#also again it's late at night so expect some grammar and spelling mistakes

[harajuku-cookie]

It's late at night, I can't sleep, so I went onto IkeVamp. I was looking for a card to put on my homepage and I tapped on this Isaac card to listen to the line and this one made a spicy thought pop into my head.

18+ || Minors do not interact

Imagine Isaac holding you in a hug from behind. He's cuddled up close and rests his head on your shoulder when he catches the scent of your blood. The aroma of it is so tempting to Isaac and as he nuzzles his nose into your neck, he utters this line. You get flustered at first before a small teasing smirk appears on your face. Lifting a hand to run your fingers lightly through his hair, you gently push him closer to your neck, telling him, "Take a bite then."

Like the snake that tempted Eve to bite into the apple, Isaac gives in. He gives your neck a couple of light kisses before sinking his fangs in. The pain lasts a second before your body is overrun with ecstasy. Pleasure courses through you as Isaac drinks his fill, moans spilling out from your lips. Your body starts to writhe, your backside unintentionally bumping against Isaac's hips. Combined with the sounds you're making, a bulge starts to form in his pants. The arms wrapped around your waist start to wander, one hand going up to cup one of your breasts and giving it a squeeze, the other holding onto one side of your hip to keep your flush against him to keep grinding against one another.

The aphrodisiac effect of his bite combined with him all of you starts to become too much, pleading with Isaac to do something. Not wanting you to pass out from taking too much blood and his body craving something else, he pulls his fangs out of your neck. You're left panting for a couple of seconds before Isaac turns your face to the side to share a deep kiss, hands still feeling all around your body until he pulls your skirt up from behind. You know what's coming next as he maneuvers your body to brace against the nearest surface and pulls your panties down your legs. You hear the familiar sound of a belt coming undone and then feel the head of his cock running along your slick folds before sinking inside, both of your moaning loudly from the feeling. You didn't expect an innocent cuddle to lead to this, but you're not complaining as Isaac starts to move his hips, starting out slowly and eventually picking up the pace and pounding into you from behind.

…..

And that's all I got before I combust from how hard I'm blushing. I leave you with that late night horny thought, good night!

[alohajun]

♡ MY PILLOW — CHOI SEUNGCHEOL

bf!seungcheol x gn!reader | wc : 0.7k words | content : possible grammar and spelling mistakes, lowercase intended, established relationship, domestic fluff, mentions of insomnia, mentions of schedules | loki’s lines : atp i'm in too deep 😭 also why can i write for everyone except my biases and it's all your fault ash 😭 @ethereal-engene

"how many nights does it take to count the stars?"

you wondered to yourself, watching the ceiling fan rotate slowly above you, glancing between it and the neon star stickers on your ceiling, trying to fall asleep.

feeling your eyes droop, you turned to the side, getting a glance at your bedside clock before you slept. 02:14, it read. the blissful sleep didn't last long.

you opened your eyes again, knowing very well your sleep was short-lived. and looking at your clock, which read 02:21, you realised you only got seven proper minutes of sleep. 

"i can't do this anymore!" you yelled, thrashing around in your bed and throwing your blankets to the side. "i just want to sleep!" you sat up on your bed, hugging your knees and letting out the frustrations of the past few sleepless weeks.

after what seemed like forever, you took a few more deep breaths, gathering the strength to at least go to the living room.

alas, only more tears made their way down your face, frustrated with the situation of not being able to fall asleep.

finally, getting yourself off the bed, you were about to fall back when you heard the front door open, signaling someone had entered your house. 

and considering it was two in the morning, it could only be one person.

you went towards your front door, peeking quietly and watching the person you had expected to walk in.

choi seungcheol. due to his crowded schedule, he was staying at the dorms, away from you. usually, seungcheol wasn't the one to make late-night appearances, but he felt the need to come to you — even though it was really late.

and meeting your tear-filled eyes as soon as he walked inside, seungcheol thanked whatever gut feeling he got, relieved he could be there for you.

seungcheol looked at you with a fond smile, closing the door and dropping his bag to the floor. "couldn't sleep?" he questioned, extending his arms as he invited you into his embrace. "hey, it's alright. i'm right here, babe." he rubbed your back, assuring you he wasn't going anywhere.

"i know," you answered, wiping away your tears now that you knew seungcheol was there. “it's so frustrating when you want to sleep, but can’t.” a sad smile came on your face when you saw him nod, wordlessly agreeing with you.

you couldn't sleep because of your insomnia. and seungcheol couldn't sleep because he had too many things to do.

both of you suffered whenever you two were apart, but when together, a peaceful sleep was always guaranteed.

"let's go get some much-needed sleep!"

"yay! let's go!"

the two of you were like little children, racing to your room as you immediately found yourself in seungcheol's embrace, him holding you close as you two made yourselves comfortable.

"i missed this." seungcheol sighed in content, resting his chin on your shoulder. “no wonder i haven't been able to get any sleep these past weeks."

you smiled, hugging seungcheol's arms that he wrapped around you. "tell me about it. the number of times i've cried because i wanted to sleep and couldn't is unimaginable." you felt at ease at his touch, sighing in relief as he pulled you closer. "let's just catch up on sleep. two days at a stretch sound good to you?"

"make it five days." seungcheol's words made you laugh, making him feel the little vibrations against his chest. "i'm sorry i stayed so long at the dorms. i would've come earlier, but there was so much to do."

"it's alright, cheolie." you patted his arm in assurance. "it would've been difficult to keep coming and going from here, anyway. you are here now, and that's all that matters."

seungcheol tapped on your side, helping you turn around so he could see your face. "you are always so understanding." he brushed your hair out of your face, a smile of adoration on his face. "i wonder from time to time if everything is difficult on you."

"not at all. because i know at the end of the day, i have you!" you shook your head, placing your arms around the male as you rested your head on his chest. "now ... let's sleep," you murmured, oddly enough feeling drowsy.

seungcheol frowned slightly, patting the pillows you had abandoned to lie on his chest. "the pillows are right there, y/n." he didn't think your gesture was intentional, assuming you were going to move back.

"why use those when i have you? you are my new pillow, cheol."

[mitsua]

On a scale from 1 to 100%, how difficult is it to wake them up?

Warnings: bad grammar & spelling mistakes and SPOILERS from lesson 16

Genre: sleepy fluff Series: Obey me! SWD?

MC 's . . . GN! Words' count: 1.08k

Depends, but most of the times it's 1% since he's a light sleeper, he has to, so his brothers wouldn't burn the house down with any of their antics or so...

Depends on the long working nights he pulls out for Diavolo's paperwork pushed on him. In this occasions he may become a 10% difficult to wake up.

His reaction may vary, since he's the one supposed to wake you and the rest of the brothers up, he'd be at first embarrased and surprised.

Still, when he recognizes you, he relaxes for a brief moment and mutters a sleepy "Thank you MC."

May be different from time to time.

The morning next to a horror special sleepover may lead to the both of your getting scared, so it's then a 3% difficult fully wake him up and a 10000% scary. Why ? Mammon would scream from your light touch on his shoulder to wake him and you'd scream because he did. It would go on like this for at least 2 more times in the same morning.

But when it had been a normal night or a casino one, he'd just whine at your attempts and he may have or have not tried more than once to pull you to bed and sleep again as if you were his sleeping pillow... so does it count as a 90% mostly?

Also depends as you can imagine.

When he, for some reason, does not watch anime or plays videogames 'till the alarm goes off, he may be a 1% difficult to wake. Unlike Mammon, he'd get scared almost everytime. That you wake him. Squeaking a little, he thanks and tells you he'll be ready in a moment.

Although when he does sleep late, you'll find one of two sceneries; the most common of these being him still glued to the screen, headphones on, then you'll just have to take them off and he'll make a little sound surprised but won't budge further. The other one is him being fast asleep on his desk and the computer on, a bit of saliva on the corner of his lips threatening to fall.

Those occasions it is recommendable to poke or shake just a little his shoulder and still you'll get a big reaction from him and that's it.

I think he's kind of a heavy sleeper when he gets through the night reading. Getting so engrossed on the story he even dreams with it and him being an active participant. Then it'd be a 30% difficult to wake him.

Your best shot to get him to open his eyes without being scared to dear life ? Scream from affar something that'd normally pick his interest. Here are some examples : " Oh, Luficer ! Did you just fall for that ? I saw Satan make it ! So his plan finally succeeded ?!". Now that it's a great one but you may have a more difficult time calming him down when you tell him that was a lie.

"Aww a little stray cat ? Sir what can I bring to you? Oh? You want Satan to feed you? But he's asleep—" well he's not anymore and if it's true that a cat it's at the house's door expect to have a happy Satan for the rest of the day.

When he has a good night sleep, it's 1% difficult, normally he wouldn't miss any of their brothers or your shaking on his shoulder so that'd be enough.

To begin with, being the only one who has a more decent and planned sleep schedule, it's impressive how difficult it can be than his brothers. He's a 50% when sleeping 8 hours straight in the comfiest bed of the Devildom. This is because when he sees you, he starts whining and doing grabby hands to go to sleep with you now. Oh, but if it is any of his brothers? "Asmo, you have to wake up, we have school—" "Ok, going..."

But if he had a party night, it's a different story.

If he was not drunk and did a night routine at 5 a.m. to be awake at 6 or 7 a.m. it'd be a 20% difficult to get him, because he'd not be able to sleep quickly. So you'll end up hugging him to recharge him for the day.

If he in fact, came drunk, it's a 60%, you'd find a semi-naked Asmo barely resting on the bed with make up all over the pastel-pink sheets. You better know if he had one of these night because Lucifer will not allow to bring him smelling like Demonus.

He normally has a good sleep because his work outs exhaust him after a big dinner plate he's a sleeping like a baby. For this he's 15% difficult to wake. Light touches do nothing to him so you'd have to fully shake him to stir a reaction from him.

In the nights he has to go for a snack at 3 a.m. it decreases to a 7% because he could not stop thinking about going for another round of food.

When he has a nightmare he's most likely to keep thinking about it for a complete day, so those days you'll find him awake by himself. Ask him why has he been pacing out and looking really down with a snack on your hands.

🪼 : Are you seriously reading this (ーー;) ?

Ok no, but if he had a nightmare about his family in any way, from them dying, from him being trapped in the attic and fighting with Lucifer through the bars, to the day he killed you... he wouldn't be able to sleep again, so then it'll be a 2% difficult to wake. Maybe he'd pout a little but it's his way to bring himself back to reality and see everyone's still alive and he's on his bed in his and Beel's room, so when you're not seeing, he sighs relaxed.

However, when he's having a good dream, it'd be 100% and might have to bring Beel to help you, wether it'd be waking him with his twins trust and playful tactics or carrying him around the house to get him to do something.

𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒

The first time you're tasked to wake up Beelzebub, as you may have or not screamed when he turned to face you but still he did not open his eyes, you ran to get any other brother to help you.

All writings' rights reserved © 2023 Mitsua. (Credit to the respective owners of the picture and tagged anime characters.) ⌇ my navigation!

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

Phullo there, I’d like to ask you a question! I hope I won’t be such a bothersome.

So, I’m planning to write a story about Laughingstock and since I find your storytelling very pleasing I figured it’d be a great idea to ask for your advice about the writing!

My Idea in general for this story is just Howdy taking a day off from working in his bodega. And basically, he’ll be just wearing normal clothes.. shocking truly.

And thennn, Barnaby and Howdy accidentally stumbled into each other’s path. They later then of course had a very long conversation that lasted until evening maybe.

Of course there’ll be some fishy moments like them looking at each other with goggly eyes and other cheesy romantic nonsense- but it’s just mainly them having their usual conversation with a ‘couple’ of jokes here and there. It’s supposed to be a sweet memory for them to remember basically.

So, what I’m really trying to ask you for is- how the heck do you start a story exactly and not make it into just the dialogues? Like, I want my story to be kind of long but I’m afraid it’ll be just them, y’know, talking and I really don’t want it to be boring.. therefore, I really need your help.

I am so sorry if it’s such a bad timing considering the fact that you just had an interview which I am very proud for you for that! Even if it didn’t go as expected at least you did good half of it.

Soo, yeah! I’d very much appreciate your advice and I am sooo sorry that this was soo long!!! And again, a bad timing too.. but hey if you got any time, please consider answering. Thank you..

Also any response yet? On the interview of course.

hmmm... in my experience and Knowledge Accumulated Over The Years via reading And writing... the best place to start is to just drop in. no story introduction, no "it was a dark and stormy night", just Start. it sounds like your story begins with Howdy taking the day off, so maybe kick off with him getting ready / choosing an outfit, or w/ him reflexively almost opening the store before he stops and chides himself for almost forgetting that he's taking the day off

to combat the dialogue, maybe detail him leaving the bodega to go into the neighborhood. what does he see? hear? feel both physically and mentally? is there anyone else out and about? set the scene! ive been struggling with this too lately since i haven't seriously written in a while and i haven't been reading actual books

WHICH! IMPORTANT TANGENTS!! read well-written books, Not fanfic! im not saying dont read fanfic ever or i'd be the world's biggest hypocrite, but also read actual books. it's important to study how published authors write, how stories are structured, dialogue and action. because these books have more often then not gone through a Rigorous screening process. multiple drafts, beta readers, publishers reading it with great scrutiny before agreeing to publish - of course there are exceptions, but a lot of books are the highest quality they can be, and will outshine most fics. because, and i say all of this as good things, fics are unregulated. most dont have beta readers. a lot are from amateur authors new to the scene. there will be spelling mistakes, weird grammar & sentence structure, etc - most fics have Entirely different writing styles from each other. so if you only read fanfic, That is what your brain will learn, and it's gonna be harder for you to write. published books have less variation in styles, and the styles are subtler. there's less spelling mistakes if any, so your spelling will improve. your internal vocabulary will expand. even if you don't consciously study what you read, your brain will pick up on & internalize patterns, how action works, how dialogue works, how to structure a story, all that good stuff. if you want, i can recommend well-written books! i've been an avid reader since... like, ever. i've got recs galore! you can tell me your preferred genre & literary interest and i'll probably have something for you! and if you're not big on books, well... get out of your comfort zone lmao, books are fucking awesome and i guarantee there are plenty out there that you would love.

and when you're writing dialogue, intersperse it with little actions or the main povs' internal dialogue. if there's a natural lull in the conversation, explore that lull! what do the characters do in this moment? what's going on around them? sprinkle bits of setting in so that your reader knows where they are and what's going on.

plus, exploring the non-dialogue sections of your story can, and often will, spark inspiration in your brain for scenes and actions to fill out the story if you want it to be long (but also! if you just want to write the scene of their conversation, that's the beauty of fanfic - there's no requirements. do whatever you want lmao). when Howdy is going into town, maybe Wally calls him over for a quick pose - does Howdy say yes or no, and how does that decision change the story? maybe Julie invites him to join her in a game, or Eddie stops to talk to Howdy about him being out and about. maybe there are some complaints over the bodega not being open. what's the lead-up to Howdy and Barnaby running into each other? do they literally run into each other? what happens when they do? those are just a few possibilities of many!

remember, when you're writing, you're that story's god. you can do literally fucking anything. you decide what the characters do, where they go, what happens in their world. that mindset should help you bolster the plot instead of just "these two characters have a conversation", yk?

i hope this helps!

[arlecchno]

SHSJDJSK OH MY GOD HI ITS ME JELLYFISH (silly text coloring is very fun to me) AGAIN HAHAH - okay so one , oh my god youre so nice WTF AAAH two , i dont have a board in real life because goodness the amount of printer ink id use to make little pictures for it …. the google slide i made was an absolute shitpost (because thats pretty much just how i think LMAO) im really into genshin lore itself and have a handful of “original” (as in ive never seen anyone else talk about em) theories (ive made a slideshow for one of them too —though i must admit it needs a lot of revision— and another is currently in progress) so i have a bit of a knack for “narrative detective work” as i call it LOL . little fun fact here (because im a total a show - off) i actually started seeing yunjin as a suspect around the ball arc ! (official documentation of my suspicion was the 5th of december between chapters 21 - 23 , if i recall correctly) the suspicious bolded texts about their relationship and viktors lie when asked about yunjins whereabouts /REALLY/ set off some alarm bells in my head , among other things . admittedly i never solved these cases a really long time before the main cast finds out , but i think its still a win , yeah ? honestly it was a bit of a shocker to me when it was revealed yunjin was “playing as” viktor , i never really considered that possibility in my head at the time ! kudos to you my friend , youve successfully plot - twisted the detective ! (haha) id totally log onto my actual tumblr account to send you the silly theoryboard i made for another fic because i think its funny to show people but its SO unprofessional and weird so idk tell me if youd like to see it i guess - i hope my unfiltered ranting doesnt bother you lmao , ALSOBEFOREIFORGET ILY2 <3 <3 (/p) BUT IT IS LIKE 2AM RIGHT NOW SO I WILL ONCE AGAIN SIGN OFF !! (note: please dont mind any spelling or grammar mistakes because i inevitably get a little braindead when its so late at night -)

yours truly ,

- jellyfish

HI JELLYFISH NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN!!!

i should've mentioned the google slides board instead of just board because i knew what you meant haha! 😭 and about the running out of ink thing is so true i think if i had an irl corkboard where i solve out a case it's gonna be one hell of a mess...

and wow!!! i like genshin lore a lot but never really have the time to invest in everything since well, there's a whole lot of 'em 😔 it's actually so cool that you write up these digital boards and solve out stuff!! so interesting to see new kinds of ways to spend your free time~

i'm glad you caught on that yun jin was the serial killer around those chapters! i actually did purposely plan to start making her suspicious around the grad ball arc since it was one of the breaking points of y/n and kuni's relationship, so her having a big role in it makes everything more conflicted and wicked. it's a really nice addition to her character lmao

yun jin playing as viktor was something i myself hadn't expected to do ngl. i have no idea how i managed to execute that perfectly but i'm glad i did, seeing everyone's reactions to it is really comical and enjoyable! i love making people squirm! /hj

if you're comfortable with it, then sure! feel free to share that board with your theories on that fic you're talking about~ it'd be nice to see what goes on inside your head (I SWEAR THIS IS MEANT IN A NICE WAY!!!)

also, you never bother me!!! i like getting my inbox full with people interacting with me, so if anyone here who reads this wants to hit me up, then feel free to do so! i'm always open to new anons and friends :D

have a very nice day jellyfish and happy new year's eve / new year's! have a splendid 2023 up ahead 🫶

[cahrlotah]

“as soon as you walk in, no one else in this room exists to me.” with Eddie 🥹

Hey! I hope you like this! I'm really sorry if I took so long and I also hope that this is close of what you had in mind!

Also English is not my first language so there might be some spelling/ grammar mistakes.

Word count: 1.8K

trigger warnings: mediocre writing, Eddie being insecure

Eddie x Harrington!Reader

“Hey (Y/N)! Can we talk for a second?” James asks, looking kinda nervous. 

“Yeah, sure”. I agree, following him outside the cafeteria. He is playing with his hands as we walk next to each other.

“I was-, I was wondering-” he mutters” I was wondering if you would like to go to prom with me?” he babbles as he runs his hand through his hair. 

“Um.. James I would love to but someone has already asked me and I’ve said yes” his gaze turns sad. “I’m so sorry, I really am,” I say, putting my hand on his shoulders.

“Yeah, no worries,” he looks down, “ it was worth trying”. He looks up and locks his eyes into mine “May I ask who he is?”

“It’s a secret Evans, you will see tonight” I tease winking at him. As I re-enter the cafeteria, the sound fills up my ears again. I sit down interrupting the conversation my friends are having about prom. My best friend Alice looks up, noticing just now that I was gone. 

“Where were you?” she asks. “ With James” I mumble. Her eyes open in surprise. “ Did he ask you for prom?” I nod. “ And what did you say?” she teases as she leans towards me. 

“No obviously. I’ve already told you I have someone to go with, plus it is really stupid to ask someone to prom the same day and expect to have a yes for an answer” my hands run through my hair as the same time Alice sits next to me. 

“Oh yeah! I forgot about your mysterious boy” she puts her arms around me “the one you haven’t told us anything” she says dramatically as her right hand messes my hair.

“Tonight” laughs coming uncontrollably out my mouth. They retake the conversation about prom when I remember I forgot something “ Girls...” I mutter, they all look at me. “ I forgot to tell you that I’ll be late to prom, 20 minutes max, I completely forgot I had to help Steve to close Family Video, Robin is out for the night and I promised him I would help.”

“Wait what?!?” they all scream at the same time “nononono we have been planning this all year! You need to tell Steve to man up and to do it alone” Chrissy complains.

“I know, I Know. He just really needs me this afternoon. I promise I will invite you all to ice cream or to the cinema in compensation” I know it is bad to lie to your friends but my boyfriend Eddie wants to get ready with me, and only a handful of people know that we are dating, because he wants to keep it private. Between complaints and whining the bell indicating that lunch time has finished rings, forcing us to go back to class. I hurry up, trying to keep up with them but before going to class I look over my “secret” lover boy, throwing him a small kiss and a wink which responds by mouthing “love ya!”. 

The rest of the school day passes slowly like the summer hours in midday where it’s too hot to do anything and minutes don’t seem to pass by. The last ring takes us by surprise, as if the whole class decided to become zombies enchanted by the topic our Spanish teacher was talking about. Everyone gets out of class running to either their cars or the school bus just to hurry up home to start getting ready for dance. My group of friends are waiting for me but I still need to wait for him to finish some D&D stuff. 

“Harrington!” Mason shouts across the parking lot. I turn to look at him, “ are you coming with us?” he asks as Ashley enters his car.

“Nope, I need to wait for Steve, he is picking me up in 10 minutes”, I add as I sit on the bench near the entrance door. They all get in the cars and wave at me as they get lost on the highway. In less than ten minutes there is no one around, only Eddie’s old van and Dustin and Mike’s bikes. The sun is hitting hard, heat waves can be seen above the ground, when the door suddenly opens, three boys coming out, one of them being my precious boy. 

“Hey there beautiful” he says, grabbing my waist and pulling me into a kiss.

“EWWW” the two freshmen cry. “Get a room or something” Dustin begs, while he does the gesture of throwing up.

“Hey! Both of you get lost!” Eddie yells as the two poor boys walk away to their bikes.

“Eddie, don't be so hard on them” I hit him on his torso, he falls back dramatically. “ I’m so sorry guys!” they turn around. With a smile on their faces, they unlock their bikes and ride down the heated road. 

“So…” Eddie hugs me from behind “ what are our plans for this lovely afternoon, m’lady?” I turn around wrapping my hands around his neck.

“ As it is too soon to get ready for prom, we could watch a movie while we eat something and then just get ready. How does this sound” his grip tenses around my skin, his rings pressing into my flesh. “Babe, what’s wrong?” I question as his nervousness starts to take over him. 

“I just don’t know if we should make it oficial today, like do you really want to be associated with me?” he asks while scratching his neck. 

“ Eddie…” I am saddened that he would even consider me being embarrassed of being with him. I reach for his face with my hand but he refuses my touch by moving his face. I am forced to grab his face for him to look at me. “Don’t ever say that. Because I can’t handle you feeling this way about something that is between us and ONLY us. Everytime I walk into a room no one else in this room exists to me. It’s just you and me against the world, if people can’t accept the fact that we are together it sounds like their problem and not ours.” I say kissing him.”Now let’s go home because I really need something to eat”, we lock hands and walk towards his van. The drive home is filled with laughs and the both of us singing our hearts out to some radio songs. 

The afternoon is full of hugs, kisses and just having some couple time without anything bothering us. 

We start getting ready, while the sun is setting, a cold breeze coming through my window. His back muscles tensing as he puts his shirt on. I go to the bathroom to  change into my prom dress, a simple long black satin dress with black heels and some pearls on my ears. My makeup it’s just blue bright eyeshadow with black liner. As I walk out, Eddie’s eyes travel all over my body with some lust, he slowly walks towards me making me twist. 

“You look absolutely amazing princess” he kisses me. We walk down the stairs, my parents and brother waiting for us, my mom has a polaroid camera on her hands.   

“ Omg darling you look beautiful” she exclaims while cleaning a tear off her eye. My dad and Steve go to the living room while Eddie and I stay with my mom, preparing for a full on photoshoot. After twenty minutes of posing and smiling, my mum is done and we are ready to take off to prom. 

As we are walking to the van my dad screams

“ Munson! Home before 2.30 am! Or you are dead!”, his low voice sounding like a colonel.

“ And remember guys, wrap it before you tap it !” Steve screams on the top of his lungs.

“Steve!” me and my mom scream while my dad smacks the back of his neck. Eddie laughs if off. 

The drive back to high school is way quiet than before, Eddie tensing by the second we are closer. In less than ten minutes he is parking, the parking lot being full of cars and the sound of music sounding in the distance, like a soft whisper. 

I walk out the car before him, waiting for him to park correctly. When he locks his hands with mine, I can tell he is nervous as he can’t stop sweating. 

“ Hey,” my grip gains strength “ everything is going to be fine. We are going to have the nights of our lives and we are going to enjoy every minute of it regardless of what people might say. ``He gives me a small smile as we enter the school. Music gets louder by the second, we finally arrive at the gym entrance, our hands locked as hard as they have ever been. I open the door, entering the big room with a big smile and the most amazing person next to me. 

I try to find my way through the crowd, when the whispers start to be heard. “ Is that (Y/N) Harrington with Eddie Munson?!?” A group of girls say, another one starts questioning if Eddie did some kind of satanic ritual to get me to go to prom with me. I turn around to that group death glaring at them, they shut up immediately. My friends are waiting for us next to the drinks, their smiles disappear when they see who I came with. Eddie stops me and whispers

“Babe, I think that I will wait for you in the car. I want you to have and enjoy the night. I’m sure one of the basketball boys will dance with you and make this night more enjoyable.” He kisses my hand and starts to back out. I grab his wrist before he can get any further from me. 

“No, you are not going anywhere”, I force him to walk towards the table.” Hi there guys!” I wave at them.

“Hi (Y/N)...” says Ashley. The atmosphere is awkward, not knowing what to do. Words not coming from either sides. 

“Um.. guys. Eddie and I have been dating for a while. I know that you guys and him are different in a lot of ways. The only thing I ask is that you respect my decision to be with him” I say really quickly. The girls look at each other and then run to hug me with smiles on their faces. 

“Why wouldn't we respect your decision silly?!” says Chrissy. 

“Yeah, it was quite shocking to see you with him, but nothing that we can’t get used to” Ashley says hugging me so tight, she might break one of my ribs.

After all of this anxiety and chaos , the rest of the night Eddie and I spent it slow dancing in the middle of the crowd like there was no one else in that gym.

[mid-weast]

Will you keep it down? | Jeon Jungkook

Summary: You and Jungkook attend the same university and have been neighbors for 3 months now. It drives you crazy that he plays loud music at 2AM, and it drives him crazy that you barely acknowledge his presence.

Pairing: Jungkook x Female!Reader; Black!Reader

Words: 2.6K

Genre: enemies to lovers, student!jungkook, student!reader, fluff, mention of smut, angst? (in the form of bickering back and forth).

Authors note: Hi hi! This is the first fic I’ve ever written so if it’s bad I’m sorry. Also it is unedited so if there's grammar / spelling mistakes I'm sorry again! Also this is catered toward the reader being Black but I hope it can be enjoyed by everyone. Thank you for reading! Feedback is appreciated ok love u bye!

“Y/N? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??!? Open this door RIGHT NOW!”

Even though you were studying in your room, his knocks were so loud you nearly jumped out of your skin. You had expected a reaction, but not a full-on explosion.

You and Jungkook have been apartment neighbors for about three months now, and a constant problem is that he blares his music hella loud late at night. Of course he’s a music major so he listens to music a lot, but at this point you don’t care. It doesn’t even seem like he’s working on composition homework anyway, just being an asshole with no regard for his neighbors peace. Now don’t get yourself wrong, you're not just some uptight bitch who complains about everything. Well, you do have several pet peeves but over the years of going to school in Korea you’ve picked and chosen your battles very wisely. In most cases you let things slide. You wouldn’t care at all about someone playing the music loudly, but it is 2 AM, and while you’re up studying you know a lot of your other neighbors are trying to sleep.

You tiptoe toward your front door and twist the knob slowly. You only open the door wide enough to be able to see his face. It’s not that you’re scared that you’re in danger or anything, and you rarely back down from people giving you a hard time. But you were tired, wearing a big ass t- shirt and short shorts (your regular sleep attire), and it was late at night. So if anything was going to pop off you felt pretty vulnerable. Even though you’re the same age, he towers over you and you find his size kinda intimidating.

As usual, you have to crane your neck to see his face, and your view of him is limited by the narrowness in which

you opened the door.

“Can I help you, lil boy?”

From what you can see of him, right away you can tell that he is pissed. Dawning his usual attire of a black sweatshirt with the hood up, black sweats, and stomp a hoe boots, he stood extremely close to your apartment door with his arms crossed. His usually wide, puppy dog eyes are now pressed in narrow slits. His normally pouty lips are formed in a hard line, and his jaw is so clenched you could carve an ice sculpture with his jawline.

"Who the hell do you think you are? You called the cops on me? Are you INSANE???" Jungkook shouts.

Obviously he's mad, and despite the amount of times you've gone back and forth he's never raised your voice at you. The old you would have screamed back at him, but over time you've tried to respond to anger with calmness. Also, you were a little scared because this mf is kind of big.

"I already told you if you keep blaring your music at 2AM, I was going to do something about it!" You respond in a hushed whisper, slightly concerned that your elderly neighbors will be even more disturbed by the noise. "I've told you this a million times, and you barely do anything about it. If anything, it's gotten worse like you're doing it on purpose. People are trying to sleep and I'm trying to study, why is this so hard for you to understand?"

He sucks his teeth. "You're such a little snitch. And I've already told YOU that YOU can't tell me what to do."

"I know I can't...but they can," you nod toward the exit, referring to the police officers that most likely just left out that way with a tiny smirk growing on your face.

If it was possible, he clenched his jaw even harder and you think that he's going to pop a blood vessel. He pushes his way into your apartment, which sends you stumbling back and you grab the door handle to regain your balance. This causes you to close the door shut.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're-"

He steps right up to you and leans down into your face.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, seriously??? Why are you such an annoying little brat? Just because you're a nerd with no friends who gets no play doesn't mean you can take your bitterness out on me.”

You have to laugh in his face at this point because hello??? First of all, who is he talking to? Second of all, you have told him a BUNCH of times to turn his music down late at night. You didn't think that was too much to ask. As far as you were concerned, being aware of your noise level when you live in an apartment is the universal bare minimum for being a human being.

"ME? Who do you think YOU are? Actually let me tell you. You're an entitled little rich boy who thinks he runs the world. I don't give a fuck about how popular you are on campus, how many people fall at your feet to be around you, and how many hoes you have, you cant talk to ME like that. And how are you going to try and tell me about myself when it's too much of a task for you to be a decent neighbor? I've never done anything to blatantly bother you, so why can you just.." You started to panic because usually when you raise your voice out of anger, your voice cracks and tears threaten to pool out of your eyes, but you tried to get a grip and not back down..."why can you just be nice to me so we can live in peace? Is that too hard for you???"

He looked kind of taken aback by your question. Being nice to you? It never crossed his mind. Also, you kind of had a point. When the semester started and you both moved in on the same day, you would shoot him a small, friendly smile in passing but you never seemed interested in getting to know him. He always wondered why that was. It's not that he had a problem talking with girls, since all he had to do was breathe and girls would come flocking around him, but you would flat out ignore him. Even at all the major parties at the beginning of the year and on Thursday nights when students take over the clubs in the city, you'd barely even acknowledge him. He KNEW that you had seen him too, since you would make eye contact, but you acted like he was just another guy at the club.

And he'd be lying if he said you weren't fine. You had thick thighs, a beautiful face, nice curves, and always wore outfits that hugged you in the right places. He always wondered what it would feel like to wrap his arms around your body and press it against his own. He would constantly sneak peaks of you throughout the night at the club, but something stirred in him when he saw that you were chatting up other guys. Was he...jealous? Jealous that you were so eager to pay attention to these dudes who, in his opinion, were decent looking but they were nowhere near his level, and you never even gave him a second thought? One night he even saw you leaving with a man he knew through mutual friends, and he had to physically stop himself from breaking the glass he was holding, because that guy, while objectively handsome, was nothing compared to him. Jungkook wasn't blatantly cocky, but he let his talent, charm, and looks speak for themselves. He was THEE Jeon Jungkook, and nothing ever really bothered him....except you.

Was he....interested in you? Nah, that can't be it. You were some random chick who happened to be his neighbor, who also is one of the only girls he's met that doesn't give two fucks about even having small talk with him, and that infuriated him for some reason. So the first time you came knocking on his door in an adorable pink satin pajama set with a matching bonnet complaining about his loud music, he knew the game he had to play.

He's still standing over you, centimeters away from you face, but you notice that his eyes soften a little and so does his jaw. He unclenches the fists he was holding crossed against his chest

You continue, “I don't care what you do, and I'm DEFINITELY trying to run your messy ass life. Believe me," you scoff, "you don't have enough money to pay me to do that. But when your dickhole behavior fucks with MY life is when it's a problem. And it's BEEN a problem."

He rolls his eyes. "Whatever, little girl, maybe I should call you little mouse now, since now I know that you'll go squeaking to the cops now, don't fuck with me or my music again.”

Without moving your head you look him up and down with a confused expression. "Am I supposed to be scared of you? No seriously, you look like you cry during Disney movies while wearing footie pajamas, and now here you are throwing a fit because I forced you to stop bothering the entire wing with your music?"

Girl...what are you saying??? This man just barged into YOUR place, is in your face, and is strong enough to pick you up and throw you, and you’re insulting him? But you figured if he's going to be rude, you'll throw it right back because you're tired of his bullshit.

Whatever softness he was feeling for a fleeting moment immediately left, and annoyance once again washed over. He straightens up a bit and puts on that annoying confident smirk he wears when he thinks he's won arguments between you two.

"You should be nicer to me, all it will take is for me to tweet one thing about you, and you'll be the most hated person on campus."

At this point, any suspicions that you had about him annoying you on purpose were confirmed. You've concluded that this mf is a bully and you, small and shy but not one to take mess, will put him in his place to-motherfucking-night.

You take a step toward him, now crossing your arms tightly against your chest, but he doesn't even move a hair backwards.

"Clearly you need a rude awakening so here it is. I don't know what type of people you've dealt with all your life, always saying yes to you, letting you boss them around and taking whatever bullshit you dish out, but let me tell you I am not the one. Never have been and never will be. Unlike the other fools around here who cream their pants at the mention of your name, I don't care about who you are. You'll respect ME and MY peace as long as we're neighbors, you get me?"

Now y/n, you have never so boldly stood up to someone, where did that come from, babes? You've tried to not let this entitled little boy get to you this whole time, but with him standing in front of you in the middle of your apartment with that extremely annoying, yet handsome, smirk on his face, and after all the crap he's said tonight, he had you all the way fucked up.

After you said that, he just laughed and looked away. Now you’re standing there fuming and confused...was there a joke you missed? You were being dead serious!

"Something funny?" you ask, narrowing your eyes.

"Nothing, just thinking about how I want to face fuck that annoying little mouth of yours so you finally shut up.”

Your jaw almost dropped to the floor. You've never had a guy say something so blatantly rude and vulgar literally inches away from your face. But again, you weren't going to back down.

"Oh really?" Scoffing and tilting your head to the side a bit while narrowing your eyes even more, "I'd very much like to do the same. Maybe then you'll learn your place."

"Oh please, princess, you probably blanch when someone around you even mentions the word sex." He chuckles and leans down close toward your face again and cocks his head to the side, scrunching his nose and in a pouty voice said, "you're fooling no one, but keep trying, maybe you'll get there.”

You're even more annoyed than you were before, if that was even possible. But if he wanted to play this game, you might as well go there with him. It's true, you were a bit more prudent than more, but it pissed you off that he could tell. Regardless, you do know some things to say that could have him leaving with his tail between his legs.

You pouted your lips and in a babying tone said, “Aww sweetheart you have no idea. You think you're big and bad but like I said, you probably cry watching Disney movies. The same way you'd be crying, begging me to let you cum down my throat as I mercilessly toy with your cock for hours.”

Now it's his turn to go pale. Y/n, his stuck up neighbor who has barely even spared him five seconds of her time just threatened to edge him into submission? He has to pinch himself because he must be dreaming....

“Well I-“

“But I don't even think we’d make it that far, hun” you continue, “because in order to humble your egotistical, disrespectful ass, I'm gonna have to ride your face until you suffocate. And when the paramedics come and I have to explain how you died, I won't even hesitate to tell them that you were a punk ass loser who LITERALLY drowned in my pussy!”

You don’t know who this person speaking is, but it is not you. All of the pent up hostility you’ve held towards him just flooded out of you and you couldn’t stop the words from coming out. To be honest you shocked yourself, but you still stood there with your arms crossed and your face unfaltering, just waiting for him to say something smart back.

He stared at you silently, eyes wider than you’ve seen before and his mouth hung slightly open. He wasn’t expecting you to respond with so much fire, but now he wouldn’t be able to sleep until the image you painted came true. His brain said fuck it, and his lips crashed down onto yours. The kiss is sloppy but passionate, and you swore you heard him quietly whimper.

When he feels you starting to kiss back, he smirks into the kiss. Your lips are moving against each other in tandem, and all thoughts about how much you despise the prick fades away. As you uncrossed your arms and placed them on his chest, you could feel his heart beating wildly. Was he as nervous as you were this whole time? You wonder. You knew he was a player, so he was experienced. But the thought that you made him nervous gave you a tiny confidence boost. His hands slowly slide up the sides of your body to sneak behind your back, to pull you further into his chest. As much as your brain was telling you to resist him and push him away, you couldn't help but fall victim to how soft his lips felt against yours. Suddenly you feel airborne as he swiftly reaches down behind your thighs and picks you up. You instinctively gasp but he doesn’t miss a beat, simply biting your lower lip and locking your lips together again.

“Maybe we should test that scenario of yours, and if it comes true, that wouldn’t be the worst way for me to go” he says, doing that annoying but soul-crushingly handsome smirk he likes to wear as he carries you off to your bedroom.

[mxthtea]

this wasnt a req but i dont care

scara x gn!reader warnings: family being hospitalized, this is really bad but i still dont care, dialogue heavy, written before 2.1 and scara's release, grammar + spelling mistakes, lowercase writing, tell me if i forgot any description: you stood at in front of him as he looked at you. you shouldn't have come here.

"do you need something, or are you just gonna stare at me all night?" word count: 781

"alright, thank you. goodbye," you said to the phone.

pressing the 'end call button' you sighed stared at your phone. everything seemed to be happening all at once but also too slow. waiting for new news took forever, but you also didn't want to know it at all. what if something bad happened to them? they were already struggling at the hospital, what if it got worse?

thoughts swarmed in your head as you opened your phone once again, skipping contacts until you found a familiar one and pressed 'call.'

after a few rings, there was an answer.

"what?"

"are you free?"

"it's dark out."

"please?"

there was a groan from the other side, "yes, you can come over."

"...thank you."

the call ended as you packed a small bag of what you needed. you hoped he'd let you say for a least a day, your home felt stuffy after what's been happening after all.

you walked instead of driving, he didn't live that far away after all. and before realizing it, you found yourself at the front door of his own home. it looked nice from the outside. with slight hesitance, you knocked on the red door and waited.

and with a creak, you saw the familiar purple hair as scaramouche came into view.

he looked tired. his hair was slightly disheveled from its familiar look and he wore a simple t-shirt and shorts instead of anything complex as usual.

you thought you had something to say, a plan or something. but everything went blank when you saw him. there was silence in the air, bugs buzzing late at night being the only thing to be heard.

you stood in front of him as he looked at you. you shouldn't have come here.

"do you need something, or are you just gonna stare at me all night?"

"i just wanted to ask uh- are- can i stay here?" you stuttered.

"what."

"like- for a few days! or just tonight. stuffs been happening with my family and i've been so busy too with other things. so i just wanted to get out of the house and stay with you."

scara sighed, you thought he'd turn you away for a split second. instead, he opened his door further as he walked in, inviting you inside. you stepped inside.

"the extra room is still open from last time you were here," he said, walking around the house to the extra room.

"can i stay in yours? i did it last time i was here anyways. and i don't want to be alone right now."

"...fine."

in short time, you settled into scara's room. your phone plugged in by the bed in case you received a call about any news. rustling was heard from the side as scara laid next to you, looking up at you.

"do you want to talk about what's been happening?"

well, that was surprising. you didn't expect him to ask really.

"well, one of my family members has been hospitalized from their sickness. i got off of a call with my mother right before i called you. they're- " you took a breath in to steady yourself. "they're doing better but it's not great or even good."

scara took one of your hands in his as he idly held it. you squeezed his hand to ground yourself more.

"it's just- everything is so up in the air i don't know how to expect. they were getting better until they dropped dramatically, now they're at least getting better from that. but who knows… it doesn't help some of my other family members think it's too late by now."

you took your phone with your other hand, opening it to check if anything happened.

no notification appeared.

"i'm just so nervous scara. everything feels stuffy and like walls are closing in on me. it's hard to breathe and focus… i just want to sleep."

"then sleep for tonight."

you looked down as scara traced your knuckles. he stared at your hand before looking up to you.

"sleep for tonight, wake up tomorrow. we can go somewhere tomorrow then. or we can stay here and do whatever you want."

"are you sure?"

"of course i am. you're stressed out and tired, so rest. if anything happens, i'll stay with you."

you'd cry if you had the energy to.

"thank you scara…" you whispered.

"whatever… just sleep. we can get extra clothes from your place tomorrow. stay here as long as you need."

you smiled as you laid down with scara. at least for that moment, you felt better with him. so, you finally let yourself fall asleep with your arms wrapped around him.

[tender-rosiey]

Uwu, uwu, and MORE UWU! CONGRATULATIONS ON 200 FOLLOWERS, UR SO WHOLESOME AND SO IS UR BLOG, you wanna spread smiles? Welp ur doin it right ❤ I always visit ur blog when I wanna get some of that fluffy wholesome jazz❤

I literally sprinted when I saw reqs were open lol, If ur okay with it, can I request headcanons for Fyodor with an affectionate and thoughtful s/o? (preferably writer, but if it's too specific it's okay not to add it I don't mind <3) just wanna see how adorable god-complex ratman will react to that lol.

Have a noice day!

❥ Fyodor with an affectionate s/o

ᴀ/ɴ: I am honestly speechless, THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU ARE SO SWEET PLS I DONT DESERVE THIS 🥺 I hope you like this one also I have something similar to it here but I wanted to make something longer than it so 💃🏻 I hope you like it luv and again thank you for kind words 🥺��

Ratman

He likes receiving affection from you but doesn’t really show it

Maybe smol smiles

He finds your hugs really comforting and stress-relieving

If he is ever in a bad mood he will just flop on to top of you

Relaxes to the MAX when you play with his hair

Probably lets you style it too but not too freaky cause he has a reputation and image to uphold

But he is a simp for you so

Probably a yandere too

Expect pinky holding when he is working on a plan or talking to another little shit

Point it out and you will get a silent glare tho

Likes seeing his clothes on you

And when you tell him that you are wearing it because you miss him

Man could just die in peace right then and there

But he is a smug little bitch so he won’t give you the chance to be all high and might about him being absolutely whipped for you

“Apparently you are too small for my clothes; how unfortunate by now, one thought you would’be grown at least a couple more inches. My absolute and genuine sympathy for you dear.”

He adores your caring and thoughtful attitude

Like you get him tea or snacks at night cause you are afraid he didn’t eat enough for the day??

He will hug you and thank you

“Thanks dear.”

Yup I see him as the type to use the classical dear or honey

He spoils you in return tho

Despite being a broke ass and don’t ask me I have no idea how he does so

“Hey dear, I got you this wonderful necklace.”

“Fyodor, how did you get that?”

Cue the TV showing the news with the headline with the picture of the necklace in Fyodor’s hand on top:

‘Breaking News: One of the most expensive necklaces in Japan has been stolen and the culprit is nowhere to be found’

“Fyodor Dostoyevsky.”

“Y/N L/N.”

Wipe off that smug smirk of his I beg of you

Okay but like sometimes when you give him a little kiss on the cheek

He gets so confused

“Ha??”

Other times he is expecting the kiss so he turns to make it land on his lips instead

And then he pulls back with a mischevious smirk plastered on his face

Following that is him acting like nothing happened but enjoying your flustered face

So that writer part, I understood from it that you want your occupation to be a writer, right?

IF THATS THE CASE

He loves when you get inspired from something he does

He takes so much pride in that

Is and will binge read all your works

Probably helps you with ideas

And supports quietly

You are staying up late because of an idea?

He is there

But overdo it and he won’t hesitate to pick you up like a sack of potatoes and back to your shared bedroom will you be thrown

“That’s enough for today, you don’t want to get more wrinkles that you already have now do you?”

I am not letting you forget that he would sometimes be a rat and tease you for god knows what he will find about you <3

Has suggested you write about his so amazing goal of making the world a better place

But he truly is interested in how you view the outcome or making of his desire would be

If you accidentally make a grammar mistake or spelling mistake

He will hold it to you until you die 🥰

Brings it up when he needs comeback when you guys argue about wits or intelligence

“How funny, did you forget how you forgot to spell gorgeous that one time?”

Like lay off dude 🙄

Being a writer is hard especially when you get millions of scenarios and ideas bursting in your head

copyright © 2020 tender-rosiey

do not copy or plagiarize or you will be reported

[littlegiantposts]

movie night

pairing: todoroki x f!reader

warning: strong language probably. possible anime/manga spoilers! grammar mistakes :( I suck at writing

summary: It’s not that Y/n didn’t want friends, it’s just people always found her intimidating

a/n: this is completely self-indulgent lol sorry about that, so like yeah I’m gonna be saying y/n, but also i am deriving her personality, attitude, looks from a character that I’ve sort of made up in my head haha. also idk if this is like a headcanon, imagine, or like a scenaro....so sorry. And like, sort of a side note, I love making main characters that are like sorta op so y/n’s quirk and story is sorta insane, but you guys dont really have to worry about it too much because its not really in this so....yeah, i guess its just some context. I wrote this while listening to a playlist I made, titled, “ur a badass hero with class 1-a” on spotify so if ppl wanna hear it, I will post a link to it lol. OH and class 1-a are in their second year! That’s a lot, sorry! But, I hope you enjoy!

y/n’s quirk (if ur curious): controlling the 4 elements (aang from the last airbender vibe lmao); but she also got a companion named koda (think of Moro-no-kimi from Princess Mononoke for the look) 

Y/n was never good at making friends. It’s not like she didn’t try, because she did. When she was a little kid, living on Catalina Island, she made a lot of attempts to make friends with fellow children in her pre-school and middle school. It just seemed that they wanted nothing to do with her, talking bad about her behind her back or acting as if she just didn’t exist. 

It started to get exhausting for Y/n to keep trying and ending up always failing. So, when enrolling in the top hero school, UA, Y/n thought that maybe, just maybe, things would be different. 

Nonetheless, it’s not like she had absolutely no one. She had Koda! Her best friend in the whole wide world, well her only friend, which was her pet wolf. However, Koda doesn’t like being called a “pet”, let’s stick with her companion. They are quite the inseparable duo. 

Y/n looked down at Koda from her desk who was lulling herself to sleep on the floor as Present Mic was teaching an English lesson. Y/n wished she too can sleep at this moment, “It wouldn’t hurt if I just closed my eyes for just a couple minutes.” Y/n thought. Oh, she was wrong though.

“Alright! We are going take a short break since we need to get our new textbooks,” Present Mic’s voice rang through her ears with all his elongation and passion, “Y/n and Todoroki! What about you two go get the books from the library!” Y/n would have jolted at the mention of her face, but she was honestly too tired to do so. 

She nodded her head, got up from her desk, and looked at Koda if he was going to follow her. Of course, he perked up at the mention of her name and was going with her. A small smile was now on Y/n’s lips. Y/n was glad that she knew she can depend on Koda, always in her corner.

As she pushed her chair away from her desk, getting up and walking towards the door, she didn’t realize that most of the class was either looking at her or the half and half boy, for he had to endure the trip with the enigma that is Y/n. 

The class just doesn’t know Y/n that well. She was one of the new students this year, along with Shinso. However, they at least knew of Shinso from last year. Y/n was a  brand-spanking new addition to the class. Not to mention, her introduction to the class was nothing short of intimidating.

Aizawa knew Y/n had a lot of strengths. In fact, he used her skills as a type of learning lesson for the class. Not to mention, he completely singled her out during the “lesson” as he instructed the class that Y/n will have a bell that is tied around her belt. All they had to do was get the bell. Y/n, being the competitive person she was, didn’t back down at this challenge. Safe to say, no one was able to get the bell that day.

Y/n sighed at the memory. “Maybe, if you had some chill, you would be able to get a friend, Y/n” a voice in her head said, causing Y/n’s shoulders to shrink and her hands to be stuffed into her pockets. (Yes, she has pockets with her uniform. Yes, she’s still wearing the school uniform skirt. She sowed pockets into them for this very habit.) 

“Uh, hey wait up.” a deeper voice called, already identifying who it is.

Y/n turned to right, looking at Koda for a brief second. From far away, one would think he was just grimacing, but as Y/n was closer, she can see he was very close to full-on growling at the sound of his voice.

Koda doesn’t really like Todoroki and Y/n always found it funny. Koda found everyone else real entertaining. As much as Koda was a wolf, he really was a people’s person. If Y/n didn’t know any better, it seemed Koda had a better relationship with her classmates than she actually did.

Y/n adopted a tired smile as she reacted to Koda’s growling at Shoto. She then looked behind her, seeing Todoroki jog lightly towards her. Her small smile soon faded away.

“Even if you try again to be a friend, you know that people will always end up fearing you.” Y/n honestly wanted to bang her head against a wall because this annoying voice was truly the bane of her existence. 

Y/n stopped in her tracks. Koda made eye-contact with her, almost telepathically asking her, “Why are you stopping for him?!”.

“I may be aloof, but I have to at least be polite.” Y/n told her wolf companion. Koda only let out a breathe of frustration as he also stopped as well.

Todoroki soon caught up to the duo and was on Y/n’s left side. And the three began their trek to the school library.

There was some silence.

For Todoroki, it was so awkward. “Why don’t you say something to her?” he asks himself, “Or are you going to let another opportunity slip?”

You see, Shoto Todoroki admired Y/n. She was incredibly skilled with her quirk. She was confident, but not arrogant. She was an innovator, while still accepting old principles. She was naturally smart, but always open to learning. To him, she was so balanced. He couldn’t help himself as the admiration started to soon feel like a crush on the dark haired girl.

For Y/n, she didn’t think anything of the silence. In fact, she was grateful for the silence. More silence, means less time for talking. Less chance of Y/n making a fool out of herself.

“You seem more tired than usual. Trained a lot yesterday, I presume?” And Todoroki broke the silence that Y/n was trying to insist.

“Yeah, trying out a new technique with my water.”

Y/n was surprised.

She really could have been more blunt with her answer.

Theoretically, all she really had to respond with was a “yeah”, but she decided to add that last part.

Why? Why did she feel inclined to go into more detail? Now, Y/n was confused. 

“That’s cool.” Todoroki wanted to hit himself in the head. “That’s all you got to say? What a conversation this is” Shoto mentally sighs. He feels like his heart is going to burst at how fast its going. 

“I’m actually trying to freeze it, but that turns out to be harder than expected,” Y/n almost slapped her hand on her mouth.

Why is she going into more detail? This doesn’t make sense. She’s been quite blunt lately when people try to talk to her, so what gives?

Is it Todoroki, himself? “Maybe he put a spell on me or something.” Y/n didn’t think the “icy-hot bastard” would dabble in witchcraft, but things were just not adding up in Y/n’s mind. All these thoughts woke Y/n right up, ridding herself of her tiredness. 

As for Todoroki, his mind was going into overdrive. “She’s having trouble with freezing water? She must know that this is my specialty. Is this her way of spending time with me? Does this mean the feelings I have for her are mutual? Perhaps, we can train together and I can help her with freezing.” The mere thought of spending time with Y/n outside of class made his cheeks warm up. 

He was an absolute love-struck fool for Y/n. 

“Oh, we’re here.” Y/n stated the obvious as they stand in front of the school’s library, halting Shoto’s mental mumbling, which almost resembled one of Midoryia’s ever-present babbling. 

Shoto Todoroki immediately shot his arm forward to open the door for Y/n, but Y/n was thinking the same thing and they reached for the same handle.

Their hands touch. 

And Todoroki thinks he can die happy now. Y/n’s hand is so soft. Much to his dismay, Y/n immediately drew her hand back as if his hand was scalding hot water. 

Y/n mumbled a quick “sorry” and places her hand on the other handle as there are two doors to the library, she opens it and immediately walks through it as Koda follows in tow. Koda dawns an absolute confused look as he didn’t know what the hell that interaction was about.

The actual task of getting the books aren’t that hard. In fact, it was an easy and quick task.

So, why is this causing Y/n’s mind and heart feeling like they are overheating.

As they walk back to the classroom with stacks of textbooks, Y/n thought, “Okay, there’s no way in hell that he will try to talk to me again, especially after that awkward incident. Now, let’s breakdown why the actual hell you acted that way, Y/n.” She mentally scolded herself like she was a child. 

Todoroki, as always, had a different plan and decided to continue the conversation, “You know, if you need help with freezing water, I can always help you since that is part of my quirk.”

Y/n has officially short-circuited.

He is voluntarily asking? Voluntarily. Asking?

Asking if Y/n wanted to train together?

This has never happened before, and she doesn’t know how to respond. “I would like that. I typically train in the morning and sometimes after school” is what Y/n felt like saying. It is as if her mind and mouth were working against each other.

However, Y/n’s thoughts were cut short as she heard the chatter of some of her fellow classmates. They three of them were very close to their classroom as their door to the room was wide open. 

“Hey guys, if we’re having a movie night tonight, do you think we should invite Y/n?”

It was Midoryia who asked the question. Y/n, Shoto, and Koda stopped dead in their tracks at the mention of her name. Shoto and Koda looked at Y/n with a worried expression. For her own good, she probably shouldn’t be listening, but she couldn’t help but be curious of her classmates’ plan in regards to her.

“It’s not that we don’t want her there. It’s just that, who is up for asking her?”

Silence. No one responded to the question.

Koda notices how Y/n’s grip on the textbooks tightened. Shoto noticed how your head was now titled downward, hiding your face.

“She’s just so intimidating. And not to mention that training exercise we did when we first met her. She’s sort of scary, to be honest.”

“Scary. You’re scary, Y/n. Terrifying.” She couldn’t help but repeat her classmates’ thought of her. She was just torturing herself at this point. No point in dwelling on first impressions, but as this is affecting her current relationship, or lack thereof, with her classmates, she couldn’t help it.

“Y/n-” Todoroki tries to interject before Y/n gets the wrong idea.

But, it’s too late.

“No, it’s fine. Thanks for the offer though, Todoroki.” Y/n’s words were slow. As much as her brain was going a million miles per hour, her mouth was evidently slower as her breathing was heavier.

She wanted to disappear, or at least get swallowed by the ground. She kept her head down as she strode into the classroom. Her classmates being oblivious to Y/n’s knowledge of what they truly think of her, paying no attention to her.

Shoto was basically frozen in place, next to the door, but he gained composure and walked in the class as well, a couple seconds after. Y/n quickly placed her books on the front desk where Present Mic sat behind of, she sat back in her seat that was in the back of the class.

Y/n watched how Shoto was still standing in front of the classroom as he was stopped by his classmates. Now, they were just chatting, probably talking about the upcoming movie night.

Y/n felt jealousy bubble up inside her. She wished she can chat like how Shoto was effortlessly talking away to his classmates. Or how Midoryia stopped him with such ease to talk about a social event.

Y/n yearned for some friendly interaction. That’s what she wanted when coming to UA. 

She wanted to be normal. As normal as she could be. A normal teenager.

“Things don’t always go according to plan, huh?” Y/n pouted and placed her head on her desk and just waited patiently till the school day was over.

Koda worriedly looked at Y/n. “She’s going to want to train after this. And I bet she’s going to push herself harder because of today.” Koda knew Y/n very well. Knew her like the back of his hand, well, paw. 

And, Koda was right. Y/n was in gym gamma, completely exhausted. Sweat covered her body as her muscles were screaming at her take a break. Her labored breathe continued as her body was trying its best to keep up.

Y/n was frustrated. “Why? Why am I like this?” she kept repeating like a mantra.

“I want to be normal. Why can’t I be like them?”

“Why?”

“You’re a monster. It’s actually quite simple.”

Y/n threw a punch with her fist encased in water, and it wasn’t until after that punch was thrown, she realized that there was now an evident hole in the thick, solid concrete wall. 

Y/n fell to her knees. Koda hurriedly made his way to her, making sure she didn’t do anything too stupid. Once Koda was close, she was doing something unexpected. 

She was crying. 

Hot streams, cascading down her face. She started to hiccup, her breathing erratic. “A-am I scary to you, Koda?” her voice was so small.

Koda nudged his way in between her legs and nestled his head into her neck. Y/n, full on sobbing now, wraps her arms around Koda and her cries are muffled by his fur. Wailing and self-deprecating questions can be faintly heard from her if anyone were to enter the gym.

A couple minutes passed. Y/n’a breathing returned to a calm rhythm.

“Thanks, Koda. I needed that,” Y/n sniffles, “C’mon let’s go make dinner, I’ll whip you up something special for putting up with me today.” Koda’s tail immediately began to wag at the thought of Y/n’s cooking.

Y/n was an independent person. She likes doing things on her own as much as can. She doesn’t eat the food from the school cafeteria, instead, she opts for making her and Koda’s meals from the kitchen that is provided to them in their dormitory. And indeed, she made a delicious dinner for both of them. 

Now, the hard part. Because of how long her training took, showering, and making dinner, Y/n knew that her classmates were in the common space already, probably preparing to have their movie night. And, she had to pass them. It was a short distance, short walk, Y/n was trying to reassure herself. Just walk straight towards to the elevator and you’re safe.

Y/n takes a deep breathe and walks out of the kitchen. The chatter of her classmates emerges to her ears, but as she walks towards the elevator, the chatter dies down.

“Oh no.” Y/n’s eyes widened in fear. “Way to go on ruining the mood, Y/n.”

Thankfully, the elevator was quick and the doors slide open, making an easy escape for Y/n and Koda. She let out a breathe she didn’t even realize she was holding in as the doors slid shut. Y/n looks at Koda, who was already looking at her, “It’s better this way, anyway” Y/n didn’t know if she was telling Koda that, or herself.

On the other side of the elevator’s doors, her classmates collectively let out a sigh, “Well that was another chance we wasted.” Kaminari was the first to break the awkward silence.

“Tch. Like any of you have the guts to actually ask her.” Bakugo chimed in.

“Oh please, Bakugo, I know she intimidates you, too.” Mina fired back.

“Whatever.”

“She heard you guys.” Todoroki suddenly talked. Everyone casted their attention to him, “Earlier today, I mean. She heard you guys when you were talking about inviting her to movie night.” 

The once light-hearted atmosphere in the room was now tilted with guilt.

“She heard all that?” Midoryia incredulously asked, only imagining what you would be feeling because of their words.

“She must feel terrible.” Ochaco openly voiced her thoughts.

“She probably hates us.” Kirishima adds in.

“She means well, I promise. I think we just need to give her a chance.” Todoroki tries to reason with his classmates.

“First, we need to apologize.” Midoryia proposes as he looks among his classmates. His classmates collectively nod their heads in agreement

“You’re right. Well, good luck Midoryia.” Kaminari pats his back as encouragement. Everyone else either gives an encouraging smile or a thumbs up.

“Ha?! What?! You guys already decided that I’m going to be the one to apologize?” Izuku was flailing his arm around and was checking everyone else’s reaction.

“Well, yes. It’s your idea and you are one of the most apologetic people here.” Iida explained to an overthinking Midoryia.

After regaining composure, he realized that this was probably the best option, “Okay, I’ll, I’ll go now.”

Midoryia makes his way to Y/n’s dorm room. He was nervous. He only had very limited interactions with Y/n. So, he really didn’t know what to expect. Before he knew it, he was before your door.

On the other side, Y/n was chowing down on her food. She took a swig of her water, “So, how’s the food? I tried a new technique on roasting the veggies.” Y/n babbled on for a bit, but she realized that Koda’s plate was hardly touched. Her gaze landed on Koda who was sitting on her bed with a very obvious frown, staring at the door. Y/n immediately knew why.

“Hey, if you wanna go hangout with them, I can push the buttons on the elevator for you-”

Koda was irritated at how difficult Y/n was being, she can just ask them if she can join. It was simple. Koda used his mouth to latch on to Y/n’s sleeve and started to drag her to her dorm’s door. 

“H-hey Koda! Not cool, man! You know, I can’t go down there.” Y/n tugs her sleeve away from Koda. 

Koda turned to his last resort. He did his signature pout. 

“Oh, please. You know that stopped working on me awhile ago. Besides, we can have our own movie night, right?” Y/n tried to reason, but her reasoning just felt sad.

Before Y/n could step away from her dorm’s door, she heard a knock. The two quickly tuned their heads at the door as if something miraculous just happened.

Y/n took one step toward the door. 

“It’s Midoryia.” Koda began to wag his tail, “don’t get your hopes up too quickly.”

Y/n opened the door only a slit for her head to poke out, “Oh, hi Midoryia. Is something wrong?” she asks.

“U-um, no nothings wrong.” he responds as nerves start to take over and he doesn’t continue on.

“Okay.” With that, Y/n closed her door. Koda wanted to scratch his eyes out. This was her chance! For someone who was the top student in her class, she was so stupid. “He didn’t want anything. Sorry to disappoint, Koda-” another knock interrupted her.

She looked at the door, “It’s still Midoryia.” Koda rolled his eyes.

Y/n went to to open the door, again, only opening a bit, “Yes, Midoryia? You sure something isn’t wrong?”

“Uh, well I was wondering if we can talk for a bit.”

“Oh, yeah sure.” Y/n stepped out of her door, and shutting it.

However, Koda was right on her trail, but was shut out by the now closed door. He pouts at the door. And how holds his ear to the door, interested in the conversation that has yet to come.

“So, what’s up?” Y/n asked the green-haired boy.

“I, we, as a class, wanted to apologize for our words today.” Midoryia spoke in a remorseful and quiet tone.

Y/n was taken back. “So, they know that I heard what they were saying? Must have been Todoroki’s doing.”

“Look, it’s fine. I know I’m intimidating-“

“But it’s not fine. We shouldn’t have treated or talked about you that way.”

Y/n was stunned at his words. He took that as a sign to continue, “and we were hoping, if you’d be okay if we start over and become friends.”

Y/n remained cautious with her walls, “You know, friendship isn’t really a perquisite for this course.”

“Of course, I know that. We all do, but it doesn’t hurt to have them, right?”

Y/n felt like tearing up. She wanted to believe him. She wanted to put her trust in that last statement of his. 

“I’ll be be down in 5 minutes,” Y/n stated rather blandly, but it didn’t matter to Midoryia.

“Great! See ya!” He waved and started to head back to the elevator, before he pressed the button, Y/n called him once more,

“Midoryia?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” and nods his head. He couldn’t be more thrilled that this will all work out.

As for Y/n, she opened her door to her dorm, and closing it as she stepped inside.

As soon as she was in the comfort of her own room, she broke into her happy dance. Her fists clenched, eyes shut, shoulders scrunched, jumping in the air, squeals make their way pass her lips, with the biggest smile on her face

Koda felt a wave of relief of wash over him. He was glad that she was finally experiencing acceptance. 

After the moment passes, Y/n sighs and looks at Koda, ruffling his fur on the top of his head.

“Well, shall we?” Y/n said in an extravagant manner as she opened her door and bowed.

Koda, playing along, held his head high and strutted out. Y/n let out a light-hearted laugh and they made their way down, together.

Once Y/n actually made it to the common room, all of her classmates were looking at her, stopping their conversations as well. The confidence that Y/n help was long gone, feeling now awkward yet again.

However, the silence didn’t last too long as the class enveloped her in boisterous apologies, hugs, and pats on the back. 

To say Y/n was overwhelmed was understatement. She had never been around these many people, giving attention towards her. It was new territory she had yet to cross. 

“Guys, you should probably let her breathe.”

That was Todoroki. Y/n pried her eyes away from Mina who was asking what conditioner she uses, and looked at Shoto. Y/n mouthed a “thank you” and he simply nodded.

The class went back to their seats, muttering apologies again for getting in her personal space.

Now, Y/n faced yet another problem:

Where is she going to sit?!

She kept standing where she stood for a good couple seconds, scanning the area for any good spots.

However, there was actually only one spot open. And, it just happen to be next to Todoroki. 

Y/n mentally prepared herself and started her path towards him. Of course, Shoto knew this. He was the one who made sure he saved a seat right next to him just for this occasion.

But things don’t always go according to plan, right?

Rightly so, right before Y/n could take the unaccompanied seat, Denki was coming back from the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn, plopping right down on the seat.

“Oh, hey Y/n! I’m glad you made it! You want some popcorn?”

“No, I’m good, thanks though.” Y/n was able to play it off as she chose to sit on the floor in front of the couch, which coincidentally was in front of the seat that Shoto resided. 

Shoto was irritated. He wanted you to sit next to him. For crying out loud, that was the whole reason he had this seat open in the first place. All he does is sigh, catching Y/n’s attention.

Y/n turns back to Todoroki, sending a small smile his way, but then turning back to the screen as her fellow classmates were arguing on what to watch.

Y/n put her hand to her chest. This is weird. Why is her heart rate so high? She’s not usually like this. Maybe Todoroki did cast a spell on her.

Y/n couldn’t think about it too much as the movie began playing.

[xaharadesert]

Bard MC - Headcanon

Arcana Characters (Main 6) x MC

A/N: Okie dokie, this one is for a very lovely and very patient anon! Their request for an MC who can control magic through music is super cool! Honestly, I didn’t know exactly what a bard was when I first received this request, so I’ll be adding in a couple references about that as a joke :) I also tried to leave it ambiguous between whether the MC sings or plays an instrument, but I may have failed. My apologies, these may be a bit shorter than what you’re all used too, but I was struggling with this a little bit (also I am half asleep as I am finishing this, so I’m sorry if some of it doesn’t make sense). Also, I’m very sorry about using an outdated meme, but the oppurtunity was right there and I had to use it. As always, I recognize Asra’s non-binary gender orientation but will be using he/him pronouns! Please let me know if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes :) Requests are open!

❤️Julian❤️

Oh, yeah, he knows what a bard is

Like a singer... right?

Nope

When you tell him that you control magic through music, he has a small crisis and reevaluates every bard he’s ever met

He suddenly has quite a few questions about the inherent magic of music

Curious as always, he wants to learn more about how music acts as a medium for magic, which means a lot of questions

Most of his questions are based in psychology, because a small part of him that constantly doubts magic believes that you’re just a scientific genius

Overall, he supports you, of course

He loves music and the fact that you can cast spells using it is just an added bonus

Julian is already thinking about all the musical adventures you’ll have together

If you offer to teach him, he’ll respectfully decline

He’ll stick to the ordinary kind of music, thank you

On that note, unless it messes with your magic he will absolutely sing along whenever you’re preparing a spell

If this is a problem he’ll sing quietly to himself to avoid being a distraction

He’s sorry if it’s annoying to you, but he really loves singing

When he’s constantly surrounded by music he finds it hard to keep quiet

But if you’re okay with him joining in? He’ll belt some made-up lyrics at the top of his lungs

He may accidentally sing over you and your music, so even if it was originally fine, it will unintentionally cause problems

🧡Portia🧡

Oh, a bard!

That’s uh... a music thing, right?

I mean, she was mostly right

When you tell her that you can control magic through music she’s ecstatic

Magic in and of itself is super cool, but music too?! That’s amazing!

Portia wasn’t the biggest fan of music before, but you can bet your butt she is now!

She loves listening to you preform magic, and even if your not doing a spell, she loves listening to you

She wants to know what kind of songs control what kind of spells

In fact, she wants to know everything about your magic

You might as well be her official teacher because she never stops asking questions

In fact, asking if you can teach her eventually does come up

She’s a very eager student, although she often goes off track and starts inventing her own music

It’s not as effective, but she’s definitely having fun

Even if she never actually learns the magic part, she learned a cool new musical skill

She’ll create silly little songs to make you laugh

Sometimes when you use a particularly sad song for a spell, she’ll start to tear up

This can be a bit of a distraction, but she swears she’s not actually upset

You’re just amazing at what you do

Once Julian needed your help and her response was “this is so sad, MC play Despacito”

💛Lucio💛

Of course he knows what a bard is!

At least that’s what he claims

In reality he has no idea, he always referred to them as “music people”

So when you tell him about controlling magic through music he’s suddenly feeling a little afraid of every musician he made fun of in the past

He’ll never admit that out loud, though

Lucio thinks what you do is amazing

You can do magic AND you’re musically talented! That’s double the talent!

For a moment he considered mocking Asra for being less talented than you before remembering that you and Asra are friends

That doesn’t stop him from showing off your talents to everyone else, though!

Whether you really want to or not, you’ll probably have to show literally every Vesuvian your abilities at least once

Lucio himself isn’t particularly interested in learning your form of magic

He’d rather watch and listen as you preform spells

He doesn’t really want you to teach anyone else though, but he can’t really stop you if you choose to anyway

Sometimes he’ll ask you to preform a spell just so he can listen to you

He especially loves to hear slower songs for spells that ward off nightmares

When he listens to you, he genuinely feels calm and peaceful

He just exists in a perfect moment, with nobody but you and him

On a side note, though, sometimes when you’re showing off for other people he’ll try to sing along and it’ll always end up sounding horrible

💚Muriel💚

Doesn’t even pretend to know what a bard is

He never really had a reason to know, so he doesn’t

When you first tell him, he feels a bit awkward because he feels as if you expected him to know

But of course, your brand of magic was pretty unique so explaining your abilities was old hat by now

He’s not exactly sure how he feels about your methods

Of course he loves and supports you, but your magic... it’s just... a lot

It seems to require a lot of noise, and it draws way too much attention in his opinion

He would never try to change you, but he shrinks into himself whenever you gain a crowd from performing a spell in public

He starts to feel differently about it the first time he hears a slower song

When your music is soft and soothing he inadvertently feels himself relax

Knowing that you’re beside him, doing what you love, brings him a lot of inexplicable joy

Muriel doesn’t really have any interest in learning your kind of magic for himself, if he’s being honest

Although, he never minds when you want to talk about the complexities

He doesn’t mind very much if you need to practice late at night at home, because he doesn’t need to worry about other people intruding

Personally, he has no real uses for your magic so he never asks for your help

That isn’t to say he won’t accept it; if you want to use a song to help with menial tasks once in a while he won’t complain

The one exception is if you start using it for some creepy spell in the middle of the night

Then he may have a few complaints

💙Asra💙

The only one who actually knows what a bard is without your explanation

He was there throughout most of your magical growth, so he already knows a lot about it

In all honesty, if it weren’t for you, he probably would have been just as oblivious as everyone else

He loves how unique your method of performing magic is

Asra has never met anyone quite like you, and he doubts he ever will

Watching you perform your magic is one of his favourite hobbies (if you can really count that as a hobby)

Observing how your magic interacts with your music is incredible to him

He’s a little jealous, but he’d never say that out loud

You offered to teach him years ago and he eagerly accepted, but he never quite got the hang of it

In the end, he learned most of the theory behind it, but he mostly stuck to his own brand of magic

Even if he does admire your magic more than he admires his own, he does love the contrast between the two of you

(Spoilers) when he brought you back and was re-teaching you most things, your magic was one of the hardest

He felt horrible that he couldn’t properly demonstrate for you, but after teaching you the theories again, you seemed to pick it up on your own

On a side note though, helping you relearn your magic did allow him to grasp a couple of basic spells with your method, which makes him super excited

All in all he’s just thrilled that you have such a strong and unique brand of magic

He’s proud of how much you’ve grown into it, despite not having a proper mentor

Asra is a fan of quite a few unique types of music, but listening to whatever kind of music your using has definitely helped him settle on a few favourite songs

He doesn’t have a favourite kind of musical spell, so he’s excited no matter what kind of magic your performing

One time he even convinced you to cast a spell to heat up some tea faster just because he wanted to hear your music

💜Nadia💜

A bard?

As in, one who recites poetry, correct?

She uses the definition of a bard when describing what she thinks you do

Nadia is pleasantly surprised to find that your definition of bard is much more powerful, although she now has a few questions about how you go about defining words

She doesn’t have very much magical experience, so she was unaware of how unique your brand of magic was

But when she finds out exactly what it is you do?

She’s so excited

Nadia definitely loves music, although she leans toward slightly more refined tastes

She starts to question her favourite songs when she first hears you perform a spell

You manage to convey so much emotion, regardless of how long a spell or song is

She feels her heart pound in her chest whenever you use a lot of emotion in a spell

If you offer to teach her, she’ll have to politely decline

She knows how to play piano, sure, and her singing voice isn’t the worst, but she isn’t particularly interested in studying magic

She’ll just leave that part up to you

Of course, she’s always content to watch you perform, although sometimes it is a bit disruptive

If she needs a quick spell while in a meeting, a whole song can be a bit of a problem

She learns to work around this though, because she would never want you to ever change who you are

Although, she will admit she found it humorous when you chose a particularly aggressive song for a spell when trying to prove a point to Valerius

[skylawrites]

A/N: Hi! I wrote this a month or two ago, based on the song "Achilles Come Down" by Gang of Youths. And it turned into this! It's Hurt/comfort. With some angst. Also I would like to mention that if any of my stories have a spelling or grammar error that I missed feel free to correct me! So I hope you enjoy!

Trigger Warning: Suicide attempt. Suicidal Thoughts. Yelling/fighting.

Davey was tired. He was tired of having to deal with this stress. The stress of everything going downhill. His family's health wasn't the best at the moment, and in a result he was being ignored. His basic needs being pushed aside because someone was worse off. He didn't want to resent his family but he didn't know how not to. How he was expected to be this perfect boy, when he too was human and made mistakes. His dad had gotten badly sick and now Davey had to work twice as hard as before to pay for the medical bills and so his family had a place to live.

    He had basically been put in charge of caring for Les because his mom was constantly at work. Which in its self was hard. How do you raise a child at age 17? He didn't even have his own life together.

     Davey was done.

     The cold wind whipped through his hair. The lights sitting the sidewalk seemed small from the edge of the building. The people looked like ants, each having a role in society's anthill. And what was Davey here for? He wanted to have a life. Be able to talk to his friends again. If he had any left, after distancing himself from them for so long.They probably hated him, didn't want anything to do with him.

    His feet were pressed against the edge. Looking below at the concrete, which he would soon hit. When he took this next step he would be gone. In a flash. No more running, no more hiding. Just gone. He wished he could say goodbye to Les one last time. But he couldn't back down now. Hopefully Les will understand. And someday grow to be a responsible, successful adult.

    Taking a deep breath and absorbing the last of the feel of New York. His home. Then he stepped off with one foot.

🗞🗞🗞

Jack and Crutchie stood in the streets. Walking to their rooftop in which they lived to settle down for the night. Jack sighed in frustration . Davey had been avoiding Jack for 2 weeks now. Why? He had tried to exchange conversation but every time Davey didn't seem to hear. He wasn't coming with the others to Jacobi's like usual. Nor had he seemed to talk to anyone else. Jack hadn't seen Davey smile in a long time. And to say the least he just missed Davey. Was it something Jack did or said? Maybe if he-

"What's that?" Crutchie asked snapping Jack out of his thoughts and back to reality. Crutchie was pointing towards the top of the building. It was hard to make out but jack saw a person. Standing dangerously close to the edge. Jack immediately understood what was going on and gasped.

"Crutchie keep heading home I'll be right there." He said urgency prominent in his voice. As he was running away he called behind him "if trouble arises go to the theatre!"

And with that Jack was off. Climbing the fire escape stair by stair, the rattling sound of metal resonating through the silent night air. When he made it to the top he shook with shock. 

    Davey started to fall. But something Jerked him back.  Something caught his body, hurling it back, Landing on top of someone with a thud. He hissed in pain.

     "What the hell dave,"

Davey would recognize the voice of Jack Kelly anywhere. But opposed to the confident, sarcastic, flirtatious tone he usually had his voice sounded weak, scared, hurt.

      Davey didn't respond. A hot tear glided down his face.

Jack placed a hand on Davey's shoulder. Looking him in the eyes.

"Why?" He whispered out.

    Davey didn't respond.

"WHY!?" Jack yelled.

     Davey couldn't look Jack in the eyes. His forced the words out of his mouth

     "Jackie I am so sorry..."

then he broke. Falling to his knees on the pavement. Sobs racking his frame.

"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."

     Jack took his arms and wrapped them the other boy.

Chiding him. He stroked a hand through Davey's hair.

Tears spilled out of Jack's eyes as well.

    Davey cried until he had nothing left in him. He sat sniffling and gasping for air. He pushed away from Jack. Standing up.

     Jack stood as well. Both boys eyes were red from the crying.

     Davey turned to walk away.

"I should get going it's getting late,"

"You say that as if nothing ever happened."

Davey chuckled. Wiping his wet eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.

"I guess I've got a few minutes to spare."

     Rain began to spill out of the dark clouds above. Smashing against the pavement.

     Jack looked at Davey then at the streets. He grabbed Davey by the arm. And led him down the stairs and off the roof of the building.

    As the ran became harder Jack's pace quickened. He hoped Cruthie had made it back to the rooftop alright. Just as he went to turn into an alleyway Jack ran into someone. He looked up, his eyes meeting none other than Oscar Delancy.

     "Oh my? If it isn't our favorite little newsboy." He snarled.

   Jack took a step back. Regaining his stance. Oscar raised a first. Morris's eyes caught Davey's and had a mutual moment of understanding. Morris grabbed his brothers fist before he could do any harm.

    "Let's get going. It's getting late." He said gesturing towards their apartment.

    Oscar looked pissed but didn't really have to energy to argue with Morris.

      He looked Jack in the eyes one more time and said, "don't think you're getting some special treatment Jack." Before flipping him off and leaving.

    Davey mouthed "thank you," to Morris and he nodded back.

     The rain began to come down harder. Thunder boomed. Davey and Jack exchanged a look.

      "My house is about a mile down." Davey said. "We can split paths now? Or you could come home with me?"

      Jack examined the sky. The wind was picking up speed.

      "I know a better place."

He pulled Davey about a block down until they were outside the theatre. Jack swung open the back door and Davey followed him inside.

      They stood gasping for air, clothed drenched.

       "Is that you Jack?" A voice called. As Medda appeared in front of the boys.

     "Yeah," Jack greeted her,

      She examined the boys and exclaimed "oh my, it is really coming down out there. Here take these."

      She threw 2 towels to jack and he took one a wrapped it around his shoulders and the other around Davey's. Medda looked over at Davey's tear-stained face.

     "Would you like some water dear?" She asked.

     Davey nodded. Medda turned to walk away, Jack stopped her.

      "May I get one too?"

     "Yes Jack," she called behind her.

      When she had left Davey went over to the nearest wall. He leaned and sunk to the ground in a sitting position. Plopping his face into his hands.

    Jack sat down next to him. And wrapped an arm around him in comfort.

     Davey sank into the embrace and sighed.

     "Jack, I am so sorry,"

     "Hey," Jack wiped the tears off Davey's face. "We went over this, I ain't mad."

     "I- I know but-"

     "There's no buts. I'm just happy your alive Dave."

     Davey let out a small laugh. And whispered "me too."

     Davey fiddled with his hair. Which stuck to the sides of his face. Dripping with rainwater.

     Jack noticed and took one of the towels by his side and ruffled it through Davey's hair. Davey burst out laughing. And playfully slapped Jack with the towel beside him. Jack lowered his hands placing the towel on the ground. Davey's hair was now just damp and had started to become frizzy.

     Miss Medda returned with the water a few moments later handing them over.

    They both thanked her.

     "If you boys need anything else, don't hesitate to ask alright?"

     "Alright." Jack confirmed.

     When she left again Davey leaned his head on Jack shoulder. Jacks face flushed a bright red. He rubbed soothing circles on Daveys back. Both boys sat for what seemed like hours. Before drifting off to sleep.

      Medda had come back into the room a little while later to find the boys soundly sleeping on each other's shoulders. She smiled to herself. Those boys really were made for each other.

1,396 words

A/N: If you ever feeling Suicidal please reach out. It's important for you to take care of your mental heath. And I know that times may be hard. And it may seem like it will never get better, but it will. So stay around. And find the thing that makes you want to stay.

      I hope you enjoyed that! And I should have another oneshot soon after I edit it! I hope all of you lovely humans have a wonderful day!! （＾∇＾）

- Sky ☁️

[just-fan-fics]

Middle of the night

pairing: draco malfoy x slytherin!reader

request: anonymous “ Do you write for Draco Malfoy? If not please ignore this but if so would you do one during the 6th year of the Slytherin!Reader forcing Draco to sneak out with her late one night when she sees him having a hard time sleeping (she knows about the Dark Mark and is there for him even though she is apart of the Order of the Phoenix) and he agrees after coxing since he can't say no to her? “

warning: angst, fluff

word count: 1.2k

a/n: thank you for your request I hope this is what you were expecting or atleast is close. Also sorry for any grammar/spelling mistake, English is not my main language. REQUESTS ARE OPEN.

(Credit for the gif to the owner)

------

You wake up in the middle of the night unable to sleep. You put your shoes on and head down the stairs to the common room, there you see a familiar white hair. “Draco?” he turns around from the couch to look at you. “Where are you doing up?” he asks “I could ask the same to you” he nods smiling. You look at him seeing the tiredness mixed with fear and concern on his eyes.

You know about the Death Eater tattoo and even though you are part of the Order of the Phoenix you are and will always be there for him. You were already part of the Order when he told you about the tattoo and you thought that that would be it for you two but when you looked at him you didn’t see the mark on him you saw the Draco that has been there for you since the beginning and you couldn’t just leave him alone, not now. Also, he doesn’t know that you are part of the Order, you hate lying to him but after talked about it with some of the members you all thought that it would be better if he didn’t know.

You don’t like lying to him, he has told you about the dark mark because he trusts you and you couldn’t even tell something like this to him, in a way because you were short of enemies just for being part of the Order who wants Voldemort’s followers gone.

“Let’s go” you say making your way to him. “Where?” “I don’t know, just out of here” you say shrugging. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea” he says biting his lower lip. “Oh come on, don’t tell me that the great Draco Malfoy is afraid to get caught” he looks at you moving his head on disbelieve. “Okay” you smile and take his hand on you head out.

You two walk hand in hand through the corridors aware of not getting caught but any professor. You got into one of the secrets passages that you and the member of the Order use to sneak out of the school. “How do you know this passage?” he asks looking at you curious. “I just found it one day while I was running from Flitch’s cat” you lie to him. You hate lying to him. He just nods not giving it much thought.

----

Once you are out of the castle you two walk to your hidden spot in the Forbidden Forest. You sit down not really talking just enjoying each other presence. “Do you want to talk about it?” you ask not looking at him. “I don’t know, it’s really messed up and I don’t want you involve on it” you nod understanding. Part of you wants to know to help him get through it but the other part of you doesn’t want to because if it is something dangerous you will need to tell the Order in order to stop it.

You enjoy this kind of moments with Draco, you don’t need to talk to know what the other is thinking and you don’t need to talk to feel comfortable or have a great time. This kind of moments are one of your favorites, this moments makes everyone see how comfortable you are with each other.

Even though it’s a time to relax and enjoy the night your mind can’t stop thinking of either tell Draco or not that you are part of the Order. You want to tell him because he’s your best friend but at the same time you don’t want to, afraid of broke your friendship. You look at him with worried eyes and he looks at you mimicking your expression. “What’s wrong?” he asks. You gulp and take a deep breath; you are going to tell him even though this could be the end of your friendship. “I need to tell you something and it’ll probably ruin everything but I feel like I have to be honest with you” he turns around a bit so he can face you. “I am part of the Order” you say looking to your lap not feeling brave enough to look him in the eyes.

“You are part of the Order?!” Draco says standing up. You’ve expected this kind of reaction. “That’s why you are near me? To spy on me?” the color fade from your face. “No Draco of course not” your eyes start to water. “I’m with you because I’m your best friend, I would never spy on you” the tears start to fall from your eyes. “You know what? Just leave me alone I can’t talk to you, not right now” he says and takes of to the castle.

You watch him leave while your tears flood your cheeks. You’ve lost your best friend.

------

You wake up the next morning, you dress up and head to the bathroom, your red puffy eyes are noticeable and not even a spell could help you with that but you still try, most of it going away but the hint that you’ve been crying the whole night is still visible.

Your classes go by slower than never before and your eyes shift to Draco everytime that you got the chance hoping that he can feel the pain on your chest and how sorry you are.

The end of the day is finally here and you’ve never crossed a word with Draco all day. You make your way to your common room and without crossing a word with anyone you go straight to your room.

 You toss and turn in your bed unable to sleep. You put your shoes on and head down to the common room, Draco is already there as most of the nights because the nightmares and the bad thoughts crossing his mind due to the Dark Mark don’t let him sleep. He turns hearing steps but he turns quickly again when he sees that it’s you.  

“Coming to spy on me?” he says not looking at you. “After all this time together, you really think I would do something like that to you?” “I don’t feel like I know you anymore” you walk and sit next to him on the couch. “Draco you know me, you are the only one that truly knows me, being in the Order doesn’t change any of that, you’re still my best friend and you still can count on me on this sleepless nights even if you feel like you can’t trust me anymore” you say whipping a stray tear of your cheek.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” he asks calm after a few seconds of silence. “Because I was afraid of this” you answer honestly “I’ve been torn between telling you or not telling you since the moment I became part of the Order” he still doesn’t look at you. “I haven’t told anything that you have said to me if that’s what you are worried about” “Really?” he finally looks at you. You simply nod. “You are my best friend” you shrug giving him a small smile. “And you are mine” “So, we are good?” “We are good” he smiles at you.

And there with the heat coming from the fireplace and the happiness of having your best friend back, you fell asleep on Draco’s lap.

[ladycatofwinterfell]

A new marriage and an old one, pt4

Summary: Robb is getting married and Catelyn have been married for many years. This is a happy story about the Starks (mostly Ned and Cat, but also the others) that takes place in a world where AGoT never happened and they’re all living happily in Winterfell.

Rating: I’d say mature, but message me if it should be changed. 

English is not my first language, so I apologize if there’s any spelling or grammar mistakes. I hope you enjoy it :)

~*~

”You spoil me” she panted.

Catelyn was laying on her back and looking up at the canopy. A wide smile was on her lips. That had been more than good, that had been great. She wouldn’t have said no to celebrating twenty years every night. Maybe she would suggest that each day should be an accomplishment and that they should therefore celebrate every night.

Ned pushed himself up on one elbow and looked at her.

“It’s you who spoil me. Gods, Cat. How do you expect me to ever willingly leave the bed after you give me that?”

“I don’t want to leave the bed either.”

He laughed.

”Happy anniversary.”

”Happy anniversary.”  

He leaned down and kissed her. It was a soft kiss, a kiss full of love. The best type of kiss. She closed her eyes and wished that she could have frozen time so that they could stay like that forever. It was just perfect.

”I love you” he mumbled against her lips.

She slid a hand up into his greying hair.

”I love you too.”

So so much. Love was pleasant, she was lucky to have a good husband that she could love. And that loved her back.

A knock on the door interrupted them. It took Catelyn no time at all to heat up and become very irritated at whoever was knocking on her door that late. Being interrupted was about the last thing she wanted.

”What now?” she groaned.

”Don’t open” Ned said and kissed her again. ”We are available in the morning, not now.”

He was right. The person at the door could wait a couple of hours, it couldn’t be too bad. She leaned into the kiss, pulled Ned a little closer. But against her will she came to her senses after a second knock on the door. If it was important enough to come to them in the middle of the night and knock twice, they couldn’t just ignore it.

”We can’t” she sighed and pushed him away.

She left him in the bed and wrapped a robe around her very much naked body. While doing so, she caught sight of herself in the looking glass that was standing in a corner of the room. Her hair was a great mess, her cheeks were still flushed with color, there was a mark on her neck. A very visible mark that was too high up on her neck for her to cover it with the robe. Catelyn Stark was in no way presentable to anyone besides her husband in that moment, but she had to pretend that she was. If she acted like it, maybe they wouldn’t question her appearance.

She looked at Ned and shook her head.

”Oh cover yourself” she told him.

He only grinned at her, not moving. And she couldn’t help but letting her eyes roam over his body. She wanted him. She wanted to run her hands over his muscled body, she wanted to touch him, and taste him. She wanted to put her mouth against his cock, she wanted to hear him moan her name in response. She wanted to feel his skin against hers. But satisfying her desires would have to wait.

”Don’t get me wrong, I like the view. But I want to be the only one enjoying it.”

When he still didn’t do anything, she quickly walked over to the bed and threw a blanket over him. You had to do everything yourself if you wanted to get anything done in that bloody castle. Then she opened the door and found a very impatient Arya outside. And there was a lot of people running around. Which wasn’t unusual during the day, but it was in the middle of the night. Why were everyone awake?

”Finally! How long can it take to open a door?” she asked.

”It’s late” Catelyn said.

She tried so hard to pretend like the love bite on her neck didn’t exist. Even though it did and she could see on the instant change in Arya’s body language that she had noticed it.

”It doesn’t look like you had blown out the candles for the night” Arya said and raised her eyebrows.

”Has anything happened, Arya?”

”Lya and Hossie are out of bed and hiding somewhere” she said. ”We are already looking for them, but we thought you might want to know.”

Not again. That was the second time that month and last time it had taken hours to find them. They wouldn’t have any fun the following months, that was a thing to be very sure of. And no dessert until they were fifteen. It would be time for bed the second the sun reached the horizon. And guards outside the door to their room.

”I should have suspected that they were up to something” Catelyn said and took a deep breath so that her head wouldn’t explode. ”We’ll be out in a minute.”

She closed the door a little harder than she had intended. She really couldn’t get one quiet night with Ned. Of course something came in the way. Of course it was some of the children. Of course it was Lyanna and Hoster.

”Get up, it’s time to hunt for children!” she said to Ned and threw him his breeches that had ended up on the floor. ”I need you to stop me from actually killing them when I catch them.”

”What a way to end this pleasant night!” Ned said.

He laughed as he got out of the bed. Gods, she was seeing red and he laughed. He really couldn’t be mad the second Lyanna was involved in anything.

”No matter how much Lyanna tries, you won’t let her out of it. Do you understand?”

”Aye, Lady Stark” he said and bowed before her.

”Ned!”

She managed to dress herself with just some help from Ned with lacing her dress. Then she brushed her hair in a rush so that she wouldn’t look like something from north of the Wall, and let it flow free over shoulders so that it could hide the love bite. Gods, she really should have stopped Ned there. She was out of the room in a minute as she had said and Ned was not long after her.

She immediately turned left and towards the stairs. There was a small and very dark space beneath the steps at one place, you couldn’t see it if you didn’t know it was there. She knew they liked to hide there and suspected that she would find them there. If not, they were at least somewhere in the Great Keep, there were guards at the ways in and out that would have stopped them if they had tried to get to the rest of Winterfell. But the Great Keep was just that. Great. So it brought her close to no joy.

She walked past an open door, but stopped when a sleepy voice spoke to her.

”What is happening?”

Margaery looked very confused even though she seemed to be half asleep.

”It’s nothing, dear. My youngest are out of bed. Nothing to worry about, they can’t leave the Great Keep.”

”Oh, I’ll help you look for them” Margaery said immediately.

In a second the sleepy veil that had covered her eyes was gone. 

”There’s no need for it. I’m sure that they will turn up any second. You should rest, tomorrow will be a busy day” Catelyn said and smiled.

”You will be my family in two weeks. And I should help my family” Margaery insisted. ”Family always comes first.”

The gods had sent a woman from the brightest of the seven heavens to marry into Catelyn’s family. ’Family always comes first’. Catelyn had grown up by those words, she had taught her children those words. Family was the most important thing in the world, and her son would marry a woman who understood that. It warmed her heart.

”Thank you” she said.

”It’s nothing” Margaery smiled.

Catelyn nodded and continued her way towards the space where she was sure she would find her little twins. And to her great disappointment, it wasn’t quite that easy. She wouldn’t get to go to bed with her husband again. They were not there.

Her children were a little piece of heaven that she got to carry with her on earth, but at times she got ungodly tired of them. When she had to run around the Great Keep in the middle of night in order to find them, for example. That wasn’t very nice.

~*~

The next day Catelyn was even more tired. She had not believed that to be possible, but appearently it was. There were not many hours of sleep in her system, but it was better than nothing, she supposed. She felt like she could have fallen asleep standing up when she spoke to the cooks. Everything seemed to be in order though, so that was a relief. Catelyn left the kitchens and walked out into the chilly air. It was a cloudy day, and windy. The winds were cold, grabbed at her cloak and got underneath her clothes. She hated the northern winds with a burning passion. If only that passion could have kept her warm. Well, if she was going to look upon it from the bright side, the cold had jerked her awake and it kept her body alert.

She walked past the courtyard on her way back to the keep. Robb and Jon were sparring so she stopped watch them for a few minutes. Margaery was also there, watching the young men with a small smile playing on her lips. Robb was physically stronger than Jon, but Jon were quicker. They danced around and tried to get in blows on the other one, but no one ever got the upper hand. Until Robb looked up for just a second and noticed that Margaery was watching them. He grinned sheepishly at her and though he was a bit away, Catelyn was quite sure of that he was blushing. But then Jon had taken advantage of his brother’s distraction and knocked Robb to the ground. He kicked Robb’s sword out of his hand and held the tip of his sword to Robb’s chest. 

“Ha!” he said. “Yield!”

“Okay, I yield” Robb answered after a moment of silence.

And despite his defeat he was smiling when Jon helped him up on his feet again. But he wasn’t smiling at Jon, he was still smiling at Margaery. And he walked over to her and started talking to her. When Catelyn walked away so that she could carry on with her duties she also smiled. Robb had her appearence, but for a moment she had only seen Ned. Robb had smiled at Margaery the way Ned had sometimes smiled at Catelyn when their relationship was still very new and they had just began develop feelings for each other. And she thought that maybe she had witnessed a seed that would grow into a beautiful flower. 

“Why is Robb so happy?”

Rickon ran up behind her.

“I think Lady Margaery makes Robb happy” Catelyn said and ruffled Rickon’s hair.

It had already been quite ruffled because of the wind, she had not made anything more messy than it had already been.

“Is he in love with her?” he asked with a grimace. 

“Maybe he is. I don’t know.”

“Is he going to kiss her like Father kisses you?”

Catelyn laughed at the boy’s expression. Rickon was eight, not yet old enough to understand the feeling of when someone you liked smiled at you and your chest fluttered. He had expressed disgust when he had found Catelyn and Ned kissing some time before, and had later asked Catelyn why you would ever want to kiss someone. She had told him that sometimes when a girl and a boy likes each other a lot they could kiss each other because it felt nice. 

“I can’t answer that, you will have to ask Robb” she said.

“Okay.”

Rickon practically bounced back to Robb and Margaery. Catelyn had to stop in her tracks. She had not expected him to actually ask Robb, but she absolutely had to see what would happen. So she turned and looked as Rickon approached his eldest brother. And laughed when she saw Robb turn as red as his hair when he heard Rickon’s question. Margaery also laughed.

“Mother!” he shouted angrily.

“Yes?” she called back.

“Why did you tell him that?”

“What did I tell him?”

“You know perfectly well!”

“No, son, I don’t have a clue of what you are talking about” Catelyn said innocently. “Well, now I have business to attend to, you’ll have to excuse me.”

She made her way back to her chambers and sat down with Margaery’s veil. She was actually pretty confident about that she would be finished with it that day. So she sat there with the veil and her needle, slowly making progress on it. Margaery was actually going to wear it when she marred Catelyn’s son. Her eldest son. He was getting married. And tears began to form in Catelyn’s eyes when she after a while actually found herself sitting with the finished veil in her hands. She had made that, she had made that for her future daughter. The girl that made Robb smile and blush and get distracted. Oh, to be young and foolish and in love. She smiled through her tears as she held it up so that she could see it properly. She hoped that Margaery would like it, she hoped that it would look good with the dress. She hoped that her son would have a good marriage. Margaery really seemed to make Robb happy, and the other way around. She was happy for them. Her little boy was getting a wife.

“Mother?”

She looked up and saw that she had not closed the door properly. Lyanna had peaked her little head through the opening.

“Yes, sweetling?”

“Can I come in?”

“Of course” Catelyn said and smiled. “Where is your brother?”

She didn’t have to specify which one of them.

“He wanted to watch Robb and Jon fight with their swords, but I thought that was boring” Lyanna said as she slowly came into the room. “Were you crying?”

“Yes” Catelyn said and dried her tears with the back of one hand. “I guess I was.”

“Why?” she asked.

Catelyn put aside the veil and held out her hand towards Lyanna, the little girl came over to her and took it. Catelyn pulled her up into her lap and she quickly made herself comfortable.

“Because Robb is getting married” she said and kissed the top of Lyanna’s head.

At least Lyanna was still small. She still sat in Catelyn’s lap and asked Catelyn to brush her hair. She asked Ned for stories before she was going to sleep, and followed her older siblings around because they were the most wonderful people in the world to her. The same went for Hoster. There were many years before they would get married and leave Winterfell. 

“I thought that was a good thing” Lyanna said.

“It is a good thing” Catelyn said.

Lyanna turned her head and looked at Catelyn with a puzzled expression on her little face.

“So why are you crying?”

“Because I’m happy.”

“You don’t cry when you’re happy” Lyanna said.

“Sometimes when grown women and men are happy they cry tears of happiness” Catelyn explained.

“I’ve never seen you cry. Have you never been happy before?”

“I have been happy many many times before, but we don’t always cry when we are happy.”

Catelyn could see how hard her daughter was thinking. Lyanna always scrunched up her face when she didn’t quite understand things, it was the cutest thing Catelyn knew. 

“Old people are odd” Lyanna said after a while.

“Yes, old people are odd” Catelyn agreed. “But one day you’ll be old too and then you’ll understand.”

Though it would be many years until that.

Catelyn put her hands to Lyanna’s sides and tickled her. Lyanna giggled and squirmed so much that she almost fell out of Catelyn’s lap. When she recovered she asked Catelyn to tell her a story. So she told Lyanna of Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters. Lyanna loved hearing that story, though she wasn’t very interested in Aegon. She mostly wanted to know everything about his sisters. Catelyn knew that she didn’t really have time for it, but soon a day would come when Lyanna didn’t crawl up into her lap and asked for a story. She had to treasure those moments because one day they would stop happening. So she told Lyanna everything she knew about Visenya and Rhaenys.

When Catelyn laid in bed that night, with her back pressed to Ned and his arms around her she thought of how much stronger their love had became over the years. And though Ned no longer blushed when he looked at her, there were something stronger between them. And they had built a beautiful family together on that, built a home. And they were so lucky. She was so lucky.

“What are you thinking about, my love?” Ned asked.

“How lucky I am to have you and our children” she said. 

She felt how he moved aside her braid and placed a featherlight kiss on her neck.

“I’m the lucky one. I have a beautiful, clever, kind, perfect wife. I don’t know what I did to deserve her. And together we have made eight wonderful children.”

They had made every child together.

“They are growing up. No one told me children get big so fast.”

“Lyanna and Hoster are only six, Rickon is eight, Bran is twelve, Arya is fourteen” Ned said. 

“Arya has bled” Catelyn reminded him. “According to the laws of gods and men she’s a woman now.”

“She might be a woman according to the laws of gods and men, but she is not yet an adult. She still has to run up to Maester Luwin every now and then because she has scrapes all over her body from playing. Either with her wolf or with her younger siblings. I know that the fact that Robb is going to take a wife soon makes it feel like they are all grown up, but most of them are not.”

“But soon they will be. Soon they will all marry and move away to distant corners of Westeros and it will be just you and me left here.”

“It will be quiet” he said.

“Very quiet.”

It wouldn’t be quiet, the castle would go on as usual. There would be loud noice coming from all over. But the sound of Jon and Robb bickering with each other as they sparred in the courtyard, the sound of Sansa’s singing, the sound of Arya’s laughter when she played with her direwolf, the sound of Bran reading stories about brave knights and great kings out loud to everyone who would listen, the sound of Rickon shouting in delight every time he managed to put an arrow close to the bull’s eye, the sound of Lyanna and Hoster talking way too loud for what was appropriate. All those sounds would be gone. And when they were gone it would in a strange way be deathly quiet in the castle. 

As Catelyn reflected on how she would absolutely hate the silence that would fill Winterfell when all of her children had left a question popped into her head. She turned in Ned’s arms so that she could look at him, their faces were so close that their noses almost touched.

“Ned, I want to try for another child” she whispered.

“Another child?” he asked surprised.

She blushed, maybe it had been a foolish suggestion. They had eight children already and they sure were a handful. If he felt like that was enough she would fully understand him. They had agreed on that they wouldn’t actively try to have another babe after Lyanna and Hoster, because eight children were quite a lot. But they had also said that if she became pregnant that wasn’t something bad, they would welcome all the children they might have. She was ready to start trying again though, just a last time before she got too old for it. But if he wasn’t, that was okay too. She was perfectly happy with her family the way it was, she loved all her children with all of her heart.

“Only if you want to, of course” she assured him. “We don’t have to.”

“You know what, Catelyn Stark? I would love to have another child with you.”

Then they needed to get started as soon as possible, didn’t they? 

“Do you want to make a child with me now?” 

“I really want to make a child with you right now.”

With a smile she kissed him.  

~*~

[jincherie]

tentacledipity | four

tentacledipity | four

➛pairing: jimin x reader

➛genre: alien au, space au, soulmate au, wanted au, smut (coming)

➛rating: sfw

➛words: 8.1k

➛warnings: none! well, a sprinkle of grinding and tentacle mentions but other than that *shrugs*

➛notes: finished this in the early hours of the morning so please dont mind any spelling or grammar mistakes if there are any pls & thank u!! also thank u for being so patient, uni isn’t kicking my ass per se but it’s definitely taking up a lot of my time these days! i hope u all like the next does of tentacle adventures!

ps; I will add links at a later date! pls enjoy & lmk what u think!

This tale starts, as any good fiction does, with a girl crash landing on a foreign planet. And, like any good fiction, it follows a theme of serendipitous happening, and tentacles. Behold, serendipity and tentacles— or dare we call it…. tentacledipity.

— posted; 23.04.2019 // ↞ prev. || four || next ↠

“What, you’re not even going to try and stop me?”

At your question, the two males shared an exasperated look.

“Well, no,” Jongin answered plainly, pointing an accusatory finger your way as he narrowed his eyes halfheartedly. “What is the point? You are just going to get away, anyway.”

Your incredulous gaze was drawn to Jongdae next, as he continued where his partner left off. He seemed entirely too pleased with himself, lips curled in a smug, kittenish grin and his expression sly, marks coloured light yellow. “Besides, we are no longer required to watch you. We have been relieved of our duties. Which, personally, I am more than glad for. I think I have aged more than ten sweeps from the stress alone of trying to keep track of you. Really, are all humans so slippery?”

“No, probably not. Just me.” You shrugged in answer, before his earlier words caught your attention and you gaped. “Wait—what do you mean ‘relieved of your duties’? I’m free?”

Jongin shrugged, stretching indolently across the cushioned swing that you’d found him and Jongdae reclining on, out on a patio near your rooms, when you’d attempted to sneak out of the wing. Now that you thought about it, they did have a particularly carefree air right now, something you weren’t really expecting considering how wired you’ve seen them some days.  Jongdae swung one leg over the other, completely lax. The action left you in a state of shock, almost.

You continued to sputter for a moment, your brain unable to comprehend the sudden change in the status quo. Sure, this whole time you’d protested the fact that they thought you needed babysitting—ignoring the fact that it was thanks to an incident that came about thanks to you being a dumbass. But, if you weren’t under ‘watch’ anymore… who were you going to have fun evading and escaping? This was the highlight of your days sometimes, what were you going to do now that you couldn’t do it anymore? This felt like a big disruption to the routine you’d established here.

“Do not know, do not care,” Jongdae smiled at you. “We have not been told what will be happening.”

“Wh-what so I’m just, I’m just supposed to sneak around and pretend there are people trying to catch me?” you burst, feeling a little indignant. They should have consulted you first! This was unfair. “Who am I supposed to torment when I’m bored? Who am I supposed to trick with sweets and flee while they’re distracted?!”

Jongin lurched forward, eyes wide. “So you ADMIT that you did that to trick us!”

“No!�� you wailed, mournfully. You turned away, dramatic as they likely expected you to be. “They were friend gifts… but I guess they mean nothing now. I’m… I’m leaving. I’m ending my friendship with you two. I’ll…I’ll find some other guard friends— better guard friends— who will chase me as long as I want them to!”

You stomped your foot, fighting a smile at the sound of their barely restrained snorts. You give them a half-hearted glare over your shoulder before turning and yelling, “Don’t look for me! You won’t find me!”

The second you started to walk away they could no longer hold their laughter and the sound of it makes you grin as you retreat down the hall, not bothering to try and sneak as you had earlier now that you knew no one was there to catch you. It was oddly liberating, to be honest, and you didn’t quite know what to do with the freedom. Maybe that’s because even when they were ‘watching’ you, you weren’t exactly restricted. Really, it was a wonder Jimin made them try for so long when it clearly had little to no effect.

Your arms swung a bit as you walked, a bounce in your step. You can’t even remember where you were going in the first place now. It wouldn’t surprise you at all if you didn’t even have a destination in mind when you left your room, actually. You’d been a bit lost in your thoughts lately.

There was a certain someone to blame for it.

As usual, the source of your dilemmas and deep-thinking was the ever-elusive Mister Jimin. Except, after the events of the other night in the hall, which were still painfully fresh in your memory, he had lost his right to the ‘elusive’ title. He hadn’t been bothering to try and avoid you any longer, something that kind of made you want to scream. It was what you wanted, yes, but not quite so soon and so intensely. You’d been in withdrawal for weeks and then he’d gone and given you such a big hit at once that you weren’t ready for it. You’d probably need another three weeks to come to terms with the male’s sudden flip that night and following one-eighty change in behaviour.

You were a little ashamed and excited to admit that he’d completely turned the tables and now you were the one frazzled and flustered. You couldn’t see his face in the halls—an alarmingly much more common occurrence after that night—without thinking of how it had felt when he pushed you to the wall, the way his body slotted so perfectly against yours. Every time your thoughts strayed to the memory the very same butterflies you felt that night returned with renewed vigour and you were flustered all over again.

Was this how he felt? All those times you tried so hard to fluster him? God, perhaps you were more annoying than you initially accepted.

You weren’t sure how you felt about the fact that the dynamic between you had shifted so suddenly and so sharply. Admittedly, that night if he had asked you to get on you hands and knees you wouldn’t have even blinked before doing so. The look in his eyes, the tone of his voice…. They brought out a side of you that didn’t see the light of day that often. Honestly, you’d spent a lot of nights reflecting on what happened and you’d since realised that there wasn’t much that you wouldn’t let that man do to you.

Even so, you weren’t a submissive person by nature, despite your inclination in the bedroom, and you really didn’t want him to think that was the case. You wanted to give back as good as you got, and every time you left your room you steeled yourself to doing so should you run across him.

Except it was a little easier said than done. Despite your affirmations, the second you caught sight of him the butterflies would return and you’d turn tail and run. It was shameful, and you were incredibly embarrassed at your own behaviour. Your mother didn’t raise a coward! It was just that, perhaps, you were a little more rattled and flustered than you allowed yourself to believe.

You realised you needed to be more firm with yourself, though. You needed to make yourself stay and interact with him or you’d never get over the ridiculous butterflies or the way your heart flipped and your pulse started to race. Again, today, you steeled yourself and resolved yourself to sit through the suffering if you happened to run into him again. At the slight tone of flustered panic that ran through you at the thought, you were quick to reassure yourself that it actually wasn’t that likely you’d run into him at all.

Well, historically you had been prone to being proven wrong when assuming such things and today wasn’t an exception.

In your wandering of the halls like a ghost with unresolved business in the material plane, looking for something to entertain yourself with, you happened to walk past a room that had a number of funky sounds coming from within. Intrigued and able to smell entertainment from probably a mile away, you were eager to investigate once you saw that the door was slightly ajar.

When you pushed it open, you quickly realised that you probably should have waited and listened to the sounds a bit more first. But, well, you were nothing if not an idiot and at this point, you were at peace with it.

“Stop! Stop, I am too old for this! Gods, Jiminie, where do you get all this energy from?!”

Confused as to exactly what you just walked into, you leant against the doorframe as you watched Seokjin bend over slightly with his hands on his knees to brace himself. He was wearing a different sort of clothing than you’ve seen before, the fit and material resembling more fitness-wear than anything. His breath came in short pants, apparently winded from whatever he and the other male had been doing before you walked in. Which, you realised quickly from the weapons along the wall and the cushioning along the ground, was… fighting?

Seokjin rattled something out in his native tongue and Jimin burst into laughter from where he stood, stretching a few feet away. He was dressed similarly to Seokjin and god if it wasn’t the most mouth-watering image you’d ever seen in your entire life. Deep blue material complimented his honey skin and raven hair perfectly, not that you thought there would be a colour that didn’t suit Jimin. His marks were a delighted summer yellow and the apples of his cheeks were flushed in slight exertion. Seokjin was in a similar state but unfortunately for him you were too whipped for Jimin to appreciate it as you should have.

Jimin said something you couldn’t understand to the elder male, who burst out loudly in response, “I have duties, you @#&@)#! Not all of us can do whatever we want, you know, I am the one stuck with the royal duties today! Find someone else to help you.”

Jimin was grinning, but seemed a bit disappointed at Seokjin’s answer to whatever he had said. A part of you wandered exactly what Seokjin had called him and you regretted that you didn’t know much kelkoe at all. Seokjin let out a pained noise as he stretched, closing his eyes, and all of a sudden you were overcome with the realisation that you were in the same room, in very close proximity, with Jimin.

Instantly, as you expected, the butterflies returned full-force to barrage the walls of your stomach. The sudden nerves made you feel bit nauseous and at once you felt the familiar urge to turn tail and flee.

No, you bit back the flight aspect of your fight or flight response. No, you said you wouldn’t run, and you wouldn’t. You needed to claim back a bit of control in the new dynamic you’d found yourself in with Jimin and damn it if you didn’t do it now then you never would. So, you did what you usually did whenever you had to do something not so desirable to you at the time and turned your brain off.

“Find someone to help him with what?”

The attention of the two males was instantly on you, Seokjin instantly appearing a cross between amused and sly. You didn’t like that one bit, and quickly raked your eyes over the other male. A mistake—he was surprised at first but the way his features melted into a curious look and his eyes darkened into molten pools almost made your knees week, like you were experiencing your first crush all over again. God, damn it. This was harder than you anticipated. You couldn’t help but wonder if he recalled the events of the other night upon seeing you, like you did every time you saw him.

“Sparring,” Seokjin supplied a little too merrily, and it was almost like you could see the cogs turning in his head. “Kelkie have a lot of restless energy, so it is common practice and customary to have a sparring partner.”

“You two are sparring partners?” you queried, trying desperately to appear much less nervous than you were. Your voice didn’t tremble, so that was something, and at least you weren’t blushing. Yet.

Seokjin’s lips curled into a sly simper. “No, Jimin’s sparring partner is the King, actually. But, since His Majesty is still on leave and Jimin has had an awful lot of… pent up energy, lately, I have taken to being his partner in the meantime.”

Jimin shot the older male a glare at his words, and you couldn’t deny the stupid ripple of giddy hope that dared to bubble within you for a moment. You thought he’d say something to protest his words, anticipating banter, but were caught off guard when his gaze simply returned to you and you felt like you were suddenly in the spotlight once more. Your heart stuttered—shit, damn it. Stupid attractive alien. Your brain was still turned off so that you could remain riding a wave of pretend bravery, and you scrambled to make the most of it and recover.

“So, you need someone to spar with?” You looked to Jimin, interest and excitement leaking into your tone—and it wasn’t fake, in the least, despite your nerves. You almost kicked yourself for what you said next, though, a little too brave for your current state of hidden fluster. “I used to spar with my shipmates when we had long trips, it was always a lot of fun. I’ll spar with you.”

Very bold words from you since you knew how much stronger and faster kelkie were than you—you’d witnessed it one time when you tried to fix a piece of hair that was pulling your scalp from one of Joy’s hairstyles and she’d positively vaulted across the room at breakneck speed to smack your hands away.

Seokjin positively grinned, but Jimin’s face fell into an expression of protest. His dark brows drew together, lips tugging down at the corners.

“No,” he refused immediately, “You will get yourself hurt. I cannot spar with you.”

You sputtered, indignant, and felt a bit of your usual confidence return to you as you pushed from the door and walked forward a little bit. “What? Mister Jimin… are you afraid a weak little human is going to best you in combat? I suppose I understand, the shame for you would be unbearable…”

You’d poked the bear expecting him to continue resisting and refuting you, but to your complete and utter surprise the male’s expression shifted once more, his mouth snapping shut and jaw tensing as his eyes bore into you with a new sort of intensity. That look spelt trouble for you and boy if it didn’t send the most giddy, excited shiver down your spine. Were you perhaps a masochist? This might be the time Jimin finally snapped and killed you for being annoying but you couldn’t think of anything but how hot he looked and how good it would feel even if his hand did end up around your thr—

“That is an excellent idea!” Seokjin was quick to express his avid support, but you got the feeling from the shit-eating grin that never left his flushed face that he had an ulterior motive besides backing you up like a good friend. “There you go Jimin, nip that stress in the bud. I am off now, I have many duties to attend to. Don’t play too rough, children.”

With that he bounced, leaving you and a silent Jimin in his wake. You were still reeling from the abruptness of his departure when there was movement from the corner of your eye and you whipped to see Jimin walking further into the room. You could feel a shift in the air, a new sort of tension that tingled along the base of your spine and made your breath catch. Keep it cool, keep it cool— you needed to tip the scales back into balance.

“Weapons?”

You’d begun to walk further into the room to join Jimin, but froze in your steps at the sound of his voice. It was deeper, rougher than you’d anticipated—he’s back was still to you and though you couldn’t see his face you saw the tension in his shoulders and along firm lines of his back. The shirt was slim-fitting and clung to his form everywhere except the sides where, from about halfway down, the material sported a slit. You guessed it was so he didn’t get too stuffy and so didn’t pay it any mind.

You steeled yourself, summoning some of the confidence that had returned to you so fleetingly earlier, and moved closer, stretching as you did so. “None is fine.”

His jaw ticked as he sent you a curious glance over his shoulder before giving a short nod and turning to face you better. This was the first time you’d been in his presence for longer than three seconds since that night and you felt an absolute mess with each second more that ticked over. Fuck, it was fine, everything was fine. You just had to hold it together a little longer then your nerves would wear off and you’d be back to normal. Probably.

As he settled into a loose pose, readying himself for another ‘sparring’ session, his eyes wept slowly over your form. You squared your shoulders and kept the playful smile on your lips, doing your absolute best to ignore the frantic pattering of your heart against your ribcage. You relished the way his eyes darkened as you stretched your back and your shirt rode up a sliver, providing him the barest peek of your skin. You could tell as you slipped into a loose pose of your own that from the tension he still held in his form, he wasn’t going to be using his full strength on you at all.

You had no doubt he was going to go as easy on you as he could.

But then, if he wasn’t using all his strength and speed, how would he be releasing the pent up tension that these sessions were meant to relieve? He wouldn’t be, so there must have been another reason he was about to humour you and ‘spar’ with you. Your mind ticked it over for a bare second before it registered.

He was playing chicken with you.

Something had changed in him since your last encounter, after you finally seemed to push him over a line of sorts. He was no longer resisting, no longer flustering and growing embarrassed—he was poking and prodding back just as you had done to him from the beginning.

You nearly balked at the realisation, but schooled your features just in time. He wanted to tease, to play? Well, lucky for him playing and teasing was what you did best. A wave of excitement washed over you. Your nerves all but disappeared as you resolved yourself, intending to use this opportunity and treat him as you normally would. You wondered, which one of you would bow first?

He must have noticed the changed tone of your smile, as one dark eyebrow rose in question. He tilted his head, eyes boring into you with more intensity than expected. His marks shifted colours from plum to rose, to periwinkle. A sequence that you had no idea how to decode yet still made your stomach flutter instinctively.

“Are you ready, petal?” he asked, and the nickname nearly undid all the hard work you put into reclaiming your usual mojo.

“Of course, peach cheeks,” you fired back, smiling brightly. He tried to hide it but you saw the way his lips twitched and his marks flushed deep rose. Even so, he didn’t blush, and the observation made you both giddy and eager to try and pull the reaction out of him.

“You may make the first move,” he offered, keen eyes catching every twitch of your features and shift of your body. You’d learnt from Seokjin and Namjoon that the Kelkie were a race of elite warriors, and you could tell just from looking at Jimin and the way he regarded you that he knew how to read and predict moves in battle. You knew then, that you couldn’t turn this into a game of strategy, or he would best you before you even had a chance to have fun. He was stronger and faster than you, obviously, but you didn’t want to make this too easy for him.

You nodded, taking a moment to choose how to proceed before you threw caution to the wind and moved on instinct alone. He watched, waited, coiled and ready for whatever move you might give him first.

When you dipped then lurched forward, aiming a light hit to his face, he dodged with ease. He had a bit of an unreadable expression on his face before you moved, but now that you made the first swing and he was sinking into the sparring mindset once more, an excited glint began to make itself known in his eyes.

You were right in assuming he would hold back. He weaved out of the way, incredibly graceful, and twisted mid-movement to bring his knee up, aiming for your middle. He was fast, but you knew he could be faster—with an amused huff you slipped out of the way and took a few light steps back before darting forward once more to try and jab his ribs. Like that, the two of you began to fall into a pattern.

Something about sparring always set your blood alight, and you could tell the same was the case for the alien dodging and weaving your light-hearted swings. The thought excited you, and you couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled from your throat as he swung and you spun out of the way just in time. You continued like that for the next few minutes, grinning uncontrollably at the sound of the huff he’d let out each time you dodged. So far, despite your occasional swings, you had been on the defensive. Even then, there was no heat or urgency behind his attacks. You wanted him to put a little more effort in.

His breath sped up the longer the two of you moved, his expression morphing. Slippery was how the guards had described you, and slippery was what you proved to be now. He was holding back almost all of his strength and speed, but he still should have been able to grasp you with ease. Yet each time he threw a hit or reached to grab you, you would dip and dodge, dancing out of the way. His stomach gave an excited flutter, the muscles of his back tingling. That was what this was—the way you were moving and interacting with him, reading his movements enough to flee but not to counter, with enough push and pull that it kept him on his toes…

It was like the two of you were dancing.

It was nothing like sparring with his own kind, yet he felt his heart stutter and kick into a higher gear in excitement nonetheless. You had a habit of making everything so exhilarating. The more you pulled back only to push lightly, prodding him and luring him to make a move for your gain, the more he felt himself slip into it. He was no longer moving with the intent to humour you or anything along those lines—he felt it, deep within his abdomen, the knot of longing forming once more. He wanted to chase, to catch you. And with each smooth dodge and light-footed prance out of reach you performed, he felt himself growing more and more riddled with the need to fulfil that instinctive desire.

It was as though you could feel the change in him, the longer the two of you tangled. You could sense a shift and, true to your nature, immediately went to exploit it.

“You’re so slow, peach cheeks!” you let out a breathless giggle as he lurched fluidly and tipped his body in a roundhouse kick of sorts. You ducked, darting forward and trying to land a hit on his gut as he righted himself. “Are you sure you beat Seokjin? You barely—”

The male didn’t even need to respond, as your smug tone was cut off the second his hand flew to grasp your fist before it could make contact with him. Your heart lurched into your throat, breath catching, as he adjusted his grip and tugged you forward, completely off balance. You crashed into his chest with your own, his other hand wrapping around your wrist like iron as he pulled them both behind your back with ease. You were arched into him with your heart racing, stomach flipping. He stared down at you with a dangerous curl to his lips.

“I thought I told you not to push so hard, petal,” his voice was so breathy and low it was absolutely sinful, a shudder rolling down your spine.  You could barely tear your eyes away from his own, heat flushing over your skin. Weak as you may be for him, you refused to give in so easily.

You felt his breath brush your face before you shoved your rapidly-returning nerves away and leant up, lips brushing his ear and the cool metal that dangled from it. Your playful tone had his grip tightening “But I like the end result.”

You felt him stiffen in shock, posture turning rigid; apparently he hadn’t been expecting that. You used this to your advantage, breaking out of his hold and snapping your hand around one of his wrists instead. You darted back then danced around him, pulling his arm with you until you were completely behind him. While he was still dazed your free hand whipped to grab his other one, pulling both behind his back and pressing against it in a mockery of the position he’d just had you in. The sound of his breath catching in his throat made your stomach dip giddily.

Deciding to push further while you had him in this position, knowing he’d snap out of it and turn the tables in the next second or so, you pressed a teasing kiss to the nape of his neck, breasts pushed to his upper back. The move was dangerous as it kept you within his reach for longer, but at the shudder you felt move through him you deemed it worth it.

Unfortunately for you, right after that reaction he jerked into action and broke his wrists out of your hold. Letting out a soft squeak of alarm that bled into a short giggle, you leapt backwards and danced out of the way as he spun and lunged for you. The dance began anew.

Except this time, Jimin had changed his tune yet again.

His marks were stained rosy-purple, shifting to wine each time he neared you. His moves became less hits and kicks, and more dives, lunges and grabs—and each time he got closer to catching you in his hold you couldn’t help the way your heart leapt in anticipation and excitement, pulse racing. The way he moved was so incredibly graceful and fluid, like a predator in its natural element, and numerous times you were so mesmerised it almost got you caught. Still, you managed to evade him, and the longer you did so the more worked up he got. Faster and faster, molten gaze never losing track of your form. You wouldn’t be able to catch him like this, you realised; you’d have to let him get close first.

You meant to lure him in purposefully, but in one of your bids to dance out of his reach you ended up stumbling over your own feet—immediately, he pounced. Your arms flew to the side in an attempt to reclaim your balance but you didn’t get the chance to follow through. Jimin dove forward, powerful thighs keeping him stable and propelling him to you faster than you could register. His hand closed around your wrist, using your arm and off-kilter state to turn you before releasing it and looping his arm firmly around your middle instead. The breath whooshed out of your lungs as you were yanked backwards, back meeting his chest as he contained you in his iron grasp. A shot of arousal spiked down your spine as his other hand whipped up to sit over your throat, grip loose but still present, thumb pressing into the soft flesh and fingers tilting your jaw up and head back.

You were sure he could feel your harried breaths, hell could probably even hear the way your heart was currently racing. Your skin was damp with the slightest layer of sweat you’d worked up from your constant movement and activity. You could feel his own breath panting against your neck, his lips and nose brushing against the sensitive shell of your ear as he dipped his head.

“What did we say about saying things like that so carelessly, petal,” his voice was a sultry combination of a lilting purr and a teasing coo, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of your waist. Your hands flew to grip the forearm currently pressing against your stomach, before moving to his bicep. You attempted to shift stance and haul him over your shoulder, like you’d managed to do to old sparring partners so many times before—yet Jimin didn’t so much as budge. The thrill of being faced with such unwavering strength made your stomach dip and butterflies swarm.

You didn’t have the words to respond, instead letting out a soft gasp as he rubbed his thumb along the sensitive column of your neck. Your mind raced, thoughts stumbling over one another as you scrambled for how to proceed and what to do. He was about to win, in more ways that one, but alarmingly you couldn’t find it within yourself to care all that much. There it was again, the yearning to just give yourself over and let him have you. It was getting to be a bit like an old friend, at this rate.

Your sudden desires gave you an idea, however. You rolled your body suddenly, rocking your hips back against him and grinding your ass back oh so ‘innocently’. Unprepared and unsuspecting, the action wrought a sharp, lilting gasp from the male’s throat. You felt the way his grip weakened for the barest second and were quick to take advantage of it.

Spinning in his hold, as you pivoted on your heel you used the other to catch his ankle. The result was his knee buckling, leg knocked out from under him, and as you pushed him backwards the two of you fell to the floor in a heap. You landed atop him, as you’d intended, with your thighs either side of his slim waist and your crotch pressed over his. You were out of breath as you braced yourself on his chest, one palm flat against the top of his sternum with your fingertips brushing his throat in a mock ‘dagger’. His tongue darted to wet full lips.

“Playing dirty,” he commented in between panting breaths, eyes boring into you as his voice brushed your eardrums, thick and low—shamefully, it had your thighs tensing with the urge to close. At your almost imperceptible shift, his nostrils twitched and his pupils blew up, hands suddenly on your hips with a firm grip. He didn’t move after that, but you felt the way his entire body tensed.

“I’m not above it,” you smiled, struggling to catch your own breath. You pushed your hands from his chest, leaning back, and in the process of shifting your weight unintentionally ground your core against him. His fingers instantly dug into your hips, leaving a delicious ache in their wake, as a soft groan that almost sounded like a growl slipped from his throat.

“You—”

“Jimin-ssi, I am terribly sorry to interrupt, but Seokjin called for you—there is an issue that requires your input.”

You jumped, startled beyond belief by the sound of a voice at the doorway to the room, and scrambled off of Jimin instantly. When you turned to see just who you expected, you offered a glare. Joy smiled back, unapologetic and clearly amused at the situation she’d walked in on.

Jimin sat up, a hand coming to pat his lower back—you watched the motion, wondering exactly why he did it but unable to suss a reason out. He turned to face you, eyes dark and swirling with something you couldn’t name but that made your heart skip a beat in anticipation nonetheless, before he rose to his feet and walked coolly to the door. You weren’t ashamed to say that you stared at his ass as he went.

“Understood, let him know that I will be there soon. I have… something to take care of first.”

Your brows furrowed in confusion as you wondered exactly what he had to take care of, but he was slipping through the doors with a hand pressed to his back and gone before you could think to ask. You might have been confused as to what he meant, but Joy seemed to be in the loop and very amused by it.

“I see you’re making progress in wooing him,” she observed, tone playful, and you rolled your eyes as you hopped to your feet. Now that you were no longer distracted by Jimin, you could feel how sweaty and sticky you were from the whole ordeal. Ugh, exercise. A wave of embarrassment coursed through you at the sudden thought—did he notice your gross state when you were on top of him? How humiliating.

“Yeah… Maybe,” you said, dusting off your bottoms. “I’ll gossip with you later though, first thing’s first I need a shower. Do all of you really spar that often to get your energy out? In this heat?”

Joy’s eyes lit up at this titbit of information, the long raven plait down her back swinging as she tilted her head. “Oh, so that is what you were doing? Interesting take on the practice, I will admit.”

You wanted to send her another half-hearted glare but found her words too funny to be able to pull it off. A snort escaped you instead, “Hardly. He went far too easy on me for it to be considered a real spar.”

The female snorted, her marks colouring a delighted blue-green in her amusement. “I am not surprised. Jimin is faster and stronger than most kelkie so I do not imagine he would use anything close to full strength when sparring with you. Interesting that he agreed, though.”

You hummed, unsure how to process her words just yet. “Huh. Well. I’m gonna go back to my rooms and get changed, I’ll find you again later. I have some…. Questions.”

Joy raised an eyebrow but you merely offered her a grin as you left. “See you! And don’t forget to tell Seokjin whatever Jimin wanted you to.”

She rolled her eyes, muttering a curse under her breath before she gave a wave in farewell. “Goodbye. Take your time, please.”

You couldn’t help you laugh as you ventured further down the hall, “I won’t!”

x     x     x     x     x     x     x

True to your word, as soon as you were done bathing and changing you zipped off down the halls in search of her for your promised interrogation session. You were expecting it to take much longer than it did for you to actually track her down.

When you found her, it was on a balcony with Namjoon, who she appeared to be playing a board game of sorts with, and Yoongi, who was to the back napping on large cushion in the sun. He protested whenever you called him a cat and then went and acted just like one, you couldn’t help but laugh.

When she caught sight of you, Joy seemed surprised. “Oh, you really did have some questions you wanted answered, did you?”

Namjoon looked at you curiously after he moved a piece on the board, taking advantage of Joy’s momentary distraction. You wondered what he was thinking before his lips adopted a sudden sly quirk and his teasing tone greeted your ears, “Got up to some fun this morning, did we?”

You rolled your eyes, pulling out the third chair between them at the table and flopping into it with all the attitude you could muster. “I whooped Jimin’s ass in hand-to-hand combat, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Namjoon laughed and Joy snorted, the former clearly having been told what kind of scene Joy had walked in on earlier.

“By playing dirty?”

“My specialty.”

Another chuckle rumbled from his chest as he shook his head, turning back to the board. You allowed a brief moment of silence to settle over you as you watched the two of them make a move. When you couldn’t immediately figure out the point of the game, you gave up your observation.

“Anyway, about those questions I had,” you said suddenly, making the kelkie female to your right smile and shake her head. “I’ll ask them now, since you’re not busy.”

Another snort of amusement and she turned her head in your direction, dark eyes glimmering with mirth and marks glowing soft orange. “Of course, since I am not busy. Go ahead, I know it must be burning you up inside. Has it been unbearable?”

You nodded dramatically, ignoring Namjoon’s eyeroll. “Yes, incredibly so. I haven’t slept in days.”

You received another laugh for that and could barely keep your face straight as Joy shook her head, placing her elbow on the table and leaning her face into her palm. “Well, cheeky human, what is it you are curious about?”

You bit your lip, pondering what you wanted to ask first for a moment before deciding to cut to the chase. “Well, I want to know—why is it that every time I tease Jimin he runs away holding his back?”

It was an innocent enough question in your mind, but the reactions you received made you think that the answer was otherwise. Namjoon choked on his own spit, and Joy’s eyebrows shot up as she clamped her mouth shut and looked very much like she was trying not to laugh. A strangled sound from the side of the room told you that Yoongi had woken up and heard what you said.

Confused, you tilted your head. “What? What is it? Does he have back spasms or something? Wait, are your hearts in your lower back? Am I stressing him out so much he’s having heart attacks?”

To your complete and utter surprise, Namjoon’s face slowly began to turn bright red, and when you turned to peer at Yoongi you found his cheeks had coloured as well, the tips of his ears pink as he coughed and averted his gaze to the balcony. Joy was the only one who didn’t seem incredibly embarrassed at your question—on the contrary, she seemed to be having the time of her life.

“Oh, I love it when you humans ask things like this.” She was positively gleeful, grinning so wide that it actually concerned you a bit. “Your reactions are so funny.”

“What?” you pressed again, worried but also ten times more curious than before. “What is it? Come on, tell me.”

Joy, still grinning, sent Namjoon a pointed look and the male coughed, unable to meet your eyes as he cleared his throat and started, “Uh, well, y/n, you know that there are certain physiological differences between us and kelkies…”

You nodded, slightly impatient but clamping your mouth shut nonetheless in the hopes he would hurry up and continue.

“And you know, uh…” Namjoon looked like he wanted to melt into the floor, face bright pink. “Y-you know that uh, s-sometimes the differences are the ones we can’t see—”

“Spit it out, Joonie!” you couldn’t hold it in, wriggling forward on the seat and placing your palms onto the table. “Please, I’m dying to know, you can’t keep me in suspense like this—”

“y/n, you’ve seen porn, right? From Earth.”

You turned to face Yoongi at the sound of his voice, nodding as you did so. “Yeah, I have. Why? You need some? I had a USB of it with me on the ship, I can go look for it if you want—"

Namjoon choked, coughing and smacking his chest. You ignored him for the moment as Yoongi’s cheeks seemed to darken before he swallowed and continued. “So. Have you seen uh… you’ve seen Japanese animated porn?”

You stared at him plainly for a second, wondering if he was serious. “Uh… yes? Of course I have, I was a teenager too—”

Namjoon let his head slam onto the table with a loud groan, Joy letting out a delighted peal of laughter. Yoongi steeled himself and pushed on. “S-so you know, in the… in Japanese animated porn…”

“Say it for what it is, Yoongi,” you said. “Hentai.”

For a second the urge to kill you flickered in his gaze but he seemed to wrangle it quicker than usual. He let out a great, anguished sigh. “Why do I even bother—have you seen tentacle porn or not?”

“Of course I have, what does that have to do with—” you stopped short, his words ticking over in your head for a few seconds before your jaw dropped and you spun to face Namjoon and Joy with wide eyes and warmed cheeks. “No—oh my god, really?! Holy—”

Namjoon made a strangled, mortified noise and Joy burst into laughter once more as you stumbled over your words, a mess of thoughts zipping around in your poor monkey brain. As utterly shocked as you were in this moment, in a sense you also weren’t that surprised and, shamefully, the knowledge sent something akin to a shiver of excitement down your spine. Wow, you were really a bit depraved, huh? Then again, if you paid attention to the raunchy shit you watched in your teen years (and, if you were being honest with yourself, probably would still watch now if you had it) it would have been a bit telling.

“Oh my god,” you slammed your hands onto the table, on the absolute edge of your seat. “You guys have tentacles? For real? Where? How many? Do both males and females have them, or only—”

“Slow down, y/n,” Joy snorted, withdrawing from the table for a moment to recline comfortably in her chair. She crossed one leg over the other, seeming incredibly tickled. “One question at a time, or I will revoke your question-asking rights.”

You let out a horrified gasp, before instantly snapping your mouth shut and letting her answer the questions you fired at her so rapidly.

“To answer your first question, yes, kelkie do have extra appendages utilised in intercourse. We call them #%&$*@ but you humans describe them as tentacles and that seems to be easier for you to say, so we go with that.” At the sound of a foreign kelkoe word your mind blanked for a moment, but the rest of her words quickly sank in. Namjoon and Yoongi were still dying of embarrassment in the background, and you were a little embarrassed yourself but was by far overpowered by your burning curiosity.

“They’re used specifically for sex?!” you couldn’t help yourself, unable to contain your questions. Obviously, when one hears tentacles they think of certain scenarios, but you didn’t want to just assume. Learning that that was what they were literally for though… god, if it wasn’t enough to make you sweat like a sinner in church.

You could have sworn you heard Yoongi mutter, “I should have known she’d be horny for tentacles, who am I kidding,” under his breath in the background, but ignored it in favour of watching Joy’s features as she compiled a response for you.

“Yes, they are reproductive organs,” she said, a sly smile curling her shapely lips as she easily pinpointed the direction your thoughts were going. “Additional ones to those that some have found we have in common.”

You blushed, but still said what you thought as soon as it entered your mind. “Oh—I—two sets?”

Joy nodded, still very much amused. “Yes—and that is to confirm what you asked earlier, as well. Both males and females have them, but females have less.”

You let that sink in for a moment, mulling over the sudden overload of information, before your mind caught on to a certain detail that it had glossed over earlier and you balked. “Wait—you said you ‘some found’? Who…?”

At your words, both males in the room seemed to shrink in their seats, eyes everywhere but meeting your own. Joy snickered and they flushed bright red. A cackled built in your chest as realisation began to sink in.

“We have had a few celebrations and festivals in the time since the Queen’s crew arrived—you humans like to enjoy yourselves, don’t you?” She might have been teasing you as well as the other two males in the room, but you weren’t ashamed enough of your libido for it to have any effect. At this point, you’d been openly horny for Jimin for a while.

“Oh my god,” you whispered under your breath, eyes flicking between the two sheepish-looking males. The insinuation of what the extra appendages meant for their extracurricular romping in the sheets… you blushed.

Eager to return to your earlier line of questioning, lest you lose the opportunity altogether and they changed the subject, you forced yourself to turn back to a grinning Joy.

“So uh, where are they?” you inquired, somewhat gingerly. It would seem you had some tact left, after all. Joy snorted at your manner and tapped her fingers on the table, marks a cool, light blue.

“They are in two lines along the lower portion of the spine,” she informed you, tilting her head and watching your expression keenly. She smiled the second she saw you make the connection between what she said and what you saw. At your questioning look, she continued, “Yes, that has to do with why Jimin, ah… holds his lower back when you tease him. For the most part, they are hidden. They aren’t appendages that we have entire control over, and in many senses it is as though they have a mind of their own, following our base instincts and urges. When a kelkie experiences a certain amount of stimulation or arousal, they are prone to appearing.”

She gave you a moment for the information to sink in before you made the connection she was waiting for. “Oh, oh—wait so—so every time he slaps a hand to his back and runs away its just because I made him pop a tentacle boner?”

The female raised a brow at your choice of words but seemed to understand the slang enough to snort and nod her head. You heard Namjoon and Yoongi choke on a laugh, Namjoon slamming his head onto the table once more and disrupting the board game that had long since been forgotten.

“Yes,” Joy confirmed simply, lips twitching. “I do not think I ever saw him give such a reaction before you came along, though. I have to give you credit.”

It probably wasn’t something you should be preening with pride to hear, but you were anyway. “Ah, finally. My efforts are being rewarded.”

Yoongi shook his head, squinting at you. “How are you so… unapologetically thirsty?”

“We’re talking about Jimin, how can I not be?” you answered simply, before straightening in your seat and whipping a finger to point in his direction. “And let’s not be the pot calling the kettle black, mister! Word on the street is you’re just as horny as me!”

Yoongi balked, face paling before it began to cycle through about seven different shades of red, and Namjoon let out a strangled chortle.

“Don’t you have more questions for Joy?” Yoongi tried weakly to deflect the attention and change the subject, but to no avail.

“Well, yes, but I also have questions for you—and don’t think you’re off the hook either, Namjoon, I see you looking mortified over there.”

The two males let out long, arduous groans, and Joy erupted in delighted peals of laughter. What was going to be an informative afternoon for you was clearly going to be a very long one for them. You wriggled in your seat, getting comfortable, and dove in headfirst.

You were going to get as much information on this new discovery as you could.

↞ prev. || four || next ↠

::[ please lmk what you think! & pls consider buying me a kofi if you’d like to support me in some way! <3 ]::

[tavi-hayes]

side fic three ~ lost and found

((hello, i present to you another side fic. i apologize in advance for the quality of this. i had written out almost all the rp on tuesday and i was quite content with the result (which never happens, my writing makes me cringe) but then when i switched my laptop on yesterday, the document hadn’t saved and all was gone, so i had to start all over again and i couldn’t remember what i had written and urgh... i just hope this fic is doing some justice to the rp which was so nice thank you anna @hugo-stanton​! anyhow if you decide to read this then enjoy, and maybe ignore all spelling/grammar mistakes. also there are some mentions here of the wonderful rps with itzel, brooke and leana but i still need to write them out i’m sorry))

“What is your photography project about exactly? I know it has something to do with the selection but...” I let my voice trail off a bit, I honestly don’t have any clue what the reason for the photos could be.

A couple of nights ago I was hanging out with Brooke. When I told her I found a friend in Hugo, she began to question his entire existence. Her sceptical attitude made me doubt myself, was he real or a product of my imagination? But when I showed up to dinner the next day, myself still being extremely hungover, my suspicions were confirmed. Hugo was there too, he was real. Thank god, I wasn’t going crazy after all.

He had knocked on my door a good 10 minutes ago, ready to show me some interesting places in this gigantic palace. During the photography thing I had asked if he could show me around. Perhaps it had been a bit bold to ask, but I was just sick of getting lost all the time. I hadn’t expected him to remember the promise of a tour. But here we are, walking in some hallway towards a destination still unknown to me.

My question makes Hugo chuckle a little, “people keep asking me that. But I guess it’s just that this is such a historical moment and at the end of this we’ll welcome someone new into our family.” There is a little silence before he continues speaking, “Arin isn’t the biggest fan of people having such an intimate view of his life. But what I’m doing is really just going to stay in our family.”

“Hm,” I nod my head. I can definitely see why the prince would feel that way. It must be annoying to have an entire country looking at you and judging every move you make. “So it's more like a memory kind of thing?”

“In a way yeah. Hopefully it can be something for Arin to appreciate. But if not then at least I enjoyed myself and made some new friends.”

“I'm sure he will appreciate it, if only for the effort you put into it.” I glance around the hallway, I don’t recognize anything here. Have I even been here before? “Good for you for making friends.”

That makes him chuckle again. “I'm enjoying it so far for sure. It's nice having someone here who has the time to talk to me.”

“Well I'm glad to hear you've found that person.” We’ve reached the end of the hall. There is a set of gigantic double doors in front of us, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before. Or maybe I have and I just don’t remember.

Hugo points towards the doors, “that's the gallery- we can go in or skip it if you like.”

I nod my head, trying to see if I remember the way we’ve walked to get here. “You don't like the gallery?”

“Oh, it's fine! I just don't know if you're into art.”

“Let’s continue,” I look away from the doors and glance at Hugo instead, “I can always come back another time.”

“Alright,” he turns and motions to some other doors. “These are all empty rooms- there's a lot of those.”

I don’t quite understand the look he’s giving me. There is a hint of embarrassment on his face, “hm, so it's a matter of too many rooms, and not enough stuff to put into them?”

“Or just too many rooms.”

I nod my head as if I understand, but it sounds like a rich people problem to me. The strange expression is still visible on his face, “why that face?”

He shrugs, “I guess maybe I'm just not into the massive home with the servants and everything.”

“Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ...” I clear my throat softly, unsure of how to continue that sentence. “So I'm guessing you don't have a palace of your own?”

His laughter fills the hallway, “I have an apartment- but if you squint enough I guess you can pretend it looks like a palace.”

“And your ‘servants’ probably listen very well to all your needs,” I raise my hands to place some air quotes around servants.

Hugo nods his head, “oh, yes. My manservant is very attentive. Although,” he leans a little closer as if he is going to let me in on a secret. “Between you and I he really could be more neat and better at staying organized. ”

That makes me laugh, “hm maybe you can just tell him? Or does he not take criticism very well?”

“I'm not sure, I've never tried to tell him off too much.” He chuckles a little more as we walk past the doors in this hallway. I can’t help but think about the empty rooms behind them. There’s so many of them, it’s quite sad.

“You know him best of course, just don't be too hard on him, okay?”

“I'll try- but I make no promises.” We reach the end of another corridor. “Okay, so that over there leads to the lower level but there's not too much down there from what I remember.” I look towards the direction he’s pointing in. “But over this way is the music room if you want to go there.”

I glance from one direction to the other, “the music room sounds perfect to me.” I’ve had some nice moments in the music room lately. First Leana and I had a great chat in there. It had made me realize I had been wrong for judging her based on her profession. And more recently Itzel entered the room when I had been playing some guitar. Even though that had been the first time we properly met, I think of her as a friend already. “But you're the tour guide, so it's really your call.”

“Well, you let me take all those photos so I think you've more than earned your say.” A smile appears on his face. “But if you want to go then let's go.”

I have to increase my pace to keep up with him. Why do tall people walk this fast? “Pfft, you were putting all the effort in and taking photos, while all I did was do nothing besides talking to you. Which I quite enjoyed actually, the talking part I mean,” I say, realizing I’m just rambling and it probably doesn’t make that much sense.

“You were patient though. Not everyone can do that.”

I don’t really know what to say to that, his kindness makes me smile. “What's your favourite place in the palace?”

Apparently that’s a hard question because Hugo is silent for another moment. It’s not that difficult for me to pick one favourite place: the music room. But then again there are only a couple of rooms that I frequently visit. And I’ve only been here for a couple of months.

“Promise me you won't laugh?”

I place my right hand right on top of my heart, “I promise I won't laugh.” Unless his answer is going to be extremely ridiculous, like the bathroom or something. But I refrain from saying that.

“Okay,” he says as he’s nodding his head. “It's the stairs.”

Now that is not the answer I was expecting at all, “you may need to explain that.”

“They're just calm- usually. But also they're a good place to see everything that's going on. Also, if you're feeling really brave you can slide down the bannister.”

I can’t stop myself from laughing. There are so many different ways how that can go wrong. “Have you ever done that before? Slide down the bannister?”

Hugo glances around before nodding his head, “I have, yeah.”

My eyebrows raise in curiosity. “How did that go? Did you land on your feet?”

There is a grin on his face. “Yeah, I did.”

“Hm,” I smirk, “I don't think I'll be able to believe you until I've seen some proof of that.”

“Well, only if you're willing to try it out yourself.” He walks over to a door and opens it.

I suddenly realize we’ve reached the music room, I’ve been so distracted by talking with him that I hadn’t noticed. But indeed, there is the weird painting of some creepy male person. The painting was a great orientation point, indicating which door lead to the music room.

“Deal,” I say before walking into the music room, mumbling a thank you to Hugo for holding the door open for me.

It looks exactly the same as the last time I’ve been here. It’s like no one, besides me, uses this room. But I know that’s not true, Leana had been playing her guitar in here not that long before today. Still, it looks abandoned.

“Have you been in here before?”

I hear the door fall shut behind me and turn around, nodding my head. “Yeah I have actually, this is such a great place to be. It's hard to stay away.” The acoustics in this room are close to perfect, of course I would come here all the time.

“You're still practicing then?”

“Yes of course, there are always new things to learn.” I smile a little, “would you like to hear some?”

Hugo nods in return, “I'd love to. If you're willing.”

“Of course.” If there ever comes a day that I’m not willing to play music, someone should probably take me to a doctor or something. I walk over to one of the guitars and pick it up. Normally I would practice on my own bass guitar, but with this tour going on I hadn’t thought about bringing it along with me. I take the guitar with me to one of the sofas and sit down, “any requests?”

He thinks for a moment before saying, “a song you love.”

Hm, that is not a good question to ask someone who loves music as much as I do. “A song I love,” there are so many song titles coming to mind. But after a second I know which one to play. To check if this guitar is even tuned, I play some chords. “Let me just…” my voice trails off as I start loosening and tightening some machine heads. I play a low E2 and a high E4, but it’s still slightly out of tune. I repeat the actions until I’m content with the result. When I look up I find Hugo smiling at me, “ready?”

He nods his head, “ready.”

I’m still watching him as he sits down on the floor a little away from me, the sight of him makes me smile. I shift slightly so I’m a bit more comfortable on the sofa and put my fingers in the right positions. I start playing Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers, a song I know by heart. My fingers find the strings automatically, making no mistakes. When I’m done I look back at Hugo again, “tada!” I played the exact same song for Leana the other day and her reaction was nothing but positive. I can’t wait to find out what Hugo thinks.

“Tavi, that was amazing.” He stands up and starts clapping his hands.

There is a bit of an echo in this room, so it actually sounds like at least a dozen people are applauding. I can feel my face heat a little, a smile spreading across my face. “Oh stop, it was nothing.”

He shakes his head as he walks towards me, “it was beautiful.”

His eyes are on the guitar in my hands, my eyes are on him. “I'm glad you think that, thank you.”

I’m still looking at his face when his gaze shifts, meeting mine. “What made you pick it?”

“The song?” The movement of his hand catches my attention and I look down just in time to see him reaching towards the guitar. “I just think it's one of the best songs in the entire history of music.”

“I mean the guitar.” He runs a finger along the neck of the guitar. For some reason that specific action feels strangely intimate to me.

A shiver runs down my spine. “Oh,” I focus back on his face again, “the first instrument I got my hands on when I was a kid, was a guitar. It was like love at first sight.”

Hugo nods his head, “I can tell. I mean how much practice and time you've put in.”

He makes me smile again, “and it was definitely worth all the time and energy.” And by that I mean 15 years of practicing almost every day.

A smile appears on his face as well. “It really was. You're very talented.”

“Oh shush,” I can feel my cheeks heat again. I can’t handle all these kind words. “Do you play any music instruments?”

“I used to play violin but I stopped a long time ago.” The smile has disappeared, now there is a frown on his face.

“The violin is such a beautiful instrument,” both my mom and my brother mastered that skill. I wish I could hear them play again. “Why did you stop?”

He looks at me for a moment without saying anything, before swallowing once. “My mom was the one who kept me going and once she was gone it just didn't have the same appeal.” His eyes meet mine for a moment longer, before his gaze goes back to the guitar.

“Oh Hugo,” I don’t even know what I’m doing but before I know it I reach for his hand. His skin feels very soft, especially compared to my own calloused fingers, the result of playing string instruments for so long. “I'm so sorry.”

“It’s okay. It was a long time ago.”

“But that doesn't mean it's nothing.” I’m debating whether or not to ask what happened. I know how annoying it can be when someone sticks their nose in other people’s business that doesn’t concern them.

“It’s not, but it also isn’t a big deal.” He shrugs, “I don’t mind talking about it. It just usually makes people uncomfortable.”

I suddenly realize the awkwardness of the position we’re in. He’s standing while I’m sitting, not the nicest way to have a conversation. I let go of his hand and scoot over on the sofa, carefully placing the guitar on the floor so that it is sort of leaning against the sofa. There is now a place for him to sit if he would want to. “You wanna talk about it?”

“There isn’t too much left to talk about but sure.” He sits down beside me.

I turn to sit sideways so I can actually face him, “what happened?” So far for not sticking my nose in other people’s business.

“My mom left when I was a kid and I haven’t seen her since. I’m not sure it’s as exciting as you thought it’d be.”

“Oh,” I manage to get out, simply because I wasn’t looking for an exciting story whatsoever. If there is someone who knows what it’s like to have one parent leave your life, it’s me. I don’t know what’s worse, having a parent walk out of your life deliberately or have a parent ripped away from you. Both situations suck. “And she never reached out to you?”

“I think she might have sent a birthday card a few years ago but other than that there’s nothing that I remember.” Hugo shrugs.

I can’t stop looking at his face. “I'm sorry that happened,” I say, unconsciously twirling a curl around my finger.

“Don't be. It's not your fault. And anyway, I have my dad and my family here so it's not like I have too much time to dwell on it.” I can see his gaze shifting slightly, making me aware of what I’m doing with my hair. “What are your parents like?”

I don’t know what kind of an expression I had on my face, but it disappears as quickly as the sad feelings resurface. “Uhm,” I bring my hand away from my hair, scratching the skin around my collarbone instead. “My parents.” There are a billion ways to get that message across, each with their own amount of details. “They're kind people and we're very close.” I close my eyes, I’m debating which strategy to use. I decide to go for the ripping-off-the-bandaid one. “My dad is in prison and my mom has not been the same since he got arrested.” I open my eyes again and find my hands clasped together in my lap.

“Oh, Tavi, I'm so sorry. That must be really difficult.” His hand reaches for mine. I don’t feel his hand on my skin, my feelings are a bit too busy trying to drown me on the inside. But I do see his hand, now covering mine. “We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. But if you do... I'm here for you.”

I force a smile to my face, but it doesn’t stay there. “Thanks, that is very kind of you.” I clasp my hands together more tightly to stop them from shaking. “I just wish I could find a way to help him.”

“Can I ask what happened?”

Maybe it’s the concern in his voice or maybe I just want him to get to know the real me, but I urge myself to start talking. “My dad got called in as a witness for a different court hearing.” The memories of that day all come back to mind. “But then when that was over, and we were about to leave,” I have to pause for a minute to calm myself down, “when the judge called out to him, saying he was accused of murder.” I swallow to get the lump in my throat to go away. “And the judge just gave his verdict, and he got arrested.”

“I'm so sorry, Tavi. That doesn't sound right.”

“It's not,” I shake my head a little. “That's why I applied to this selection,” I make myself look at him again, “to see if I could find a way to give my dad his freedom back.”

“Have you talked to Arin? He might be able to help.”

“He knows about the jail situation and my dad's sentence.” There is so much sadness in Hugo’s eyes and I can’t handle that right now, so I focus back on my hands again. “Do you think he would want to help me?” I honestly doubt it. We hadn’t spoken since that god-awful date, when I had tried to shoot him with a paintball gun.

“I'm sure he'd want to.” Hugo stays silent for a moment. “But sometimes he can't. They sort of keep him on a tight leash.”

“I can imagine,” I say, nodding my head. And besides, the prince is in the middle of a selection, while keeping the country running. I doubt he would have the time or energy to help another charity case. What would he even do? My eyes find Hugo’s again, “but thank you, I'll talk to him.”

His voice is a bit more quiet this time, “how long has it been since you've seen him?”

“6 years,” I have to swallow again. I can’t start crying now, what must Hugo think of me?

His face falls, “that's not fair at all. You should get to see him, Tavi. Especially if he wants to see you.”

I can’t even begin to imagine what I look like right now. “He's being held in a prison in St. George, so it's not exactly around the corner. And we have been saving money to go visit him ever since his arrest, but it never was enough.”

A dash of confusion spreads across his face. “Why is he all the way in St. George?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug. It has never made any sense to me, Denbeigh had a maximum security prison of its own. But no, my dad had to be shipped off to another province. “It's what the judge stated in his verdict.”

“What about lawyers? What did they say?”

“The ones we could afford, didn't want to help us.” Some lawyers had tried to explain why they couldn’t help us, but others hadn’t even allowed us to enter their building. “They said it was a losing game, and that being associated with us would not be good for their reputation.”

“That's not right at all. They should be ashamed.”

“They should,” I press my lips together. I don’t understand the point of lawyers if they don’t want to get their hands dirty. “But there's nothing to do about that.”

Hugo shakes his head. “There has to be. There's always a way.”

It’s that exact thought that has kept me going all these years, I can’t let my dad rot away behind bars. I try to smile, “I'd like to think that, yes.”

He nods his head now. “There is. And I believe it can be found. You were Selected after all. Isn't that a sign?”

“Yeah maybe,” I thought getting access to the palace library would be the key to solve all my problems. But as it turns out, life is never easy. And I still hadn’t found anything that could possibly help my dad.

I’m done feeling like Debbie Downer and pulling Hugo into my bubble of sadness and despair, so I decide to change the topic. “Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think being a tour guide is your calling.”

The sound of Hugo’s laughter makes my sad feelings go away. “Is this a bad time to tell you that I only invited you to do this because I'm starting a tour guide business and I need a 5 star Yowl review?”

I can still see the concern in his eyes, but I’m glad for the change to a lighter topic. “Aha,” I even have to chuckle, “and here I was thinking we were friends. You just need me to do something.”

“I’m sorry you had to find out this way. I hope you don’t think badly of me.”

“Hm,” I pat his hand twice before getting up from the sofa. I pick up the guitar. “I can't promise a 5-star review now.”

“I can’t believe you just ruined my dreams. We had a deal, Tavi.”

I carry the guitar back to where I got it from and place it onto its stand. “I don't remember making a deal.” I shrug and turn around to face Hugo again, “I'm sorry, for me it's honesty above all else.”

There is a long and dramatic sigh. “Honesty? Even if it breaks my heart?”

It take all of my willpower not to burst into laughter. Instead I gasp, “would you prefer me to lie to your future customers?”

“Isn’t that what a friend would do?”

“Okay,” it takes me a second to come up with the perfect review. “’best tour I've been on in my entire life: the tour takes you to a lot of interesting places, the tour guide himself is very friendly and helpful, you get all the information you could possibly want and more. Easily 5 stars!’” I raise my eyebrows, “how does that sound?”

That makes him chuckle. “You left out the best part. ‘At the end he lets you slide down the bannisters.’”

“Oh right, how can I forget that?”

He shakes his head in disbelief. “I can't believe you didn't remember.”

“I'm sorry okay.” I pull the corners of my lips down to create an extremely sad face. “Can you ever forgive me?”

Another dramatic sigh. “Only because you said you're sorry.” His eyes go to the door. “So- should we continue on or do you want to go straight to me beating you at a race down the bannisters?”

Excuse me? I raise my eyebrows in surprise, “you beating me? We'll see about that.” I flip my hair over my shoulder, “let's go to the bannisters then.”

I can’t quite figure out the look he’s given me, but there is definitely excitement in his eyes. “You're on then. Let's go.”

Before I know it, we’re standing in the entrance hall again with the big staircase leading upwards in front of us. It looks 10 times steeper than all the other times I’ve been here.

“Okay, are you ready? To lose I mean.”

This guy. I poke him with my elbow in response. “You shouldn't say that so often, you might start believing you actually have a chance at winning.”

“I think I know I'll win.” Hugo has a confident smile on his face.

“Of course you do.” Meanwhile, I begin to wonder if I have a death wish or something. I don’t see how this is going to end well for me, especially because I have zero experience. “What will the winner get? What's the prize?”

There is a moment of silence, but then a grin appears on his face. “The loser has to play a song on the guitar?”

I don’t see how that is such a bad thing for me. Either I have to play the guitar again or Hugo will play a song for me. It’s a win-win really. But still I want to beat him of course, if only so I can keep reminding him of it. “Okay fine, deal?” I extend my hand for him to shake.

He shakes my hand. “Boy, I really hope I win now. I can’t play the guitar at all.”

I laugh, “I would love to see that.” I turn to face the stairs again, “do you wanna go first?”

Hugo chuckles in response, “this is a together or not at all thing.” He points to the bannister on the right side. “You take that one and I’ll take the other?”

I nod my head, “okay fine.” I turn back to look at him one final time, “good luck.”

“Thanks, you too.” And with that we start walking up the stairs.

I’m about halfway up when I decide it’s a good moment to turn around and look back down. I’ve never really noticed how far down the floor is. “All the way to the top?”

A chuckle reaches me from the other side of the steps, “all the way to the top.”

It feels like I’m climbing the Mount Everest, but eventually I make it to the top. I dare myself to look over the bannister. Yup there is the floor, all the way down there. If I lose my balance and fall, I have to make sure I fall to the left so the stairs will break my fall. If I fall to the right, the floor will break my bones.

I glance over at Hugo, he’s already in position and looking over at me. “You ready?”

No is what I want to say, but I swing my leg over the bannister instead. It’s a good thing I’m wearing some trousers today, doing this with a dress on would be impossible. When I feel as comfortable as I can be, given the circumstances, I call over, “yeah. You?”

“Yeah. Count to three?”

I nod my head. What am I even doing? “One? Two?”

“Three!”

I start to slide down very very slowly, but carefully. There are no disbalances yet so I allow myself to go a bit faster. This actually going pretty well. Maybe this is one of my undiscovered talents? But then I feel that I’m slightly leaning towards the right, the side with the floor. I hold on to the bannister for the life of me.

That actually helps and I let out a sigh of relief. I’m not dead yet.

I carefully slide onwards without any more troubles until the sliding stops completely, just a couple of steps away from the ground floor level. I jump down from the bannister, glad to have some solid ground under my feet again.

Then I hear a loud thud and I turn around. Someone did not land on his feet.

“I think I lost.”

I hurry to Hugo’s side, “are you okay? Are you in pain?”

He laughs, but I can’t decide if it’s a normal laugh or an omg-I-am-in-so-much-pain one. Maybe I should go get some help.

“I'm okay... I just need a second.” He takes a deep breath but then a frown appears on his face. “What's that?”

“Are you sure you're okay?” My eyebrows knit together in confusion. “What's what?”

“Over there.” I look over in the directions he’s pointing to. All I see is a little sofa, nothing else.

“Did you hit your head?”

Hugo shakes his head in return, “I don't think so.” At that he stands up and starts walking towards the sofa.

I truly wonder what it is he’s seeing. Has he gone delusional? I follow him just in case, perhaps he’s going to fall again. Not that I think I would be able to catch him if he does, but at least I will be nearby.

I watch him push the sofa aside before bending down and picking something up. Okay so he legit saw something, he’s not going crazy.

There is an amused smile on his face when he turns to show me what he has found. “It's an iPod.”

“Oh,” I move a little closer to get a better view. Could this be … ? No. Maybe. It looks like my iPod. But perhaps someone else owns the same one?

Hugo holds it out to me, “see. I wonder how on earth it got there.”

I can’t take my eyes off the silver device in his hand. My heartbeat increases slightly. “I think it might be mine?”

“Really? Wow.” He chuckles a little, “it's a good thing I fell then.”

“Definitely,” this might be one of the best days in my life. “Can I see it?”

“Of course! It's yours.” He holds the iPod out for me. I gladly take it and flip it over in my hand. The scratch on the logo is there, from when it had been in my bag together with my keys. And the little dent in the bottom right corner is present as well. My heartbeat increases even more.

To be 100% sure, I switch it on. It’s a miracle that the battery is still working. The title of the song and the name of the artists appear on the screen: Caspar Hayes & Jimmie Davis. This really is my iPod.

I clutch the little device close to my chest, I will never ever let go of it again. “Thank you! I thought it was lost for good.”

“So, then it looks like you really are the winner.”

I look up at Hugo to find him already looking at me with a huge smile on his face. I can’t help but smile myself, I haven’t felt this happy in a very long time. “And now you owe a song too. This is such a good day for me.”

He sucks in a breath, nodding his head. “I think after you hear me play you'll never want to see me again.”

I shake my head, the smile is still on my face when I’m looking at him. “I don't think I will ever think that.”

The tiniest hint of a blush appears on his cheeks, “really?”

“Yeah, I mean not everyone can be as talented as I am.”

That makes him laugh, “well, you're right. You're really talented.”

I shake my head a little, I was only joking. The smile remains where it is as I turn around to have another look towards the bannisters. “You didn't lose on purpose, did you?”

He shrugs, but his eyes meet mine. “I don't think I did.”

“Okay that's good to hear,” I notice the soft smile on his face. “Otherwise we'd have to do a rematch.”

Another one of his laughs echoes in the hall, it’s such a heart-warming sound. “I think after today I'm going into retirement.”

I can’t hold my own laugh back. “what a shame. The national bannister sliding team will miss its star.”

He shakes his head in return. “After that poor display of sportsmanship? I think they'd be thrilled to get rid of me.”

“One lost game doesn't define your entire career though.”

“Maybe not, but I'm glad that my last hurrah was witnessed by you- even if I fell.”

“I feel honoured.” I bring my hand up to tuck some hair behind my ear. “But are you sure you didn't hurt yourself?” I hadn’t seen the fall itself, but the thud was quite loud and the ground was unforgivingly solid.

He nods his head, “I promise I'm fine. The only thing injured is my is my unbroken winning streak at bannister races. So I think I'll live. And all in all you're not a bad person to lose to.”

I can’t stop myself from snorting, “wow thanks, what a great compliment.”

Last time he said my company was better than that of a garbage bag and now I wasn’t a bad person to lose to. Such considerate and kind words.

“Thank you, I really thought about that one for a long time.”

“I can tell,” I say with a smirk on my face. “Hey do you happen to know what time it is? My maids will scold me if I'm late for dinner preparations again.” Any other day I wouldn’t have cared for their mean words and angry glances, but I don’t want them to bring my mood down after the fun day I’ve had.

Hugo glances down at his watch, “it's 4:47. So there's just a bit over an hour until dinner.”

“Hmm,” I nod my head a little. According to Willa and Carla, they needed at least 50 minutes to make me look somewhat presentable for the royal family. Sigh. “Maybe I should head back to my room then?”

“Of course, I wouldn't want you to get in trouble.” He doesn’t look at me this time, his eyes are focussed on the floor instead. “Would it be okay if I walked you?”

The question surprises me, I’m perfectly capable of walking myself back to my room. And I know which way I have to go: just up the stairs and then to the left. It isn’t that difficult. But the sight of Hugo and the way he asked, I can’t help but smile. “Of course.”

“Then I guess I will lead the way- very carefully though. I think I've embarrassed myself enough for the day.” He offers his arm to me. It reminds me of my date with prince Arin. When he had offered me his arm, I hadn’t wanted to be anywhere near him, let alone touch him.

But this time, I don’t even have to think about it. I gently take his arm, “thank you.” I turn my face a bit so I can look up at him. “What are you talking about? Besides the bannister thing, when did you embarrass yourself?”

“It was mostly that.” He blushes a little bit, but it’s just enough for me to notice it.

I pat his arm a couple of times, hoping to take some of that embarrassment away. I truly don’t think the fall had been that humiliating. “Don't worry about it, that could have happened to anyone.”

When he looks over at me, I suddenly realize I have been staring at his face the entire time. “Hey, Tavi?”

I like the way he says my name. “Yeah?”

“Thank you for doing this with me. I had a lot of fun.” His gaze shifts to the steps, his voice going a bit more quiet, “maybe we can do it again some time?”

The smile on my face keeps growing bigger and bigger. “I would love that.”

His eyes meet mine again, there is a big smile on his face as well. “Okay. Then it's a date.”

My pulse quickens. Did I hear that correctly?

I raise my eyebrows, “a date?”

His face flushes even more now. “As friends I mean. Friends of course.” Hugo’s eyes dart away from mine.

Friends.

Any hope I might have had is immediately crushed by his words.

How can I even think about anything more than friendship?

“Oh,” I have completely misinterpreted the situation. I feel so dumb. “Friends of course.”

I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. But I don’t want Hugo to see any of that in my eyes. As I focus on the wall in front of me, I suddenly realize we’ve already reached the top of the stairs. How did I manage to get up here without paying any attention to the steps?

He must have noticed the disappointment. “We can do whatever you want and I can play my awful song for you.”

Now that I think of it, a friendship with Hugo might be for the best anyway. Today has been one of the nicest days I’ve had here in the palace.

The promise of some music makes me smile again, “yeah sure, that should be interesting.”

“So we have a plan.” There is a short silence before he continues speaking. “I don't actually know which room is yours.” And then he just starts laughing.

I don’t know what to make of this. “Didn't you come to my room before this tour?” I say as I let go of his arm. “Anyway it's the first one on the left here.”

“Yeah, I should have memorized the room number but I think I was a bit distracted by you.”

“Distracted by me?” I don’t remember doing anything that could have distracted him. I’ve reached my door now, but when I place my hand on the doorknob I turn around to face him one more time.

He shakes his head, “I just mean it’s nice talking to you so I wasn’t really paying to where your room is.”

“Oh okay,” I nod my head. “Anyway thanks for today, it was fun.” I smile again.

Hugo returns the smile. “Of course. Any time. Though I think I should consider what you said... I didn’t show you around much for supposedly being your tour guide.”

That is definitely true. We had only been to the music room and I had already known what it looked like. And let’s not forget the stairs, that was a whole different experience. It didn’t even matter, it had been a fun day. “It's okay. Though a 5-star review,” I say as I crunch my face, “I'm not sure.”

I push the door leading to my bedroom open, but the sound of Hugo chuckling makes me turn around again. “There’s always next time I guess. I’m sure my awful guitar playing will automatically make the experience 5 stars.”

“Don't you dare think you can bribe me with music.” I narrow my eyes at him, trying to stay serious. But I fail miserably, I can’t stop the laughter from coming out.

There is a smile on his face again. “I'll find something else to bribe you with.” His gaze shifts to my door, “see you at dinner?”

“Yes,” I nod my head before I turn around. I push my door open a bit more so I can actually walk into my room. Before I close it, I smile at him one more time, “bye.”

He returns the smile, “bye.”

I close the door behind me. A quick scan of the room tells me my maids haven't arrived yet. Good. This gives me a little bit of time to get my head in the right place before I have to face other people again.

I sit down on the floor with my back towards the door. On the other side I hear the sound of retreating footsteps echoing in the hallway. I pull up my legs and lean my elbows on top of them.

Friendship. I need to keep that in mind.

Holy freaking shit.