#although could honestly fit when they are older

[mrpenguinpants]

You are all I long for, all I worship, and adore.

— It's strange seeing your future selves being so close when you thought you both hated each other guts.

— Jing Yuan, Dan Feng (& Dan Heng) + Sunday

[Masterlist]

Suspend your disbelief for the timeline of lore, please.

Update: When I originally wrote this, I wanted to do an entire "Fly Me to the Moon," series of fics based on time travel. Hence the title. Shout-out to that one person who was waiting for me to write Sunday. I didn't, but I see you. It will happen soon.

Jing Yuan

This is the worst. The absolute worst thing ever. In the entirety of your living long life, this is the absolute worst moment so far. Were all the good times leading up to this moment? Did the Aeon's have some sick agenda, or were you randomly selected to be messed with today? If you had the option of eating literal trash bags for the rest of your life or continuing to live in this moment, you'd rather chew your own arms off. Maybe if you start now, you can save your future self the pain and humiliation of succumbing to...whatever this is.

"Aw, you were so cute when you were younger,” you - at least you think it’s you. This stranger wears the same face as you although a bit older. Perhaps alien would be a more fitting name? - this stranger coos as they cup Jing Yuan's face in their hands. Pinching cheeks with barely any fat on them with the sweetest smile you never knew you could even make. Jing Yuan, one of the seven Arbiter-Generals of the Xianzhou Alliance's Cloud Knights who stared down an actual Lord Ravager, looks two seconds away from bolting like a scared cat. He hasn’t moved an inch since this started and honestly, as mortifying as this is, it’s way worse for him than it is for you. So naturally, you’re turning a blind eye and holding Yangqing hostage from saving his precious general of sweet words and praises.

”I see we didn’t get along at this point in time,” a deep voice muses above you from a man you’re very blatantly pretending to ignore. An older Jing Yuan stands beside you, amused at his younger self having a barely contained stroke. If it wasn't bad enough that a future version of yourself suddenly appeared, Jing Yuan just had to follow. Always a nuisance no matter his age. Maybe if you hold your breath, you’ll pass out and everything will blow over. It sounds less painful than trying to eat yourself from the outside in any way. Before you can start, a hand, heavy yet somehow gentle, is placed on your shoulder. “I don’t recommend trying to self-induce a suffocation. Nor attempt any cannibalism on the self either.”

Okay. That’s creepy. Do senior citizens suddenly gain mind-reading powers? You’ve heard the story that if a man stays a virgin until he’s 30, he'll become a wizard. You let out a huff of amusement at that thought, maybe that’s what’s happening. That amusement gets cut short when you realize that somehow, you fell for this 30-year-old virgin. You refuse to accept that out of spite. That story was meant for short-life species anyway.

“For all intensive purposes, I’m choosing to believe this is a nightmare and the first step to waking up from one is to induce pain,” you answer blandly, your grip on Yanqing finally waning as the boy sprints in for the rescue. Only to get swept up in the storm as your other self switches her attention to the kid. Sticky fingers and starry eyes have Yanqing disarmed before he can even lift a finger to summon his ice sword, falling prey to the musing of a Xianzhou auntie. Nevertheless, Yanqing does his job correctly because it allows Jing Yuan to finally escape as he stumbles over to you and his other self.

"How far the mighty have fallen," you snicker behind your hand at how ruffled Jing Yuan looks. His hair is a bit fluffy from how many times your future self ran their hands through it, and his cheeks are a bit pink. Probably from all the pinching. There's even a deep chuckle next to you to accompany your words as Jing Yuan coughs into his fist before straightening up properly. You can see Yanqing being given sweets behind his back and that alone buys the kids complacency.

"My apologies for that," Jing Yuan says as the older Jing Yuan simply laughs in response. Unserious and unfretted in everything.

Huh, now that you look closer. He has laugh lines.

"It is I that should apologize. We have disturbed your schedule with our, ahem, compliments," Other Jing Yuan chuckles once again, as if the fact that he has time traveled into the past was a small "disturbance". Aeons, you hate this guy in every form.

They go back and forth, talking in that faux politeness that never truly goes anywhere before you finally had enough of this. You're not sticking around for this tea-time pleasantries any longer than you need to. It's the exact reason why you left your position as the "Divine Foresight Counselor" and passed it off to Qingzu as soon as you could. Unfortunately, you're going up against two Jing Yuan's, so the moment you shift your shoe to take a step back to remove yourself from the conversation, two pairs of golden eyes snap to you. One is smiling, the other is frowning.

"Heading off?"

"Where are you going?"

You look between the two, older and younger, and you can feel your head beginning to hurt. You let out a sigh, rubbing your forehead, before ultimately picking the lesser of two evils. If you have to look into those love-stricken soft eyes one more time, you might actually pass away.

"Out. You don't need me here anymore do you, General? Or do I require your dismissal now?" you ask bluntly, turning to the Jing Yuan you're used to. The one who's supposed to be in this timeline. "If you need anything, I'm sure Diviner Fu would love to be of assistance."

You don't bother to wait for Jing Yuan to say anything, pivoting on your heel and marching out of the Exalting Sanctum. You glance at your other self, a bitter feeling rising in your chest when they look at you disapprovingly. You can tell they want to say something but one brief look to the side, where the two Jing Yuans stand, and they close their mouth and turn around. Regardless, there's no reason for you to stick around longer. As long as the time travelers stay within the exalting sanctum, no one will know they ever appeared in the first place.

As you near the exiting doors, nodding to the guards on each side, you spare one last glance back. Your sudden departure hasn't halted anything and Jing Yuan is speaking to both his other self and you. Yanqing huddles close, one of his hands in your other self's hand, as he tries his best to participate in the discussion. Realistically, you should set aside your petty pride and march back to help. Do something other than running away and letting everyone else pick up the pieces for you. But the doors are already open and you need a sweet drink desperately.

There's been a growing sour taste on your tongue every time your Jing Yuan stares longingly at the other you.

Dan Feng

There isn't a single word to describe the situation you're in right now. Strange? Uncanny? Just super weird? You've seen and done a lot of weird things in your long life, but this is the absolute weirdest thing that has ever happened to you - and you've seen a star collapse before.

“If you keep making that expression, it’ll stick on your face,” Jing Yuan muffles his laugh under his hand, keeping up with your brisk pace as you not-so-subtly run away from the situation thrust into your hands. A tactical retreat you call it. You give Jing Yuan a pained grimace for a brief second before focusing straight ahead again.

“Jing Yuan, I will make sure your promotion to General is riddled with paperwork,” you say straight-faced. He knows you’re lying, you adore your pseudo-nephew too much to do that to him, but it does make him jolt and respectfully keep his mouth shut. However, in exchange, it makes the third pair of footsteps all the more louder. The source of your current predicament and Jing Yuan's amusement. You peer over your shoulder at the young man just to make absolutely sure that you're not hallucinating. A tall, slender young man with blue eyes, fair skin, and black hair stares right back at you before quickly averting his gaze back to the ground. Even with his unique coat and clothing, he has the splitting image of that old lizard. Even though this stranger is younger...and without a stick up his ass either.

He said his name was Dan Heng. A "traveling guard" for the renowned Astral Express. He had sworn on his life that he was telling the truth but that didn't change the fact of who he looked like. If Jing Yuan hadn't been there to vouch for him, then you would have attempted to throw him off the Luofu yourself. According to Jing Yuan, he found the young man "asleep" under one of the ginkgo trees, but otherwise wasn't doing any harm to anyone. He had just appeared with no way to return to where he came from.

At least you have one thing in common: you both don’t want to be here.

"So, are you a distant relative? Is this your first time visiting the Luofu? Oh! Are you here to visit him for vidyadhara business?" Jing Yuan spitballs one question after the other, his barely contained excitement shining through. He had slowed his pace to walk side-by-side with Dan Heng, illustrating the differences between them. Jing Yuan barely reaches Dan Heng's waist, the standard cloud knight uniform looking plain compared to the other's elaborate coat. Teal clashing with blue. Although, they match in their one red accessory flapping in the wind.

Dan Heng awkwardly coughs into his hand, before giving Jing Yuan a rather embarrassed look, "I don't think it'd be wise for me to say anything. If you have any questions, you should ask my teacher..."

Dan Heng shoots you a look as he says the word 'teacher', to which you raise an eyebrow right back. You've never seen this specific man in your life, let alone taken on any students. You don't even like kids that much unless their name is Jing Yuan and even, he isn't fully nestled in your heart. But that's another weird thing about this whole situation. This mysterious "teacher" apparently came along for the ride, yet the man won't spare a single detail about them. Vague descriptions that could be for anyone but wouldn't be a definite confirmation. All in all, it's been a headache and not something you wished to do on a bright and sunny morning. It's frankly out of your pay grade to be babysitting wandering travelers, even if they look like the High Elder.

“We’re here,” you call out, abruptly stopping your near sprint as you feel two bodies collide into your back. One has the decency to step back with an apology while the other clings to your arm as he peers around your waist.

"The forge?" Jing Yuan questions, tilting his head almost fully sideways as the three of you look up at the unassuming blacksmith shop.

"Yep, we're visiting the only adult of the group. Come on, Yingxing should still be inside," you say eyes forward but your arm reaches behind you to hold onto the retreating body of Dan Heng, who has been quietly trying to step away as soon as you confirmed just where you were. Jokes on him, you're the master of running away from your problems- retreating. You're the master at tactical retreating.

Although it’s muffled, you can hear some commotion going on inside. Maybe an unruly customer who didn’t read the fine print and is now venting their frustration? You share a look of confusion with Jing Yuan as you strong-arm Dan Heng into coming inside.

Entering the store, it looks relatively normal? There's nothing out of place or anything to show there was a scuffle, but the argument is getting louder sounding from the back of the store, into the forge. Which is strange for two reasons. Firstly, Yingxing may not be a dragon but he guards the forge with his life. Secondly, the only other people allowed in aren't even in the area. A mutual understanding passes through the three of you, Dan Heng finally giving up on trying to escape with the death grip you have on his arm, and you all tip-toe to the back door. Jing Yuan being the smallest reaches the door first, his head peeking out, your head above his as you squint into the room, and Dan Heng above yours with a look of defeat.

“You selfish old lizard! I’d outta cut your tail off right now for all the trouble you caused you senile son of a-“

"Please calm down, this is still the High Elder you're speaking to!"

What you see is something you'd never expect to see, and you need to reiterate that you've seen a literal star collapse. An older version of you is being held back by Yingxing as they throw threats and cusses at Dan Feng, who looks relatively unbothered by the promises to maim him.

“Teacher!”

Dan Heng, who has kept the most monotone voice imaginable since meeting him, suddenly pushes himself forward. A small "ah!" comes from Jing Yuan as he flops onto the floor from the sudden movement. A spear you've definitely seen before materializes in his hand as he goes to swing at Yingxing, only to be parried away by an identical spear. If you thought the tension between your first meeting with Dan Heng was rough, this feels like the Aeons themselves are fighting against each other. Yingxing and the other you have gone slack in surprise as two vidyadhara's who share the same face are kept at a standstill. Two cloud piercers pointed at each other, poised and ready to strike again, the air growing more humid with sticky beads of water vapor suspended in the air. Well, if you had any doubts about Dan Heng looking way too similar to Dan Feng, this pretty much confirms it. They're the same person.

Your eyes slide to the other you.

A falling star has nothing on this.

Sunday

There's something off about this entire situation, and there are enough oddities to begin with, but there's just something that doesn't sit right with you. Was there such a thing as a second puberty? Is that what a "mid-life" crisis was? Aren't you supposed to dye your hair and buy a sports car when that happens? Because the person walking next to you is certainly not you. They're too...peppy.

When you first saw the "future you", you had assumed they were a figment of someone's imagination. A dream perhaps? In Penacony, it would definitely be possible, but who would want to dream of you? The other you didn't seem that weird either, just a bit older and more well-mannered, but otherwise exactly the same. They had greeted you cheerfully, even coming up to shake your hand because "it was the polite thing to do when greeting friends.". You didn't know how to react to that wording so you brushed it aside. Maybe in the future, you're some big shot? That's kind of exciting to imagine.

"So...any idea how you got here?" you ask, turning to the other you. It's kind of funny that you're escorting yourself but you doubt the future you remember's the winding pathways the Bloodhounds take to the main base. Although your boss is quite nonchalant, Gallagher has always had a steady head on his shoulders. If you can't figure out a way to fix this time travel business, he can at least play damage control.

"I'm not entirely sure. I was about to set out to welcome some new friends on behalf of my husband, and then I was suddenly here. Oh, I hope he isn't upset with me for disappearing," your other self hums, a hand on their cheek, before quickly jolting up, "Ah, I guess I should say our husband now."

You let out an awkward laugh to match their giggle. Although your future self doesn't look that much older than you, it seems you managed to get hitched with someone great. They always seem to slip the word "husband" into every sentence, heck- you're making new friends because of him. Your mother would weep tears of joy learning that fact. Although it does make you curious just who your supposed husband is. The only man you see more than once in your life is Gallagher, and respectfully, he's not your type. But then who else? Perhaps one of the patrons? You've heard the news that the IPC sent a handsome gambler with beautiful eyes. Perhaps that's who you've fallen in love with? You don't want to ask because you don't want to mess up the timeline and frankly, you don't want to ruin the surprise. To be honest, even though you never thought about marriage, it kinda makes you giddy knowing that in the future, you seem to love your husband so much. A bit too much but it's probably the honeymoon phase train never stopping.

You still can't help but shake the feeling that something is horribly wrong.

There's just the slightest sinister curl in their smile. As if they're secretly laughing at the expense of everyone while keeping on an angelic facade. It's unsettling and makes chills down go your spine when it's your face that does it. The only time you've felt this sense of unease was when you accidentally stumbled into Gallagher's private meeting with the Head of the Oak Family. The Halovian had simply smiled, inquiring who you were and holding his hand out for you to shake. Your fingers had just brushed against his white glove when Gallagher stepped in, gripping your wrist hard enough for bruises, and forcibly pushed you out the door.

"Someone not important."

That's what your boss had said. You thought he spoke so harshly because he was pissed at you for possibly giving the Oak Family a bad first impression. He pretended it never happened and you never brought it up, afraid he might fire you from your job.

"I don't mean to pry, but are you alright?"

You blink, shaken out of your thoughts by your future self's question. They smile at you kindly, a slight tilt to their head as they wait for you to answer patiently.

"Oh! Sorry, I kinda spaced out there for a bit..." You let out an awkward laugh. Your voice sounds weak even to you, but the other you just nods in understanding. Perhaps it's because it's technically you that you're talking to, or that feeling of foreboding, that you feel like you need to explain yourself, "I guess I haven't been sleeping well. Gallagher has me running errands on the other side of Penacony in preparation for the Charmony Festival. Between you and me, I think he's dumping his errands on me so he can slack off."

Your lighthearted chuckle tapers off when the other you doesn't respond in kind to your joke. In fact, bringing up Gallagher's name has completely cleared their face from that prim and proper mask. Leaving behind a blank expression with disinterested eyes before a blink, and there's that same smile smeared on.

"You speak rather fondly of him. It seems I'm farther into the past than I originally thought," they mumble to themselves. Although you pick up on the words easily, you double-take just to make absolutely sure those words came from them. Sure, Gallagher isn't the most traditional-looking boss but he's not a bad person. Especially not to you. When you were looking for a job, he was the one to approach you out of the blue to work under him as a Bloodhound. If he never showed up, you would have most likely wasted away as a paper pusher for one of the families. He's always forgiven your mistakes and always offered to escort you home even though you can take care of yourself. So why is your future self so unfriendly to someone you currently hold in high regard?

"Oh uh...did something happen between us and Gallagher? I mean, I always suspected I'd get fired but I don't know, I always thought we got along. I mean, he has been acting a bit weird since that Oak Family Head came around but he's probably just stressed, right? Oh wait- I don't think we should be talking about this. I don't want to start a butterfly effect, especially so close to the festival-" you muse only to get interrupted.

"If I were you, I wouldn't trust that dog so easily," your other self spits with so much venom that you take a step away. Is it possible that you misjudged how close you were with Gallagher? Your other self talks about him as if he had betrayed them on a personal level. This shouldn't be possible because you and Gallagher have a strictly professional relationship. Unless you potentially knew him before you arrived in Penacony? To be fair, your memory gets a bit hazy looking back but you're sure you would remember someone like Gallagher.

"Wha- Hey, I don't know what happened but you shouldn't call him a dog-"

"We're here."

You stop in your tracks. What? We're here? You look up and realize that you've completely walked off the beaten path and happened upon a door. In fact, if you remember correctly, this was the door you stumbled into when you first met that Halovian. When did it become your other self escorting you rather than the other way around? You thought they wouldn't know these back alley pathways anymore.

"Why are we here?" you ask tentatively. Realistically, you know nothing bad will happen to you, at least not physically. You're their past. Whatever happens to you will affect them. A small scrape here will become a scar for them later.

"You haven't been sleeping well correct? I remember when I used to have headaches all the time. But you'll be okay now, he'll make things all better. While it's a bit early, I'm sure you'll understand. You are me after all," they smile sweetly, taking your hand in theirs as they pull you in front of the door.

"Come now, let's go meet our husband. He's been eagerly waiting for you for a long time."

---

Small author's note: I fell into a pit and wrote way too much. If I didn't cut it off, this fic would take another year to finish. That's why there's no real ending, lol.

[joequiinn]

The Dos & Don'ts of Fake Dating | E.M. x reader | pt. 5

[chap four] | [all chapters here] | [chap six]

summary: You propose a crazy idea to the resident freak of Hawkins, Eddie Munson. But maybe he was even crazier for agreeing to it…

notes & tropes: fem reader, slow burn, faking dating, opposites attract, bratty rich bitch reader, super minor revenge plot, not-quite-enemies-to-lovers

a/n: I'm very excited for this chapter because it's actually one of the scenes that inspired this whole fic! Before I knew what the hell I even wanted to write, I played this idea of a figure skating character over and over again in my head as I built up the story around it. I'm a little behind on writing the next chap, so it may be a slightly longer wait between this and the next one! Hope you all love it!

wc: 4.8k

taglist: @costellation-hunter @daisyridleyss @damon-loves-pie @damp4eddie @delilaaahhh @em0220 @fromasgardandback @kthomps914 @lotrefcp @marrowfrog00 @mewchiili @munsonssweets @no-bueno-writer @rach5ive @sav12321 @sheneedsrocknroll92 @steeldaisies @stormgrl19

Chapter Five

You skated at least four times a week. You’ve done so since you were ten years old, when you decided that you wanted to take figure skating more seriously. Whether or not you had competitions, whether or not you were in the mood for it, you always stuck with your skating routine. With competition season coming up in November, you knew you’d have to start practicing more, putting in longer hours and more days in preparation.

Or maybe not. After all, competing was something that your mom enjoyed, that she encouraged wholeheartedly. Regardless of how much you enjoyed it, it didn’t exactly fit the teenage rebellion thing you had going on right now. Maybe you wouldn’t go to competition this year, maybe you’d skip out on your final season out of pure spite - now that would be cruel. Although a part of you hurt at that idea - because you really did love skating - you reasoned that it was something you had to consider.

Fridays were always very long days for you. While your peers would be set free to roam following the 3pm school bell, you had more obligations for the day. Once you left school, you crammed in as much homework as you could before hitting the ice rink by 4:30 at the latest to get your own practice in. Once that was done, you led a youth skating practice until 7pm, then you tried to squeeze in some more skating time before the hockey team took to the ice at 7:15. After arriving home at 8 o’clock or later, you crammed more homework so you wouldn’t have to deal with it over the weekend, and then by that point you’d be too worn out for anything else, so you generally slept late into the next morning.

This had been your routine for over a year now, ever since your own couch suggested that you needed to get more extracurriculars under your belt for your college applications. She had insisted that your resume would look far more impressive if you showed that you had teaching experience and “leadership potential,” an idea that really appealed to your parents, who were determined for you to get into a good school, maybe even on a figure skating scholarship. So, you ended up taking over the Friday night children’s lessons whether you wanted to or not.

You honestly despised it. You led children age 5 to 7, and they were a constant pain in the ass. You couldn’t raise your voice without one of them crying, you couldn’t leave them to their own devices without someone inevitably ending up hurt. Yet, you stuck with it because you were told to, because the adults around you insisted that you needed to. You couldn’t stand the way your coach would insist that this would help develop your skills, you couldn’t stand how your mother insisted “you’ll look back on this so fondly when you’re older.” These damned kids skating lessons were something else you’d probably drop soon, because you barely tolerated them as is.

While everyone else was at the football game, while Eddie was probably off playing his stupid fantasy game or doing something equally as nerdy, you were here at the ice rink, shouting instructions at children while parents and hockey players watched. Some of the parents had made it clear before that they weren’t fond of your impatient and mean teaching methods, but your coach always seemed to talk them out of pulling their kids from your group. She always argued something about you being the best skating in the county, but you weren’t sure how true that was - sure, you had your fair share of medals, but even with your ego you were pretty sure there were better skaters at your level.

“Come on, slackers, we’ve got five minutes left!” You taunted your group of 11 kids as they skated around the perimeter of the rink as a cool down. You zipped ahead of them, leading the charge as you skated backwards to keep an eye on them.

Many of the older kids had grown used to your abrasive coaching, but you could see that many of the newbies were still frightened of you, your loud voice, and your cold eyes. As a means of excusing your poor teaching style, you always said that skating was a tough sport and they needed to toughen up if they wanted to be any good at it. For how pretty and elegant figure skating could be, you knew from experience that competitive skating could be harsh, so you figured you were helping these kids prepare for it.

Because the Hawkins High hockey team had the rink after your group every Friday, many of them were already sitting on the sidelines, getting their gear ready or watching you work. The cocky part of you enjoyed the attention, but hockey players were stupid, so you rarely gave any of them a chance whenever they tried talking to you. Nonetheless, when you were in a good mood, you enjoyed putting on a bit of a show for them, shooting flirty glances their way or occasionally calling out remarks to them between instructing the kids. Tonight, you were paying them little mind, but that didn’t stop you from looking their way every now and again.

As you led the kids back to the center of the ice to wrap up the lesson, a lot of their parents were also waiting in the bleachers or out in the lobby. While you skated back and forth in front of your little army of children, going over some instructions for their next practice with your coach on Monday, your eyes roamed the bleachers. You gave a wicked grin to the hockey players that watched you, meanwhile you took in the parents with very little regards. It was as you looked over the clusters of parents that you saw a familiar face sitting at the penalty bench, and unintentionally you let your toe pick drag on the ice, which very nearly caused you to trip.

God damn Eddie Munson.

As you glared in his direction, hoping your momentary lack of balance didn’t make you look too stupid, you dismissed the kids before gliding towards the dasher board. Eddie, grinning like an asshole, stood up to meet you as children began to exit the ice. You braced yourself on the rail of the board, eyes narrowed at Eddie who appeared far too amused for your liking.

“What are you doing here?” You ask in lieu of a greeting. Eddie briefly glances over at the kids leaving the ice.

“You’re incredible with children.” He mocked, smiling far too wide for your liking; you narrowed your eyes while wondering just how long he’d been here, “Figured I might find you here.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’re here, though.” You respond coldly, gaze briefly looking in the direction of the hockey team to find a couple of them watching your interaction. 

“You did say we needed to make plans, figure out how this was going to work,” Eddie started, taking in your red cheeks and slightly damp forehead that developed over the course of your skating lessons.

“I also said we’d talk about it next week.” You glowered a little, not worried if any of the hockey players saw it - maybe they’d simply mistake it for a lovers quarrel. Eddie grinned, holding his arms up as if he were a presenter on some dumb show.

“No time like the present, right?” Your unamused face gave him all the answer he needed, and his expression fell a little in annoyance, “And here I hoped I was being a good fake boyfriend by visiting you at the rink.”

“You’re being too good a fake boyfriend,” You jab.

Now that all the kids were off the ice, you slid towards the open gate; Eddie kept pace with you on the other side of the dasher board, meeting you at the gate and offering you his hand in assistance. You looked between his face and his outstretched hand with a glare, but eventually accepted his help, stepping over the barrier and onto the slightly cushy floor on the other side.

“I told you not tonight because I’m busy.” You walk over to the gym bag you left sitting on the nearest bleachers. As you sat beside it, Eddie shrugged with a carelessness that seemed almost false.

“Then I’ll go.” He answered simply as you removed your skates, “Just thought it might not be a bad idea to get to know you a little better. It’s not gonna be easy to fake date someone who you know nothing about.”

You shot him a harsh look while putting skate guards over your blades. You didn’t want to admit that he was right, but he had a good point, especially since you had already discussed it before. You sighed heavily through your nose, your cold eyes locked on Eddie’s.

“Can’t it wait? I’ve had a long day.”

Eddie studied you for a moment, leaning back against the dasher board before looking around the ice rink. You quickly put some worn sneakers on your feet and stood, picking your bag and turning away with the intention to leave. But Eddie’s gentle grip on your wrist stopped you from going anywhere, causing you to look between his hand and his face. As you two held eye contact, you realized that Eddie could be just as stubborn as you when he wanted; damn, was this going to be difficult.

“Let me buy you dinner - I’m sure you’re starving,” Eddie started, and for a fleeting moment you wondered if he thought your attitude was because you were hangry. You chewed your lower lip, eyes staring critically at Eddie for another few moments before you let out a defeated sigh, allowing your shoulders to relax a little. Considering that it had been nearly eight hours since your lunch break, it might now be a bad idea to eat something.

Eddie’s eyes softened at your silent resignation, the corner of his mouth pulling up. He finally released your wrist, nodding his head in the direction of the lobby, “Come on, you pick.”

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

Your pick ended up being a 24-hour diner downtown. Eddie showed clear confusion when you mentioned it, so you explained that - for whatever reason - the diner had become something of a tradition, where students congregated post-Friday night football into the wee hours of the night. You’d joined that crowd a number of times in the past, but had no more interest in it - what you were interested in was having people see you and Eddie out together.

You knew it would still be at least an hour before the football crowd arrived, but that wasn’t such a bad thing - it gave you and Eddie a bit of time to actually become acquainted, to learn more about each other beyond “ice princess” and “the freak.”

You studied Eddie while sipping on a chocolate shake, waiting for your food to arrive. He stared back at you unabashedly, and you figured you could be locked into this staring contest until the end of time given how stubborn you both could be. As if Eddie knew what you were thinking, he smirked, finally caving as he looked away from you.

“Not to sound cliche,” Eddie scratched the back of his neck, almost as if he were nervous, but you assumed that couldn’t be true, “but… tell me about yourself?”

You smiled at how dumb the question was - that was so cliche. It was as good a starting place as any you figured, but that didn’t make it sound any less silly and forced. You leaned back in your seat, still holding tight to your milkshake as if it were a lifeline.

Putting on your best Miss America voice, you replied, “Well, I’m freshly 18 from Hawkins, Indiana. I love long walks on the beach, snuggling up with a good book, and I hope one day we’ll have world peace.”

Eddie narrowed his eyes at you, although you could tell he was fighting back a grin, “You’re making this very challenging considering that it was your idea.”

You shrug, taking a big gulp of the chocolate shake, “I guess I’m just a challenging person.”

“You guess?” Eddie laughed mockingly at that, “You’re the most challenging I’ve met. So, how about you try relaxing a little or else no one’s going to buy that we’re together.”

You made a face at the near-insult, finally putting down your drink. You leaned your elbows on the table, taking in Eddie’s face for a moment, stubbornly resisting the urge to say anything. Again, he had a good point, not that you wanted to tell him that. Eddie appeared to have an idea as he mirrored your pose.

“Okay, we’ll go back and forth, a question for a question; how’s that?” You nodded, “Right. First question: Why me?”

Your brows furrowed a little in thought, pinning down a good answer while trying to recall what you’ve already told him, “Haven’t I already explained that?”

“Kind of.” Eddie rolled his hand in a motion that basically said “but go on.”

You bit the inside of your cheek for a moment while thinking, “Your reputation. People don’t know you, but your reputation is in the absolute gutter. No better person to turn to than the guy who everyone in the school already hates.”

Eddie nodded in acceptance of the answer, “Okay, your turn.”

You grinned a little, a question already on your lips, “Why’d you agree to it?”

It was something you’d speculated briefly throughout the week, as you thought that your trade offer might not have been a compelling enough reason for Eddie to agree to this stupid plan. And now you could finally get the answer you were looking for.

Eddie silently stared at you in consideration, and again it almost felt like he was able to read your thoughts somehow. Finally, he answered, “Curiosity.”

You raised a brow in question, to which he once more scratched the back of his neck - maybe that actually was a nervous habit, so you took note of it.

“We both know this idea is kinda crazy,” Eddie started, mulling over his thoughts before continuing, “But I wanted to see how it plays out. See if we can actually trick people into believing it. And I wanted to see if you were as awful as I thought you were.”

You balked instantly, an amused huff escaping your mouth, “‘Awful?’ Jesus, you keep acting like I’m the devil or something.”

Eddie made a face while shrugging, not disagreeing with you, “You thought the same about me. So, let’s call it square.”

Food was finally brought to your table, and you had to resist the urge to attack the greasy burger set in front of you; you didn’t need Eddie to see you act like a ravenous gremlin over some food, even if it had been over eight hours since you’d eaten anything. But you nonetheless dug in, albeit with far more control than your empty, growling stomach would have liked.

“Your turn.” You say around a bite of food, causing Eddie to smile in amusement and the unladylike action.

“Hmm…” He leaned forward, scrutinizing you as he contemplated his next question. Self consciously, you wiped at the corner of your mouth just to make sure there wasn’t any stray ketchup or grease sitting there, “Why ice skating?”

“Because it’s better than cheerleading.” You smiled at your own joke before giving a slightly better answer, “I always thought it was pretty. Nothing else to it, unfortunately; no deep story and significance to it.”

“Fine.” Eddie responded almost as if he was disappointed by the mundane answer.

“Why Dungeons and Dragons?”

“Your questions can’t keep being off-shoots of mine.” Eddie laughed a little, and despite yourself it caused you to smile smally as well.

“Says who?”

“Says me,” He responded while pointing at himself, “I get to come up with some of the rules now, remember?”

“Whatever.” You rolled your eyes with a degree of fondness, which you immediately found strange, so you tried to wipe the look from your face. Nope, you weren’t fond of Eddie Munson, not at all.

You went back to your food, hoping Eddie didn’t catch the amused look on your face. You spoke around another bite of food, “Do you have siblings?”

“None that I know of.” He replied around his own mouthful of food, “But I wouldn’t exactly be surprised if there were any out there.”

You cocked your head a little at the response; it wasn’t so much shocking or sad, rather it was unexpected and different from your own life. You made a mental note to learn more about Eddie’s family, if not tonight then at a later point.

“What’s your plan after graduation?”

You opened your mouth to answer, but then paused - what was your plan now that you were trying to make your own decisions? You hadn’t even considered it. Did you still want to go to college? Where? Studying what? You suddenly realized that you had no true plan for yourself, only the one outlined by your parents, and that realization made you nervous.

“Honest answer: not a fucking clue.” Eddie looked taken aback by the response, so you continued, “My plan before was getting into a good school on a skating scholarship, and studying something completely irrelevant. My parents expect my skating to carry me through life until some good, rich man sweeps me off my feet.”

“But that’s not your plan anymore?”

“That’s another question.” You give him a teasing grin, causing Eddie to roll his eyes, “First, answer me this: If you weren’t stuck in Hawkins, where would you go?”

Eddie grinned with an unexpected eagerness, “LA. The music scene there is insane, and I’d happily sleep on the streets if it meant I had a shot at making my own music.”

Your eyes softened ever so slightly at the unexpected, genuine response - admittedly, you didn’t peg Eddie as the type to have any real goals. But music? That was interesting to you since you weren’t even aware that he played any instruments. You wondered if he was actually any good at it, or if it was some foolish aspiration.

“Now, what’s your plan?” Eddie repeated, smirking at the look on your face - this was one of the few times you didn’t look like a total bitch, so he appreciated it. In fact, you looked relaxed and, dare he say, content; that was certainly unexpected from you.

When you shrugged, he shook his head, leaning forward again, “No, you come up with a plan right now. Don’t base it off what your parents want or what you think sounds like the right answer. What do you want to do with your life once we’re done with this shit hole?”

You contemplated, a mild concern washing over you as you stared at Eddie - what the hell did you want? And why did you suddenly feel so vulnerable because of the question. You had to rip your gaze away from Eddie’s, hardening your expression as you tried to think up an answer that felt right.

“I… I like art, I love clothes,” You started dumbly, glancing at Eddie through your lashes, expecting him to make a face at the lame answer, “I don’t know shit about them in a technical way, but it might be fun for college. Take painting or sewing classes during the day, skate until my feet hurt at night, maybe… I want to be somewhere big and interesting. New York, LA… fuck, even Florida for all I care, I just want out of Hawkins, out of this town.”

“Then I guess we’ll be those high school sweethearts that run off to LA together after graduation, huh?” Eddie smiled widely, and you allowed an amused look to cross your face.

“Oh, I’m sure.” You returned to your food as you tried to come up with a good question for Eddie. An intriguing one came to you, so you asked before you could second guess it, “How do you expect your fake girlfriend to act?”

Eddie’s brow furrowed; it didn’t appear to be due to him misunderstanding the question, but rather that it was unexpected; he even looked maybe hesitant to answer it. Again, he scratched his neck.

You lean forward a little, looking at him seriously, “Give me a good answer, okay? We’re just gonna keep going in circles otherwise.”

Eddie shrugged, “Maybe I don’t have any expectations.”

“Then come up with some.” You immediately counter, prodding the same way he had about your plans for the future. Eddie stared at you with scrutiny while chewing the inside of his lip, as if he didn’t want to come up with a response to the question. You waited, making a mock sweet face at him while you chowed down on your fries. You were going to demand an answer until he gave you one.

“Well, going off the rules you already established,” He made a bit of a face as if to mock the oh-so-sacred fake dating rules, “Aside from playing nice in front of others, it might be helpful if you were less stubborn; you’re like a damn bull.”

You gave him a joshing smile right back, “Fair. Is that it?”

Eddie quickly shook his finger; now it was just a back-and-forth game of you mocking one another, “Ah, that’s another question.”

“Oh, fuck off.” You rolled your eyes with a short laugh, “That is not another question.”

Eddie gave a fake look of apology, shrugging again, “Unfortunately, it is.”

You threw a french fry at him, which lamely hit his chest then landed in his lap. As he laughed and picked it up, you found yourself smiling fondly again, and you quickly tried to shake off the expression.

At that moment, the bell above the front door chimed, and immediately the diner was filled with rambunctious conversation. Your heart jumped a little, realizing the time, and you briefly glanced in the direction of the door; the group that had entered wasn’t your friends, although you recognized them. You turned your attention back to Eddie, who gave you another grin.

“Showtime.” He stated simply, and then a thought appeared to cross his mind, “You want another expectation? Tell me if anything I do is too much, but otherwise let me do what I do - you don’t need to be in control all the time.”

“Don’t I, though?” You countered haughtily, which was met by a flash of seriousness across Eddie’s eyes.

“No, you don’t. I know what I’m doing, okay?”

You studied him for a moment, not entirely convinced that he did, in fact, know what he was doing. Considering that you’d never seen him even interact with a girl before, you weren’t sure if he knew the first thing about dating or romance. But despite your doubts, you relented, relaxing your shoulders as if to show you were relinquishing some control.

“Fine,” You rolled your eyes nonetheless, forever obstinate as you mocked, “I’ll tell you if I don’t like something, but otherwise I’ll let you do what you do.”

“Was that so hard?” Eddie replied with a condescending smirk. You sneered before relaxing your face, knowing your friends were bound to appear any minute now.

As you stole another glance at the door, you suddenly felt Eddie’s fingers graze the back of your hand, drawing your attention back to him with a confused little knot between your brows. He held your gaze as if to make a point, as if to remind you of the conversation you just had, that he knew what he was doing. His hand simply sat on top of yours, your fingers ever so slightly lacing together - he raised his brows as if to dare you to pull away from him. You had to resist the urge to narrow your eyes at him and snatch your hand away, and in turn Eddie gave you a cocky grin before continuing to eat with his free hand.

Eventually, your friends appeared, although they didn’t notice you at first. They were all so full of energy as they excitedly spoke to each other, descending upon a few tables in the middle of the diner and pushing them together. The staff were used to it, although you knew from experience that they nonetheless hated it; you guys were always disruptive to the other patrons, and you figured that was never going to change.

You tried your best not to stare, but your eyes kept trailing over, kept studying the excited faces of the people you considered friends only a couple of weeks ago. After your eyes had drifted over for the umpteenth time, you felt Eddie lightly squeeze your fingers, causing you to unintentionally sneer at how strange it was to maintain this physical contact with him.

“Stop staring,” He instructed when you looked back at him.

With a quarrelsome look in your eyes, you did as Eddie told you, returning your attention to the half eaten burger on your plate, “Talk to me about something, then.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t care, just talk so I can pretend to be interested.”

Eddie looked mildly put off by that, and you realized that you’d taken your customary mean tone with him. You couldn’t seem to help yourself with your former cohorts nearby, it was as if their energy was rubbing off on you.

“You know what I’m going to talk about,” Eddie taunted with a wide grin.

Your face fell in realization, “Please not Dungeons and Dragons.”

“I’m gonna do it.”

“I wish you wouldn’t.”

“So, there’s this character, Kas, who has really interesting lore--”

You threw another fry at Eddie, and at that same moment, you felt someone come up alongside your table. You both look up to see Amelia there with a critical look on her face; your gaze drifts past her, noticing that a few people from her table were also looking at you and Eddie.

You met Amelia’s eyes again, giving her a wide, false smile, “Small world.”

Her eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms, “Yeah, I’m sure you just completely forgot we always come here after games.”

“Maybe she just wanted to see her dear friends.” Eddie chimed in mockingly, once again surprising you with his willingness to instigate confrontation. You laughed as a dumbfounded look crossed Amelia’s at his remark.

“I don’t know what the hell she sees in you.” Amelia snarked with a glare before turning her gaze back to you, “And I don’t know what the hell is going on with you, but it’s already getting pretty old.”

You shrug with exaggerated nonchalance, “Sometimes a girl just needs a bit of a change every now and then, you know?”

Amelia didn’t look convinced as she rolled her eyes with a dramatic sigh, “Yeah, well, this ‘change’ doesn’t suit you at all.”

Before you could respond with another quip, Amelia spun on her heel and briskly returned to her table. By that point, everyone there was watching and awaiting Amelia’s return, quickly huddling together to whisper conspiratorially once she sat down.

You and Eddie shared an amused glance; he went back to poking at his food as your gaze trailed back to Amelia and company. You happened to lock eyes with Duncan, who stared at you with harsh scrutiny, as if he wasn’t buying this thing between you and Eddie in the slightest. You gave Duncan a mocking while, starting to wave before flipping him off, causing Eddie to snort and choke on his food. You couldn’t help but laugh out loud as he hit his chest a couple of times, trying to clear his throat. The sound of such a genuine laugh escaping you was absolutely foreign to Eddie, but he decided it was a sound he enjoyed, even if it was at his expense; he made a mental note that he had to find ways to make you laugh more that didn’t involve him choking.

“You could’ve killed me.” Eddie croaked before laughing himself, his smile wide.

“You’re fine.” You teased, squeezing his fingers while giving him a false pout of sympathy, “You big baby.”

Eddie rolled his eyes in amusement, digging his wallet out while finally relinquishing the grip he had on your hand, “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

He tossed money onto the table and stood, offering his hand to you again. You quickly snagged one last fry before accepting Eddie’s hand, allowing him to pull you to your feet. He once again laced his fingers with yours as he led you through the crowded diner, and you had to fight back the desire to cringe in confusion at it. The both of you eyed the crowd of Hawkins High’s elite as they watched you back critically.

Once outside the diner, Eddie paused in front of one of the large windows and pulled a ridiculous face at the kids still watching you; he quickly tugged your arm, leading you back towards the van as you laughed again at his antics.

[nataliesfirefly]

You and I Walk a Fragile Line - Farleigh Start x F!Reader - Part 3

a/n: omg thanks again for all the love on the last two parts! i'm probably going to make a masterlist to make all the parts more accessible <3 i feel so special when i see y'all's comments so don't be afraid to share your thoughts! this chapter is a little shorter but only because that's just how the events are playing out! btw, this one starts out with a flashback, it can be a lil confusing hehe but anyways enjoy! (also none of these are proofread LMAO so ignore mistakes)

part 1, part 2, part 4

word count: 3.0k words

warnings: ANGSTTT, language, drugs, alcohol, smoking

It was finally time to depart from your first summer at Saltburn. School was going to start in a week, and you wanted to spend some time relaxing at home before the chaos of your penultimate year in secondary school. 

The summer had been a wild yet fun time. You had so much freedom to do whatever you pleased, and you didn’t really know how to spend your time, since you were usually so focused on your academics.

You warmed up to the Catton family quite a lot. You understood you didn’t really fit in, but it was nice to pretend you did. Elspeth had even gifted you one of her old necklaces that probably would have paid for a car if you had sold it.

You and Venetia spent countless hours together; by the poolside, in your rooms, doing each other's nails or makeup, and playing tennis. Although she was a few years older than you, she was like the sister you never had.

As for Felix, your friendship only grew. You were thankful for him, for being so kind to you and welcoming you into a world you had never known before.

And Farleigh. Your relationship with him was… complicated. One moment, you would hurl stupid and immature insults at each other, and the next, you would be having a peaceful conversation. But the latter usually only occured when you were alone with him, which didn’t happen often. He let his guard down when he wasn’t around his family, which you found strange, but you never questioned it.

You were going to miss this place. You had to return to your normal, everyday life as a student with a normal house and normal parents. 

“We’re going to miss you dearly, love. We hope you visit again next year,” Elspeth remarked as you all sat around the breakfast table on the patio.

“Yeah. Felix, invite her again,” Venetia nudged her brother as she whispered loudly. Felix grinned and looked at you from across the table.

“So, what’s been your favorite part about your stay?” Elspeth questioned, leaning forward with curiosity.

“Honestly, I can’t even pick. It’s all been amazing. Really.” You said. You meant every single word. But you could’ve actually picked a favorite part, you just didn’t want to admit what, or who it was.

A while later, you were standing at the large front doors with your packed bags in your hands. 

Venetia embraced you tightly and you dropped your bags so you could hug her back. “See you next year, hopefully,” She said with a smile after releasing you.

“Yeah. See you.” You nodded and then looked over to Felix who was now also coming in for a hug.

“Bye, mate. I’ll see you at school, alright?” He patted your back as he pulled away and you smiled with a nod. 

Farleigh stood farther away, watching the goodbyes at a distance. You stared him down, trying to will him to come over. 

“Bye.” He simply said, expressionless. “Bye, Farleigh,” You smiled softly at him. You weren’t sure when the next time you would see him would be. He blinked at you and held your gaze before you turned away as Duncan was opening the doors for you. 

“Your cab is waiting outside the gates, miss,” He informed you. You nodded and picked up your bags.

~~~

2 YEARS LATER

It was your first evening at Oxford. You had just arrived and gotten most of your things unpacked, and then you and Felix were headed to the dining hall.

You remembered a few months ago when Felix told you Farleigh would be going to Oxford as well. You didn’t really know what you thought about this. Part of you was interested in seeing him in a different setting, not just at Saltburn during your summer holiday. Was he nicer to people at school? Did he even care about schoolwork?

“I told Farleigh to sit with us,” Felix mentioned as you walked next to him. You nodded. “Okay. How has he been?” You asked. You knew better than to care about him, since the feeling was clearly unrequited. You don’t think he would care if you died a sudden death.

But it was harmless, and only in a friendship kind of way. Or whatever complicated relationship you two had. 

“Good, I think,” Felix said. “You know, his mom went to Oxford. In a way, he’ll be able to connect with her. By being here, I mean.” He explained. You could tell it was his attempt at being philosophical. You just nodded and pretended to follow what he was saying.

You both walked into the large dining hall, mini lamps placed on top of the long tables to light the dim, high-ceilinged room.

You found some empty seats and sat down. A few minutes later, Felix had already spotted Farleigh and was waving for him to come over. You followed Felix’s line of sight and saw  Farleigh’s familiar coiled hair, and it seemed that maybe he had let it grow a bit longer than usual.

He was actually smiling for once, and it was such a rare sight you had to blink to make sure you weren’t hallucinating.

“Hey,” He grinned as he took the seat on the other side of you, pulling it closer to the table.

You had seen Farleigh earlier this month when you were still at Saltburn, but for some reason, he looked different. Like he grew up, or something. You couldn’t put your finger on what had changed, though.

Sure, he had recently turned 18, shortly before you did. But the whole aura radiating from Farleigh felt different and more mature. Or maybe it was the new designer clothes you had noticed, or the new necklaces and rings he was sporting. 

“Hi,” You smiled. You realized you must have been staring, and you quickly glanced away to survey the rest of the students filing into the hall.

You spaced out during the small talk and stared into space, pondering how your first day would go tomorrow.

“Are you going to the party tonight?” Felix nudged you. You glanced up. “Uhh… What party?” You hated seeming clueless, but when it came to this kind of thing, you were.

“You know, to welcome all the first years. Us.” He nodded as if to gesture to everyone else.

“Oh. Right. I don’t know, I want to get some good sleep before tomorrow.” You replied while inspecting your nails and picking away at them. 

That statement was half true, half not. You did want to get some well-needed rest, but you were also just terrified of parties and large social gatherings. You could be awkward sometimes, and you were scared of what a real college party would include. Drugs, alcohol… It made you uncomfortable to think about.

“C’mon, please? For me?” Felix gave you the puppy eyes and you sighed. “It’ll be fun,” He reassured you. You looked over to Farleigh. “Are you going?” You asked him.

He looked offended by your question. “Duh,” He answered. You didn’t know why it mattered if he was going or not.

“Ughhh, fine.” You rolled your eyes and facepalmed. Felix grinned brightly. “Yesss,” He whispered.

You couldn’t deny that you were having a good time at the party. You made a few new friends and you were gaining some confidence.

The only problem was that Felix promised you he would stay with you the whole time, since he knew how weary you were with even going in the first place.

And where was he? Nowhere to be seen. You guessed he had run off with some girl already. Hell, within the first ten minutes of you three entering the function, about four girls were already up on him, desperately flirting and twirling their hair.

You were standing in a dark corner when you saw Farleigh approaching you. He had a glass bottle of beer in each of his hands.

“Hey, you want one?” He offered you one of the beers. You were bored out of your mind, so you shrugged and took it. The glass felt nice and cold against your hand.

“Have you seen Felix?” Your eyes darted around nervously. Farleigh shook his head. “Nope. Saw him leaving with some red-head chick, though.” He raised his eyebrows up and down which made you laugh.

He moved to stand next to you against the wall, observing the neon-lit dance floor. “Are you enjoying yourself?” He peered down at you.

You shrugged. “I guess? I’d rather be inside sleeping, though.” He groaned. “You’re so boring. You know why you’re not having fun, right?” He leaned down slightly. You shook your head. “No, enlighten me.”

“You’re not high enough,” He said, a smirk forming on his face. “Farleigh. I’m not gonna get high with you.” You scoffed and took a swig of your beer, wincing a bit at the taste.

“Some guy was giving out joints. It’s weed,” He explained, drawing a small plastic bag of rolled joints out of his pocket.

“Yeah, I’m not gonna just smoke weed from some random guy.” You blew a strand of hair out of your face.

“They’re legit, I swear.” He leaned down to your height and whispered, “I already tried one.” 

You shook your head again. “I don’t smoke, you know that.” He stood up straight.

“Just try it. Look, I’m not dead yet. See?” He twirled around and you giggled. “C’mon, we can go out here.” He nodded to the side door.

You just wanted him to stop bothering you, so you let out a sigh. “Okay, fine. Let’s go.” He excitedly spun on his heel and led you both over to the door before holding it open for you.

You stepped into the warm and dense air of the night, glancing around nervously like you might get caught by someone. But who are you kidding, pretty much everyone here smokes and probably does worse.

“Okay. I’ll light it for you. Do you wanna share it?” He asked, pulling out his lighter and flicking it on.

“Yeah.” You didn’t want the commitment of having it all to yourself. He lit the joint and you watched him take a hit. He made eye contact with you the whole time. It seemed simple enough— a short inhale and then exhale.

“You try,” He handed you the joint and you eyed it suspiciously before putting it to your lips. You took maybe too long of a hit and immediately began coughing, smoke billowing out of your mouth. 

“Woah, easy..”  Farleigh chuckled at your reaction and you felt his hand on the small of your back as you tried to catch your breath.

“You make it look so easy,” You cleared your throat and looked up at him with watery eyes. He smiled smugly at your words.

“Just takes practice,” He told you casually. “Smoking weed is something I’d rather not practice.” Farleigh laughed at your remark and took the joint to take another hit.

“Do you like Felix?” The question came out of the blue and you turned to him.

“What do you mean…?” You lifted an eyebrow as he passed the joint to you. He leaned up against the wall and crossed his arms.

“Like, do you actually enjoy your friendship with him?” He asked. You actually considered the question for a long moment.

“Well, he’s like… the only close friend I have,” You said hesitantly. “I continue to be friends with him because I don’t have a reason not to,” You explained before taking a small hit from the joint.

“And you like the wealth and title that comes with him, yeah?” Farleigh’s words hung in the silence. You knew he was being too nice. It was too good to be true.

“Yeah, I like the summers at Saltburn, but that’s not the reason why I’m friends with him.” Or was it? No. You refused to let yourself get gaslighted by Farleigh. But you began to question your reasoning when you said it out loud.

“I mean, what else does he have to offer?” Farleigh asked as you exhaled the smoke. Why was he suddenly turning against Felix? You thought Farleigh loved Felix. Maybe you had it all wrong.

“He’s nice to me,” You flashed him a glare and he stared back at you, drilling his gaze into yours. “I’m nice to you.” He said in a harsher tone.

“When you want to be,” You shot back, pressing the joint to your lips again, staring out into the darkness.

“What do you have against Felix, anyway?” You broke the short moment of silence and turned to face him.

“Nothing. Forget I ever said anything,” He raised his arms up as if to defend himself. “No, you can’t say weird shit like that and then expect me not to question it,” You handed the joint back to him and headed for the door to go back in. You planned on drinking as much alcohol as possible to show him that you don’t need him to teach you how to have fun.

“Do you even know how to get back to your dorm?” He asked, his brows furrowed. “What do you care?” You scowled at him before going back inside. 

Sooner or later, you had downed your whole bottle of beer and then you were doing shots with some random group of girls. You didn’t remember the rest of that night, but at least you ended up in your bed by the morning, even if you had a horrible hangover.

~~~

Sunlight creeps through the window and knocks impatiently on your eyelids. You groan and sit up, opening your eyes to the bright sunrise shining through your curtains,

Memories of yesterday flood back to you. Your drama with Felix, the car ride and visit to your parents with Farleigh, and telling Venetia all about it when you got back.

Felix didn’t get back from London until late last night, so you were waiting to talk to him today.

You don’t want problems between the two of you, but sometimes he’s just so ignorant and out of touch. 

A little while after breakfast, you make your way to Felix’s room. He seemed hungover during breakfast, so you wonder if this is going to turn out well.

You hesitate before knocking. “Come in,” He calls. You twist the doorknob and carefully enter. His expression softens slightly at the sight of you. He’s sitting on the edge of his bed with a book in his hands.

“Hey. Can we talk?” You ask quietly. He nods, setting the book down.

“Look, I’m sorry about yesterday. I was in a mood, and I shouldn’t have said those things to you.” Felix starts before you can.

“Okay. But you know why I was mad, right?” You don’t want it to be that easy for him.

You can see the gears turning in his head. “Erm… because I couldn’t give you a ride?” He looks up at you, and you can’t tell if he’s playing dumb or not.

“No, it wasn’t just that. It’s the principle of it, Felix.” You shake your head. “The principle of what?” He asks, standing up.

“It just seems a lot like you care more about your popularity than you care about your best friend,” You explain, your voice shaking a bit. You don’t really like confrontation.

“No, that’s not true. I just-“

“Yes, it is. Ever since we got to Oxford. It’s always been this way. Leaving me alone at parties to go fuck some random girl, or multiple, for that matter.” Your voice is raised now and you can feel the anger rushing through your veins. All the things you’ve always wanted to say, but couldn’t.

“You know what, you should be thankful I even became your friend. Look what I’ve given you.” He gestures to what you’re assuming is the estate as a whole.

You scoff and laugh at his statement. “What you’ve given me? Are you kidding?! I’m not some stray animal off the street, Felix. I’m not homeless. I have parents. I have a home.” You feel tears welling up in your eyes already and that lump in your throat starting to form.

“Then why are you here?” This is the first time you’ve ever heard Felix really raise his voice. You both freeze in the silence and let his words hang in the air.

“You want me to leave? I can leave,” The tears are now falling down your cheeks as you blink. “No, wait-“

But it’s too late. You’re already storming out of his room and back to yours, which is just down the hall.

You see Farleigh standing near the end of the hallway, trying to eavesdrop. He notices your tears and is immediately heading over to you.

You try to get into your room and lock the door before Farleigh can get to you, but you fail. 

He guides you into your room, his hand pressed against your back firmly before closing the door with his free hand.

He embraces you in a gentle yet tight hug as you continue to sob. He rests his chin on your head and smooths some of your hair out. He holds you and lets you cry.

Farleigh was right about him. Felix thought he saved you from a horrible life. In reality, you would be fine without him. He was just a simple addition to your life.

You hardly realize the intimate moment that you’re in with Farleigh right now until your sobbing subsides.

You push away from him slightly, hands on his chest as you gaze up at him. You sniffle. “I got stuff on your shirt,” You laugh weakly and point at the wet spot on his shirt.

“It’s okay.” His arms return to his side and you find yourself missing the comfort of his arms around you and embracing you.

“Did you hear what he said?” You ask, wiping your eyes and sniffing again.

“Yeah. Yeah, I did.” He nods. “Are you going to say I told you so?” You smile softly as you wipe the rest of your tears away.

“Do you want me to say I told you so?” He grins down at you, his brown eyes bright with amusement. You shake your head. “No way.” You both laugh, and you think you’ll be okay.

[therhythmafterthesummer]

Herbie (M) ~Bang Chan

Pairing: Mechanic!Chan x F.Reader Themes: Smut | Some Fluff | Strangers to Friends to Lovers Word Count: ~10k | AO3 Synopsis: Chris was the best mechanic you’d ever met. He was good at his craft, capable of bringing your dingy car back to life time and time again. He was, also, excellent at riling you up just by existing, which wasn’t the best when you were absolutely convinced he just wanted to be friends with you. But maybe, just maybe, he’d prove you wrong. [You can find part two here]. Warnings: curvy/chubby reader · reader is clueless · personification of an inanimate object (the car is referred to by name and male pronouns sometimes) · improper use of car related vocabulary probably (author is clueless on the topic, they don’t even know how to drive) · discussions of weight and usage of the word fat (in a very neutral manner) · Christopher is Stronk · special guest appearance: Jisung.

Due to all the abovementioned warnings, this story is intended for an adult audience only. Minors please do not interact.

Author’s Note: mechanic!chan was suggested by an “anon” (👀), after they watched this performance, and i felt inspired by the suggestion, so i decided to write a little something for it. a little something that somehow managed to gather more words than i ever expected, as usual. anyway, hope it doesn’t disappoint :^)

fun fact: i dreamt once that i wrote a fic called herbie, so i guess the prophecy has been fulfilled now.

Smut Warnings: the reader has an oral fixation · the reader has sexually charged thoughts (i can’t blame her) · pet names (baby, babe, gorgeous, beautiful, pretty, etc) · lots of praising (it’s a staple in my chan fics at this point, oops) · praise kink · strength kink if you squint? · oral [M&F.Rec] · deepthroating/mouth fucking · protected penetration [piv].

Disclaimer: the story represented in this work does not represent Stray Kids in any way; anything described in this story and all actions performed by the characters are purely fictional, this was created just for good fun.

Christopher Bang. 

The man who’d saved your ass countless times in the past handful of months. The man who’d been plaguing your thoughts since the very first moment you entered his repair shop.

And to think it was your older brother’s fault. ‘Get a second-hand car’, he said. ‘It’s cheap and super reliable’, he said. ‘Yes, of course it’ll be fine’, he said. Your brother was, ultimately, full of bullshit. You’d never trust his opinion ever again.

Getting a second-hand car was quite possibly the worst financial decision you’d ever taken.

At first you’d been incredibly excited. You even named it Herbie, after the famous car that was… Well, called Herbie. 

With Herbie, you’d be able to get to work faster, you’d no longer have to stay in uncomfortable social situations just because you were waiting for your ride for the night to take you home, you’d no longer have to balance grocery bags on your tiny bicycle, you’d be independent. 

For two months, you were living your best life with Herbie. But then he started showing The Signs.

It started with the AC not turning on, then, the wipers wouldn’t wipe, until eventually, he shut down completely. Which wouldn’t have been so bad, had it not happened while you were driving on the fucking highway. To say you were pissed was an understatement. That day, when that happened, you were fortunate enough to be with your friend, Jisung. 

Not only did Jisung calm your fit of rage, but he also told you he had a friend who fixed cars for a living. ‘He’s very reliable. He won’t overcharge you, really. I vouch for him, trust him with my life at this point’, which, honestly, finding a mechanic these days that wasn’t trying to find problems that weren’t there to overcharge you was hard, so you took Jisung’s advice and took Herbie to Wolfgang: Repair Shop.

That was where you saw Chris the first time.

You could still remember the exact moment your eyes landed on him. Although, to be fair, the first thing you saw were his boots peeking out from below a car.

“Hello?” You heard a thud after you greeted the pair of legs, followed by a very graceful ‘Fuck!’.

“Just one second!” He slid from under the car, and when he stood from the creeper, you honestly weren’t prepared.

Broad shoulders, strong, defined arms, a mess of curls on his head, plush, pink lips, and that nose. Jisung had forgotten to give you the most important detail about his friend, the fact that he was drop-dead gorgeous. Even with the oil coating his exposed arms, hands, and the smudge on his cheek, he was probably one of the finest specimens you’d ever seen.

“Can I help you?” He smiled, and God, he had dimples, too. Of fucking course he had to have dimples…

“I’m–I–” You were embarrassing yourself, barely even capable of forming a coherent sentence, all as he looked at you with a glint of amusement in his eyes. So you got your bearings, taking a deep breath. “My car keeps dying on me. I’m a friend of Jisung’s, he told me to come to you”.

“Oh!” His eyes widened and he honestly looked beyond surprised. “You are Jisung’s friend?” There was a slight tone of disbelief in his voice, and the way he looked you up and down honestly confused you a bit. Was there a problem with your outfit? It was a bit warm out and this was a nice, comfortable dress… Maybe you were supposed to wear something different to a car repair shop? Maybe it was one of those social rules no one talked about but you were supposed to just know they existed. 

Regardless, you decided to ignore the thought altogether, because he started talking again. “I’m Chris. I’d offer my hand, but I don’t think you’d like to get yours covered in motor oil”, he chuckled, wiping his hands on a rag that hung from his belt, and it genuinely made you smile. “C’mon, let’s take a look at your car and see what we can do. Hm?”

That was how it all started. Chris was polite, he certainly knew his way around these things, and every time you had a problem with Herbie you went to his shop. At some point, you became well acquainted with him, it was impossible not to when Herbie kept dying practically every other week, and when Chris was just so friendly.

You enjoyed spending time at the shop with him, and sometimes you wondered if you were being weird or annoying by staying a bit longer than any customer probably would, but Chris seemed to be just as engaged in the conversation as you were every time, so that spark of doubt in you always died very quickly. 

After a couple of months, Chris simply handed you a piece of paper. ‘Here’s my number. Text me whenever you need’.

And you did. Although, you took a while to text him. You finally did it only because Herbie had started to leak water; after all, that was what he had given you his number for. But it seemed like after that Chris and you just… started to talk about other things, completely unrelated to Herbie.

“You slut, who you texting with that smile on your face? Did you finally get yourself a man?” Jisung teased you one day when you were hanging out with him, supposedly watching movies.

You scoffed, rolling your eyes. “As if. You know the only thing I attract are mosquitoes, and it’s only because they want to suck my blood. It’s just Chris. He sent me this funny video of Wolfgang, wanna see?”

Wolfgang was Chris’ dog, an overly excited husky that seemed to be a walking disaster. You told Chris once in passing that you liked dogs, that it cheered you up whenever you saw them do their Dog Things, and since then he started to send you pictures or videos of his dog regularly, which you highly appreciated, they did bring up your mood every time.

Jisung blinked at you. “Christopher Bang? My friend Chris?”

“Yeah? Which other Chris do we both know?” You returned your eyes to your phone, chuckling at a meme Chris had just sent you.

“What’s he sending you? Lemme see”, Jisung grabbed your phone out of your hands, ignoring your protests altogether. “Huh… Would you look at that…”

“Why are you scrolling? Stop that, it’s a private conversation”, you lunged at your friend, trying to get the phone out of his hands. After a bit of jostling he finally relented, and you huffed as you diverted your attention back to the chat with Chris.

Jisung called your name, and you looked up from your phone to your friend, seeing his confused face. “You… You do know he’s flirting with you, right?”

“What?” You laughed at that. “Don’t be ridiculous”.

“I’m being serious”, Jisung turned to face you fully on the sofa, looking at your face very intently. He was quiet for a moment, but then he was gasping–rather dramatically, if you might add. “Oh my God! You haven’t noticed!”

“There’s nothing to notice, Jisung. Chris isn’t flirting with me, don’t be silly”, you chuckled just at the thought. As if the Christopher Bang would be flirting with you.

“You seriously can’t be this dense”, Jisung scoffed, turning back to the movie. “You do you, then. I’m telling you, though. He’s one hundred percent flirting with you”.

How ludicrous. Chris had shown zero interest in you for as long as you’d known him. You were sure he only saw you as a friend at best, and that was only because you were on ‘sending memes’ basis now, before you were just his customer with the dingy car that kept needing repairs. 

You’d admit, though, that after a handful of months, Chris had become a really close friend. He’d text you every morning without fail. Most of the time, he’d send you a picture while he was walking his dog. It could be a picture of Wolfgang, or a picture of the sunrise, or a selfie–those were the hardest ones to look at, to be honest. 

At some point, you realised you had developed a crush on him, and looking at his face in those selfies, still a bit swollen with sleep, with his hair a bit tousled, or with a beanie over his head covering his eyebrows, looking incredibly cuddly, wasn’t helping you cope much.

Sometimes he’d text you while he was in the gym, too. Which would’ve been fine, had he not also started to send you selfies when he was there. They were never anything too revealing, he’d always be fully clothed, but the sight of his reddened hands, his bulging veins after lifting, his flushed face, and just overall sweaty form was just something you didn’t need. It always heated you up, made you suddenly feel like your mouth was just too empty, it’d made your mind wander into very dangerous, and very horny territory. 

It was already hard enough to watch Chris work on Herbie. Whenever he did and you were at the shop, you’d start to fixate on the way the muscles of his exposed arms moved, or how his ass looked when he was bending over the motor to do whichever magic he needed to do, it always made you wonder if he’d be able to perform that magic on you, if his hands would touch you as delicately but as precisely as they did with Herbie’s components, or how it’d be like if you were the one bending over the bonnet, preferably with him just right behind you… Regardless, seeing him also at the gym through his pictures was just too much. He’d sometimes ask you weird questions while he was there, too, which always left you a bit confused.

‘mind if i ask what’s your weight? you dont have to tell me if you dont want to, i’m just curious. i’m trying to bulk up, you see. mine’s…’ You didn’t particularly have a problem with the question itself, you just found it odd that he asked you that out of the blue, and for a brief moment you wondered if he’d been trying to say you were fat–which wouldn’t have been the first time that happened to you, having lived most of your life as person with extra fat on their body for what was considered ideal in this society’s standards had already numbed you to questions like these.

You hadn’t told him right away, you simply sent him a ‘why? are you gonna tell me to lose weight? lol’ to which he replied a string of messages in quick succession ‘oh god no. far from that, you’re perfect just as you are honestly. i’m just curious cuz i want to get to…’ He’d go on about his goals and what-not, and you decided to humour him, since it genuinely didn’t seem like he was trying to make fun of you, he actually never brought up the topic again after that.

Chris wasn’t just handsome, he was also cute, and a bit of a dork. A dork with extensive knowledge in cars and each of their components, but with even more extensive knowledge in pokemon and each and every single type.

‘Ice is strong against dragon and ground, you see? So I have to fight this Garchomp with a pokemon that can do ice attacks, but that can also withstand his attacks, like Gyarados, you know?’ The first time Chris pulled an explanation like that, while he was still covered in Herbie’s oil, you understood why he was friends with Jisung. They were both just dorks. Gym rats and dorks. The oddest combination you could possibly think of, but somehow it just added to their charm. To Chris’ charm specifically.

That balance of his technical knowledge, his hotness, and his dorkness, coupled with just how good of a person he genuinely was–always willing to help, always ready to stand his ground for things he believed in–only made you fall stupidly deeper for him. But you decided to keep these feelings to yourself, you liked having Chris by your side, not only because he was the only one who seemed to be able to bring Herbie back to life, but also because he was just a good friend, and you were sure that if you confessed your feelings things just wouldn’t be the same.

Taking Herbie out these days was always a gamble. You never knew when he was going to break down, but sometimes you really had to take a leap of faith. Most of the time it all went fine, but today, it seemed like he wasn’t in a mood to cooperate. Herbie had decided that breaking down in the middle of nowhere at twenty hours on a Friday was the best idea, which left you on the brink of frustrated, angry tears. 

So, obviously, you called the only person you knew could help you in this situation.

“You alright?” Chris asked as soon as he arrived and stood in front of where you were leaning on your car. “Oh, God. Are you crying? Why are you crying?”

“I’m just so fucking done with this car”, you brought your hands to your face, sobbing once the frustration that had built inside of you couldn’t be contained anymore.

“Hey…” You felt Chris’ body heat practically envelop you when he moved into your space, and, had you not been crying like a baby, you’d probably feel a bit flustered about it. “Are you– Can I– Do you want a hug?”

You just nodded–still covering your face with your hands–because of course you wanted a hug. You were trembling with your quiet sobs, so a hug sounded like absolute heaven at this moment, and when Chris finally leaned in closer, wrapping his arms around your shoulders to pull you to him, the fact that Herbie had left you stranded in the middle of nowhere seemed so insignificant now.

Chris was so incredibly warm. The way he softly caressed your back helped ease your trembles, and, eventually, the tears stopped, too. So you finally moved your hands away from your face, bringing your arms around his waist to hug him as well, just as you buried your face on his shoulder–probably leaving small puddles of tears on the fabric of his boilersuit.

That was when you noticed his attire. Similar to how he dressed when he was at the shop, but clearly completely clean. His boilersuit even smelt like his fabric softener still, and… was he wearing perfume?

You pulled yourself a bit from him, and his calloused hands cradled your face immediately to wipe your tears with his thumbs. You could feel heat spread on your cheeks as he did.

Chris was so close to you still, the heat of his palm on your cheeks seeped into you, shooting straight to your fluttering heart. He truly was incredibly handsome, and as you looked him in the eyes the words left your mouth before you could even think twice about them.

“Wow. Your eyelashes are so pretty”.

A look of surprise crossed Chris’ features, and you saw his Adam’s apple bob, right before he pulled his hands away from your face and opened the driver’s door of your car, giggling. Giggling in that utterly Christopher way he always did.

“Well, yours are, too”, he said while he pulled the lever near the wheel to release the safety latch so he could open the bonnet of your car.

For a moment, you could’ve sworn his ears were red, and you wondered briefly if he might’ve been feeling warm with his boilersuit on, since it was warm tonight, which was why you had decided to wear a dress in the first place. “Were you at the shop when I called?”

“Was on my way”, Chris rounded your car, finally standing in front of it and opening the bonnet. “Ahh, Herbie. You’d certainly seen better days, haven’t you, buddy?” He took his phone from his pocket, switched on the torch, and handed it to you. “Could you hold this for me? Please?”

“Why were you going to the shop this late?” You asked as you pointed the light towards Herbie’s insides.

“Was gonna work on the bike. Angle this a bit, please”, Chris took your hand, angling it however he needed it so he could see whatever it was he needed to see–for you he might as well had been doing dark magic on your car. You saw him push cables around like he knew what each of them was for, which he surely did, this was his livelihood, after all, but it all just looked the same to you, so you were immensely relieved that he was able to help you out tonight.

“You fix cars all day and still have the drive to work on your bike in the evening?” You chuckled, just as Chris moved your hand to point the light somewhere else.

“You’d be surprised how much drive I can have when I’m doing something I like”, there was a smile on his face as he said it, and honestly you couldn’t help but believe him. Just like you couldn’t help but wonder what else he could like that’d fuel that drive of his… “Alright, we’re gonna have to jumpstart it. Gimme a sec”.

Chris left your side for a moment, and he returned almost immediately after with a jumper cable in his hands. Once he had attached it to his 4X4’s and Herbie’s battery, he instructed you to go back to the driver’s seat and to turn the ignition at his signal.

You did as asked, and as soon as you did Herbie came back to life, making you heave a sigh of relief. Chris appeared by your door a few seconds after. “Let’s go to the shop, yeah? I don’t think he’ll make it much further, to be honest”.

And honestly, you didn’t think your car would make it far, either. So you followed Chris’ 4X4 out of the area and through the familiar roads to his repair shop. You couldn’t help but feel immensely grateful, not only because he was helping you now, but because he always did it. Whenever you’d needed him, he’d always been there, which did nothing to appease the ever growing feelings you had for him.

When you made it to Chris’ shop, he simply opened the gate to the garage and signalled you to come in. You got off your car as soon as it was parked, just as Chris was unzipping his boilersuit, revealing his black vest top underneath and his admittedly mouthwatering arms as he tied the top part of the garment around his waist.

“Thank you, Chris. Really”, you told him as soon as he stood in front of you, handing him Herbie’s keys when he opened his palm.

“Oh, please”, he waved his hand as if to dismiss the thought, as if what he did was something not even worth thanking him for. “I’m glad you called, I would’ve felt really bad if I couldn’t have helped you with this”, he gave you a smile, one of his blinding smiles that made his dimples appear on his cheeks and his eyes disappear, and you suddenly felt your cheeks warm up and like your heart was going to burst out of your chest.

Chris made sure to place a wedge behind each of Herbie’s wheels just so the car was secure in place, and then turned to you. “Come with me”.

He guided you to the sink by the corner of the shop. Pumping some soap into his hands and opening the tap, he started to generously lather the suds all over his hands. 

“Come here, you need to wash your hands, too”, Chris took your hands in his, getting them all soapy, making sure to spread the soap between each of your fingers, going as far as to rub your hands between his, or lace his fingers with yours to fulfil the task.

You couldn’t help but chuckle. “Chris, I didn’t touch anything”.

“You sure?” He chuckled, but his motions didn’t stop. “It’s better to be safe than sorry, no?”

“I guess”, you didn’t think your cheeks could’ve felt any hotter. You seriously hoped it wasn’t that noticeable.

After thoroughly rinsing your hands under the tap, he gave you a clean rag to dry them on just as he motioned for you to follow him again. So you did, walking past his half restored bike and into his office.

Chris placed Herbie’s keys on the designated case that corresponded to the number in which you had parked your car, and then turned to the minifridge. “You want a soda?”

“Sure”, you took the glass bottle from him as soon as he opened it and handed it to you. You always found it odd that he had glass bottles and not cans, considering how little space he had in that fridge. When you asked him about it once Chris simply went on about how ‘Cans just don’t taste the same! The soda tastes so much better when it’s drunk from a bottle’, and as soon as he said that you just couldn’t untaste it anymore. Glass bottles were, ultimately, superior.

“‘Suppose I’ll get an uber”, you sighed after you took a sip of your drink, walking a bit so you could lean against the wall.

“An uber? Nonsense, I’ll drive you home, don’t worry”, Chris took a sip of his drink, just as he leaned on his desk.

“Aw, c’mon. You already went out of your way to rescue me. I don’t wanna take more of your time”.

Chris scoffed. “Don’t make me beg”.

“I wouldn’t dare”, you chuckled, although you were suddenly curious of what would happen if you did make him beg… “But what about your bike?”

“The bike won’t be ready anytime soon. The only reason I was coming here was because I was restless at home. Now I’d much rather spend some time with you, to be honest”, Chris took a sip of his drink again, and suddenly holding his gaze felt like too much, but the way your eyes decided to focus on his Adam’s apple moving with every sip he took wasn’t that much easier.

“You know…” Chris said after a few moments of silence, pulling your eyes back up from where they had been glued to his neck. “I think it might be time for you to consider letting Herbie go. It’s been months, and I honestly don’t think I can save him”.

You sighed. “I know… But I fear I’ve grown attached to the damned thing. Besides, wouldn’t you lose your most regular customer?” You added the last part with a chuckle, taking a sip of your drink right after.

Chris chuckled. “So you’re saying you only talk to me ‘cause of Herbie?”

You almost choked on your drink. “N–no. Of course not. You’re a good friend, Chris. Truly”. 

He placed his drink on the desk, and a smirk made its way onto his face. “Just a good friend?”

“Uhh… A great friend?” You laughed softly, drinking some more of your soda.

Chris went silent for a moment. As you saw him worry at his bottom lip and looking anywhere but where you were standing, you wondered if you had said something wrong. That was, until he chuckled.

“I don’t think I’m a good friend, to be honest”, he crossed his arms over his chest, bouncing his leg a bit. “Good friends don’t secretly hope for their friend’s car to break down so they’d call them for help”. 

You were just bringing your bottle to your lips, but his words made you stop in your tracks. “What?”

Chris looked at you for a moment. His mouth opened and closed a few times, but then he was tipping his head to the side and laughing. “God, I seriously didn’t believe Jisung at first, but you really are dense for some things, aren’t you?” 

“I am… so confused right now”.

Chris shook his head a bit, and he walked closer to you. “Let me tell you a secret…” He got into your space, close enough that you could smell his perfume, and the proximity made you swallow the saliva that seemed to have suddenly pooled in your mouth. Leaning into you, he brought his mouth to your ear, whispering. “I really, really like you”.

You blinked, and you honestly felt like your brain had short-circuited. “You… What?”

No way was Christopher Bang telling you he liked you. There was just no way. You would’ve noticed… You would’ve, right? You definitely would’ve… Wouldn’t have you noticed?

Suddenly you remembered Jisung. How he’d tried to tell you multiple times throughout the past few months that Chris was flirting with you, that you should shoot your shot, but you honestly had never believed him, because it seemed just so ridiculous to you that Chris could even look at you in that light.

“I’ve, uh… liked you for a while. A long, long while”, Chris pulled himself away from your space completely, and he looked at your face for a moment. A moment that you stayed completely silent, still trying to process the fact that Chris liked you… And for a while now.

You saw his brows furrow as he chewed on his bottom lip. Then he was speaking again. “I just… couldn’t keep quiet about it anymore. When we hugged earlier I realised I wanted to do that more, and that I should probably grow a pair and tell you already. I’d like to take you on a date, if you want, but I can understand if you don’t want to…”

He was rambling. A lot. Saying a lot of things. This was the Nervous Chris you’d only seen a couple of times, the Nervous Chris whose coping mechanism was just to jump to conclusions and talk in a single breath. Suddenly, it all seemed to click into place. The good morning texts, the selfies, the late night talks at the shop after Herbie had died on you time and time again, it was so clear to you now.

“If you don’t like me back that’s fine, you can just say so, I won’t take it to hear–”

You kissed him.

It was barely anything. Just a peck on the lips, but it was enough to shut him up, enough to make his eyes go wide in surprise, and, to your own selfish delight, enough to bring a delicate blush to his cheeks.

“I like you, too”, you said simply, still a bit shocked by his confession, a bit shocked by your confession coming out of your own mouth. You honestly never thought you’d be able to say that to him out loud, but you did. Just like he had.

Chris looked stunned for a bit. But that stunned look didn’t last long, it quickly turned to something else, something raw and incredibly alluring. Stepping into your space again, he brought a hand to the back of your head, holding you in place just as his other hand took the bottle from your hands to place it on the tool cart next to you, right as his lips found yours.

This kiss was nothing like the peck you’d given him. It was loaded with need and want and lust. So much of all of it you couldn’t even believe how blind you’d been. Every press of his lips against yours kindled the fire that started to burn in the pit of your stomach. When his hand joined the other cradling your head, you just couldn’t help the small whimper that came out of your mouth, and that tiny noise seemed to have spurred Chris on, enough to press you flush against the wall as his tongue made its way inside your mouth, as your arms wrapped around his waist.

Heat was spreading quickly inside of you, and you were starting to feel lightheaded–whether it was due to the shock, or due to how Chris was pressing you against the wall, or due to the motions of his kiss and the lack of oxygen, you weren’t too sure. One of your hands laid palm flat on the small of his back, while the other pressed between his shoulder blades, and the hum that came out of his mouth seemed to have travelled all the way to your heart, making it beat even faster in your chest.

Chris detached his mouth from yours, only for a moment, enough to talk. “Does this mean…” He pressed another kiss on your lips. “That you’d like…” And another. “To go on a date?” This kiss lasted a bit longer than the others, it lasted until you nodded your head.

“Yes”, you pressed a kiss on his lips, just as your arms moved to loop around his neck and his wrapped around your waist, keeping you impossibly closer to him. “Would love to”.

He hummed again, and he immediately resumed the soft movement of his lips on yours. Keeping you tight against him for a while. Until it seemed like his brain had caught up with him. 

“We should probably stop”, but he didn’t stop kissing you, just like you didn’t, either. You just couldn’t get enough of his full lips on yours, of his tongue pushing against yours.

“Do you want to?” Your fingers made their way through the curls at the back of his head, holding the strands between them just how you’d dreamt to do so many times throughout the past handful of months.

“God, no”, and you believed him, not only because of how desperate he sounded when he said it, but also because he just kept kissing you, talking in between quick pecks of his lips. “But I don’t want… to make it seem… like this is all I want… You know?”

You knew. You knew because you were thinking exactly the same thing. You could feel him against your pubic bone, hard, warm, and it all made you incredibly wet, maybe embarrassingly so. But this was Chris, it was hard to feel embarrassed with him, which was part of the reason why you had developed feelings for him in the first place.

You hummed, just to let him know that you understood what he was trying to say without removing your lips from his. As you kissed him, as you felt him and his warmth, your mind started to cloud a bit. The mix of his motions, of the months and months of pining for him, and the even more months of self-inflicted celibacy clearly made it so logical thinking wasn’t your strongest attribute at this time.

“Would you still… take me on a date… if I sucked you off right now?” The words flew past your mouth between kisses, too fast for you to even think twice and stop them.

“Shit…” Chris pulled himself away from your lips completely, looking you in the eyes. As you took in the flush on his face, his plush, kiss-bitten lips, and his blown pupils, you couldn’t help but think just how incredibly beautiful he looked like this. “Are you being serious?”

“Dead serious”, your chest was heaving, and your fingers carded through his hair, lightly scratching his scalp with your nails, making Chris bite his lip and take a deep breath.

“Of course I would. I’d take you to the fucking moon even if I got it wet right now”.

You chuckled at that, and pressed a brief kiss on his lips. “A date is enough, babe”.

“Babe, huh?” Chris took a deep breath, just as you pushed him away from you a bit, enough to have space so you could drop to your knees, uncaring of your bare skin touching the floor. All you could care about was the outline of his length against his clothes when you pressed your hand on it.

“Sorry, you don’t like ‘babe’?” You looked up at him, right in the eyes, just as you untied the sleeves of his boilersuit from around his waist.

“I like it a lot, actually”, there was a bit of a smug smirk on his face, and it had you licking your lips.

Just as you were about to pull the bottom of his suit further down, he brought a hand to one of yours, diverting your eyes back up to his. His gaze had softened, and the smile on his face coupled with that look in his eyes made you flush further. “You don’t have to, seriously. Don’t feel obligated to do it”.

“I don’t”, you reassured him. “I want to do it. Badly. But only if you want it, too”.

“Fuck… I do. So bad”, he licked his lips, and he moved his hand away from yours to place it on your head instead. “You’ve got no idea how much, shit…”

So you resumed your motions, tugging his bottoms along with his underwear, enough for his length to spring free of its confinements. You weren’t surprised with the sight, honestly. A pretty face like his surely came with a pretty cock, too. So of fucking course it was pretty, especially so as precum pooled at its tip, especially when it looked just so delectably hard. It was a bit on the girthier side, but nothing too crazy, nothing you couldn’t handle. If anything, it just made your mouth water, and you licked your lips in anticipation.

“Shit…” You took him in your hand, spreading around the bead of precum that had collected on his tip to give him a couple of tentative pumps, making him swear under his breath and bite his bottom lip. “How do you like it?”

“Fuck… sloppy. Make it as wet as you can, the messier the better”, the words flew past his lips, completely shamelessly, almost as if he didn’t even need to think about them. Chris seemed to be transfixed on the sight of your hand working his length, and you took that opportunity to spit on it, making him groan while you started to coat him in your saliva.

So you delayed no further, dying for a taste, and a taste you got. As soon as your lips wrapped around his tip Chris swore. Loudly. He threw his head back and his fingers seemed to tighten a bit on your head, but he didn’t move you, he let you keep the pace as you saw fit. You started slow, holding him by the base and just bobbing your head for your lips to repeatedly catch on the ridge of his head and for your tongue to rub against the frenulum on the underside, taking him deeper into your mouth with every other stroke.

The moment you opened your eyes and your gaze found his, your inner walls involuntarily clenched around nothing, and suddenly you felt like you needed some relief. But you ultimately decided to keep your focus on Chris, on his lustful gaze, on his furrowed brows, on his gentle hold on your head, and the grunts and groans threatening to come out of his mouth, dampened by the way his teeth trapped his bottom lip.

He wanted it messy and sloppy, so you were ready to give it to him messy and sloppy. It’d been a while since you’d done this, but you’d be damned if you didn’t at least try. With a deep breath, you took him in deeper, breaching past the initial resistance for him to ease into your throat.

“Oh, fuck… You’re kidding… Shit…” Chris threw his head back, letting the most delicious noises out of his mouth, almost making you lightheaded with how aroused his heavy cock in your mouth coupled with his blissed out sounds got you.

You took your time slurping him up, uncaring if saliva dribbled out of your mouth as you worked against your gag reflex, feeling tears quickly collect in the corner of your eyes. When you felt confident enough with your motions, you brought your hand to his that held your head in place, while you placed the other on his hip, holding him tightly. 

“You want me to move, pretty? Fuck your perfect little mouth?” You nodded in response, humming around his length.

Slowly, he started to thrust into your mouth. Chris was being extremely careful, being mindful of every controlled push of his hips, but even with his slow pace, you couldn’t help but moan as soon as he started moving, making him groan in response. That was when you finally gave into your own desires, moving your hand away from his that lay on your head to bring it under your dress so you could press circles on your clit over your underwear, eliciting broken whimpers from your mouth.

“Shit, look at you…” Chris looked fucked out of his mind already, with his heaving chest and the increasing pace of his hips. You were sure you weren’t looking any more collected than he was, especially when you started to feel tears finally fall from the corner of your eyes every time you blinked.

With one particularly precise thrust of his hips, Chris’ length went in further than you were used to, essentially choking you on his cock, making you gag harshly. Chris pulled his length out of your mouth, and you gasped for air immediately.

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, so fucking good with that mouth… Come here, beautiful”, Chris helped you to your feet, wrapping his arms around your waist once you were standing on your feet and pressing kisses all over your cheeks. You were still panting a bit, flushed from exertion, but Chris kissed you anyway, and you kissed him back, holding onto his shoulders for dear life. “Need to taste you”, he mumbled between pecks of his lips. “Please, please, please let me eat you out”.

You just nodded, very eagerly if you might add. But you honestly couldn’t find it in you to be embarrassed about it, not when Chris begged so fervently for it. Just the thought of seeing him between your legs had you already clenching with need.

While you kissed, Chris removed his arms from your waist. You felt him fumble with his underwear and his boilersuit, hastily wrapping it around his waist, and before you could even register what he was doing, he was taking a hold of your ass and scooping you into his arms.

“Chris, fuck, wait. I’m heavy as hell”, you were slightly alarmed, but your legs wrapped around his waist for stability anyway just as you held onto his shoulders.

“Heavy?” Chris chuckled, moving towards his desk. “Baby, I can lift almost thrice your weight”.

“You, what?” You asked, a bit confused–and also aroused, because, fuck, how strong was this man…–Chris pushed away some of the items on his desk to sit you on it, close to the edge. After all the revelations that had come to light earlier, it finally dawned on you. “Is that… why you asked what my weight was all those months ago?”

“Of course! Needed to make sure that if I ever got a chance I was able to do everything I wanted”, he dropped to his knees, starting to press tender kisses up your shins. “Must admit I had to stop whole hip thrust sets sometimes because I’d get so fucking hard halfway through, fuck”.

You couldn’t help but laugh at that, a hearty, and slightly incredulous laugh. “Holy shit. I genuinely thought you would tell me I had to lose weight at some point”.

“What? I’d never”, Chris chuckled, bringing his hands to your thighs, squeezing them. “I mean, it’s your body, you can do whatever you want, but know that I find you incredibly attractive however you look”, he moved his hands further up, right under the hem of your dress to finally hook his fingers on the waistband of your underwear. “Can I take these off, gorgeous?”

“Yes”, you giggled, feeling yourself heating up further just by his words and the feeling of his hands on your skin. With your hands on the desk you lifted your hips enough for him to slip the garment down your legs and off of you. He threw your underwear on the desk, and they landed somewhere behind you.

Bringing his hands back to your thighs, Chris rubbed circles with his thumbs for a second, only to finally move them further up, catching the hem of your dress and bringing it with him as he went. You chewed on your bottom lip, feeling a bit nervous all of a sudden. That was, until he finally pushed your legs apart. With the way he swore under his breath and the way his eyes seemed to get impossibly darker as soon as he took sight of your seeping core, any nervousness seemed to have been obliterated, and you couldn’t help but feel just so incredibly wanted.

“Fuck… Even here, huh?” He threw your legs over his shoulders, and you felt yourself heat up in anticipation. “Plump, pretty… Shit…”

Desire pooled in the pit of your stomach, it was honestly almost pathetic how affected you felt just by the things he was saying and the sight of him between your legs.

“You know…” Chris pressed his lips to your inner thigh, sucking harshly, leaving marks on your skin, making you inhale a shaky breath. “This is the exact same dress you were wearing the first time you came into my shop”.

Your eyes widened a bit in surprise. “You remember what I was wearing?”

“Hm, ‘course I do”, he moved his attention back to your eyes, just as he pressed a chaste kiss on your inner thigh. “I’ve been dreaming of you in this fucking dress for months, baby…”

“You have?”

“I have”, one of his hands came to grip your thigh, while the other moved to your hip, giving you a hefty squeeze. “How do you like it, pretty? Or how do you not like it, for that matter?”

You licked your lips, suddenly transfixed by the sight of his lips brushing your skin. “Gentle sucks go a long way. I’m a bit, uh… sensitive”.

“Sensitive, huh? ‘Course you are… Hold this for me, hm?” He took a hold of your hand and brought it to one of your thighs, just as he spread you open further, propping your foot on the desk. So you did as asked, keeping your legs open as he diverted his attention back to your heat. “Good girl… Just like that…”

As soon as he spread you with two of his fingers, and he dived, landing soft, tentative licks on your clit, you knew you were done for. Your whole body jolted a bit, and a soft whimper escaped your mouth. “Oh, fuck…”

Chris just hummed, moving to lick at your entrance, getting a taste of your essence with his brows pulled together, looking just so fucking delighted. Just the thought that he was genuinely enjoying himself got you moaning a bit louder under the quickening movements of his tongue, and as soon as his lips pressed on your clit, giving you those gentle sucks you had asked for, your mind just disconnected completely.

He took his time working you up, turning you to a whimpering mess just with his lips and his tongue, gradually increasing his tempo to build your upcoming release. Whenever he dipped lower to lick at your entrance, his nose would bump your clit with every movement of his head, he was essentially making out with your cunt and you would gladly let him do whatever and however he wanted. Your nerve endings were on fire, your toes curled with need, and your walls clenched with his unrelenting pace.

When he detached his mouth from your core you almost wanted to cry, but he only did it for a second, enough to ask a “Fingers, baby?” only to press his lips to your sensitive skin again, sucking your clit into his mouth and licking it with his tongue.

You weren’t sure if the ‘Yes’ actually came out of your mouth, you vaguely only registered your eager nodding and the soft moan that escaped your lips as soon as you felt one of his digits at your entrance. Chris groaned against your skin as soon as he inserted the first finger to the knuckle, the vibration of the sound further fueling that fire in the pit of your stomach. He pumped his finger in tandem with his tongue on your clit, touching and prodding and gauging your reactions to his every move.

One particularly sharp nudge of his finger on your walls had you moaning a bit louder than you were before, and Chris seemed to have picked it up immediately, because he plunged a second finger right after and started pumping his digits in and out, hitting that sweet spot over and over while his lips gently sucked on your clit. You needed to have a hand on the desk to keep yourself up, to maintain some stability, so you shuffled your foot a bit and simply let go of your thigh to bring the hand that was holding it to his head, burying your fingers in his hair and pushing him further against you with a whimper.

Chris groaned as soon as your fingers threaded through his hair, immediately picking up the pace of his fingers and his tongue, bringing you further and further towards the edge, and God if you needed to tip over that edge… With how well he was working you up you felt your lower belly tighten with exertion, and your walls spasm more frequently around his fingers.

“Chris… Fuck, fuck, I’m so fucking close, please–” You almost choked with the moan that came out of your mouth after you spoke, since Chris immediately started ramming his fingers into you harder, faster, just as his plush, now swollen lips kept sucking that sensitive bundle of nerves between your legs.

He was absolutely determined to give you your relief, and as soon as you were able to open your eyes and look at him, the look in his eyes, lustful, greedy, was enough to finally push you over the edge. Searing heat spread all over your body with your release, pure pleasure overflowed each and every one of your senses, making you perceive nothing but Chris, Chris, Chris, and his lips between your legs, and his hair between your fingers, and his fingers inside of you.

Chris’ motions didn’t relent until you were thoroughly satisfied, until you weakly pushed on his head with a ‘Shit, baby, enough, please’ when he had you on the brink of oversensitivity. As soon as his mouth detached from your heat, he pulled his fingers out and brought them to his lips, sucking them clean before he finally stood up and caught your mouth in a heated kiss. The fact that you could taste yourself on his lips only seemed to spur you on further, making you whimper while you brought a hand to the back of his head and took a handful of his curls to finally get completely lost in the motions of his kiss.

“So pretty, fuck…” He mumbled when his mouth disconnected from yours, cradling your head in his hands as he smothered your face with kisses. “So fucking gorgeous when you come for me, shit…”

His borderline adoring words had you feeling tingly all over, somehow both making your heart swell in your chest and your walls involuntarily flutter even when they were still sporadically spasming from the after effects of your orgasm. When Chris kissed you again, you looped your arms around his neck just as his hands found your hips, pulling him flush to you, heaving chest against heaving chest, getting lost in the feeling of his lips on yours and his hands kneading your flesh.

“Holy fuck”, you chuckled as soon as Chris’ lips parted from yours, and he followed suit, chuckling while he made his way to your neck, to press kisses all over your skin.

“Mmm, I know, right?”

Chris hugged you close, leisurely kissing and licking your neck and shoulders. His soft, lingering touches seemed to shoot straight to the deepest areas within your heart, and even though you’d just had a mind-numbing orgasm, you certainly wanted more. More of him.

“Chris?” You mumbled, hugging him a bit tighter.

“Mm?”

You pressed a kiss to his cheek, then moved to take his earlobe between your teeth, tugging gently before you whispered, “want you”.

Chris took in a shaky breath, and he pulled himself away from your neck to look at your face. God, you wanted to kiss him, his flushed face and his swollen lips would be a sight that’d haunt your wettest dreams from now on, you just knew. 

He licked his lips. “We don’t have to, pretty”.

“Mm… You’re right, we don’t have to”, dragging one of your hands from his shoulders, down his chest, his abdomen, all the way to his length, you pressed your palm firmly, feeling him still hard under your grasp. “But do you want to?”

“Fuck, yeah, I want to”, Chris held your hips tighter, and you wondered if you’d see bruises tomorrow just as he placed a kiss on your lips. “I want you so bad”.

“You have me. Right here, baby. You can have me right here”, you mumbled against his lips, pressing a kiss there right after, just as Chris swore under his breath.

“Shit… Gimme a sec”, he detached himself from you, rounding the desk and pulling one of the drawers open, muttering to himself. “There were some here, I’m sure…”

You turned to look at him, oddly amused by the way he carelessly moved things around in his drawers. “What are you looking for?”

“Aha! These”, he pulled a three piece box of condoms, and he turned it around a few times in his hand with a frown on his face. “I seriously hope these aren’t expired…”

You chuckled at the sight of his focused face, amused, but also incredibly curious. “Why do you even have a box of condoms in your desk’s drawers? How many girls have you had in here?”

“Believe it or not, you’re the first one”, he chuckled, opening the package and taking one of the foil packets out, examining it closely for a moment, only to finally heave a sigh of relief. “Thank God. Not expired”.

With a smile on your lips, you quirked a brow at him, just as you watched him round the desk again to stand in front of you. He shrugged to your silent question, taking the foil packet between his teeth so he could untie the top of his boilersuit from around his hips and tug the rest and his underwear down enough so his length was free again, and you’d admit you got a bit distracted by the sight.

With the corner of the condom packet still held in place by his teeth, he finally tore it open, and you took the bit of foil that was still in his mouth to drop it somewhere on the desk while Chris carefully slid the condom down his length.

“You’d be surprised how many things a condom can be used for when working with cars. They’re always useful when you need to get creative and use whatever you have at hand”, Chris stood between your parted legs, placing his hands on your hips and squeezing.

“What kind of MacGyver bullshit is that?” You chuckled, but the sound quickly turned into a surprised yelp when Chris held you tightly and pulled you closer to the edge of the desk.

“They’ve always been helpful when I’ve needed them”, leaning into you, Chris placed a hand on your cheek, pulling you into a kiss just as he rubbed the tip of his cock up and down your slit, spreading your juices around and teasing your clit in the process, making you whimper into his mouth. “But I’ll be honest, I’ve never been more happy to have them at hand than I do right now”.

You brought a hand to play with the hair at the back of his head, pulling him for a brief kiss. “Put them to good use, then”.

“Demanding, are we?” Chris chuckled, but he lined himself with your entrance anyway, slowly easing his length into your heat. “Oh, shit…”

It was a stretch, alright, but he was being just so incredibly careful, and you appreciated it, you really did. But you were also incredibly desperate to be filled, so you wrapped your legs around his torso and pushed on his ass with your heel, urging him on, making him jut his hips further forward.

“Shit… Have mercy on me, will you?” He mumbled against your cheek, pressing a soft kiss on your skin while his now free hand made its way to your hip again, holding you tightly.

“Want you”, you replied simply, probably whinier and less demanding that you were trying to sound, but Chris complied with your request anyway, finally thrusting all the way in, making you gasp with just how incredibly full you felt.

“Want you, too”, he pressed his lips to your neck, kissing and sucking on your skin. The thought of waking up tomorrow and seeing his marks on your neck or your hips made you flush impossibly further, even as he moved along to press kisses on the exposed skin of your shoulder. “Want you so bad I’m genuinely about to burst just by being inside you right now. Need a second”.

Bringing a hand to his cheek, you made him turn away from your shoulder to look at you, and the way he bit his lip before he leaned in for a kiss had you involuntarily clenching around him, eliciting a choked groan from his lips.

“Fuck, driving me nuts… Seriously, we’re gonna have… the best fucking date ever… You’ll see…” He mumbled his words between kisses, and it genuinely had you laughing, because of course he was still thinking about your future date. “C’mon, beautiful. Hold on to me”.

So you did, bringing your arms to rest on his shoulders, burying one of your hands in his hair, all while he placed one hand on the small of your back, and the other on the desk for stability. Finally, Chris moved, starting a rhythm with precise thrusts, making you gasp at the sensation of his length dragging against your walls, making him groan.

“Fuck, shit… That’s good. So good. Feel so fucking perfect around me, baby. Perfect”, with the increase of his tempo you could barely register the words coming out of his mouth, all you could do was whine while you nodded in agreement, hoping that he, too, would know how just incredibly good he felt inside of you.

The way Chris kissed you, almost desperate, the way he started to ram into you, stretching you so deliciously you were already starting to feel lightheaded, all combined had that little bit of sanity you had left in you leave your body entirely, finally letting you succumb to just your utmost primal need for pleasure. But more specifically, for pleasure you could share with Chris.

You honestly couldn’t tell how long you spent getting pounded to that desk, you could just feel Chris’ cock repeatedly splitting you open and his lips on yours and the words that he’d occasionally mumble against your skin, his words of praise and encouragement that had you once again feeling tingly all over, words that fed that pool of arousal inside of you, threatening to spill it all over. You vaguely registered words of your own leave your mouth, too. Words that seemed to spur him on, that seemed to pull blissed-out sounds from his lips and yours nonstop. 

“Lean back a bit for me, gorgeous”, and you couldn’t help but comply, removing one of your hands from his shoulders to place it behind you to lean on it, leaving just enough space between your bodies for Chris to sneak his hand between your bodies, finding your clit and drawing fervent circles on your already oversensitive bud, eliciting a moan from your lips as soon as he did. “Fuck, fuck, that’s it, baby. Just like that, milk my cock just like that, huh…”

“Chris–” You honestly weren’t sure what you were even going to tell him, you could just feel your next high approaching increasingly fast, and you needed it. You needed it badly.

“It’s fine, pretty. Whenever you’re ready, just let go”, he mumbled the words against your cheek, pressing a chaste kiss on it, a complete contrast to his sharp thrusts and the fast movement of his fingers between your legs. “Want to feel you so bad, fuck…”

“Shit–” With a few more flicks of his fingers on your clit, you finally got that sweet, sweet relief. The feeling spread all throughout your body, dragging sounds of pure, unadulterated pleasure out of your mouth, making your legs shake from exertion as you tried to keep your hold around Chris’ torso.

Bringing both of his hands to your hips for leverage, Chris chased his own release, his grunts and groans getting lost in your mouth while he kissed you again. One, two, three thrusts and he was flush against you, shooting his load into the condom while he was buried as deep as he could within your warmth, a mix of his groans and your name and a colourful string of swears flying past his lips as he rode the waves of his ecstasy with minute rolls of his hips.

“Holy fuck”, he cradled your face in his hands, pulling you in for one more heated kiss while he came down from his high, and you couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

“I agree”, you were panting a bit, breathless, leaning back on both of your hands as you tried to catch your breath.

Chris laughed, a hearty laugh that had a smile appearing on your face immediately. Taking a hold of the condom by the base of his length to make sure it was secure in place, he finally pulled out, carefully sliding it off of him, tying a knot and throwing it in the bin by his desk. You missed his warmth inside of you immediately.

Taking a roll of toilet paper from one of the tool carts nearby, he quickly cleaned any remnants of his release from his length before he was tucking it back into his briefs, finally wrapping the top of his boilersuit around his waist again. With more paper in hand Chris asked you to ‘please open up those pretty legs for me, hm?’ so he could clean you up, helping you back into your underwear right after.

As soon as you were standing back on your–admittedly unsteady–feet, Chris wrapped his arms around your waist, placing a quick kiss on your lips only to move up and press another on your forehead. “You okay?”

“I’m more than okay”, you chuckled, melting into his embrace. “Everything hurts, though. How’re you?”

“On cloud nine”, he replied simply, giving you one of his blinding smiles, making your heart race with the sight.

When Chris finally detached himself from you, he reached for the soda he’d taken out of your hands earlier, giving it back to you once you told him ‘I still want to drink it. Even if it’s not cold anymore, seriously’, and after a bit of back and forth he simply relented.

“Would you…” Chris started to ask, while he bent down to take the bag out of the bin. “Would you like to come to my place? I mean, I can take you to yours, too, that’s fine, but I figured, you know, you could stay over, and we could have dinner, and I can make you breakfast tomorrow, and I’m sure Wolfgang would love to see you, and we could cuddle to sleep, you know? But if you don’t want to, it’s fin–”

You took a hold of his hand, squeezing it in yours to stop his rambling. “I’d love to”.

Chris just giggled a bit, pressing a quick kiss on your lips and tugging you out of his office back to the garage once he’d switched off the light. When you were outside, you made your way to his 4X4, watching him chuck the small bin bag from his office into the bigger bin out in the garage and going through the motions of switching every light off in here, too.

As you watched him, your eyes drifted to Herbie, parked in his–by now–usual spot. Maybe Chris was right, maybe it was time you considered letting him go. He’d served you well for those two months at the beginning, and when you were in a pinch he was very forgiving, but his condition was unsustainable at this point.

As soon as Chris was by your side again he gave you a kiss for good measure, opening his 4X4’s passenger door for you. You just smiled at him, pressing one more kiss on his lips before you finally hopped in. Chris rounded the bonnet and started to very animatedly talk about a funny thing Wolfgang had done just this morning, gesturing with his hands while he recounted the event, making you laugh.

While Chris drove you two to his place, with soft music playing on the radio, with his hand occasionally shifting from the gear lever to squeeze your thigh, all while a light, easy conversation flowed between you two, you figured that Herbie might’ve been the worst financial decision you’d ever made, but at the very least, he’d brought you to Chris, so you really couldn’t hold a grudge against him, not when you felt so incredibly light and couldn’t wipe the smile off of your face.

You can find part two here

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[literalite]

mistki's the land is inhospitable and so are we (2023)!! as edits featuring mine and some of my friends ocs 😁 had a lot of fun with this project... rough explainer of how/why each song corresponds to each character/s under the cut because i love symbolism and talking! sorry it is long

bug like an angel - sapphire

without spoiling too much of her story and arc... sapphire's life is not easy. she's hurt by people she cares for and who care for her, although inadvertently, and in turn hurts people who she cares for and who cared for her, also not by her own volition. it's kind of a terrible truth that you will harm and be harmed by the people you love, even when you and they truly don't want to. it's up to you how much you're willing to take and deal. you can't keep every promise you make and you can't right every wrong. but you have to keep trying anyway. that's sapphire's strength, and the core of her goodness and why i personally consider her one of my favourite ocs. i chose to depict bug like an angel in mitski's more positive interpretation here and in that light i think it works best for saph

buffalo replaced - heiya

well first and foremost the vibes of the song fits heiya perfectly fhgjk but also lyricism and tone... yep. quick breakdown of heiya's background since i doubt i'll ever be able to do it properly she's an interesting character for me because she like a lot of my other characters has lost. everything. she had a wife and a child and they were both killed and she had to leave her home again and again and unlike how some of my others would have taken this she has never flagged in her unwavering dedication to preserving hope. for herself for her people for the future etc etc. which is a very fucking difficult thing to do! the world changes faster than you can keep up with it sometimes but for heiya she will not let herself tire and be swept away in it all. people rely on her. she's a guiding star as much as she is a woman. she's a lover and a fighter and thats what buffalo replaced means to me! so

heaven - vinny and caleb

i feel like of all my oc couples so far they have like. the sweetest most kind of simply mutually trusting dare i say straight forward love. they just love each other so much and thats all. the world could end around them when theyre together and it'd be okay truly. also yeah vinny is ostensibly in heaven now bye angel i feel like this one was pretty self explanatory. me and who WHEN

i don't like my mind - sunny

he just like me fr (said in denji voice) anyways wow ha. unstoppable unending guilt due to past actions that haunt your every waking moment? throwing yourself into any and all distraction just to take your mind off it, filling your time with other shit so that past sin doesnt for once echo in your awful and hollow brain? this song is perfect for sunny honestly just that sentiment also the "please don't take this job from me".... sometimes the coping is worse. you can be proud of something because you can do it better than anyone else even if that thing is terrible

the deal - wolfgang munch by @gunthermunch

Wolfgang Amadeus Munch. umm this will make more sense later on but it still kind of makes sense now i think. he doesn't want to be himself he keeps . leaving and moving and running away from his own memories his own self in reaction to others. if he could pawn it all off he would. if he could be better in an instant without having to feel every agonising second of change he would! but thats not how the world works. or is it. read munch by gunthermunch thats an order

when memories snow - lilian

i feel the older you get the more your past kind of swells up and trails behind you... at least for lilian that is shes very linked to the different versions of the girl/young woman she used to be. for her its a double edged blade, a lot of her own strength is drawn from who she was and what happened to her throughout her life. they haunt her but she's haunting it back in her own way

my love mine all mine - saige, bellona, ari

stares you down okay so usage of this song very much almost verges into spoiler territory but uhm. uhm. starts twitching basically the whole dynamic here is . sometimes when you love you will sacrifice. and while that is usually a good thing sometimes it is not but sometimes it still is. sometimes you pay your dues for love and sometimes someone else has to pay for your love as well. and whether that is worth it to them remains to be seen. but it's all about love still. whether that's a worthy cause is up to you i suppose

the frost - yoshiki and hikaru from hikaru ga shida natsu

fun fact (or not so fun fact since i had it listed as such) this slot was originally meant to be taken up by a gojo/geto edit and while it still works for them frighteningly well i swerved to do another black and white haired doomed gay pairing gfhjkl; i really recommend yall to read hikaru ga shinda natsu/the summer that hikaru died because honestly it speaks for itself! it's SO good i love it so bad

star - ari and luca by @anjitrait

wow these two did not deserve the horrors the narrative (me) slammed down onto their heads. they're kind of the most married of all time to me but like of course under pressure even the strongest most loving of bonds will warp. they've been together for roughly a decade and a half now. they know and love each other as totally as you could possibly imagine. despite it all i am yours, no matter. are we picking up what i'm putting down chat

i'm your man - nayef and sióar by @lucidicer

after the album dropped like at least 3 people swung into my dms with a ?this you?? about this song which. i mean the fucking dogs that start barking halfway through the song. are you kidding me. but anyways sioyef and devotion. sioyef and putting yourself in your lover's hands and looking to them like they are a god. this is super self explanatory. you know

i love me after you - redacted and ophelia

HM.... all i'll say here is that sometimes the homoerotic tension filled high school friendship where both parties have something very wrong with them but in totally different directions can be. scarring. bad. sometimes love just isn't enough when you don't know what you're meant to do with it and when you've lived in survival mode all your life. but that once the dust clears you can scrape yourself off the ground get up keep going and that isn't gonna be the end for you there. or for love, even. sometimes shit just ain't meant to be and thats ok

[imissa3en]

Twst x Fe3h (Fire emblem 3 houses)

I've been playing fe3h a lot since graduation so i figured i'd be fun to make something like this, i don't actually have the dlc so i hope the dlc class assignments i did seemed somewhat correct

General ideas:

1st years would usually be in beginner classes

2nd years in intermediate classes

3rd years in advanced classes

Instead of 3 houses we have 2 schools (3 if we add noble bell but honestly i'm leaning towards only 2)

Instead of the white heron cup the vdc decides who gets to be in the dancer class (which i guess could mean we can have up to 7 dancers??)

Good at flying a broomstick = Good at wyvern/ pegasus riding(?)

I'm planning on ignoring the fact that some classes are genderlocked because i think that locking certain classes behind gender is stupid

Despite the fact that everyone in twst is capable of magic i will be ignoring it because it would be boring if everyone was a mage/warlock/gremory

(Ideas and explanation for class choices under the cut)

Riddle:

I know i said 2nd years get put in intermediate classes but i feel like riddle should be an exception

The only thing stopping him from getting his master class is his his level not being high enough for the certification exams

I'm leaning towards dark knight instead of gremory (he's good riding so why not?)

I feel like his stat growth would be similar to lysithea's

He'd probably have the highest magic growth (His dorm card has the highest attack stat right?)

I think he'd have warp as a spell list?

He'd probably be good at reason, faith and riding

Bad at axes and heavy armor

Trey

A healer and i take no criticism on this

His dorm card is really good defense card with high heals so i think it fits

I think he'd be a less squishy healer (higher defense growth?)

His strength probably wouldn't be bad so maybe he'd excell even if he wasn't a healer

I'm thinking he'd be good at axes and faith

Personal ability would be similar to mercedes (??)

Cater:

Unlike with trey i do take criticism on this because i'm not sure what to class him as

I ended up going with wyvern rider since riddle has a line that says cater's good at flying

I wanna put him as a falcon knight but unfortunately it's a master class and i'd prefer to save that for a timeskip

I feel like he'd be good at lances idk

Maybe his doubles can all be deployed in battle with different classes??

I feel like he might end up being op?

Ace:

Myrmidon but i feel like he can fit into any beginner class tbh

When he gets older he probably becomes a trickster (people who have the dlc please confirm)

Despite both him and deuce being in the same class i figured i'd try to make some differences in their uniform

Decent dancer class candidate (good at swords, no weakness in learning reason or faith, probably decent charm stat)

I feel like he'd be the type to hide in bushes and forests a lot for the high avoidance(?)

Probably has a balanced magic and strength growth

Deuce:

Another myrmidon but with different intermediate class choices

Would probably go into thief or mercenary

Although i think archer is pretty good fit?

Obvious advanced class choice would probably be assassin

Another good dancer candidate (good at swords, high speed stat, budding talent in reason)

Unfortunately i feel like he'd suffer in the charm department but that can probably be fixed with stat boosters and tea parties

After that we can class him as a dancer with the +20 sword avo and he'd be a dodge tank

Alternatively he can be a brawler?? Instead of training him in sword we can go down the brawler path so he can be a war master in end game

[aseaofyoongi]

where feelings bloom | kth

kim taehyung x reader (f)

genre: fluff | smut | bffs to lovers

rating: mature audiences only (strictly 18+)

summary: vacations are the time of self reflections and revelations. so, what happens when your last day in paradise involves you trying to decipher the feelings that you’ve had blooming for your best friend kim taehyung.

warnings: where do i begin lol; post college universe; suppressed feelings; overthinking; crush culture; foul language; vag fingering; overstimulation; clitoral stimulation; pentrative sex; protected sex (wrap it up friends); non-idol au; praise; dirty talk; tae is focused on oc’s pleasure only; unlabeled relationships; no plans for a part two; out of season au (happy beginning of fall) ; not edited

word count: ~ 5.6 thousand words

posted: tuesday october 4, 2023

notable songs: ivy - frank ocean | are we still friends - tyler, the creator | todo cambio - camila | a drop in the ocean - ron pope

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Mornings were your favorite part of the day. Although, not many people agree with that ideology you couldn’t help but be enamored by the way day the birds chirped their peaceful melody awakening you right up from your slumber, the glare of the beaming sun highlighting its waves of heat right into your face, the song of the crashing of waves against the shore. . but most of all you loved that for the last eight nights you have been waking up in an island paradise and you got to share it with your absolute favorite person in the entire world. Your best friend, Taehyung. 

Your soulmate, well platonic soulmate; your other half; your light in the darkest of tunnels. That’s who he was and honestly you couldn’t even recall a minute or even a second in the course of your life when Taehyung hadn’t been there with you. 

You met Taehyung long ago. Twenty-one years ago to be precise—marking the very moment you came out of your mother’s womb. Your mother’s had been best friends for years (still are), so your birth marked the day when you would meet your mother and father; but it also marked the day when you met Taehyung. He was already a couple of weeks older than you but your mother’s paired you up and built a friendship among the two of you long before you ran around in diapers together, bathed in kiddie pools with your favorite toys, before you took your first steps or even uttered your very first words. 

By definition, you were meant to be in Taehyung’s life and Taehyung was meant to be in yours. There was no re-writing that bit of history and besides you’d never do it even if you could. The constellations of your stars align and are guided right into each other’s path. 

Truly. He is going to be your person today, tomorrow and hopefully an eternity after that. You’ll always be there for him even after the sun dims and the oceans dry. There is no one you’d rather call your best friend and no one else who you would rather have invading every inch of your life. 

The door to the connecting room swung open and surely enough there he was leaning against the door frame. The blonde streaks of his wet hair fell past his dark brown eyes and thick eyebrows covering their entirety. On the same note you finally registered that he only wore a pair of gray sweat shorts that hung low on his hips; all while he remained bare on the top half of his body showing off his lean physique and although Taehyung didn’t have abs he was still fit—very awe striking. 

“Whatever happened to ceasing the day?” he exclaimed, his eyes turned to fiery pits as he likely replayed whatever crazy scenario he had planned for the day back in his head, “it’s nine in the morning. What are you still doing in bed. .  Why are you still in your pajamas?” 

“I was too lazy to get up,” you looked at the digital clock on the night stand beside you blinking its bright red numbers back at your sleep-riddled eyes. 

“Tonight is our last night on this slice of paradise heaven so get your ass up and let’s go let’s go let’s go,” he snapped his fingers before ripping the covers off of your body. 

“We have over twenty-four hours before we gotta head back home,” you patted the empty spot on the bed next to you and he jumped right in, cozying up under the covers, “just let me lay here for like ten more more. Is that okay with you, mom?” 

He groaned, “Fine but we better be up in ten minutes or I plan to carry you right down to the beach, pajamas and all.” 

“Yeah, sure,” you pulled the white duvet over your head signaling you were ready to drift back into the remnant of tiredness that lingered behind from all the activities you had partook in for the past week, “just ten more minutes. Just ten,” you mumbled, your eyes felt heavy as you drifted back into a deep slumber. 

“Just ten,” you heard his voice from a distance, so far away. Yet his body heat lingered close by and the apricity was easily welcomed against the skin of your back. 

Ten minutes turned into four hours and by the time your eyes fluttered open it was just after four in the afternoon. The sun still beamed bright through the drawn blinds heating up your body as the rays met your skin. You stretched carefully and rubbed sleep off your eyes before turning around to face Taehyung. He remained sound asleep—eyes shut tightly, mouth slightly ajar, and soft snores sounding like the steady, peaceful melody of lullabies.

Taehyung is truly beautiful. So beautiful, in-fact that it kind of made you stop in your tracks every so often and you couldn’t help but just look at him. Drinking in his striking features; his big brown eyes, his hair soft like silk, and his raucous voice so deep and soothing. 

Taehyung is truly a work of art. So much so that every candid moment captured behind the pixels of his pictures belonged in art galleries around the world. 

You noticed you were attracted to your best friend the summer after your sophomore year of high school. The two of you had spent the entire summer together—inseparable as usual. But towards the end of the summer as the first day of school approached, you and Taehyung engaged in a short adventure to the lake on the outskirts of town. You’d had truly an amazing time and you ended up inside a small diner having greasy food and chocolate shakes. You hadn’t processed it back then but looking back now you remember the way your heart was pounding, the way your palms were sweaty and the way all of your butterflies flapped their wings against the pit of your stomach. 

It’s so obvious looking back now—how much you truly liked him while you sat in that booth in the back of that diner. There, it felt like no one else inhabited the establishment. Just the two of you and the secret that took root in your heart. 

A secret so taboo you buried it somewhere deep in the back of your mind, but every time your eyes caught a glimpse of him there it all was. Everything, all over again, causing a daze in your mind and making your chest ache. 

“Wake up, Tae Tae,” you shook him slightly, pushing all of those thoughts aside. 

“Huh?” he groaned, twisting and turning mindlessly in the ocean of sheets. 

“We have gone against your beloved schedule for the day and I’m afraid I was the culprit,” you sat up against the headboard and he followed along laying his head on your shoulder. 

“We didn’t just sleep for ten minutes did we?” 

You shook my head, “it’s around four o’clock right now.” 

“That chopped off half of my itinerary,” his voice was soothing—gruff with hints of exhaustion lingering behind. 

“Oh, come one,” you cooed, “what’s left?” 

“The beach is just across the street, the pool’s downstairs or we can go out to get something to eat.” 

“What do you really wanna do?” you asked. 

He yawned widely mimicking a cub; so cute.

“Maybe we can lounge around by the pool for a bit and come back up here to order food,” he suggests, “I know I had hours planned of things to do for the day but I’m kind of exhausted.” 

“It’s not like you to skip out on the beach. . are you sure you wanna just go to the pool?” 

“Actually. .” he continued in his smooth voice, “I don’t even think I have the energy for that.” 

“Impossible!” you exclaimed, “you don’t get to be lazy, that’s my thing.” 

“It’s contagious,” Taehyung whined, snuggling closer to your side.  His cheeks felt like fire on your shoulder and you swore having him that close caused your breath to hitch at your throat. 

“So what—what, uh,” you cleared your throat, “what do you wanna do instead? Do we stay in for our last day here?” 

He nodded, “I think so. I mean, we’ve done a lot of things for the past few days.” 

“Do you wanna pick the movie or the food for us tonight?” 

“I refuse to watch a horror movie tonight so I’m in charge of picking the movie,” he reached for the remote control on the table next to his side of the bed. 

You rolled your eyes, picking up the phone and looking through the booklet the hotel provided with a number of different restaurant chains and their menus. After a bit of back and forth between you and Tae as you tried to settle on things, you decided on pizza and a random rom-com on one of the dozen streaming apps provided on the television. 

Fifteen minutes later, the food had arrived and Taehyung sat beside you once again, your elbows dangerously close. Your mind, barely on the movie that’s been playing for approximately thirty minutes now, your pizza sat cold on your plastic plate and your thoughts assimilate a busy intersection. 

There are so many things you could do but every single one also sat dangerously close to being the end of your friendship with Kim Taehyung. 

“Are you okay?” Taehyung closed the pizza box sitting in front of his crossed legs. 

You reeled yourself back from your thoughts, “yeah, I’m okay.” 

“You’ve been mindlessly staring at your slice of pizza for the past thirty minutes,” he added, placing his hand on your shoulder, “are you sure you’re okay?” 

This is how it’s been for some time now. Taehyung remained as soon as ever engaging in the sweetest gestures of comfort a best friend could engage in while your stupid, stupid mind developed its own reality of translating his platonic touches into something more—something it’ll never be. 

“I’m okay really. I guess I’m just uh, not that hungry,” you forced a smile on your lips, it actually hurt, “I’m gonna get some fresh air.” 

You opened the glass sliding door and walked out onto the balcony, the briny aroma from cerulean waves just ahead became your aromatherapy—easing your nerves. Allowing you to bury every insipid thought you’d birthed as a cause of your delusions. 

Your stupid mind and its delusions. 

Your hands landed on the black metal railing, closing your eyes and you began softly inhaling through your nose and then out your mouth. You did that over and over until you imagined yourself alone, somewhere peaceful where Taehyung was a long way from invading your thoughts in the best and worst way possible. 

“I know being here for so long has made us both homesick but I didn’t think you’d be the one most affected by all of this,” his voice sounded dangerously close. God, all you wanted was a moment alone—a moment to yourself. . To halt all your thoughts. All of them. 

“Yeah, I guess I’ve been pretty homesick,” but you weren’t homesick at all. 

“Don’t worry, tomorrow we’ll set foot back home and you’ll be back on your bed relaxing,” you hadn’t looked at him just yet but you could tell he was smiling. 

“Yeah, I suppose that’s all I’ve wanted.” 

“I knew it,” his hand landed on yours on top of the railing, his thumb rubbed circles on your wrist, “I know you, you know. You’re like the only person on earth who can’t seem to enjoy a vacation.” 

He was wrong—you have enjoyed this vacation; his company. It’s only solidified everything you’ve ever felt for him and that was the problem. But how could you say that without actually saying that? 

You chuckled, “I have enjoyed this vacation. It’s been quite reflective. . Eye opening.” 

“Hopefully, the fun kind of eye opening,” he began, “you need to learn to have fun. Let loose.” 

“Your party ways have definitely been contagious,” you looked into his eyes, the way you never have before and for a minute you became lost in their darkness—but surprisingly, you were at ease, “I’ve definitely learned all the ropes to having fun.” 

“After years of trying I’m glad you’ve finally learned something from your best friend. I’m proud,” Taehyung walked towards one of the lounge chairs and sat. 

“Yeah, I guess I’ve learned everything from you these past couple days,” you mumbled. 

“See? You could’ve just skipped college just as I did.” 

“That,” you sat on the chair beside his, “my parents would’ve killed me for.” 

He scoffed, “that’s another thing I gotta teach you now that we’re twenty-one. Bravery is crucial. Learn to speak your mind unapologetically.” 

Easier said than fucking done when your mind, heart and body scream out for him. His attention, his touch and his love. 

“Bravery.” 

“Exactly,” he encouraged, “bravery is a passage so securing everything you want in life. Hold on to that; embrace it. Thread towards everything head on.” 

“Well, in that case I hated college. I really really did. And I don’t even fucking like science I don’t know why I majored in Biology. I miss high school and the days we used to chill on the rooftop of the abandoned bowling alley after school when we had nothing better to do.” 

He laughed, likely reminiscing on the good time, “I miss that too and nobody said we had to stop. We’re adults but our customs shouldn’t have to die, right?” 

“Right.” 

“So, we have a date on top of the abandoned bowling alley as soon as we get back.” 

“A date,” you mumbled, the word causing your skin to prickle up with goosebumps. 

“A date. That’s right.” 

Surely, Taehyung didn’t know the effect. . The implication that the word had on you and your emotions. He couldn’t know about the way your hands began to sweat and the way your heart beat erratically as he kept referring to your late afternoon escapes in that exact way. A date. 

“A date with you,” you began, your tongue did all the work while your mind ceased all control, “you don’t even know what those words do to me.” 

His voice was low, “what does it do to you?” 

Your eyes steered in his direction and Taehyung was still sitting right beside you, but closer. His eyebrows were furrowed together inquisitively, his intent gaze was set on your figure disregarding all of his surroundings entirely—as if he didn’t want to overlook a single detail about you ever again. 

You shook your head feeling like maybe you’d said a little too much already, “just. . Forget it.” 

“Impossible,” he said, “bravery, remember? Penny for your thoughts.” 

“Trust me, Tae. You don’t wanna know.”

“I do.” 

You exhaled softly, “please don’t make me say it.” 

“Say it,” his voice grew deeper and still it felt as softest as velvet would against your skin. 

You closed your eyes trying to unscramble the words in your mind, to unravel your mangled feelings and decipher exactly how much of yourself you wanted to strip bare in front of him. 

“I—“ it was so hard to let it out. To just say it. 

“You?” 

“Taehyung,” you breathed, “I just have these feelings I just can’t seem to ever shake off.” 

“Are they good feelings or bad feelings?” he asked. 

“I’m not too sure,” you shrugged looking off into the clear sky dusted off in orange tones as the sun began migrating down towards the horizon, “—but they’re definitely confusing feelings if I had to say for sure.” 

“Confusing?” 

“Confusing,” well not so much confusing but rather—hard to decipher, impossible to act on, forbidden, off limits, what else? 

It’s you.  

“Come on,” he scoffed, “I’m your best friend. Surely, you can tell me what’s gotten into your head.” 

But that’s the problem. . You’re my best friend and you’ll only ever be my best friend. It’s both the twist between a blessing and a curse. 

It’s you. It’s you. It’s you. 

You’ve gotten into my head. 

It’s you. It’s you. It’s you. 

It’s you. It’s you. It’s you. 

The voice kept on and on no matter how hard you worked to block it out. It was a reminder that he navigated your thoughts and made you giddy in love, one you didn’t need or want. It’s you. It’s you. It’s you, “it’s you.” 

“What?” He asked. Did you say something? You hadn’t said anything. You hadn’t. 

“What?” you repeated. 

“You said it’s me. .” His stare was blank; hard to read but his eyes were golden under the rays of the departing sun. 

You stared back at him without saying a single word. 

“You said it was me,” he stuttered, “You you said. . What do you mean, it’s me?” 

In that moment you stood before a crossroad unbeknownst to the righteous path to take. Jungling the implications of your two options and how they would affect your relationship with Taehyung from that day. Of course, on one side you had the lie, your very own cloak of invisibility. The same one you’d been hiding behind for years and the same one you’d continue to hide behind—down that road your feelings would be stomped on and you’d watch Taehyung behind a soundproof glass always dwelling on what ifs and what could’ve beens. 

On the other side, there was the truth, the road where you would be stripping yourself bare with every step forward you took. Taehyung would finally be aware of your deepest secret—the one where he occupied your thoughts from the earliest hours of the morning to the latest hours of the night. He would know that your mind often lingered off into vivid daydreams where your imagination ran wild creating scenarios where he was finally yours; he would know the way your balms grew balmy and your heartbeat every time he came near. There would be no more hiding, but here you ran the risk of rejection and the destruction of your friendship. 

So you stood in front of the two avenues unsure of which direction to head towards in order to begin your journey. But Taehyung waited for an answer while you made a safe haven at your pit stop cocooned by fear and indecisiveness. 

The late afternoon breeze rustled the palm tree fronds, swaying them back and forth lightly. You and Taehyung were twenty stories up so that swishing sound was the only thing filling the silence between the two of you. Still, you swallowed your words hoping that he would somehow forget that you said anything. 

“Hey!” he rested his warm hand on your thigh calling out for your attention and finally you looked at him. There was no longer a blank gaze lingering in his eyes, now, he seemed worried, “did I do something?” 

Oh, this is spiraling out of control so fast. All because you couldn’t keep your fucking mouth shut. 

Say something. . ANYTHING! 

“No—“ you cleared your throat, “no it’s not that at all, trust me.” 

“Then, what is it?” 

“It’s not important.” 

He shook his head, “whatever it is, it seems to be bothering you a lot so it is important.” 

There was no getting out of this. Not anymore. 

“I guess I just don’t know how to say it,” you jumped over a million hurdles in your mind trying to decipher the best way to just say it. Finally, you took a deep breath allowing your lips to move at their own leisure, “I like you.” 

You were so dizzy and enveloped within your own scrambled thoughts. Even though you tried to keep your eyes off of him you couldn’t help but glance at him from the corner of your eyes.  And Taehyung just sat there with wide eyes and his mouth slightly parted. 

“You like me?” he asked, pausing in-between each word, “like you like me or you like like me?” 

You closed your eyes, “I like like you.” 

“Like more than just best friends?” 

Did you really have to spell it out? Admitting your feelings out loud had you in a state of intense bashfulness, “yes, Taehyung. I like you as more than just a best friend. I have for some time now but it’s okay if you don’t think of me that way. I didn’t even really want to tell you because I was always too scared to ruin our friendship.” 

“Come over here,” Taehyung patted the spot right beside him and you moved to sit next to him. He stared deep into your eyes before continuing, “nothing can ever come in between us or our friendship, okay?” 

“Okay. .” You felt like a massive weight had been lifted off your chest allowing you to inhale and exhale once again. 

“Beside,” Taehyung caressed your cheek softly using the pads of his tender fingers. Quickly, you began feeling at ease as a result of his touch. Then, his fingers migrated lower tracing the outline of your round cheeks until they reached your chin and slowly he began guiding your face towards his so much so that his lips sat just inches away from yours, “I never said I didn’t feel the same way.” 

“You can’t just say things like that,” you placed your hands over his as they still held you close. 

“I’m not just saying it,” he argued. 

“You are,” you shook your head, “you’re just saying it to spare my feelings but I’ll be okay, Tarhyung. I’m a big girl. I can take a little rejection.” 

“We’ve been friends long enough for you to know that I wouldn’t just say something like that.” 

That was true, “but why didn’t you say anything before?”

“Same as you, I suppose,” he shrugged as his eyes remained intently on yours, “I feared that you wouldn’t feel the same and I didn’t want that to drive you away.” 

It’s astonishing how the only thing standing between the two of you and your happiness—and love was yourselves. Doubt and the fear of rejection steered your lives in opposite directions although the gravitational forces stringing your hearts together worked diligently to drive the two of you towards each other despite your cowardice. 

“I wouldn’t leave you.” 

Taehyung flashed his signature boxy smile, so warm and comforting you felt like he wrapped around you in a warm hug. 

“I wouldn’t leave you either,” his eyes focused on your mouth tracing every line and crevice before he met your eyes once again. 

The lingering doubt gnawed at your already splintered confidence so despite your treasurous thoughts screamed that he wanted to kiss you in that very moment, your body remained frozen in place—incapable of emitting an appropriate response, too nervous to react in any way and way too scared to make the wrong move. 

“Can—” he looked at your lips once again, “can I confess something else?” 

“What?” he leaned closer, your nose brushed against his and you couldn’t help closing your eyes. You were feeling too much at once. 

“I really want to kiss you right now.” 

“So kiss me,” you whispered. 

Taehyung laid back on the chair before pulling you onto his lap as your legs straddled his lap. His hands traveled mindlessly along your body until they finally found their destination on your neck—his method of saying you were simply too far because immediately he began pushing you towards him. Your heart was erratic, your hands were sweating and there were about a million scenarios playing in your head depicting every single way you could probably fuck this up. 

But all of that flew right out of your head as soon as your lips met his. Kissing you so passionately you felt grounded, as if he was your home and this is exactly where you were meant to be; where you belonged. 

Noone had kissed you like that before and you liked how his kisses were the words on endless pages of his love confession while his tongue sealed the envelope before sending you off into daydreams depicting scenes such as this one and so much more. 

Taehyung pulled away; heaving; attempting to catch his breath, “I think—I think we should move inside. It’s getting late.” 

Before you knew it your back crashed against the ocean of bed sheets and Taehyung followed right behind picking up where he left off. While his kisses worked to leave you breathless, his hand raked down the fabric of your top before stopping at the waistband of your sweat shorts. 

“Can I?” 

You nodded frantically anticipating all of the lustrous desires that had sparked up in your mind in the latest hours of the night, “yes.” 

Taehyung moved past the waistband and lower down where only the thin layer of your panties stood between his fingers and your cunt but he did not touch you—not yet, you shuddered in anticipation, wondering how he’d render his concupiscent touch. You grew stupefied and your thoughts came to a halt as his teeth tucked at your lower lip, sweeping into your mouth. Everything he did worked to satiate the hunger growing within you, the very one crying out for him to devour you entirely once and for all. 

He pulled away from your lips you felt his hands move under the fabric of your shorts, moving your panties to the side lining up two fingers at your entrance, you gasped once before Taehyung slated his mouth over yours swallowing every whimper and every moan to escape your lips as he pumped into you slowly. 

It was a vicious repetition that already had you soaked, you uttered low whimpers but it seems he was only fueled by your sensitivity moving quicker and quicker by the second. 

He parted away from your lips, whispering in your ear, “you're so wet and warm baby. Fuck, you feel so good, so tight around my fingers. So fucking good.”  

“Ah, fuck. Oh, Taehyung please, please don’t stop. Okay? Don’t stop,” you whimpered as you moved to meet his quicken movements fucking yourself on his fingers so sweetly. 

“I won’t stop. I promise you I won’t,” his voice was hoarse as he continued, the lewd promises he whispered sent glacial shivers down your spine and you felt the way your legs began shaving. 

“Taehyung,” you moaned. 

“Say my name like that again,” he groaned. 

You snaked your hand around your neck twisting the blonde locs draped on the back of his neck before whispering his name once again he smirked going on and on. There was a flame igniting in the pit of your stomach and there was nothing more potent; nothing you could devote your attention to. The only thing you crave was to put that fire out. So you moved quicker against him until your eyes rolled to the back of your head and you reached that high and finally the fire ceased. 

Taehyung left a peck on your cheek before aiding you in removing all of the pesky fabrics standing between him and the vulnerability of your nude body, then, he took off his own leaving only his briefs on. He kneeled in front of your stretched out legs and his finger burned streaks on your skin as they caressed your inner thigh, continuing to devote his attention everywhere but where you actually needed him most. 

“Please. .” you begged. 

“Please?”

“Please,” you said sternly. 

“What do you want?” he questioned with a smug look painted on his features, the little bitch was teasing you. 

“You know what I want.” 

“I want to hear you say it,” you gasped as he grazed your enterance coating his digits in the combination of your juices and cum before shoving them in his mouth, licking them clean, “you taste so good, you know.” 

“Eat me out Taehyung, please,” you cried out. 

“I thought you’d never ask.” 

He sunk deeper in his place until his face was no longer in your line of vision, beads of sweat rolled down your temples and you ached with fervidity. His breath fanned against your core and at that moment you knew he was near but it wasn’t until he wrapped his hands around your thighs pulling you closer to his face that you truly felt exposed. Taehyung brushed his lips over your slit leaving a trail of gentle kisses behind. 

Using his tongue he separated his lips before gravitating towards your clit. He enveloped the sensitive bud between his lips quickly beginning his attack in the form of ravenous sucks and licks.  

You gasped clutching onto the sheets to release the tension building within you. Everything you wanted to say out loud died in the back of your throat but you didn’t care about the words you couldn’t say. Your mind was too focused on the way your legs shuddered and your pelvis lifted into the air. 

“I’m—“ you cried out, “I’m so so close.” 

His fingers found themselves pushing past your entrance once again, pumping into you at a quickened pace. It was almost too much but you focused on the overstimulation of his tongue and touch. That inferno you felt once before burned brightly, this time you couldn’t map out a way to extinguish in its entirety. It would always burn and Kim Taehyung would always be the cause of it. 

Whoever said playing with fire was a bad thing was a fucking liar because these flames warmed you up so good like an addiction you just would not want to ever shake off. 

You reached down, raking your fingers through his blonde strands pushing him closer to you, doing so until trembled uncontrollably, spilling over on his fingers. 

Taehyung emerged with swollen lips, his disheveled hair and his spit mixed with your juices on his chin. His fucked-out look was one that would live in your mind like an art work hung in a gallery. 

“Unbeknownst to you, I’ve been yours for a while now,” he stopped to catch his breath, “but after tonight I want you to know that I am yours.” 

Your eyes remained shut but you grinned nevertheless, “I believe that’s the post sex bliss talking.” 

“I’m not the type to just say anything because of the moment at hand. I mean everything I say.” 

“Okay,” you smiled, “can you say you’ll fuck me then or do I have to wish for it when I spot a shooting star for it to come true.” 

He chuckled, it was low and thunderous so soothing and calming. It was always peaceful and eased your nerves even now as you laid completely naked. 

“I’m sorry, were you planning to fuck someone on a vacation?” you asked ogling, as he fetched a golden packet from his discarded pant pocket, removed his briefs and slipped the condom around his cock. 

“Only you,” he said, pressing the tip against your entrance far enough to have your mouth agape as a result but never enough to satisfy your craving to have him fucking you against the mattress, “I promise.” 

“Taehyung, if you don’t fuck me right now I might actually loose my mind.” 

He didn’t say anything else, you just felt him sliding in slowly giving you the time to adjust before he began moving in and out of you gradually. The air circulating the gray walls around the two of you became humid, hot enough to coat your body in a thin layer of sweat. You didn’t care though, you were enraptured in the feeling of him inside of you, in the echoing sounds of his skin slapping against your skin and his guttural grunts every time he drove into you. 

Reality was you’d imagined this moment many many times in your head before but nothing, none of your dreams or your wildest fantasies could’ve prepared you for how much better this felt in person.  

There were goosebumps running rampant on your arms, your eyes rolled to the back of your head and your moans and whimpers only increased in volume but you couldn’t help it. 

“Harder—harder, please,” your nails drug into his back leaving bright red scratches behind. 

“Harder,” he repeated that very word over and over, quickly moving to execute your request. 

You felt all of the air being punched out of you everytime he buried himself deep in you, “Oh, yes, like that.” 

Taehyung hugged your waist listing your lower half up from the mattress and continued slamming into you. 

“I’m,”  he thrust into you.  

“—yours,”again.  

“—to take,” again.

“Use me,” and again. 

“Use me.” 

You clenched around him continuously, your vision blurred and you felt waves of the scorching heat in the pit of your stomach burning brighter and hotter than they ever had that night until finally you let go. 

Taehyung collapsed beside you, the two of you heaved in attempts to catch your breath. 

“Fuck,” was all you said. 

“Fuck, is right,” he laughed, “I’ll get a warm bath started for us.” 

He placed a kiss on your forehead then one on your lips before disappearing into the bathroom. 

Taehyung is your best friend but he is also the man who’s taken over your heart in a way that exceeds your platonic bond. 

There were no labels attached to what the two of you were but you didn’t need them for now because you knew that Taehyung would always be there for you no matter what the situation looked like. 

“Hey, are you ready to clean up?” he kneeled down next to the bed looking into your eyes.

“Of course.” 

-

-

-

a/n: out of season au cause im a slow writter but i hope everyone had a good summer and is looking forward to the fall 🍂🍁🍃

what will you miss most about summer?

[dollcherray]

୨୧ “WORLD WE KNEW” ♡.°୭̥

Hazbin Hotel x Betty boop reader

Type: General headcanons.

Genre: Fluff, romantic/platonic.

About reader: Reader is feminine, very short like betty and reader does not have betty's age, shes way older.

Characters: The crew

୨୧ when you first got in the hotel, everyone was curious about you, some thought you were weird looking, others thought you looked cute and some... thought you were an actual child. (ahem... nifty)

୨୧ Alastor personally found you cute, but wouldnt admit it, since we all know how he tries sooo hard to be mysterious and edgy. (and honestly? it works and it makes him look even more attractive).

୨୧ speaking of which, i think he would be the only one to fall in love with you, although it may take a little while, but it does happen if you put effort in it (or if you're insanely lucky)

୨୧ Nifty would be so happy to see someone who is small like her, so she doesnt feel like the only gnome in a hotel full of giants.

୨୧ i heavily HC that Husk would be your friend, since your so charismatic and emotionally mature and how you seen so stable, he honestly finds it cute and surprising that theres someone a little decent in the hotel.

୨୧ Everyone in the hotel either finds you charming or absolutely dainty, especially when you do that "bu bu biro" sound, its very adorable.

୨୧ back to Alastor, the reason he would take a liking to you is probably because you remind him of his times and how polite and charming you can be at the same time, you really are something else to him.

୨୧ Charlie personally finds you ADO-RA-BLE, you are so cute and calm to others and is very mature, she even asks herself how did you even ended up here.

୨୧ You are friends with everyone in the hotel since you are so goddamn charismatic and mostly an extrovert, you just match everyone's energy in the hotel perfectly.

୨୧ When Lucifer went to the hotel, he honestly was surprised that it was even possible for someone to be at least a little shorter than him, but yet, here you are.

୨୧ You performing one of your little songs for the gang in the show & tell day <3 (Alastor was very smitten but wouldnt admit it)

୨୧ Angel would make you repeat your little "bububiro" all the time because he finds very cute.

୨୧ now lets talk more about betty boop!reader

୨୧ You were probably be a Frank Sinatra, Brenda lee, Liana flores fan, it matches your charming but somehow calm and collected personality

୨୧ your room would have more calm color palette, it probably would be draped in black, grey and white, your bed would be those queen sized with lacy decorations on the poles, real queen and fancy shet.

୨୧ Vaggie would probably like your hair, because of how singular and cute it looked she would ask if she could touch but she doesnt wann ruin it. (Unrelated but i really like betty boop's hair design)

୨୧ the egg boys probably calls you "fancy short lady" since you're wel... short, but they enjoy being around you since you are so kind and sweet with them, sometimes you even entertain them with your little songs and short shows.

୨୧ You and sir pentious have a normal friendship, he respects you and you respect him, although you think hes very silly sometimes because of his way to act and... attempts to look tough.

୨୧ In conclusion, you would fit in very fast with the crew (<3)

A/N: im so sorry if this is short, im very sleepy but wanted to provide something for yall cuties.

[cloveroctobers]

COMEDY — SYDNEY ADAMU [Summer Writings]

A/N: always imagined writing for Syd and I guess the time has finally arrived…only took three seasons but my girl deserves better and better is what she’s gonna get from me! This piece is set mostly in the final episode of season three as a heads up ❤️

S|N: there was a prompt list that I wanted to go off of to use for you the reader but now I can’t find it so I’m just going off the little I remember. Which is: you being a cyclist.

WARNINGS: language, self-doubt, neighbor trope, + mentions of sexual harassment.

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Having a new neighbor was interesting to say the least. You didn’t think she was fond of you after running into her twice, sneaking in the first time and nearly running your bike over her feet as she seemed to be in a rush herself. She looked as if she was the type of person that if she knew that she had to be somewhere by a certain time, she would be there much earlier than needed.

You on the other hand? Operated on your own time, not sticking to routines as much after your quest to turn into a pro cyclist fell through, and you were stuck working a shitty retail job down at the dollar general (shut out to your general studies degree, your mother did aways say you should have studied something more valuable although she didn’t go to college herself and felt like her money was wasted on you compared to your older sister who lived in South Africa as a zoologist)…where you basically came in when you wanted since the manager never knew how to schedule the four of you—yes—FOUR of you properly. You did what you needed to survive, just like anyone.

The second time you got her attention was when you buzzed her apartment, annoyingly on her day off, contemplating about the contract agreement in the emptiness of her living room.

“Uh…yeah?” She pressed.

“Oh good! You’re home. I thought I was going to have to bug Anita instead and she’s the last one I want to talk to.”

“Who’s Anita?” Sydney paused before asking although she had a feeling who, “And who am I speaking with?”

“She’s on our floor,” you shift from one leg to the other feeling the violent urge to pee, “with the big 80’s curly hair, she talks to herself and at times it is a little concerning and she’s a bit of a Karen. You’ll know once you see her when she’s constantly asking if you live here after seeing her a handful of times and as for me? I’m one of your best neighbors, Ms. Lady with the Colorful hair scarfs.”

“It’s Sydney.” She replies and you nod your head finding that name to be fitting, “Oh yeah, the other guy with the abnormally big octopus tattoo on his cheek told me about you. You always forget to bring your keys, right?”

Oscar.

You thought to yourself in irritation, “Oscar raw dog’s his crocs, so you shouldn’t take his word for anything.”

Sydney laughs, finding this apartment building much more entertaining (so far) than the one she left previously behind but never her dad. “Am I sensing a little tension there or…”

“That’s another story for another time! Can you please buzz me in or else I’m going to have to go right on this sidewalk and I really don’t need another public indecency charge.”

You were honest, Sydney could admit but she also didn’t want to be the one to let a stranger, if you were a stranger into the building if you weren’t really who you said you were you know?

“…how do I know you really live here and aren’t just stalking one of the other tenants?” Sydney quizzed, trying to remember just what you looked like in passing.

“Because stupid Oscar told you I like to forget my keys on purpose?” You remind while Sydney slowly realizes this, although you can’t see this revelation on her face you keep going, “I live at the end of the hall from you, I even used to date Oscar’s sister, but she cheated on me and tried to gaslight me and then took the dog—which honestly looked like a fucking dust bunny in the dark so I’m not really all that upset about it—

“What kind of dog?” She chortles, but the curiosity is also evident beneath it.

You started dancing to the beat of The Fresh Prince in your head, which somehow always worked when you were about to piss on yourself—apologies for being unladylike or unpersonlike but hey when you have to go you have to go, “some Asian breed that starts with a P…Pekingese? Yeah Pekingese!”

“…I don’t know what the hell that is?” Sydney pats at her scalp.

“It’s like a failed experiment of a pug and Pomeranian!” You inform, “It’s actually awful looking, and my know it all sister would scold me for being discriminatory to animals but whatever! Um, How else can I convince you person in the nice cold building while I’m out here at risk of getting a heat stroke?! The basement is horror level scary so if you have to go down there—make sure you have somebody with you or just don’t? There’s also a squeaky floorboard in the middle of our hallway, a weird stain on the wall that’s shaped like a top hat?” You ramble.

A buzzing noise sounds right after your last word and you deeply exhale, yanking the front door open to hold with your backside while you rolled your bike in. “Thanks neighbor! Hope to run into you soon.”

“Ah, dont mention it!” You hear Sydney call, “and maybe invest in a clip for your keys?”

“With the way my cobweb bank account is set up? Not likely, girl! Timmy the toilet is calling my name! Catch you later!”

Sydney shakes her head, letting go of the button to glance at her open laptop and sigh choosing to head into the kitchen instead for some frozen waffles for dinner.

Despite the fact that Sydney is hardly at her new apartment, she finds a paper bag with handles on her door knob when she gets in one night. Carefully she peeks in it while opening the door to her apartment, once inside she pulls out a new satin scarf. It’s a golden yellow with white polka dots on it with a note attached.

~Welcome to the building + thanks for letting me in the other day. I think you’ll like this? If not? I’d never know! —your neighbor ____at 84H.

Which started something between you two without really knowing each other. All you knew was each other’s names now, you had handwriting that honestly resembled calligraphy—something Sydney would have never guessed you were into but you also picked up that when you did see Sydney, she seemed to have a scarf covering her braids majority of the time. She wore them well so you thought why not? It wasn’t anything overly expensive but it was thought that counts?

~What’s your go to midnight snack? —your neighbor Syd @ 84D.

Was on a lime green post it on your door days later. It became your thing, leaving little notes every couple of days on each others door, in a way it became a silent message to let each other know that you both were still around even if you never had the chance to officially be face to face.

So you attempted to draw a horrible picture of what that may be and then drew an x right over it. You weren’t crafty in that way, writing a message beside the terrible picture saying: a struggle meal. A grilled cheese but jelly as the cheese and jalapeño chips. Are you a board game person or video gamer?

Days seemed to get hectic after that in the both of your lives that the post it game seemed to die down just a little. Summer hours seemed to increase since the two teenagers that you worked alongside of preferred to be outside rather than inside—you didn’t blame them. One of them ended up quitting, the other lied and said they sprained their ankle but their Instagram said they were really hanging out at the river, so it was down to you and your elderly coworker Janice, who was actually in chronic pain, and then your manager was “temporarily,” on leave after a customer complained of sexual harassment.

The look you and Janice shared said enough, you believed the customer.

So now you had a new manager from fucking North Dakota…you had no clue what was even out there and they had a whole different approach. They had a neighborly spirit that you wished the scarce people at your building had—except for Sydney of course. The new manager was actually out on the floor, greeting customers and asking if they needed any help! They even gave you and Janice a choice during your eight hour shift, you can alternate between the register and stocking or just pick your role for the shift. They also kept checking in making sure the both of you were well mentally (ha!) and if you needed to take a ten minute break before your actual lunch.

She was a dream but definitely wouldn’t last.

“Are you sure you don’t want a ride?” The North Dakotan asked, already in her pick up truck as you fumbled around with the chains to your bike.

Janice already beeped her horn twice in her Volkswagen Beetle, speeding out of the parking lot with Fleetwood Mac flowing from the windows. You snickered, hand waving in the air as you turned back to the chains, finally getting it unlocked.

“Thanks for the offer but one thing about me, I love this bike more than anything and as long as I can still ride it? I’ll choose this over any car or train any day.”

The manager smiles, “alright then, you have a good night. Get home safe, will you?”

“I’ll try my best.”

You’re limping towards your apartment, it’s late and the sky had this milky fog to hide the sense of dread—or was it grief that sat in your heart? You’re just at your door, body sore, spokes ruined from your bike but as bad as you felt you heard the huffing and sniffing from your left.

Picking up on the braids right away, you know it’s Sydney and it doesn’t appear that she’s having a good night although she’s dressed as if the night was supposed to be. Leaving your bike against your door, you pause, debating if you wanted to get involved or if she would even want to bothered with you while she’s having a moment. You use the act of your post it’s as the okay to be neighborly and check on your neighbor at the end of the hall.

The hallway feels like forever to get to Sydney but her round eyes widen in bewilderment as she feels you groaning to plop down next to her.

“Oh my god,” she gasps as she scans over your features with damp under eyes, “…w-what happened to you?”

Lolling your head to meet her gaze, you grin at her, ignoring the sting of the scrape on your chin and say, “I might have saw hell not too long ago.”

Sydney shifts, using the back of her hand to wipe at her nose, “I—don’t know how to respond to that.”

You explain, “Well apparently we all have to go somewhere—if you believe in that kind of thing. And I guess the person upstairs said let me show you as I turned into a speed bump.”

“You were hit by a car?!” Sydney yells, although her own head felt like someone was letting the air out of a balloon and her heart felt like it pulsating in a way that was probably too slow, with her veins feeling like the whipping of traffic on the freeway.

You knew that look, even had some pill bottles that actually became decor pieces on your bedside table that were supposed to help calm the track runner fuzzies inside to relax…but the concern was evident on her face yet it wasn’t really about you tonight, this was your first time officially meeting and the both of you looked like shit. Well maybe you more so but Sydney definitely felt like it.

“Worse,” you say searching your back pocket for the rolled up pack of gummies, “A electric scooter, that looked a whole lot like my teenage little shit of a co-worker who’s been out on injury.”

You held out the gummy bears to Sydney, lifting your gaze to meet dark brown hues once more. There’s laughter that bubbles in her chest as she envisions it, her large front teeth poked out behind her lips.

“I don’t mean to laugh at you—

“Eh, I do it all the time! Glad I could be of service to you.” You tip your imaginary hat, “And you know what he had to nerve to say to me after we both skidded across the street? That I scuffed up his kicks, when he was on the wrong side of the road!”

Sydney cupped her mouth, other hand holding onto a green gummy bear, “No! That’s so wrong.”

“If he ever decides to come back to work…I’ve got something for him.”

“A hospital bill?”

“Oh no! Hospitals give me the ick. All medical people do.”

Sydney tilts her head to the side at this, unsure what to fully make of that but somehow understood, however felt like she should still be slightly concerned that you didn’t get yourself checked out! considering how scrapped up and how your hair was basically mangled. Also who knew what you looked like underneath your summer attire…Sydney was no doctor but you seemed kinda careless!

“I’m afraid to ask.” Sydney bites off the head of the candy.

“Stick him on the register and sneak out for the day once the lines start to pick up. I hate to do it to our new manager since she seems cool but…it’s what he deserves.” You tighten your eyes wickedly.

Sydney slowly nods her head at this and snorts, “where do you work?”

“Dollar general,” you say with a shrug, “you?”

Sydney deeply sighs, “I’m a chef.”

“Oh-ho! Chef Sydney. I knew there was something special about you, neighbor.” You state.

Sydney shakes her head, “No, it’s not anything really.”

“Are you kidding? That’s admirable! Unless…that’s what has you out here when the party is clearly inside?” You connected the dots, hearing some laughter beyond her door, quickly analyzing her face and kicking yourself for not keeping your inside thoughts to yourself in that moment.

Sydney pulls her bottom lip into her mouth and closes her eyes.

“You know…you never did get back to me on you being a board game person or a video gamer.” Your attempt to ease her anxieties was a nice gesture, really.

Sydney took her time (which you were patient to), sucking air in between her teeth and digging her palms into her eye sockets, “uh…board game. My favorite is: Sorry!”

Your eyes turn into slits at that and Sydney, slowly removes her hands from her eyes to look at you. “Really?”

“What? What’s wrong with sorry?”

You start to raise your hands in surrender but stop your movements as your everything aches, “Nothing. I would have thought clue, connect four, maybe even scrabble?”

“Scrabble?” Sydney scoffs, “I rather eat a block of blue cheese without a glass of water.”

Scrunching up your lips at that you quiz, “are you lactose intolerant?”

“Only the weak minded are.”

“Oh?! That’s not very empathic of you.”

You both match each other’s stares but you crack a smile first before Sydney follows through with a burst of laughter.

“You’re judging me? when you’re the one who isn’t empathic to your stomach and makes a grilled jelly sandwich stuffed with jalapeño chips of all things?” Sydney holds her stomach as she laughs.

You’re laughing with her while arguing, “I never specified if I stuffed it or not. It could have been on the side, thank you.”

Which only makes her laugh harder, the both of your shoulders touching as the sound echoes throughout the hall. There’s tears streaming down her cheeks again for different reasons while your stomach clenches with humor.

Of course that is broken up by someone clearing their throat. Both of you turn to Oscar who’s standing there holding his groceries.

“What’s so funny tonight ladies?”

You stop laughing so you can reply, “that outfit you thrifted.”

Oscar scowls, “now I see why my sister left you.”

“Fuck off! You’re probably the main one that supports her OnlyFans career.”

Sydney gasped at that while Oscar sent you a middle finger, leaving you two alone as he travels down the opposite hall to his apartment.

Glaring at him, he casts another glance in your direction and you do the honors of placing your own middle finger right against the lips you kissed at him. He quickly looks away, nearly throwing himself into his apartment with a slam of his door.

Leaning into Sydney again, you both laugh until it’s hard to breathe and that feeling is both familiar on both ends. Once you catch your breaths, you lean away to hold out your unscraped hand for her to shake, “Hey, Chef Sydney. It was nice talking to you and meeting you.”

“Likewise.” She gives a small smile while shaking your hand before you groan and moan getting back to your feet.

And she stays outside a little longer, mostly to collect herself and watch you make it back to your front door and battered bike. You send a peace sign as a goodnight, limping into your apartment after softly clicking your door shut.

Sydney sits, clasping her hands together thinking over that small moment, not realizing how important it would later be as the days continued on.

“There you are,” The British voice catches her attention and she takes his hand as he helps her to her feet.

Luca halts her movements, checking in with Sydney as she tries to brush away what that was from her face, although it clearly wasn’t something she could ignore as the problem was already on the surface.

She begins to follow Luca back into the party, stopping in the door way as she peeks back at your door, already thinking about what to say to you next on a lime green post it, while letting some laughter shine in her eyes.

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Continue with my summer anthology writings & prompts here.

[komorim]

something more

-> naoya x f!reader (kamo!reader)

[ synopsis. ] naoya had a reputation for being misogynistic, and he certainly didn’t believe that he would ever fall in love with the disgusting creatures called women. the only one worthy of his attention was the strongest female sorcerer, a woman who was nearing in skill to gojo satoru himself. yet the attention doesn’t mean he would treat you any better. but he wished he did.

[ content warnings. ] manga spoilers. misogyny. kidnapping. heavy angst. character death. mentions of child abuse. mentions of suicide. mentions of murder. mentions of attempted murder. mentions of torture. mentions of inhumane experiments. mentions of disability. allusions to sex. miscarriage. description of gore. reader is underweight. reader is older than naoya. belated love epiphany. more pain, possibly more than the suna one :)

[ word count. ] 3.7k

[ author’s note. ] wow. this story went from the original 10+ chapter fanfic to a 3 chapter fanfic to a one shot. after so many trial and errors, i finally decided to make this a one shot, even if that means i’ll have to cut some major plot points. the reason being that this story was developed a bit over a year ago, and i’m honestly starting to lose interest in finishing this as a series. well, here it is!

[ previously named: a cracked shell ]

“i’m home,” naoya says as he slides open the door to your shared room. yet he doesn’t find you in there. he’s confused to say the least. even though you had a small fit with him the other day, it wasn’t nothing serious. you would always pretend as if nothing had happened. you were just like that. you didn’t like conflict, so in order to avoid it, you became somewhat of a pushover when it comes to most things.

your boundaries are set very low, and they continue to lower with every violation of them. it was one of the reasons you and naoya could coexist. he wished for an obedient little wife, and although you weren’t obedient per se, your character in its nature was close enough.

you never acted out of line as you were clear of the troublesome headache it would bring you. and naoya was okay with that.

it would be an understatement to say that his expectations for his wife also lowered. the original idea in his mind was that he would marry a docile, mindless woman who would do everything he asked of her without question. and you don’t fit that description. but he’s okay with you.

you, who is a sorcerer strong enough to rival geto and gojo.

it wasn’t a secret that naoya had always admired the strong. and even if it’s a woman, he’ll show some degree of respect to them as long as they’re stronger or on par with himself.

which is why he’s so lenient with you.

he remembers how miserable you looked when he first met you at the kamo estate when he was eight and you were nine.

the only reason he appeared at the kamo estate was that he heard of a secret kamo child that had been recently escorted back to the estate. though he wasn’t the type to come for solely this minor, insignificant purpose. no, he came since he heard the rumors of what you were.

not only had you inherited the kamo technique of blood manipulation, you also had an immense amount of cursed energy within you. though what made you the most special of all was the essence of your cursed energy.

a cursed energy with scent.

and not only did your cursed energy have a scent to it, the scent was odd. it had the ability to put people in a drunken state upon breathing in the fragrance too much. it was truly odd. something like this had never been seen. it was probably why the kamos were so hell-bent on bringing you back to the estate to recognize you as one of their own.

nine year old you was very similar to how you are like now. quiet, appearing to be uninterested in almost everything, and eerie. almost twenty years later of knowing you, he could never pinpoint exactly what it was, but you always seemed off. it was an eerie aspect that made others uncomfortable in your presence. maybe it was a dominating attribute that came with being that strong.

yet what he didn’t understand was why you always looked so miserable. you were so strong that you could destroy a city and possibly more if you wished. but you were never happy. eight year old naoya thought that if he was that gifted, he’d never have a bad day in his life. maybe it’s because you were born a girl that you are unable to be happy. after all, the elders always spoke of how unlucky it is to be a girl.

that was the first time he met you. only being able to get a glance of your face in a open room. the next time he saw you was at the goodwill event. you appeared to be the same as before. you didn’t speak much, you still looked miserable and unbothered, and you still had that eerie feeling about you.

around this time, naoya had been raised by the zenins’ misogynistic ideals for so long that he has also adopted them himself. and even if he knew that your current abilities can rival even the two most powerful jujutsu sorcerers, you were just a woman. you were born with the right, immense power, but the wrong gender. you were bound to one day become someone’s wife one day, confined to the chains of marriage and the duties of a woman.

your talent and power will succumb to nothing. it’ll all be useless.

maybe that’s when he first started hating you. he envied you for having the power he could not. his eyes grew red at the thought that a woman had received the main inherited jujutsu technique of the kamo clan when he himself only inherited a sub technique of the zenin. he feels frustrated that you have all this power and he’ll never be able to see its full potential since you’re a woman that’s destined to be in a house and nowhere else.

maybe that’s why he was desperate to hunt you down during the goodwill event. he was desperate to prove himself better. he couldn’t stand being weak compared to someone who’s power will become useless one day anyways.

but he lost. zenin naoya had lost. it was humiliating really; the way you barely looked at him as you successfully constrained him, proceeding to leave without a care in the world.

he had felt a new kind of sensation that day. a strong urge to see what kind of faces you can make other than that miserable, unbothered expression.

so when he found out from his father later on that you’ve been engaged to him, he found it perfect. he’ll have the rest of eternity to make you say something, feel something more than hopelessness. you could tell that his preference for said feeling would be suffering, but it’s not like he ever succeeded, so you didn’t pay his unwell intentions much thought anyways.

it was at this point when he finally found out why you always looked miserable. after all, the least he could do as your fiancé was get to know you, albeit you didn’t want him to.

when he heard about your life so far, he laughed a bit. you’re so strong and yet you couldn’t prevent any of the tragic events in your life. the elders were right. a woman like you was destined to live out an unlucky life. but maybe yours was a bit too unfair, even by naoya’s opinion.

secret child born to loving parents, you had been raised without the kamos’ knowledge. at the age of nine, shortly before naoya first met you, an escort had appeared at the peaceful apartment you lived at and supposedly murdered your father. your mother fell into hysteria and blamed your existence for the death of her only love. she looked at you with hatred, with the intent to kill her only child. and when she regained some sense of logic, she would hold you closely and cry. he bets that this on and off behavior you endured also dried you up emotionally. and apparently your mother too, for she committed suicide in her room less than a year later.

before doing so, she didn’t forget to smash a rock onto your head. either trying to take you with her or trying to enact some revenge for the love of her life he doesn’t know. but what he does know is that the damage caused absolutely destroyed your right ear.

irreparable loss of hearing.

however unlikely, it was probably the hearing of your tragic childhood that made naoya show you a bit of kindness after the marriage. he showed some form of respect for you, the one who survived such a past and also you, the one stronger than himself.

you had also noticed this. how he wasn’t exactly like how the rumors depicted him. but you paid no mind, as he still treated you as lesser than. it was to be expected. and although the younger you would scowl at the disrespect shown by someone younger than you, the current you couldn’t care less.

you were only a wife to naoya for one reason. to escape being assigned as the next clan leader.

you could never take that position. not when you saw how the kamo clan had crushed your family. not when you saw how noritoshi hated you for receiving the attention of the elders. you knew about the boy. his mother being a mistress made his standing in the clan awkward. and you knew how much he needed to be the next clan leader in order to reunite with his mother.

so you allowed him to take the position of heir. you declined as your uncle, the clan leader, tried several times to make you the heir. you knew why he treated the two of you so differently. one was the only child of his only little sister, the last blood relation to her on this world, and the other was simply a mistress’s son, albeit his own.

but you couldn’t destroy a family the way he destroyed yours. you didn’t want to watch as noritoshi falls into despair like you. so even when your uncle pressured you with the choice or either marriage or heir, you confidently chose to be married off.

and what a choice it was.

from day one of being zenin y/n, you already disliked the atmosphere of the zenin household. but alas, it was the place where you would be living for probably the rest of your life.

and when the year passed by and you still had no sign of child, the zenin naobito had attempted to have you divorced.

least to say naoya was furious when he heard. why? because he finally had the second strongest sorcerer chained to his side. how was he supposed to just willingly give you up? but he and yourself both know what the cause for your lack of child was.

the fact that naoya refused to touch you.

it’s not like you minded. you had no emotions for your husband; you couldn’t care less if he had someone pleasuring him outside. in fact, you’d probably be better off if he did.

but that wasn’t the reason naoya didn’t want to lay a finger on you. suprisingly, he had more than just one single reason.

one of which was that he still didn’t want to be so intimate with such a lowly creature, a woman. but he needed an heir and he knew this well. actually, it would be best to have his heir be birthed by you. the possibility of your child inheriting some of your incredibly unnecessary cursed energy, or better yet, inheriting your unique scent would be splendid.

but the most important reason was that your body most likely couldn’t handle it. not to mention the mental toll that your past and even the duration you were a sorcerer had on you, you had a more concerning issue. you turned sickly after overexerting yourself during the time at jujutsu high. and although he shouldn’t care so much for a mere woman’s life, he knew that you were different, and he couldn’t afford to lose such a valuable asset like yourself.

he’s seen how pregnancy does a woman over, and as much as no one would believe it, he doesn’t want that to happen to you. either for his own selfish reasons, or for the reason he dreads, the reality was that he was contempt with not having an heir in the mean time.

so divorcing you? absolutely out of the question.

if his father used not having any emotional attachment as an excuse to tear you away from him, he would create that emotional attachment. fake or not, he won’t have anyone thinking of making him divorce you.

so he pushed himself. he pushed himself to treat you as a decent human being, and pushed himself to buy gifts for you when he’s out, going out of his comfort zone to try and pleasure you.

he allowed you and gojo to continue writing letters to each other. although he’s still sick to the stomach knowing his wife is conversing with another man, he knows that ever since you had been more in touch with your childhood friend, your mood became better.

and finally, on your second year of being married to naoya, he was finally able to see a genuine smile grace upon your lips.

it was the wish he had when him and you were still engaged and not yet married. the wish that you could display an expression different than that of your normal, unbothered one.

and it was beautiful.

he knew you were a looker since the day he first met you. and maybe that’s a subconscious reason why he always wished you could show some more emotion. but seeing your actual smile was so much different. it’s almost as if he’s been blind all his life and finally saw light.

and as much as he wants to deny it, maybe he did have a growing place in his heart for you.

so why are you now missing when things were just starting to get better? it wasn’t long after when he first shared a kiss with you and the two of you started acting more like a married couple, and now you’re nowhere to be seen?

naoya first reached out to gojo within two hours of you not being home, and when the white haired man responded with he didn’t know where you were either, naoya almost lost his mind.

she’ll be okay, he thinks to himself. but another voice in his head reminds him of how you’re not in a state to fight. weirdly your physical state has deteriorated the past few days, and you turned into a even more sickly condition.

it isn’t until the next day when he confirms with hayashi, your personal servant, that you haven’t returned during the night does he really lose it.

weird too. hayashi was saved by you as a child, and follows you around ever since to repay you. he’d never leave your side, so why is he still in the estate and you’re not?

hayashi responds to the question with how you were invited out by a letter, and he wasn’t able to see the sender.

it was a dead end.

quite a few months pass by before naoya finally hears about you. by this time, naoya has thinned down quite a bit and also looked abnormally pale. probably from the lack of sleep or the lost of appetite. or both.

and what he heard from gojo made sick to the stomach, so much that he wished to throw up even though his stomach was empty.

you were found.

the bad news? you were found bloodied and very much dead. you were found rotting.

and although gojo was wearing sunglasses that covered his eyes, anyone could tell the way this affected him through the crack in his voice as he struggles to continue on. after all, he already lost a best friend, and now he had just lost his childhood friend; he lost the one that he swore to protect since your parents failed to do so.

not much information was exchanged after the initial news was delivered, for it pained gojo too much to describe the horrendous scene in which you were found in. but he did take naoya to the scene shortly after he delivered one last piece of news that was sure to shatter naoya.

you were pregnant.

naoya wasn’t all that surprised. in the last few months in which you were missing, he thought of you a lot. how you looked paler, sicklier than usual. how you were more sensitive than usual.

and because of his guess, he had treated you much better than before. he knew how you used to get suspended from jujutsu high for being overly cruel when some curse user would overstep your boundaries. and although your sharp edges dulled over the years, he was still afraid you’d have even a sliver of thought to abort it. and he couldn’t let that happen.

but you probably didn’t know yourself.

“we’re here,” gojo announces.

he bids naoya well before waiting outside the warehouse. he already saw it once, and he couldn’t bear to see it again.

naoya braces himself before slowly walking inside. the interior of the warehouse seemed very normal. it looked like a warehouse for scientific research. there were lab tables, and giant fluid cases. the only thing out of the ordinary he noticed was how dirty everything was. there were many blood stains, but he convinced himself that it was too rusty and old to be yours.

as he walks further, that was when he saw it. the small hidden door in the far back. the door was unnecessarily heavy, seeming to made out of hard iron.

even if it was his first time being here, even if he can’t see what’s beyond the door, he knows what’s about to appear before his eyes.

and he dreads it.

but he still pushes open the door that has already been forced open once. it was easy, seeing how the lock had been destroyed completely. but what wasn’t easy was the capacity to handle everything that he saw.

cruel tools that his imagination can help show him what their uses were. red colored stains on the floor and counters. pieces of meat each around the size of a finger littered around the damp and suffocating room.

syringes. tubes of medicine. medical equipment. chains and shackles. bandages, both used and new. disposed pieces of surgeon uniforms, all covered in blood and a weirdly colored substance.

it didn’t take a psychic to know what had happened here. it didn’t take an actor to imagine the performance that undergone here.

the performance of torture. the act of experimenting on a living human being.

naoya’s trembling although he doesn’t notice it. he comprehends the emotions inside him bubbling as anger that someone had dared to lay their hands on what was his. but the truth was that this unfamiliar feeling he had was despair. something his pitiful wife was familiar with, but something he had only now acquainted.

despair over the fact that all this equipment was used on you and despair over the fact that when you were in pain and suffering, he couldn’t do anything about it.

he slowly walks over to the small bed in the corner of the room. he noticed the blood stains on the sheets and the shackles on the headboard and footboard. most of all, he noticed he noticed the small shard piece covered in blood. he knew why it was covered in blood although no one told him.

it was probably what you had used to end your life.

he stares at it with a blank face, and he eventually reached out to grab it, grief and frustration causing him to clench the shard so hard he sees red. but it doesn’t hurt.

it’s nothing compared to the atrocities you endured.

you were missing for months. he had been informed that your death report showed that you had only died a few days ago. to imagine that you had to suffer from these cruelties for months; the only thing in his mind was how strong you were.

he turns around to walk back out. to see you again. he deemed that it was worthless to stay here any longer.

as he was leaving the room that housed your pain, he saw it. the thick notebook filled with notes and scribbles of the things done to you.

from cutting away pieces of you to examine your genetic makeup, to attempting to force the day of labor so they could research his child; every word written was horrendous.

the contents journaling the day it was discovered that you were pregnant were drastically different than before.

at first it was just terrifying experiments performed on you to determine why you had an intoxicating scent to your cursed energy, but then when they couldn’t find anything out, they wanted to try to copy the trait completely. through what? the child you were harboring.

as naoya flipped through more and more pages, he saw how they took their research further and further. and as things failed again and again, their methods only became more inhumane.

when he finally couldn’t take it anymore, he threw the notebook behind him harshly, hearing a violent thump shortly after. he met up with gojo outside the warehouse and notices how his eyes were somewhat red.

when he brought naoya to your body, that was when both men couldn’t take it anymore.

your originally sickly features looked even worse. you had grown paler and you looked like you had starved for every day you were missing. all that was left of you was skin and bones. there were bruises on your skin, littering almost everywhere the eye can see. the ones on your wrists and ankles naoya knew were from the shackles confining you, and the others on your body seemed to be wounds still unable to fully heal.

you, who hated becoming dirty, lay there with dried blood and dirt on your body. your skin had turned gray and you felt colder than ice. yet naoya still held your hand, trying to warm it up like he had done so before.

but he knew it was fruitless. you couldn’t possess body warmth anymore, and you had no need for it either.

but as he holds your hand with both of his own, what he doesn’t know—what haunts his mind—is the question of did you wish for him to come to your rescue when you had passed day by day and week by week in that tiny little room.

were you disappointed as days passed and he still hadn’t come?

or did you think he wouldn’t come? did you doubt his love for you and think he wouldn’t care if you were there by his side or not? did you think you were replaceable?

but the fact is that you weren’t. albeit how badly he showed it, he knew he couldn’t lose you.

he smiles bitterly as he pressed his lips to your cold forehead and thinks. maybe the possessiveness he held for you had a different meaning. he realizes that even if he denied to everyone that he didn’t love you, maybe he did.

but it’s too late now. he only knew now. he’s only now understood what it was that he felt when you left. you probably also never knew.

after all, you left without giving him a chance to tell you.

do not copy or repost my works. likes, reblogs, and comments are appreciated.

[lifea16]

Another Picrew Tag game because we can't have too many!

Link

Use this Picrew and talk about your life! (Don't feel pressured to do either tho! <3)

So.. I have a pretty normal life to be frank,

Well as normal of a life a girl with dyslexia and ADHD can have in school, which is bullied, feeling guilt for not being able to do anything sometimes, feeling afraid to tell others about your diagnosis, etc..

I was lucky enough to get a diagnosis, but I do fit most majorities where I'm from, I'm Asian (Indian, but I feel afraid to say that because people may confuse me for being Amarican-Indian/Native American), and Cis, and middle / upper class.

[My mum's a Psychologist and Dad's a founder of a small business that sells diamonds to jewelers]

I'm unsure if I have all the help I need, but I'm mostly good! Still struggle with doing anything related to school/work/whatever at home lol.

I've not told anyone other than my mum about my sexuality, but I don't really need to as I'm young enough to not have others wondering about why I've not tried dating yet, and I usually show attraction to men (Tho questioning if I just had a Lesbian phase of if I'm M-Spec, unsure if i ID as Heteroqueer or Bi), tho there was a rumor in my school that I was lesbian since I was when I was like ~10, and I didn't bother refuting it when I became older

I've recently developed a Hyperfixation on Helluva Boss, since I was forced by my YT recomendation page to learn about Hazbin Hotel, and I wanted to learn about the free spinoff I knew I could watch. Then promptly became obsessed.

Thankfully despite being bullied when I was younger, I still love myself, although when my teachers did say 'They were wrong but you actually need to work on X' because they didn't know I was Neurodivergent, it did affect my self confidence a bit, so now I take medication to help with my ADHD..

I honestly don't remember what past me wanted me to write, so sorry past me if I forgot to type anything you wanted me too

So ya, sorry for yapping, you don't have to lol, just like talking about my life, especially since this one is the first of the chain, sorry if it's a bother

@blitzosicedcoffee @blitzvo @samualjennings @amethystoceandespiser @blitzs-largest-horsiest-dildo @speakofthedebbie @toomuchdivergentformyneuro @imbatman27 and anyone else who wants to join!

(Update: Fixed tags)

[yanderes-galore]

Could I request platonic headcanons for chucky with a relative from when he was alive? You can choose whether it be a sibling, a cousin, a niece/nephew, child ect

Sure! I can try my best :) If something is wrong, my bad! Somehow the formatting was weird so if something seems missing, that might be it. For some reason a section is just... gone on my Docs?

Yandere! Platonic! Chucky with Relative! Darling

Pairing: Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Stalking, Gore, Blood, Mass murder, Death, Rituals, Kidnapping implied, Manipulation, Dark themes, Forced companionship.

I want to say this gives him pause, honestly.

He most likely hasn't seen you in years so you're older no matter how you're related.

Plus… last time he saw you he wasn't a doll?

According to the Wiki, at least in the TV series (I've only seen Child's Play 1-3 so this may be wrong), he helped kill his own parents/relatives.

He probably isn't aware you are related to him at first.

He'd have to come across the information then go and find you or hear it from you as he stalks you.

At first he plans to make you a victim.

With a bloodlust as high as his it's a possibility.

Although… Then he gets to thinking.

He could just corrupt you instead!

Then you'll be part of his new family.

By the climax of his obsession he'd probably make you a doll.

Then you'll fit in.

Although, until then, he stalks you and maybe even picks off those around you.

Started a new family? Not for long.

Did you forget about him? Your long lost relative?

Well, he'll give you a reminder.

A bloody reminder when it comes to him.

You have no idea your life is about to get ruined until Chucky acts.

He's patient with you, waiting for the right moment.

He wasn't expecting it but he may be a little upset that you have a new family.

After the Slasher incident/his life of crime did you just… ignore that part of your life?

He really just means nothing to you, huh?

Then that makes him a bit irritated….

Oh, don't worry…

He'll just have to drag you back.

You'll recall your past… you'll give into it.

You just need a wake up call.

Which is then what leads to your new family, your new home, crumbling down.

You will wake up one day to the smell of drying blood.

The walls are painted in the stuff, gore is spread on your floor.

But there's Chucky at the foot of your bed… grinning.

He's covered in blood, your sheets are too, but he just seems so damn proud of himself.

“Forgot about me, did ya?”

You can scream, you can cry, that won't change what's been done.

Chucky uses this traumatic event to mold your mind.

After all, events like this can break a person.

Which allows Chucky to puppeteer you into doing what he wants.

He'll make you follow through with the doll ritual, he'll make you a killer…

After all, isn't it the family hobby?

He'll tell you this is what you were meant to do.

You're related after all, aren't you?

So welcome to your new (old?) family….

Chucky is no doubt still protective of you as a family member when he makes you a doll.

He won't let you die.

Even if you do… he'll bring you back.

He's done it countless times.

You'll get used to it.

He just knows you'll fit right in… after all you don't really have a choice.

Where else do you have to go?

You just have Chucky as your family now…

This is all you know now.

[thetrollock]

Amaranth

Dark!fem vampire x fem reader

synopsis: you're unaware of how obsessed Alvara is with you until it's far too late...

word count: 15.1k

content warnings: dark ish content, yandere, unhealthy relationship, brief violence

LIFE HADN’T ALWAYS been this way. You hadn’t always been running from Alvara, the wretched woman who had been pursuing you for centuries. You were a normal girl once but that was hundreds and hundreds of years ago and life had drastically changed since then becoming something that was nothing like the life you’d lived before. Life was so much easier back then, joyful even, it felt like you had a purpose, it used to be about living but now it was just surviving, and you weren’t sure how much more of this could you take. You got up from her chair and trudged towards your window sitting upon the ledge staring at the moon and the sparkles in the sky wishing you were amongst them because maybe, just maybe, you wouldn't be so lonely. You began to think about how simple life used to be and how on earth did you get into this mess in the first place.

❥ ❥ ❥

In a time long ago, you were a simple middle class woman working at a flower shop arranging and caring for flowers, you enjoyed your job and all the beautiful flowers you were able to care for and make into arrangements daily besides, it did help that you had some lovely loyal customers. Over the years, you had become quite popular within not only your area, but also further field due to the exposure from the royal family who often commissioned you for flowers with every event they held, big or small. But that might've been due to your friendship with the First Prince, Leonidas. A friendship like this was fairly uncommon as people of your social status and his own didn’t tend to mix. You had both become friends a few years ago when Leonidas had been running away from his duties and, as any upstanding citizen would, you hid him in your shop whilst everything blew over, treating him like a normal human being rather than someone to be worshipped. Since then, your friendship had blossomed and bloomed with the prince coming to your humble little shop at least once a week under the guise of buying flowers.

Humming mindlessly, you arranged and prepared flowers and bouquets for customers in a monotonous fashion, completely lost in the abyss of your mind, as you were making up the bouquet, you wondered what your beloved customer would prefer, “Miss Belmont, do you want the pink roses or the pink camellias with your bouquet?”

The older women didn't even get the chance to reply as a powerful honeyed voice interrupted, announcing herself, “Good morning, I want a bouquet of wolf’s bane flowers with whatever else you believe fits.”

You jumped slightly from her position, not expecting the interruption, you twisted around to look at the woman who had just entered your shop, you blinked owlishly before reminding yourself to smile. The woman herself was rather tall and stood proudly, her lips were plush, and pink formed in a stiff polite smile that felt odd and honestly quite disturbing. You swore her eyes were staring into your soul and you couldn’t help but stare back, her eyes were just... mesmerizing. They were such an icy blue that they reminded you of pure molten silver contrasting against darkness of the outer rings of her pupils. Her gaze was sharp and intimidating and you found yourself thinking that you never wanted to look away. Although this woman was absolutely stunning, breathtakingly so, you wondered if she ever caught the sun considering how pale her skin was, it was almost as if she’d never seen a lick of sunlight in her entire life. The only colour in her face where her lips and the pink colour decorating her eyelids, the darker colours contrasting against her pale skin tone making all of her features that much more pronounced.

The woman’s perfectly shaped eyebrow arched upwards as if asking why you hadn’t answered her yet, your shook your head slightly before plastering a blinding smile on your face.

“I am terribly sorry, my lady, I apologize for staring, I will get to you in a minute but as you can see, I am currently serving another customer so if you could give me a few minutes, I will get right to you.” She apologized trying to be as respectful as possible, she hoped this woman would be understanding enough and not like some of the other stuck-up nobles she had to deal with on a daily basis.

The tall woman chuckled coldly before looking down at you with a carefully restrained smile that screamed impatience and slight annoyance, “I do not think you understand who I am, I expect you to serve me right now, it is quite clear that I am much more important than this woman.” She sneered gesturing rudely to the poor old woman standing next to her.

“Excuse me, my lady, but I do not appreciate you using that tone whilst talking about my customers, this is my shop and so we will follow my rules. I will decide who I serve when I serve, so I suggest you either wait a few minutes or you find a new place to buy some flowers.” Although you were thoroughly intimidated by this clearly powerful woman, you kept your voice firm and steady, you'd learnt years ago that being a pushover never got you anywhere. Respect is everything. Besides, you weren't all that worried about this woman trying to sabotage your career, after all you had the royal family on your side.

The woman tilted her head slightly in surprise her lips pursed in an ‘O’ shape and her icy eyes showed amusement, it was quite clear that she was taken aback by your statement, she’d probably never really had someone below her in the social chain stand up to her before. But there was a first time for everything you supposed suppressing your proud smile.

“As I was saying Miss Belmont, would you rather the pink roses or the pink camellias?” The older woman smiled gratefully and told you her preference thanking you for your kindness.

“It is no problem at all, you are a loyal customer after all.” You replied with a sweet smile saved only for your favourite customers.

With that, you turned around and walked into the back room to retrieve the flowers before arranging them and cutting the stems until everything fit together perfectly. You wrapped up the flowers with brown paper, as requested, and tied it up with Miss Belmont’s preferred colour of ribbon which you had, of course, memorized more than a few bouquets ago. You handed the flowers to the older woman with a bright smile after receiving the cash and a hefty tip.

“I hope they are up to your standards; I will see you next week!” You waved after Miss Belmont; she was one of your favourite customers after all. You then turned to the pale woman who had indeed decided to wait those few minutes. “Now, my lady, you said you wanted wolf’s bane, right?”

“Yes, I did, I expect you to also choose some others to go along with it.” She replied stiffly, her arms crossed against her chest defensively unconsciously pushing her chest up making you look away awkwardly; you hadn’t meant to look but it’s kind of hard when they’re right in your direct line of sight.

Humming your favourite tune, you made your way into the backroom where you kept a wide array of flowers, you picked up flowers as you walked past them knowing they go well with wolf’s bane. Thinking as you went along you began to reflect on many of you noble customers and how they believed that money solves all problems in such a stuck-up manner. But you knew not everyone was like that Leonidas was a prime example of a good person who had a fair amount of wealth. It was hard to come across those kinds of people, all you wanted was basic respect from people that’s all, it shouldn’t matter your place in society. You huffed as you made your way back into the front room where the woman was standing who was now staring at you again with that deep, intense stare. The stupid stare that felt like she was looking deep into your soul. It made you uncomfortable and if you were honest with yourself, you really didn’t like it even if this woman was one of the most beautiful people you had ever had the pleasure of laying your eyes on. You hoped this would be a onetime thing and that this woman wouldn’t come back again because not only was she unnerving but she was also extremely rude.

As you were arranging wrapping up the flowers, you decided to make this encounter a lot less awkward, “did you know that that wolf’s bane is scientifically known as Aconite, quite different isn’t it?” You didn’t even look up to observe the woman’s facial expression in favour of avoiding the icy stare she held.

“I did not know that, but I suppose you learn new things every day. What is your name, woman?” She asked, her voice almost emotionless but within your line of work you had become pretty good at sensing others’ emotions and could tell that she was amused by your attempt of conversation.

“I am Name.” You replied shortly not all that interested in this woman’s name especially as she has rudely referred to you as woman.

The woman continued to stare at you as if she were expecting the question back, “you know, Name, it is common courtesy to ask someone their name after they so kindly asked for yours first. My name is Alvara if you were wondering, Lady Alvara of the house Fox.”

“My apologies, Lady Fox, I simply forgot to ask you back, I hope you can forgive me.” However, despite your apology you were not sorry, you just wanted to be over with this transaction and say what you knew the woman wanted to hear. “I hope you like your bouquet, wolf's bane is fairly odd choice, but it is a rather beautiful flower. I must advise you to be careful with it though, if you come across any dogs or wolves as it can be extremely poisonous to them, and I really do not wish for any of them to die.”

“I know they are poisonous, but I must admit you have done a good job arranging them they look beautiful, thank you.” Her tone was rather blunt, but you appreciated the compliment none the less.

“Thank you, I am glad you like them!” Although you weren't overly fond of the woman, you didn’t think there was any harm in being nice to her, especially as it looked like Alvara planned on coming back, something you weren't particularly pleased with but maybe she would warm up to you the more you interacted…? Well, you sure hoped you would.

Alvara placed the money on the counter with a smile that seemed less forced, “Expect to see me back, Name.”

And with that she was gone.

❥ ❥ ❥

AFTER THAT DAY Alvara had stayed true to her words coming into your humble shop a couple of times a week, a lot of more often than you were expecting to be honest. Alvara had become a lot more comfortable with you, her stiffness disappearing and icy look her eyes melting to a look of joy and amusement when she came to get flowers. Although your first impressions of the tall women were not very pleasant, you found that you could tolerate and be kind to her and despite Alvara’s cold exterior she warmed up to you fairly quickly often entering your flower shop with a flourish and a genuine smile.

Brushing the hair from your eyes you began to sweep the leaves and flower stems to the side of your shop planning to pick it all up at the end of the day and with a reputation like your own, you had to keep the place looking at least half decent. People expected it of you considering the royal family often bought arrangements from you for their balls and important events, courtesy of Leonidas.

You walked back behind the counter cleaning up your workspace putting the ribbons back where they belonged and tidying up the brown paper you often used to wrap the bouquets up in. It began to creep closer to the end of day when you would finally close your shop and get some much needed rest. You stretched hearing your body crack in ways it probably shouldn’t, but you were broken from your momentary worry when the telltale sound of a bell resounded.

“Hello my dear Florist!” It was Alvara. You should’ve known, the pale almost sickly looking woman liked coming in at times when she knew you were quiet because she was impatient and didn’t like sharing you attention.

“Good evening Lady Fox, what are you here for today?” You replied without the usual pep in your tone trying to not let your fatigue show, you really didn’t want to deal with Alvara’s flirting tonight, actually you just didn’t want to deal with Alvara. Despite the fact that you had kind of gotten used to her, her presence was draining and there was still that lingering feeling of discomfort when you were around her.

Alvara frowned softly noticing the change in her favourite florist’s behaviour, “are you okay, Name? You better not have been working yourself too hard, you silly girl, I told you to take care of yourself.”

“Of course, I am okay, seriously my lady, I am fine. So please, do not worry about me.” You sighed forcing a sweet smile. “Now, what do you want?”

Nothing was said between them for a while with Alvara staring at you intently her frown deepening, she was not pleased by your response she could tell something was up and although she knew she should respect your boundaries she couldn’t find it within herself to care, the tall woman knew that she knew better, she’d been alive longer than her for starters. Alvara felt an intense need to protect you and she wanted to help you with your ailment, no matter how big or small, she didn’t even care if you wanted her help or not because she would find out either way. Alvara didn’t mind using force to get her way, she was a forceful woman after all, you had to be to get into the position she was in without any man by her side and still having all of the respect from the men around her. She was a powerful woman, and she knew it.

“I do not believe you, Name, you better tell me right now, or I will make you.” Her friendly disposition from earlier disappearing to reveal a hard unwavering stubborn expression, you sighed you knew Alvara wasn’t going to budge on her stance.

“Do you really want to know?” You did not want to talk to the noble woman about your true feelings but if it meant she would leave you alone then you supposed you could tell her.

She nodded staring at you with those firm icy eyes, you felt a shiver go down your spine not being able to bear looking into her uncomfortable gaze for another second.

“Please do not be angry with me for I am simply being honest with you." You took a deep breath preparing yourself for the worst, "I am confused by you, you are so hot and cold, one moment I cannot look you in the eyes because it feels as if you are looking straight through me with such a cold stare that I physically feel shivers run down my spine. Then the next moment you are sweet and, dare I say, happy and I am somewhat free to keep eye contact with you. You are so kind with me but with everyone else you treat them as if they are dirt below your shoes!” You exclaimed eyebrows furrowed and your face pinched in an expression of distress and confusion.

“I do not understand why you have decided to treat me any different. You have changed so drastically since that first day we met, you were so cold then, rude even! I just don’t understand the sudden attitude change.” You were quieter now no longer throwing your hands around violently to get your point across. You stared at your hands fiddling with the rings adorning them, you couldn't bare to look Alvara in the face after spilling all of your feelings to her.

Alvara continued to stare at the smaller woman before her running a hand through her long hair, “I see, you are confused by me, correct?”

You looked up with a bashful expression nodding softly, an expression that made Alvara’s heart do somersaults, she knew that if her heart could still beat it would be threatening to jump out of her chest.

“Well let me clear things up for you then, I like you a lot, Name, more than I should and I think you are an incredibly interesting and beautiful person, you have interested me, and my interest is no easy feat. My respect and kindness are not something I give out freely, you have to earn it and random people I come across do not deserve it simply because they have not proven to me that they do. I would also like to apologize for my stare I do not mean to be so cold, it must be a habit, I have to keep my reputation after all and as a woman as powerful as myself being kind doesn’t always help gain you respect from men. I like to scare them into submission.” She giggled explaining the reason for her cold stare, trying to lighten the rather gloomy mood.

You laughed hesitantly, “thank you for clearing that up for me, my lady.”

“I wish you would lighten up Name, I want for us to be friends, maybe even more in the future.” She smirked moving closer towards you , eyes flicking down to your lips.

Your face began to grow hot as your eyes widened, you were not expecting such a confession from Alvara, “Anyway! What kind of flowers do you want? That is the reason you are here, right?”

“Indeed, it is, dear, you can choose whatever you want, something that is easy for you to arrange.” She requested resting her cheek on her hand staring at you with eyes dripping in adoration.

You smiled turning around to the back room shutting the door behind you and pushing your back against the closed door, what the hell had just happened in there? You decided to take a breather closing your eyes for a few seconds before pushing yourself off of the door and towards were you kept your hyacinths, deciding on gathering a bunch of the purple ones, you loved hyacinths they were such beautiful flowers and looked just as pretty by themselves as they did with other flowers.

You had just about fit the bunch of flowers under one arm as you opened the door to the front room taking a deep breath and making your way over to the wrapping paper where you arranged them and tried to ignore Alvara’s piercing gaze blazing holes into your busied form. You hummed lightly trying to distract yourself as you wrapped up the flowers.

“Here you go, Lady Fox, I hope you like them, they are hyacinths in case you did not know.” You smiled softly hoping to shoo the woman out of your shop and get some much needed rest away from everyone.

“I love it Name, especially since you arranged it for me, they are beautiful.” She stated staring straight at you, it almost felt as if Alvara was complimenting you instead of the flowers she held in her arms.

You rounded the front desk until you were standing next to the pale woman, “I am glad, now I need to close up shop, so I will see you next time you come in to get some flowers.” Speaking to Alvara made you realize how short you were compared to the taller woman, your cheeks flushed again, goddamn your stupid brain, even though you found her unnerving you couldn’t look past how attracted to her you were. It was undeniable that Alvara was beautiful it was just a shame that she made you feel so uncomfortable, the kind of uncomfortable where you felt like Alvara was watching your every move. Like a predator stalking prey, it put you on edge.

You smiled at her trying shoo the woman towards the exit but Alvara was having none of simply standing in the doorway before looking down at you, her little florist, “I hope you know that I was completely honest with you earlier, I like you a lot, more than I should. I would also like you to know that I intend for us to become friends, you do not mind that, do you?”

The way Alvara spoke to you sent a shiver down your spine, the tone of voice she used was sickly sweet and even the way she asked to be friends with you felt predatory, it felt wrong and your gut instinct told you to shove her out of your shop and never speak to her again. Your brain screamed, RUN, RUN, RUN. But you couldn’t find it in yourself to do anything but nod and agree, it felt as if something awful would happen if you didn’t just go along with it and if you were honest, the fatigue was really getting to you and you just wanted to be rid of Alvara’s heavy presence.

“Good, I am glad we are on the same page. I will see you soon, Name. Make sure you take care of yourself.” She rested her hand on your cheek in an affectionate way that you had not really experienced before, it was when you started leaning into the touch that you realised how touch starved you must be to be comforted by the touch of someone who did the complete opposite.

You pulled away ushering her towards the outside world, “have a good evening, my lady.”

“You too, Name, call me by name next time, alright?” Alvara looked over shoulder and made her way out of your humble shop not even giving you a chance to reply.

Pushing down the urge to slam to door in relief, you took a deep breath to collect yourself before sweeping things up quickly and half arseing your usual cleaning routine.

By the time you got home you were practically dragging yourself to bed resisting the tantalizing temptation of sleeping on the floor, eventually you made your way to bed where you fell in a heap.

Finally, peace.

❥ ❥ ❥

ALTHOUGH YOU HAD to wake up early pretty much every morning, you would never get used to the blinding sun from your windows waking you up; it was something that you truly hated, often times wishing you could stay in bed but alas your shop couldn’t open itself. Pulling yourself from bed you began to get ready for the day, you slid on her dress and stretched yawning as you did so feeling the bones in her back crack as it always did, you mulled over the strange sounds your back made until there was a loud rap at the door of your cottage. You rushed over and opened your door with a sweet smile that you usually only pulled out at work.

“Hello Ma'am, I have an important announcement from the Royal Family regarding the Spring Equinox, would you like me to read it out to you?” He asked politely standing stiffly, he seemed slightly awkward as if it was his first time bringing letters to people especially ones from the Royal Family.

“No, it is quite alright, I can read it myself, thank you though!” You smiled softly bringing your hand out to retrieve the letter, he handed it to you with a smile clearly comforted by your simple kindness.

Closing your door you opened the letter carefully sliding out the fancy parchment paper reading the beautiful cursive writing:

To Name Lastname,

The Royal Family requests that you make the flower arrangements for the upcoming ball…

You skimmed over the rest of the letter, reading the requirements of what you were expected to prepare, thinking of the number of flowers you would need to order if you were to do this on time, placing the letter in your leather satchel you made quick work of your journey to your shop.

After opening up shop you busied yourself with orders and customers, wrapping up bouquets and arrangements until the door slammed open rather aggressively and there stood Leonidas in all his glory. He grinned at you with his signature smile looking as jovial as ever taking long strides towards where you were currently putting out pre-arranged flowers.   

“Good morning my dear Name!” He greeted, you always wondered how he was always such a pleasant person with a personality like sunshine incarnate and whilst you knew him as being an extremely bubbly and excitable man others knew him as the picture perfect prince of the Iridesiah. He was loved by everyone, nobles and working class people alike, he treated everyone with the same level of respect and that in return earned them his respect.

“Good morning to you too Leonidas, anything you were looking for in particular?” You asked politely continuing with putting out the pre-arranged bouquets.

“Oh, nothing much really,” he replied nonchalantly, “do you want some help with that?” Although he’d asked Leonidas had already started picking up the arrangements casually walking over to the right places.

You sighed shaking your head, “you really should not be helping, you are a prince you should not be doing work like this.”

The dark haired prince laughed looking back at you, “this is not even hard labour, it is literally nothing and besides it is not like you are forcing me to do anything, I enjoy helping you out.” The bright coloured bouquets were put onto display carefully as to not mess up the arrangement, you were quite the perfectionist after all.

Leonidas stared at you for a moment as you were focused on making everything perfect, he knew how hard you had worked to keep the reputation of the shop as high as it was and by just looking at your concentrated face, he remembered what he came to tell you.

“Name, I remembered what I wanted to tell you.” He blurted out, cursing himself for it he was a prince for Christ’s sake he should be used to talking by now.

Looking over at him with a relaxed expression, you smiled as if asking him to continue what he was going to say, it was a soft smile that seemed so genuine and free quite unlike the fake smiles he was surrounded with on a day to day basis. It was a nice change, a welcomed change.

“Ah yes well, you probably received the letter this morning if I am correct, but I wanted to personally invite you to the Equinox Ball. I just feel that since you are making the arrangements you should come and you are my friend after all, so I would very much appreciate it if you were there.” He rambled, words just kept tumbling from his tongue and he wasn’t quite sure why, maybe he was nervous? That’s what he assumed it was, but he found it rather strange that a human was making him feel this way, but he brushed it off simply choosing to smile bashfully at you instead.

Your mouth fell open into a soft ‘o’ shape, you would’ve dropped the flowers if it weren’t for Leonidas who caught them quickly before they hit the ground, you took a second to compose yourself blinking blankly for a few seconds.

“Oh dear! I am ever so sorry about this!” You exclaimed, a flustered look on your face avoiding eye contact with the prince in front you, “I was just very shocked that you invited me, I did not realize commoners were allowed to attend.”

He chuckled at your flustered countenance, “well there is an exception for you.”

“Me?” He laughed at your response and the incredulous expression that indicated how very confused by his actions you were, which greatly amused the young prince.

“Yes, you, and before you start worrying about what you are going to wear and such, I have already arranged it for you, I want you to enjoy yourself whilst you are there and not worry what you look like.” He reassured sending you that famous smile that brought men and women alike to their knees.

“You may even find a partner.” He teased subtly his smile changing to a stupid goofy grin, one that never failed to make you laugh. You tilted your head at him trying to scold him quietly with an unimpressed expression but failed miserably after falling into a fit of giggles.

Still laughing you grinned at him with an equally goofy smile, “you know I’m not interested in finding a partner just yet, my shop is my priority.”

His smile grew softer, he knew that your answer to the question of finding a partner has always been that your shop was your priority but at least he knew you would be attending the ball. Leonidas was just glad you had agreed and whilst you may not believe it, he treasured your friendship greatly.

“It seems my time is up Name, if I do not go back soon, they will send a search party out for me and I am not sure if I want to deal with that today. I also wanted to mention that when you bring the flowers to the place on the morning of the Equinox, I will meet you at the front and personally take you to the room you will be staying in. So, make sure to pack a bag of things you think you will need, is that okay?” He asked, he knew you would panic if he didn’t tell you what was going to happen, you liked being able to plan.

You nodded excitedly a huge grin stuck to your pretty face, “thank you so much! I cannot wait!”

With that he gave a parting smile and made his way out of your shop with a ding.

❥ ❥ ❥

IT WAS FINALLY the day; the day of the Spring Equinox Ball and you weren't quite sure if you were terrified or excited perhaps it was a bit of both. You had packaged up all of the arrangements the day before ready to be loaded onto a cart you’d borrowed from your kind neighbour; you liked to be prepared in situations like this so you'd already sent some of the larger pieces off since they were a bit trickier to transport.

As you readied to leave you picked up your trust leather satchel filled with everything you might possibly need. You began to think of what kind of dress Leonidas had decided on and yet you weren't worried, you knew you would love it especially because he’d picked it out. He had pretty good style he was a prince after all, so she trusted him on that front especially considering the fact she knew that he often helped his sister pick dresses for ball's quite like this. You had learned a lot about him that day, you smiled thinking back on it seeing how far your friendship had come since the day you first met when you hid him in your shop away from prying eyes.

It didn’t take long for you to reach your shop where your neighbour was already waiting outside sitting atop his cart accompanied by his two horses, “Good morning, young lady!”

“Good morning Henry! Thank you for agreeing to help me transport this all to the palace, I know it is quite a big job, so I apologize in advance.” You said bashfully turning towards the shop where you unlocked the multiple locks on the door.

“It is no problem at all! In fact, I would say it is an honour, it is not every day a man gets to say he went to the royal palace!” He exclaimed ruffling his hair as if it were nervous reaction before putting his cap back on.

You smiled in response as he jumped off the cart seat and walked towards you as you both began loading the boxes carefully onto the back of the cart until there was nothing left, securing the cart safely as you did so. Before you departed you made sure to add a quick sign to the window stating that the shop would not be open for the next two days, you hopped back onto the cart and went on your merry way through town chatting pleasantly with Henry.

It was safe to say that the palace was a particularly splendid sight one that never failed to amaze you no matter how many times you saw it, you especially liked the woods that surrounded it, to you, it only added to its mystical charm.

Once you had arrived the footmen began unloading the boxes, “please be careful with them, they are rather fragile!” You warned.

They simply smiled at you, “we know, my lady.”

You felt yourself stiffen in embarrassment, you weren't used to being referred as ‘my lady’, you could hear Leonidas laughing at. He walked down the stairs with the air of elegance and regality, “thank you, Henry for helping Name get here, it is greatly appreciated.”

Henry blushed a bright red and avoided the gaze of the prince, “why thank you, your highness! I- I will be on my way!” He spluttered, still reeling from shock at the fact that the Prince of Iridesiah knew his name.

Leonidas turned his gaze back to you, throwing a teasing smile your way, “you are early, my lady.”

You glared at your friend trying to mask the fact that you were embarrassed and yet failing miserably, “a lady must always be prepared.” You countered with a sarcastic smile.

He laughed jovially at your quick quip, “come on now I am sure you are wondering where your room is and what you will be wearing, I can assure you that you will be the bell of the ball. My younger sister even helped me pick out your dress, I believe she has come by your shop a few times in disguise, she’s dramatic like that.”

“She has come to my shop before??” You asked in disbelief, how had you not recognized her, one of the most beautiful and intelligent women in all of Iridesiah.

“How on earth did I not notice?”

Leonidas turned to you with an amused smile, “did you forget, my sister is as smart as she is beautiful.”

And with that the Prince turned on his heel beckoning you to follow him up the grand marble staircase of the palace, you’d never actually been this far inside of the palace, and you found yourself awestruck at the beauty and artistry of its architecture. The paintings depicting scenes from famous battles and monumental moments in history, it was stunning, and knowing you had the luxury to be in the vicinity of artwork that would surely be known throughout history was truly a delight. It shocked you how stunning the artwork was on the ceiling, on the ceiling of all places! You supposed it was to showcase their riches being able to put something in such a place as the ceiling, a strange thing to do you thought. The candelabras holding the soft yellowy light only helped add to the mystical, expensive atmosphere, you didn't think you would ever get used to being in such an expensive place.

“Are you coming, Name? we don’t have all day.” You were broken form your stupor by the unmistaken teasing voice of Leonidas.

“Ah, terribly sorry!” You apologized picking up your skirt and running up the stairs to catch up to your friend.

The two of you walked side by side down the hallways with the soft light of the candelabras to guide the way until you finally made it to your destination.

Leonidas opened the door and gestured for you to walk in, “so this is room where you will be staying the night and this lovely lady right here is Tiana, she will be helping with your hair and makeup to get ready for the ball. One of the footmen who you have met before, his name is Tom if I remember correctly, will be escorting you and showing you the way to the ball. I look forward to seeing you in that dress, try to enjoy yourself tonight.”

“Thank you, Leo, I really appreciate you doing this for me.” You thanked sending him a sincere smile.

With his hand on the door, he turned to look at your smaller form, “you need not thank me, it is what friends are for, is it not?” You did not even get the chance to reply for he had already left the room and disappeared into the confusing corridors.

With a huff you turned to Tiana with a smile, “I suppose we should get to know each other, I am Name, but you probably already knew that.” You ended with a light frown realizing your mistake in introducing yourself.

Tiana chuckled lightly, “yes, I did already know that my lady, but it is nice for you to introduce yourself regardless. Anyway, it is probably smart if we start getting you ready, I have prepared you a bath. Do you need any assistance?”

“No thank you, it is quite alright, I will be quick!” You smiled before being ushered into the bathroom where you closed the door and began to strip off your garments and dipped into the warm water of the bath letting out a sigh as you felt your tense muscles relax. Although the feeling of the warm water cascading down your back and hair was soothing, you knew you couldn’t enjoy it for any longer than necessary; you had to get ready after all and lord knows how long that would take.

You wrapped yourself in a fluffy towel and started to rummage around in your bag to find your undergarments before making your way out of the large bathroom and into the main room to find Tiana setting up hair products and makeup on the vanity.

The small woman’s head popped up as she heard the door open with a smile, “perfect, you came out just in time! Take a seat, let us get started on your hair, is there anything you want in particular?”

“No, do whatever you want, I am sure it will look amazing.” A huge smile grew on Tiana’s face as she clapped her hands excitedly and went to find the products, she needed to make this transformation possible. She began by adding many different products to her hair that you had never even head of and styled and dried your hair into a style she thought appropriate.

Tiana smiled as she looked at her handywork before starting on your makeup, she gathered her brushes as she brushed some kind of skin coloured liquid underneath your eyes and atop other imperfections you may or may not have had, blending it in until it looked like flawless skin. She picked up various other tools ranging in sizes colours and shape and began to paint with you as her blank canvas. Tiana added the finished touches and took a step back to admire her hard work.

“You look absolutely stunning my lady, you actually look like a fairy with this ethereal look you have going on.” She praised holding her cheeks as she stared at her handywork.

You stared at the person staring back at you in the mirror, gingerly touching your face noticing your skin glowing and eyelashes longer and darker, your eyebrows more tamed and shaped, and the glossy colour on your lips.

“Thank you so much Tiana! I look like a new woman, a beautiful one at that!” You exclaimed, smiling brightly at the blushing maid.

“Oh, I haven’t done much my lady, I just enhanced the beauty that was already there.” She stated smiling back, staring into the captivating eyes of the woman before her, Tiana quickly turned on her feet to open the closet door across the room. “Ah let us not dilly dally any longer and get you into this beautiful dress, I am sure you are just itching to see it!”

The closet doors swung open to reveal a gorgeous flowy peach coloured dress, Tiana gathered the fabric in her arms as she made her way over the vanity where you stood, “shall we get you into this dress then? I must admit I cannot wait to see you in it.”

You looked away in embarrassment at such an honest compliment and allowed her to help you put on the garment. When you were all fitted into the dress you looked into the mirror in awe as you saw how the fabric draped and fell perfectly over your body, it was elegant and beautiful something fit for a princess or at least someone with too much money to spare. It fit like a glove, and you weren't sure if you’d ever felt so beautiful in your entire life. You looked like an ethereal being with the way the tulle like fabric fell from the bodice and sleeves of her arms to meet at her wrists. Her hands smoothed over the bodice enjoying the feeling of the fabric beneath her fingertips and the texture of the flower embroidery spanning the bodice.

The two of you stood in awe until Tiana broke the silence, “oh my goodness me! You look absolutely stunning; dare I say like a goddess! You are surely going to steal the show tonight, my lady, there is no doubt you will be the bell of the ball. The royal siblings did a great job in picking out this dress.”

There was a pause before Tiana realised that she had been rambling as a blush rose to her cheeks, “a-anyway! We have to add the finishing touches before Tom gets here, you cannot be late!”

She hurried around the room picking up miscellaneous items and presenting them to you and asking you whether you liked them or not until you ended up deciding on a simple pearl choker necklace with matching earrings and some simple heeled shoes.

There was a knock at the door to reveal the tall footman, Tom, “good evening my lady, my name is Tom, and I am to be escorting you to the ball.”

Just as you were about to leave Tiana shouted at you to stop as she ran over to you with a beautiful flower crown with soft coloured carnations and hydrangeas to match the dress and a ribbon keeping it all attached.

“This will look beautiful on you my lady, may I put it on for you?” She asked with a sheepish smile.

“Of course, Tiana, I just wanted to say thank you for making me look so beautiful I really appreciate it.” You thanked with grateful smile to which the smaller woman placed the crown atop your head, careful not mess up her previous handy work before standing back with a pleased smile.

“Perfect! Listen to the Prince's words, try to enjoy yourself.” You thanked Tiana again as you turned away to follow her escort.

He offered his arm and off they went down the corridor towards the music and loud chatter, you just hoped you were prepared enough for the onslaught of rich nobles and royal families.

❥ ❥ ❥

YOU HAD NEVER been this nervous in your life, you felt like a baby deer on ice trying not to lose your footing not to mention the fact that you weren't used to walking in shoes like the ones you had been given. Your fists clenched into the fabric of Tom’s jacket in a way of grounding yourself; you’d never been to any ball as extravagant as this one, it was expensive, it was fancy, and it was full of important people. Important people that could ruin your life if you even so much as spoke to them wrong. You had no idea how you were supposed to act, you'd never had any sort of etiquette lessons, and you’d never needed them either! All you had going for you was that you might look the part and that hopefully you could just get away with just standing in a corner by yourself, preferably a corner where the food was, without having to interact with anyone whom you might offend.

“My Lady, are you feeling alright? You look quite nervous, is there anything I can do to help?” Came the comforting voice of the man accompanying you.

“Ah, thank you for asking but I am just nervous, I worry about offending people and not being fancy enough for everyone around here, they all have so much money and I am just a florist. I do not know how I am supposed to act, and it just makes me a bit nervous is all, I am not even quite sure why I agreed to come here anyway, it is not really my kind of thing. But I am here, and I might as well get on with it.” She rambled clenching and unclenching her fist in Tom’s jacket, gesturing wildly with her free arm ending with a sigh.

He stopped in front of the massive door leading to the ballroom and turned you to face him, “I understand you are nervous, my lady but, you must not worry so much, not all of the nobles and the rich who are attending this ball are crazy and obsessed with etiquette, some of them are rather humble people. You should just be yourself; you are a beautiful woman with an excellent personality to match, they will like you I can assure you of that, just flash them that smile of yours and you should be fine.”

You looked up at him with a big smile, his impromptu speech had comforted you immensely, you threw your arms around him and hugged him, “thank you so much Tom! You are ever so kind, thank you again for making me feel better I really do appreciate it, hopefully after tonight I will see you some time soon. You could come to my flower shop, bouquets and plants would be on the house.”

He laughed at your sudden change of energy, “I will take you up on your offer, my lady, now let us get going as I am sure you do not want to be late.”

With that the massive mahogany doors were pushed open to reveal the ballroom packed with people wither dancing or chattering away. Name was blown away everyone looked amazing, the women wearing dresses of beautiful bright colours and that fit them in a way that showed of all of their assets; the men looking smart and sophisticated in their suits and formal wear. Everyone was dressed differently, and they all looked absolutely stunning, Name couldn’t help but feel slightly self-conscious but reminded herself, fake it till you make it.

Tom’s breath was warm on your ear as he whispered his parting words, “this is where we part ways, my lady, I will around if you need me. Enjoy yourself.”

It wasn’t long before you were alone again, trying not to look too out of place as you stood rather awkwardly in the corner of the room, so much for being sociable. You leaned against the wall and observed everyone around her, they were all clearly having fun and wore expensive clothes but what did you expect they were all nobles. You shook your head, you needed to stop being so judgmental, besides you were also wearing expensive clothes, you might even be able to fit in considering the garment you were wearing. However, there was one thing you noticed, nobody was really wearing any light pale colours like yourself, the room was filled with brightly coloured fabrics and fabrics so dark they rivalled even the darkest of nights. Nothing like anything you were wearing, you cursed Leonidas for making you stand out, you supposed it must be so he could easily spot you.

At that point you were in a world of her own and although you were looking at your surroundings, you weren't at all focused on it until you were broken from your panicked thoughts by a honeyed voice you knew all too well, Alvara.

“What a surprise seeing you here my dear, I did not realise they invited people who are not of noble stature.” You did not mean to stare but in that moment Alvara radiated power and beauty in fact she was the epitome of it, and you were completely and utterly mesmerised. Her dress was jet black and contrasted against her pale almost white looking skin, the dress was floor length and fit her body like a glove, the deep V of the dress was bold maybe even scandalous, but she was Alvara Fox, and she could do whatever she wanted. Decorating her neck was an intricate gold choker with smaller chains attached to it falling from her neck and across her shoulder and collarbone to attach to the gold shoulder pads giving her a more structed look. She looked powerful, strong, confident and although you hated to admit it, you found her extremely attractive in that moment.

“What is with all of this staring my love? Do you like what you see?” She teased hoping to see that face you always made when you got flustered.

“I- uh, I deeply apologise my lady! I did not mean to star you just look... really nice tonight.” You hoped you did not sound as bashful as you felt and avoided eye contact with the stunning woman stood before you.

Alvara let out a loud laugh, a brilliant smile gracing her perfect face, “you are simply adorable! I am glad you think I look nice; I happen to think you look ravishing.”

You felt your face grow hot as you tried not to let your flustered expression show, “uh, I think I just heard somebody say my name, I will- I will speak to you later.”

You quickly turned on your heel and sped away trying to avoid any more conversations with your beautiful but pesky customer, all you wanted to do was eat and be ignored the entire time, but Alvara had different plans as she gripped your wrist in a tight grip pulling you back, so you fell into her cold embrace.  

“Whoever is calling your name can wait. I am much more important than they are besides, I thought I told you to refer to me as Alvara, especially if we are to be lovers one day.” At this declaration your mouth fell open into an ‘o’ shape not expecting such a bold statement even if you probably should have seen it coming considering the last conversation you had with the infamous Alvara Fox.

“Lovers? “You spluttered, “but I have never agreed to such a thing-!”

A slender finger was placed upon your lips silencing her, “you do not have to agree to anything, my love, we will be lovers one day. Mark my words. Why should we wait, I am a rather impatient woman and you of all people should know, be mine?”

You looked up at the taller woman and saw the twisted adoration in her eyes, those beautiful soulless eyes holding only an iciness that sent shivers down your spine, everything was telling you to say no, to reject this woman. Despite the love, or some sick version of it, that her eyes displayed you knew something was not right, something was very inhuman about Alvara and quite frankly, it scared you. You had come to the conclusion that realised that although you found her attractive you knew a relationship with her would never work because you would always feel like the prey and her the predator.  

Name diverted her eyes hating the eye contact she had just been subjected to before taking a deep breath and pushing herself out of the strangely cold woman’s embrace, “I am terribly sorry My Lady, but I cannot except your offer. I am not looking for any sort of relationship in that sense, I want to focus on my shop and my career, hopefully you will understand.” As she turned away from Alvara she grabbed her wrist once again eyes swirling with determination and annoyance holding an expression which struck fear into Name’s heart.

“I thought I told you to call me Alvara.”

“I apologise, but no I will not. You are my customer, and we will have a professional relationship, now if you don’t mind, I’m going to eat some cake.” You smiled politely shaking your wrist out of Alvara’s firm grasp and walking away confidently feeling very proud for finally standing up for yourself.

Holding a fancy plate of cake and a fork in your other hand, you escaped to the massive windows overlooking a beautiful landscape that you knew was there but couldn’t see because of the darkness that had prevailed. Yet despite not being able to see much you continued to stare out the window eating your cake imagining what could be there completely lost in thought, you placed the now empty plate on a nearby table and went back to your previous station situated at the windows. You were playing with the sleeve of your dress staring out into the dark abyss when a horrible feeling washed over you, like something absolutely awful was going to happen, you suddenly regretted eating all that cake as found yourself unable to pull yourself away from the window until you saw something, something awfully similar to a pair of red eyes…

And, in that moment, all chaos broke loose.

A piercing scream escaped your throat as the massive windows shattered by the brute force of something crashing through it, the glass left cuts all over your exposed skin as you lay in a heap.

People were screaming, shouting, doing anything they could to get out of the room safely. You lay there in a daze as you wondered if those really were red eyes you saw until you felt a crushing weight atop of you, your eyes lazily blinked open to see a man… or what you thought was a man grinning down at her with a sleazy look on his face.

“You smell reaaaal nice, I could just eat you up!” You stared at him in horror as he laughed like he’d made a hilarious joke, and it was in that moment that you realised his eyes were red and not a figment of her imagination.

“What- what are you?”

“Your worst nightmare, sweetheart.” He continued to laugh as you began to struggle in his unmoving grip, panic tightening like a noose around your throat, “no use in struggling, you are going to die anyway, angelface.” He continued to laugh maniacally as he leaned down to nose around your neck as if he were looking for something.

Tears began to fill your eyes as you continued to fruitlessly struggle until there was a blinding pain in your neck, you screamed once again this time filled with pure agonising pain. It felt like he was tearing at your neck and draining all the blood and energy from your body. You writhed in pain it was the kind of pain that was searing hot and although it was in one spot, you could feel it in your entire body, it was unbearable. You screamed as much as your voice would allow, fighting back as much as you could, trying to rid the burning sensation, scratching and clawing at anything you could. You could feel yourself growing weak, and you knew you didn’t have much time left. But if one thing was for sure, it was that you were not a quitter, and you weren't going to go down without a fight.

Just when you thought your time had come the crushing weight of the man on top of you was lifted off. You cracked open your eyes to see Alvara, she looked positively feral snarling at the man.

Everything was fuzzy and you couldn’t comprehend what was happening with everything sounding like it was underwater, the pain in your neck had become a dull ache at this point. You were trying so hard to keep your eyes open, but everything hurt, everything was just too much.

“Name!” a familiar voice shouted, “Name do not dare close your eyes, okay? Eyes on me.” He sounded desperate and you opened your eyes again to see Leonidas to which you smiled to the best of your abilities, but it probably looked more like a grimace.

You moved a shaky hand to touch the wound at your neck but was stopped by your friend, “don’t touch it, you’ll make it worse.” You knew he said something afterwards, but you couldn’t hear it. Your eyes began to close as the cold grasping at your mind whispered for you to welcome the darkness as you heard distant shouts for you to open your eyes.

Leonidas swore as he saw the damage done to you, blood was everywhere, it still wet all over your neck and shoulders. It took all of his strength to not to lap up the blood on your neck, but he has self-control unlike those other vampires who didn’t even deserve the title of vampire. He breathed in heavily trying to keep his composure as he gathered your limp body in his strong arms not even bothering to check on anyone else as he ran out of the room taking you to safety, he just hoped he had gotten there in time.

Meanwhile, Alvara was torturing the man who had dared lay a finger on her future wife, she was straddling the man punching at his face again and again blood painting her fist a beautiful shade of red, leaving the man a bloody mess and yet he continued to laugh.

“You sure are a feral one.” He continued to laugh coughing up blood as he did so.

“If you think this is feral you haven’t seen anything yet, you may think I am going to kill you but no, I will keep you alive and bring to you to the cusp of death just to do it all over again." she laughed humorously not breaking eye contact with the man below her.

"I am going to remove your teeth one by one, cut every inch of body. I'm going to burn your fucking flesh off I might even cut your tongue off. And that is not even beginning to scrape the surface of what I am going to do you.” She snarled; her eyes wild showing the true meaning of feral. He stared at her his laughter stopping as he truly understood what kind of situation he was in, he messed with the wrong vampire, and he would pay for it with his life.

❥ ❥ ❥

PAIN. BLINDING PAIN. Why did everything hurt so much, why was everything so overwhelming? Opening your eyes hurt, everything was so bright, it was as if your eyesight had miraculously improved to a scary degree. There was a strong flowery scent wafting through the air, it made you cough and your eyes water, why was it so strong and why was it affecting you so much? Something was very, very wrong and you could hardly remember what had happened the previous night not to mention the fact that you were in a bed that you had never seen before.

What the hell happened last night?

With all these questions and the fogginess in your brain, you pushed your weak body up into a sitting position instantly feeling a pain in your shoulder and neck. You hadn’t realised how weak you felt until your hand was shakily reaching for the junction between your shoulder and neck, there was a thick gauzy bandage over the area and just ghosting your fingers over it hurt like hell.

“Name?”

Your head shot up at the sound of your name, it was Leonidas, you instantly relaxed and a soft smile found its way to your face.

The prince rushed towards you checking over your entire body in a frantic frenzy, “you should not be sitting up, Name, you lost a lot of blood last night.” He pushed you back gently, so she rested against the mass of pillows behind her, a soft frown marring his usual smiley exterior.

“Yes… what happened last night Leon? I can hardly remember a thing; my brain is just so foggy.” You rubbed at your head hoping it would help you remember something, anything, but all it did was trigger a shock of pain through your shoulder.

He looked sad, terribly, terribly sad.

“I am not sure if you are ready to hear it.” He said solemnly.

“I want to know, Leon, please just tell me. I will only worry more if I have no idea what happened to me.”

He avoided eye contact looking at everything in the room but you as if he was mentally preparing himself for what he was about to explain, it made you worry even more seeing your usually composed friend look so anxious making your mind wander to the worst possible case scenario.

Leonidas took a deep breath and finally looked at you, “Okay, what I am about to tell you is going to sound absolutely insane, but you have to hear me out, do you understand?” You looked at him intently and nodded.

“Well starting off with what happened last night, you were attacked which I am sure is quite obvious, but you were attacked by a group of individuals who…” he paused for a moment as if trying to think of what to say next, “disagree with the crown and my family. Which I suppose does not explain much but I promise I will get there.”

He adjusted himself and sat closer to you and it was in that moment that you knew he was going to get to the crazy part of the situation in which he feared the kind of reaction you might have.

“I am sure you have heard of vampires before and how they are nothing but stories to keep children from going out late at night. But to put it bluntly, vampires are not just a myth or a story, they are real beings that live among us in society.”

“Are you serious? You have got to be joking, how would I not know about this if it is even true that is, I mean surely you are just messing with me, right… right?” Your words coming out of your mouth in a rapid pace, voice trembling as you looked at your friend with wide eyes full of even more questions at this massive revelation that you didn’t even entirely believe.

Leonidas took a deep breath looking at you with pity for he knew this was hard to believe,

“Sadly, I am not joking, I wish I was but, Vampires have been around for a very long time well before you and me. They helped create the system we live in today and to keep the humans who live in and around the towns safe from other creatures that wish them harm. The Royal family are the oldest vampire family in all of Iridesiah and we were tasked with taking care of our fellow vampire and human counterparts thousands and thousands of years ago. What I am saying is that I am a vampire, my entire family are, as well as pretty much the entire court. Which I know must sound crazy and a lot to take in and I sincerely apologize that this has happened to you Name, all I wanted was for you to live your life in peace without knowing.”

You gaped at your friend processing all of the information you had just been given, it was almost too much for your scrambled brain, “so you are a vampire? What- what about the people that attacked me, are they humans, vampires or whatever else they possibly could be?”

“Yes, I am a vampire and the man from that group who attacked you was also a vampire, we call his specific type a rogue as they don’t believe in protecting humans and think that the monarchy should be abolished so they can take over in our place.” He explained.

“I was bitten by that- that rogue...? Does that- does that mean I am going to become a vampire?” Tears welled up in your eyes threatening to fall down your face, what did this mean for you and your flower shop?

Leonidas put his hand atop your own and directed a soft look your way, “you were bitten by the rogue, yes, but we are not sure whether you will turn yet or not, your case is different to anything we have ever seen before and even our best doctors are not quite sure what is happening. I know must be horrible to hear but you are in good hands I can assure you and I will be here every step of the way; I promise.”

At his words the dam holding your tears back finally broke as your body shook with soul wrenching sobs, to which Leonidas immediately got up from his position beside your bed and pulled you into his embrace letting you cry it out.

❥ ❥ ❥

THEY STILL DIDN’T know what actually happened to you, just that you weren’t a vampire, but that you weren’t a human either. They ended up deciding that you were a hybrid of vampire and human where whilst you did need blood to survive, you didn’t have to rely on it and could eat normal food and gain nutrients from it unlike actual vampires.

Lost in your own thoughts arranging flowers and unpacking supplies you hadn’t even noticed a new presence in the shop.

“Hello there, darling Name.”

You nearly jumped out of your skin at the sensual voice you knew all too well, “Alvara! Oh, my goodness, you scared the life out of me.” You placed your hand on your chest hoping to calm your racing heart, you huffed trying to fix your frazzled composure.

“So, what exactly brings you here? Flowers or just companionship?” You teased, hand on hip as you sent a smile Alvara’s way.

She looked a bit thrown by the teasing of your usually flustered self, but she quickly caught her composure and smirked back, “since when did you get so flirtatious, my darling? I like it.” The sensual tone and intense gaze made you immediately melt, you turned away quickly pressing your cool hands against your face hoping to cool it down.

Alvara let out a melodious giggle at her darling’s reaction, “but to answer your previous question, I am here for a bit of both, I require some colourful flowers, I trust you to pick out something nice. Besides I have missed our little conversations and more importantly, I have missed you.”

“Oh, that is rather sweet of you to say, uh yes…” You lost your train of thought as you got lost in Alvara’s icy blue eyes and although they unnerved you to an alarming extent, you couldn’t deny how beautiful they were or how there was such an intense pull to her like a moth to a flame.

You snapped back into your thoughts with a shake of your head “anyway! I suppose I should get those flowers for you then.”

Although you tried not to act awkward and flustered Alvara just seemed bring it out of you whenever she opened her pretty pink lips. Why did this woman have such a hold over you, but why did she also scare you? You wondered what it was about Alvara that made you feel this way. You took a deep breath and tried to focus on choosing the perfect set of flowers humming as you walked about the back of the store picking and choosing things as you did, creating an image of how you were going to arrange them in your head.

You came back into the front room trying to avoid eye contact with Alvara for the time being, giving yourself a mental pep talk as you arranged and tied them all up. You huffed proudly looking at your handywork before picking it up and finally looking up to see the amused smirk of Alvara.

“I hope it’s colourful enough for you, I added all of my favourites, so I do hope you like it.” You rambled out with a bashful smile painted across your face.

Alvara leaned forward, so that her hands were pressed up upon the bench that separated them not breaking eye contact for a second. “You really are the cutest little thing I have ever had the pleasure of setting eyes on, my dear Name.” You stood there stiffly, not being able to break your gaze from that intense stare of the vampire in front of you, trying to stutter out a curt and hopefully not awkward thank you.

Alvara finally broke the eye contact with an amused shake of her head, stepping away from the counter and finally allowing you to breathe again.

“I have a proposal; one I have made before but that is beside the point. I do hope that you agree to it, for your sake and mine.” The underlying threat sent a shiver down your spine the kind of shiver that reminded you of the time you first met, goosebumps rose upon your skin as Alvara made slow purposeful steps towards you. “I am sure that you have noticed my fondness for you, my darling, I believe I have made it quite obvious and although I do realize that you have rejected me before I am not the kind of woman who takes no for an answer especially when it concerns something that I want. So, I would like to propose the idea of you being mine. Which I know is quite blunt, but you see, I have been alone for a very long time, most of my existence in fact and whilst I have chosen the life of solitude I long for a partner whom I can spend the rest of my life with.”

You wanted to move, to get away, but your limbs would not comply, it was as if Alvara’s icy cold stare had you frozen, the anticipation of the woman approaching you had the hair on the back of your neck rising. It wasn’t long before you were face to face, closer than you would’ve liked. Alvara smiled as she laid her cold hand atop your face stroking it in such a loving way it startled you.

“I know that you are aware of my power within the kingdom and that I am a ruthless woman but do not let that scare you, my darling, because I can assure you that I would be the most generous lover, a lover who would protect and treasure you, treat you exactly how deserve to be treated. So, I ask you again, be mine?” Her voice held such a sense of power and conviction that it made you want to agree, but you were hesitant, something was telling you that something was not quite right here, as it always had. There was a danger, a warning, in her words. It was possessive and quite frankly terrifying, a feeling that you often felt around the ice-cold woman, nothing of a warmth and security that you associated with love.

The fear snapped you out of your frozen stupor as you pulled Alvara’s hand off of your cheek and took a step back, creating a much-needed distance between them. “I am terribly sorry, Alvara, but I just cannot accept your invitation. You are a lovely woman, and anyone would be lucky to have you as a partner, but I am not your person, I am not your future lover. I have told you before that I am not interested and, sadly, that has not changed. I am simply just not interested in any kind of relationship; my flower shop means too much to me and I would much rather focus on that. I hope you understand, but I think you need to leave now.”

A dark shadow fell across the woman’s face, your blood went cold as you saw the change of expression and suddenly you felt that you were in great danger.

“You really are a funny one, Name, you really think that you can say no to me, I told you I do not take no for an answer. You will accept me because if I can’t have you no one can.” Her voice was level and calm, but it did not hide the cold anger it held as she closed the distance between you.  “That little speech of yours will not deter me, my love, I always get what I want.” Alvara tugged you closer to her as a strong arm curled around your waist and a hand gripping the back of your neck as she pulled her darling into an aggressive yet passionate kiss. You tried in vain to pull away from the bruising kiss, but Alvara would not budge instead deepening the kiss much to your dismay biting the lips of your aggressor in hopes of pulling the leech off of you.

Alvara pulled away, blood smeared on her bottom lip as she laughed cruelly, “you really are full of surprises, oh god I love it when you squirm in my arms.” She giggled intensely as she licked away the blood on her lips keeping that dreaded eye contact with the object of her twisted affections.

“Get out of my fucking shop.” You heaved, huffing with unrestrained anger.

She put her hands up in mock surrender, “now, now, darling, I think you should take a deep breath.”

“Shut up, just shut up.”

“Mm, I like this feisty side of you, Name.” She purred, starting to take a step closer to but you decided enough was enough and armed yourself with a sturdy wooden bat.

“I will not say it again, get out of my fucking shop.” Your voice was hard and red hot with anger.

Alvara hung her head and chuckled quietly, “I will leave but only because you asked me so nicely.”

You did not reply instead choosing to stare the vampire down, not putting your weapon down until Alvara had left and that you were sure you were safe. The wooden bat fell to the ground with loud clutter as the dams broke and loud sobs fell from your lips, you covered your mouth and cried and cried. Emotions of anger, fear and disgust clouding your mind. You found yourself curled on the floor hugging your body close in a way to comfort your broken psyche, you really should’ve listened to yourself when you thought that Alvara was bad news, but it was too late now.

❥ ❥ ❥

THAT DAY WAS only the start of your personal hell. After what felt like years of torment from a particularly icy woman you had decided to move away from Iridesiah and although Leonidas had told you he could protect you, you both knew that Alvara was a powerful woman, she had said so herself, and that she would not go down so easily.

You had taken to moving around every 10 years or so which in grand scheme of how long a vampire lives for, is a very short of time. All you wanted was a simple peaceful life where you could have a flower shop quite like the one, you had before all of this madness, and so the cycle of running and hiding began.

It was starting to become tiring this whole running thing, you had no place to call home, no constant in your life because of that god forsaken woman. Yet despite this you always managed to get away, again and again, you slipped through the cracks. Although you were constantly being hunted, long ago you had decided that you wouldn’t let that stop you from doing what you wanted and going where you wanted. You were your own person, and you wouldn’t let Alvara dictate her life, not now and hopefully not ever.

Looking out the window, you observed the miles and miles of lush green that surrounded your temporary abode, it was most certainly your favourite place you’d ever lived, surrounded by nature and flowers was where you belonged. Sure, you missed the company of others, but you couldn’t have any sort of partner, platonic or not, for you did not want to subject them to this life, a life where their every waking moment could be their last. You’d learnt that the hard way, when Alvara said if she couldn’t have you no one could, she sure as hell meant it.

You sipped from your mug of piping hot tea curling up into a ball as you thought about the past, about the woman who claimed to love you.

It had been a long time since you’d been around so many people, it was a slightly odd feeling but one that you found that you’d missed. The loud chatter of people all around you was comforting, you were truly enjoying yourself, listening to the street music and dancing around with the locals, it had been a long time since you’d felt peace like this. If only every day you could be surrounded by people who held such warmth and kindness to them, the rich scent of food only added to your sense of peace and comfort.

Walking around the market stalls and trying new food, talking to new people, and looking at all they had to offer felt like a dream, it was truly the best day you’d had in a long time, if only it could last forever. But alas, that was not the way things were planned, they never stayed peaceful for long, not when a certain someone was watching your every move.  

“That necklace would look so pretty around your throat, my dear.”

Your whole body went stiff. Every fibre of your being screamed for help, screamed for you to run, for you to get away from the very person whose body was wrapped around your own, pulling you away from the crowd and into an isolated alleyway.

Alvara placed a kissed upon your neck hugging your smaller body to her own, “you have no idea how much I’ve missed you, your body, your scent, everything about you.” Her face was buried into your neck, placing kisses all upon your neck and shoulder, laving her tongue over the supple skin.

That very action caused you to break out of her terrified stupor, you jerked your elbow back into Alvara, catching her off guard so that her tight grip around your waist loosened, and you were free to escape.

You gasped for air as you felt life being breathed back into your veins, you felt the need to run, to escape, it was the only thing on your mind, a one-track thought.

You raced through the streets, stumbling, and pushing past people left, right and centre, you didn’t have time to feel sorry for the people you were pushing past, for you could not be caught by Alvara. A woman so determined, so ruthless, that if you were ever truly caught, you would never have the chance to escape again. You knew Alvara was hot on your tail, she was a general for a reason.

You came to set of stone steps, you didn’t know where they led but you didn't have the luxury of time to think or plan or anything for that matter all you could do was run and hope for an escape route to appear. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and you didn’t know how much longer you could run for, you hoped that these stairs would lead to an escape one where Alvara could not follow.

Vines and trees pulled at your clothes tearing your skirt and shirt in the process, drawing your precious blood, you heard a snarl behind you that was unmistakably Alvara’s, you forced your tired limbs to move faster with the mantra of don’t look back, don’t look back, running through your head. Escape was the only option, you could do it, you’d done it before, this time wasn’t any different. Yet the cold grip of fear had set it’s sights on you and you couldn’t help but wonder if this time would be different, what if Alvara managed to catch you this time because surely she wouldn’t let you go, she’d been chasing you for this long why would she stop now.

You tried not to let these thoughts take control you had to focus on getting away, on getting home, or rather the place you’d fortified to keep yourself safe from Alvara. Until you came to a stumbling holt, beholding the cliff face with such a drop you felt her stomach churning at the sight alone. A dead end, the only way you could get away would be to jump, a terrifying feat but one you would make to escape the woman coming up behind you.

“There’s nowhere left to go Name. Give up won’t you, I’m beginning to tire of our little game.” Her voice was raised and slightly breathless from the earlier pursuit.

You laughed but there was nothing humourless about this situation, “you think this is a game, this is my life, Alvara, and you won’t let me live it because of your sick fucking fantasies. Accept that I will never be yours, just accept it.” Your voice trembling with barely restrained anger, tears began to well up in your eyes, emotions you didn’t like to feel taking over your body.

“Just- just let me go, Alvara, for the love of God please. Just let me have peace.” Tears fell from your eyes, you were just so tired, voice wobbling with defeat.

“You know I can’t do that Name, dear, you were mine the moment I set eyes on you and my belongings, my possessions, I never let them go. I would never let you go; you mean so much to me-” She moved closer, hoping to catch you off guard.

“That’s fucking bullshit! You don’t love me, you don’t care about me, you just want to own me, and I won’t let you.” You let herself fall backwards, down the side of the cliff and into the deep blue abyss.  

You heard Alvara scream your Name but all you could do was smile, you were successful, you were free, but there was that lingering thought at the back of your mind asking yourself how long you had left? How long could you really keep running?

Today would be a risky day, that much was clear, but you hadn’t seen Leonidas in hundreds of years, and you missed your friend dearly, it had been hard to see each other due to Leonidas’ kingship and your own predicament with Alvara.

You hummed a tune as you dolled yourself up for the event ahead, you arranged your hair and such, pulling on a beautiful silky dress to match. You smoothed the beautiful fabric enjoying the feeling beneath your fingertips, you didn’t know what would happen tonight but all you could hope for was peace, it was the only thing you had ever wanted. You slipped some shoes on and grabbed your bag before making your way out of your beloved home and into the unknown.

❥ ❥ ❥

YOU GRINNED, ENJOYING the company of the people around, enjoying the company of others, a feat you didn’t have the opportunity to enjoy often. The music, the chatter, the noise, it was beautiful, and you felt herself bask in it, you had missed this.

“Name!”

You turned at the warm voice, a voice you had dearly missed, “Leo!” You threw yourself into his welcoming embrace not caring about others who would surely judge you for such a careless action especially one regarding the King of Iridesiah.

“Name, I have truly missed your company, it's wonderful to see you again. How has life been treating you?” He asked pulling away from their tight embrace, hands resting on your arms.

You smiled softly, yet despite its softness it held an overwhelming sadness to it, “you know it’s the same old, same old, running and hiding. But don’t worry about me I can handle it; I’ve handled it for the last few hundred years.”   

His eyes mirrored the sadness in her smile, “I wish I could do more for you Name, I really do, but it really isn’t so simple. If I were to try and protect you, she would overthrow me and that would have disastrous consequences.”

“Oh Leo, of course, I know this, I know you cannot do anything to help. I’m sorry for bringing it up, we should be happy, we should treasure our limited time together.” You wiped the brewing tears from your eyes not letting a single drop fall, this was supposed to be a happy reunion, you should be enjoying yourself.

Leonidas smiled at you placing a comforting hand on your cheek, allowing you to nuzzle into his palm enjoying the moment of affection. “I know something that will cheer you up, how about we get you some cake?” You smiled a beaming smile at the offer, as the two of you talked for hours over cake and other delicacies that were on offer, but soon he would have to leave your side and be the King again, he promised to return later on the evening and left you with a parting hug.

You ended up venturing on towards the ballroom deciding on dancing to the beautiful jazz being played, moving your body to the rhythm letting it take over, relinquishing control to the beautiful symphony.

That was until your peace, your enjoyment was cut short. You felt the cold presence of a woman you knew all too well, her muscled arms snaked their way around your waist, constricting your movement.

“Fancy seeing you here, my dear. Rather bold of you to turn up to an event like this, knowing that I would be here.” She giggled, tracing soft circles onto your exposed flesh, the very flesh she dreamed of biting into.

“I didn’t come here for you, Alvara.” Your voice barely above a whisper.

Alvara spun her darling around, keeping her arm firmly wrapped around your waist, faces mere millimetres from each other, “god I love the way you say my name.” Her voice was desperate and breathy, it was so strange to hear her sound so vulnerable.

She moved her lips towards to your ear, “I would give anything to hear you moan it.”

Your eyes widened by the bold statement, ears burning with embarrassment, you were used to Alvara’s cold nature not this desire-stricken woman before her. It almost seemed as if a dam had broken, as if Alvara had finally had enough, enough of their so-called game.

“Let me go Alvara.” You felt so defeated, so useless, so hopeless. You didn’t know how much longer you could handle these feelings.

She placed her hand upon your face, “you know I cannot do that my darling; you are mine; you will always be mine. I have loved you for hundreds of years and that love has never wavered, in fact, how does the saying go? Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

Tears dripped down your face, revealing a scared darling doe behind, “you don’t love me, you wouldn’t be hurting me if you truly loved me.”

Alvara gripped your face harshly bringing your faces closer together with a snarl, “don’t you dare question my love for you.” Your eyes locked eyes for a few intense seconds before she loosened her grip and wiped the fallen tears away from your face.

“Aren’t you tired? Why must you keep running my dear, when you can just give in. I can give you the love that you desire, I can show you the world's greatest pleasures, I am a generous lover my darling Name. You would want for nothing under my care, you would have a home, a lover, a partner. You would no longer be alone. You don’t have to run anymore, Name. Please, be mine?” She caressed her darling’s face trying to convince you to finally give up and fall into her awaiting grasp.

“Just say yes, that’s all you have to do, Name.”

You stared up into her eyes, lips trembling as you fought to keep your composure. It had been so long since you went on the run, what even was the reason why she couldn’t even learn to love Alvara? You could hardly even put your finger on the exact reason, did you even have a reason? Was it even worth all this pain fighting against a woman who would never quit, a woman who would never stop chasing you even if it was to the ends of the earth? Would it be so bad to give into Alvara? Would it really be that bad? You would finally have peace, a home, a constant in your life.

“Okay.” Your voice was soft, defeated and broken down.

A huge grin grew upon Alvara’s face, “Oh Name, I’m so glad you’ve finally come around. I have been waiting for this moment for too long, you have made the right choice that I can assure you. Let’s go home, I shall take great care of you, I promise.”

With her arm still around your waist she guided you toward the exit, you looked back hesitating for a moment as your met eyes with Leonidas, his own eyes widened filled with shock, fear, worry, but he could do nothing. Even though he was the king, holding all that power still wasn't enough, he couldn’t even save his best friend from the greatest monster of all.

“Come, my dear, we must make up for lost time.”

And with that your fate was sealed, you just hoped it would be peaceful.

[redsray]

i have recently been brainrotting about a batkids racing au. all of them have either shitty home-lives or have had their home-lives taken away and all turn to the concepts of semi-legal street racing as an outlet. in the process, they meet people perhaps in the same boat-- perhaps a family.

Dick

around 21, has been racing since he was 15

likes riding smaller cars. the tighter fit the better. if it's not sleek and swervy he doesn't want it.

had caring parents who he travelled the world with by car, but they died in a car crash when he was 11. due to lack of living relatives, he was in the foster system for 4 years before Barry (Allen) took him in. he never saw Barry as a father, however, and was never officially adopted. basically Wally's roommate and Bart's older brother figure in a way.

Wally introduced him to the street racing world, and despite being very very reluctant at first (car crash trauma), Wally showed him all the good parts of it and he's loved it ever since

experienced racer, everyone there loves him and he's well known as one of the top racers

Jason

20, been racing since 17

he generally prefers driving motorcycles but make no mistake he will shred you no matter what racing vehicle you give him (he's competitive.) in terms of street/car racing he will go for anything with powerful acceleration.

his dad was a mechanic and Jason would sometimes help him out with car repairs when he was younger, although his dad would sometimes drop a bit too much workload on him and not really care for his well-being

mom was a recovering drug addict, cared for Jay but couldn't be around much due to both rehab and hospital visits

his dad was later arrested for underground drug dealing, dying in prison and his mom died of overdose. at 13, he was in the foster system for more or less a year before he ran, living on the streets for 3 more years, doing odd jobs.

at 16, he met Roy, who later (at 17) introduced him to street racing. Jason always had a knack for cars and with his natural talent he won quite a few of his first races, earning money from the betting pools and has been basically splitting rent and crashing with Roy ever since.

absolute MENACE of a racer. showed up at some point and basically showed most people up. can and will judge your car model. might steal your tires for the funsies.

Tim

18, new to the racing scene (been racing since 17) but knows A LOT about it through his own love for motorsports (he definitely has car posters in his room)

will drive any car. literally. he will just love it if you give him a car. in fact, give him a broken one so that he can make it BETTER than everyone else's.

lovely and wealthy parents, but they aren't around much. they honestly try their best, but when you're an only child in a big house it can get boring and lonely. he loves his parents and his mom was the one who first showed him motorsports when she was working on a business deal with a motorsport company (Tim got his first free car poster that day)

definitely takes pictures of cool cars he sees

as soon as he found out about the street racing ring in Gotham he immediately snuck in (age 15)

he would come practically every night he could and made friends with the younger racers (bart, cassie, kon) (they 100% would go to him for geeky car tech tips)

one time bart was sick for a race and cassie and kon asked tim to step in for him on the team, tim did-- he performed so naturally well that he caught the attention of other racers, decided to stay with the YJ team permanently

commonly referred to as a rising star, a prodigy in the racing scene

Damian

15, literally raised into motorsports. god knows when he drove his first car. he started officially racing in the street ring only recently, but already has a reputation as one of the best

preference for aerodynamic cars. the sleeker the better for him.

commonly underestimated by new racers

bruce is still his bio dad, he literally funds most the betting pools and co-runs the street racing ring under the guise of a totally normal auto repair store

hella competitive, will do everything to outshine you especially if you look down on him

LOVES painting on his car. like everyone customises theirs to a certain point but Damian will sit there for hours just painting on it.

does NOT care for the betting pools, if he wins he will just put all the money right back in. he just wants to win and beat you LMAO

[oddballwriter]

The Moon Boys as Dads

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Warnings: The moon boys being girl dads and mentions of Jake teaching your kid how to fight a bitch 

Author’s Snip: This would happen eventually. It's been bubbling in my mind since I've started writing for Moon Knight. It's inevitable, everyone in this fandom wants to have their babies.

Notes: I genuinely think that Jake's part is the only one that would be troubling but let's face it. If Jake had a kid, especially a daughter, he's going to teach her how to fight and send the to the ER or to the scale  

I’ll shut up now. Enjoy! And don’t be afraid to request.

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Okay. First thing I need to make straight. I understand that the idea of them having a son is deep. Have it that it heals some of that inner child in Marc and thus the rest of them. And I think that idea is lovely. Honestly can't get enough of it, gets me in the bullseye of my feels

But these men are such girl dads, all three of them

So we're gonna go slightly off of that

Steven Grant

Steven strikes me as the type of guy who just fits into the family man role so well

Absolute proud stay at home dad who has a million photos of all of his kids energy.

Yep, that's right, kids, plural, he wants a bunch of them

He understands and respects if you want just one or two but... like...

He's so good with kids, come on, episode one where he was talking with the little girl??? You can't tell he's not great with kids. He can handle a gaggle of kids if you'd be okay with having a bunch with him.

"One for each of the us" is a joke he'd make

But let's go with the perspective that you have a daughter with him

Already he's just obsessed with her as soon as he gets to hold her

Kids are very chatty, which is great because Steven's chatty and also listens, so if your daughter is talking about her day at school then he listens and nods along.

He'd also do this with her as a baby when all she could do was babble. He'd just listen to it and say "And then what?"

Steven, although he can be quite sassy, is naturally very polite and I'm pretty sure that rubs off on your daughter. He teaches her proper manners like saying "please", "thank you", and "excuse me"

Teaches her about Egyptology because of course he does, you think he's not going to give her those kids books about Egypt? You think the egyptology nerd isn't going to make his kid an egyptology nerd?

If she takes on another interests that's fine too but you think you aren't going to have one more dork in your house?

He praises her all the time for being interested in so many things.

Not to make him sound like one of those dads but he's glad that his kid reads books

Marc Spector

I'll save you what you've heard before. Marc is unsure, Marc is worried that he's gonna fuck up, Gods have mercy on Marc, blah blah blah

And sure I'll go in on it a little bit too

Marc is of course worried about how well he'd do at parenting since he still has some emotional and mental scars that haven't fully been patched up or wounds he's too scared to lick

But hey, he knows what not to do, and that's at least something

He might helicopter parent a little, maybe even a lot, when your daughter is little, especially if she gets her adventurous side early and it's really strong

You and the boys might have to remind him that she's a kid, she's gonna want to navigate and explore what's around her and maybe she'll do something dumb and get hurt a bit

As long as she knows what's dangerous and what's gonna earn her a band-aid

Marc's good when she's a kid but I feel like he just feels more comfortable when she's older, like teenager age

I actually feel like he'd be one of those dads who gets it in his kids head that they can still be a teenager and do teenager things but don't get into any trouble or do something really bad

"Focus on school and stay away from those groups" type of dad that really just means "Don't get Fs in class and don't get arrested."

He's letting her make mistakes and grow from it but he's not gonna baby her either

Marc won't entirely be the "No boys allowed" type of dad either. But if she brings a boy home for any reason, even if the boy's just a classmate that she's doing a project with, then he's telling her that the door stays open till he leaves or they do the project and research in living room or whatever

He's so proud of her too. He makes sure she knows just how loved she is and that he will always be there

Marc actually wants to be the type of parent where whenever his daughter gets in trouble or make a mistake that she thinks "I need to call my dad." instead of "My dad's going to kill me."

Jake Lockley

Jake would have said he wanted a boy but that's a lie he wants a girl first

I can see both Marc and Jake not really being the types to keep their kid in gender roles, neither is Steven if his daughter wants to do things that are considered masculine or boyish then he won't stop her he just sort of defaults to thinking that she'd want to do girly things, but Jake is the type of dad that wouldn't care if he has a daughter he's gonna teach her how to stuff and to take shit from no one

She's going to be a spitfire if Jake's her daddy, that's for sure. A real Buttercup.

She once got in trouble for fighting a boy in her grade because he was making fun of her and he scolded her when you were around but he was secretly so proud

When she's older he teaches her how to fight people and defend herself, I mean he already told her to do that when she was younger but back then it was kick, bite, and scream. When she's a teen it's teaching her how to right and left hook and disorientate

Fuck, she's probably good with a knife too

Jake knows that your daughter can handle herself pretty well but he's still going to be protective over her

If she has a relationship and they put their hands on her that person's just straight up dead

She might know how to aim for the vitals and wash blood off her clothes but she's still his little princess

[raayllum]

so Ezran and Karim, right

The fact I'm making this meta, however small, when my third and final Mirrored Paths meta centring on Karim and Callum is still sitting in my drafts, is particularly rich. That said, this is sort, mostly speculative, and I do what I want.

Although Karim has the most parallels with Viren, particularly in his political path and choices, and Ezran mostly parallels Janai in Arc 2, I hit upon some interesting potential parallels, namely three main ones, that I think are worth talking about.

So let's get into it:

Archdragons

First off, Ezran and Karim are the only characters we see really negotiate with archdragons in S4 and S5, albeit for different reasons. Ezran invites Zubeia to Katolis and Karim seeks out Sol Regem, more similarly to how Ezran likewise seeks out Domina Profundis in S5.

Ezran doesn't ask for help from Zubeia as well, but he does offer it: "If the Fallen Star is a threat the whole world will face, this is a chance to solve our problems together," whereas Karim offers a partnership and a request to a disinterested Sol Regem. Zubeia and Sol Regem don't have many parallels on the surface except for both being dragon monarchs, but there are some tethers with being lost in their grief, Zubeia being similarly hurt by dark magic in S5, and Zubeia saying that Zym's return "brought back [her] baby, hope, and her love" which echoes Regem's assertion that "I lost my hope long before I lost my sight".

There are more tangible parallels between Ezran and his archdragons (Domina, Rex Igneous) and Karim and Sol Regem, though. (There's also just a lot of bartering, offers, and exchanges in TDP in general, particularly in arc 2, but that's a meta for another day.)

These similarities are mostly due to asking each of them for something; for Domina and Rex, Ezran needs information; for Karim, he needs literal, physical help. Where Ezran is asserted as the true king, needed by his kingdom, Karim offloads it onto Sol Regem.

But just like Ezran asks for the dragons' aid, generally, in S5 to help hunt down Claudia and Viren (two humans in Xadia), Karim asks for help in getting rid of humans from the Xadian side of the border entirely.

Domina gives the information freely, but Regem and Rex both require a bit more... nudging, shall we say. And both dragons are convinced (seemingly, in S6 for Regem) by the right gift.

Which fits nicely into our next parallel of sorts, regarding

Worth and Parental Keepsake

Now, this is more of a contrasted parallel, of course. Karim asserts that the ring is worthless because it only has personal value (perhaps reaffirming his view of public relationships as something less important than political power, or his focus on symbols as something with immense value), whereas Ezran states that his crown has worth purely because of its sentimental meaning.

Additionally, while Janai loves Khessa and presumably their parents just as much as her brother, the same way that Callum loves Harrow just as much as Ezran does, it is the younger brothers who 1) seem to have always cared more about the throne in general and 2) who maintain keepsakes from their parental figure in comparison to their older sibling.

Which brings us rather nicely to our last point:

Brothers and Sisters

Like I've just said, Ezran and Karim are both the younger sibling and fiercely concerned with the future of their people; this is, admittedly, something Ezran and Janai likewise share ("to build a brighter future" amid other statements) but they have the hope and faith to get there. Karim is concerned with his own individual kingdom only, whereas Ezran has a broader view with Katolis at the top of his mind.

There's also plenty that they could take from Karim's subplot and give to Ezran, honestly—particularly because TDP has a tendency towards exploring how the younger siblings are more heavily impacted by disagreements with the elder (Karim and Janai, Janai and Khessa), abandonment (Soren and Claudia), and death (Amaya and Sarai). We also have confirmation that Callum and Ezran will have a conflict in future seasons where Ezran will be inclined to pull rank about it, throwing Janai's line above into a new foreshadowing light, perhaps.

It also feels inevitable that the brothers are going to have a big wires crossed perspective moment. This could be over Runaan, what to do with Aaravos, or something else entirely, but it seems bound for there to be a moment where they expect to agree ("Who knows my brother better than I do?") and are shocked if not also angry when they disagree, heavily.

If it's over Runaan, this parallel would be particularly fitting due to 1) Karim and Ezran potentially pushing unforgiveness and 2) while Callum would free Runaan regardless because that's just who he is (nor do I think Ezran would actually want the elf trapped or jailed forever), Callum's desire to help Rayla and make her happy is undeniably a factor at play there, just as Amaya helps Janai realize that "Yes, absolutely, I do want to be queen" through both the trial and on the hillside, whereas Karim still believes that "Janai never wanted to be queen" so she will step aside.

Like I said, this is the most speculative, but it seems likely the Broyals will temporarily have a more bitter sibling feud for a time than we've seen, say, from even Soren and Claudia (though S6 could change things!) and I am not opposed.

Other Misc Thoughts / Speculation

Another interesting fact that, again, Ezran shares with both Karim and Janai, is the importance of a royal ancestor from 300 years ago. We know a decent amount more about Queen Aditi—the Merciful, the Kind, who outlawed blood duels and also bound Kim'Dael to her family tree, deeply trusted by the Archdragons, and then mysteriously vanished = was "swallowed"—than we do about the Orphan Queen.

However, the two women definitely have an interplay. One fell prey to Aaravos; one helped imprison him and discovered his treachery. There are also potential parallels if Ezran gets woven into more into the Key of Aaravos debacle, similarly to how only the True Ruler of Lux Aurea can free Kim'Dael, Janai leaving Karim a currently moot point.

That said, I don't think Ezran will have too much to do with the Key as it stands now; he's been pretty narratively removed from it despite being in plenty of seasons where it was actively around (s1, s2, s4, etc) and his main tether to it at all is the Orphan Queen herself. I also wouldn't be surprised if Janai ends up paralleling Aditi more than her brother (though he is, admittedly, the one working with Kim'Dael, so parallel points there) since Aditi seems like ultimately more of a positive than negative figure.

Additionally, we see Karim be reaffirmed time and time again as a 'student of history' in ways that only Viren really comes close to. Karim is our most indicative Mage Scholar character, calling upon history and its importance throughout most of his episode appearances, and his deep desire to return to the past is part of what makes him such a massive fuck up in ways even Viren never meandered into. While I don't think Ezran will have too much to do with the cube, I could see him doing research maybe now that he's back in Katolis on his own for a bit in early S6, and eventually finding out more about his royal ancestor and the cube his brother has, miles and miles away, subsequently for the audience's benefit (and horror?).

And yeah, that's about it! Hope you enjoyed about best king and worst prince until next time!