure you were only a few centimeters away from them.

Agatha and the brown-eyed woman looked at you and then, slowly, they looked at each other, straight in their eyes.

They stayed like that four a couple of minutes, Agatha chuckling from time to time with disdain and sometimes rolling her eyes, the other woman laughed softly and tended to squint her eyes a little, it was as if they were having a conversation inside their minds, as if they were communicating telepathically and you tilted your head to the side, watching them carefully, after some more minutes of what it seemed that they were discussing things in their minds, they finally nodded at the same time, carefully loosening the grasp they had on the other.

Agatha started to brush some strands of hair to the side to make sure they were not on her face and licked her lips a little after turning herself to face you, the brown-eyed woman cleared her throat and started to move her head to the side a few times until it cracked a little, she sighed in relief and turned herself around to face you as well.

“Can I trust you not to try to hurt each other?” You asked them with a soft tone in your voice while raising an eyebrow.

The two of them started to look around the place, looking at the wall, the ceiling, Agatha flipped her hair a little, and brought her hand to her face to scratch her jaw slightly, while the brown-eyed woman flipped her knife in her hand a few times, and the two of them answered at the same time.

“Yeah, whatever” Agatha replied before pursing her lips not wanting to look at you.

“Sure” The brown-eyed woman replied while she took her knife back into a small pocket that she had on her waist, then she lifted her hands up in the air to show you she was not holding anything else in her hands.

“Thank you, now, can you tell me what’s going on and why everything here is completely destroyed?”  You asked them and walked towards the living room in which everything was all over the place.

Everything was upside down, you could only shook your head in disappointment, sighing you walked towards the small broken pot that had dirt and a small yellow flower with almost no petals, taking it carefully in your hands with some dirt you made sure to bring the flower to its original state, after some seconds of pressing your hand over the dying flower it finally came back with its bright color.

“Next time you want to fight, make sure to do it outside, please” Carefully you took the broken pot and in only some seconds using your powers the pot was good as new and you placed the small flower inside of it putting in back near the window.

“Sorry” The two women said at the same time causing to look at each other and they proceeded to roll their eyes.

“I thought you had already sorted things out last time this happened” Rio couldn’t stand the way your voice sounded so disappointed and Agatha felt a little bit ashamed, she hadn’t been waiting for something like this to happen, and of course she had not been waiting for her former lover to appear.

You kneeled on the floor to take a small flower that was completely crushed by pieces of glass and you couldn’t help but feel suddenly so sad, you were not sure why, but suddenly the wave of sadness took over you, the flower on the floor completely dead and crushed by the heavier material on it, it made you want to cry, you tried to take the flowers in your hands and due to now doing it carefully a sharp piece cut your skin making you hiss in pain, you stood up so abruptly that when you turned around to face the two women again, you felt suddenly dizzy, and unconsciously tried to hold onto something.

Agatha and Rio quickly noticed the way your body had suddenly reacted and without thinking too much, the two of them walked quickly closer to you, to make sure you were not going to fall.

Rio quickly took your right hand which had been the one who had the cut made by the sharp glass and with her other hand she made sure to grab you by your lower back, in a way to help you become steady.

Rio quickly started to examine your wound, taking closer your wounded and bleeding hand to her eyes, making sure you didn’t have any more pieces of glass inside.

Agatha was quick to place both of her hands in your waist and her grip became stronger to help you balance yourself, she did not even mind that also Rio had gotten closer to you to make sure you were fine, the blue-eyed witch was not going to comment anything about it, but it was sweet that Rio had gotten just as worried as she got, she did not understand why the sudden paleness and the dizziness as well as the sickness you had been feeling for the past weeks, she would have loved to help you to make sure what was going on with you, but without her powers, she was not even able to help you with that.

After a couple seconds when Rio made sure you did not have anything else in your hand such as another small piece of glass she carefully caressed the back of your hand, her soft touch made your heart skip a beat, you remembered getting to have such long talks when she first had come looking for Agatha, thinking the blue-eyed was on her own, but just as it happened the night before that the teen had thought the same, she was surprised to be face to face with you, the way Rio had always been so careful around you, making sure not to annoy you nor to make you uncomfortable, if you were near Agatha and Rio it was sure they would at least try not to fight or hurt each other, Rio´s sad eyes always made your heart ache, you had wanted to help the two of them to talk as well, you were not sure what had happened centuries ago, since Agatha always avoid the topic, never wanting to get into details, the only thing you knew was that many, many centuries ago, the two of them had shared their lives, they had loved each other, and you were sure, the love for each other was still there, the way they tended to look at each other when they thought the other was not looking, you were not dumb, and the first time Rio had been around you, you noticed so many different things about the two of them that they didn´t realized you observed them, Rio always had that sad look in her eyes, it hurt you to see her that way, even if she was a cosmic being, Death herself, you couldn´t fathom what was the cause of her sadness, but one thing you were sure, was that Agatha was the cause of that sadness Rio was carrying with her.

Agatha had mastered the craft of hiding her feelings, what she truly was feeling when it came to cases like this, she didn´t like to be seem as vulnerable by other people, it was different with you, with you she left her strong façade behind, she showed you the real her, her real feelings, she didn´t care if you saw her sad, scared or even angry, with you everything felt good, she felt safe showing her emotions, she trusted in you the same way you trusted in her, but when it came to Rio and what had happened, she always avoided the subject, quickly changing the conversation to something else, and you didn´t want to push things, you didn´t want her to feel pressure, so you never insisted more, but you could see the grief her eyes reflected whenever her and Rio´s past was touched, only knowing the more superficial things about them, but never getting to know the actual deepness and full story they shared, so, even if you had wanted them to talk and sort things out, and help them to get to talk, you knew it was not going to be possible, if neither of them actually talked about what had happened whey they fought, there was no way they were going to let you know.

During the past years you had been with Agatha, you were sure there was always something, or more like, someone watching you from afar, always in the depths of the shadows and darkness that came with it, you were not going to say it out loud to Rio, that you knew she visited you from time to time, at first, you had thought she only came to see Agatha, and you were fine with that, even when you knew they shared a history, you didn´t feel any type of threat, and you always felt safe when she was around, but Rio never stayed, she always maintained her distance, only watching from afar, and when she realized you had noticed her, she always left, never saying anything, not even a goodbye.

When you first felt a presence years ago, weeks after you had met her for the first time, Agatha and her fighting just as you had found them now, weeks after that incident you noticed the intense presence of something near you, and when you finally spotted where the presence was, it had been in your back garden, it had been late at night, around 8:00 pm, it had been raining for the whole day and Agatha was on your shared bedroom reading a book, but the feeling that something was there made you want to look all around the house to know what was that feeling you had, just when you were about to turn the lights on of the kitchen, the feeling that you were being watched grew stronger and unconsciously you turned your head to look at the window that pointed at the backyard, deciding to walk closer to the window, you squinted your eyes, and the silhouette of a woman started to become more visible, the crown on the head was so familiar that you couldn’t help but smile at the silhouette, slowly you brought your hand close to your chest, and waved at the barely visible woman who´s silhouette blended with the darkness of the night.

Waving your hand to greet her, you thought she was going to come inside, but she only waved at you as well, and that was when you finally saw her face, she had part of her face covered with a black piece of cloth, leaving her eyes to be only visible, her big brown eyes staring at you, you were about to move your hand to invite her inside, but before you could have done that, she disappeared, leaving you there in the middle of the night feeling curious, deciding to sleep, you went to Agatha, who had asked you why you were smiling but you only shrugged.

The next morning when you woke up, something told you to go back to the backyard where the woman covered in black had been standing, so, going back to your garden, you saw a single red rose fully grown exactly on the same spot where Rio had been the night before, it was the most beautiful red rose you had seen, the red color so vibrant, that it made your heart skip a beat, feeling your face getting warm, you decided to take such good care of the flower, you were not sure why Rio had left it there, but over the past years she had been visiting you constantly, never staying for too long, and never talking to you, always leaving a trail of flowers behind her, and you had made sure that every flower she had given to you was taken care of.

You felt something warm in your hand that made you come back to the present, looking back at your hand that was being held by Rio, you saw that the wound was not there anymore, the aching feeling had disappeared and the thick liquid of scarlet color has stopped from coming out of your palm, Rio then caressed again your hand and gave it a soft squeeze.

“Thank you” You whispered to her, Agatha and Rio were so close to you that they heard your soft voice, Rio nodded and you turned your head a little to look at her face, her brown eyes  staring right into yours, making you feel as if she was staring straight into your soul, she smiled to you and nodded slowly, looking briefly at your lips, only for a second, you had not noticed if you had been looking or more like, analyzing her expression, it had been so quickly that it made you think she had looked at your lips by mistake.

But how wrong you were, Rio enjoyed feeling you so close to her, getting to feel your warm body was enough for her, even if she wanted more, for her this was enough.

You remembered the mess that was around you, and also Agatha being as well so close to you made you remember what had happened first, turning your head a little to the side to look at Agatha you saw the way she was smiling at you, her baby blue eyes still held the same worry she had been feeling for you for the past weeks, but her loving stare was there, taking her left hand to your face she brushed a strand of hair that was on your face and gently put it behind your ear.

“Thank you” You said again, this time to your girlfriend, she always knew how to make you feel better, always knowing what to do or what to say, the way she always knew how to reassure you were going to be alright made you feel loved and warm on the inside.

Rio knew exactly what was going on, why you felt dizzy, she had noticed a change in you, the way another life was growing inside of you, but she knew she couldn´t say anything, it was not something she had to let you know, it was not something she had to let you or Agatha knew, the two of you had to realize it on your own, she was not allowed to announce things like that, and the way her heart ache for that and so many more things, she wasn´t even sure if she would be able to let you know even if she was allowed.

Agatha had of course seen the way Rio had been so gentle with you, making sure not to hurt you more, and even healing the wound on your hand, Agatha felt guilty, because of their fight, everything in your  house, or at least in the living room was broken, shattered and even all over the place, and because of their actions, you had gotten hurt, it had not been a really bad wound, but Agatha hated to see you hurt, it didn´t matter if it was small, she still worried awfully, and the way Rio had made sure the wound was completely healed, made Agatha felt grateful, it had been the same thing she would have done if she had her powers, making sure you were alright was her priority, and it looked that to Rio, the priority was the same.

“Oh my god! What happened?” The teen suddenly appeared running down the stairs, seeing how everything in the living room was completely ruined and even the furniture was all over the place, or at least, the remnants of the furniture, it was as if a hurricane had happened inside the house!

And when he saw Agatha and another woman holding you, the way you looked pale, he got even more scared, without thinking twice, he came running towards the three of you, when he got closer to you, he was about to take your hands in his, he brought his hands to yours but seeing the way the two women where fiercely grabbing both of your hands and didn´t seem that they were going to let go of your hands he just placed his hands on his chest, still alarmed about the state you were in.

“Are you alright Miss… Miss Harkness?” The teen had no idea how to call you, would it be disrespectful to call you only by your name? He hadn´t thought twice, so he only assumed your last name was the same as Agatha, but now he was not so sure.

You laughed at the way the teen had called you, Agatha felt her face getting warmer, blushing even, and Rio couldn´t help but laugh as well.

“I am fine, don´t worry, it was just, I felt dizzy suddenly, maybe I have to go lay down for a while” You said and started to separate from the two women, Agatha pursed her lips, not wanting to let you go.

“I can take you to the bedroom” Agatha quickly said to you, but you didn´t think it was that bad, you would be able to go to your room, a little bit scared if the dizziness hit you again, but you decided to come up with something for the two women to have a conversation, the two of them alone.

“No, it is fine, he can help me to get to our bedroom, please?” You looked back at the teenager in front of you, whose face still held worry all over his features, he quickly nodded and rose his hands to help you walk.

“You two destroyed everything here, I expect you to fix this mess, and please don´t hurt each other, that´s the only thing I ask from you, don´t fight please” You said to them with a pleading tone, to which they couldn´t say no to you, Agatha and Rio quickly nodded, agreeing not to get into another fight, you smiled at them and started to walk with the teen next to you, his hands up in the air close to you, just to make sure he would be able to catch you if you fell.

“When I come back here, I want to see everything in order, alright? And again, I will know if you start fighting, I will send Mr.Scratchy to keep an eye on you, so you better not fight”

You finished saying that and turned yourself to keep walking towards you bedroom, leaving the two women alone, they did not dare to look at each other, so they just stood there looking at you making sure you were fine, still afraid that you could fall, they stared at you climbing up the stairs, the teen behind you ready to do whatever he could.

After a couple of minutes, they heard the door getting closed and the teen came quickly running down the stairs towards them.

“I will make sure she is fine, I will ask her if she needs anything, I´ll leave you two now” He gave them an awkward smile and heard the footsteps of the teenagers disappearing again.

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“I am not dumb Rio, I know you have been the one leaving her flowers whenever you can” Agatha said to the taller woman, and Rio only smirked, Rio had powers and would be able to use her powers to put everything back in place, but decided to take a seat on the only cushion who seemed not have been destroyed, waiting for Agatha to finish doing the cleaning.

“I know you have been aware, but if it had annoyed you, you could have told me to stop” Rio only shrugged her shoulders, it had not been a crime to gift you one of the things you loved.

“Whenever she sees a new flower left there for her, she always gets the biggest smile, how can I compete right now, when I don´t even have powers?” Agatha couldn´t help but feel a little bit jealous and frustrated, she couldn´t get you anything out of thin air, without her powers she felt so useless.

“I am not looking for a competition, we both know her heart belongs to you” The way Rio was saying that, her voice becoming a whisper and her gaze going to the floor, it was clear the brown-eyed woman felt hopeless longing a one-sided love, Rio felt her heart break more and more, how could it be, her first love didn´t reciprocate her feelings, blaming for what had happened, never getting the chance to explain herself more, and now, centuries later, the woman who was with her former lover, you, a woman whose eyes shone with so much happiness whenever she was doing something she enjoyed, whose laugh sounded so sweet and with such a harmony that Rio wouldn´t mind listening to all the time, she couldn´t believe she had fallen for you, the woman who was in a relationship with her former lover, who hated her, how could her dark heart belong to two people who were so out of reach from her?

Agatha saw the way the woman in front of her was looking at the floor, a cosmic being like her, mourning over love, mourning the love she thought would never had, deep down, Agatha would have liked to go and hug her, explain to her how things had gotten so bad, talk to her and reassure her that whatever she was thinking was not right, but being so prideful was impeding her to speak with her heart on her sleeve, even after everything that had happened between the two of them, she still felt the need to try and cheer her up, seeing her so sad always made her heart ache.

Agatha was also not blind, she was aware of how you would react whenever Rio was near, she knew you too well for her to know that you also felt a spark for the brown-eyed woman who was seated right now in front of her, she should have been feeling jealous, being irrational about the fact that Rio made you feel something, but the truth was that, it didn´t bother her, of course only with Rio was the fact that she did not feel annoyed, because if she saw a different woman flirting with you, whoever it was, that other woman would completely be ten meters rotting underground.

“Her heart is split in two” The blue eyed-woman said in a whisper, and Rio hastily lifted her head to look at Agatha, a spark of hope suddenly was visible in her brown eyes, Agatha cleared her throat and decided to look to her right.

“I mean, the bigger part of her heart and love belongs to me, of course, I would even dare to say that her love is divided into 80 percent, no, 85 percent loving me, and maybe the other, what is it? 15 percent maybe, and just maybe is what she feels for you, not love, don´t get me wrong, maybe she is just fond of you” Agatha finished saying while she flipped her hair and turn around to get a glass of water from the kitchen.

Rio chuckled, she knew Agatha so awfully well, she knew when Agatha was lying, when she was saying the truth, and she was sure that when it came to you, she would never dare to lie, you were so important to her, she treasured you with her whole heart, that even the thought of doing something to hurt you destroyed Agatha completely, and due to what Agatha had just said, Rio felt her heart skipping a beat, the sadness had gone away, and a spark of hope had been implanted inside her heart.

“Can you now help me to get this back to how it was?” Rio just remained there, where she was sitting, a smile on her face, if she was honest, she had thought that maybe at one point you and Agatha would separate, and when she came back to fight Agatha again, she thought you were not there anymore, the thought had made her heart ache, but when she saw Agatha had been the one that had opened the door, she instantly felt her blood boil again, she had not felt you at first, Rio had not sensed you, and part of her felt disappointed, she felt angry because it had been a while since she had come see you or Agatha, she had been busy with so many things, her job was not an easy one but it was what she had to do, so when she arrived at this house on this town, and she did not fell you, her anger came back with such a force that was even unknown to her, angry because not sensing you meant you were not there anymore, which also meant Agatha and you had ended things, which to her meant that Agatha had been the one to push you away and leave you, because it only made sense that Agatha would ruin something good with you, the best woman she had also met, but after listening to your voice again, the anger suddenly disappeared, leaving a sense of relief, but the first moment her eyes landed on you again, she noticed the way you had changed, the way you were carrying another life, and maybe that had to do with her not being able to sense you, there was not any other answer.

“I want to keep her safe” Rio suddenly said, Agatha turned herself around to look at her, raising her eyebrow, until the blue-eyed woman realized that Rio was talking about you.

“I want to do the same, to keep her safe is my priority” Agatha replied to her with a serious tone.

“And yet you are taking her with you on the road” The way Rio sounded upset made Agatha feel guilty, she knew that taking you to the road was a risk, she would be putting your life in danger, but how would she be able to deny to you something you wanted, she knew you were strong enough to face whatever you would encounter, you broke the spell she was in! The one the Scarlet witch had put her under, you were strong and powerful, yet Agatha still feared something may happen to you.

“She is strong, she is really powerful, she was the one who released me from the Scarlet Witch´s spell” Rio nodded, taking in the information, she was aware of your powers being strong, but the new life growing inside you was what made her feel even more worried.

Rio however, knew everything about you, the way you had survived so many years without a coven, a coven-less witch you had been called, powerful magic, even other witches were scared of you, and yet, you didn´t need a coven to survive nor to teach you anything.

But Rio knowing the truth about what was going on with you, if going to the Witches´ road was a death wish, a great risk of losing life, high chances of not making it to the end, now with another life growing inside of you, she was conflicted, she couldn’t tell you or Agatha what was going on, she would be breaking the rules, she had once broken the rules for Agatha and still, Agatha did not realize what she had done for her, blaming her, she did not want for the same to happen with you.

“Let me go with you, she doesn´t have to be part of the coven you need, she can be… “a tourist” If you will, only visiting, but not being part of the coven, it would grant her not to have any trials, right? She wouldn´t have to encounter nor fight against anything” Rio said out loud, if she had to take your place, she would do it, everything to keep you safe, and now more than ever, you needed to be taken care of, Rio also knew you were too stubborn, so if Agatha didn´t allow you to go, you would find a way to break into the Witches´ road, which only would be more dangerous to you, so the only way to grant you would be safe, would be to keep you close, but not making you part of the coven.

Agatha stood there, looking at the brown-eyed woman, she actually had a point, that way your life would not be put at risk, they would only make sure you were safe, you would be a bystander, not taking actual part, and that way, they would grant you would make it to the end, with them, safe and alive.

“The Salem seven are not going to know where you are” Rio said again, she knew she had threatened Agatha to alert the entities and let them know where Agatha was, but now that she knew you were still with her, she would never forgive herself if something actually happened to you, Rio looked back at Agatha who was also looking at her, looking at her in a way she had not done in a long time.

“I am doing this for her, not for you” Rio said with her eyebrows furrowed, her jaw clenched and took a deep breath.

“Thank you” The blue-eyed woman replied, feeling grateful that Rio cared so much about you to even offer this.

“We have to call a truce, after all, you are coming with us down the road” Agatha said with an honest smile, the thing that they had in common right now, was to make sure you were safe and would make it alive, if they needed to do something else to protect you, they would do it.

Rio nodded slowly, agreeing with what the blue-eyed witch had said, protecting you was their goal, they could try and make sure their hatred for the other, would be pushed aside, she knew it was wrong not to let you know or Agatha about the life that was now growing inside of you, and she was sure Agatha would be surprised when she realizes she was the mother as well of the life that you were currently carrying, but still she felt guilty for not being able to let you know, she knew the rules, things like those were not allowed for her to announce, never knowing what could happen, she still was not even sure what could happen or if everything was going to be alright, but she vowed to herself, that you would be protected, she would make sure to keep you safe along with Agatha and that was what the two of them were going to do.

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You were sure only around 20 minutes have passed and you really hoped that Agatha and Rio had already finished cleaning the mess they did.

“Are you feeling better?” The boy next to you who was sat in the chair next to your bed asked worriedly, you had been laying on your bed for the past 20 minutes, with your eyes closed, the teen had helped you to get to your room and had ran way only to come back with the same velocity he had left only to let you know he would stay in that same room to make sure you were alright, and then he had said “Sorry for intruding in your house and for forcing myself to be here right now with you, but I really want to make sure you are fine”, you had only laughed and nodded at him accepting he would stay there with you, you opened your eyes to look at him, he had his eyebrows furrowed and was looking at you expectantly.

“I´m feeling better, thank you, I should go and see what Agatha and Rio are up to, leaving them alone for so much time is never good, and they have not made any noise, so I should better go see what is going on” You said to him and were about to stand up but the teen quickly stood up from the chair and lifted his hands up in the air, in a way to tell you to stop moving.

“No, I told Agatha I was going to make sure you were fine, I can go and see what is going on and come back running again to let you know” He said while also he moved towards the door and opened it.

“I will come back to inform you what is going on, please don´t stand up” He smiled at you widely and nodded before leaving the room and closing the door, you could hear his footsteps running through the hallway and then hearing him running as fast as he could downstairs.

When he quickly arrived to the first floor, he got surprised to see that the mess that had been before had completely disappeared, the were not pieces of shattered glass, the furniture seemed to be brand new, placed where the old cushions, couches and the glass table had been before, everything seemed to be in place, and there was no trace of the mess that was before.

Agatha was sitting in one of the couches, she seemed to be deep in thought, her hand on her chin and staring directly to one of the walls, the other woman who he remembered you had called her Rio, was caressing some of the plants that were placed near one of the windows, he could not remember if you had that many plants inside your house before, were they new or not?

Everything seemed to be back in order and the two women were not fighting so he decided he had enough information to go back to you and tell you what he had seen, nodding and happy with the information he had gotten, he decided to go back to your room, but before he could turn himself around to run back upstairs he heard Agatha calling him.

“Hey teen, what are you doing here? Shouldn´t you be checking on Mrs. Harkness?” Agatha smirked and started to stand up from the couch to go to your room.

The teen visibly tensed, his shoulders stiffened and cleared his throat.

“She wanted to come and see what you two were doing since everything was quiet, but I told her I could come and see and go back to her” He just stood there not daring to move, the older witch narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips slightly, slowly walking closer to him, he felt as If Agatha was analyzing him, trying to see something he didn´t know.

“I will tell her myself everything is fine, you stay here” She ended saying to him and walked past him to go downstairs to check on you.

The dark-haired boy just stood there in the middle of the living room not knowing what to do and he saw when Rio turned herself around to look at him, she tilted her eyes and just stared at him, her deadly stare made him feel unnerved, Rio smirked and suddenly she bit in the air, the sound of her teeth biting in the air making him jump in fear not knowing why.

She slowly went to take a seat on the small couch, the smirk never leaving her face.

“So, Mrs. Harkness?” She asked, looking at him straight in the eyes.

“Yes, I mean, yes?” He wasn´t even sure what he was answering, and Rio laughed again.

Meanwhile, Agatha had already arrived at your shared room, she slowly opened the door and entered trying not to make as much noise as she could, she noticed you still were laying on your bed with your eyes closed, and her face changed to an expression completely full of worry, she couldn´t stand the feeling in the pit of her stomach, the fear of not knowing what to do or what you even had.

“How are you feeling doll?” The blue-eyed witch asked you while she knelt down on the floor, next to you, placing her hand on your shoulder and caressing it slowly.

“I´m feeling better, don´t worry, I was just feeling sleepy, I think I relaxed too much” Chuckling a little bit you opened your eyes and proceeded to move to sit on your bed, Agatha quickly understood what you were trying to do, so she being the loving girlfriend she had always been, stood up and took your hand in hers, her free hand went to your lower back to help you sit on the bed.

“I know you are worried, but I can assure you there is nothing wrong, you don´t have to worry this much” You looked at her, with a smile on your face, your hand never leaving hers, you gave it a soft squeeze to reassure her everything was fine.

Agatha tried not to purse her lips again, she couldn´t help but worry about you, she had no idea why you suddenly felt dizzy out of nowhere or why in the mornings you suddenly felt like throwing up, she wanted to know what was going on with you, she even tried to talk to you about going to an actual doctor to see what you had, but you only told her you had maybe caught a bug or something and just waved the thought off, Agatha pressed her free hand against your forehead and then placed her hand on your cheek, you leaned against her touch, enjoying the warm feeling, you could see the way Agatha´s lips pursed, meaning she was thinking too much, and before she could say something else you decided to speak.

“Hey, were you not supposed to start gathering the coven for our trip to the witches´ road?” Agatha knew exactly what you were trying to do, you were trying to change the subject, you were even batting your eyelashes, knowing very well that was something Agatha loved, so she decided not to bring up again the subject about seeing a doctor.

“Yes, we are supposed to do that, but we still have time, that teenager can wait, but I am thinking if it would be better, not to go, you are clearly not well and-“  You didn’t like where she was going.

“Please Agatha, you already told him we were going to go, and I am not that bad, please, you already agreed on letting me go with you” You pouted and even if Agatha found your pouting to be cute, she still worried about you and everything that could go wrong.

She really didn´t want you to go, if something happened to you she would always blame herself, she was not sure what she would do if she lost you, your beautiful eyes were looking at her, she still couldn´t believe how lucky she was for having you, she would never let you go, how could someone so sweet, caring and beautiful as you be with her? She had wondered the same thing so many times, always feeling deep down that you would realize how awful she was, that some day you would realize that she was not worthy of you, but all these times when she was at her lowest and she felt deep hatred for herself, you were always there, always reassuring her that you loved her and that you would never let her, not matter what, so she really couldn´t lose you, the love she felt for you was immense, she sometimes could not even describe the feeling she got when you looked at her with so much love.

Even when Rio had agreed on going to the road to help her look after you, she still felt scared, she knew the feelings the other woman had for you, so she also knew Rio would not let anything happen to you, and even after that, she still felt scared.

You were the best thing that had happened to her since she had lost everything, she had been alone for so much time, wandering and just killing other witches, killing them because she had nothing else to do, she had nothing left, she was alone, not having anyone to hold to, since that day in the woods she had not just buried her feelings and heart with the most important little person she had ever had, since that day, she had vowed to herself not to care about anyone else, not to even look at anyone else, she couldn´t, after losing two people she had loved so much, she thought she would never be able to love again, she thought she would not be capable of loving someone again, and she did not even want to, the mere thought of caring for someone else had even made her feel disgusted, she would even had wrinkled her nose in aversion when it came to the word “love”, so she had just spent her centuries getting to study and increase her knowledge about her magic, increasing her power with each witch she murdered, only caring about power and nothing else, until she met you years ago.

The way you had made sure to stay by her side, making sure she was fine, every little loving action you had had with her, it made her open her heart slowly to you, she knew she was in too deep the first time she saw you and she had felt her heart skip a beat, since the moment she had felt the way her face got warmer when you first got closer to her, she knew, what she had vowed to herself years ago, she would not be able to keep that promise, not anymore, and she had been grateful, thanks to you, she had found the love she thought she would never feel again.

A soft knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and made you look from her to the door, then you looked back at her with a confused look on your face and Agatha only shrugged her shoulders.

The door started to open slowly without anyone entering, until you heard the teenager clearing his throat.

“Is it safe to look?” He asked out lout behind the door and you laughed.

“No, we are naked and-“ You quickly patted playfully Agatha´s shoulder and laughed looking at the way she was smirking.

“Come on in, it´s fine, it´s safe to look” You said to him and he still seemed to doubt, he did not enter but slowly opened the door a little bit more, he only peeked his head in a slow motion until he saw the two of you there, holding hands, he visibly sighed and proceeded to enter just a little bit, not wanting to intrude.

“Sorry, uhm, Rio sent me to tell you that we have to get going if we want to find the coven we need” He said without looking at Agatha, he seemed to be a little bit scared of her, and you only laughed, Agatha wasn´t scary.

Agatha looked at you and rolled her eyes, she quietly started to mimic what the teen had said and you just laughed, the teen looked at you confused, not understanding what was so funny.

“It´s fine, thank you for letting us know, also, I don´t think I asked your name” You suddenly remembered, because you couldn´t even remember if you had already asked him or if he had told you, the next thing that happened made you gasp in shock, when he tried to tell you his name, a sigil appeared on his mouth, not letting you hear his name or who he was, Agatha sighed and turned her head to look at you, it was clearly someone had put a sigil on the teenager, not knowing what to do or say you only looked at Agatha surprised not knowing what to do.

“We will leave in a few minutes; can you go back to wait on the living room again?” Agatha said to him and the teenager seemed to be thinking if he should leave or not, being alone with Rio scared him more than being alone with Agatha, the blue- eyed witch raised her eyebrow an looked at him expectantly, he got the message and quickly left closing the door behind him.

“Did you see that?” You asked Agatha, still surprised, she nodded and sighed again.

“Someone put a sigil on that boy, the question is why?” You were surprised, you had heard of sigils but never once in your life had met someone who had it or someone who had casted a sigil.

“Do you think that is one of the reasons why he wants to go to the road?” Agatha didn’t have an answer for that, because even if they asked him what was the reason or the reasons, the sigil would prevent you from knowing.

“I´m not sure, it could be, but without us actually knowing who he is, we can´t know for sure, we don´t even know if he is dangerous” Agatha said to you in a whisper her mouth set in a hard line.

She had a point, you couldn´t deny that, but you had always relied on your intuition, if you felt there could be danger, it meant there was a threat, but if you actually didn´t feel any type of threat coming from someone you would always made sure to trust your instincts, it had happened with Agatha, even after everyone claimed she was witch-killer, a bad person, a monster, you had not listened to any of that, you didn´t consider her a threat and your gut agreed with you.

“You know I have always been good at reading people and their intentions, and I don´t feel any type of threat or danger coming from him, we don´t know what is going on with him, what if he actually needs help? If I had felt he could be dangerous I would have got rid of him, and you know it” You tried to reason with your girlfriend and even if she had wanted to tell you how wrong you were, she couldn´t because you were right.

 “See? You know I´m right” The way you were smiling at her made her feel so lucky, she was lucky for having you, she was lucky because you loved her.

“You know how much I hate when I´m wrong, but this time, you´re right doll” Agatha started put her left hand on your face and caressed the skin on your cheek in a gentle way, she then put her face closer to yours and gave you a soft kiss on the lips, she loved the sensation of your lips against hers.

“Listen, since I agreed on you coming with us, you will have to wait here until we go look for the witches we need, alright? I know you would like to come with us, but it is only going to take a couple of hours and it would make me feel better if you stay here, at home, please?” The way she sounded so gentle, letting you know what would make her feel better, she was letting you see her vulnerable state and you would never take for granted what she felt or wanted, she was right, you would have loved to go with them to get to know the witches that would be part of the coven, but if that made Agatha feel better you would do it.

“Alright, I will wait here for you” You smiled at her and nodded, she felt happy you had listened to her, it made her feel a little bit more relieved.

“Alright doll, I don´t want to keep you waiting too much in here, so we will make sure to finish this as fast as possible, alright?” Her blue eyes looked at you with so much love, she had the most beautiful eyes you had ever seen, she gave you another soft kiss on your lips and hugged you carefully, you pressed your head against her chest, after a minute of hugging you, you felt her moving away slowly.

“Stay here, please? I can´t believe what I´m about to say, but, if you need anything, I´ll make sure Rio stays here with you, alright? I don´t want you to stay here all by yourself baby” She sighed and closed her eyes for a second,  she felt distressed at the thought of letting you alone, and the other person who she knew cared for you just like her, was Rio, and even if she would not say it out loud, she trusted in her to make sure you were fine while she was not there with you, you nodded and gave her a smile, you didn´t think it was necessary to have constant supervision, but if it made her feel better you would accept it, and you also didn´t mind sharing a little bit more of time with the brown-eyed woman.

“I will let her know, I will try not to take too much time, alright?” She hugged you again and you let her engulf you in her arms, feeling her so close was always such a delight.

“I love you” You said to her while you hid your face in her chest, she separated from you a little bit and leaned to press a kiss to your forehead.

“I love you too darling, please, don´t go downstairs alone, I will let that teenager know we have to leave, alright?” She saw you nodding and smiled again, you were so pretty, feeling her body getting away from you slowly made you want to pout but you stopped, not wanting to make Agatha think something else or get her worried, you only loved the way her body felt against yours.

She walked to the door and opened it, but before she could leave the room, she turned around to look at you again.

“I love you, please take care doll, I will be back in a few hours” She then winked at you and left the room, leaving you with a warm and nice feeling inside of you, since you didn´t have anything else to do, and were not allowed to go downstairs alone, you decided it would be nice to take a nap.

Agatha on the other side of the room closed the door, and sighed deeply, she still was not sure if this was a good idea, but she had already promised you all of you would go to the road, the unsettling feeling was not leaving her, and that made her stomach twist in fear.

Walking down the stairs she saw that the teenager was standing here in the middle of the room, he seemed to be looking at the plants that Rio had placed when the two of them were cleaning, when the blue-eyed woman had asked her why she had put more and new plants the brown-eyed woman had simply said that it was a gift for you, Agatha didn´t question her anymore, she also knew how much you loved plants and flowers so it had been a nice gesture from the woman covered in black.

“Alright pack up your things, we are leaving right now to search more witches” Agatha said to the boy when she was close enough for him to hear what she had said, he quickly nodded and ran upstairs as fast as he could, he needed to get his little backpack and his phone that he had left on the room you had kindly let him sleep on.

When Agatha made sure the teen had left the two of them completely alone, she walked closer to Rio who was still sitting on the same couch, Agatha took the seat in front of her and looked at her with a serious expression on her face.

“I need you to stay here with her, I trust you to make sure she will be alright, during these hours I will not be here, just make sure she doesn´t try to come downstairs alone, she has been having these episodes where she feels dizzy and I don´t want her to fall” The way Agatha´s voice was full of worry made Rio feel guilty, she was aware why you were feeling like this, but she couldn´t say what was going on, the guilt was eating her alive.

“You can count on me with that, I will stay here with her” Agatha looked straight into Rio´s eyes, there was a part of her that didn’t trust or didn´t want to trust completely in this woman, and she was trying to see or find any type of deception in her eyes, but she didn´t find anything, the woman in front of her was sincere, so Agatha only nodded and stood up to walk to the door and open it.

“You better take care of her while I´m not here, if you are going to be stuck with us for a while, you need to start showing you really care about her, don´t mess this up please” Agatha said with a straight face and got out of the house, to wait for the teen outside, Rio took a deep breath stood up, ready to go downstairs, the last phrase Agatha had said made her flinch.

 The teen then came back running and looked everywhere around the room with his eyebrows furrowed, confused as to where Agatha was, Rio just shook her head and pointed at the opened door, he quickly gave her a smile and ran towards the door, after he closed it, Rio went to take the small pot in the window that had a single red carnation in the middle, sighing again she decided to go knock on your door with the flower in her hands, she didn´t know why she still felt a little bit nervous, even knowing what Agatha had already told her.

You were waiting on your bed for the sleep to arrive, until you heard two soft knocks on your door, you had already heard the engine of a car leaving outside your house, and the way this person was knocking on your door was different to the way Agatha usually knocked, Agatha used to knock three times, the teen you realized knocked more than three times and in a rush, and this person, who you assumed was Ri, had knocked only two times and had waited a few seconds after knocking the second time.

“You can come in” You said out loud for her to hear and sat up in your bed, the door slowly opened and Rio entered with a shy smile on her face, when you noticed the flower she was carrying on her hands, you smiled widely, Rio saw the smile that formed on your face and couldn´t help but give you a big smile as well.

 The brown-eyed woman inquired while looking at you with a sheepish smile on her face, her big brown eyes shining with the light of the sun that came through the window, your heart warmed at her question.

“I´m feeling better, thank you Rio” She nodded and walked closer to you, you patted the chair next to your bed to show her she could sit there, she bit her lip and took the seat next to her.

“This is for you, I left more flowers for you downstairs, since the old ones you know got destroyed” Rio lowered her head not wanting to meet your eyes, she didn´t want to see the same disappointed look you had before, when you saw her and Agatha fighting, the pot with the flower was resting in her lap, she felt truly sorry and hoped for you to forgive her.

“Hey, it´s fine, I just, I don´t want you to hurt each other, I don´t care about the things that got broken, I just don´t like seeing you two fight” Rio slowly lifted her head to look at you and the way you saw a hint of sadness flashed over her face made you smile sadly, you still didn´t know what had happened between them to the point that it seemed they hated each other so much.

“Thank you for leaving flowers for me whenever you came, I am glad you are here today, you always left without actually saying something” Your hand came to your face to brush a strand of hair and put it behind your ear, you saw the way Rio´s smile grew wider and she handed you the flower she was holding, when her hands came closer to you, you stretched your hands out to her to take the flower in your hands, for a second your hands touched hers and you had sworn you felt a spark of electricity there.

“This is for you, my lady” Your face suddenly started to feel warmer, and you gladly accepted the flower, placing it in your lap and caressing the delicate petals of the vibrant red flower.

“Thank you, I love every flower you give to me, I always take care of them, I promise to make sure this has enough water and enough time in the sun, it´s beautiful” You commented while looking at her, Rio´s face lit up, and her eyes seemed to get brighter.

“Sorry for the mess we made and…” She stopped talking and seemed to think what she was going to say next.

“And sorry for appearing like this, out of nowhere, I didn´t want to cause any problems, it was not my intention to destroy almost everything” Rio scrunched up her face remembering the state they had left the entire room downstairs in, and you chuckled, for a second you saw the way her hand was about to stretch out to you, but she placed it back, you noticed how she hesitated to actually touch you, and it was something that Agatha had done as well years ago when you were starting to know her, the way Agatha had hesitated as well many times to get closer to you or to touch you, so you decided to encourage her and show her she didn´t have to hesitate.

Stretching your hand out and putting it in the air, you saw the way Rio´s eyes grew wide.

“It´s fine, you can give me your hand” Rio slowly gave you her hand and you took it in yours, she gave it a squeeze and loved the feeling of finally feeling you this close to her, she had yearned for years to be able to touch you somehow, and you being the one to initiate the contact made her beam with happiness, a happiness she had not felt in centuries.

You wanted to reassure her, to let her know that her presence would always be welcome.

“You don´t have to feel sorry, please, never feel sorry for appearing here, I would never mind, I would have loved for you to stay more all these times in the past, I would have loved to have a chat with you, and I, even if I don´t know why Agatha and you hate each other so much, please have in mind that I still don´t want any of you to get hurt, I would love for you to talk things out, but whatever happened in the past, I can sense it still haunts you and her, I don’t even know if what had happened can be fixed” The way your voice sounded so sincere and so caring almost made her cry, but she didn´t want you to see her cry, she didn´t want you to think she was weak, you were right, what had happened still haunted her, the guilt Agatha had made her felt for something she had tried to even stop from happening, the way Agatha didn´t understand that she had done everything in her hands to give her more time, but Agatha didn´t see any of that, Agatha didn´t see the hurt and pain she was also feeling, only focusing on her grief and pain, never realizing that she felt the same way Agatha felt, for centuries she had been completely heartbroken and with time, these feeling shaped into anger, anger because Agatha had been so selfish to only focus on her own pain, Rio had stopped looking at you, her eyes staring at the floor.

“What happened cannot be fixed, we have hurt each other so much, for many centuries, we left the pain and anger took over us, blaming and accusing the other one, there is no way for us to fix what has been broken”  You would have loved to comfort the grieving woman, her sad eyes made your heart ache, you would have loved to make her feel better, but you weren´t not sure how.

“Can I hug you?” The words came out of your mouth, you hoped for Rio to accept, she slowly lifted her face to look again at you, her eyes shining again with what seemed to be happiness, and she nodded slowly, placing the pot with the flower on your nightstand and with her hand still in yours, you stood from the bed and dragged her gently to make her stand from the chair she had been sitting.

Rio grinned and her eyes squinted a little, looking at you with curiosity, laughing a little you pushed her a little bit closer to you and she quickly pulled you closer to her, you were surprised by the strength she had suddenly showed but quickly recovered, her arms passed over your waist, pressing you closer to her, and out of instinct you passed your arms around her neck, resting your head on her chest, listening carefully to her beating heart.

Rio placed her chin on top of your head, in such a gentle way not wanting to hurt you or make you feel uncomfortable, feeling your body so close to hers filled her with happiness, she had wished for this since a long time ago, the way your body fitted against her made her heart skip a beat, a feeling she had not felt since centuries ago, it overwhelmed her a little, filling her completely with so much joy, and again, she felt like crying, Rio pressed a soft kiss on the top of your head, her right hand started to caress your back slowly, making you feel relaxed, she wanted to let you know everything that had happened between Agatha and her, she wanted to be honest and sincere, she wanted to let you know about the life growing inside of you, but again she knew she couldn´t, it was not her place, a single tear rolled down her face and you felt the way she tried to pull you impossibly closer to her, and you let her, you let her hug you as much as she wanted, trying to ease the pain the brown-eyed woman carried with her.

“If I could, I would take all the pain you have in your heart away” You words resonated in her head, if only you knew you had been helping her all these time, when she saw you taking care of the flowers she had given to you, when you smiled, even if it was not directed at her but at Agatha, she still felt joyful to see you were happy, she had not felt the courage to make sure to stay by someone´s side since a long time ago, she wanted to make things right, she did not want to be away from you again, so she would have to prove to you and to Agatha if needed that she was worthy of you.

“Agatha and I, we, we talked about you” Her words made you feel curious, so you lifted your head to look properly at her.

“What did you two talk about me?” Your voice sounded playful and Rio started to smile, it was impossible not to smile when you were looking at her that way.

“About the way the two of us feel about you, about the way I feel about you” Your heart started to beat faster, you had your theories about Rio and why she left flowers, certain flowers through all these years, you knew the meaning behind the flowers she had given you in the past, but always tried to push that feeling aside, the red carnation she had given you meant admiration, affection and was a symbol of passion, it was an amazing flower to give to someone whom you tried to show the romantic feelings you had for them, or the first flower she had given to you all these years ago, the single red rose that was associated with love and symbolized passion, strong emotions such as love and admiration.

“I know Agatha knows about my feelings as well, then, right?” You asked and Rio nodded, remembering the way Agatha had told her about your heart being split in two, and her heart started to beat faster.

“She is not mad then?” You asked shyly and Rio separated from you a little to have a proper look at you and see the way your eyes started at ther.

“She is not, but we still have to talk, the three of us have to talk about this” Listening to Rio´s soft voice made you feel better, taking away the guilt you felt deep down about the way you felt for the two women.

“I hope we get to talk soon, just the three of us” Rio hoped the same, but she was not sure when the three of you would get the chance to have a proper talk, and Agatha and Rio´s priority was to keep you safe no matter what, so even if they didn´t have the chance to talk about it right now or soon, they would make sure first to protect you from everything, Rio gave you another smile and you rested your head again against her chest, the brown- eyed woman loved how you felt being this close to her.

“I don´t know how long they will take, but would you like to do something? I can show you the house, show you the books I have, I can give you a tour through the garden, or we can stay here, just holding each other and lay down on the bed?” Rio loved the idea of doing things with you, she had never had the chance to do anything with you next to her, she had never had the chance to be this close to you, but now, you were there, letting her hold you, and even if she had wanted to do more things with you, she didn´t want to stop the amazing feeling of having you this close to her, she wanted to enjoy as much as she could being like this with you, holding you and inhaling your sweet scent.

“Can we stay a little bit longer like this, and then lay down for a while?” You nodded, agreeing to what she had said, your smile growing wider and you face getting warmer, Rio had never felt this happy in centuries, and she loved it completely.

You stayed with her, letting her hold you, and feeling her hands caress your waist gently, enjoying the quietness of the room, and only listening to your beating harts, the proof that what the two of you felt was reciprocated, genuine and sincere, no matter what Rio would make sure you were going to be fine, and she knew Agatha would do the same.

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The sound of a car stopping outside your house made you slowly open your eyes, the dim light was comfortable enough for you to open them without any trouble, the bed was cozy enough and the person next to you held you tightly and gently, her warm making you feel comforted and protected, her presence was lovely, giving you a sense of security.

“It seems that they just came back” Rio´s voice next to you was soft, one of her hands around your shoulders and your head resting on her chest, she loved having you like this, you nodded and closed your eyes for a second before taking a deep breath, you were not sure how much time had passed, because being this close to Rio made the time seem as if it had passed so quickly.

“I really hope you also get to talk about what happened, I know maybe it doesn´t concern me, but I really don´t like seeing the two of you fighting, I know she doesn´t like to talk about how she feels, I know it´s really hard for her, but I can see the pain in her eyes whenever she hears your name” Rio would have loved to tell you what had happened, why the two of them in her mind and Agatha´s mind could never get along again, but she decided not to say anything, the pain burning in her chest with the warmth of a thousand of fires, she knew Agatha needed to tell you, how things had happened, again, it was not her place to start telling you the story that had been haunting her and Agatha as well.

“One of these days, everything will make sense to you, right now, you should go check on Agatha and make sure she doesn´t murder that poor boy” You opened your eyes so quickly because she was right, the boy had left with Agatha a couple of hours ago and he had passed all these hours next to her, you didn´t know if Agatha had already had enough of the teen, before you could quickly stand up from the bed, you heard the door opening slowly, and you knew instantly it was Agatha.

So you decided to wait for her, Rio who also noticed Agatha was the one who was on the other side smirked just a little bit, waiting for the other woman to enter to the room, Rio still had her arm around your shoulder and the two of you were laying on the bed, relaxed and in a comfortable position.

When Agatha opened the door fully, she entered and looked at you, the first moment her eyes landed on you her gaze softened, you could see her shoulders being a little tense, she had had some quite stressful hours, she was not used to pass so much time with someone so younger, except for you, of course, but it was totally different, the teen made so many questions, and talked so much, she felt on edge.

You noticed this and quickly understood what she was feeling, you sensed her mood so you worried, before Rio or Agatha could foresee what you were going to do, you quickly stood up from the bed, in a hasty way that when the two women realized you had almost jumped out of bed to go check on the blue-eyed witch, their eyes opened wide in panic.

Agatha caught you in her arms as quickly as she could, afraid you could lose your balance and fall, so her strong grip holding you tightly against her and her eyebrows furrowed trying to understand how fast you had gotten up from bed.

“Doll, be careful, you have to be careful please” Agatha commented looking at you straight into your eyes, fear still visible in her face, you didn´t listen to her you wanted to make sure she was fine.

“How are you? You seem tense” Taking her face in your hands you started to cares her jaw softly, Agatha felt herself melting at your touch, for a moment she forgot the stressful sensation and heaviness Inside her mind, she closed her eyes for a second enjoying the feeling of your soft hands on her face.

“I am better now that I´m here with you” You couldn´t help but smile at her words.

“Always a charmer, I love you so much, you got me worried, you look tired” The way Agatha sighed confirmed what you were sensing.

“I just need to take a shower” Rio realized she needed to get out of the room and wait for the two of you downstairs, so she stood up from the bed and started to walk with confidence towards the door, when Agatha opened her eyes again she saw the brown-eyed woman smirking and rolled her eyes a little but still, even apart from the slight annoyance she felt, she also was thankful for actually staying here with you, so the blue-eyed woman quickly stared at her and nodded at Rio, in a way to show she was thanking her for being here with you, the brown-eyed woman realized what she meant with that and she nodded back at her, acknowledging what she wanted to say, the two of them smiled at each other and Rio stopped close to the two of you, looking at you.

“Be careful mi amor, please” Rio said to you and Agatha rolled her eyes playfully at Rio´s pet name for you but didn´t comment anything, you smiled at her and nodded.

“Thank you for staying here with me” You replied to the woman covered in black and she only chuckled.

“I will see the two of you later downstairs, don´t make us wait too long” The woman walked past you and disappear in the hallway, you only laughed and Agatha rolled her eyes again playfully.

“Do you want me to help you relax a little?”  You inquired looking at her while batting your eyelashes and she chuckled, she really loved the idea so she nodded, agreeing to let you take care of her, she leaned to give you a soft kiss and you gladly accepted it, feeling her soft lips.

“What did you and Rio do during these hours?” Agatha had separated from you to take off her hat and place it on the bed, and you saw the way her eyes squinted a little.

“We talked for a while and then we just rested on the bed, the time passed quickly but I still missed you” You came closer to her and sat on the bed in front of her, her eyes pursed a little and she sighed, she knew she had already had a short talk with Rio about you, and even if she didn´t mind the other woman passing time with you, she still couldn´t take off her mind what had happened centuries ago, Agatha didn´t like to think about awful things happening to you, but if it happened, if something happened, would Rio do the same she had done in the past? She really didn´t want to think about that, so she shook her head and decided to relax with you, before going to the actual road, her eye caught her perfume on the vanity of the room, and an idea crossed her mind, she would make sure to do what she had in mind after the shower she so much needed.

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“Hey, so, when do we start?” You asked Agatha when you reached her basement, it looked like you had arrived a little bit late since the other witches seem to be already placed in the middle of the basement forming a circle, Agatha had been looking for something in one of the shelves near to the wall and Rio was waiting for her centimeters away from the blue-eyed witch.

Agatha quickly turned herself around, confusion all over her face, what were you doing there? She had already told you to wait with the teenager upstairs, wait for her to come let you know it was time to leave, she was going to go for you.

“Doll, didn´t I tell you to wait upstairs with the teenager?” She asked while quickly walking over to you, and you furrowed your eyebrows, she had told you that, but you had thought that it was only to wait for her until everything was gathered and then you thought you had to come looking for them to join them to open the door.

Agatha hoped that you didn´t put up much of a fight, she didn´t want you there because if you took part on opening the door with them that would make you instantly part of the coven, and she knew that your life would be put in danger, if she remembered the rules of the road, being a member of the coven, would mean you would have to face a trial, a trial who no one had any idea of what could be about, what dark illusions could be shown, or how the road could mess with your mind, they were not even sure what type of trials and dangers the road would make them face, and she didn´t want for any of that to be thrown at you, she had agreed that you went with them, but she hadn´t agreed on you being part of the coven to face the cruelties of the road, and she was not about to risk your life more, she saw the way you nodded and how your beautiful eyes were looking at her with curiosity, so she had to think of something in order to make you wait for her upstairs, where you would be safe, at least by now.

“Well, baby, remember the song? Water, earth and air?” She asked you with a loving smile on her face and you nodded.

“Well here we already have every element around us, in order for us to open the door, it is strictly necessary that a certain number of the elements stay here to chant the sacred song and open the door, that´s what I told you to wait with the teenager, he also needs to be upstairs because here we have to be the ones to make sure this opens correctly, alright?” She hated herself for lying to you, she hated not telling you the truth, but if that meant she could keep you extra safe through some lies, then she would do it, no matter what, her priority was to make sure you were safe.

You seemed to understand because the way you smiled to her and nodded again in understanding made her heart feel warm, but at the same time it pained her to see how much you trusted in her, she hated lying to you, but she was not sure if you would have agreed on going back upstairs if she had told you the truth.

“Alright, I will wait for you upstairs, I will se if the boy wants to play some card games, I already placed Señor Scratchy in his safe place, I put enough water and food, so he will be fine, I will be waiting for you” You replied back to her and gave her a quick peck on her lips, Agatha unconsciously closed her eyes when she felt your lips on hers and a big smile formed on her face, before you could leave she quickly pressed her hands on your waist and pulled you closer to her body, the happiness you were feeling was immense, and you let her hold you against her.

“I love you so much, I won´t let anything happen to you” Her words made you feel so much love, the way her voice sounded so sincere, you knew she would do everything she could to protect you, you trusted in her, and you nodded, she had always been such a protective girlfriend.

“I know, I will also make sure nothing happens to you, we are going to protect each other, alright?” She smiled against you and chuckled, you were the best, slowly you separated from her and gave her one more smile, before you could turn yourself to leave, you turned around to look at the other witches who were looking at the two of you with smiles on their faces, they still couldn´t believe that Agatha Harkness, the witch that so many people other witches feared and some other hated, had found someone as sweet as you to love her, not listening to the things that were said about her, the myths, bad tales and scary legends told about the mysterious witch, and the way Agatha seemed to get soft when you were near her, made them believe that maybe, even after all, the fearsome woman had a heart after all.

You smiled at them and waved your hand to greet them again, with your eyes bright full of happiness, it was hard not to smile at you, you had such a pretty smile and had a contagious laugh that made them smile at you as well, such a kind soul, offering happiness wherever you went.

Rio who had moved to the corner, watching you with a grin on her face, felt her heart skipping a beat, she had vowed to herself to protect you, and was happy to see how Agatha had handled the situation, that was the thing with her former lover, Agatha always knew how to handle things, how to make sure things always played in her favor, but she knew now, that this time, she was doing it not to gain something for her, Rio knew whatever she had said to you, was to keep you safe, and she knew that feeling very well, she knew she had made some mistakes in the past, but some of them had been only her doing her job, she wanted to keep you safe, and she only hoped that when the truth would be revealed, she hoped that you would understand her reasons, she only wished that you would let her explain why she hadn´t said anything, just as Agatha wanted, Rio wanted to protect you as well.

All of the witches saw the way you left happily and closed the door of the basement with a soft thud, Agatha sighed deeply and when she turned herself to look at the witches, she noticed the way they were looking at her.

“Shall we?” Rio came from her spot in the corner and placed herself where Alice, had made a space for her to enter, she placed herself next to Agatha and Alice, and even though Agatha pursed her lips slightly, this time, she found how surprising it had been, that she hadn´t felt any type of annoyance at Rio´s proximity, Rio decided not to say anything at the lack of sarcasm or witty comments about how close she was next to her, and when the time came for all the witches to hold hands, Agatha didn´t hesitate to grab Rio´s hand in hers, part of their minds tried to think that it was because of the truce they had agreed on having in order to make sure you would be fine.

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“Can I ask you something?” You heard the dark-haired boy asking, the two of you were sitting on the couch while the other witches were looking for a clue in the perfect elegant house, you had wanted to help but Agatha, Rio and the coven had told you it was not necessary, so they sent you to sit with the teen.

“Yeah, sure, what is it?” You smiled at him and nodded.

“Why do you and Agatha smell the same?” You didn’t understand his question so you frowned.

“What do you mean? We smell the same?” Your face had a confused expression, you were not understanding his question, did you have a smell?

“Yes, I mean, the perfume, it seems like the two of you use the same perfume, at first, I couldn’t quite place my finger in what it was, when Agatha grabbed me by my shirt yesterday, I smelled her perfume, kind of a hint of vanilla? Lavender? I don’t know, and you just smell the same, it’s nice, maybe you can tell me what is the name of the perfume? It really has those sweet floral hints you know?”

He said while he looked at the small table in front of you, he seemed to be deep in thought, and you felt your face getting warmer just as the seconds passed.

And the reason why the two of you had the scent of the same perfume, it had been due to Agatha spraying some of her own cologne on your neck, “So everyone knew you belonged to her” just s she had said, and you couldn’t help but let your mind wander back to this morning.

“I can’t believe we actually have a coven!” You had commented excitedly to her, Agatha didn’t seem to be really happy, the way she sighed and looked at you through the mirror on your vanity while she made sure the collar of her blouse looked good, you saw the way your girlfriend was having a hard time accommodating her own blouse, so you decided to help her a little.

“Here, let me help you” Pressing your hands on the collar of her blouse you made sure it was perfectly accommodated and with not wrinkles, you patted gently her chest and smiled at her.

“There you go, all nice and neat” Agatha smiled widely at you and put her hands on your waist, for a moment you gasped in surprise but ended up laughing when you felt the way Agatha pulled you closer to her.

“I love you so much doll, I can’t believe you convinced me to let you go with us” The way her eyes still showed the fear she felt due to not knowing what could happen and the constant reminder that she was powerless, the way the fear of not being able to protect you if something happened was eating her alive.

“Hey, it’s fine, we will be alright, I am going to be alright, you don’t have to worry about nothing, I have magic as well, remember? I released you from the spell the scarlet witch had put you on” Agatha smiled softly, you were right you had been powerful enough to release her from the Scarlet Witch’s spell, she still was fascinated by that, you had already explained to her that you had tried to release her several times before it actually worked, but in the end you had done it, you were right, she was sure about you being powerful enough to take care of yourself, but still, she was scared, scared of something actually happening to you.

“I know, I know you are powerful, remember when we met? I could feel the strong magic coming from you, you don’t need to say incantations to use your powers, I just… I want to make sure nothing happens to you, I want to protect you, my job is to protect you, not the other way around doll” Agatha finished saying with a loving smile on her face, her hand left hand on your face, caressing slowly your cheek with her fingers.

“But you always protect me, even without powers, I know you will find a way to do it, please, let me go with you, I will make sure to stay near you, please” Agatha couldn’t help but feel her heart beating faster, you looked so cute when you begged, and she always find hard to say “no” to you.

“Fine, but you will stay close to me, not wandering off, alright?” The way your smile grew wider did not pass unnoticed to your girlfriend who laughed out loud noticing your excitement.

“I promise not to wander off and stay close to you the whole time, thank you” Passing your arms around her shoulders to hug her tightly she couldn’t help but close her eyes and pressed her hands in your waist, with the same strength you were hugging her, she loved feeling you so close to her.

“We have to hurry then, we don’t know if the women you went to look for the coven are going to arrive sooner” You sounded so excited that it warmed her heart, once you separated from her you went to the mirror to take a look at you, just to make sure you looked decent.

Agatha watched you brushing your hair with your hand making sure not even a single strand of hair was out of place, she always loved the way you would brush your hair in the mornings after you got out of the shower.

“You always look beautiful, there’s only one more thing that´s left to apply” You stopped what you were doing and turned yourself to look at her, confused as to what she was referring.

You only stood there with your head tilted to the side and then the older witch laughed, she walked towards you and passed her hands around your waist again, you thought she wanted to hug you one more time but then you felt the way she leant a little bit more and her hands were searching for something behind you on the vanity, before you had the chance she separated from you a little and placed her left hand again on your neck, caressing gently.

Closing your eyes, enjoying the feeling, Agatha started to brush with her fingertips your jaw and you leant into her touch, after some seconds you felt a few drops of what it felt to be water, and then the sweet scent of Agatha´s perfume was surrounding you.

“You are going to meet some new people now that we agreed you are coming with me, and everyone needs to know you belong to me, isn´t it right?” You smiled with your eyes still closed, and chuckled, the way Agatha´s voice sounded so raspy and had started to whisper close to your ears, it made your heart beat faster.

“Don´t be shy, answer me doll” The hand that Agatha had on your jaw grasped you a little bit harder but without hurting you, she still knew Rio would be coming with you, and even if they had already talked a little about you and your feelings, Agatha couldn´t help but be possessive of you.

“You´re right Agatha, people need to know I belong to you, only you” Agatha licked her lips unconsciously and sighed deeply, her grip on your neck loosening just a little.

“Good girl” The older witch said to you with a raspy voice. -

“Uhm, did I say something funny?” The teen´s voice brought you back to the present.

“No, not at all, why?” You asked him a little bit confused not understanding his question.

“I asked you why you and Agatha smelled the same and then you started to smile” The teen said looking a little bit worried wondering if he had said something stupid.

“Oh yeah, no, no, sorry, I just I remembered something nice, to answer your question, we, uh, we keep some of our clothes together in the same drawer, I think that´s why we have the same perfume, you know, the scents tend to get mixed” You said with your face completely red, the teen squinting his eyes, looking at you with a curious look.

“Oh, well, it smells great” He said after a minute and smiled widely.

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“Oh my god, that smell, I used to love the scent of wet dirt but now, I don´t even know why I can´t stand it” You said to Jenn when she grabbed a handful of it on her hands, Alice nodding agreeing with her on how it was a pleasant smell, you had also found the smell to be pleasant weeks ago, waiting for the rain to actually fall all over town and wait for the rain then to go away to go check on your beloved garden, the smell always bringing a sense of comfort to you, until some weeks ago.

“It is almost as if you were pregnant” Jenn said jokingly while chuckling a little, and you stopped dead in your tracks, your eyes opened widely and looking at the ground. It had been intended to only be a joke, a simple funny joke, but suddenly everything started to make sense, you put two and two together.

Some weeks ago, you had woken up around 6:00 in the morning, feeling a little bit thirsty, Agatha had still been asleep on the other side of bed when the sudden wave of nausea had hit you, it had happened the same thing whenever you woke up, feeling dizzy and even starting to feel disgusted at certain smells you liked or tolerated before, but you had thought and said to yourself that it had been due to maybe catching a bug or a slight cold, but everything seemed to make sense now.

Agatha was talking to the teen a couple of meters behind you, she was listening with so much attention at something the boy was saying, Jenn had walked a few centimeters more and didn´t notice you had stopped walking, Alice was next to her walking and smiling softly, while Rio had stopped next to you and Lilia had stopped as well, with a worried look on her face.

Rio looked at your stomach for a minute and the way her eyes were wide open made you feel worried for a second, she seemed tensed, the way her shoulders stiffened and didn’t dare to move, after a minute she dropped her gaze to the floor, not daring to look at you in the face.

“Is it true?” You asked her, while looking at her, your voice had come up almost in a whisper and trembling a little.

Rio took a deep breath, she felt guilty for not telling you or Agatha the life that was growing inside you, but it was not her place to say it, she was not the one who needed to let you know, and still, she felt guilty because you were here, walking the witches’ road, you had no idea, maybe if you had known, maybe you would haven´t agreed on going with them but right now, but the what ifs didn´t matter.

She looked back at you, straight into your eyes, and she nodded slightly, not daring to say something else, the guilt eating her from the inside, and the worry more present than ever, she started to feel scared of your reaction, and how you would take this new information.

“But how? How is it possible?” You asked suddenly, panic taking all over you, your heart started to beat faster and Rio and Lilia noticed it right away, Rio quickly came closer to you and placed her hands on your face, brushing slightly your hair, in a way to help you calm yourself.

“Hey, it´s alright, it´s fine, don´t worry, alright? Agatha and I are going to make sure nothing happens to you, please baby, take deep breaths” Her soft voice was recomforting and it helped you to feel grounded, right now it was not the time to panic, you needed to think straight, and you also needed to think how you would tell Agatha, how were you going to even explain that you were pregnant? How were you going to explain that if you didn´t even know how it had happened?

Lilia who was next to you sensed the fear in your mood, the way you seemed you were about to faint terrified her so she had come next to you to hold your hand and keep you steady, her heart filled with fear at the thought of you being pregnant and being on the road.

“Oh, sweet girl” Was the first thing Lila could say, her furrowed eyebrows and hand covering her mouth in shock.

Rio kept brushing your hair softly, her soft hands pressing from time to time your skin, which made you lean into her touch, Agatha who was only meters away from all of you noticed how Rio and Lilia were holding you and she started to walk faster to get to you, alarms started to sound in her head, and her heart started to beat faster, afraid that something had happened to you.

“What happened doll? Are you hurt?” Agatha quickly started to check on you looking for wounds all over you, she then placed her hands on your face and started to examine as well your features, you had your eyes closed and she thought you were about to faint, she hold you closer to her and looked at Rio whose eyes were full of worry.

“We should help her sit down” Lilia said nodding and pointed to a place where there was a tree trunk in the middle of it, Rio and Agatha nodded and gently started to push you towards the trunk tree, the two of them helped you to sit down and Agatha sat in knelt down  in front of you on the ground, taking your hands in her, Rio came to knelt down as well next to her, her hands on your knees, stroking them gently.

The other witches were looking at the three of you with worried faces, they would have wanted to go and help, Alice was about to go and walk closer to you to see If she could help you somehow, ask if there was something she could do but Lilia stopped her, knowing the three of you needed space to talk.

Things had already been going fine over the past two trials, with the poisoned wine and Alice getting to break her generational curse, things have been fine at least for now, no one had been harmed, no one was hurt, and Lilia hoped for things to keep going this way.

You thought about just blurting out to Agatha what was going on, but you were scared of her reaction, you didn’t even know how it had happened! Magic could be the only answer and even though your gut told you that was how it had happened, still you doubted to say it out loud, to acknowledge that there was a life growing inside of you.

Rio wasn´t sure how would Agatha react, she wasn’t even sure what could happen or what she would do when she realized you were pregnant with her child, Rio knew Agatha loved you deeply, but she also knew that the blue-eyed woman had never let you know about Nicky, being something that still affected Agatha so much, not knowing how the blue-eyed witch would take the news, would she understand? Would she be taken aback? Rio didn´t know for sure how would the woman next to her would take the new information, and she worried, not only for Agatha but for you as well, she knew that right now you were in such a fragile state, and whatever happened if it was slightly bad could affect you deeply, and Rio didn´t want for your emotional state to get worse.

You knew you had to say something, anything to stop the two women in front of you from worrying so much, but how could you when even yourself were panicking awfully? It was now or never you thought, just when you were going to let Agatha know that you were pregnant, the first thing you noticed when you opened your eyes, was the strange cabin behind Agatha and Rio, it was only some meters away from you, and you knew the road wanted for the next trial to take place now.

Agatha noticed you were looking behind her so she hastily looked at the same direction you were staring at, Rio proceeded to do the same, and Agatha´s heart filled with pain and sorrow when she also noticed the blood moon up in the sky, the next trial was hers, and seeing your face contorting in terror and fear when the curse had actually attacked her made her think that the best would be for you to stay out of the next trial, everything had been going fine, and she hoped that during this trial of hers everything still would be the same, but, what if thing went south? What if she was shown something awful? What if you saw how much a monster she was, so turning herself around to look at you, she decided to let you know what was going to happen next.

“You are going to stay here with the teen, here at least we know the road is safe, the trials are only counting for five of us, I am not really sure if rules apply to her” Agatha pointed with her head at Rio before continue talking.

“But it would be better if she doesn´t go and break the rules, this time I am asking you not to break the rules, I hope you listen to me for once” Agatha´s voice was filled with something you hadn´t heard before, was sounded like resentment or bitterness and Rio´s shoulders tensed, you supposed they were referring to whatever it had happened, but you, being a little bit too stubborn as Agatha would sometimes say, you quickly shook your head, you were not going to leave her alone or the witches, how could she even ask for that? Weren´t you supposed to be all together?

Agatha realized you were about to contradict her but her expression became hard and her lips were pressed in a thin line, she was visibly on edge, she knew she had told you that you would be close to her at all times, but seen that you had been about to come next to her to help her when the curse had attacked her, she didn´t want for you to risk your life if something happened to her, so she needed to change the rules for you.

“No, you heard me, I know the rules, I know what is the best for you, right now you are not in a good state, at least not physically, you almost fainted! Can´t you see I am trying to protect you? We are trying to make sure you are safe, why can´t you listen just for once?” Her voice had broken completely, tears had already started to fall down her face, and it hurt you to see her that way, so broken, feeling so stressed over you, maybe, if you had listened to her, if you had stayed at your house, maybe Agatha wouldn´t have been feeling this way right now, but it was too late to actually think about the what ifs, you didn´t want to cause her to be more stressed, so maybe, it was not even the time as well to let her know why you had been feeling sick for the past weeks, that would only add for her to feel more worried than ever, and you wanted her to keep her head cool so she would keep on being the best leader she was, so you only nodded, and Agatha visibly relaxed.

“I will stay here, I will not move from here, but please be safe alright? I will be waiting for you here, I will be waiting for you to come back, alright?” Agatha sighed and a smile formed on her face, she nodded again and pressed a soft kiss on your lips.

“Thank you doll, I will come back here with you” You girlfriend whispered softly to you and then she looked back at Rio who couldn´t help but feel guilty and Agatha did something she wouldn´t do ever again, she pressed her hand on Rio´s shoulder and then looked back at you again.

“We will come back to you” Rio smiled widely and nodded at Agatha´s words, she knew they would have a long talk when they came here next to you.

Agatha stood up and called the teenager to come over, he nodded quickly and ran towards the three of you, when he was standing next to you, he looked at Agatha waiting for her to talk.

“Listen boy, I know you are hiding something, and I know you can take care of you, we will have a talk later as well later, but right now, I have to ask you to please stay here with her, I don´t want her to be alone” The boy was surprised to see her so vulnerable, he hadn´t seen her this way, and he knew she was being sincere,  Agatha´s eyes showed so much emotions, fear was the most visible, it was clear she feared for you, she was scared of losing you and if he was honest he didn´t want that anything happened to you as well, and he was sure that any of the other witches of the new coven wanted for that to happen as well, all of them cared for you deeply and he was sure every witch here would do something in order to protect you.

He nodded and looked at Agatha with a serious expression on his face, however, their plan hadn´t go according to what they had wished.

You had seen them entering to the cabin, all of them, the teen had taken the seat next to you, the two of you had seen the other witches closed the door behind them, not even a minute had passed, or that was what you thought, that when you closed your eyes for a second and you opened them again, you were inside the cabin the teen was shocked as much as you and when you heard Agatha´s voice yelling your name, you knew things were going to get complicated.

“I told you to stay outside!” The witches were looking at you, they had turned around to look at you, Agatha was in what it seemed to be some stairs, Rio was at the front with a knife in her hand and another person was in the front. Someone you had never seen before, white hair and with a strange aura all over herself, the boy and you didn´t even have time to say you had in fact waited outside but the next minute you were inside with all of them!

“Let the girl and the baby inside of her with me, and I shall not harm anyone, you will be free to go” Agatha froze in her spot, her hands up in the air as she had tried to brush her hair out of her face after the ghost of her mother had tossed her the in the stairs, her mind freezing as well, for a second she didn´t understand, until Rio placed herself in front of the ghost of her mother.

“You can´t do that, she is not part of this, there are rules, and I will not let you take her” That was the moment when Agatha realized Evanora was talking about you, without realizing she walked down the stairs slowly until she reached the end of them where Evanora was floating, her lip almost quivering, the unsettling feeling growing stronger in her stomach.

“You don´t know what you are talking about” Was the first thing Agatha could say to the paler woman, getting a loud cackle from her.

“I don´t have time for this” Said the ghost and what happened next happened so fast you didn´t even have time to process exactly what was going in front of you, only catching glimpses, the ghost entering into Agatha´s body, Agatha starting to run towards you with such a strength that seemed inhuman, Rio trying to hold her, stopping her from taking a step forward to you, Agatha tossing Rio to the other side of the room, Jennifer and the teenager trying to keep her in place, Lilia had ran towards you to place herself in front of you, too shocked to even know what to do, how could they even fight a possessed witch, how were they supposed to fight a ghost? And the next thing you saw was Alice placing herself in front of you and Lilia, throwing strands of her power to Agatha, expulsing the ghost from your girlfriend´s body, Rio running to place herself next to Agatha to stop her from absorbing all of Alice´s powers, and then Alice falling to the floor, grunting but still alive, it felt as if everything had just happened in a matter of seconds, watching everything unfolding in front of you.

When the door opened, Agatha´s blue eyes stared at you, her eyes filled with tears, her expression unreadable, her hand on her mouth, covering it completely, her hair completely disheveled, but her eyes were always so easy to read, her blue eyes were looking at you with worry, showing how scared she was, how terrified she was feeling, and she did what she was used to when she didn´t know how to deal with her feelings and with the cruel world, she ran towards the opened door, getting out of the cabin as fast as possible, you had wanted to check on everyone, make sure Alice was fine, make sure Rio was not hurt, ask how Lilia felt and check if Jenn and the teenager were alright, but as you had sensed the complete wrecked state Agatha was in, you decided to go after her, no listening to the voices from behind calling out for you.

The first thing you saw after getting out of the cabin was how the scenery had changed completely, from the forest and the path being covered completely in leaves that had fallen from their trees, the sky that seemed to be dark as if you were late at night, the blood moon was nowhere to bee seen, the weather seemed to have changed completely, from the cold sensation that made your toes long for a pair of warming socks, to a different sensation in the air that it was even hard to describe, the light made the place look as if it you were in the middle of an abandoned forest that seemed to have ben burnt in some places, the trees didn´t have leaves and after squinting for a couple of minutes trying to locate Agatha you saw her walking some meters away, so you ran, you ran as fast as you could to reach her, and when she heard you calling out her name she abruptly stopped, but she didn´t dare to turn around to face you.

The fear and her awful thoughts had taken over her completely, she didn´t feel ready to face you, not yet, she needed time, time to process what had just happened, what she had just heard, trying to do something you did what you had done so many times, you took her by her arm, softly trying to make her to turn around to face you, but you felt the way her body stiffened, how her shoulders tensed, and the way she almost flinched, you heart broke when you felt her reaction, she had never rejected any type of contact, never before, until now.

“Agatha I´m-“ Before you could continue what you were about to say, what you had just learned today, what you had realized and Rio had confirmed, you heard a sob coming from her, and then her broken voice talked to you.

“I know, I know sweetheart, I just, I need time, please” She said without even looking at you, without facing you, and you were not sure what was hurting you more, the fact that she didn´t want to look at you, or if she didn´t let you address what was going on, so, with tears in your eyes you took your hand away from her arm and the moment Agatha felt you had let go of her arm, she started to walk faster, where to? You didn´t know, but you were sure she wanted to be alone, so for the first time in years you let her get away from you, alone, giving her the time to be alone, with her thoughts and her feelings, she hadn´t given you the chance to explain yourself or to talk with you, she just decided to leave, and it was breaking your heart, you felt the hot tears falling from your eyes, staining your shirt, feeling ashamed, not knowing why, you aggressively wiped the tears off your eyes with your sleeve, not caring if it left your face red and irritated.

Before you could do something else, Agatha suddenly turned herself around and walked back to you, as fast as she could, when she reached where you were, in a quick movement she pressed a quick yet soft kiss on your forehead, she didn´t  even give you time to do something because just as she pressed the soft kiss on your skin she turned herself around hastily and started to walk away without saying anything, you were not sure where she was going or if she was going to be safe alone there in woods of the road, but you knew she wanted to be alone, and you did not even know what to do, the only thing you thought you would be able to do was just to stand there, on the same spot she had left you in, not even knowing what to do, your mind completely blank, unable to form a coherent thought, your mind was a complete mess, what were you supposed to do now? Or at least, what were you supposed to think?

Hot tears were falling down your face, it seemed impossible to stop them from coming out of your eyes, the pain in your heart felt as if it was getting stronger and stronger with each passing second, for a moment everything seemed to go in a slow motion, the sensation of you getting out of your body, your hands feeling suddenly numb, and that was when you realized you had started to panic.

“Hey, come here, don´t worry, everything is going to be fine” Feeling Rio´s arms around you, engulfing you completely in a warm hug, her hands caressing slowly your back and you let her hold you, it helped you to stay a little bit calm, it helped you to bring you back to where you were, her warmth making you feel secure, safe, and you wanted her to hold you forever, that was when you realized you needed Rio as much as you needed Agatha, and the mere thought of Agatha made you cry harder, Rio´s heart was aching for you, she had seen the way Agatha had quickly left the place, but she knew the reason why Agatha had reacted that way, Rio knew the immense pain that Agatha had been carrying alone for so many centuries, the suffering Agatha had been having inside her since she lost Nicky, you still didn´t know what had happened to the blue-eyed witch, the reason why Rio and Agatha had separated ways for centuries, how much the loss of their beloved boy had affected the two of them, how much it had affected Agatha, to the point that the blue-eyed witch had seemed to shut everyone off, until you.

Rio let you cry more and more on her chest, giving you as much comfort as she could, trying to help you ease the pain, why did it hurt so much? Because you didn´t know what Agatha was thinking? Or because it seemed to trouble Agatha knowing you were pregnant? Was she mad? Was she disgusted? Could she be disgusted? What if she didn´t want children? You hadn´t had the chance to talk about having children during all these years you had shared, you in fact, hadn´t even think about having kids, it was not something you had not stopped to think about it thoroughly, let alone, having the chance to discuss it with Agatha, the love of your life as you had told her so many times, but you were terrified, you were not sure why Agatha had reacted that way, and it only made your anxiety grow incredibly fast.

“She is going to leave me” Was the only thing you were able to say to Rio between sobs, the mere thought of Agatha leaving you made your heart ache more, you were not sure if she would be able to do that, would she start treating you like she treated others? Would she stop caring about you? It terrified you and the thoughts were only making you cry harder, it hurt Rio to see you in such a vulnerable state, to see you so hurt, but she also knew that when Agatha didn´t know what to do or what to feel, she would just leave, that was how she coped, the way she had learned all over the years to cope with hard feelings, with unknown feelings or things, and this had taken Agatha by surprised, so Rio could understand why the blue-eyed witch had decided to leave, but you didn´t, and that was the reason that was causing you so much distress, not knowing what Agatha would do or why she  had acted the way she did.

“She is not going to leave you, alright? She is just, she is afraid, she just needs a little bit of time to take in everything that just happened, alright?” She said to you in a whisper, tightening her hold on you, her firm voice made you feel comforted, the way she sounded so sure about Agatha´s feelings made you feel a little bit less anxious, she was the one who knew Agatha a lot more than you, you were sure about that, and listening to these words coming out of Rio, helped you ease the pain, a little.

Nodding against Rio´s chest, and after a couple more minutes of letting her hold you close to her, the sobs coming from you started to lessen and the tiredness started to take over you, Rio sensed the change in your mood, how your shoulders started to relax a little, your body didn´t seem to be so tense against her, she saw the witches behind the two of you, their sad expressions in their faces, she knew all of them cared for you, and how could they now? You were just so sweet and caring towards everyone, and she was sure they would make sure you were fine, even if she didn´t want to leave you, she knew she also needed to go look for Agatha and talk to her, Rio knew she could trust in the witches to take care of you while she went to look for Agatha.

“Can you stay with here and have an eye on her, please” The voice echoing in the minds of the witches behind the two of you made them lift ther heads to look at the brown-eyed witch holding you in her arms, and all of them nodded, they would stay there with you, take care of you while Rio went away.

Lilia who was the one who took a step forward, walked towards the two of you, she slowly pressed her hands on your shoulders, caressing them slowly and you felt Rio gently separating from you.

“You are going to be fine, don´t worry please, I will come back with Agatha, I just need to talk to her, alright?” The way Rio talked to you in such a soft tone made you want to cry again, she was being so gentle and you only wanted her to hold you, but you nodded, not wanting to be more of a burden, so you separated from her, her hands slowly slipping away from you, giving you one last squeeze to your hands, Lilia was quick to take your hands in hers, taking your right one into hers and her left hand was placed on your back, giving you a slight and gentle push to make you walk towards the nearest tree trunk in the middle of the road, you were still trying hard to stop crying completely, you were not sobbing anymore, but still you felt the need to cry, and it made you feel a little bit ashamed, it made you feel guilty.

Lila turned her head a little, just enough to look back at Rio for a second, and when Lilia nodded back at her, in a way to reassure they were going to stay with you until they came back, Rio gave her a smile and nodded back at the Sicilian witch, taking it as her cue to leave, she turned herself around to start walking to where Agatha ad left minutes ago,  she was not sure how things would go, or if Agatha would let her talk, but she hoped the blue-eyed witch would let her, they needed to talk, to face what had happened.

After some minutes of walking through the path covered in leaves, she saw the silhouette of her former lover, Rio sighed deeply, they needed to talk for once and all about what happened, that would be the only way to get back to you and figure how things would work out from now on.

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Lilia was holding you, she had taken the seat next to you, your head resting on her shoulder and her arm over your shoulders, letting you stay close to her, she even caressed your arm up and down, soothing you, making sure you felt safe, it was helping you, the tears had stopped coming, but the sadness was still there, so many questions on your mind, not knowing what would happen now, Lilia was worried, you were so quiet, it was as if the light that was around you had started to become dim, and with each passing minute of not knowing where Agatha and Rio were, that light would become duller, to the point in which only darkness would take all over you completely.

The other witches were around you as well, Jennifer was next to Lilia, watching you with a worried expression on her face, Alice was next to you on the tree trunk as well, her hands in her pockets but with her eyebrows furrowed, she didn´t know what to say to try and make you feel better, she knew that what had happened was a touchy subject for you, and she was afraid she could make things worse, or even make you cry again, Alice was happy at least that you had seemed to stop crying, but you still had that lost look on your face, just staring at the floor, your head on Lilia´s shoulder and completely quiet, not even moving, she looked at the teenager who was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, looking at the ground, he didn´t know what t say, because just as Alice, he didn´t want to make things worse for you.

“What if Agatha doesn´t come back?” You suddenly asked out loud, feeling your heart shrinking at the thought of Rio coming back without Agatha, coming back to announce that Agatha had decided to finish the road alone and that simple thought made your heart ache in so much pain.

Lilia sighed deeply and separated a little from you, you only kept looking at the leaves on the ground and Lilia gently placed her hand on your chin to lift your face to make you look at her.

“Oh sweet girl, your mind is playing awful tricks to you, I understand the deep pain you are feeling right now, but trust me when I say, that witch, is completely in love with you, she is so smitten by you, trust me when I say, we have heard so much about her, we have got to see the way she just doesn´t care about anyone else, and we have never seen acting so caring about someone else, I can see the bond you two have, and I can assure you, that woman would not leave you, she would not let you finish this road alone, just as you right now, the hurt you feel right now, I can see Agatha carries her own burdens, something she has to come to terms, I know she only needs a little bit of time, and I know Rio is going to help her with that, she just needs a little bit of guidance, you will see” Lilia´s eyes were so bright, she transmitted you a peace you so much needed now, her words, just as Rio´s were making you feel at ease, her presence also made you feel relaxed and safe, and deep down, you felt her words were right, but even if she was right, the pain in your heart was still there.

“She´s right, if someone would have told me someone had tamed Agatha, I would have not believed it! But you have her wrapped around your finger, she makes everything to keep you safe” Jennifer said with a small smile, she had never thought a woman like Agatha would be so whipped, she was sure that whatever had happened to Agatha, or the reason why she had suddenly left, she would sorted it out with the help of Rio, and the two would come back, she was sure about that.

“You should have seen Agatha when I broke into their home, she was ready to fight me and tie me, she even pushed me out of the chair” The dark haired boy said with a slight chuckle, Agatha had been so wary of him because she didn´t want anything to happen to you, his comment made you smile a little, remembering how worried she had been about you.

“Oh my god! You broke into their house?” Alice asked him with her eyes wide, now she needed to know the full story.

“Yes, I mean, I told her I was sorry, but, now that I think, it was not the smartest idea” He commented while nodding slowly, it had been definitely not the best idea he had come up with.

“I am lucky she was the one who found me, because Agatha would have thrown me out of the window for sure” For the first time in what seemed like hours, you finally laughed, the heaviness in your heart leaving slowly, and the witches couldn´t help but smile as well, feeling a little bit relieved that you were coming back slowly.

“Yes, she would have done that” You said while lifting your face to look at him, Lilia smiled as well, seeing you laughing, even if it was just a little made her heart feel warm and her grip around you tightened a little, in a gentle way that it made you want to thank her for not letting you go and keep holding you, so you looked back at her to give her one big smile.

“Thank you” You said to her while looking straight into her eyes, and Lilia felt her eyes getting a little bit glossy, before she could say something to you, you turned your face to look at all of the witches sitting around you.

“Thank you, for being here with me” Your heart felt warm, the heaviness was almost completely gone, Alice, Jennifer and the dark-haired boy gave you a watery smile.

“You don´t have to thank us for anything sweet girl, we are a coven, we are not going to leave anyone behind, and certainly not you, we are going to make sure you are fine, and we are going to make it to the end, alright? No matter what” Lilia´s words made you feel face, her words gave you the security you needed to feel at the moment, you nodded and smiled at her again, you felt your eyes getting glossy again, but this time, it was not because you were hurt or in pain, it was because your heart filled with warmth and love, you had never had a coven, you had been a coven-less witch, being on your own until you met Agatha, but having this, a coven, and being told you were part of them, it made you feel happiness, a sense of belonging you had never felt, and you felt grateful for that.

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Rio and Agatha were walking slowly next to each other, their steps being careful, trying not to make too much noise while stepping on the leaves scattered all over the ground, Agatha was feeling nervous, afraid, remembering your beautiful face full of pain, your eyes filled with tears, tears that she had made to fall from your beautiful eyes, she was feeling guilty, she got scared and she just needed time to think, to get her feelings and thought back in place, she hadn´t mean to hurt you on purpose, and she didn´t know if you were still crying, but one things she was sure of, she would make sure not to make you cry again because of her own fear, you didn´t deserve to be in pain because of her.

Agatha knew that what Rio had told her was right, she needed to come to terms with her own feelings, with her past in order not to affect you, in order not to hurt you, she needed to let you know the truth, even if it was too painful to even say Nicky´s name out loud, but she knew she needed to tell you everything.

When they got closer to the group of witches gathered around the tree trunk, they saw Lilia holding you close to her, a slight smile on your face, while listening to what the boy sitting on the ground was saying, Alice was talking as well and you seemed content being surrounded by all of them, Agatha could see how kind they were trying to be with you, how careful they were trying to act around you not to hurt you more, and she knew, Agatha knew, she would need to thank them for that, for treating with so much kindness and making you feel alright, for taking care of you while she had just left, while she had decided to fly away while you were in a vulnerable state, all of the witches were trying to cheer you up, Jennifer was listening attentively to what the dark-haired boy and Alice were telling, but just as Lilia, she would from time to time take a glance at you to make sure you were feeling fine, looking for any trace of discomfort while Lilia would caress slowly your arm up and down.

“She really likes being with them” Rio said suddenly while also looking at you from afar, Rio´s heart was feeling warm, she knew they witches would be able to take care of you while the two of them were not there with you, the blue-eyed witch knew she had to start being a little bit, just a little bit friendlier to them, just maybe she would thank them for being with you.

The closest they got to all of you, Agatha felt her heart bit faster with each step forward they took, the nervousness taking all over her, not wanting to see you cry again because of her, she didn´t have time to think what she would say to you, or how she would say sorry because, before she could actually come up with something, the two of them were already in front of the group, the witches�� laughter and words started to decrease slowly until there was only quietness surrounding all of you.

 Rio waited for Agatha to talk to you first, she knew Agatha needed to take the first step, you still felt a little bit wounded for having being left alone by Agatha, so you just started at the ground, not daring to look at the two witches who were standing in front of all of you.

Agatha cleared her throat and after some seconds that seemed to be so long like hours passing, she finally got the courage to talk directly at you, she stretched her hand out for you showing you that you could take her hand.

“Can we please talk, doll?” The pet name made your face get warm, she definitely knew that you always loved to be called like that by her, and even if you still were hurt, you couldn´t say no to her, so you just nodded and Lilia encouraged you slightly giving you a gently push to stand up and take Agatha´s hand, you took the soft hand that the blue-eyed witch was offering to you, and Agatha felt her heart skipping a beat, the nervousness started to dissipate, and a little bit of confidence started to invade her body, Rio placed her hand on your waist and the two witches that had come for you looked at the group of witches sitting on the tree trunk and at the boy as well who was still on the ground, the two of them nodded at the witches letting them know they were grateful to have been there for you, and all of the witches gave them a smile, they knew that after the three of you talked, they would be able to continue walking down the road and finish it, they felt all of them would make it to the end, and now, their goal as well, was to help you make it to the end and make sure nothing happened to you or the baby who was growing inside of you.

The group saw Agatha and Rio guiding you slowly towards they had disappeared before, sighing deeply they knew that once the three of you came back, you would have a smile on your face as well as Rio and Agatha.

“Do you think Agatha would let us gift them clothes for the baby?” The teen suddenly asked out loud and the witches started to think about his question.

“I don´t know, you would have to ask her, you are the one who she seems to like a little bit more than all of us” Alice said to him with a curious look on her face.

“What do you mean? She was going to let me sleep on the floor because I broke into her house, if someone could ask her without having consequences of being made fun of, would be Lilia for sure” Alice, the teenager and Jennifer turned their face to look at the Sicilian witch who had her left eyebrow raised, she seemed to be deep in thought and after some seconds she nodded agreeing to what the teen had said.

“Maybe we could ask her when we get out of here first” All of them nodded and the teen couldn´t hide his excitement, he was sure all of you would make it to the end, and then, he would be able ask you so many questions he had in his mind, right now, they only needed to wait for you to continue.

Meanwhile, Agatha and Rio took you to the same place where Rio had found the blue-eyed witch in the middle of the misty forest on the road, Agatha´s hand was still holding yours, and caressing the back of your hand from time to time, while she turned her face to look at your expression, you hadn´t lifted your eyes from the ground and the guilt it was eating her from the inside, Rio never let go of your waist, she tried to be as close as possible to you, until Agatha suddenly stopped and turned herself around to look at you properly.

“Doll, I am so sorry, I-, I shouldn´t have left like that, I made you cry, I made you feel distressed, I am so sorry, please, I didn´t want to make you cry” Agatha had started to cry, the tears were falling down her eyes, her beautiful baby blue eyes were covered in hot tears and it made your heart hurt, it was so rare to see her cry, she never cried and it only made you feel the need to hold her tightly and wipe the tears off her face, so with your right hand you brought your fingers to gently wiped the tears off her face and Agatha´s heart melted at the gesture, she placed her left hand on yours and brought it to her lips to press a soft kiss to the back of your hand.

“Please forgive me for making you cry, I was scared, I am still scared, I had so many emotions in me, so many thoughts that made me walk away from you, that made me leave you there, and I feel so bad for what I did, I shouldn´t have left you standing there, I was scared, I am still terrified, because I don´t want to lose you… I don´t want to lose you or the baby, I am so scared doll” Agatha´s words made you cry again, her words hitting you hard, and listening to her talk about the life growing inside of you, the baby inside of you, it melted your heart, her words filled you with happiness and so much love, so you hugged her, you passed your arms around her shoulders and she instinctively placed her hands on your waist, pulling you impossibly closer to her.

“I don´t want to lose you, you are the one that I love the most, and it makes me happy to know that we created another life, but there is something I have not told you, and it is the reason of why I am so scared, I want to be honest and tell you everything” Her voice so close to your ear and the way she sounded so serious made you realize that it was something really important, you just nodded against her and separated from her to look at her with your eyebrows furrowed, Agatha thought how sweet you looked with that serious expression on your face, she took a deep breath and looked at Rio to nod at her to let her know she could come near the two of you.

Rio came behind you and slowly took your right hand in hers, while Agatha took your left hand, they guided you to a spot in the ground, where the leaves seem to be greener, Agatha quickly took her coat off and placed it on the ground, only to guide you to sit on it, which only made your face become red because of her gesture, while Rio playfully shook her head, the two of them sat in front of you and each one of them took one of your hands.

You saw the way Agatha´s shoulders tensed for a second before she took a deep breath, Rio looked at her with a sad expression on her face, her brown-eyes full of concern, so you just waited until Agatha felt ready to tell you what she wanted to say, giving her a squeeze to her hand to encourage her and help her feel alright.

“Centuries ago, when I killed my coven, I wandered off, studying and gaining knowledge, stealing power from other witches, and then, I met her” Agatha stopped talking and turned her face to the side to look at Rio, who suddenly just stared at the ground, not wanting to look at Agatha.

“We, we fell in love, I knew who she was, I had seen her from time to time when she arrived to take the souls of those whom I have killed, but we fell for the other, we started to saw each other from time to time, she would appear out of nowhere in the forest, but as the time passed more and more, we started to see each other more and more, then, just like you, I got pregnant” You gasped in shock at what she had said, and Agatha chuckled a little bit, her breathing becoming faster, her hands started to tremble slightly and your hold in her hand became stronger.

“Nicholas was his name” Agatha´s voice had become shaky, the tears started to fall down her face more and more, and even if you had wanted to hold her or say something to her, you knew you needed to let her finish.

“He was the sweetest boy, calling me mom, following me all the time around, going behind Rio and following her when she needed to go, she would always take him by his tiny hand and bring him back to me telling him he needed to stay with me until she came back” You turned to Rio to look at her, her sad look, still staring at the ground, not daring to look at you or at Agatha, crying silently on her spot, you gave a squeeze to her hand to try and comfort her somehow.

“I knew he was supposed to have been taken away since he hadn´t even been born, but Rio granted us time, she gave us time, she gave me time with Nicky, the three of us, we were so happy, a family, time running I knew, with each passing year I knew our time would come to an end, I knew he was sick, I couldn´t heal him, no one could, and I knew our time with him would come to an end sooner or later, but I tried to be with him as much as possible I tried, I did everything I could, until his time came” Agatha couldn´t keep herself together anymore, her free hand was covering her mouth, tears streaming down her face, her eyes closed and Rio was crying as well, so silently you were afraid she would choke on her own tears for not allowing herself to cry properly, you wanted to comfort the two of them, you knew and you were sure that it had been too hard for Rio to take her son with her, that was the reason of her pain, of the sorrow and pain that she carried with her, and knowing the reason behind Agatha and her separating ways, broke your heart apart, why had life been so cruel to them? You would have loved to tell the two of them that you understood, but actually you had no idea how you would react if something like that happened to you, with any one of the two of them, how would you take it? Would you even be able to stand something like that?

“That is why I am so scared, I don´t want to lose you, or the baby we are just expecting,  I don´t want to pass through that again, I know I shouldn´t have brought you here with us, but we are here now, and I want to make sure you are safe, but without my powers I am so useless, I will not be able to protect you from anything” Agatha´s voice sounded so broken, and for the first time you didn´t know how to comfort her, Rio pressed her hand on Agatha´s shoulder and you looked at the brown-eyed woman, your could feel the pain coming out of her, and god, how much you wished you could just take the pain away from the two of them.

“I will make sure nothing happens to her, this time, things will be different, nothing will happen to you, or to her, and I can assure you, the baby will be just fine” Her beautiful voice filled your heart with warmth, she was assuring Agatha nothing would happen to you, her brown eyes wandering from Agatha to you, and you only smiled at her, Agatha quickly lifted her head to look at Rio, giving her a big smile, making you and Rio smile back at her, you knew, they still had to talk, and the three of you needed to talk more, regarding how this relationship would develop, but you knew, you would have more time when you get out of the road, in Agatha´s house, you knew, you would be talking about the three of you when all of you make it safe out of the road.

“Thank you for letting me know about this, I can only imagine the pain and sorrow you have been carrying alone for so many centuries and I know I won´t be able to take it all away, even if I want to, I know I won´t be able to take all the pain away, but I want to be there with you, with the two of you, I want to be there for the two of you” The way Rio and Agatha were looking at you with gentle smiles on their faces, the brightness in their eyes let you know they liked the idea, Agatha´s heart started to feel the heaviness and sorrow becoming a little bit more manageable, after telling you what she had been hiding for centuries, what she had been hiding for years from you, she could feel a heaviness going slowly away from her shoulders, she was sure with you, knowing this and having you by her side she would be able to keep on carry on, to start a new phase in her life, along with Rio as well.

Rio could feel the sadness in her heart slowly decreasing, she and Agatha knew Nicky would always be a part of their hearts and they would never be able to forget him, but the memory of the beloved Nicky had started to become less painful, she knew that with time and with your help the two of them would be able to talk about Nicky and remember him without feeling that immense amount of pain, and they would be able to remember him with the love they had for him and the love the two of them used to share, it would be a long path for the two of them, to come to terms with their past and with each other, but Rio knew, that with you there, with your help, with your kind smile and caring nature, they would be able to do it, in the end, they wanted the same thing, and it was to keep on loving you.

You threw yourself to them, passing your arms around their shoulders, taking them by surprise, but after some seconds of taking you in ther arms, they quickly pressed ther hands on your body, Agatha and Rio´s hands touched when they hugged you as well, but they didn´t mind, for the first time in so many centuries, they felt comfortable enough to be touching the other again, thanks to you, they knew they would be able to be in peace, to get to talk to each other again without fighting, but first, they needed to get you safe to the end and take you back home, they knew they still have a lot to talk, the two of them and also they would have so many talks with you as well, but they would do it later, after getting out of this place, right now, they wanted to enjoy the feeling of you being on their arms, having you close to them, and they were not going to let you go, they were not going to risk losing you.

After some more hugs and sweet words from them to you, you realized it was time to go back to your coven, to continue walking to make it to the end alive, with the two of them, the woman whose brown eyes seemed to be so sad all the time, and the woman with the blue piercing eyes who always was so confident and always knew what to say, you were for sure lucky to have the two of them, and one more thing, was that you finally had your coven, finally you felt like you could have a family, and it made your heart fill with happiness.

“We have to go back to our coven” You said to Agatha and Rio, a smile grew instantly on their faces and nodded at the same time.

“Our coven” Repeated Agatha, it felt nice, Agatha thought, to have a coven after so many centuries, and she felt happy that you also got to be part of it, without you her coven would be incomplete, Agatha then looked at Rio who was looking at you with such a loving expression on her face, she was sure that Rio´s love for you was as intense as her own love for you, and knowing that, made her realize that you would always have as much love from the two of them as you needed, she knew that the three of you would come to build something beautiful, between Rio and her, the missing piece was you, you were the only one who could make them stop fighting and work together, she knew Rio loved you deeply and she didn´t mind, her heart suddenly skipped a beat when she saw Rio´s eye slight up when you smiled at the brown-eyed woman, and this time, the feeling didn´t scare her at all.

The three of you started to walk back to where you had left your coven, Agatha was holding you by your waist, holding you close to her, while Rio was holding your hand, bringing it to her lips, leaving small kisses to the back of your hand.

Lilia was the first to notice you walking back to them, the three of you seemed to be more relaxed, your shoulders were not tense anymore, and your mood could be sensed from where you were walking, she sensed contentment, the same feeling Agatha and Rio were exuding, the three of you had smiles on your faces, and a strong bond could be sensed as well, she knew that from now on, no one would be able to separate you, and it made Lilia´s heart filled with contentment, that was how love seem like.

The witches saw you getting closer to them, and a smile plastered on their faces, they still knew that they needed to finish the road, and the fear of the left trials was still there, not knowing what the trials would make them face, but they knew and they were sure, that all of you would make it to the end, safe and sound.

｡˚ ︶︶✩︶︶ ₊ ˚ ︶︶✩

“We are back” The teen, or now that you knew his name, and knew who he was, Billy said out loud, after the last door had finally opened and the bright light had almost left them blind, all of you managed to get out of the last trial safe and sound, after all of your eyes got used to the light of the sunny landscape in front of you, you were surprised, seeing Agatha´s backyard again was something you had not been waiting, but it only meant one thing, you had gotten out of the road, safe, all of you had made it back! All of your coven had made it out of the road, all of you were safe!

“It looks like we finished the road, no one was left behind” Billy said again with a smile on his face, Agatha had one of her hands on your waist, holding you tightly while Rio had her arm around your shoulder, her hold around you being gentle and caring, the two of them were at your sides, and you enjoyed feeling them this close to you, you were sure this would be how things were going to be from now on, and you loved it.

You still couldn´t believe how all of you managed to get out of the road, the whole coven was made it out safe, Lilia had been able to get control of her powers, she felt in control, because she was in control, you still were surprised how Jennifer had got her magic back, complimenting her about the nice pink that her powers were, the same tone of her pink dress, which made her give you a big smile, she felt like a complete new woman, you knew Billy was going to stuck for a while asking so many questions to Agatha, but you also knew he had the goal of finding his brother, and he would do it without problems you knew it very well, being the son of the Scarlet Witch made him too powerful, but he was still a teen, he needed to control his emotions as well, and you knew he would be able to do it.

Alice had broken her generational curse, she felt so much better without that weight on her shoulders, she had a different view of life, she felt like she could do anything she wanted, she felt free for once in her life, she felt powerful, and she knew, she would do anything she wanted from now on, not having to worry about things going south.

Your beloved blue-eyed witch had got her powers back, she felt complete again, having her “purple” back made her feel powerful again, and having got you out of the road safe and sound made her feel a lot better, having you close to her was the best feeling, and the baby you two were expecting, that also made her feel excited, the fear and overwhelming feeling of being on the road where anything could go wrong had gone away, finally she felt as if she could think clearly, as if she could feel a lot more, she could feel peace, her heart was not covered in fear, the sorrow of he first son Nicky and the pain would always be there within her, but she knew that with you and Rio, she would be able to learn how to cope with it, she knew this was her gift, this was the life she had wanted, it was her chance to have a family of her own and she would make sure this time it would last longer, a lot more, she would make sure to be with you all the time, and she knew Rio felt the same when it came to you.

You still were curious about what Agatha and Rio talked about when the two of them disappeared, but whatever they had talked, it had helped Agatha a lot, and you were grateful with Rio, you were not sure what type of conversation they had, but it seemed that it had helped the two to of them, and it made you happy knowing that Agatha and Rio finally seemed to be comfortable being near each other.

You saw Billy going to the middle of the backyard and he went to lay down on it, Alice, Jennifer and Lilia went towards him, the three witches were looking at the sky, they seemed happy, relaxed that they had got from the road what they were missing, and you were beaming with joy that all of you had made it out alive, they were your family, all of them your coven, you could now start a new chapter in your life, with Rio and Agatha by your side you were sure you would be able to have everything you always wanted, and the life growing inside of you also made you feel excited, You were sure Rio and Agatha would be amazing mothers, and even if you were a little bit scared, you were sure that whatever would come regarding the baby, Agatha and Rio would be there for you to make sure you were fine.

“We´re fine” You commented out loud, just for Agatha and Rio to hear, and they nodded with a smile on their faces, Agatha´s right hand was still on your waist, giving you a soft squeeze, while Rio had her arm around your shoulders, caressing your arm up and down with soothing movements, the two of them felt happy, genuinely happy, Rio could tell that the sadness that she had been carrying with her started to become more manageable, and she was happy she would get to be part of your life as well with Agatha, she wouldn´t miss this chance, she was not going to let you go, yes, the road had been messy, scary, terrifying, but in the end, it seemed that it had given her what she had wished for, as well as Agatha, now, Rio and Agatha would get a second chance to form a family again, to get to experience everything again, Nicky´s memory would always be with them, but they also knew they couldn´t let the pain consume them again, not with you by their sides, and Agatha and Rio knew that you would be there for them, when the darkest thoughts would take completely over them, they were sure that with your light, caring nature and love, you would be able to get them back to you, because that what they needed and wanted, was to be with you, and they would make sure that nothing would happen to you, ever, this time, they would make sure not to commit the same past mistakes, they had two lives to care for from now on, and they would make sure that everything would work completely fine.

That was what Agatha and Rio needed, their own little family, their own space, for sure, they still needed to talk more, about what happened, about how things would develop from now on, but the love they have for you was enough to make them feel they would be able to sort everything from now on, and they loved the way you smiled at the witches talking between them on Agatha´s backyard, they knew it would be amazing people around you and the baby, Agatha would make sure to have an eye on them, just to make sure she was keeping you safe, in the end, the road had given them what they needed, to all of them, a coven, a family, and you couldn´t be more excited to see how things would go from now on, you felt so lucky for having two amazing women loving you with so much intensity, and a whole new coven, a whole family to take care of you and to look after each other.

[aayakashii]

Finally managed to finish this fic 🧘🏻‍♀️ this one is for the members of Haku Gfs Club™️ @ghoulspaw @kusanagihaku and @pinkaditty

I just gave it a read so it's not properly edited – I apologize if there are too many mistakes in it ;-; I'm not super satisfied with this one, but I hope you guys like it <3 Also, it's a standalone, so there will be no continuation!

The title comes from a Florence+ The Machine song, Addicted to Love.

might as well face it

You never really knew why Haku didn't frequent Rui's bar. And honestly, you never thought of asking either. Among the thousands of secrets every ghoul always kept from you, that one seemed innocuous enough for you to ignore.

So, when Rui called you at 3am on a weekday, you would never guess he would ask you to escort Haku back to Hotarubi.

“Sorry, doll, you're the only one I can ask to help me with this.” Rui's voice sounded sincerely apologetic. “There's no one else here in the bar, I promised Lyca I'd help him with his homework – and you know how he gets when he's expecting something – and Subaru isn't answering his phone.”

You shrugged, as you changed out of your pajamas.

“I mean, it IS late at night and he’s way more responsible than us. But what happened to him?”

“Oh, you know.” You imagined Rui waving his hand dismissively. “Hakucchi can't hold his liquor very well. He's wasted.”

You pursed your lips, trying hard not to laugh. The thought of the most nonchalant and aloof man you knew tripping on his own feet amused you more than it probably should.

“And why can't he stay in one of the rooms like Haru does sometimes?”

Rui sighed loudly.

“He's adamant on going back to Hotarubi. I'm trying to keep him here for a little longer because I'm worried about him just crashing and sleeping in the middle of Obscuary's woods. Who knows, he could legit die on his way back.”

It was your turn to sigh loudly. A dull headache was slowly forming in the back of your head.

“Okay… I'm going.” You grumbled as you made your way outside of your dorm and into the chilly night. “He's lucky I wasn't asleep yet.”

“Thank you, cutie, I owe you one and Haku will owe you his life~” Rui made a sharp kissing sound on his end of the line, quickly hanging up before you could have any change of heart.

And after a hurried walk towards Obscuary and sincere apologies from Rui, you ended up trudging through the campus with a very much inebriated, heavy, limp-bodied Haku leaning on your shoulder – his sultry voice murmuring nonsensical things in your ear as you suppressed a shiver from going down your spine.

His breath smelled like one of Rui's sweet, sparkly drinks – the ones you drank when you didn't want to wake up the next day with a mean hangover.

Haku really was extremely lightweight, it seemed.

“You smell so good” Haku murmured, nuzzling your head as he leaned all his weight onto your body, feet dragging clumsily on the ground.

Not only were you struggling not to trip and fall headfirst onto the asphalt, bringing a grown man down with you; said grown man made the task all the more difficult as he kept on shamelessly flirting with you.

“Haku, please, can't you help me a little bit here? Try to walk a bit too, come on.” You grunted, pushing him away from you, only to have him throw his arms around your shoulders once more.

“But it feels so good like this.” He murmured way too close to your ear and you gritted your teeth, shutting your eyes tightly in order to keep your thoughts from going to places you really didn't want to visit.

Haku's breathy, silky voice had always been your worst and weakest point. Sometimes you wondered if he knew it, consciously or not. If he did, it would definitely explain how he always sounded just a little bit more husky, just a little bit more sultry whenever you two were alone.

“I can't carry you properly like this, though?! Look, we're already at Hotarubi. Try to walk just a little bit longer, please?” You huffed and puffed, the exertion and the warmth of his body overpowering the cold night and causing you to break a sweat.

“Hmm…” he hummed before rubbing his cheek against your hair, then sighed. “Okay… but just because it's you who's asking.”

Haku straightened his back as much as he could, slinging just one arm around your shoulder, and stumbled inside his dorm. You finally managed to breathe properly, relieved of all the dead weight he had been putting on your shoulder.

Still, you navigated through Hotarubi's slippery corridors quite poorly as Haku's head hung low and he blinked slowly, fading in and out of a drunken sleep while you dragged him to his room.

Once inside, you watched with an amused and exasperated look as Haku stumbled towards his futon, letting himself fall heavily onto it, face down, with a loud groan of someone who subconsciously knew he'd very much regret his choice to drink afterwards.

You wiped the sweat off of your forehead while you walked towards him.

“Sit up just a little bit. You can't sleep with your uniform like this.”

He shuffled on his bed, slowly propping himself on his elbows.

“Trying to get me out of my clothes, are you, Honor Student? How bold you are. Thought you'd ask me out for dinner first.” He murmured with a smirk and half-lidded eyes.

You sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose and pushing all of your confusing emotions away. You would not deal with your feelings right then and there. Not when Haku was so obviously out of his mind.

“You can't sleep with your blazer otherwise you'll wrinkle it. Unless you're a Frostheim bourgeois who has a whole collection of these expensive ass blazers. If not, you need to take it off.” you said, exasperated. You held out your hand, motioning for him to give you his clothes.

He raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly, as if you had said something incredibly wise. You very much knew how expensive those blazers were after seeing how careful Kaito was with his. You wouldn’t let Haku just ruin his uniform.

He clumsily took off his blazer and handed it to you.

“You know, rumor has it that I might have been, in fact, a Frostheim bourgeois.”

You were trying so very hard not to notice the scent of sandalwood that clung in his blazer as you hung it on a nearby chair, that you almost didn't pay attention to the little gem of information he seemed to be offering to you. Almost.

“Well... Were you?” you asked with one eyebrow raised.

He grinned mischievously, putting a finger on his lips and shushing loudly. You rolled your eyes at his drunken antics as you scooted closer to help him out of his vest and tie.

“Sit properly so I can help you out of this vest and necktie.”

He pouted, rolling his head back. The sharp pops of his neck made him grimace.

“I think… That you’re enjoying undressing me.” he smirked as his head hung to the side. “You can always do this, you know, you just have to ask.”

You fidgeted in your position and pressed the heels of your hands on your eyes. You rubbed your face, trying hard to erase the tingling feeling on your cheeks and ignore his unabashed flirting.

‘He’s drunk. He’s just fucking drunk’ you chanted in your mind and took a deep breath.

“I’m just trying to help you not ruin the most expensive parts of your uniform, you dumbass.” you muttered, avoiding eye contact.

Haku threw his head to the other side, placing a hand over his heart as if you had just physically hurt him.

“Oh, how cold, Honor Student.” he sighed, head still limp as if he couldn’t hold it upright, but began to shuffle in place as he sat properly on his futon.

You held your breath while you opened his vest as fast as you possibly could, ignoring the heaviness of his gaze. He blinked lazily, eyes scanning your face and your hands as you fiddled with his buttons and then moved to loosen his tie.

You tried not to notice how he licked his lips when you pushed the vest out of his shoulders, but the gooseflesh that pricked your skin was proof that you failed.

“Hey.” He called out to you, voice hoarse and low - the type of voice you had always imagined he would have during early mornings, right after waking up, when his golden eyes would still be glossy with sleepiness.

You shook your head, pushing the thought away, and got up to place his vest and tie on the chair, right on top of his blazer.

“Yes?” you asked, straightening imaginary wrinkles on his clothes only to avoid his eyes.

Haku paused for a moment, as if waiting for you to turn around to look at him. When you didn’t, he took a deep breath and leaned back on his elbows once again.

“I'm so in love with you.” He murmured with a lazy smile on his face and his eyes closed, as if he had just told you the most obvious thing in the world.

You closed your eyes as your breath hitched and your hands curled into fists, gripping the fabric of his uniform tightly and undoing all your efforts of keeping it pristine and straightened.

Despite yourself, you felt a giddiness bubble inside your stomach. You wondered how many nights you’ve spent imagining scenarios in which he would say that exact thing.

Scenarios in which you actually deserved him saying such things while sober and not an overly-affectionate drunk.

You were quiet when you kneeled besides his feet to untie his laces and take off his shoes and socks.

“You hear? I'm in love with you.” He repeated as he nudged you with his knee, opening his eyes for a moment to check if you were actually paying attention. You gritted your teeth, jaw visibly flexing.

“Huh. Is that so.” You answered, bitter and cold, but your dismissal seemed to have gone over his head as he closed his eyes and sighed with a dreamy look on his face.

“Yeah. I love you. So much.”

You shot up to your feet, as if his words shocked you like an electric current, and walked towards his desk to grab his water bottle. You placed it right beside him with a heavy, tired sigh. You really didn't need that at that moment.

“Do you have paracetamol so you can take it if you need it during the morning?”

Haku furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, nose scrunching in a way that he never did while sober. You cursed yourself for thinking he looked adorable.

“Aren't you gonna say anything?” He asked.

“About?”

“I love you.”

You closed your eyes, trying to ignore the leaps of your heart whenever he said those words.

“You're drunk, Haku.” You breathed out, looking at him with exasperation in your voice.

“And…?”

“You're spewing nonsense.” You muttered, dusting yourself off only to avoid his gaze and to keep your hands occupied. “Go to sleep and you'll feel better tomorrow.”

“You don't believe me?” Haku widened his eyes, a tinge of hurt audible in his honeyed voice.

“The alcohol is making you say things you don't mean. Go to sleep.”

“You don't believe me.” Hurt quickly changed to incredulity.

“Good night, Haku. If you need anything, you can send me a message.”

“No, wa-wait.”

Haku quickly tried to get on his feet, but the dizziness still clouded his movements and he ended up tripping, falling on his knees. You gasped and kneeled beside him, eyes trained on his knees that had hit the tatami floor with an uncomfortable thud.

“Are you okay?” You asked, hand hovering over his back.

Haku slowly turned his head towards you. His golden slitted eyes glinted with something you couldn't quite understand.

“Why don't you believe me?” He murmured.

You opened your mouth, then closed it – no words made their way out of your lips.

God fucking dammit.

How could you even begin to explain to him all the reasons why you couldn't believe in him – but mostly how you couldn't believe in yourself – no matter how much you wanted to?

“Do you think I would lie about something like that?” He narrowed his eyes, looking at you as if you had broken his heart.

“I don't.” You found your voice after long, uncomfortable seconds. “I just think you're letting the alcohol make you believe things that aren't true.”

He shook his head vigorously and you couldn't help but think that it probably made his dizziness a lot worse.

“I wouldn't let some alcohol make me confess my love for anyone else.” he grasped your hand with a lot more force than you were expecting him to have. You tried to pull it away, but his grip was that of steel.

“Please… go to sleep.” you felt your throat tightening and a pressure behind your eyes.

“I've thought of you every single moment of my days ever since I saw you. You don't get to dictate how I feel just because you don't feel the same way as I do.” his brows furrowed again, sudden aggravation taking up his features.

You almost gasped. Haku never got angry at you, not even when you were a lot to handle, nor when you made his life a bit harder. What an irony it was that the first time would be while he was confessing.

“That's not what this is about.” you shook your head.

“Then what is it?”

You felt your bottom lip quiver slightly. You quickly bit it hard, in order to keep your emotions at bay, ducking your hand down and shutting your eyes tightly.

You briefly regretted taking Rui's call. Opening the can of worms that was your feelings for Haku was probably one of the last things you wanted to do late at night, in the middle of the week. You had spent too much time closing that can very tightly, vacuum sealing it and stashing it in the depths of your mind, only to have all your effort ruined in mere minutes.

Haku placed his other hand on your cheek, gently tilting your head back up. You kept your eyes shut.

“It's okay if you don't love me.” He murmured, the same tinge of sorrowful acceptance in his voice as the one you usually heard when he talked about his family. “It won't change how I feel. I just want to know from your mouth.”

“Haku…” your eyelids fluttered.

“Just say you don't like me. Look me in the eyes and say it. And I promise I'll leave you be.”

You opened your eyes, meeting his gaze. His pupils were blown out and you could barely make out the golden ring of his irises. He looked at you with an adoration that could genuinely make you sick.

“I can't.” you whispered and leaned into his touch.

“Then-”

“I can't just doom you, Haku. I can't take you down with me. You can find someone better, someone who deserves you. Someone who isn't cursed.” you blurted out, the words flowing freely from your lips now that the dam had been broken.

“Don't say that.”

“But it's true. I would… I would love to let you love me.” At that, his eyes opened wide and you could almost see hope forming deep inside them. “But I can't, in good conscience.”

Haku leaned in, resting his forehead against yours.

“Why?”

“It would be selfish of me. What if I die from my curse? You'd be hurt.” You gulped, shaking your head and backing away from him. “And worse, what if I hurt you if I become a monster?”

His hand, still gripping yours tightly, pulled you back close to him. His eyes were wide, wild, searching yours.

“And why would any of this matter?”

You blinked, confused.

“What?”

Haku scoffed, as if you were being absolutely stupid. As if you were the drunk one.

“I already love you. I don't need your permission to feel my feelings. Even if you kept me at arm's length, it wouldn't change how I feel.”

You were quiet as he grabbed your other hand and held both of them tightly against his chest. You could feel the loud and fast thump of his heart against your skin.

“And if you let me, we can look for a solution together. Worst case scenario, we'd be together for less time than I wished for. But any time with you would already be perfect.” He rested his forehead against yours once again. “Even if it was just a second.”

God. Zenji was right when he said Haku was a charmer. Your breath hitched in your throat.

“I wouldn't say this kind of thing to just anyone, though. Not sober, nor drunk. I can only say it to you.” he added, finally.

Your shuddering breath was the only sound between the two of you as you allowed his words to sink into your brain.

Deep down, you knew your hesitancy was never because of his drunken state, although it still kept you on your toes. As much as you were aware that your fears were the main source of your insecurity, a small part of you was still terribly afraid of him forgetting it all in the morning.

You felt his breath get heavier and deeper for a few seconds before Haku hurriedly shuffled onto his feet and stumbled fast towards the balcony of his room, which hovered just a few inches over Hotarubi's lake. You winced when you heard the muffled sounds of him throwing up.

After a few minutes, he dragged his feet back to his room, looking ashamed and terribly disheveled.

“Are you okay?” You asked, handing him his water bottle.

“I'm sorry.” He said, voice raspy after the strain. He took long, big gulps of water before sighing loudly.

“It's okay.” You chuckled, leading him towards his futon. “Go lie down and sleep. Please?”

Haku eyed you with utter indignation.

“We will continue our conversation tomorrow.” he stated, seriously, but finally relenting to your request. You nodded, sighing.

“Yes, yes, we will. Now go lie down, okay?” You pushed him gently, helping him as he tried to get on top of his bed.

“And I will repeat every word I said to you in the morning when I'm completely sober just so you can't say I'm lying.” He continued while you fluffed his pillow and helped him get under his covers.

“Even if I have a huge headache and feel like shit, I will repeat everything.” He muttered, eyes quickly getting heavy as you finished tucking him neatly into his bed.

You couldn't help but smile as his eyes so quickly grew heavy with sleep, while still mumbling incoherent things.

“Good night, Haku” you whispered.

Between long, heavy blinks, he turned his head towards you.

“I love you.” He whispered one last time, before finally letting sleep wash over his body.

Your heart twisted inside your chest – a mix of fear, apprehension and excitement bubbling in your chest and your stomach, that could make you scream. Instead, you watched as his breathing got deep and even, before gently pushing his hair away from his forehead.

You leaned in, placing a faint kiss on his forehead, inhaling the comforting scent of incense that followed him wherever he went.

Against his skin, you confessed.

“I love you too.”

[jezabelle9299]

You're It for me S.R x FEM! reader

Overture- Your walking through a used bookstore when you spot an old magazine with your boyfriends face on the cover-- not for his academic ability

CWs- Comparison to Lila Archer, feeling replaceable, this is diet angst- I don't have the guts or skill for the truly heart wrenching, kissing

A/N- I was kind of picturing an early season 2 Spencer? Like they've been dating for a while, but like-- not more than maybe 2 years, so they're still a little bit nervous. Also this is the first of many things I'm doing this December so hopefully everything goes well and if you want to read any of the other things I'm doing you could do so HERE

Right in your favorite used bookstore, on top of some other old magazines, there it was. It caught your eye at first because of the vibrant photo— but when you stopped to look you saw a beautiful young actress rubbing her face onto your wonderful boyfriend's hand. You felt sick, but you pushed through it to buy the stupid thing so you could read it. 

You barely made it through the checkout line, pale as a ghost and wishing you’d never walked in there. Because why didn’t he tell you? The publishing date was only months before you started dating and he hated touch. Was this a long relationship? An intimate moment no one else was supposed to see?

By the time you got to your car you’d ripped the plastic covering off the magazine opening up the article about Lila Archer. You hadn’t really heard of her before, but she was gorgeous. The more you read about the ‘secret relationship’ between her and Spencer the more upset you got— until in one of the final sentences it said one of their reporters found them in a pool—fully clothed—making out. Spencer. Your germaphobic boyfriend who was nervous about so much as touching you in passing for your first 3 dates jumped into a pool to make out with someone he couldn’t have known for that long.

You sat on the couch in your apartment after a silent ride home. Spencer was supposed to meet you to spend some time together, he’d be landing any minute– but it was all you could do not to cry. It was before you were dating but you just felt– Insecure? Replaceable? You weren’t quite sure, but comparison stole your joy and left you with nothing but a sour mood and a boyfriend on his way to see you– one who was qualified to notice that you were upset nearly immediately upon seeing you. 

“Hey honey— I’m so glad I’m finally home. I’ve missed you so much.” He walked through the door, you’d told him so many times that he could come in without knocking– he even had his own key– and he moved straight to you. He leaned in to kiss you, but your lips were unrelenting, not soft like they usually were. You weren’t in the mood for romance right now and he wanted to figure out why. 

Not that you always had to be in the mood for physical touch, but usually when he got home from longer cases you were on him from the moment he walked through the door. He loved that— he missed that right now. 

“Is something wrong? Are you ok?”

“Yeah Spence, I’m fine.” You plastered on your best fake smile to no avail, only making Spencer more concerned in your efforts. 

“Did something happen while I was gone?”

“Nothing happened.” 

“I know you’re not telling me something. I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on.” Despite his words, his tone wasn’t accusatory at all. Only concerned. 

“I don’t need help— I just saw something that kind of… freaked me out is all.” You were really trying to downplay the effect that stupid magazine cover had on you.

“Did I leave one of my case files laying around? Oh honey I’m so sorry— I thought I picked them all up before I left.”He was wracked with guilt over something that didn’t even happen. 

“No Spencer it wasn’t that. It was a magazine? You were on the cover.” You thought he knew what you were talking about. I mean he’s been in a few science magazines for his academic ability, but nothing else like this. At least you certainly hoped not. 

“What magazine? From this month?” 

“No— it was a few months before we started dating. It was you and Lila Archer? I know it was before we started dating; and I know I have no right to be upset by it but it just— it just kind of took me by surprise, you know?”

“Oh. I forgot about that.” 

“You forgot about it? It said you were found fully clothed in her pool, and you just forgot?” You weren’t accusatory, just hurt—your voice was breaking by the end and you were still trying to look up at him. 

“It really wasn’t like that, I only knew her for a week— we were in LA because she was being stalked, I was supposed to be guarding her and she pulled me into the pool.” with just that one sentence he made it infinitely worse. He knew her for a week, and he wasn’t worried about her germs? What made her so different?

“You only knew her for a week?”

“Well–yes?” It was clear by the way he looked at you that he thought that would be a comforting notion. It was anything but. 

“On our first date you didn’t even want to touch me. You didn’t kiss me until we’d been dating for almost 2 weeks. I was perfectly fine with those things because I know you don’t really like touch but I need you to be honest with me about something. Do you just not like me as much? Because if you don’t that’s– well that’s ok. I mean I don’t want to be worried that you’re going to get a case in LA and find someone better.”

“Honey let me be perfectly clear– there is no one better. I love you more than anything or anyone on this Earth.” Spencer’s reassurance just wasn’t comforting you like it usually did. 

“Then–why? I mean do you just not think about me physically in that way?”

“I think the way I feel about you physically could easily be described as clingy and/or obsessed. You know this, sweetheart.” He held tightly onto your hands- rubbing the back of hand with his thumb

“Well now sure, but I honestly kind of thought you just weren’t attracted to me when we first started going out.”

“I was– and am for the record– extremely attracted to you. Some of my hesitance towards touching you was germ-based, but honestly I was just so ridiculously, extremely nervous around you that I was afraid to touch you and mess everything up.”

“Oh.” 

“Yeah, honey in case you hadn’t noticed you’re kind of it for me.” That feeling in the pit of your stomach finally subsided— giving way to the same feeling of love you always feel when Spencer wraps you in his arms. 

[aventurineswife]

Hello :) I'm not very used to sending requests so I hope this is okay 😅

Can I request Aventurine with a teen reader who has a similar backstory to him but got picked up by the astral express instead of joining the IPC? I'm sorry if that isn't enough info but that's the premise. Have a good day and ty in advance

Life’s little gambles

Summary: The Astral Express crew makes a stop at an IPC station where you, a member of their team with a dark and strategic past, encounter Aventurine, one of the Ten Stonehearts. Aventurine recognizes your shared experiences and offers wisdom about embracing your new path while acknowledging the allure of your past. Your conversation leaves you reflecting on your journey and the power of choice.

Tags: Aventurine x Reader, Teen!Reader, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Conversations, Mentorship, Self-Reflection.

Warnings: Mentions of past trauma, Themes of loneliness and inner conflict.

A/N: I wrote something similar like this before too🤔, here's the one if you're curious about it!

(artist: srro_yo on Twitter/X)

The hum of the Astral Express served as a soothing constant against the ever-shifting backdrops of the universe. Aboard the train, the crew was abuzz with their usual activities: March 7th snapping photos, Dan Heng engrossed in research, Himeko brewing her signature coffee, and Welt poring over galactic maps. Among them was you, the newest addition to their family. A teenager with a past as jagged and raw as a broken mirror, you were still finding your footing among these kind strangers.

Your quiet demeanor and strategic mind had piqued their interest, but it was the fractured look in your eyes that truly bound you to their hearts. You’d shared snippets of your history—a harsh upbringing in a desert-like world, gambling with your survival, and the scars that came with being a pawn in someone else’s cruel game. Himeko had been the one to coax out these stories during quiet nights over tea, while March sought to draw out your smile through her infectious energy.

Today, however, the Express made an unexpected stop at an IPC station. The platform gleamed with opulence—gold-trimmed structures, bustling workers in sharp suits, and the distant sound of a roulette wheel spinning somewhere. It was there you met him: Aventurine.

He was hard to miss. Standing tall with his hair swept back, eyes scanning the station with a mix of boredom and sharp calculation, Aventurine looked every bit the enigma his reputation promised. He spotted the Express crew almost immediately, his gaze lingering on you for a second longer than the others.

“Astral Express,” he greeted smoothly, his voice like a velvet gamble. “It’s not every day you cross paths with one of the Ten Stonehearts.”

March tilted her head, a mixture of curiosity and suspicion evident in her expression. “Ten Stonehearts? That sounds… important.”

Himeko, always composed, stepped forward. “A pleasure, Mr. Aventurine. To what do we owe the honor?”

Aventurine’s lips curled into a faint smirk. “Just business as usual. But…” His eyes returned to you, sharp and knowing. “You… You have the look of someone who knows how to play the game.”

Caught off guard, you stiffened, unsure of what to say. It wasn’t often someone recognized the shadow of your past so quickly.

Dan Heng, ever protective, subtly stepped closer to you. “Do you know each other?”

“Not yet,” Aventurine said, his tone light but laced with intrigue. “But I see the marks of the same battlefield. Life hasn’t been kind to you, has it, kid?”

Your breath hitched. How could he see through you so easily? You glanced at Himeko, whose reassuring nod gave you the courage to respond. “No… it hasn’t. But I’ve found a better path now.”

Aventurine chuckled, a sound both amused and bitter. “Good for you. Most of us aren’t so lucky. Tell me, though—do you ever miss it? The thrill of the gamble, the rush of defying fate?”

For a moment, you hesitated. The truth was, you did—sometimes. The chaos of your past had been painful, but it had also been exhilarating in its own twisted way. Before you could answer, Aventurine stepped closer, lowering his voice so only you could hear.

“Let me guess,” he murmured. “They saved you from the abyss. But there’s a part of you that wonders… what if you had learned to swim instead?”

The rest of the crew had stepped away, giving you space to talk. Aventurine leaned against a railing, his gaze never leaving yours.

“I’m not trying to pull you back,” he said, his tone uncharacteristically soft. “But I know what it’s like to live with those questions. To wonder if you could’ve played your cards better.”

You frowned, crossing your arms. “And what about you? Are you happy with where you ended up?”

Aventurine tilted his head, his enigmatic smile returning. “Happiness is… a luxury. But power? Control? Those I’ve earned. The IPC is my table, and I always leave with the house’s winnings.”

You studied him, torn between admiration and pity. “That sounds… lonely.”

“It is,” he admitted, surprising you with his honesty. “But it’s better than being someone else’s pawn. And you—” He pointed a gloved finger at you, his eyes alight with intensity. “You’re not a pawn anymore. Don’t forget that, no matter how tempting the old game gets.”

His words lingered with you long after he bid the crew farewell. As the Express pulled away from the station, you sat in the lounge, staring out at the stars. Dan Heng approached, his presence steady and grounding.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

You nodded, though your thoughts were far away. “Yeah… I think so.”

And for the first time in a long while, you felt a strange sense of peace. Aventurine’s words had stirred something in you—a reminder that while the past might always call, you had the power to decide your future.

From the station platform(?), Aventurine watched the Astral Express disappear into the cosmos. A rare, genuine smile crossed his face.

“Good luck, kid,” he murmured to the stars. “Play your cards right.”

[nvtstvrns]

𝐵𝓊𝓃 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒪𝓋𝑒𝓃

Dad!matt, mom!reader

Summary: you already have a three year old kid and you’re currently 26 weeks (6 months) pregnant with your second kid. You can’t get your toddler to sleep and you get overwhelmed, Matt helps you.

Contains: dad!matt, fluff, pregnancy, toddler, mentions of anxiety.

Authors note: the unborn baby is going to be referred to as bun and the three year old is going to be named Aria (It’s too confusing to call it b/n)

Divider creds: me

I was laying in Matt and I’s shared bed, Matt was laying next to me on his phone and Aria was sitting in between us, her little head was rested on my belly, where another baby is currently growing. I brush my hands through Aria’s soft hair and she watches Peppa Pig.

“Hey Ari, it’s time to go to bed, do you wanna tell daddy night night?” I ask the little girl resting on my belly, I forgot it was almost 10pm and she needed her sleep.

“No! Ion wanna go sleep!” She says her little arms crossing over her chest. She pouts next to me continuing to watch the tv.

“Matt a little help here?” I say tapping his shoulder making sure he wasn’t asleep or something. “She won’t go to bed.”

Matt turns to face us and he picks Aria up. “Come on Aria, don’t be so sad, you’ll see us and bun tomorrow morning.” He says looking over at my belly. I rub my hand on it and look up at Matt smiling softly.

“Yeah Ari, you need your sleep to grow big and strong.” I tell her. She crosses her arms again and lets out a “hmmph.” I roll my eyes and I pick her up off of Matt’s lap. “Let’s go sweetheart.”

“No! I wan daddy!” She says pulling away from me and while she was flailing her arms and legs she kicks my stomach. “Oh God…” I say putting a hand on my stomach and giving Aria back to Matt.

“Hey are you okay?” He asks quickly getting up out of bed to see if I was okay. “Did she kick you hard?”

“No I’m okay, I was just a little sore.” I say rubbing circles on my stomach.

“Okay, you’re gonna get in bed and you’re gonna go to sleep while I put Aria to bed, you aren’t getting up for anything, I’ll get it for you if you need it.” Matt says picking Aria up and starts carrying her to her bedroom.

I lay back in bed and smile contently. I had such a perfect guy taking care of me and our sweet daughter, and I could tell that he personally loves whenever he gets any kind of personal time with her. I remember when I first found out I was pregnant he wanted a girl more than anything in this world and when we opened that envelope to see what it was he was ecstatic. He jumped around and whooped, he told every single person in his family that we were having a girl, he was so so proud especially the day that she was born, he even cried that day. So seeing him take care of her now made me really happy to see.

When he came back to the bedroom I was half asleep with Peppa Pig still playing in the background. He quietly crawls into bed and turns the tv off. “Ooh baby, finally some alone time with my favorite girl.” He says kissing my cheek gently.

“I was just about to go to sleep Matt.” I say opening my eyes gently,

“Oh I’m sorry, go to sleep baby, do you want me to rub your head for you? I know you had a headache earlier.” I dismiss his offer with a wave of my hand as I slowly fall asleep.

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──

When I wake up the next morning Matt had already gotten Aria up and changed into her day clothes, she was already eating breakfast and watching her morning cartoons.

“Oh my god Matt, you’re too good to me.” I say taking it all in. I sit at the counter and he gets me a plate of food.

“I’m just being helpful, after Bun is born I’m gonna be working double, I’m trying to get the idea so I won’t be overwhelmed,” he says digging into his own breakfast.

“You’re too good to me.” I say after I swallow a forkful of eggs.

“Just taking care of my girls.” He says coming to kiss my cheek softly.

Sorry this one was a little short, I didn’t know what to put in there to make it longer, I hope you enjoyed and have a great day!

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️⛅️

⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️

🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️🧜‍♂️

54 for ⛅️

---

“Of course you can stay. It’s… I mean, always. Whenever.” 

“As long as it doesn’t put you out,” Buck says. He doesn’t want Chris falling behind in school because he and Eddie are bumbling their way through this fantasy future. 

“Maybe someone can drive me to get my computer tomorrow, and then I can do some work,” Chris shrugs. “But I think you’re gonna need me…”

He looks at Nico nervously.

“Need you for?” Buck asks. 

“Family dinner tomorrow,” Chris says. “I was gonna sit this one out because of school, but… I mean, it’s your turn to host.”

“Family dinner,” Eddie repeats neutrally. But Buck can see the terror in his eyes. 

“With Grandpa!” Nico cheers, hardly noticing his fathers’ confusion. 

Buck and Eddie look at each other, panicked. Grandpa? For fuck’s sake. Which of their fathers is in town? That is the last thing Buck wants to deal with right now.

“Uh huh,” Chris confirms. “Grandpa Bobby.” 

Buck’s jaw drops. 

“Yeah, okay,” Eddie says. “We’re going to need your help.”

🌤️

Eventually, they put on an old Christmas movie for Nico in the living room, while Buck scours the fridge and cupboards to see what he could possibly make to host a dinner tomorrow. He has no idea what he would have been planning. He’ll have to improvise. 

“How many people are coming to this thing?” Eddie asks Chris as Buck searches for inspiration.

“Uh, nine?” Chris says. “I think. Not including the four of us.”

“Thirteen people?” Eddie gapes. 

“Yeah, that’s pretty normal,” Chris says. “Although, I guess you don’t know that.”

“No!” Eddie agrees. “No, I do not.”

“Now that almost all of you have left the 118-”

“WHAT?” Buck demands, turning so hard to look at Chris he bumps his head on the open fridge door.

Chris winces. “Yeah, sorry. Just two of you still there.”

“Who?” Eddie asks. 

“You and Hen,” Chris says. 

“Where am I?” Buck asks. “Where are Chim and Bobby?”

---

54 for ⚡️

---

Here he is, brain spinning about all the things that could go wrong to a baby who is, at this point, more idea than reality. Meanwhile, Bobby has lost children he loved for years. Who should be adults now. 

“I’m sorry,” Buck says. 

“For what?” Bobby asks. 

Buck shrugs. “I’ll probably have a bunch of stupid little panics about things… And here you are… You’ve actually been through it.”

Bobby frowns. “And yet, I still worry about you, May, and Harry all the time. As I’m sure I will worry about… Wait, do you have a name yet?”  

Well, not exactly.

“Uh, we had a boy’s name locked down before we met Lourdes,” Buck says. He’s not going to say what that is. “We have a few options for a girl… But we can’t really pick. We’re going to wait to meet her.”

Currently, Buck is leaning towards Josie. After Pepa - Josephina; who brought them together. 

Bobby nods. “Makes sense. She can tell you.”

Buck smiles, a little nervously. 

“That’s the hope.”

☆☆☆

By the 21st, Eddie is also feeling a little antsy, waiting for the baby. He won’t tell Buck though. Because if he does, then Buck will only get more anxious. It’s up to Eddie to mitigate that anxiety. Marital duty or whatever. But he won’t say the whole thing doesn’t have his brain moving sort of constantly. 

So constantly, in fact, that he does blurt something out over breakfast. Just not something Buck - or even Eddie, to be honest - is expecting. 

“I want to take a longer leave,” Eddie says suddenly. 

Buck, midway through swallowing a sip of smoothie, pauses. 

“Sorry, that came out of nowhere,” Eddie says. 

Buck finishes his sip, then shakes his head. 

“No, no that’s okay,” he says. “I just thought we had it all sorted?” And they did. They do. They each get eight paid weeks of the leave. The plan was to do the first two weeks together, then to each do six separately. That would give fourteen weeks. Then she’d go to the LAFD childcare center while they worked, or Carla - and sometimes Maddie, who offered - would pick her up when possible. And that’s alright with Eddie. It’s fine. He just… He’d like to do more. Stay with her longer. He knows Buck does, too. They’d both love a proper parental leave like they might get in another country. But they don’t live in another country, they live here.

---

54 for 🧜‍♂️

---

“I’m sorry,” Eddie says, wobbling a little in the water. “I’m really sorry I reacted that way. This is just… This is just not what I was expecting.”

“Well, what were you expecting?” Buck demands. 

Eddie’s expression is sort of helpless. Maybe Buck should cut him a break. Who would naturally guess mermaid if they weren’t one? It’s just… Buck really believed him when he said they were the same.

Eddie steps back a little bit. “Uh, that you and I would be… The same?”

Yeah. That’s what Buck is saying, too. 

 “What does that mean, uh, for you?” Buck asks. Because now he’s genuinely curious. 

“Uh…” Eddie goes a little pale. He takes another step back. “I-I… It doesn’t matter. You’re not… So it doesn’t matter.” 

“Oh, come on!” Buck blurts, exasperated. He feels his tail squirm without his permission. His skin kind of itches up his back and abdomen. “You could get me shipped off to SeaWorld and you won’t even tell me your deal? What could be scarier than this?” 

Eddie’s face sort of crumples. 

Buck is alarmed. “Eddie? Hey, come on… Are you… I mean, are you in trouble?”

“I don’t tell people,” Eddie says. “It’s not… It’s not safe to… It never ends well.”

Damn. He looks like he’s genuinely going to be sick. 

“You were going to tell me,” Buck reminds him, gently. “Or, you thought you did. Am I less trustworthy now?”

Eddie considers this. “No. I guess you’re not.”

“I guess you don’t have to tell me,” Buck says. “But, you know, it’d be nice if you did… Since you kind of… Know this about me. And I’ve literally never told anyone.” 

Eddie takes a deep breath. 

[pudding-parade]

Trying to make a comeback...

Hey all! So I'm later than I hoped to be to try to make a return to Simblr. Honestly, I was a bit demoralized and stayed offline entirely for about two weeks after the election. (I guess Americans have to fuck around to find out that Fascism Bad. 🙄) Then I was a bit busy, and also...

I got two kittens! :D We were feeling OK with filling the spots of the two who had passed away in the last 1.5 years, so we went to the shelter and got these guys. So now we're back to four cats. These two are both boys because, honestly, I prefer boy cats. We've had them for about two weeks.

The orange-and-white one is Jamie and he's about 6.5 months old, and the black one (who's 100% black, not a speck of white on him) is Damien and he's about 3.5 months old. In the pic above they look the same size, but that's just a trick of the camera and their positions in the pic. In reality, Damien is a tiny little bean with tiny little feets who barely weighs 3lbs/1.4kg, while Jamie is an absolute unit of a chonk who already weighs 8lbs/3.6kg, is already bigger than one of our adult cats, and seems to get bigger every day. Not fat, but BIG. Solid. I think he's going to be huge, though hopefully not as huge as my 27lb/12.2kg Maine Coon, Puff. Puff would be displeased if he was no longer the biggest. LOL

Damien had a rough start in life and was found alone, very weak, not fully weaned, and infested with so many fleas that his mucous membranes were white, so his growth may be a little stunted. Which is fine. Now that he's flealess and mostly recovered, he's a ball of perpetual energy who goes, goes, goes until he suddenly collapses into sleep. These two get along really well with each other and the other two cats (because we/they completely failed at the recommended slow introduction), but they're still getting used to the dogs.

Also, Jamie has the sweetest huge puppy-dog eyes, for a cat:

(Sorry for the crappy pic quality. I don't own anything that takes decent pics because I'm not really into taking pictures. I took these with my Kindle tablet, which is meant more for Zooming and does all right in bright light, as in the first pic, but doesn't have a flash so doesn't really do low light, as in the solo pic of Jamie. I had to edit that one a lot. LOL)

So yeah. I did start a new TS3 save last night. Just something simple with no complex rules to follow like all my other saves. LOL So hopefully I'll have some pics later and get back to my usual flaky posting schedule and hopefully get back to doing world overviews.

Hope the USians out there had a nice Thanksgiving. :) See y'all later.

[deatheaterv]

DISTRACTED

pairing : harry potter x reader

genre : fluff

warning : -

summary : harry gets distracted by you in the library, completely captivated by you. he nervously asks for your help with curses, and you tease him about his obvious crush. despite his awkwardness, you agreed to help, leaving him more smitten than ever.

harry was deep in thought, flipping through ancient texts in the library, trying to find information on something important for his next defense against the dark arts exam. the usual quiet hum of the library was comforting, and he’d gotten used to losing track of time there, his nose buried in dusty books. he hadn’t expected to be distracted today.

but then, you walked through the door.

harry didn’t even realize he was staring at first. it wasn’t until you walked past him, a soft, confident smile on your lips, that he felt his heart skip a beat. he blinked, shook his head, and quickly looked back down at his book, hoping you hadn’t noticed. but, of course, you did.

you glanced at him with a quick smile as you moved to the next table, and harry’s entire world seemed to pause. the way the light caught your hair, the way you moved—everything about you was… mesmerizing.

he tried to get back to his book, but it was like the words were dancing around on the page. his mind kept drifting back to you. he caught himself, cheeks flushing, and quickly tried to focus, but then he heard your soft laugh from across the room. his eyes darted back to you. you were laughing at something a friend had said, but that sound, that laugh, it pulled him in like gravity.

“focus, harry,” he muttered to himself, pushing his book closer, but it was no use. why was he so obsessed with you all of a sudden?

he told himself he was just distracted. nothing more. but the longer he sat there, the more he found himself stealing glances at you. how you tucked your hair behind your ear when you were deep in thought, how your eyes sparkled when you were talking to someone. he couldn’t explain it. it was as if everything you did made him more and more captivated.

before he knew it, he’d lost track of time. the library was starting to empty, and harry hadn’t even noticed. he had to be dreaming, right? he didn’t get obsessed over people like this.

but there you were, still sitting at the same table, scribbling something in your notebook. harry felt his heart race, his palms sweaty, and before he could stop himself, he stood up, walking over to you.

“hey,” he said, his voice uncharacteristically soft, betraying his nerves. you looked up at him with a warm smile, and for a moment, he almost forgot what he was going to say.

“hey, harry,” you replied, still smiling. “need something?”

he opened his mouth but nothing came out. his mind was a jumble of thoughts. just say something cool, something normal. but all he could think about was how stunning you looked under the dim library lights.

“uh… yeah.” he stammered, pushing a hand through his messy hair. “i mean, i don’t suppose you know anything about, um, curses? just, uh, curses in general, i guess.” he winced, realizing how lame he sounded.

you raised an eyebrow, clearly amused by his sudden awkwardness. “curses? you? i thought you were a pro at this stuff.”

harry chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “well, yeah, but… just thought you might know something. you seem, um, pretty smart.”

your smile softened, and harry swore his heart skipped a beat. “flattery, huh?” you teased. “i’ll help you out, but only if you promise not to look at me like that anymore.”

“like what?” harry asked, blinking in confusion.

“like you’ve never seen a girl before,” you said, a teasing glint in your eyes. “it’s cute, but it’s making me nervous.”

harry’s face turned bright red. of course you noticed. his heart was racing. “sorry,” he muttered, looking away. “it’s just.. you’re really..”

“really what?” you asked, leaning in a little, clearly enjoying watching him squirm.

“nothing.” he said quickly, his voice cracking slightly. “forget i said anything.”

but your smile only grew wider. “i’ll help you with your curses, harry.” you said, as if nothing had happened. “but only if you stop acting like you’re the only one in the room who’s nervous.”

harry couldn’t help but laugh nervously. “deal,” he said, already feeling a little lighter, but still completely obsessed with the way you made him feel.

[okikeu]

BIJOUX

FOURTEEN. pearls on my chilli cheese dog

written — 1.8k words

warnings: mentions of drugs

Heeseung didn't have a personal style, but he did have a Xanax prescription.

So, while Sunghoon tore apart Heeseung's closet in search of anything he deemed remotely appropriate for arguably the most important meeting of his friend's life thus far, Heeseung popped a pill in the hopes of stilling his shaking leg and uneven breaths.

"So, what company did this end up being for?" Sunghoon asked, throwing another beanie on the floor. "I need to know who to cater this fit to."

Heeseung tossed his phone to the side and fell back onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling with a hefty exhale. It was only noon and he was already exhausted. "Le Désir."

The sounds of metal and fabric scraping against the wood of his closet halted immediately, followed by a clap that reverberated throughout the room as Sunghoon's hand fell against his thighs.

"Are you fucking with me right now?"

Heeseung lulled his head to the side to look at Sunghoon. "No? Why? Is Le Désir's stock plummeting right now or something?"

"Dude, the biggest designer brand in the country wants to work with you? There's no way."

Heeseung sat up, suddenly defensive despite the similar doubts sitting just behind his own eyes. "I'm serious! She said she worked for Le Désir!"

Sunghoon laughed, the throaty sound bubbling out of him with a sour mix of humour and mockery. "Yeah, sorry, you're totally getting scammed. I'm gonna go get a chilli cheese dog."

Sunghoon stepped over the piles of clothes he'd discarded and reached for the door, prompting Heeseung to spring off his bed and lunge for it first, blocking the only way out of his room as he stood in front of it like a starfish.

"Bro, let me go, that vendor down the street leaves at one," Sunghoon whined, trying to pry Heeseung off of the door. He wedged his hands between Heeseung's arms and around his abdomen in an attempt to tickle him away from the exit.

"That vendor doesn't even use real meat," Heeseung loudly retorted, squirming away but still firmly holding his ground against the door. "Please, I can't go there looking like this, man."

Sunghoon sighed, giving up on trying to get out when his tickling tactic failed. "Fine. But we're searching up that company's staff and if the woman isn't on there, you owe me seven chilli cheese dogs."

1:48

Twelve minutes before the future or Le Désir was set to change forever. Twelve minutes before the fate of your company fell from the grip of a stranger and back into your unsteady hands. Twelve minutes before Lee Heeseung decided if decades of your grandfather's soul compacted together with pezzottaite and pearls was worth holding together a little longer.

1:49

You had reserved the smallest meeting room possible—from the little knowledge you had about Heeseung, you had assumed the vast, echoing conference spaces would steal his normality and your relatability would rise to the ceiling, making room for the expansiveness of your request to settle in front of his vision instead. In a forlorn attempt at appealing to familiarity, you had opted for the room most similar to the (lack of) spaciousness you had seen while in his apartment.

1:50

Yet, the door still seemed so far away from where you sat at the head of the table. You couldn't decipher the words of the plated-label next to the entrance, and where Yujin sat, swiveling around in the chair at the far end across from you, she looked no larger than the vase of flowers in the middle of the table. Perhaps you should have just had the meeting in your office.

1:51

A complementary Le Désir pen laid against your lip, your teeth mindlessly nipping away at the tip of it until pieces of plastic berated your tongue. You quickly pulled the pen away from your mouth, eyebrows furrowed and eyes pointed in disgust as you blew raspberries into the air in a semi-futile attempt to rid your tongue of the speckles littering your mouth. Yeonjun pulled the pen out of your grasp as he walked by, hitting you over the head with it before tossing it in the trash in the corner to your left.

1:52

Typically, meetings of this nature were manned by Yujin, Yeonjun, and Sumin. As CEO, it simply wasn't your job to attend to every task, you simply ran the business. But seeing as Heeseung was cast by you, it was only cordial that you offered your presence—at least, that's what Jay had told you to do when you had asked him to come with you to get some Yerba Mate twenty minutes ago.

1:53

As Yeonjun took a seat on your right, the door cracked open, a smiley Sumin peaking our from behind the acacia. A clipboard was held loosely between her arm and her chest.

"Is there anything else you need before I step down to the lobby to wait for Mr. Lee?" Sumin queried.

You shook your head. "I think we're all good here—"

"Adderall."

"Shut up, Yeonjun," Yujin scolded as she threw a crumpled up paper at him. He caught it, but the intention was not lost on him as he glared back at her.

1:54

Each time your watch ticked, a new minute whistling its way into the air, your teeth would sink into the expanse of your lip. The skin against your teeth was stinging and raw by now, its shrills for mercy falling on deaf ears.

You contemplated reaching into your bag to reapply your gloss, but you didn't have it in you to move your hands, scared that they would be shaking enough for Yeonjun to notice.

1:55

The last time you had had this meeting was about ten months ago. You held your head a little higher back then, the heavy pearls around your neck not pulling you down in the slightest.

Back then, with your blouse buttoned up all the way and your lips full of colour, your hands wouldn't dare shake—Especially not with Shin Yuna sitting at the end of your marble table.

Her hands were delicate against the paper as she flipped through the proposal, and you could already imagine the drapes of pink quartz curtains decorating her shoulders, encompassing her in everything "Le Désir".

1:56

Shin Yuna was supposed to be your muse.

Melpomene was not the muse you meant, but it's the one you got.

1:57

"Sumin just texted me, she's on her way up."

You barely heard Yujin as she spoke. Your head spun, the base of you neck tightening in response.

You shouldn't be nervous.

You shouldn't, yet you are.

1:58

Out of your peripheral, you could see Yeonjun buttoning his blazer and adjusting his tie. A manila folder materialized in front of him, and suddenly the young man you knew was gone and your lawyer had swooped into his place.

Yujin stood near the door now, peering through the blinds so she could greet Sumin and Heeseung when they arrived. At least, that's what you assumed, you never truly knew what she was thinking.

1:59

A squeal sounded from Yujin before she was slipping through the door, keeping it open just a crack with her heel.

Muffled voices and assumed pleasantries seeped through the small gap, but any coherent words died before they reached you.

Yeonjun reached over, placing a comforting hand over yours that sat entwined on top of the table.

2:00

As your watch ticked a little louder than before, signally the next hour had arrived, the door peeled open.

It was undoubtedly Lee Heeseung who stepped through, but you had a hard time focusing your eyes on the man as Yujin offered him a seat, merely gestering to the lengthy table with two hands. While Yuna had always sat at the far end, at the head opposite you, Heeseung strolled much father up. He took the seat on your left side, not bothering to round the table to the side facing the door. With a singular seat between you, you couldn't help but admire his confidence, or lack thereof. If he sat so close because he didn't see you as very powerful, or because this environment was foreign to him, you couldn't decipher.

Maybe you were just bad at reading people.

He looked...different.

Not bad, just unfamiliar.

His hair was messier than it was when you had last seen him, hanging in front of his eyes and fluffing out at the sides. Though, the waves seemed intentional and you quickly realized someone had styled them—probably not himself, seeing as the back of his head hadn't been neglected.

The black blazer on top of a pinstriped, white button down went a little too well with his dark chinos, and suddenly, all of the pearls in your mind that were owned and adorned by Yuna slipped from her neck and rolled to the feet of Lee Heeseung.

Perhaps a muse wasn't what you needed after all.

The corner of your lips curved up as you mentally wrote a thank-you letter to Shin Yuna's company.

"Lee Heeseung," You spoke, your unused voice thankfully not betraying you, "Welcome. I'm glad you decided to work with us—I promise I'll make it worth your while."

Heeseung smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Thanks for the opportunity, Ms. L/N."

Yujin had taken a seat next to Heeseung, filling in the one spot at the end of the table before your own seat. From a bag down by her feet, she pulled out a lookbook—the one Liz had made that had been collecting dust on your desk.

"This campaign has been in the works for a while now," Yujin started, "As you may know, Le Désir is big on elegance and delicacy. But, we want to change that up a bit. Take a look through here—" She pushed the lookbook in front of Heeseung, opening the first page for him. "—and let us know what you think."

Heeseung's eyes scanned over every inch of the page, not missing a single colour swatch or fabric sample.

As he flipped through it, Yeonjun cleared his throat. "If you have any questions—"

"This is good," Heeseung interrupted, though it didn't seem Yeonjun minded. If anything he seemed grateful, as if he was worried Heeseung was backtracking. "To be honest, I don't know much about fashion or...any of this. Whatever you guys want, I'll do."

"Are you sure?" Yujin asked. "You're going to be the face of this, Mr. Lee. This is your image, your reputation."

He shrugged. "It's also yours, you wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that."

You leaned back in your seat, Heeseung's tired eyes settling peacefully on Yujin as she nodded.

"Okay then," You chimed in, "I want you here Monday to Friday. Hours will fluctuate, but you'll get a day rate of 400 dollars regardless of how long you're here for. I'm managing this campaign, so you'll hear a lot from me, along with our head designer, Liz, for the time being. Any questions?"

Typically, you would be a little more formal, but you knew your audience.

Heeseung's eyes were wide, the same deer-like features you saw all those days ago coming back into view. "400 dollars a day?"

"Yes." You nodded. "If that's not to your standards, we can arrange something else—"

"Where do I sign?"

masterlist | prev | next

SYNOPSIS. The fashion industry is difficult, so when the CEO of Korea's finest, luxury fashion brand, Le Désir, loses the most important ambassador of her career, her life is pretty much over. That is, until she finds a face that makes her previous fumble look like a simple marketing scheme.

taglist! @heeheesang @choppedballoondetective @kang-ulzzang @jakeyverse @randomanothercreature @ohsehunskz @ikeublr @realrintaro @illvding @missychief1404

[murder-cookie-dust393]

Ok, ok you don't need to write anything for this if you don't wanna, BUT I don't have anyone to talk yandere stuff with so imma rant about one of my favs here quickly.

So caramel arrow right? Her whole life as been working hard to be the best dark cacao warrior, even when she was younger or her dough would crack, she would train and when she was banished her loyalty never wavered. Not once.

Untill, she meets reader cookies during her banishment, let's say you left a little after she was banished bc you could see how bad things were getting there. So middle, middle you become friends and travel together protecting the villages and what-not.

But after a while carrow finds herself looking to the reader for emotional support and guidance during this time, so she ends up being just as [if not more] loyal to reader cookie than dark cacao cookie. [I mean, if dark cacao dosent want her back then why should she go?]

Because of that she has this big dilemma about her loyalty to the king vs to the reader, personally I imagine she would try to run away or force the reader to leave with her because her obsession would win against her loyalty to the dark cacao kingdom.

Anyway wall of text done ^^u I don't really write, so sorry if it's not verry readable.

Don't forget to drink water btw ^^

A Grip Too Strong

So initially I was confused when you mentioned like middle and stuff but I realized that I think you meant like- MC is a citizen of the Dark Cacao Kingdom. So I hope I'm getting that right, I'm just mentioning it just in case.

This is my first request in a while, so I kinda just randomly typed out whatever. So if the like point of view or just the general writing style isn't very story-like, that's on me. I literally just blabbered lmao

Another point I want to make is that Caramel Arrow isn't filling in her canonical role of the story. I just wanted to point that out because it'll make sense towards the end.

Tw: kidnapping, overly clingy (but also not??)

Caramel Arrow was extremely saddened and frustrated by her king's willingness to banish her under Affogato's untruthful tongue. She felt so alone without her comrades by her side and her job, which she had trained so vigorously for. Yet she carried on, her determination still brewing within her heart.

She was expecting to be alone for who knows how long. To her surprise, she finds one of her people while her usual patrol on a blizzard day. She had spotted the cookie every now and then in the citadel, but she didn't know them at all. She approached them, confused as to why they were leaving; after all, she is the most loyal to his majesty.

"May I question why you are leaving the kingdom?" Caramel Arrow puts away her bow, tapping the toe of her boots to get the extra snow off.

"Oh. You are Caramel Arrow Cookie, I assume? I'm not sure if you know this, but the Kingdom has been crumbling the last few months.." The cookie responds, shifting the pack on their back slightly.

"Oh no. It's probably under the hands of that sickening Affogato. Is it really that terrible?" Caramel Arrow makes a concerned face, wondering just how bad the kingdom's state is.

"The food is scarce, and the soldiers are slaving away trying to reinforce the wall. It's definitely taking a toll on every cookie within the citadel." They answered, glancing back at the wall that defended the citadel from the Licorice Sea.

"I see. What is your name?" Caramel Arrow changes the topic, not wanting to wallow in the negativity any longer.

"MC Cookie." They respond, making a small smile.

—————————————————————————

Since then, MC and Caramel Arrow have travelled together. On the patrols, Caramel Arrow hunted the beasts, while MC gathered supplies or helped the villagers recover from the attacks. The two worked diligently as a team, surviving in the cold snowy lands outside the citadel.

After a few months, the two became good friends. They were each other's comfort during times of struggle. They opened up about each other's childhood stories or embarrassing moments. At night, they would stay up later than usual chattering about lots of topics. Although Caramel Arrow had been separated from her comrades, she found herself enjoying MC's presence a lot.

As their relationship with each other gets closer, Caramel Arrow continues to indulge in MC's presence. Soon, she confides in their comfort. She tells them her worries for the kingdom, and the sadness she feels for her king abandoning her; especially when she had been so loyal to him from a young age.

MC patted her shoulder, responding, "You have every right to feel sad and betrayed. The king might be meddling in problems he sees most important, like the wall. I'm sure the advisor doesn't help either. Your banishment is not your fault at all. It's a misjudgment on the king's end." MC makes proper eye contact with her, trying to properly communicate their thoughts to her.

The archer sighs, her posture a little deflated. She mumbles back, "Yeah, I suppose you're right. I would be lying if I said it doesn't hurt though."

MC notices she was still a ball of sadness. They glance around in thought, trying to find something that could make her happy.

Snow.

"Can I ask..." MC hesitates, pausing for a single second. They continue, "Did you do snow fights when you were a kid?" They make a smile, kicking some of the thick snow.

Caramel Arrow was a little caught off guard but managed a grin. "Of course! What citizen of the Dark Cacao Kingdom has never played a snowfight?"

Within minutes, the two cookies had two snow forts built and hurling snowballs at each other as fast they could. Perhaps childish, but the nostalgia was definitely there. Poor MC has to dodge as many snowballs as they can, Caramel Arrow has such an excellent aim. They laugh and banter at each other, a friendly competition rising.

Soon, they tire from the play, laughing at each other as they're both covered in snow. They're sat next to each other on a nearby log, still poking fun at each other.

"My fort was prettier than yours!" MC challenges, smiling so much they're mouth is getting tired.

"Well, mine was more practical for the actual thing! Decorations don't matter in the play of war!" Caramel Arrow laughs, slinging an arm around MC's shoulders.

"Still, at least mine was nice to look at!" They lean closer from the arm weighing down on their body. Their posture was slightly bent.

"Funny." She pauses, looking over at their face. "I'm glad you suggested the idea. It really reminds me of home..." She smiles, slightly sadly.

MC pats her back. "Don't get all mopey now, we're still at home. There's still a bunch of snow everywhere and the black sea full of ugly monsters." They try to comfort her with some humor.

She chuckles, "Yeah, you're right. We're still at home."

—————————————————————————

As the Cookies of Darkness and Affogato were overthrown by Gingerbrave and his companions. Caramel Arrow was given an invitation to return to the kingdom once more as a Watcher. MC was overjoyed for her, knowing she could finally be happy again. They themselves were ready to return back to the kingdom since the overall state was much better than prior.

But to everyone's surprise, Caramel Arrow refuses to go back inside the citadel. She refuses to let MC move back within the citadel. She wanted to explore the world and spend her days having with them.

"Caramel Arrow, this is our home. We can't just leave it. Everything's okay now. You can get your job back!" MC pleaded, trying to convince Caramel Arrow that they should return.

"Why? That place no longer feels like home. The betrayal, has affected me in ways I've never felt before." She explains, shaking her head. The frown on her face only supplemented her disappointment.

"I know that but- but you can start anew! Your comrades miss you! You protect the kingdom greatly. They need you, Caramel Arrow." MC tries to reason, taking her hand with their gloved one.

"MC, that's not what I want in life anymore. This isn't home for me. You're my home. I want to explore the world, and have fun with you. Only you. If I have to suffer, I want to suffer with you." She firmly states, pulling them closer to her.

"...But I don't want to leave! I'm not meant to travel the world. I like home." MC grows a bit panicked, finding her behaviour abnormal. Didn't she love her homeland? Wasn't her loyalty to the king?

"Don't worry, you are. I'm always with you. I'll protect you." She picks up MC swiftly, putting them over her shoulder. She immediately starts to trudge away from the citadel. The Sun's gleam beating down on the two.

"H-Hey! Let me down! Caramel Arrow! Listen to me!" MC struggles against her, but her grip is too strong.

Just like her loyalty to them. Too strong.

—————————————————————————

Idc how buff you are, that girl is a buff kween and will absolutely pick you up.

This kept expanding and expanding as I wrote help- I didn't expect it to be this long. I have homework to do lmao.

But I really liked this one! The chronological order helped me adjust to writing again.

Comments and thoughts, you may blabber all you want.

- Celina

[pwblant]

07. soup and company

early in the morning, wonbin decides to go to the cafe; however, this time, he isn’t coming for drinks. he’s been wanting to ask you since two days ago if you’d like to either go with him to dinner, to the park, or grab a snack. basically wanting to ask you to go anywhere with him outside the cafe.

he walked into the store, eyes scanning the place, but he doesn’t see you around.

“huh, i thought she worked on thursdays?” he thought to himself.

he sighed as he went to the counter to order his usual cloud americano just so that his efforts of getting there weren’t fully wasted.

you look through the door’s peephole only to see wonbin there, surprisingly, looking like a lost kitty standing outside. it was weird how you didn’t seem to hear the knock—you were just sitting on the couch that wasn’t far from the front door.

you open the door quickly, feeling sorry for not hearing the knock earlier. the poor man holding the hot soup and chicken was really convinced he was at the wrong unit, so the door suddenly swinging open really startled him. he let out a little gasp, not expecting this to be the right place.

“omg that was so cute,” you said, teasing him for his reaction.

“u didnt see anything, shut up and take your food.” he said with a pout.

you smiled at him. “why’d you wanna come over? we barely even know each other.” you asked with a puzzled look on your face.

“just worried about you, you live alone too. i’ll be the one to take care of you today.” he said, catching you off guard.

“oh—don’t you have other important things to do?” you ask, doing your best to avoid his eyes.

“no, i don’t actually. today’s my rest day.” he replied.

“then i feel bad if you’d end up spending your time taking care of me. i can take care of myself!” you told him.

“trust me this is way more productive than rotting in bed all day.” he chuckled.

“oh… well in that case, what do you wanna do?” you asked, stomach making a slight noise after smelling the heavenly aroma of the soup he brought in.

“your stomach’s telling us to eat first, yn.” he responded with a little laugh.

as you finish up your yummy noodle soup, you see wonbin eyeing you from the corner of your eye.

you turn to him to ask a question, in hopes of breaking the tension and unbearable silence.

“sooo do you wanna watch something? or we could do something else if you want.” you offered.

“yeah, anything is fine.” he said, his eyes wandering on your face. he looked at your eyes, to your lips, and then your eyes again.

a silence filled the room as you blanked out when you saw him do that. you remember seeing online that what he just did was the Triangle Method. it’s what you do to make someone fall in love with you.

WAS HE TRYING TO FLIRT WITH ME? no no no, never. i must be seeing things—men these days. you thought.

could he tell your face was turning red from his gaze? you couldn’t get that thought out of your hazy little brain. you hoped the warm and dim lighting of the room could cover up the fact that your cheeks were turning into tomatoes.

you try to maintain your composure, “okay, how about Cheer Up? i’ve always wanted to start watching that drama, so why not do it with you?”

he nods his head in approval. the two of you switch locations and move to the couch as you find Netflix on your TV.

it’s only been half an hour and you’re starting to doze off. maybe it’s the effects of being sick.. or that you accidentally took the medicine with sleepy side effects today.

sitting next to wonbin, you unconsciously rest your head on his shoulder as you progressively get drowsier. he doesn’t budge though—he lets you rest your head comfortably on his shoulder as you like.

a few hours had passed and the two of you were still in the same position as you were when this first happened. his arms started cramping, trying their best not to move or else you might feel his movement and wake up. however, he could no longer take it. noticing that you were sound asleep, he gently lifts your head and moves it to rest on the wall as he uses this opportunity to stretch his arms. once they felt normal again, he moves your head back to lay on his comfy shoulders.

he lets you sleep again for about an hour as he uses his phone, taking pictures of you from time to time because he found you pretty even while you were knocked out.

eventually he does have to go back to his place. to him, this was actually a good replacement bonding moment for the two of you. his bandmate was here to pick him up, so he wakes you and says his goodbyes. you were shocked by the position the two of you were in. on top of that, you saw that his shirt had a darker, almost wet looking area. hold on, did you drool on him? oh my this was so embarrassing for you.

masterlist | next

TAGLIST : OPEN (comment to be added)

@binoyu @sqh3e @antosaurius @yoursyuno @jvngw0nlvr @dorritoni @dudekiss3r @tadadw

[yujeong]

kpanniversary2024, prompt 7: Favourite Platonic Relationship

"Hey, Pete?" "Hm?" "Have you ever thought of how your life would be like if you weren't working here?" The cigarette stilled between Pete's fingers. Smoke swirling in front of his face, somewhat blocking his expression from a curious Porsche standing to his left. Through his bangs, he noticed how Porsche wasn't actually looking at him when he asked the question. Momentary relief spread through him, though he knew Porsche wouldn't be satisfied without an answer. "Not really," he said truthfully. There was no point in hypotheticals, not in his case. "I have," Porsche said, as if he ignored Pete's words. The relief settled between his lungs. He took another drag. "My life would probably be the same as it was before," continued Porsche, "but I'd like to think I'd be able to open up that bar one day. Maybe after Chay finished university or something." Pete hummed and exhaled. His cigarette was getting shorter. Their break would be over soon. "How come you've never thought about it?" asked Porsche suddenly, turning to face Pete. "Do you... like working here?" Pete coughed and dropped his almost-finished cigarette to the ground. His eyes were darting between his feet, his mouth hanging open. Fucking Porsche and his questions. Sometimes, he had this need to pry Pete open and discover things Pete himself wanted hidden; mostly because he didn't know what would happen if he exposed them to the world. He looked at Porsche with a dumb look on his face, not knowing what to say, but he quickly remembered about their training and how they'd get punished by Chan if they were late to return. As good of an excuse as any. He said so and left with hurried steps, leaving a puzzled Porsche behind. Hopefully, he'd have forgotten this discussion by the time they'd be on their own again.

[coconut530]

Bump in the Night & Nevertober Day 9: Nobody’s Child & Hypnosis

[iguessitsjustme]

To My Star - Music

It has been 6 months since @gillianthecat requested a music analysis of To My Star. I said I’d do it in a few weeks and I started it then shit life happened but I wanted to actually do the analysis so here it is…a million years later. I will say this might be a bit disjointed because some of my notes are from 6 months ago and the rest are from the past week so apologies in advance for that. I did want to make this a longer post since it’s been so long since it was requested so I might have gotten a bit carried away.

As always this is my disclaimer that I’m just an idiot with a somewhat decent ear and I enjoy soundtracks. I am wrong sometimes so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

Before I get into specifics, my general thoughts are that it’s a fine soundtrack. It’s not my favorite, but it does work very well for the show. It does a good job of keeping the tone that the show is setting. Most of the time the soundtrack helps set the tone of the show, but for To My Star it felt like the actors really set the tone for the show and the music followed. It wasn’t as cohesive as I really like, but it worked well enough that it didn’t stand out as not working. But with that said, I did really enjoy it. Overall it felt like they sampled youtube’s royalty free music catalog except for certain instances, but what they did choose to do actually worked really well but more on that later.

One of the main thingsI noticed when doing my rewatch for this, is that To My Star utilizes silence quite a bit. While there are some instances of music when Han Ji Woo and Kang Seo Joon weren’t around, for the most part, the music only followed their story. Other characters were mostly given silence when they were the focus, which was an interesting choice. It worked for TMS because it wasn’t the only time there was silence. There was always silence during Han Ji Woo and Kang Seo Joon’s important moments. The music waited until something was said before coming in and joining the scene. So it wasn’t as jarring as it would have been to have silence for the other characters. The silence being used for Han Ji Woo and Kang Seo Joon’s important moments made it so when it was silent for the other characters, the audience paid attention because their part in the story is also important. TMS is ultimately about Han Ji Woo and Kang Seo Joon but it’s not just their story as they are impacted by the other characters around them.

But as it is Han Ji Woo and Kang Seo Joon’s story, what were some of their big moments that were impacted by silence? There are a few but I’m only going to talk about what I think is the most important one. At the beginning, Kang Seo Joon hears a crash and has a panic attack as a result (been there my dude, it sucks). There is silence before the crash that leads into the panic attack and there’s silence at the start of the panic attack as well. Then we begin hearing a repetitive, dissonant note during the attack, but it’s backed by calming music that grows louder as Han Ji Woo cares for Kang Seo Joon. This worked almost a little too well for me. I don’t like being reminded of my own panic attacks like that, ya know? But it does a good job of using music to convey what Kang Seo Joon is feeling. We see the panic attack and we can hear it. It’s jarring.

The biggest surprise to me about the soundtrack was realizing that Kang Seo Joon and Han Ji Woo have different genres. Some shows do this and do it really well. A more recent example that I really loved was Never Let Me Go. Both boys had their own distinct genre that had to reconcile with each other when those two were together. That’s probably the one of the easiest shows to watch and pick up on the distinct music for each character. It’s far, far more subtle in TMS, but it’s there.

During the show, Han Ji Woo is a jazzy boy. It’s a smooth jazz, which fits Han Ji Woo’s character very well. He’s soft and subtle and his life should be formulaic and set in routine, but nothing has gone as expected. His routine has been thrown off. He still has his calm, almost stoic exterior, but inside he’s facing turmoil. Kang Seo Joon has come into his life and brought something new and unexpected. He’s facing feelings he wasn’t aware he could still feel and he’s willing to do things he didn’t realize he’s willing to do. Once his turmoil is settled though, he reverts back to what I believe his true genre is: classical. Han Ji Woo is a piano concerto. He’s soft and beautiful and strong. He can get loud and stand up for himself when needed and he can become muted when he’s feeling a little lost. Han Ji Woo settles into his new routine with Kang Seo Joon and he’s no longer a jazzy boy. He’s back to himself as a classical boy. The inner turmoil and struggle Han Ji Woo has felt is made so abundantly clear in this line:

At this moment in the show, Han Ji Woo’s jazz was slowly being taken over by Kang Seo Joon’s music. He was already scared because his genre was off but now even not-his-genre is being overtaken by Kang Seo Joon.

Kang Seo Joon has been consistently coming into Han Ji Woo’s life and overtaking his music. Kang Seo Joon is pop music. He is fun and upbeat. He is the music that so many people in the world listen to. I mean, it’s called pop music for a reason! At first it makes sense that Kang Seo Joon should have the more formulaic music. He seems shallow on the surface, but as always, that’s not the case as he has hidden depth and struggles. A lot of the pop songs that play are in English which was surprising, but they could be a hint at Kang Seo Joon being more than he seems. He’s not just the cookie-cutter celebrity that everyone, including Han Ji Woo, sees him as. He has hopes and fears and he has experienced his fair share of pain. And when he meets and starts falling for Han Ji Woo? Their music starts to blend.

When Han Ji Woo reaches for Kang Seo Joon’s face, about to take an eyelash off, but stops and walks away, leaving them both feeling like something has shifted in that moment, their music combines. It’s both poppy and jazzy. This is the moment that they both start to become aware that there are feelings floating around. 

By the end of the show, Han Ji Woo has embraced his jazziness because he realizes that his life isn’t going to go to routine now that he’s with Kang Seo Joon. When he’s alone, classical music follows him. But when he’s with Kang Seo Joon, he’s back to jazz. And in the very last scene, when those two are in bed and begin making out, the music is pop music but with a little jazz element thrown in. They’ve found their harmony and their balance as their two genres are able to meet to become one.

Here are some other things I noticed but they didn’t make it into the post itself:

-When Han Ji Woo is running to Kang Seo Joon at the end, it’s a pop song playing

-The music in the restaurant is smooth jazz

[byanyan]

It was too bad there weren't more books on humans in Sigma Rhada.

That was to expect from a species that wasn't native to Eros, but even so, the lack of information frustrated him. Ardaka knew he could ask the human he had in his life any question that came to mind… But the answer he would receive was always going to be limited. Very limited. Byan's recent antics had told the kariian there was some sort of significant human-related event happening, but he also didn't want to just ask them about it. Not only did it ruin any surprise, Byan was… Avoidant at the best of times. Sometimes a liar at his expense. They would deny it, but they were often flustered, too. He knew the sort of thing they'd find difficult to answer. Something sentimental, heartfelt — he knew Byan struggled with that, and for good reason. He'd indulge himself with a question later on, but for now…

The recent gift was something of a statement. Something had prompted it. While he wasn't sure of what it was, it didn't take Ardaka long to decide to begin putting together a gift for his human companion. It seemed like humans had too many holidays for him to truly keep track of anyway, but he understood the sentiment. Kariians did have similar gift-exchanging holidays, sparse as they were. Something related to things that were dear to you in your life. For the little human to express that sentiment to him meant something. It warranted a reciprocation, and gladly.

In fact, sometimes it seemed like he was running out of excuses to give Byan things, flighty and perpetually-unsettled as they often were. There always needed to be a reason for it. Even if Ardaka didn't exactly have the context, this was still a good one.

The gift Byan had made was now a month ago. Maybe two. Aside from framing the portrait, Ardaka hadn't mentioned it. He, too, had taken time to compose what he'd wanted to give them now. The Hunter had needed time to think… But he also needed time to perfect it. Even with his cybernetic eyes having the ability to gauge exact distance, Ardaka had went through the effort of being exact. He didn't want to say 'Hey, stand still while I measure the radius of your skull,' so he opted to wait for Byan to be asleep to do it without the potential hassle of spoiling his intentions. Ardaka was neurotic and anxious to those who knew him well, but when he intended to hide something, there were few more adept than he was. Byan might've assumed the kariian had no plan at all before they came across their gift.

How did they find it? First one of their knives had gone missing. In its usual place, a note to lure Byan elsewhere in the base, titled Humor Me.

From their backpack pocket to one room then another. Notes and riddles but nothing concrete until they come to the main room. There upon the table, not the knife but instead a sleek pair of gloves. They held the visual of being fingerless on first glance, but there was thin and resilient wiring that extended down to the fingers, meant to wind around them like rings. The note here read simply, Byan, then You'll figure them out. Then, Turn this over after.

Each knuckle held a divot like something was meant to come out, and the technical nature and feel of them left an implication that there was more to be garnered here. When Byan would put them on, including the wiring as intended, there was a subtle but painless undercurrent of electricity within. Only when they snapped their fingers did the note's promise come to fruition. Thumb to little finger, the power in the gloves hummed stronger. The nearest metal — a conveniently placed piece of cutlery — magnetized quickly to their palm. Snapping the combination again made them disappear, or even combo with another of the glove's features. Thumb to ring finger, a quarter of hard-light blades shot out from the divots atop the knuckles, similar in visuals to Ardaka's pink hard-light prosthetic. Warm like a sun-heated window-pane and as sharp as any knife. Thumb to middle finger, the hard-light took on an appearance more like plasma, and spread over like liquid across Byan's hands, moulding over them and effectively cutting off any sensation of outside temperature; they could have soaked their hands in acid then and remained perfectly safe. Thumb to index finger, the hard-light blades of the ring-finger snap extended and whirled into a circular shape, creating a small — but effective — shield.

When the note was turned over, there was another single sentence. Now where would I put a sword?

The room next to the training gym, naturally. Where he kept every blade, practically all of them too heavy for Byan to ever be interested in borrowing. Byan finds their knife here — among other things. The dagger is embedded through the next note, and into the neck of the training dummy. In the chest of the dummy is another blade — much longer than a dagger… And atop its makeshift head is a helmet, much smaller than those the Hunter donned.

The note didn't start with Byan's name exactly.

The gloves, the helmet, and the sword is for you. I admit, this might just be a convoluted scheme to get you to wear a helmet or a mask… But I know you'll find use in the gloves and the sword. Destructive use, I'm sure, but use nonetheless. I trust you'll do more damage with these than you will with a switchblade. Try not to get carried away when you're in here with any property damage, though..

It was a proper sword under that note, its hilt made of dense metal, the heaviest piece of the weapon. Consequently, had Byan discovered each trick to the new pair of gloves, the magnetized pull of it was powerful enough to draw it right into their palm, where it fit easily, hilt-first. The weight was far easier to manage than the swords the kariian used despite its weight, its edge so light it almost seemed it was only fit to cut, to slash but not to cleave.

That was, until another of the glove's abilities was active. The harmless plasma-y liquid that coated over Byan's hand would extend up the sword, where it seemed to ignite like a lit match to a wick. It turned the edge of the blade white-hot with the barest hint of the same pink that shared the energy of these new tools. Hot and deadly enough to slice through metal like butter. It also brought attention to a script carved into the surface of that blade, that glowed a vibrant hue instead of white.

The helmet, on the other hand, was a sort of two-piece helmet. A front-facing protective mask that could seal to an additional attachment, making it take on a look more similar to that of Talon's motorcycle helmets. If it wasn't obvious that it was intended for Byan — the armor was, of course, pink. Bright, bright pink.

An additional two notes were attached. One another letter, and another attached with more care, on a material more resembling cardboard than paper in its thickness. It was a sketch of Byan. There was no color like the picture the teen had made the kariian, but each line was obviously etched by a claw dipped in ink, loose and minimalistic in comparison. While there seemed as few lines as needed to make the portrait, the human's dark eyes conveyed an intense, mischievous emotion.

Thank you for your gift to me. Accept mine to you as well. They may be a little over the top, but I think you deserve something worthy of being called a real set of gear. Not just a toothpick, but something even I would use.

The words on the sword say 'vaxa osti a todivarr mûrû'. It's a saying in my language that would translate roughly into 'the edge to depend upon'. This blade doesn't have a name, but all great ones do. I hope one day I'll learn what it is.

Sukehiir vur ruure a ohhta. Koz khukh kharvas xot zar mrrar sukeh zqrry.

re: byan inexplicably leaving ardaka a christmas gift with no context.

ㅤwaking up to a treasure hunt for their own knife was not how byan expected their day to start. and yet, here they were, barely awake and stumbling from room to room still clad in their pyjamas and intense bedhead, squinting at each note and trying to solve the clues without an ounce of caffeine in their system as of yet. part of them was tempted to step away for a moment to make some coffee before continuing to pursue the odd little search, but their curiosity to where this was going had them telling themself 'i'll do it after i find the next part' with each note they picked up, all the way to the base's main room.

stuffing the now-solved note into their pocket, byan approached the table with interest further piqued by the sight of more than just another note this time. it wasn't the knife that they were trying to track down, but they were some pretty cool looking gloves. a bit simple for their taste at first glance but, sliding the note closer and reading it over, there was an implication that they were more than they appeared. undeniably intrigued, the teen snatched one of the gloves off the table and lifted it toward their face, turning it over as they surveyed it more closely. there was something more here, upon closer inspection, even beyond the odd wiring which ran along the fingers, though they couldn't quite figure out what. knowing the sort of tech ardaka had and worked with, however, there was an excitement buzzing in the back of their head at the possibilities.

after a few further moments of study only to come up empty-handed, the only conclusive next step to figuring them out, as the note clearly intended for them to do before proceeding with the hunt, was to put them on. slipping their hands inside each of the gloves, impressed with how perfectly they fit, byan wasn't sure of what to expect, but the sudden sensation of an electrical undercurrent, painless as it was, earned a faint start regardless. ...okay, so there was definitely something more here.

it took a bit of playing around to figure things out. from simply touching the table and the note to closing their hands into fists and slipping them into their pockets to even just clapping their hands together, nothing seemed to cause anything interesting to happen. ...until they snapped their fingers absentmindedly while trying to think up some other way to get the things to activate, that was. the hard-light blades popped out first, earning yet another startled jump and a wide-eyed stare that melted into a thrilled excitement in a matter of seconds. oh, that was so much fucking cooler than they were prepared for. turning their hands to admire the warm pink blades, a wild grin took over byan's features as countless fun and kickass uses for such a thing began to flood their mind. experimentally, they snapped their fingers again, and the weapons disappeared just as suddenly as they'd appeared. god, it was so goddamn cool.

fully forgetting about the entire idea of making coffee, far more awake now than they had been in trying to follow all the previous notes, byan snapped their fingers a third time, this time catching their ring finger and their middle finger without really thinking about it. to their continued surprise, a second feature revealed itself, their hands now coated and seemingly protected by the same hard-light as before. while less exciting than the weapon function, there was no doubt that this would prove useful as well. more than that, though... there was no way these gloves had a different feature activated by each finger... right? obviously, it had to be tested, so they snapped their index finger next, revealing the gloves' shield capability — also not as cool as hard-light knuckle knives, but unquestionably handy considering how much more often they found themself being shot at these days. then, finally, they snapped their pinkie finger last and watched in utter bewilderment as a piece of cutlery they'd barely made note of across the table was sucked straight into the palm of their hand. —okay, so that was pretty neat. they definitely found the coolest part of the gloves first, but they couldn't say that had complaints about any of the features. all of them would absolutely be getting use in the future.

although tempted to keep playing with the gloves and all their capabilities, a glance at the note still laying on the table reminded them that they weren't done yet — their knife was still missing, after all. deactivating the gloves' functions with another snap of their fingers, byan dropped the fork back to the table, trading it for the note which they finally turned over. 'where would i put a sword,' huh? now that was an easy one.

ㅤshoving their way through the door to the room which sat next to the gym — the room they liked to think of as the 'sword shed' for all the weapons it housed — the teen flicked the light on and found they didn't have to search very far for their knife. they were, however, drawn to a pause by the sight: the knife pinning the next note to a training dummy's neck, a (very pink) helmet atop its head, and another weapon, one they hadn't seen before, embedded in its chest. this was... a lot more than just the gloves. overwhelming, in a way, as they started to get a better idea of what the point of luring them all the way here was. still, byan padded quietly through the room on socked feet, approaching the dummy and reaching for their small blade. a quick yank was enough to pull it free and, folding it closed, they pocketed it while their eyes slowly scanned over what appeared to be the final note.

despite themself, they couldn't help but smile a little as they read. as they suspected, the items were all intended for them — a convoluted scheme to get them to wear a helmet and mask, he said, but something told them that the whole thing was just as much to give them a gift without them being able to refuse it. ...something they couldn't deny that he'd done a damn good job of, considering how goddamn awesome the gloves were on their own. they might not have been great at accepting gifts given to them with express intent to make them happy, always struggling when handed proof that someone knew and understood them so well, proof that someone cared enough about them to go out of their way to bring them things they'd like, but even they had a hard time saying no when those gifts were sickass weapons.

breathing a soft snort of a laugh through their nose at the comment about the destructive use they were sure to find in the gloves and sword, byan folded the paper once they finished reading and tucked it into their pocket alongside all the notes which came before it, their eyes drawn to the sword sticking out of the dummy's chest. a hand extended toward it, but froze about a half-second later as a more fun idea came to mind. remembering the gloves' magnetic ability, and having already suspected that it might come in handy if they were ever disarmed in a fight, the teen glanced down at their still covered hands with interest. then, after a moment or two of recalling which finger combination did what, they used their thumb and pinkie and held their hand open, outstretched toward the weapon. almost as if it was the full intention behind the design of both pieces of equipment, the sword tore free of the dummy's torso and snapped directly into the palm of their hand, hilt first. fuck, that was awesome. fingers closing around it, byan tested the blade's weight, turning their hand over this way and that, and then gave it a few experimental swings. it certainly held some decent weight, but it was nothing compared to that of ardaka's weapons, which they were unable to hold for more than a few moments, if at all. this one... it was chosen, if not outright made, with them in mind, and they weren't sure how to feel about it.

deciding it easier to not think too much about it right this moment, to focus instead on how cool the thing was, byan found themself with another question in mind: if their suspicion was right, that the gloves and the weapon were meant to work together... did more than just the magnetic ability affect with the sword? maybe it was a silly thought, some wishful thinking, but they couldn't help but to feel like something was off. something about the blade, how lightweight it was in comparison to the hilt, almost seemed like it was missing something, even if it was clearly functional as is. even if it turned out they were wrong, it couldn't hurt to try, right? no one was here to witness it if they only made a fool of themself.

eyeing the sword and giving it some thought, byan activated the gloves so that the hard-light coated their hands again, just to see. lo and behold, it appeared their guess wasn't so out there after all — blinking, they watched as the strange liquid-like substance ran up along the sword's blade and seemingly heated up, far hotter and much more deadly-looking than the hard-light blades of the gloves themselves.

ㅤㅤ" whoa... "ㅤthe display earned a genuine gasp, their eyes shining as they stared on in awe. alright... everything had been cool so far, but this officially took the cake. a few more experimental swings were given, these even more satisfying than the last with the way the blade glowed and how the heat that emanated off of it, and byan couldn't resist — they had to try something a little more with this one, it was too fucking cool to just turn off without a proper test. thus, turning to one of the other nearby training dummies, they squared up against it, pointing the end of the sword at its chest. practically vibrating with all their excited energy but still trying to look cool, even if they were the only one in the room, the teen readied themself and then let loose a violent swing, cleaving the dummy neatly in two. the torso dropped to the floor with a dull thump, and they couldn't contain the broadest, toothiest grin their face was capable of forming as they looked from one piece to the other. it was only then that, in raising the sword again, they caught a glimpse of what appeared to be an inscription. must've been too distracted by the white hot edge of the blade to notice it before, they figured, pulling the weapon closer to their body to inspect. the script looked like it was probably kariian, which felt like the obvious guess, though they certainly couldn't read it themself, much less translate it. curious as to what it might say, but admittedly somewhat afraid to actually ask when they'd see ardaka later — both because they'd rather not acknowledge the gift if they could help it and also out of an odd sort of fear of all the endless possibilities which could potentially hit too close to home in all sorts of ways — byan again decided to put it out of their mind, deactivating the gloves and setting the sword to the side in order to lay their attention on the final piece of this weird but amazing gift: the helmet.

grasping the armor between their hands, they wrenched the helmet off the dummy's head and drew it in for a closer look. unexpectedly, there seemed to be another note attached, drawing byan to an almost hesitant halt as they pulled the paper and the much thicker, almost cardboard material carefully free. ...that seemed intentional, like they weren't supposed to notice it until they went for the helmet. like they were supposed to find it last, like ardaka knew the helmet would be the least interesting item of the three. and to his credit, he was right — even looking at it now, byan could tell that it wasn't as decked out with cool features as the gloves or the sword, it was literally just a helmet with a protective face covering. ...which, okay, yeah, it was probably about time they had one. at least he got it in pink, that way they might be more inclined to wear it. they'd try it on later, though. maybe when they actually needed it.

setting the headgear to rest alongside the sword, the teen's attention shifted once more to the items which had been attached to it, a slightly wary look etched into their features. ...this felt like it was going to be the really meaningful part of the whole thing. the little treasure hunt and the gadgets had all been fun, set up in a very deliberate way to make sure they were enjoyed to the fullest. it was something they appreciated, though they wouldn't say it, because it made it easier for them to follow along without question, without any overwhelming concern that they were going to get slapped in the face at any point by anything emotional or serious. it was an ideal way to give them a gift, and they had to give ardaka credit for it, even if the realization that he knew them well enough to put together such a scheme in the first place was a bit... frightening, in a way. it was a show of how close they'd allowed themself to get, how much they'd allowed themself to be seen. and this, the final piece in it all, was sure to be the one where ardaka finally allowed himself to express his feelings, as he was so fond of doing. oh, he was good; he knew exactly how to do all of this, didn't he? ...it was stupid how nervous they felt, standing there alone in the weapon room, with nothing but a note in their hand. —well, a note and...

drawing in a steady breath, byan flipped the thicker of the two sheets over first, freezing up at the revealed image. it was... them. even the most cursory glance made that much clear, despite the simplicity of the drawing. —it wasn't even simple, it was merely minimalistic, with great care still clearly taken with each line. did he...? —he did. not only did he draw them, a portrait in return for that which they drew of him, but he did it in his own unique style with his own favoured tools: his claws. these were no lines drawn by pens or painted by brushes, there was something too different about them, the ink had flowed off in such a unique way... it had to be his claws. despite themself, despite the tightness in their chest, despite everything, looking the drawing over forced another smile across their lips against their will. he nailed the expression, okay? that was it. it wasn't like they found it really sweet or meaningful or like they planned to display it in their room like they'd noticed he'd done with theirs, or anything! ...there was a pretty good shelf in their closet that they could set it up on though, so they'd see it at least once a day without it being obvious...

clearing their throat, ignoring the uncomfortable tightness that had extended up into it from their chest, byan turned the final final note over and covered the portrait with it so they could stop thinking about that, too. having braced themself for some really mushy, emotional comments about them, about his decision to set up this whole experience for them, and about the gift they had left him several weeks ago, it came as quite a surprise when reading through it... they didn't find it that bad. there was still some weight to it, of course, but nothing nearly so intense as they were expecting. he even balanced it out with a comment about their knives being toothpicks to (playfully) exasperate them, and left a translation for the inscription on the blade so they wouldn't have to ask him in person — and that, too, was far more tame than they had anticipated. if they were to guess, the part of the note written at the bottom in kariian, the one part they couldn't read, was probably the bit with the most emotion in it, which... again, they had to give him credit. if that guess was right, that meant he effectively left them able to maintain their comfortable ignorance, unprepared to handle words too kind or heartfelt, while also being able to express those things as he preferred to. it was clever, and they would be ignoring it for the time being.

he got them. he fucking got them. he figured out the perfect way to give them a gift perfectly tailored to them without having them turn it down and take off, the perfect way to get them to actually accept and (potentially) wear a helmet and/or a mask, and the perfect way to give them something heartfelt, as well as a (presumably) heartfelt note without freaking them out. he was truly a worthy adversary. ...or rather, a worthy friend. or... something closer to family, maybe.ㅤㅤ—maybe.

smile gentler than they'd ever admit to, than they'd ever allow anyone to see, byan kept the last note neat and flat against the portrait beneath it and proceeded to collect both the helmet and the sword. although they had the full intention of coming back to mess around a little more seriously with the gloves and the blade in a while, they wanted to tuck everything else safely away first. —so that if ardaka came in later, he wouldn't see it all still there and comment on it, obviously! not because they wanted to keep it safe, or anything!! ...but also maybe so they could finally get that cup of coffee and have a few minutes to process the strange and somewhat overwhelming morning they'd had before they started stabbing and cutting more dummies in half.

ㅤwhen they left the room, items bunched together carefully in their arms, it was on light feet, hair bouncing with each step, and a warm, happy smile still firmly intact.

[kimtaegis]

hate to say it but july kinda sucked