#and all the men in the room got Super Concerned

[m-has-a-blog]

look, between any random man on the street and my dad i'd rather the rando. one of those people drugged me as a joke and it was NOT the rando

[moonvis]

IDIOTS IN LOVE

Steve Rogers x F! Reader

incl. Natasha, Wanda, Bucky and Tony

Summary: Being in love with Steve Rogers isn’t easy with all the dates Natasha sets him up with. One day you’ve had enough and ask her to set you up, something you’ve never let her before – and a certain blonde isn’t too pleased.

Warnings: Angst to fluff! Jealous! Steve and Jealous! Reader. Misunderstandings. Two blind idiots in love with each other. 4.3k words.

“Okay, I’m off to bed,” You said through a yawn and got up from the chair you’d been sitting in for the past hours, drinking and chatting with Natasha and Wanda.

Natasha took a sip from her glass, before asking, “See you in the morning for our run?”

“Count me in,” You nodded and walked towards the exit, your head facing Natasha, “Goodnight ladies.” The second you faced away, something tall crashed into you, making you trip on your own feet.

“Woah careful, doll!” A familiar voice said, as a hand grabbed you by your waist to steady you, “Are you okay, angel?”

“Steve! Oh- Thanks!” You felt a bit embarrassed as he was still holding onto you, his blue eyes looking down at you with what seemed like concern. His face was close, so very close, and his lips-

“Steve you’re back!” Natasha cheered from behind you, interrupting the moment, “How was your date?”

You immediately felt your heart drop at her question. Steve had been on a date. Again. You took a step away from the super soldier, looking down as he shifted his attention to Natasha, “It was good.”

You snuck out of the room in the blink of an eye, not wanting to hear about yet another one of Steves ‘good’ dates that never lead to a second one. Couldn’t he just choose one of the girls and make it official? That way you had no reason to hold onto the hope that he just might, someday, reciprocate your feelings.

You didn’t see the disappointment in Steve’s face when you suddenly disappeared out of sight.

You woke up in the morning with a burning headache. Partly because of the wine last night, but mostly because of Steve keeping you awake for hours. You always stayed to hear how his dates went, but it was always the same: “It was good, but there won’t be a second one, I’m afraid. Better luck next time Nat.”

Though what if it was different this time? What if he finally found the one? Your thoughts and feeling of regret were interrupted by a harsh knocking on your bedroom door.You knew it was Natasha and got out of bed. The floor felt extra cold this morning.

“I’ll be down in five!” You yelled trough the door and went to get dressed for your run. After swallowing some painkillers for your headache, you left your room to meet the redhead, desperately in need to get some fresh air.

You and Natasha jogged from the Avengers compound and ended up in the nearest park. As you felt the morning sun warming your skin, you felt a little relief lift off your shoulders. You needed this.

The two of you sat down at a bench, kind of like creeps, observing the civilians enjoying their own morning.

A dolled-up lady was walking her dog, or more like, the dog was walking her. You shared a laugh with Natasha at the sight. Your eyes followed her movements, watching as she passed a little girl blowing soap-bubbles. The little one let her tongue out to taste the bubbles, only for her nose to scrunch up in disgust.

“Cute.” Natasha commented from beside you. You smiled and let your eyes wander along with the bubbles flying away, which popped right next to an older couple holding hands. “Aww, look at them!” You commented.

The husband of the old couple, smacked his lady’s butt, growing a mischievous grin on his face. “Now, that’s cute.” Natasha commented this time.

“I know! Old people are the cutest.”

“I can only partly agree with you there. Buck and Steve are quite the old men,” Natasha laughed, “Wouldn’t call them cute.”

You chuckled lightly as your eyes left the old couple. To you, Steve was so much more than cute. He was the kindest, most caring man you’d ever met. He always listened to your small and bigger problems. He was always willing to drop everything to help you out. He was always by your side whenever you got hurt on a mission. You had no doubt he cared for you, and yet… he still went on all those dates like you weren’t even an option. He made you feel so special and loved, and you weren’t even each other’s. Oh, how lucky the one who wins his heart would be.

“Y/N? Earth to--”

“Oh, sorry!” You snapped out of your thoughts at Natasha trying to get your attention.

She gave you a concerned look as she spoke, “Are you okay? You seem down.”

“It’s just my head, it really hurts.” You excused, wiping away a tear you hadn’t noticed before.

“I’m sorry. Should we walk back? We can take it slow.” Natasha asked and got up from the bench, lending you a hand.

You accepted her hand and cracked a small smile, “Thank you kind lady.”

Once you started walking back towards the compound, a familiar figure caught your eye. Steve, with a girl beside him, was walking in your direction.

“Would you look at that! Steve’s on a second date,” Natasha cheered at the sight of Steve and Sharon Carter coming closer, “He said yesterday they wouldn’t go on a date again.”

Natasha was clearly trying to share her excitement with you, but all you felt was a knot tightening in your stomach. You liked Sharon, you really did, but of course she, a Carter,  would be the one to finally win Steve’s heart.

Natasha was waving at the pair, just to make sure they saw the two of you. The jealousy in your body didn’t help much with the headache, making you feel sick, “Nat, I’m just gonna go, okay?”

You weren’t in the mood to stand around and wait for Steve to arrive with his new love interest, you didn’t even bother to give Natasha a smile, “You can wait for them if you want. I’d like to have some alone time anyways.”

Natasha wasn’t sure how to react, starting to feel like it wasn’t just a headache bothering you, “You sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you later.” You left without taking another look back, leaving Natasha to start worry about you.

You didn’t see Steve’s expression go from excitement to concern as he watched you leave Natasha behind.

Back at the compound, you fall down onto your bed, soft sobs rocking your body. You’re tired of loving a man you’ll never have. You have his friendship, but your heart is still not satisfied. Now that Steve has found a beautiful woman like Sharon, maybe you can finally try to move on.

You roll onto your back, looking at the ceiling as your tears dry out. What are you going to do?

Then, it hits you. Natasha.

Just a soft knock on the door and a hug later, the redhead asks what she can do to make you feel better. You let out a sigh and ask away, “Could you help me, maybe… find a date?”

Natasha wasn’t sure she heard you correctly, but when you nodded, her face lit up in excitement, “Of course! It would be my absolute pleasure!” She didn’t even ask why you wanted a date all of a sudden, she was just happy you’d finally give her matchmaking a chance.  

“Oh my god! I have so many guys in mind. They would all be so lucky to have you Y/N. I have to pick one worth your time though!”

You chuckled as you listened to Natasha ramble on about who to pick for you, a feeling of excitement growing in your stomach. You were finally ready to give someone new a chance.

As the moon shone through your window, you thought about what tomorrow would bring. Natasha had already picked out a date whom you’d meet tomorrow night.

Busy in thought, you suddenly felt your stomach growl. Slipping out of bed, you put on a pair of slippers and wandered out your door towards the kitchen. Truth be told, you had been avoiding going around the compound in fear of meeting Steve, which also meant skipping dinner.

You fixed yourself a bowl of cereal and let your thoughts wander back to your upcoming date. What dress would you wear? Maybe the blue one? No. What about the white, the one you knew Steve loved so much?

“Hey.”

The sudden sound of a voice made you jump in your seat. As you choked on your cereal, you felt a hand patting your back.

“I’m sorry for scaring you. Are you okay, angel?”

You looked up to find Steve looking down at you. Damnit. You managed to embarrass  yourself in front of him again.

“I’m fine, thanks.” Your voice sounded hesitant, your eyes going back to your cereal. You listened as Steve made himself a cup of tea behind you, not a single word shared. You felt awkward.

You hoped he would just make his damn tea and leave - but of course not. The man sat down, right beside you, half facing you as he took a sip.

“So…” Steve began, and you felt yourself wanting to disappear. You were in the mindset of moving on a few minutes ago, but here he sat, the man you were so in love with, alone, giving you all of his attention. “How’re you doing? We haven’t talked much since, well, yesterday.”

Steve’s voice sounded hesitant, and you knew, that he knew, that something was up. The two of you hung out every single day, so not talking for 24 hours was unusual.

“I, uh… I’m okay. I’ve been a bit tired lately, that’s all.” You lied, and you didn’t sound very convincing either.

“Nat told me about your headache earlier today, at the park-”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” You interrupted him, a hint of annoyance in your voice. You really didn’t want to talk about it. Especially not think about the sight of Steve walking alongside his new girl.

You hear Steve let out a sigh at your answer. You were hoping he’d let it go, though you knew Steve too well. The blonde put down his cup and turned his body fully towards you this time, “Y/N,” His voice sounded serious, “I know something’s up, more than just a headache, and it worries me. So, please, what is going on? Did I do something?”

You didn’t know you had it in you to be angry with Steve Rogers, but when you felt your blood boil, there was no going back. You jumped out of your chair and looked at him with rage in your eyes, “Why do you care, huh?”

You saw the immediate hurt in Steve’s eyes, his expression shocked at your sudden outburst. You didn’t care though, “It’s been a fucking day, and you’re worried about me because I haven’t talked to you yet? You haven’t even been home! The last time I saw you, quoting Natasha, you were on a second date with Sharon! Shouldn’t you be with her now anyways?”

“Y/N-”  

“No! Why the fuck do you sit here and talk to me like I’m the only thing you care about, like it matters how I’m doing? It doesn’t make any sense! You’ve always been like this, yet I’m just a friend sitting around while you go out and fuck all the girls Natasha find for you!” Your breath is heavy, tears threaten to spill from your eyes,

Steve was reaching out a hand to you but retracted it as tears streamed down your cheeks. You pointed a finger at the man, your teeth gritted together as you spoke, “And lastly, I am under no obligation to tell you anything about my feelings! So please, stop treating me like I’m your fucking girlfriend!”

Without taking another look at him, you spun around and left the room. As you disappeared out of sight, you ran down the hallway to escape into your room, not wanting Steve to follow. It was when you shut your bedroom door, you realised what you just did.

You yelled at Steve, for the first time ever. Worst of all, he hadn’t done anything to deserve it. That night, never ending sobs were rocking you to sleep.

As you stormed out of the kitchen, you didn’t see the look of heartbreak in Steve’s eyes. They carried more worry than before, confusion and a load of regret as he started to catch on to what was going on with you. It was all a misunderstanding, and he felt like the biggest idiot in the world.

Getting ready for your date was supposed to be fun and exciting, but after you yelled at Steve last night, nothing seemed to cheer you up.

You regretted every single word you yelled at him. He came to check up on you, but all he got in return was your anger. Though maybe it was for the best, now he had no reason to care about you anymore. You were an asshole. The thought hurt like hell, but you chose to use it as an excuse to ease your feelings.

You dressed up in a white beautiful dress, paired with a pair of white heels. It was Steve’s favourite outfit of yours – he had told you so with words, but his eyes when he looked you, oh, they said so much more. That's were you got the nickname angel from.

It was time to give the outfit a new association, perhaps, the first outfit you wore out with your new potential love interest?

As you walked down the compound hallway to leave, familiar voices came from the kitchen. You knew snooping was wrong, but you couldn’t help listening as it was Steve talking.  

“I’ve been a fool Buck,” Steve sighed, “What am I gonna do?”

“It’s all a big misunderstanding, right? Just tell her everything and I’m sure she’ll understand. Y/N always understands.”

“Yeah, tell her I’ve been going on a new date every week for the past year so that I can forget about her?” Steve groaned, “It sounds awful.”

It did sound awful. He really wanted to get rid of you huh? You didn’t understand why but his words hurt. “-so that I can forget about her.”

You sniffled and was ready to sneak past them, not wanting to hear anymore, but of course, both men noticed your presence. Stupid super hearing.

“Y/N?” Steve asked and walked a little closer to where you were standing, “Wow, angel, you look-” Steve gave you the same look as he always did when you dressed up. He looked at you in awe, which you usually loved, but now, you hated it.

“Princess, you look beautiful!” Bucky commented and walked over to kiss the top of your head, “Where are you headed off to?”

“Oh, I-” You looked at Steve, then shifted your attention back to Bucky, giving him a shy smile, “I’m going on a date.”

The words felt relieving to get out in front of Steve. Now he would know not to treat you like a girlfriend, since you were trying to see someone else, right?

“Oh, really?” Bucky sounded surprised, but you ignored it, “Have uh-” You noticed as Bucky gave a quick look at Steve, before plastering on a big smile, “Have a nice one then! Can’t wait to hear about it!”

“Thanks Buck,” You smiled, “I gotta go.”  

As you rushed out of the room, you didn’t see Steve clenching his jaw and fists. He was irritated at himself for letting it come to this. The feeling of jealusy made him feel sick.

It was an hour into the date, and you were actually enjoying your time. The guy Natasha had set you up with was an agent you had met before during some mission, Christopher. He was cute and had such golden retriever energy - he made you genuinely smile for the first time that day. Apparently he had been smitten with you for a while now, and to no surprise, Natasha knew.

As time passed by, it was time to head home. Both of you had work in the morning anyways. Cristopher followed you all the way back to the Avengers Compound, giving you a kiss on the cheek, “Thank you for giving me a chance Y/N. I had a really wonderful time. Will I see you again?”

Busy with your date, you didn’t see Steve standing nearby, observing the whole thing. He was tense, saddened and growing more and more jealous as he watched you laugh with the other guy.

Steve had come out to get some fresh air, to clear his head, but was interrupted by your arrival. You looked so beautiful, and the sound of your sweet laughter made his knees weak. Oh, how he wished he was the one who caused it.

The morning after your date with Cristopher, you felt the best you had in the last few days. You hummed as you entered the kitchen, the smell of something delicious hitting your nose, “Oh, what’s that smell? It’s amazing.”

“’I made pancakes, so I hope you’re hungry!” Bucky cheered and handed you a plate. You accepted it gladly and sat down at the table next to Natasha and Wanda to your left, and Tony to your right.

“Hey girl, you seem happy. I’m guessing the date was a success?” Natasha asked as she took a bite of her breakfast.

“You finally went on a date with Steve? Rhodes owe me money-” Tony started at the information.

You almost chocked on your first bite of the pancake. Why would he even think that? Didn’t he know Steve was dating Sharon?

“No, Tones, wrong,” Natasha corrected him, “She went with that guy Cristopher. Remember that agent who wouldn’t shut up about her?”

“Oh yeah! The guy who was blabbering about Y/N almost as much as Steve does!”

Steve was blabbering on about you?    

“Anyways, tell us how it went? When’s the next date?” Wanda asked, eager to know.

You chuckled a little nervously, “Well, you see--” You stopped talking as soon as Steve entered the kitchen, shocked to see his fallen shoulders and saddened eyes.

You observed as he grabbed a plate of pankakes, before heading over to the counter to make his morning tea. It was weird not hearing a good morning, or getting greeted with his soft smile. You had no idea what was bothering him, and it killed you inside.

"Y/N? You were saying?" Natasha questioned, as you had left them all hanging.

Your eyes didn't leave Steve's figure, even though he was facing away, "It uh... The date was good."

You watched Steve's whole posture tense as you spoke. Oh, how much you wanted to ask if he was okay. You just didn't feel like you had the right to. The last time you spoke, you were yelling at his face.

"Come on! Give us the details!" Tony pushed.

You shook your head, suddenly not wanting to bother Steve with details of your date. You plasteted on a forced smirk, "You'll have to wait and see if we weet again."

"No come on!"

As Steve was facing away, you couldn't see the tears forming in his eyes. You couln't see the absolute heartbreak on his face from the thought of having lost you. He really felt like he had lost the most important person in his life - and you didn't even know he saw you as such.

Over the past few days, you hadn't shared a single word with Steve, and it was starting to drive you crazy. You didn’t even face each other while in the same room - it was a good thing you hadn't shared a mission yet.

All you wanted was for Steve to be happy, and to be his friend again, so with that, you decided it was time to apologize for your behaviour – even if he wouldn’t forgive you for being such an ass, you knew it was the right thing to do.

Your palms felt sweaty, and your mouth all dried out as you stepped outside his room, “Okay… here goes nothing.” You knocked on the door, feeling your heart thump rapidly against your chest.

When he didn’t answer you knocked twice, then again and again. Giving up, you asked Tony’s A.I. for help, “FRIDAY, where’s Steve?”

“In the gym ma’am.”

You let out a sigh, “Is he… okay?”

“From what I can tell, he seems distressed and angry.”

You felt a knot in your stomach. It was 8 pm, and Steve never worked out in the gym that late unless he was upset, “Fuck… Thanks FRIDAY.”

Earlier that day, Steve had been walking past the door to your room at least five times, with the intention to make up. Though the super solider was way too nervous to bother you and chickened out. It was killing him not having your company every day. He missed you. So, with his emotions changing from heartbreak to anger, and the heavy regret from not telling you the truth and let your relationship come to this, he escaped to the gym.

You entered the gym and carefully closed the door behind you. It took you seconds to see Steve by the six destroyed punching bags on the floor, the seventh about to face the same faith.

Steve’s back was tense, and you could see the anger he was feeling in every punch. You felt the knot in your stomach from before tightening, your palms even more sweaty. Taking a deep breath, you walked up to him; it was time to face the music.

Speaking of music, before you knew it your ears were singing a high-pitched tone, your head hurt and your whole back was facing the cold floor beneath you.

“Oh my god!” Steve rushed to your side, worry in his voice, “Are you okay? I’m so sorry Angel!”

You blinked a few times before looking up at the concerned man above you. Putting a hand to your head, you groaned out due to the pain. Releasing deep breath, you let Steve help you up, “I guess I deserved that.”

You had been so smart to come up behind the Captain and stand in front of the punching bag. Because of Steve’s quick and hard punches, he failed to notice you in time, and punced the bag into you, sending you flying to the floor.

“Seriously, are you okay, doll?”

The concern in Steve’s voice made you forget why you came her in the first place. You only nodded and let him lead you to sit down on a bench. He didn’t let go of your hand as you both sat down.

Steve let out a shaky breath. It was clear it had scared him when he saw you flying in the air, and it was all his fault too. You could see the guilt on his face. He still cared so damn much.

You had enough of Steve feeling so down because of you, he didn’t deserve a second of it, “Steve I’m okay. I’m the idiot for creeping up on you like that… Also, I kinda deserved it after how shitty I’ve been treating you.”

“What are you talking about?” There was confusion in the Captain’s eyes.

“Just… let me talk.” Suddenly you had the courage to just get it out. You took hold of both his hands and looked deeply into his blue eyes, “I’m so sorry Steve. I’ve been an absolute asshole towards you.”

Steve opened his mouth to say something, but closed it as you shook your head, “Let me continue. You’re my best friend and I have so much love for you. You’ve been nothing but good to me, and I was yelling at you for it. Thinking about how good you treat me, your friend, I can only imagine how good you treat Sharon. She’s very lucky and I wish you guys the best.”

Your gaze fell from Steve and down into your lap, “I… I’ve been jealous. With all those dates you’ve been on… Why couldn’t you just pick one the girls and get it over with? I…”

“Cause none of them were you.”

You looked up at him, shock in your eyes, unsure if you heard him correctly. Steve plastered on a small smile, his eyes so soft as he looked into yours, “Y/N, there’s nothing between Sharon and I. The other day, when you saw us at the park, we were walking back from visiting Peggy’s grave. It was only a coincidence we were there at the same time.”

“Oh… but what about your date the day before? You said it was good?” You asked, feeling almost ashamed.

“You left too soon to hear what I told Nat and Wanda. I had a good time, but I wasn’t interested. I’d have way more fun with someone else there with me…” Steve’s voice was low, his hand coming up to caress your cheek, “I can’t hold it back anymore Y/N. I love you; I always have. And those stupid dates?”

Tears were streaming down your cheeks at his confession. Never in a million years would you have thought he loved you back.

Steve chuckled lightly, a hint of sadness in his eyes, “I went on those to get you off my mind. I never belied you could love me back, you’re way too good for me, Angel. Though every damn date I went on, I just couldn’t get you off my mind. Every time they wanted me to come home with them, I only thought; No, I can’t do that to my best girl.”

“Steve…” You felt so stupid for not having confessed your feelings earlier. All this misunderstanding could’ve been avoided, “I love you too. I love you so damn much Stevie.”

Steve breath caught in his throat, not sure he was hearing you clearly, “What?” The word came out weak, like he was scared to wake up from a dream, “What about--”

“Cristopher?” You giggled, “Oh, I had a nice time with him, but you know, he wasn’t you.”

Steve laughed loudly and you joined in. Both of you realised how stupid and blind you had been. You loved each other.

Steve caressed your cheek again, his thumb stroking over your soft skin. The look in his eyes were different than before; you knew it was love. His features, his voice, all soft, “Can I… kiss you?”

You only nodded and let him lead you towards his lips. The kiss was gentle, but a firework erupted inside of you. It made tears fall from your eyes, his too. Pulling away, Steve kissed the top of your head before speaking, “My beautiful, Angel. I can’t believe I finally have you.”

You threw yourself forward and let him wrap his strong arms around you. His embrace felt like home.

It felt so right, and finally, your heart was satisfied.

You didn’t see the tears continue to stream down Steve’s cheeks. You didn’t see the huge weight being lifted off his shoulders. He was so damn in love with you, and he already knew that someday, he wanted to call you his wife.  

THE END! Thank you so much for reading, feedback is very much appreciated <3

[starstruckmiraclekitty]

Simon hadn’t been this nervous since his baby girl was born nearly two years ago now. His palms were sweating as he glanced over at his daughter, who was waiting with excitement by the window.

“Are you okay, Si?” You asked, flashing your husband a warm smile, before wiping down the kitchen table for the fifth time that afternoon. “You seem nervous.”

“Think we both are.” Simon gave you a half smile, his eyes softening as he took in the sight of his precious family. “Just nervous for the boys to finally meet my girls.”

You walked over to him, and were about to press a reassuring kiss to his lips before the doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of your guests.

Your daughter squealed with excitement, and ran to open the door, her little arms barely able to reach the handle. “Daddy! They’re here!”

The door swung open revealing the 141 boys, each of them wearing matching smiles. Your daughter beamed up at them, and each of the men noted how similar she looked to her father.

The boys filed in, and it took all of a few seconds before your daughter was chatting away, clearly very excited to be meeting her daddy’s friends.

She had Johnny and Kyle’s full attention, showing them her newest collection of toys her daddy bought her, while John made his way over to you.

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Riley.” John smiled, politely pressing a kiss to your cheek. He extended his hands to you, revealing a bouquet of flowers. “I would’ve insisted on meeting you sooner, but your husband has done an impeccable job of keeping you and the little one a secret from us.”

Simon wore a proud smile as he watched the encounter, suddenly very much liking you being referred to as “Mrs. Riley”. “For good reason, didn’t want to put them at risk.”

“Nonsense, Simon. I’m so happy to meet all of you. It’s about time I’ve met the men who my husband trusts with his life.” You waived away your husband’s concerns, prompting John to chuckle. “I’m glad you all could make it tonight. These flowers are beautiful by the way, thank you!”

Johnny and Kyle eventually made their way over, each of them greeting you with bone crushing hugs.

“Daddy! Uncle Johnny said that he’d babysit me one day!” Your daughter exclaimed, moving to hang onto Johnnys leg tightly.

“Did he now?” Simon asked, quirking a brow as he looked in Johnnys direction. “Uncle Johnny, eh?”

“Thought it was fitting, no?” Johnny laughed, petting your daughter’s head playfully. “Gotta say, L.T, she’s a spitting image of you.”

Simon felt a flush rise to his cheeks, the sentiment causing a warmth to spread through his bones. “I’d say she’s got her mother’s looks.”

When dinner rolled around, your daughter insisted on sitting in between her uncle Johnny and Kyle, relishing in all the stories they could tell her about her daddy.

You took note of the permanent smile etched onto Simon’s lips- though he was relatively quiet you could tell that he was enjoying himself. You only wished you had done this sooner.

As he looked around the room, Simon felt his heart flutter as laughter filled the air. Any nervousness he had felt before was gone, and Simon felt undeniably happy. He had everybody he loved and cared about, finally under one roof.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: not super happy with this one- so planning on doing another version shortly☺️❤️ (ideas are welcome!!)

[amirasainz]

Omg, i love your account so much. Can you make a Max x Reader story, where Max is a Mafia Boss and Reader is his wife. He is like super protective of her and gives her the princess treatment always. One night, she sees Max doing something horrible (can be whatever) and gets scared.

Make it angst and happy ending, please 🙏

Hi, I love this idea. I hope I did a good job.

Enjoy reading and send some requests

I am looking for some team principal reader ideas (but anything is fine)

-xoxo, Babygirl 💋

Just a dream

Max Verstappen, feared Mafia boss in Europe, but to his wife Yn, he was simply Max. Her Max. The man who doted on her, showered her with affection and luxuries, and kept her blissfully unaware of the darker parts of his world. Yn knew that her husband was involved in something dangerous. After all, nobody amassed the kind of power and wealth Max did without blood on their hands. But he had always shielded her from that life. He insisted it was for her own protection, and Yn trusted him.

Their life together was picture-perfect. Max took Yn shopping regularly, indulging her in whatever she wanted, from designer clothes to exotic vacations. He was fiercely protective of her, ensuring she was never alone without a discreet but ever-present security detail. But most of all, he loved her with an intensity that was as overwhelming as it was comforting.

One night, however, everything changed.

♤♡◇♧♤♡◇♧♤♡◇♧♤♡◇♧♤♡◇♧♤♡◇♧♤♡◇♧

It was late, past midnight, when Yn stirred in bed. Max’s side was empty, the sheets cold. She glanced at the clock—2:37 AM. Max had stepped out earlier, saying he had a meeting to handle but would be back soon. Usually, Yn slept through his absences, but something about the stillness in the house unsettled her.

Quietly, she slipped out of bed, pulling on one of Max’s oversized shirts before padding barefoot down the grand hallway. She heard muffled voices coming from one of the rooms downstairs, the sound of Max’s unmistakable low, commanding voice. Curiosity got the better of her, and before she knew it, she was walking toward the source of the noise.

As she rounded the corner, her heart stopped.

In the dimly lit room, Max stood in front of a man who was bound to a chair, his face bruised and bloodied, barely recognizable. The man’s head hung low, his body limp, and Max, the man who was her world, was towering over him with a look of cold fury. Two of Max’s men stood nearby, their arms crossed, watching the scene with detached indifference.

Yn gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. The sound was small, but it was enough.

Max’s head whipped around, his blue eyes immediately softening when they landed on her. In an instant, he shifted from the ruthless mafia boss to the husband who loved her more than anything.

“Yn,” he said, his voice thick with concern, stepping toward her quickly. “What are you doing up?”

Her eyes were wide with horror as she stared at the bloodied man, then back at Max. “Wh-What…what is this?” she stammered, her voice trembling.

Max’s jaw clenched, his expression darkening—not at her, but at his men. “Why didn’t any of you stop her?” he barked, his voice deadly.

The men flinched. “We thought she was asleep, Boss,” one of them muttered, eyes cast down, terrified of the consequences.

“Out. Now.” Max's command was sharp and final. His men hurried out of the room without another word, leaving Max and Yn alone.

He was by her side in seconds, his hands gently cradling her face as he searched her eyes for the fear he knew would be there. “Yn, Schatje, look at me,” he whispered, pulling her close, his strong arms wrapping around her trembling body.

She was shaking, unable to comprehend what she had just seen. “Max…what…what’s happening? Why is that man—?”

Max cut her off, pressing a kiss to her forehead, his lips lingering as he spoke softly, soothingly. “Shh, it’s okay. You’re safe. I didn’t want you to see this.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, her mind racing. “You’re hurting him, Max,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.

Max’s grip on her tightened, his heart aching as he heard the tremor in her voice. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, Yn. I promised I’d protect you. That’s all this is, okay? It’s business. It’s not something you need to worry about.”

“But…he’s…” Her eyes darted back to the man, slumped in the chair. “Max, what are you doing to him?”

Max sighed, his hand moving to gently stroke her hair, his other arm still securely around her waist. “He made some very bad decisions. And in my world, there are consequences. But none of this…none of it touches you, Yn. I’ve made sure of that. You’ll never be part of this.”

Yn’s tears started to fall, and Max held her closer, his heart breaking at the sight of her distress. He leaned down, pressing his forehead to hers. “I’m sorry, love. You weren’t supposed to see this. I swear, I’ll make sure it never happens again.”

“But…” she tried to protest, her voice catching in her throat.

“No,” Max said firmly but gently, lifting her into his arms with ease. “You’re not staying here for this. I won’t let you. Come on, let’s go back to bed.”

She didn’t resist as he carried her upstairs, holding her like she was the most precious thing in the world. Once back in their bedroom, Max laid her down on the bed and crawled in beside her, pulling her close to his chest.

Yn buried her face in his neck, her tears wetting his skin as she cried softly. Max held her, rubbing her back in slow, soothing circles, whispering comforting words into her hair.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry,” he murmured over and over, his voice thick with regret. “I never wanted you to see that. It’s not who I am with you. Please, Yn, don’t be scared. I’ll protect you. Always.”

Yn clung to him, her body trembling against his. “I love you, Max,” she whispered through her tears, her voice broken.

“I love you more than anything, Yn,” Max whispered back, kissing the top of her head. “More than anything.”

---

The next morning, Yn woke up to the sunlight streaming through the curtains. For a moment, everything felt normal, the horrors of the previous night almost like a distant memory. Max was lying beside her, watching her with a soft smile on his face as he brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

“Good morning, liefde,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss her gently on the lips.

Yn blinked, still feeling the weight of the night before, but Max’s calm demeanor made her second-guess herself. “Max, last night…I…” she began, her voice uncertain.

Max’s smile never wavered. He stroked her cheek tenderly. “It was just a bad dream, baby. You were restless, talking in your sleep. Nothing happened. You’re safe. I’m here.”

Yn frowned, trying to remember, but Max’s words were so reassuring, so certain, that she began to doubt her own memory. “A dream?” she whispered, confused.

Max nodded, his eyes full of love and warmth. “Just a dream. Everything’s okay now.”

Yn nodded slowly, letting herself relax against him. It had felt so real, but maybe she had just been imagining things. Max always protected her, kept her safe. Why would he lie to her?

She snuggled closer to him, letting out a small sigh of relief as Max wrapped his arms around her once more, holding her tightly as though he never wanted to let go.

But as Max held her close, his expression hardened ever so slightly. What Yn didn’t see—what Max made sure she never would—was the bloody rope still hidden under the sofa downstairs. The remnants of the life he kept carefully tucked away, far from the woman he loved more than anything.

And he would do whatever it took to keep it that way.

[buckyalpine]

you know what I live for? Misunderstandings. Angst. Fluff.

You bit your lip hearing Bucky's conversation with his two closest friends, the three men sitting together in the living room. It clearly wasn't a conversation for anyone else's ears but you couldn't move from the spot you were glued to.

“I-I think I should tell y/n” Bucky sighed, pacing up and down the living room while Sam and Steve were silently judging the super soldier.

"Seriously? This little affair still going on?" Sam shook his head while Bucky gave him a small nod.

“I really like her” He whispered, fiddling with his fingers.

“Well you got tell her, no point keeping it to yourself at this point, she deserves to know. It's been going on for long enough Buck” Steve gave Bucky a pointed look.

“She makes me feel safe. It’s different. I love y/n, but-" Bucky flopped onto the couch, staring up a the ridiculously high ceiling.

“But?”

“This-this is different. I-I think I love her-”

“Do you hear yourself right now” Sam said incredulously, not feeling an ounce of sympathy for him, "You brought this on yourself so deal with it"

“I know” Bucky sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It's just-you should see the way she looks at me, her eyes, I didn't mean for it to get this far-

"Save it. Tell y/n" Steve stated, not willing for any of this to go on any longer. This wasn't the first time his bestfriend brought up this topic and he was certain it wouldn't be the last unless Bucky came clean.

You hadn't even realized you'd started crying until you struggled to choke back a sob, slapping your hand over your mouth and running off to your room instead. Bucky frowned at the soft sniffle he thought he heard, craning his neck to see an empty hallway.

"Did you hear that?" He turned to Steve who shared the same look of concern. "Fuck, do you think that was y/n?" His heart raced further, desperately wanting to run over to you, looking at the clock and realizing it was also time for him to see her. As much as he loved you, he had to go to her first.

He didn't have a choice.

-

A soft knock at the door pulled you from your misery, your boyfriends pleading voice muffled on the other side.

"Baby?" Bucky knocked again, desperately hoping you'd let him in and give him a chance to explain himself. He never intended for any of this to happen. He finally decided to let himself in, opening the door, his heart dropping seeing your sad, pouty face, wrapped in a cocoon of blankets. He knew you'd overheard him so there was no point in hiding anything anymore.

"This isn't how I wanted you to find out" Bucky spoke softly, shuffling at the door, guilt plastered all over his face. He closed the door behind him before walking over to the bed and sitting beside you. Before you could say anything, he shifted closer to you, nervously biting his lip.

"Her name is Alpine" Tucked into the crook of his arm was a tiny white kitten no more than a few weeks old, happily cuddled into the warmth of his chest. She looked up at him with bright blue eyes, blinking slowly while he cooed, seeing she was up from her nap.

"This is who you were talking to Sam and Steve about?" You asked nervously while Bucky sheepishly nodded, giving you an apologetic smile for his dramatics.

"I've been taking care of her. I know we're not allowed to have pets but I couldn't just leave her there in the cold" Bucky whispered, petting her small head with his finger while she batted at his tags. You giggled at how soft your boyfriend was for the tiny kitten, the furbaby having him wrapped around her little paws.

"I found her while I was out on a run, she was by one of the bushes. I don't think her mom came back for her, she was alone. She was so tiny, she would've died" Bucky felt his throat tighten, remembering the day he'd heard her cries from the garden, her tiny form fitting into the palm of his hand. She'd been days old, waiting for someone to find her.

"I've been feeding her every couple hours, got a box set up by the bush with some blankets but she can't stay there forever. Steve caught me checking on her a few days ago" Bucky looked at you with puppy eyes, hoping you'd understand what he was asking.

"Is this where you've been running off to?" You shook your head while he smiled down at the kitten, proud of how much she'd grown.

"Can we keep her? I don't to put her in a shelter, she'll be scared and she just got comfortable letting me hold her, I don't want her to feel abandoned-"

"We'll keep her. Let's talk to Tony tomorrow" You hushed your boyfriends nervous rambling with a soft kiss to his sweet lips, rubbing your thumb along his jaw.

"Really?" His eyes lit up, bright and blue, matching the baby that stole his heart.

"Really, you big softie" You teased, loving your teddybear of a boyfriend.

"I'm sorry I worried you" Bucky whispered, pulling you to sit in his lap, his two favorite girls cuddling into him.

-

"He finally came clean" Sam snorted, seeing you and Bucky sprawled on the floor, surrounded by a bunch of cat toys, with a blur of white fur jumping between the two of you. "How'd you convince Stark"

"Didn't take much to be honest" you giggled; Tony tried to put up a stoic front, melted instantly as soon as Alpine crawled up his leg, purring into the crook of his neck. "He bought her a heated cat bed and automatic food dispenser"

Alpine stretched across the warm giant couch, curling up under a patch of sun while Bucky looked at her with hearteyes.

"I have competition with a cat" You playfully frowned while Bucky shook his head, scooping you into his arms immediately.

"Never babydoll, you're my everything"

I thought I overheard you saying she's different" You nudged him while he tried to defend himself again, only to fail miserably.

"He's lying y/n, he talked about her eyes and the way she looks at him" Sam chimed in, while Bucky hid himself into the crook of your neck. "And how he thinks he loves her"

"Shut up Sam"

"Such a softie"

[zeppelinlvr]

Still Feel Like That

Dean Winchester x Female Reader

Summary: you accompany Dean, Sam, and Bobby on a hunt. You and Dean go out for a drink and Dean looks after you when you've had too much to drink.

Notes: Reader is a yapper (cus same), kinda implied that reader is Bobby's kid but it's not stated outright, sorry if you like Poison or Bret Micheals reader hates on them for a second, I assumed that Dean switched out his radio with one that would be compatible with cassettes since a 67' would likely have a 8 track player, I got lazy with my research so I apologize if any facts are incorrect (feel free to correct me).

Warnings: Suggestive language, flirting, cursing, mentions of throwing up, y/n is used like three times, Dean in his undies (yummy!)

Word Count: 4.1k

✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰

You sat at Bobby’s old wooden table, sipping hot coffee from your Garfield mug. You didn’t own it but when you saw the grumpy orange cat with a text saying ‘I'm listening I just don’t care’ sitting on Bobby’s shelf of mismatched old mugs you’d used the cup ever since. 

You sat in your pajama shorts, slippers, and an old tee shirt, the cracked text reading “Winfield national flatpickin’ championships”. The shirt previously belonged to Bobby and he couldn’t remember how he acquired such an item, he assumed he was passing through Kansas and picked it up along the way, but you loved it so much he felt it was necessary to give it to you. 

You were reading through a book you had picked up on demonology. Bobby had given you a few vague events that had occurred and you were trying to figure out what exactly he was dealing with. You had a book on Pagan gods on standby. 

You heard the front door open, figuring it was Bobby you chose to continue reading but when you heard unfamiliar voices you quickly looked up in a panic, nearly knocking your chair over to try to scramble and find Bobby. You were not a hunter by any means, you just did the research and stayed in the comfort of motels. You knew some basic self defense but you could not fight a serious threat on your own.

You were making a dash for the nearest room when you heard Bobby yell your name. 

You quickly spun around to look at him, seeing two tall, handsome, potentially dangerous, men standing next to him. 

“What the hell are you doing kid?” Bobby asked you, concerned by your panic stricken expression.

“I heard people- and I was trying to find you and not die” You uttered out, still confused about who the two other men were. “Sorry, who the hell are these guys” you added 

“Sam and Dean I talk-” Bobby started but you cut him off 

“Winchester?” you asked excitedly “Bobby talks about you two all the time and I really wanted to meet both of you, especially Dean, Bobby says you make stupid decisions but you sound fun” you rambled quickly, a smirk growing on the shorter ones face at your mention of him. 

“Oh my god you have to be Sam, you totally have that sad puppy look” you said to the taller one “You could ask me to donate my life savings to a charity then build a shelter for the homeless and I totally would” you continued to talk.

“I like her” the shorter man who you had now assumed was Dean said with a grin 

“Wait Dean” you started turning to him “Did you drive your car here, I’ve heard rumors it's a totally awesome 67’ impala and I’ve been dying to see it” 

Before Dean could respond with a comment about how you were marriage material Bobby interrupted your rambling “Okay motor mouth, I’m sure Sam and Dean are enthralled by your commentary but they need our help” 

“Are you the super smart Y/n?” Sam asked 

“The one who has saved our asses more times than we can count” Dean added

“Yes, that's her, and I don't prefer to shout about her to the whole world because she's not exactly Hulk Hogan” Bobby said, growing slightly annoyed with the continued blabbering. 

“Really? Hulk Hogan? You have to compare me to that doofus, call me Bret Micheals while you’re at it” You shot at him 

“I’m sorry, would you prefer to be Kerry VonErich” Bobby sighed 

“Yes, minus his incredibly tragic life” you said as you crossed your arms over your chest. 

“Bobby why have we not met this chick sooner, she's awesome” Dean said slightly in awe. 

“You two don't care to stop by all that often and I knew you and her would get along real well and we wouldn't get anything done” Bobby responded hinting at the exact situation that was happening. 

“Let me see Dean’s car then I promise I will be productive” you offered

“Yeah let her see my car” Dean added, Sam smiling at the situation and Bobby rolling his eyes and reluctantly agreeing. 

The four of you made your way outside and when you saw the impala you let out a gasp of excitement before sprinting towards it. 

“She is so beautiful” you gushed to Dean “You keep her in phenomenal condition, does she run well?” 

“Like she’s new” Dean responded, smiling at your excitement over the car. 

“Is there an 8 track player? I have a few tapes I could give you if you want” You offered 

“Switched it out for a cassette player” Dean told you

“Good choice, 8 tracks are such a hassle, you can hear another song playing in the background of whatever you're trying to listen to, and don't even think about trying to fast forward to get to the song you want, at least you have a slim chance to land on the right song with cassettes” you rambled 

“Yeah no kidding, you wanna see my tape collection” Dean offered 

“Nope, we agreed on just the car now we need to figure out what the hell is going on in Pawnee Nebraska” Bobby interrupted as the four of you made your way back into the house 

“I’m so sick of going to these ho-hum towns, why can't you guys hunt things that reside in memphis or something, I want to go to a museum that isn't about the butter cow or a mayor who died of dysentery” You said with a sigh

“Hunting in this ho hum town means road trip and i'm sure Dean would be delighted to let you ride down with him” Bobby offered for Dean, partly because he wanted some silence in his own car and he also wanted you, Dean, and Sam to be able to talk as much as you pleased and hopefully be caught up so you could focus on working. 

Dean agreed to the idea and Sam shrugged, hoping you would prevent bickering between him and his brother. 

“I promised I’d focus so Sam, you’re smart, have you found out more than some bad weather and a ‘still under investigation death of a couple’” You asked, turning to the taller brother, offering him a smile, slightly feeling bad you’d paid so much attention to his brother and not talked to Sam much. 

“Yeah, I think the weather is unrelated, I found autopsy reports and the couple had these wounds on the back of their necks. I don't recognize the pattern but you might be able to” he replied to you with a soft smile, he made his way to his computer and set it on the table where your abandoned books and coffee lay. 

You made a noise of disgust upon seeing the picture but you instantly recognized the wound pattern “That has to be changelings, they feed off of the mother until she dies, it's so creepy” You started “In a lot of the books I’ve read they switch out an infant for a changeling, did the couple have a kid?” you asked 

“Yeah, but she's a little girl who’s ten years old” Sam replied to you

“Different cultures have varying takes on changelings, some of them say they can grow and develop like a human would, so it's definitely a possibility” You told him “We have to get down there asap before more kids are switched out, and when you figure out where the little girl is at now, monitor her behavior closely, she's gonna be hungry and use abnormal phrases for a ten year old.” You explained

“Alright you heard her” Dean said, squeezing between you and Sam and placing a hand on your shoulder. He secretly wanted your attention back on him. 

“Let me pack a bag and change then I’ll be ready to head out” you told them

“Same goes for me, give us five minutes” Bobby added

You headed to your room and changed into jeans and tee shirt, additionally throwing on a crewneck from a college in Louisiana that you had found in the aisles of a thrift store. 

You threw a few additional outfits in a duffle bag and your pajamas which consisted of sleep shorts and a tee shirt, you threw your slippers for your constantly cold feet in the bag and you were ready to go. 

Your socked feet padded against the floor as you made your way to the front door to grab your shoes. You threw them on and told the group you were ready to go. 

Dean, Sam and you crowded into the impala, Dean leaping on the opportunity to tell Sam to sit in the back after you had informed the brothers you get carsick. 

“I have zofran, Sam can sit in the front, I don't want to take his spot” you said 

“Nope, Sam get in the back” Dean quickly said as he took his spot in the driver's seat. 

After the three of you had gotten in the car and started on the trip Sam complained “Dean, I know there's a pretty girl but what if I get carsick in the back” 

“You won't, and the very pretty girl won't complain about my music choices” Dean told him and raised his brows at you.

Your face heated at how they referred to you, you cleared your throat and changed the subject “I know you guys are more hands on than me so I know a few ways to figure these things out, different folklore says if you can make them laugh they’ll reveal their truth, or you can shout god bless you, you can cook with eggshells. German legends say you can whip the child but honestly the easiest way to kill them is just lighting the fuckers on fire” You explained “People used to throw them in the fireplace or in the oven but you can get away with a blowtorch and a can of hairspray” 

“That's more our speed” Dean replied 

“People were seriously throwing these things in ovens?” Sam asked “What if the kid wasn't actually a changeling” 

“People got overly paranoid and it wasnt exactly common knowledge back then that someone could be born with physical or mental disabilities, also families used to be really reliant on everyone in the household being able to help out so a lot of child abuse ensued because parents didnt want to have a changeling on their hands” You explained “Anyway these things creep me out so lets talk about something more lighthearted on the way there” 

“i agree sweetheart” Dean said and you blushed at the name “I heard your comment about Bret Micheals, are you a Poison hater” 

“I can tolerate them but I will not go out of my way to listen to them, they’re definitely one of the lamest hair bands” you told him “I definitely prefer Van Halen, Quiet Riot, Def Leppard and Cinderella if I’m going to listen to hair bands” 

“Atta girl, you don’t like that Barry Manilow bullshit do you?” Dean asked 

“God no, fuck Styx too, that Babe song pisses me off” you laughed 

“Cus you know it’s you babe” Sam started singing off key and you groaned in annoyance, Dean laughing. 

The three of you talked about music, movies, and Sam and Dean's past hunts, asking odd would you rather questions when trying to think of new conversation topics 

“Okay would you rather have to eat a little bit of cheese on everything or never eat cheese again” you asked 

“Never eat cheese again” Sam quickly answered 

“I’d put a little bit on everything I fucking love cheese” you answered 

After extensive conversation and small bits of bickering the three of you made it to Nebraska, Bobby close behind.

Dean checked into the hotel, getting two rooms, one for him and Sam and one for you and Bobby. He gave the woman behind the counter a credit card with a name that most certainly was not his then the three of you made your way to the rooms. Dean opened the door to one of the rooms and the cowboy theme of the room made you laugh.

“You sure know how to pick ‘em’ Dean” you said 

“It’s fun, this cowboy boot pen holder on the desk is cute” he said, picking up the small red ceramic boot with a few pens sticking out of it.

“It is kinda cute, and I like the lasso on the wall” you pointed out 

“Oh man, creepy” you said as you noticed the sad clown painting hanging above the bed. 

“That's coming down” Sam said and quickly moved over to the painting to take it off the wall and lay it face down in the corner of the room. 

“Sammy here is a afraid of clowns” Dean informed you

“I don’t blame him, they’re scary, and all the media about killer clowns doesn’t exactly make me want to see one” you replied 

Bobby arrived at the motel shortly after the three of you had gotten the rooms. The four of you were discussing plans for the next day as it was later and you all agreed to start interviewing people in the morning. 

“i’m gonna go grab a drink, I saw a bar about ten minutes from here” Dean announced 

“I’ll join you if Bobby and Sam don’t need help with research” you said 

“Go take a break kid, you work your ass off, me and Sam will be fine” Bobby told you, you thanked him and gave him a quick hug before heading out with Dean. 

You weren’t surprised by the crowd at the bar, mostly older men who looked like they had just gotten off work, farm clothes and dirty work shirts adorned most of them. A few of them had women who you assumed were their wives at their side, chatting quietly with them. You were glad your outfit wasn’t out of place for the scene. 

A man who you guessed to be around fifty was working behind the bar, he gave Dean and you a soft smile before asking what you’d like to drink. 

“I’ll take a beer” Dean told him

“Busch okay? We don’t have anything else” The bartender replied 

“Perfect” 

“And for the pretty lady” the bartender asked 

“I’ll just take a vodka cranberry” you said, not minding his comment too much, you knew he didn’t mean anything by it, people just talked like that. 

You and Dean sat at the bar after getting your drinks, chatting with each other. 

One drink led to another and you lost count of how many you had drank. You were asking Dean silly questions and you began to vocalize your thoughts about how handsome he is.

“I know you can't kill a vampire with a wooden stake, but have you ever tried death by stereo?” you asked with a giggle, you had taken your hand into his and were toying with his fingers. 

“The Lost Boys is a great movie, me and Sammy will try out death by stereo just for you the next time we hunt vampires” he replied earning a laugh from you.

“You are so manly and cute and handsome” you slurred poking a finger into his chest, eyes widening at the firmness of his muscles “Oh my gosh you’re strong too, I feel like I just poked a rock” 

He laughed and shook his head at your comments “Let's get you to bed before you say more shit you’ll regret tomorrow.” 

“I don't regret anything, I’ve been thinking about how cute you are all day, and those big arms wrapped around-” You blabbered but were cut off by Dean.

“Yep time for bed, but give me a heads up sweetheart if you still feel this way after you’ve sobered up” 

“I’m going to pay, then we’re going to get in the car, then get you to bed” he added

“Very forward, I like it” you giggled with a raise of your brows. 

After Dean paid he walked you out to the Impala, you stumbling slightly finding it hard to walk after being sat down all night. 

“I'm cold” you lied, you were not cold but you wanted his jacket.

“You have a sweater on?” he replied with confusion lacing his tone.

“You're supposed to give me your jacket then I can smell like you” you told him and tried to give him a hug while still walking. 

He forced a sigh then wrapped his jacket around you. You snuggled into it and thanked him.

After a car ride consisting of you informing Dean your feet hurt and you were tired, the two of you arrived back at the motel.

Dean opened the door to yours and Bobby's shared room. You giggled noticing the lights were off. 

Dean attempted to shush you “he's probably asleep already, quiet down” 

You only laughed harder at the fact you needed to be quiet “he looks like Ebenezer Scrooge when he sleeps, he just needs the little hat” you commented through your giggles, Dean tried to hide his smile to not encourage you. 

“I always think the ghost of Christmas past is gonna get him” you said before bursting into laughter and Dean quickly slapping his hand over your mouth. He pushed you into the bathroom and shut the door attempting to muffle your giggles. He flipped the light on and asked you where your duffle bag was. 

“In the room somewhere” you shrugged 

“Well no shit sweetheart” 

“It's on my bed I think” you giggled 

“Okay perfect you stay right here and I’ll go get it then you're going to change and go to bed” he told you

Dean groped through the dark until he found your bag, it was sitting on your bed as you had told him. He made his way back to the bathroom to find you sitting on the toilet lid, playing with the toilet paper roll that had the first square folded into a fancy shape. 

“Isn't this just precious” you said and showed him the toilet paper

“Yes, very cute put it down” he said and took the roll out of your hands, placing it on the counter. 

He opened your bag and fished out your shorts and a tee shirt “get changed” 

“No can do, can’t get my pants off” you shrugged with a fake sigh 

Usually Dean would be enthralled to take a girl's pants off but he wasn’t in the mood for an ass whooping from Bobby. 

He just prayed Bobby wouldn’t wake up because you weren’t budging. He helped you shimmy your jeans off your legs, then slipped your shorts onto you. 

“Need help with my shirt too” you said as you shrugged his jacket off your shoulders and put it into your lap. 

He slipped your crewneck over your head, your shirt coming off with it. He quickly took in your figure, admiring the sight of you in your bra before he slipped a clean shirt over your head. 

You unclasped your bra and slipped it off from under your shirt before tossing it on the bathroom floor. 

“Really? you can do that but you can’t change on your own” Dean whisper yelled 

“I can’t show you too much” you shrugged “now can you carry me to bed?”

He was willing to do anything to get you in bed at this point so he scooped you up in his arms and carried you out to your bed, you giggled as he threw you down onto the sheets. 

“Go to bed now” he whispered and you quickly made yourself comfortable under the blankets, cuddling into his jacket that you still held in your arms. 

You heard the door close and you soon drifted off to sleep. 

You awoke around four in the morning the red numbers off the alarm clock informing you of the time. You were starving and the alcohol had barely worn off. you crawled out of bed and slipped on Dean's jacket, it hung loosely on your figure, the length going past your shorts and the sleeves being far too long. You were glad for the added warmth because you were freezing. 

You were absolutely craving fried chicken and you dug through the mini fridge wholeheartedly expecting to find some, when the disappointment hit you, you left the room and went into Sam and Dean's room, letting yourself in with the spare key you had been given. 

You began to dig through their refrigerator in the dark, expecting to find some chicken but when you heard a gun click and the light flipped on, you spun around, met by Dean in his underwear and Sam shuffling in moments later with his blanket wrapped around him.

“What the hell are you doing” Dean asked 

“I want fried chicken so bad” you complained 

“Why would we have fried chicken?” Dean asked, still groggy and confused. 

“I don’t know I just wanted to check” you told him 

Sam laughed at the interaction, telling Dean he shouldn’t have let you drink so much before he headed back to his bed. 

“I promise I will get you fried chicken in the morning but please go back to bed” Dean told you 

“You look cute in your undies” you giggled 

“And you look cute in my jacket now go to bed” he mimicked your giggle. 

You agreed but not before you made him promise to get you your food in the morning, you made him lock pinkies with you despite his complaints of annoyance. 

You made your way back to your room and quickly fell asleep again. 

The next morning was hell, Bobby woke you up around 8 and you were met with a headache and a need for water. The second you stood up you found yourself running to the bathroom as a nauseating feeling built in your throat. 

You heard Sam and Dean talking as you were throwing up the memories of last night. Both of them asking how you were doing, and Bobby explaining you were currently throwing up, expecting an explanation from Dean as to why. 

Dean ducked out of the conversation “I’m going to get her water and hold her hair back, like a man does” he walked into the bathroom and gave a small chuckle at your figure hunched over the toilet. 

“Do not fucking laugh at me” you groaned 

“You still want that fried chicken” he asked, and you gagged at the thought, he grabbed you a cup of water to rinse your mouth out with and handed you the toilet paper you had been previously admiring to wipe your mouth off with. 

You wiped the sweat from your forehead and the tears from your eyes before standing up to brush your teeth. 

“You still gotta work today you know” Dean told you 

you rolled your eyes at him and after you had finished brushing your teeth you said “I’ll survive, I can tolerate sitting and reading, you have to go fight the things” 

You and Dean joined Bobby and Sam, Sam having told Bobby about you breaking into their room. You were expecting to get your ass chewed out but all you got from Bobby was “Kid I’m glad you had fun, you need to loosen up sometimes, but we still need your help today, so I expect your best” 

You agreed and gave him a quick hug before setting up a spot to research on the desk in the room. 

Sam and Dean left to put on formal clothes as they were posing as detectives and had to look the part. They returned to the room after changing. 

“Don’t you boys look handsome” you said with a grin 

“We have to be believable” Dean grumbled 

“I’m being serious, you look nice” you smiled “I’m going to look for potential demonic activity in other areas, call me if you need anything” 

“Will do sweetheart” Dean replied 

“Thanks for all your help y/n, we’ll pick you up some fried chicken on our way back” Sam grinned 

Your stomach churned at the thought of eating anything but maybe you’d change your mind later in the day, so you didn’t shut him down. 

As the three were turning to leave you said “by the way Dean, I do still feel like that” earning a grin from him and his head flooding with thoughts of what he could do to you when he got back. 

✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰

[theetherealbloom]

IF THERE'S NOTHING LEFT - CH.2

Chapter Two: Hold On For Dear Love

Summary: You, a skilled healer, are brought to Rome by Senator Gracchus under the pretense of treating gladiators and Roman elites. You work with General Marcus Acacius to fight against the cruel reign of the twin emperors. Through danger and shared hope, your connection becomes a source of strength as you both dream of freeing Rome.

Paring: General Marcus Acacius x F!Reader

Warnings: 18+ Minors DNI, ANGST, Fluff, SMUT, Age-Gap(ish), Ancient Rome, Canon-Typical Violence, Gladiators, Blood, Gore, War, Romance, Politics, Alternate Universe, Eventual SMUT, Slavery, Sexism, Misogyny, Guilt, PTSD, Rebellion, Empires, (Very Light) Strangers-to-Enemies-to-Friends-to-Lovers, Crowds, Shouting, Animals, Duels, Loose Historical Fiction, Kissing,

Word Count: 10.1k

A/N: Chat, I am giving the reader a super vague background, like it won't matter too much, lol. You’re here for the vibes, and so am I ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So this entire fic isn’t gonna be overly complicated, I don’t think this is the fic for that. I mean, they put sharks in the Colosseum, so… we’re going to take some liberties here and there for funsies. It’s fanfiction, it’s supposed to be fun :> ALSO YA’LL I GOT INTO A GROOVE. I wasn’t planning on updating til next week but the words kept coming to me and suddenly I’m done with chapter two hehe. AND YES YES SHUSH NEXT CHAPTER IS SMUT. MAYBE. Ok enjoy girlies heheh.

Side note: I’m dyslexic and English isn’t my first language! So I apologize in advance for the spelling and/or grammatical errors. As always, reblogs, comments, and likes are always appreciated. Thank you and happy reading!

Song: Hymn To Virgil by Hozier

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SENATOR THRAEX’S PARTY — DAY

The grand villa was alive with music, laughter, and the heady scent of roasted meats and spilled wine. Senators, high-ranking officials, and Rome's wealthiest citizens mingled among trays of fruit and platters of delicacies, their voices filling the air with a cacophony of conversation and self-indulgent boasts. Courtesans draped in sheer silks wove through the throng, their laughter as light and false as the smiles of their patrons.

You stood to the side, partially hidden in the shadow of a marble column. The position offered a semblance of privacy while giving you a clear view of the room. You made mental notes of the faces present—senators, generals, and merchants, all drunk on wealth and power. Their alliances and rivalries played out in every guarded glance and overly polite toast.

Senator Gracchus approached you with a goblet of wine, his face etched with age but kind. “You look like a soldier observing a battlefield,” he remarked dryly.

You smiled faintly, accepting the drink. “It feels like one. Though I’m not sure which side I belong to.”

Gracchus chuckled, leaning slightly closer. “In Rome, one must always choose a side, my dear. Even if that choice is to appear invisible.”

Before you could respond, a voice interrupted. “Ah, the daughter of misfortune graces us with her presence.” Senator Thraex’s saccharine tone drew the attention of those nearby. He strode toward you, his beady eyes alight with thinly veiled mockery. “I was just telling Gracchus how tragic your loss must have been. Your poor parents—what a terrible end.”

Your jaw tightened, but you forced a polite smile. “Your concern is appreciated, Senator. They are at peace now.”

Thraex clasped his hands, feigning sympathy. “Still, such a pity. A young woman like you, left all alone in this cruel city. Surely by now, you should have found a husband to protect you from its dangers?”

The words stung, though you refused to let it show. Keeping your tone steady, you replied, “I fear my reputation for independence precedes me. Not all men wish to marry someone who refuses to play the meek lamb.”

Gracchus coughed into his goblet, poorly disguising a laugh, while Thraex’s smile faltered. “How... peculiar,” he said, his tone sharper now. “Though perhaps not surprising. It would be difficult to find a suitor for one so... outspoken.”

The room seemed to hum with energy as Thraex’s face, darkened with irritation from your earlier remark, shifted into a mask of forced hospitality when his gaze landed on a man entering the crowd—a towering figure wrapped in silk and jewels, his presence as commanding as it was enigmatic. You followed Thraex's movement as he moved to greet the man, a name rippling through your thoughts: Macrinus.  

You had heard whispers of him before. A former gladiator who had fought for his freedom, now a powerbroker in Rome. He supplied food, wine, and oil for the empire’s armies, manufactured weapons, and even maintained a stable of gladiators. His name carried weight, his connections extending into the darkest corners of Roman politics.

As Thraex approached Macrinus, his false charm returned, his arms spreading wide. “Macrinus!” he greeted, his voice dripping with exaggerated warmth. He clapped the man on the shoulder with an enthusiasm that bordered on theatrical. “I knew the provinces could never contain you.”

Macrinus accepted the embrace with a faint smirk, his dark eyes scanning the room with calculated ease. “I’m just here for the games,” he replied, his tone casual, though there was a hint of something sharper beneath the surface.  

Thraex chuckled, his grip lingering on the man’s shoulder. “Ah well, you won't be disappointed. Rome has all the games that men like you like to play.”

“Men like me, cracks men like us.” Macrinus shot back, his grin widening. “I know nothing happens in Rome unless you… tasted it first! ”

Thraex laughed at the jab, the sound too loud to be sincere. Their exchange continued, a dance of veiled threats and mutual amusement. You lingered at the edge of the room, doing your best to blend into the shadows, your ears straining to catch every word.  

Thraex handed Macrinus a gilded chalice of wine, his eyes glinting with curiosity. “What's this we hear about you being interested in standing for an election to the senate practice?”

Macrinus stiffened, his surprise poorly concealed as he let out a dry chuckle. “Me? You know, I don't even know how to use an abacus,” He sipped his wine before adding with a wry smile, “but I do understand that… it's customary for your guests to make wagers at these affairs.”

Thraex’s eyes narrowed slightly, though his smile didn’t falter. “How large a sum did you have in mind?”

Macrinus tilted his head thoughtfully, the jewels around his neck catching the light. “A thousand gold aureus?”

Thraex’s lips curled into a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “Two,” he countered smoothly.

Macrinus glanced at the courtesan draped over his arm, as if seeking her approval. The woman gave a slight nod, and Macrinus shrugged, turning back to Thraex. “Denarius,” he said simply, the single word carrying enough weight to silence Thraex for a fleeting moment.

Macrinus walked away with an easy swagger, leaving Thraex standing alone with his forced smile slipping into a scowl. The flash of irritation on his face, so quickly concealed, didn’t escape your notice.  

You couldn’t suppress a small smirk of your own as you turned your attention elsewhere. Rome’s elite might dress themselves in finery and smiles, but it was clear that every word exchanged tonight was a thread in the intricate tapestry of power. Threads you were determined to unravel.  

The air in the grand hall shifted, thick with anticipation as the crowd clustered toward the edges of the room. The glint of opulence—golden goblets, silk-draped tables, and jewels adorning the guests—clashed against the dark reality of what was about to unfold. Your eyes lingered briefly on a figure across the way: a man, bound in chains, sitting quietly. There was no fear in his expression, only a smoldering anger that made you uneasy.  

The sound of clapping drew your attention back to the center of the room. Senator Thraex, ever the showman, raised his voice above the murmur of the crowd. “Stand back! Stand back!” he called, his tone a mix of authority and delight.  

You stepped aside, blending into the edges of the gathering, as the spectators parted to form a circle. The twin emperors, Caracalla and Geta, lounged decadently on their perch, surrounded by concubines who laughed and whispered among themselves. Their indifference to the gathering's undertones was maddening.  

Thraex turned toward them with an exaggerated bow. “My emperors,” he began with a grin before addressing the audience. “Lords, ladies, senators—tonight, for your entertainment... the art of combat!”  

Excited gasps rippled through the room, the revelers’ reactions equal parts anticipation and bloodlust. You fought the urge to roll your eyes. Thraex gestured dramatically toward the two men brought forward—one was the same figure you’d seen earlier, still brooding but now standing tall.  

“And now,” Thraex continued, “the barbarian, versus from my own stable, the mighty Vijay!”  

The crowd erupted into applause as Vijay, a towering figure in a yellow tunic, was escorted forward. His opponent, the gladiator from across the room, now squared his shoulders and met Vijay’s gaze.  

“It is your gladiator?” Emperor Geta asked, his tone laced with mild amusement, as he glanced at Macrinus.  

Macrinus inclined his head respectfully. “It is, your Majesty.”  

Chains were removed from both men, their freedom feeling more like a death sentence. Thraex began to set the terms. “Three rounds, hand-to-hand—”  

But Emperor Caracalla’s voice cut through. “Swords!” he barked, his grin wicked.  

The room fell silent.  

“We want swords. A fight to the death!” Caracalla continued, his voice rising with glee. “No quarter to be offered, or given!”  

Thraex hesitated, his expression faltering for a moment, but the guards stepped forward, placing swords into the gladiators’ hands. You felt your stomach twist as the two men began circling one another.  

The gladiator of Macrinus spoke first, his voice calm but edged with pleading. “Brother, come now. Let us not kill each other for their amusement.”  

Vijay’s only response was a roar as he lunged, his sword slicing through the air. The next moments were chaos. Blades clanged as they met, sparks flying from each blow. The room seemed to shrink around the violence as tables splintered and decorations toppled.  

The climax came when Vijay’s sword slipped from his grasp in the scuffle. The other gladiator seized the opportunity, driving his blade into Vijay’s chest. A sharp gasp escaped you as the larger man crumpled to the marble floor, his blood pooling beneath him.  

The victor tossed his sword to the ground with a clatter, breathing heavily, his face and tunic spattered with blood. Around you, the crowd erupted into applause and cheers, their delight in stark contrast to your quiet horror.  

“Remarkable!” Emperor Geta exclaimed, standing as he clapped his hands. He approached Macrinus with an approving nod. “Congratulations.”  

“Thank you, your Majesty,” Macrinus replied smoothly.  

Geta then turned to the gladiator, studying him with newfound interest. “From where do you hail?”  

The man said nothing, his jaw set, his silence defiant.  

The tension in the room grew thick. Even you found yourself leaning forward, curiosity mingling with unease.  

“Speak,” Geta commanded sharply. When no answer came, his impatience boiled over. “I said speak!”  

Macrinus stepped in quickly, bowing his head. “Your Majesty, he is from the colonies. His native tongue is all he understands.”  

The gladiator finally raised his head, his voice cutting through the room like a blade. “The gates of hell are open night and day; smooth the descent, and easy is the way: but to come back from hell, and view the cheerful skies, in this the task and mighty labor lies.”  

The poetry stunned you, the eloquence jarring against the brutal spectacle that had just unfolded. Around you, the room fell silent for a beat before Caracalla broke into a laugh.  

“Poetry!” the Caracalla declared, grinning as he turned to Macrinus. “Very clever, Macrinus. Very clever indeed.”  

Macrinus bowed slightly. “To amuse you is my only wish, your Majesty.”  

“We are amused,” Geta said, though his gaze remained fixed on the gladiator. His voice rose as he addressed the room. “And we all look forward to seeing your poet… perform in the arena.”  

“As do I your majesty's.” Macrinus gestured to his guard. “Viggo,” he said softly, and the guard stepped forward to escort the gladiator out of the room.  

As the crowd began to disperse, murmurs of excitement rippling through the air, you remained rooted in place. Your eyes followed the blood trail left by Vijay’s body as it was dragged away. The victor—dripping in another man’s blood, yet unbowed—disappeared through the doors, his haunting words lingering in your mind like a ghost.

LUCILLA'S VILLA — LATE AFTERNOON

The villa of Domitia Lucilla stood as a serene contrast to the chaos of Rome—a sprawling sanctuary of pale stone walls and gardens heavy with the scent of roses and citrus. The late afternoon sun stretched shadows across the courtyard as you entered, the weariness from Senator Thraex’s debauched gathering weighing heavily on your shoulders.

Lucilla awaited you, standing poised near a column. Her cream stola shifted with the breeze, but her sharp gaze was unwavering, as if she had been expecting this moment.  

“You’ve returned,” she said, warmth in her voice tempered by the gravity of her expression.  

“I have, my lady—”  

She waved off the formalities with a flick of her wrist. “Enough with that. How many times must I tell you?”  

“Habit,” you replied with a faint smile, though it lacked its usual brightness.  

Her lips twitched with amusement, but concern quickly took its place. “And how was Senator Thraex’s gathering? As intolerable as I feared?”  

You sighed, the grotesque excess of the night flashing briefly in your mind. “More wine than wit. And blood, of course. Always blood.”  

Lucilla’s mouth tightened, her brow furrowing just enough to betray her displeasure. She stepped closer, resting a hand lightly on your shoulder. “Rome devours itself with spectacle. It leaves nothing but emptiness behind,” she murmured.  

You nodded but didn’t speak. The heaviness of her words settled heavily on you because they were true.  

“And Thraex himself?” she pressed, tilting her head.  

You hesitated. “He made his usual jabs about my… unmarried state. Feigned sympathy for my family. And spent an inordinate amount of time with Macrinus, the arms dealer. It seemed more calculated than casual.”  

Lucilla’s eyes narrowed slightly, her mind already turning. “Macrinus does not waste his time on frivolities. If Thraex is courting him, there’s more at play.”  

“Something to do with the games tomorrow, perhaps?” you suggested. “He seemed eager for them.”  

Lucilla’s lips pressed into a thin line. “It’s possible. His ambitions are endless, and I fear his alliances will be the ruin of many.”  

“Rome always finds a way to drag us into its mire,” you muttered bitterly.  

Her hand on your shoulder tightened briefly, reassuring. “Then we tread carefully. But not tonight. Tonight, we focus on what lies ahead. The senators will convene soon, and General Acacius is to join us.”  

You huffed a soft laugh, though it carried a trace of exasperation. “A grand gathering in his honor, and he doesn’t bother to attend the festivities.”  

Lucilla arched a brow, her expression turning sly. “Were you hoping he would?”  

Heat rushed to your face, and you fumbled for a response. “I—no, of course not. I just thought it odd.”  

“Mm.” Her tone was noncommittal, but her knowing smile made you glance away.  

Before you could dwell on your embarrassment, Lucilla turned down another garden path, leaving you to follow. It was there, amid the soft hum of cicadas and the golden haze of the late afternoon, that you saw him.  

Marcus Acacius sat beneath a pergola, his broad shoulders bent slightly over a parchment, a quill poised in his hand. A goblet of wine sat forgotten beside him, the scene unexpectedly tranquil for a man of his reputation.  

Lucilla glanced over her shoulder with a smirk. “It seems you’ll get your wish after all.”  

Your stomach twisted at her words, but before you could form a protest, she disappeared around the corner. Left to your own devices, you took a steadying breath and approached. The crunch of gravel underfoot drew his attention, and he looked up, his dark eyes softening as they met yours.  

“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t return,” he said, his voice low and warm, though a flicker of relief betrayed him.  

You tilted your head, folding your arms as you came closer. “And I was beginning to think you’d forgotten the party was meant for you.”  

Marcus chuckled, setting down his quill. “Crowded rooms filled with drunken senators and empty promises hold little appeal. I prefer the quiet.” He gestured to the bench across from him. “Join me?”  

For a moment, you hesitated, the unspoken tension between you filling the air. But then you sat, folding your hands neatly in your lap.  

“The games tomorrow will be particularly… extravagant,” you said, glancing at the parchment. “I’m to serve as a healer for the event.”  

His brow furrowed. “You’ll be in the arena?”  

“Not in it,” you replied quickly. “But close enough.”  

Marcus’s jaw tightened. “It’s barbaric. They celebrate death, and you’re left to mend what’s left behind.”  

“It’s Rome,” you said with a shrug, though the bitterness in your voice was unmistakable.  

“Does it not anger you?” His voice was steady but insistent, his gaze searching yours.  

You hesitated before answering. “Every day,” you admitted quietly. “But anger doesn’t heal. It doesn’t save lives.”  

His hand moved, resting near yours on the table—not touching, but close enough that the space between felt charged. “You do more than heal,” he said after a moment. “You remind us of what’s worth saving.”  

The sincerity in his words made your breath hitch. For a moment, you didn’t know what to say.  

“I only do what I can,” you said finally.  

“And it’s enough,” he replied, his voice firm.  

Silence settled between you, but it was not empty. It was heavy with questions left unasked, with the unshakable feeling that you knew him from somewhere beyond this life.  

“You’re different,” he said suddenly.  

You raised an eyebrow, half-amused. “Is that a compliment or a warning?”  

He smiled faintly. “A truth.”  

You studied him, the edges of recognition tugging at your mind. “Have we met before?”  

His hand stilled, his expression unreadable. “Why do you ask?”  

“It’s the way you look at me,” you said, your voice barely above a whisper. “Like you know something I don’t.”  

For a long moment, he said nothing. Then, softly, “Perhaps I’m just trying to understand you.”

“And do you?” you asked, your voice barely above a whisper.  

For a moment, he didn’t answer. Instead, his gaze lingered on yours, as if he were searching for something—something hidden behind the words you didn’t say. His jaw tightened, and then relaxed, his hesitation drawing out the silence until it felt like the whole garden held its breath.  

The sun dipped low on the horizon, casting an amber glow across the courtyard. The scent of citrus blossoms drifted through the air, mingling with the faint tang of oil from the bronze lamps. You and Marcus sat across from each other, the heavy quiet between you punctuated by the distant hum of the city below.  

“I think,” he said finally, his voice low and measured, “that you’re not as much of a mystery as you’d like to believe.”

You said nothing, the truth of his words settling over you. He wasn’t the first to try to understand you, but he was the first whose attempt didn’t feel like an invasion. Still, you kept your silence, hoping it would shield whatever he thought he saw.  

Marcus leaned back slightly, his gaze unwavering, though his tone softened. “You wear your defiance like armor. It suits you, but…” He hesitated, as if searching for the right words. “Even armor cracks under enough weight.”

Your chest tightened. There was no judgment in his voice, just quiet understanding, and that somehow made it worse. You turned your eyes to the horizon, watching as the light bled into dusk.  

“And you?” you asked at last, your voice quiet, almost tentative. “What cracks your armor?”

He didn’t answer immediately, his jaw tightening as he looked away. For a long moment, you thought he might deflect or let the question fall unanswered. But then he sighed, his shoulders dropping slightly, the facade of the unshakable general slipping.  

“The things I’ve done,” he said finally, his voice barely above a whisper. “The wars. The lives I’ve taken. I tell myself it was duty. For Rome. For honor. But when I close my eyes…” His hand curled into a fist on the table, the scarred knuckles white with tension. “I see their faces. The ones I killed. The ones I couldn’t save. Sometimes, I think that’s all there is left of me. Blood and ghosts.”

His words hung in the air, raw and unguarded. You felt the sharp sting of his pain as if it were your own, and it stirred something deep within you—a desire not to fix him, but to let him be broken without shame.  

“There’s more to you than that,” you said softly, surprising even yourself with the conviction in your voice. “Let the brokenness be felt, Marcus, until you reach the other side. There is goodness in the heart of every broken man who comes right up to the edge of losing everything he has.”  

He looked at you then, his expression unreadable, but his eyes—those fierce, commanding eyes—betrayed a flicker of something fragile. “And if the edge is all that’s left?”  

You shook your head. “Then you find your way back. One step, one breath, one choice at a time. You’ve already come this far.”  

A faint, wry smile tugged at his lips. “You sound certain.”  

“I am,” you said simply. “Because I’ve seen it before. I’ve seen men lose everything and still find the strength to rebuild. You’ve endured so much, Marcus. And yet, here you are.”  

His gaze lingered on you, and for a moment, the air between you felt impossibly heavy, as though the weight of both your pasts had settled there. But then, something shifted—just a fraction—and the tension eased.  

“Tell me,” he said quietly, leaning forward. “How does someone like you—someone who speaks of goodness and second chances—end up in a place like this?”  

You let out a soft laugh, though it held no humor. “A long story,” you said, your tone laced with irony.  

He smiled faintly. “I’ve got time.”  

The simplicity of his statement caught you off guard. You studied him for a moment, searching for any trace of mockery, but found none. He was patient, steady, like a man who had weathered every storm and learned to endure the waiting.  

You hesitated, then began to speak—not all at once, but in fragments. You told him of the choices that had brought you here, the moments of defiance and loss that had shaped you. He listened without interrupting, his focus unbroken, as though each word mattered.  

When the story faltered and the silence crept back in, Marcus spoke again, his voice gentle. “You’ve carried much on your shoulders.”  

You shrugged, your gaze fixed on the table. “Haven’t we all?”  

He nodded, a faint smile playing at his lips. “Perhaps. But not everyone carries it as well as you.”  

The compliment startled you, and you looked up to find him watching you with something like admiration. It wasn’t romantic, not yet—but it was real, and it unsettled you in a way you couldn’t quite name.  

“You don’t know me well enough to say that,” you said, though your voice lacked its usual bite.  

“Not yet,” he agreed. “But I’d like to.”  

Something in his tone—a quiet sincerity, unadorned by pretense—made you pause. You realized, with a small jolt, that you wanted to know him, too. Not just the general, but the man beneath the armor.  

“Maybe,” you said finally, a faint smile tugging at your lips. “If you’re patient.”  

His smile widened, just a little, and for the first time, you saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes. “I’ve learned to be patient,” he said. “For the right things.”  

And as the night deepened and the stars began to dot the sky, you found yourself wondering if, perhaps, this was one of them.

The room was dark, the faint glow of torchlight from the grilled window casting long, flickering shadows on the walls. Lucilla stood beside you, her sharp eyes trained on the guards below as they exchanged shifts. She watched silently, her body tense but still, until the last of them disappeared around the corner.  

With a soft sigh, she turned back into the room and extinguished the candles one by one. The light died away, replaced by the cover of darkness. Outside, a guard’s voice called up, noting that she must be retiring for the evening.  

You remained quiet, holding the lamp as Lucilla adjusted her robes and pulled up the hood, the fabric obscuring her features. The air felt heavier now, laden with unspoken tension. She glanced at you, her gaze sharp even in the dim light.  

“Are you ready?” she asked, her voice a low murmur.  

You nodded and pulled your own hood over your head. The warmth of the lamp in your hand was a small comfort against the chill of the night.  

Lucilla stepped closer, her hands gripping your forearm briefly as she said your name. “You must know,” she said, her voice quiet but firm, “if you do this with us, there is a possibility that we may be discovered. And the penalties—”  

“I’m aware,” you interrupted gently, meeting her gaze. There was no hesitation in your voice.  

She studied you for a moment longer, then nodded, a faint flicker of respect passing over her features. Without another word, she turned toward a small shrine tucked into the corner of the room.  

Kneeling, she rolled back a slab of marble with deliberate care, revealing a narrow passage that led downward. The air that seeped out was cool and damp, smelling faintly of earth and stone.  

Lucilla motioned for you to follow, and you descended after her, the spiral staircase winding tightly into the depths. Your lamp cast shifting shadows on the walls, and the faint echoes of your footsteps seemed louder than they should have been.  

The tunnel at the bottom was carved with care, though the stone showed its age. Lucilla moved through it with practiced ease, her robes brushing against the walls as the passage widened and opened into a massive underground catacomb.  

You stopped short, your breath catching at the sight. The vaulted ceilings arched high above you, their grandeur almost otherworldly. This place was built for eternity, every detail a testament to early Roman splendor. Statues of gods and long-dead ancestors stood sentinel, their marble faces solemn in the lamplight.  

Lucilla’s steps slowed as she approached a series of crypts. Each one was marked with the bust of a family member, their likenesses carved into the stone. She stopped before the bust of Marcus Aurelius, her father, and laid a hand on its smooth surface.  

“Father,” she whispered, her voice tinged with both reverence and sorrow, “protect us and guide us.” Her fingers lingered for a moment before she turned away, her expression unreadable.  

You wanted to say something, to break the silence, but the words escaped you. There was a sacredness here that felt unshakable, a weight you couldn’t quite explain.  

ANTECHAMBER — MINUTES LATER  

The air in the antechamber felt thick, like the weight of centuries pressed down upon you all. Torches lined the stone walls, their flickering light casting wavering shadows on faces lined with tension and purpose. The damp chill of the underground space only added to the solemnity of the moment.  

Lucilla moved forward with practiced grace, her head held high despite the gravity of the meeting. The first man stepped into the torchlight, his wiry frame and sharp features softened only by the faint trace of a smile.  

“Gracchus,” Lucilla said warmly, extending her hands. “Old friend.”  

Gracchus clasped her hands briefly, his grip conveying both respect and concern. “My lady. I wish we were meeting in better times.”  

Lucilla’s lips curved into a faint smile, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “The sun shone once—it will shine again.”  

Gracchus raised an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth quirking into a sardonic smirk. “And what in heaven’s name does that mean?”  

Before Lucilla could answer, a low, resonant voice emerged from the shadows. “It means hope, Gracchus.”  

You started slightly, your heart skipping as a figure stepped forward. Marcus Acacius. The flickering light caught the edges of his armor, making it gleam like liquid fire. His presence filled the room effortlessly, his broad frame and steady gaze commanding attention.  

Gracchus let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head. “Oh yes. He is shiny.”  

Marcus didn’t react to the jest, but his eyes flicked between Lucilla and Gracchus before settling briefly on you. His gaze held for a beat too long, making your pulse quicken.  

“Did I startle you?” he asked, his tone smooth but edged with faint amusement.  

You straightened, tightening your grip on the lamp you carried. “Not at all,” you said, though your voice betrayed you.  

The faintest hint of a smile touched his lips, but he turned his attention back to Gracchus, his expression growing serious. “We want to take back the city. To restore Rome to what it should be.”  

Gracchus’s expression darkened, doubt creeping into his voice. “An exciting venture. When?”  

“On the final day of the games,” Marcus replied firmly.  

Gracchus raised a skeptical brow. “How?”  

Marcus’s jaw tightened, the tension clear as he measured his words. “My army waits for my command at Ostia. Five thousand soldiers loyal to me will enter Rome. I intend to arrest our emperors in front of the crowds at the Colosseum for their crimes against the Senate and the people.”  

A long, heavy silence followed. Gracchus exchanged a wary glance with Thraex, who stood silently in the background. The two senators appeared burdened with years of cynicism, the spark of belief long extinguished.  

Lucilla broke the quiet, her voice sharp and resolute. “We cannot continue to see Rome damaged, sliding further into corruption and decay.”  

Thraex snorted softly, folding his arms. “Does he want to be Emperor?”  

Marcus’s gaze sharpened as he shook his head. “I am a soldier, not a politician. Rome will be yours to administer and—”  

Gracchus interrupted him, his tone cutting. “Your father spoke of returning power to the Senate. But that was a generation ago. Much has changed. The people haven’t seen hope for years, and—”  

This time, Marcus’s voice rose slightly, his frustration bleeding through. “Rome is not yet ready to be a republic, but with time—and guidance—a vote by the people, for the people, would mean—”  

Lucilla placed a steady hand on Marcus’s arm, quieting him. She turned to Gracchus, her voice calmer but no less determined. “Rome can live again. Do we have your support, Gracchus?”  

Gracchus hesitated, his gaze shifting to you, then back to Marcus. Finally, he nodded slowly, his voice soft. “Lucilla, you are the daughter of Marcus Aurelius. He had my loyalty, and so do you.”  

Lucilla allowed herself a small smile. “A political answer, but good enough. Senator Thraex?”  

Thraex hesitated, his eyes flickering to you. He seemed to brace himself before speaking. “Politics follows power, my lady. Take back what is rightfully yours, and the Senate will support you.”  

The room seemed to exhale as the senators gave their tentative agreement, but Gracchus’s gaze lingered on you. His voice softened. “I vowed to your parents I would take care of you. To give you a life beyond this... chaos.”  

Your grip on the lamp tightened as you met his gaze, your voice steady despite the turmoil in your chest. “There is no point in life if the future of Rome is nothing but an abuse of power and position.”  

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Marcus’s expression shift. His gaze rested on you, his brow furrowing slightly, as if he were seeing you in a new light.  

The torches flickered, their flames casting light on faces filled with determination and shadows that hinted at the dangerous road ahead. You glanced at Marcus once more, and his eyes caught yours, a faint, unspoken understanding passing between you.  

THE COLOSSEUM — DAY

The air around the Colosseum is alive with a chaotic energy that hums through the sprawling crowd. The great amphitheater towers above, its shadow sprawling across the dusty streets. Vendors shout over one another, selling honeyed dates, roasted nuts, and cheap wine. Children dart between the throngs, their quick fingers snatching at coin purses while wide-eyed newcomers marvel at the spectacle before them.  

As you approach the towering Capitoline Arch, your eyes lift to the imposing statue of General Marcus Acacius atop a marble plinth. The sunlight gleams off the bronze plaque beneath, bearing the inscription: ACACIUS, VICTOR AFRICAE.  

You pause, a faint sigh escaping your lips as you take it in. The statue is majestic, carved with precision to capture his strength and valor, but there’s something about its stillness, its perfection, that feels wrong. The man you’ve come to know is far more complicated than the warrior immortalized in marble.  

Pulling your hood closer to shield yourself from prying eyes, you make your way toward the entrance of the Colosseum.  

Outside the massive arena, the crowd is dense, funneling into the arched entrances like water forced through narrow channels. The scent of sweat, baked bread, and dust clings to the air.  

A wagon lumbers past, its wheels creaking as it pulls into the rear gates of the Colosseum. The iron gates groan shut behind it with a finality that makes you shiver.  

Your eyes catch on one of the gladiators stepping down from the wagon. He is broad-shouldered, with a grim expression and scars that tell stories of survival. Recognition flickers in your mind—he was at Senator Thraex’s gathering, one of Macrinus’ men.  

For a moment, his gaze meets yours, sharp and searching. You quickly turn away, the weight of his stare lingering like a brand on your skin.  

COLOSSEUM UNDERCROFT — DAY  

The undercroft is a world unto itself, hidden beneath the grandeur of the arena above. The air here is damp and stale, filled with the mingled scents of blood, sweat, and the earthy musk of the animals kept for the games. Torches line the stone walls, their flames barely cutting through the heavy gloom.  

You step carefully, the hem of your robe brushing against the uneven stones beneath your feet. Around you, the sounds of preparation echo—metallic clangs of swords being sharpened, the low murmur of prayers whispered by gladiators, and the distant roar of the crowd above, a constant reminder of what waits beyond.  

A sudden shout breaks through the noise, and you flinch instinctively, your hand tightening around the lamp you carry.  

“Keep moving!” A guard barks, shoving a gladiator forward.  

You press yourself against the wall to let them pass, your eyes following the line of chained men as they march toward their fate. The air feels heavier here, thick with despair and the metallic tang of blood that never quite fades from the stone.  

The main chamber opens ahead, a cavernous space carved from the bedrock, with a stone memorial spanning two centuries etched into one of the walls. The names carved there seem endless, a testament to the lives given—or taken—beneath this roof.  

You step into the room, your eyes searching for Ravi, the healer who has been your closest ally in this grim underworld. He is leaning over a battered table, his thick canvas coat bristling with the tools of his trade—scalpels, needles, and small bottles of tinctures.  

Ravi glances up as you approach, his dark eyes meeting yours. He nods, his expression weary but kind. “You’re late,” he says, his tone more teasing than reproachful.  

“I was delayed,” you reply, setting the lamp down on the edge of the table.  

Ravi straightens, his hands covered in the telltale stains of his work. “Delayed by a statue, no doubt,” he says with a smirk, nodding toward the hallway you came from.  

You sigh, rolling your eyes. “Not just the statue. The entire crowd outside could rival an army.”  

He chuckles softly, but his humor fades as his gaze shifts to the tools laid out before him. “It’s a mad world out there. And in here. They’ll call it glory, but we know better, don’t we?”  

You nod, your fingers brushing against one of the bottles of tincture on the table. “How many today?”  

“Too many,” Ravi replies grimly. “It always is. But if we don’t patch them up, they’ll be thrown back into the arena like lambs to the slaughter.”  

You glance toward the memorial wall, the endless names a stark reminder of what happens when healing is no longer enough. “And yet they cheer,” you say softly, more to yourself than to him.  

Ravi follows your gaze, his expression hardening. “They cheer because they’re too far away to hear the screams. From up there, it’s just a show.”  

A heavy silence falls between you, the weight of his words settling in the space like a tangible presence.  

Finally, Ravi breaks it, his voice quieter now. “You could have been anywhere. A villa in the hills, a proper clinic, somewhere far from all of this. Why here?”  

You meet his gaze, your voice steady despite the ache in your chest. “Because someone has to be.”  

Before Ravi can respond, the distant blare of a cornu horn echoes through the chamber, its mournful call summoning the combatants to the arena.  

Ravi exhales, shaking his head. “That’s our cue.”  

You nod, grabbing the lamp and turning toward the corridor. “Let’s hope today isn’t worse than the last.”  

Ravi follows, his canvas coat swaying as he moves. “Hope’s in short supply here,” he mutters. But then, as if to lighten the mood, he adds, “But if anyone can keep these bastards alive, it’s us.”  

A faint smile pulls at your lips as the two of you head toward the chaos waiting above. The sound of the horn grows louder, blending with the roar of the crowd—a noise as relentless as the tide.

The roar of the Colosseum was muffled slightly where you and Ravi stood in the shadow of the lower arches, but the sight above was impossible to ignore. Caracalla and Geta had already taken their places in the royal seats, their expressions imperious yet lacking true command. The crowd’s response to their arrival was lukewarm, tepid applause barely rippling through the masses.  

Ravi glanced at you, a wry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “They can’t even fake enthusiasm for their own Emperors. Telling, isn’t it?”  

You nodded grimly, shifting your gaze to the arena floor where the fight’s Master of Ceremonies stood, clearly tense. He gestured sharply to the musicians, prompting them to play a fanfare in a desperate attempt to rouse the audience.  

Through the giant copper horn mounted on a stand, his voice bellowed, “Citizens of Rome! These sacred games are held to honor the victory of Rome over the barbarians of Numidia—”  

You winced at the crude remark, the words cutting through the air with their arrogance.  

“And to honor Rome's legionary commander, General Justus Acacius!”  

At the mention of Acacius, your eyes instinctively sought him out. There he was, emerging in white and gold, a gleaming figure against the harsh backdrop of the Colosseum. His presence was magnetic, commanding without effort. He moved with the same purpose he always did, though you could sense a tension in his posture, a reluctance masked by the pageantry.  

Lucilla followed close behind him, her chin lifted with practiced grace. When the Master of Ceremonies announced her name—“Lucilla, the daughter of Emperor Marcus Aurelius!”—the crowd erupted into thunderous applause, a stark contrast to their earlier indifference.  

Beside you, Ravi let out a low whistle. “They still adore her.”  

“They always will,” you murmured, watching as she ascended to the royal seats under the guise of honor, though you knew better. The two Centurions flanking her were not mere escorts but guards, a subtle display of control that would escape the average onlooker.  

From this distance, it seemed she embraced the accolades, her every gesture perfectly measured. But you caught the slight flicker in her expression when she glanced toward Acacius.  

“You honor us with your presence. Speak to the plebeians, Acacius,” Geta commanded, his tone laced with condescension.  

You held your breath, sensing the reluctance in Marcus’s stillness. He exchanged a look with Lucilla, brief but telling, before his gaze swept across the crowd, searching. When his eyes found yours, something in his demeanor shifted—resolve, perhaps, or a need for grounding.  

Finally, he rose, stepping to the railing as the crowd quieted, anticipation thick in the air. His voice, deep and steady, carried over the expanse with ease.  

“I am not an orator, nor a politician,” he began, the simplicity of his words a sharp contrast to the pomp surrounding him. “I am only a soldier. Real heroism is not the stuff of games.”  

A murmur rippled through the crowd, confusion and intrigue mingling as Acacius’s words sank in.  

“It reveals itself to us only in the service of life itself,” he continued, his gaze unwavering. “I have seen bravery in men during war, and from women, too—bravery that does not falter in the face of fear but rises to meet it. And even, once, in this arena.”  

Your breath hitched, the weight of his words pressing against you. Though his gaze never left the crowd, you felt as though those words were for you alone.  

“If you pray,” Marcus’s voice deepened, his tone almost pleading, “pray that the gods will deliver us bravery like that. Because Rome needs it now.”  

The silence that followed was profound, the kind that held more weight than applause. Then, slowly, the crowd erupted, their cheers cascading through the Colosseum like a wave.  

You watched him step back from the railing, his expression inscrutable as he returned to his seat. But as the applause thundered on, his eyes found yours again, and in that brief moment, you saw it—something unspoken yet unmistakable.  

Ravi nudged you gently, breaking the spell. “He’s good, I’ll give him that.”  

You nodded, your heart still pounding. “Better than they deserve,” you said softly, though your thoughts were far from the Emperors.

The tension in the Colosseum was recognized as the opening ceremony came to an end. Caracalla and Geta clapped from their royal seats, their applause mechanical and devoid of genuine enthusiasm. Below, the Master of Ceremonies stood nervously, his voice amplified by the great copper horn.  

“From the South Gate... fighters from the stable of Macrinus of Thysdrus!”  

Your gaze darted to the southern entrance, where the gladiators emerged into the blinding sunlight. You recognized one of them—Hanno of Numidia—whose name Ravi had told you earlier. The crowd greeted them with scattered boos and jeers, a stark contrast to the grandeur of the arena itself.  

Hanno walked with measured steps, his expression stoic as he led the small group to the center of the arena. His shoulders bore the weight of more than just the armor; you could see it in his eyes.  

“And from the stables of our Emperors Caracalla and Geta themselves: Glyceo the Destroyer!”  

The eastern gates creaked open, revealing a towering figure clad in ornate armor, seated atop a great white rhino. The crowd erupted in frenzied cheers, the noise reverberating through the stone walls. The rhino trotted with surprising agility, its hooves kicking up clouds of dust as it carried Glyceo with the ease of a seasoned warrior.  

From your vantage point, you saw the glint of weapons strapped to the rhino’s side—an axe, a sword, a mace, and a bola. Glyceo reached for the mace, gripping its heavy handle with a confidence born from countless victories.  

The first gladiator dared to challenge the beast, stepping forward with his sword raised. He attempted to dodge the rhino’s charge at the last moment, but the creature’s speed and precision were unmatched. The horn struck him with brutal force, sending him flying across the arena before the rhino finished him off with a savage thrust.  

Your stomach churned as the body was tossed aside like a ragdoll. The crowd’s cheers only grew louder.  

Hanno stood still, his gaze fixed on the carnage. Then, almost imperceptibly, he crouched and scooped a handful of sand from the arena floor, letting it sift through his fingers. The gesture was hauntingly familiar—a ritual Maximus had performed before every fight.  

Beside you, Ravi murmured, “Do you see that? He remembers.”  

You glanced at Lucilla in the royal box, noting the flicker of something in her expression—recognition, perhaps, or sorrow. But she quickly masked it, her face hardening as she turned back to the arena.  

The rhino charged again, this time with Glyceo’s mace raised high. Hanno sidestepped at the last possible moment, but the rhino’s horn clipped him, sending him sprawling. Dust clouded the air as the beast wheeled around, disoriented by the sunlight.  

Hanno was quick to act. He flung the remaining sand into the air, creating a bright, blinding curtain that obscured his movements. The rhino charged again, unable to see clearly, and slammed full force into the arena wall. Glyceo was thrown like a ragdoll, his body hitting the stone with a sickening thud.  

The rhino staggered, its massive frame reeling as it struggled to regain its footing. Hanno retrieved his sword and advanced on Glyceo, who was already scrambling to his feet. Their blades met in a clash of steel, sparks flying as Glyceo’s superior strength began to overwhelm Hanno.  

You leaned forward, gripping the stone railing as Glyceo delivered a brutal series of blows, forcing Hanno to his knees. The crowd chanted, their bloodlust palpable.  

Lucilla gasped, turning away, her hand trembling as it gripped the edge of her seat. Even Macrinus, who had been watching with a calculating gaze, shook his head slightly.  

Glyceo raised his short sword, poised to deliver the final blow. He paused, turning to the royal box for approval.  

“Shall we spare his life, brother?” Geta asked, his tone mockingly casual.  

Caracalla shrugged, a cruel smile playing on his lips. “I wouldn’t mind seeing some blood.”  

Geta ignored him, his attention shifting to Lucilla. “Lucilla, shall we show mercy?”  

Lucilla hesitated, her voice trembling. “Mercy.” The word was barely audible, choked with guilt and something deeper.  

Geta stood, raising his fist. The crowd fell silent, holding their breath as he slowly extended his thumb upward, granting Hanno his life. The Colosseum erupted in cheers, but the celebration was short-lived.  

“No,” Hanno said, his voice cutting through the noise like a blade.  

The crowd stilled, murmurs of confusion rippling through the stands.  

“No mercy,” he repeated, his tone resolute.  

Geta’s face twisted in disbelief. “Gladiator, we have spared your life. No one refuses—”  

“I will not accept mercy,” Hanno interrupted, rising to his feet despite the blood dripping from his wounds. He turned to the royal box, his gaze unwavering. “I would sooner face your blade than accept Roman mercy.”  

The crowd erupted in chaos—laughter, jeers, and shouts of encouragement mingling in a cacophony of sound.  

“Fight on, then, fool, and die,” Geta spat, his face reddening with embarrassment.  

Glyceo lunged, his mace swinging in a wide arc. Hanno ducked, his movements fueled by desperation and fury. With a final burst of strength, he seized his fallen short sword and drove it into Glyceo’s abdomen. The mighty gladiator staggered, his expression one of shock before he collapsed, lifeless, into the sand.  

The crowd roared its approval, chanting Hanno’s name as he stood victorious. From the royal box, Macrinus smiled, his eyes gleaming with intrigue. You couldn’t help but watch Hanno with a mixture of awe and apprehension, your heart pounding as the weight of the moment settled over the arena.  

COLOSSEUM HOSPITAL ROOM — NIGHT

The dim light of flickering oil lamps cast wavering shadows on the rough stone walls of the makeshift infirmary. The smell of blood, sweat, and burnt herbs clung to the air like a heavy shroud. Ravi moved methodically among the injured, tending to other gladiators with a calm, steady hand.

You were left alone with Hanno. He sat on a wooden stool, his posture tense despite the exhaustion etched into his features. A deep, jagged wound marred his upper arm, the torn flesh angry and raw. Mosquitoes buzzed around him, drawn to the scent of blood and sweat.

You crouched beside him, your hands deftly inspecting the wound. “This needs to be cleaned and stitched up,” you murmured, glancing up at him briefly. His eyes met yours, dark and unreadable.

He broke the silence. “What’s your name?”

You paused, meeting his gaze again as you answered, giving your name. You nodded toward the other side of the room. “That man over there is Ravi. We’re both doctors—or as close to it as you’ll get here. More men die of infected wounds than in the arena itself.”

Hanno tilted his head slightly, watching you as you prepared the tools of your trade. “This is going to hurt,” you added, your tone both matter-of-fact and soft.

You handed him a small pipe, its carved edges worn smooth from use.

“What’s this?” he asked, examining it with mild suspicion.

“Devil’s breath and opium,” you explained. “For the pain. Breathe it in.”

Hanno hesitated for only a moment before placing the pipe between his lips. He inhaled deeply, his expression neutral as the sharp, bitter taste hit his tongue. Slowly, his eyes fluttered shut, and his breathing steadied.

“The effects are different for us all,” you said gently, noting the way his features softened, the tension in his shoulders easing.

When his eyes opened again, they were hazy, unfocused. “Your voice…” he muttered, blinking at you as if trying to place something familiar.

“What about it?” you asked with a small smile, distracting him as you began cleaning the wound.

“It’s… nice,” he replied, his words slow and slightly slurred. “Kind.”

You gave a soft chuckle, focusing on the task at hand. “Don’t get used to it. This part isn’t going to feel so kind.”

He took another draw of the pipe just as you began stitching the torn flesh with catgut. The needle pierced his skin, and he hissed through clenched teeth, coughing as a puff of opium-laden smoke escaped his lips and drifted into the air between you.

“Where’d you learn your trade?” he asked, his voice rough but steady.

You kept your focus on the stitches, your hands moving with practiced precision. “Why do you ask?”

“You’ve got a light hand,” he said, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

You glanced up briefly, the corners of your lips quirking. “You don’t strike me as someone who hands out compliments easily.”

The faint flicker of the oil lamp threw warm shadows across the stone walls of the infirmary. The low hum of muffled groans and whispered prayers filled the air, mixing with the faint metallic tang of blood and herbs. His dark eyes, hazy from the drug, remained fixed on you as you worked.  

“I don’t,” he murmured, his voice soft and slow. “But I’ve had enough wounds stitched up to know the difference between butchery and care.”  

The corners of your lips quirked upward, and a soft chuckle escaped you. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”  

“It is,” he said, his tone unusually earnest.  

Your laugh echoed softly in the quiet room, and his lips curved in response. Hanno was inebriated now—high on the devil’s breath and opium. He looked at you, his gaze almost childlike in its wonder, as if the haze had stripped away some of the weight he carried.  

“What we do in life echoes in eternity,” you said suddenly, your voice a mix of reverence and melancholy.  

The words hung in the air, timeless and heavy. You paused, your fingers stilling over the bandage.  

Hanno blinked, as if chasing a memory. “I feel I know those words…”  

You smiled faintly, your eyes meeting his. “I can’t take credit for them. They’re written on a tomb here, over the bones of a gladiator.”  

He let the words sink in, his gaze distant but thoughtful. You returned to your work, your hands moving with practiced precision as you tied off the final stitch and smoothed the bandage over his wound.  

“There,” you said, leaning back to admire your handiwork. “I think that should hold.”  

Hanno’s eyes drifted to his arm. He reached out, almost absently, and ran his fingers across the crude stitches. His touch was featherlight, as if testing the reality of it.  

You stood, gathering your tools and reaching for the pipe still clutched in his hand. But before you could take it, he brought it to his lips again, inhaling deeply. The motion was slow and deliberate, his dark eyes fixed on you through the curling smoke.  

You paused, watching him, but said nothing. After a moment, you gave a small nod and turned back to pack away the rest of your supplies.  

“Why did you let me take another hit?” he asked suddenly, his voice softer now, as if the opium was tugging him toward vulnerability.  

You glanced over your shoulder, your expression unreadable. “Because sometimes, we need the pain to go quiet for a while.”  

Hanno held your gaze for a long moment, his lips curving into a faint, lopsided smile. “You understand more than most,” he said quietly.  

You didn’t respond, but the weight of his words lingered. As you turned back to your work, his voice broke the silence again, softer this time.  

He said your name a tender echo in the quiet room. “Do you believe it?”  

“Believe what?” you asked, not turning around.  

“That what we do in life echoes in eternity.”  

You stilled, your hands tightening slightly around your tools. Finally, you turned to face him, your expression thoughtful. “I think… the choices we make, the lives we touch—they ripple outward. Whether it’s eternity or just a fleeting moment, I think it matters.”  

Hanno’s gaze didn’t waver, even through the haze of the drug. “You matter,” he said, his voice low but steady.  

The words hit you harder than you expected, and for a moment, you could only stare at him. He wasn’t smiling, wasn’t teasing. He meant it.  

Your throat tightened, but you forced a small smile. “Rest now, Hanno. You’ll need your strength.”  

He didn’t protest, but his eyes lingered on you as you turned away, your heart inexplicably heavier and lighter all at once.

LUCILLA’S VILLA – EVENING  

The villa shimmered under the moonlight, its alabaster walls soaking in the silver glow. Marble columns cast long shadows across the flagstones, and the air hummed with the gentle chorus of cicadas. Somewhere in the gardens, the delicate aroma of night-blooming jasmine mingled with the faint tang of the sea breeze.  

You stood at the edge of the terrace, a delicate glass of spiced wine cradled between your fingers. The cool air kissed your skin, but it couldn’t chase away the heat simmering beneath—an ache born of exhaustion, frustration, and something you dared not name. The day had unraveled like a tragedy, the gods watching with cruel amusement as you struggled to hold it together.  

Behind you, the sound of soft footfalls broke the stillness.  

“You stand there as though the weight of Rome rests on your shoulders,” a voice drawled, smooth and familiar.  

You turned, finding Lucilla leaning against the stone archway, her golden hair catching the light of the lanterns flickering nearby. She regarded you with a mixture of curiosity and knowing—Lucilla had a way of reading people like scrolls, unrolling their secrets with unnerving ease.  

“Does it not?” you replied, attempting a wry smile, though it faltered before it could fully form.  

Lucilla stepped closer, her movements fluid, regal. “Rome’s weight has crushed stronger people than us,” she said softly, joining you at the balustrade. “The key is learning when to carry it—and when to set it down.”  

You scoffed, swirling the wine in your glass. “And how often do you set it down?”  

Her lips curved into a faint smile. “Far less than I should.” She glanced at you from the corner of her eye. “But I’m not the one standing out here, staring at the stars as though they hold the answers.”  

The faint humor in her tone was a lifeline, grounding you. “If the stars do have answers, they’re not sharing them with me,” you muttered, shaking your head.  

Lucilla’s expression softened, and she reached out, placing a hand lightly on your arm. “The answers aren’t in the stars,” she said. “They’re in here.” She tapped lightly against your chest, her gaze unwavering. “You’ve already carried so much. Don’t forget you’re allowed to put it down—just for a while.”  

Her words settled over you like a balm, and for a moment, the tension in your chest eased. You opened your mouth to respond, but the sound of distant laughter interrupted, drawing both your gazes toward the villa’s golden glow.  

Lucilla sighed, stepping back. “The night calls,” she said, her tone laced with resignation. “Goodnight.”  

“Goodnight, Lucilla,” you replied, watching as she disappeared into the shadows of the villa, her presence leaving an unspoken promise of strength in its wake.  

The door clicked shut behind you, sealing off the night’s hum. You exhaled, leaning against the wood, letting the day’s exhaustion seep into your bones. But the solace was short-lived.  

“Finally,” a low, gravelly voice murmured from the shadows.  

You startled, your hand flying to your chest. “Marcus!” you hissed, your heart pounding. “What are you doing here?”  

He stepped forward, his broad frame illuminated by the flickering lantern light. His tunic was slightly disheveled, and his dark curls fell across his brow, softening the hard planes of his face. Yet his eyes—those piercing eyes—held a fire that made it impossible to look away.  

“I couldn’t stay away,” he admitted, his voice low and rough. “Not tonight.”  

You crossed your arms, more to steady yourself than to rebuff him. “And you thought sneaking into my quarters was the solution?”  

Marcus’s lips quirked into a faint smirk, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “You’ve been on my mind all evening,” he said simply, the weight of his confession hanging between you. “Do you know how maddening it is? Seeing you, hearing you, but never being close enough?”  

Your breath caught, and you shook your head, trying to keep your composure. “Marcus, this—whatever this is—it's dangerous. You know that.”  

“Danger is nothing new to me,” he said, stepping closer. His presence was magnetic, and you found yourself rooted in place as he closed the distance between you.  

“Marcus…” you began, but your voice faltered as his fingers brushed against yours, tentative and fleeting.  

“Tell me to leave,” he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. “And I will. But if you don’t—”  

The unspoken promise in his words sent a shiver racing down your spine. You opened your mouth to protest, but instead, you found yourself tilting your face toward his touch as his hand cupped your cheek.  

“I’ve seen you fight for others, care for them,” he said softly, his thumb tracing a gentle line along your jaw. “Let me fight for you. Let me care for you.”  

Tears pricked at the corners of your eyes, unbidden and unwelcome. “You don’t understand what you’re asking,” you said, your voice trembling.  

“I do,” he countered, his forehead nearly touching yours. “And I’m asking anyway.”  

His breath was warm against your lips, and before you could stop yourself, you closed the distance, your mouth meeting his in a kiss that was equal parts desperation and surrender.  

The world fell away in that moment, the chaos and the danger replaced by the warmth of his embrace. His arms wrapped around you, pulling you closer as the kiss deepened, his lips moving against yours with a fervor that left you breathless.  

You pulled back, your chest heaving, your hands clutching the fabric of his tunic. “This doesn’t make the world any less dangerous,” you said, your voice barely audible.  

“No,” he agreed, his gaze locked on yours. “But I’d burn the world to ash just to feel the heat of you.”  

His words sent a shiver through you, a dangerous mix of devotion and desire. And as he kissed you again, softer this time, you realized that perhaps the fire he promised wasn’t something to fear—but something you’d already been consumed by.  

[anonymousewrites]

A Not-So-Disastrous Romance (Book 1) Chapter Twelve

Kusuo Saiki x Reader

Chapter Twelve: Insecurities and Sweets

Summary: Saiki has to unfortunately deal with his crush, now, and (Y/N) is not helping.

            “I’m super nervous to go out…” said Yumehara, pulling her towel tighter around herself.

            “Don’t worry, Yumehara, you should just have fun!” said (Y/N), patting her shoulder.

            “That’s fine for you to say, you look amazing!” cried Yumehara.

            “And you look lovely,” said (Y/N). “Right, Teruhashi?”

            “Of course,” said Teruhashi, smiling brightly. “Don’t worry, Yumehara. You look great.”

            Yumehara sighed and buried herself deeper in her towel. “Just go on without me.”

            “Are you sure?” said (Y/N), concerned for their friend. They sat down on the bench beside Yumehara while Teruhashi started walking outside. “I can wait for you and go out with you if you’d feel better.

            “Well…” Yumehara trailed off as applause started outside the changing room.

            Teruhashi had exited in her pale blue bikini and swim-skirt. “Thanks for waiting!” she said.

            The people watching her nearly exploded at her appearance and continued to cheer and clap for quite some time all along the beach.

            “Sorry, I had a hard time finding a locker and got caught up talking to Yumehara and (L/N),” said Teruhashi, walking up to Saiki, Kaidou, and Nendou.

            “No worries! We didn’t wait at all,” exclaimed Nendou nervously as he blushed.

            “That’s right! No worries!” squeaked Kaidou, struggling to get out words.

            Saiki said nothing.

            Teruhashi’s eyebrow twitched. Tsk. So this level of skin exposure won’t get Saiki to say “oh, wow!” huh?! “Well, then, shall we go? Everyone’s waiting, right?”

            “Well, (L/N), Yumehara, and Mera aren’t here yet,” said Kaidou, and Saiki nodded.

            “Oh, right, Yumehara is having some trouble…but (L/N) was with her, so they should be out soon,” said Teruhashi.

            Inside the changing room, Yumehara was still cowering. “I can’t go out there after Kokomi…” she said.

            “Come on, Mera and I will go out with you,” said (Y/N). They smiled. “I promise, it will all be alright.”

            “Right!” said Yumehara, summoning her courage. “I look great, and my swimsuit is perfect!”

            “That’s the spirit,” said (Y/N) encouragingly. “Come on, Mera.”

            “Coming!” said Mera.

            All three walked towards the entrance of the changing room and entered the sunlight.

            “Thanks for waiting!” said Yumehara, smiling cutely. “I had some trouble finding my towel.”

            No reaction from anyone, it was just a regular day despite her yellow swimsuit.

            What?! They made it an ordinary scene? Come on, couldn’t you do anything special since it isn’t the anime! Yumehara huffed. At least Chisato and (Y/N)—

            “Sorry about that! I’m here,” said Mera. She fiddled with the straps of her school-issued swim uniform. “My swimsuit is a bit small, so I had trouble putting it on.” She smiled, and the boys watching widened their eyes as the usually quiet and unassuming girl was transformed (for them, Mera was always cute) into someone special.

            Mera gets a whole sentence about her?! I got two words, “yellow swimsuit!” thought Yumehara. She sighed. At least (Y/N)’s been nice about this whole thing—

            “Wow, (L/N), you look great!” said Kaidou, smiling.

            “Hey, pinky, you’re wearing pink!” said Nendou.

            “Thanks, guys,” said (Y/N), smiling. “I thought it would be fun to wear a feminine swim costume on the trip instead of my usual shorts and t-shirt.”

            Indeed, while in the last beach scene they’d worn a men’s swim shirt and swim trunks, this time (Y/N) wore a pink two-piece, with a sporty, pale pink top and bottoms. The straps were red, and strawberries were printed over the fabric. It was a very sweet outfit and very (Y/N)-esque.

            Yumehara’s jaw dropped open. Not only did (Y/N) get a whole paragraph to their outfit, the sun was also falling on them in the perfect way to highlight their figure and make them glow with warmth and sweetness.

            That’s fine! As long as I can see Saiki’s reaction, I’ll be okay! Yumehara turned towards Saiki.

            He was looking directly at (Y/N).

            “Strawberries. Nice.” That was all Saiki could manage.

            After the realization he’d had at the aquarium, Saiki had shut down for the entire bus ride to the beach. It had taken a very, very long time to process that. Apparently, having feelings were a worse blow to him than discovering he had Saiki powers had been to (Y/N).

            And now Saiki had to see them in a cute outfit? Yes, Saiki wasn’t one to care about appearances—and even if he did, he thought (Y/N) looked nice all the time—but after his realization, he was noticing way too much about them. And, unfortunately for him and his sanity, he was noticing that he associated (Y/N) with sweetness and strawberries were sweet and that was cute and—

            “Thanks!” said (Y/N), smiling warmly.

            Yare yare.

            Next Saiki was stuck thinking about their smile, but we won’t write a paragraph on that to spare him and give him some of his dignity.

l

            While her friends hung out in the water, Yumehara curled up in her towel, confidence unfortunately destroyed again.

            Okay, fine, it’s over. My school trip is over, okay? she thought despondently.

            “Oh? Aren’t you gonna swim?” asked Kaidou.

            “No, I don’t feel good, so…” Yumehara trailed off.

            (Y/N) frowned from where they were standing in the water. “I wish I could help her confidence…”

            “She’s recovered before,” said Saiki.

            “In other words, you can’t swim, right?” teased Yumehara, having started talking to Kaidou (he had gone into a tirade about being cursed by Dark Reunion).

            Kaidou, poor thing, turned bright red. “Th-Th-That’s not true!”

            Did he blush when he saw my swimsuit?! He did, didn’t he?! Yumehara brightened triumphantly. He’s even looking away! So cute!

            “Wow, she’s already recovered,” said (Y/N), smiling.

            “She thinks he thought she was cute,” said Saiki.

            “Whatever works,” chirped (Y/N). “As long as she cheers up, that’s good.”

            “Kaidou!” called Teruhashi, running up. “Did you see a ball come this way?”

            “N-N-No, I didn’t!” squeaked Kaidou, overwhelmed. He rolled backwards in panic.

            He rolled backwards three times?! Poor Yumehara’s confidence took another blow. I can’t believe how much of a difference there was in his reaction…

            Saiki furrowed his brow in irritation. (Y/N) noticed and cocked their head.

            “You alright?” they asked.

            “This is as much of a pain as I anticipated,” said Saiki. Hearing everyone’s current dilemmas was going to give him a headache.

            Someone, please say I’m cute… thought Yumehara.

            “Hey, she’s cute!” said a new voice.

            She whirled around eagerly, but the fantasy was broken as two older boys walked past her towards Teruhashi. (Y/N) frowned as they noticed them. The way they leered felt wrong.

            “Hey, you there,” said the first man.

            “Whoa, check you out!” said the second. “How about the three of us go get some shaved ice?”

            What? This is a joke, right? Are they really hitting on me…? thought Teruhashi.

            “Hey, what’s the problem? Let’s go,” said the first.

            Just how dense do they have to be to think they’re in my league? thought Teruhashi. I know I’m really cute, but this is beyond reckless! It’s not that they have guts, they’re just plain dumb.

            “Are you nervous?” said the second.

            “I don’t like the look of those two,” said (Y/N), frowning in concern.

            Saiki looked over. That got his attention since (Y/N) never disliked people. The only person they had was Makoto (for obvious reason) and now these two.

            “Okay, let’s go, it’s decided!” said the first man, reaching for Teruhashi’s wrist.

            “That’s it, I’m going to help her,” said (Y/N), walking out of the water.

            “Be careful—” Saiki didn’t want those men to hurt them. If they tried anything, Saiki was stepping in.

            “Hey, you two!” said (Y/N). “Get away—”

            “Get off her!” said an unexpected voice. Kaidou moved between the men and Teruhashi and threw out his hands. “She doesn’t wanna go! So beat it!”

            “Huh?!” said the men angrily.

            “Oh?” said Saiki in surprise.

            “Who the hell are you?” said the first man angrily.

            Kaidou wilted but tried to keep his courage up. “W-Well…She doesn’t want to go, right? So…”

            “This is none of your business, got that?!” snapped the second man.

            “Uhm, I’m her classmate, so…” Kaidou trailed off nervously, but his heart was still there. “If you don’t cut it out, I’m gonna get, um, serious…”

            “Huh, what’re you mumbling about?” sneered the first.

            “Leave them both alone,” said (Y/N), walking towards them.

            Saiki took a step towards the group. If anything were to happen, he’d step in. Just for (Y/N), the others could mostly figure it out for themselves.

            “Yeah!” said Yumehara, stepping up with (Y/N). Two versus two. “We’re on a school trip, and if you keep causing trouble, we’ll get the teachers.”

            “Huh?! Don’t get cocky with us!” said the first man again, leering over Yumehara and (Y/N).

            “Get lost, you dumb broads!” said the second.

            Poor Yumehara wilted at the criticism, her self-esteem damaged once more. (Y/N) just glared, knowing those two were just idiotic men (the two words went hand in hand often).

            “So just get out of the way,” said the first, moving to shove (Y/N) out of the way.

            “Yeah,” sneered the second, moving to push Yumehara away.

            Wham!

            Whiff!

            “Don’t ever try to hurt people,” said (Y/N), glaring at the man they had punched to the ground.

            Saiki, who had raised his hand to do something to protect (Y/N), blinked in surprise. He hadn’t expected that. Still…at least they were alright. That’s what mattered to him.

            “You bastards! Apologize to Yumehara and (L/N)!” said Kaidou, glaring at the man he’d bunched. “What do you think you’re doing?! Just apologize to them!”

            The man he had punched frowned and touched his cheek. “That didn’t hurt at all!”

            Unsurprising, thought Saiki.

            “It looks like you got a bug bite,” said the other man, frowning. “Why’d you get hit by the weakling?!” He hadn’t gotten as lucky.

            “I’ll show him weak!” said the man hit by Kaidou, lifting his arm again.

            (Y/N) curled their hand into a fist, preparing to hit the other guy, too.

            Saiki reached out and squeezed his pointed finger and thumb together.

            “Ow!” cried the second man, holding his cheek as the pain began.

            “It hurts now?” said the first man, frowning. “Ow!” His cheek began to thrum with even more discomfort than before.

            (Y/N) tilted their head in confusion as the two men ran away in fear of the pain before looking back towards Saiki. Upon seeing his raised hands, they smiled and nodded to him.

            Saiki had to admit, he didn’t like his attention for his abilities, but seeing (Y/N)’s approval…well, he wouldn’t say no to it.

            Beside (Y/N), Kaidou turned to Yumehara. “A-Are you okay? They were really rude.”

            Yumehara just blushed and imagined something very different as he spoke to her. (Along the lines of: you’re so cute, Chiyo).

            Kaidou! He’s so amazing! thought Yumehara.

            In no sooner than a moment after being “rescued” by Kaidou, Yumehara had developed a massive crush on him.

            Good job, Kaidou.

            Saiki wasn’t sure feelings were supposed to come about so quickly, but he knew he wasn’t the norm. And, hey, Kaidou had done the right thing.

            “Thanks for that,” said (Y/N), smiling at Saiki. “We needed the help.”

            “I don’t think you did.” (Y/N)’s right swing was surprisingly formidable.

            “Maybe, but it was still nice of you to step in,” said (Y/N). “Thanks, Kusuo.” They grinned. “I’ll buy you a sweet for your troubles.”

            (Y/N)’s praise and sweets? Saiki thought that was a perfect exchange.

l

            “Come on, Mera, Teruhashi, Yumehara,” said (Y/N), trying to get their friends’ attention. “We have to meet up with the boys at that café.” They wanted to make sure they didn’t fall behind. (Mostly because they had seen Saiki eying a dessert on the plane ride, so (Y/N) thought treating him to that would be a good “thank you” for the previous day).

            “I can stay back with Mera if you two would prefer,” said Teruhashi graciously. “I know you’re friends with them, (L/N), and Kaidou hasn’t gone far, yet, Yumehara.”

            Said girl went bright red. “What?! Wha…What? Why?! Kaidou?!”

            “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you might have a crush on him,” said Teruhashi.

            She definitely does, thought (Y/N).

            They looked back at the boys and frowned. Saiki was nowhere to be seen. Evidently, he’d decided to leave behind his usual bothers to try to get to the sweets. (Y/N) chuckled fondly and shook their head in amusement. Saiki had his mind on treats and only on treats.

            Ah, well. I’ll just make sure we get there and pay before he does, thought (Y/N).

            “Am I making it that obvious?” said Yumehara, nearly melting from how red she was.

            “Ah, I’m sorry! I won’t tell anyone,” said Teruhashi. She glanced nervously at (Y/N). “And I’m sure (L/N) won’t.”

            “You can count on us, Yumehara,” said (Y/N) brightly.

            “Good, because I also know who you like, Teruhashi!” said Yumehara. She glanced at (Y/N). They might like Saiki, but I have no idea…

            Teruhashi turned red and waved her hands in front of herself. “Ah!K-Keep it to yourself, okay? We’ll all keep each other’s secrets!” She glanced at (Y/N). Especially since they might like Saiki, too.

            (Y/N) remained blissfully unaware of the two girls analyzing (Y/N)’s feelings. “Sounds good to me.” They grinned. “We’re friends.”

            “Right,” said Yumehara, smiling. “But, anyways, I don’t think we should split up.”

            (Y/N) nodded in agreement. “After yesterday, I think we should stick together.” They laughed. “And Mera can grab more free samples from other shops as we go.” They sweat-dropped as they saw the current staff-owner trying to pull Mera away from the samples.

            “Oh, also, isn’t it about time for you two to start calling me by my first name?” said Yumehara. “After all, we’re friends, and last names feel so formal! So you both can call me Chiyo, alright? We’re good friends now, Kokomi, (Y/N)!”

            “O-Okay, Chiyo,” said Teruhashi.

            “Right, Chiyo!” said (Y/N). “And you both can call me by first name.”

            “You can do the same for me!” said Teruhashi, deciding to take a chance and get closer to her two friends.

            “How sweet,” said Mera, but she was only talking about the samples she was devouring.

            (Y/N) shook their head in amusement and grabbed her wrist. “Come on, Mera, we’re going to a café, so you can get more there.”

            “Oh, great!” said Mera brightly, letting her friends steer her out.

            “Hey, where’d Saiki go?” said Kaidou, looking around in confusion as he and Nendou finally noticed Saiki’s absence.

            “Buddy?! Where are you?” called Nendou.

            “Follow me,” said (Y/N), gesturing to everyone.

            “You know where Saiki is?” asked Teruhashi, surprised.

            (Y/N) laughed. “Kusuo’s pretty obvious.”

            Everyone else sweat-dropped. Saiki was not.

            …

            Wait, Kusuo?! thought everyone (minus Nendou).

l

            “I would’ve thought Kusuo would be here by now,” said (Y/N) as they sat down with their friends. They had all ordered the same dish and were just waiting for Saiki.

            The bell on the door rung as Saiki walked in.

            “Hey, pal!” said Nendou excitedly.

            “We’re sitting here!” said Yumehara.

            “Hi, Kusuo,” said (Y/N).

            “Where have you been?” asked Teruhashi.

            “I’m surprised that you found us,” said Kaidou.

            “Now everyone in our group is here,” said Mera cheerfully.

            I knew it before I opened the door, thought Saiki.

            “Welcome!” said the waiter. Saiki pointed to what he wanted on the menu. “Oh, the Red Bean Coffee Anmitsu? I’m sorry, but we sold them all to those customers over there.”

            On cue, the group’s orders were brought out.

            Saiki stared. Wait, they only serve six a day, so…Yare, yare, so this is the ending, huh?

            “Kusuo,” called (Y/N). “Come sit with us. You can have mine. Remember? I owe you.”

            Saiki stared and felt his admiration for (Y/N) grow hundredfold.

            “We can all share,” said Nendou.

            “Good idea!” (Y/N) smiled at the waiter. “We’d like another bowl and spoon, please.”

            Saiki sat down and stared in amazement as his friends gave him large amounts of their sweets until he had the biggest portion out of all.

            “Looks like you got even more than you would’ve before,” said (Y/N).

            “Let’s chow down!” said Nendou. “This’ll be the last memory we make on our school trip.”

            “Right!” said everyone, digging in.

            Saiki lifted his spoon and smiled as he looked out at everyone. This isn’t so bad.

Taglist:

@elaemae

@painstakingly-juno

@characterreaderwriter

@melovepurple

@sleep-7372

@w0mank1sser

@geminigengar

@noodleryworld

@leonardo-dabitchy

@janezee12751275

@xenop0p

@ex160-blog1

@futureittomainn

@boogiemansbitch

@dmitrytherat

@yuriisclumsy

@sixxze

@constellationguy

@k03ume

@sweatyinternettrash

@paastaboi

@unorthodox-gob

@girlswhopanic

@h-i-g-h-w-a-y-t-o-h-e-l-l-l

@drowningfishy

[viandclintbarton-supremacy]

Love and War (Lucy Bronze x Ona Battle x Reader)

Warning: Swearing, Angst, Fluff and Smut

Request: "PLEASE can we have a threesome with one batlle and lucy MF BRONZE. please omg I'm so done bad. Like poly relationship and shit "

"L/N on the ball, gets past Battle. Leon on their tail. GETS PAST BRONZE! L/N TO WIN!!! GOOOOOALLLLLLLLLLLLL. REAL MADRID SCORE AT THE CAMP NOU WITH SECONDS LEFT"

Your heart was racing, you were running to the craized cheers of the Madrid faithful and jumped into the crowd. You let emotion take over you and celebrate. Kids, Men and Women all hearing your name as your found yourself being carried out and dog piddled by your teammates. Them praising you

*WHISTLE BLOWS*

"Unbelievable scenes here. 2-0 to Barcelona at halftime only for the super sub F/N L/N to score the Hat Trick and snap the unbeaten streak of Barcelona Femeni. The Barcelona players cleary upset with the loss but we can't underrate the fire that L/N and the Madrid gave in the second half.

As you stood up alongside Oroz who gave you a peck in the top of your head as you went to shake hands with your rivals, you saw Alexia walk up to you "Good game, we will make you pay next time" She ruffled your hair. She clearly was upset with the lost but you two had a good friendship going since you got together with Ona and Lucy. Speaking of which you see Lucy sitting on the ball as Ona talked to her clearly mad about the defeat. You approached the duo, you loved them but come on. You were gonna rub this in thier face later. You squat down next to them "Hey good game girls, you were tough as always" you say trying to lighten the mood. Ona looked at you with a concerned smile as Lucy kept her head down. "See you at home L/N" that's not good. She got up and walked off. "Get home safe amor" Ona said quietly before chasing Lucy.

You knew Lucy hated losing. The fact she called you by your last name hurt and pissed you off. She has beaten you before and you never reacted like that even if you mad as hell. You shook you head before walking towards Mapi Leon and embraced your long time frienemy.

Lucy was fuming, She lost, She was the last line of defence and still let the ball passed her. Lost at the Camp nou, Lost to Real Fucking Madrid. Of the teams that could of beat them it was them!. They Lost because of you!. The image if your face flashed in her mind as she made her way back to the locker room. Your beautiful face. She loved waking up to it in the morning and falling a sleeping staring into your eyes. But she can't help but want to punch you right now. She wouldn't but it was how she felt.

Ona was worried. Lucy was silent with a noticeable scowl on her face. The last time Lucy lost a game was the World Cup final and she didn't treat Ona like this. In fact the roles of you and Ona were swapped, Yours and Lucy's team lost and you didn't treat Ona like this, well she thought. She didnt know why this lost hurt lucy more then the finals. Sure Ona was fustrated but thats the game and all three of you were in a relationship you would think Lucy wouldnt be mad that her partner won a match. She'walked besides her as they entered the locker room hoping she cooled down.....

Much later that night back at Lucy's house, Lucy was still in the same mood. Ona had watched her pace back and forth. Ona was waiting for you to arrive as you promised the girls you have one or two drinks to celebrate. "Lucy, my love but please sit down, it's annoying when you pacing back and forth" Lucy with her hand on her hips sighed before sitting down on the couch. "Where are they?" Lucy said cleary irritated. "They should be-"

*Door key noises*

The duo turned to the door to see the handle pushed down and open to reveal you still in your Madrid top and for you to see them still in thiers. "Hola my lovlies" you say before shutting the door and making your way to Lucy and got ready to sit next to her. You though wrong as you went to sit down "Don't touch me" She got up with a annoyed face, as you stopped on the couch with one knee on it and standing with the other leg "Excuse me?"

"You heard me L/N" She said crossing her arms at you. You gave her a suprised lock before glaring. Again with the last name "What is your problem Bronze" Her annoyed face shifted as you said her last name. "You are my problem, you don't talk to us for 3 days and then come up to us and act like nothing is wrong?" You gave her a raised eyebrow "You do realise we are involved in the of the biggest rivalries in history right? We did the same thing last time aswell. We cut contact so we could focus. So I will ask again" You step infront of Lucy. You staring into her soul "What. Is. Your. Problem........Bronze" You said in a tone neither of the girls have heard before. Lucy kept a straight face but didnt want to admit her bitterness. Ona would stand in between as soon as you mention her last name again and feeling the tension "Ok OK that's enough. We all had a tiring day. Let's relax and getting some rest" She said trying to defuse the situation. You backed up as Ona turned to Lucy "Calm down ok?" She would ask the Lioness.

"Oh of course you would bloody check on her first" You threw you hands in the air as you turned and walked to the kitchen. This time it was Ona and Lucy's turned to have confused faces. The duo followed you "What do you mean by that?" Ona would say. "Oh come on, anytime something happens that involves me and Lucy, you go to her first and treat me like an after thought." Ona looked at Lucy before back at you. Lucy was trying to recount these supposed events you mentioned. "I love both of you Y/N, equally. I always try to get to both of you when some-"

You lifted a middle finger that caught both of them off, even Lucy eyebrows raised "One. When yours truly was kicked in the by Caldentey and was semi conscious, you two were two busy protesting rather to check on me." The duo looked down, that was at the start of the relationship and it was something they regretted and hoped that it didn't hurt you but you broke that hope. "Nope you were too busy trying to convince the ref it wasn't a foul"

You held up your index finger giving them the classic two fingers. "Two. Last week when you beat my team, did either of you come up to me and say anything or shake my hand" Ona sighed and Lucy was uncomfortable "Nope, you both celebrate shook a few hands and went out to celebrate. Ignoring my texts and calls and left me alone outside until I had to walk home an sleep worrying that you two didn't get home safe" Ona was now scratching her arm, she knew that the action of that would send you paranoid and she didn't want you to think like that. It was for that reason she gave you keys to her and Lucy's house. Lucy had her hands in her pockets, she felt horrible because she would always insist that you call or text her if you needed anything and the one time you did, she wasn't there. Feeling the remorse she approached you"F/N. I'm so so-"

"Three" you cut her off as you held up a third finger and taking a swig of the beer you had opened when you entered the kitchen. Your attention fully on Ona"Back in Australia. When we lost. When me and Lucy were down. Who did you go to?"

"Lucy" She said quietly, you nodded "of course I'm not saying Lucy didn't need the comfort but when did you come to me?" You said in a innocent voice. Guilt and a sick feeling built up in her gut.

"I didn't" You smiled " Thank you." You then looked at Lucy before taking a swig if beer "And you, you said you would be there for me" You slowly step towards her "I can forgive being excited about a win and getting caught up in the fun or getting caught up in the heat of the game." You said your voice now in a tone that could be described as you are regretting your actions and even though I am pissed, I'm loving it. You stepped again "When my world was shattered and I felt like shit feeling the world watch me cry. And countless teammates and Spaniards were trying to comfort me and I saw my two girlfriends smiling at each other." You stood nose to nose with Lucy. Who calm demeanor showed signs of breaking "When we stood shoulder to shoulder and watch Ona lift the cup. What did you say" Lucy felt nauseous, one of the biggest regres in her life was what she said to you. Ona was uncomfortable and scared at the thought of whag Lucy did "What"

"Did"

"You"

"Say"

"To"

"Me"

Lucy breathed in "I said"

"We would of won if Keira was on the pitch instead of you"

Ona jaw hung low at the confession. Lucy's tried to remain calm shook her head cleary disgusted with letting her anger get the best of you. You put your drink down.

"And you are telling me, That even though I can handle all that shit that has happened. That you can't handle one fucking loss to me?" Lucy looked ashamed before you looked towards Ona who looked at Lucy with shook before locking eyes with you. "Do you think I'm in the wrong for being pissed off" She looked down and shook her head.

You walked past the duo and headed out of the Kitchen but stopped "Anyone else would leave you two if they were me you know" the two looked at you with worry "But I love you two so much that, that if I did leave. It would hurt more then the 3 reasons I just stated, combined.

You headed to the bedroom Leaving the duo, you felt light headed. Was that the right thing to say. You let months of anger out on them even if you felt justified you still didn't like to see them hurt, you took off your trousers and threw them across the room then proceeded to look for a pair of shirts to put so you could sleep. You found a old pair of England shorts and put them on before going to bed, hoping the next day wouldn't be as bad. You layed battling the emotions that were making you tired, You expressed your feelings but it left a worrying thought that you may have hurt your partners deeply with you words and attitude.

Lucy felt Ona's eyes burning into her head. Not only did Ona have to listen to someone she loves became angry and hurt, a side of you she or Lucy have never seen before but she finds out what Lucy said to you. Lucy felt sick ever since she said that, as soon as those words left her mouth she wanted to apologise and hold you close but was Stubborn. In her anger and looking for someone to blame, you were the closest and the reason at the time. She knew that you were scared of replacing Keira not on the pitch as a partner. You worried about living up to Lucy's standards after she been in a long relationship with your teammate. Her knowing this she decided to use it as ammo in the moment and hit the target. She felt a growing sense of regret for her words and actions. She knew she had taken her anger out on you unfairly then and now. Her stubbornness in the heat of the moment had caused unnecessary pain. The thought of you leaving them had struck her hard and it was a wake up call to revaluate her behaviour.

Ona, who was caught in the middle of the fight, couldn't ignore the rift that had developed between you and Lucy. She loved both of you deeply and wanted nothing more than to see harmony in your relationship. The fact that you had revealed your hurt and frustration was both eye opening and heart breaking for her. She realized that she needed to step up her game in terms of being there for you. She loved you deeply and she couldn't bear to see you hurt, especially when it was because of her negligence. She knew she had to make an effort to be more attentive and supportive in the future.

Lucy sat down in the living room couch, leaning forward with her hands together. Ona was sat next to her resting her head on Lucy shoulder. "I'm such a fucking idiot" Lucy said in a broken voice "Out of all the things I should have said. I said that." Lucy spoke with great disappointment in herself, She felt Ona rub her arm "And tonight i hurt them again" She buried face in her hands. "You are right, we should of been there more. We should of been celebrating now, but we ruin F/N's moment with this Lucia" Ona said in a ashamed voice as Lucy began fight back emotions. "What if they want to leave? I don't know how i can fix this." Ona now sat up and hugged the Lionesses side.

"Listen to me, Y/N loves us deeply. They have shown that countless times. I don't think they want to leave. Like they said leaving us would hurt them more then anything." Ona cupped Lucy cheeks "Lucia, F/N is strong, but they are a human and humans can only take so much before snapping. We just need to be there for F/N when they are ready" Lucy looked into the women's eyes "Maybe its because there are three of us in a relationship, It means more commitment and love from each other. We expect more from each other. We should be supportive, especially when one of us succeeds, just as we comfort each other in defeat." Lucy held back her tears hearing Ona speak like this made her captivated before closing the distance and kissing Ona, who responded back before pulling apart and resting each others head against each other.

Lucy sighed "You're right, Ona. I need to apologize to Y/N and make things right." Ona smiled "We, We need to apologise" Lucy gave a sad smile. "We need to let Y/N know that we love them and we're here to support and understand each other, no matter what Lucia."

You open your eyes slowly feeling something run through your hair and something playing with your hand. As the blurring vision cleared you saw Ona laying next to you playing with you hand "Morning amor" You looked up to see Lucy playing with your hair "Hey sleepyhead" You felt so happy that your girls were still there but still felt sad you may have hurt them "How was your sleep?" Ona asked kissing your hand, you glance at the window. Still dark must be early in the morning"Honestly, Nice" You gave a blunt response making the duo know you were still hurt. You felt Lucy move beside you and cupped your cheeks "Y/N," she said, her voice filled with sincerity and remorse, "I'm so sorry for what I said and how I acted last night. It was unfair, and it was a terrible way to treat you after winning the game. And for what i said at the World Cup that was sick of me to say. Please forgive me. I love you, and I never want to hurt you like that again." For the first time you saw Lucy looking like a lost puppy. She looked distraught after speaking and was waiting for a reply from you.

You felt a hand on your shoulder "Y/N," Ona began, "I apologize as well for not being there when you needed me. You're right, I should have checked on you during the World Cup. I promise to be more attentive in the future." You heard the honesty in her voice. She said it with clear passion in her voice. You looked back at Lucy who looked like she was going to cry a storm. It was clear the aftermath of last night was a wake up call to the girls. Your heart ached with a mix of emotions as you couldn't bear it anymore. You one arm each of Lucy and Ona pulling them into embrace, Ona gladly accepting, Lucy accepting and holding you in a tight grip. "I love you two." You felt Lucy soften" And I forgive you" Lucy started to slowly cry into you shoulder as Ona rubbed her back and you place a hand on the back of your head. It felt like hours you guys sat there just holding one another.

As the embrace broke. Lucy wiped her eyes as you pushed the strands of her hair out of her face, You loved it when her hair was down. Ona rested her head on your shoulder. You noticed both still had there Barca shirts on. They clearly didn't change. "Y/N, you were absolutely incredible last night," Lucy beamed, her eyes filled with admiration. "I've never seen someone turn a game around like that. You're amazing." You smiled sheepishly as Ona chimed in "Yes, you were the hero of El Classico. You made us so proud amor. You couldn't help but blush at their compliments, feeling their love and support wash over you. It was moments like these that reminded you why you cherished your relationship with them so much.

You felt Lucy's fingers graze your your thigh, giving you slight shivers. Her eyes turned evil. "But i must say" She leaned in pecking you jaw line before whispering "You may be wearing a Madrid top but you are Barca property" She said as she started to peck you neck. You felt a shiver shoot up your spine. Lucy knew how to make you submit to her advances. You tried to respond but her pecks made you stammer Ona couldn't help but chuckle at the exchange. She knew how much Lucy's teasing affected you, and she enjoyed the playful banter between the two of you. She leaned in and whispered, "Lucy's right, you did look stunning in that jersey. But don't forget who owns you. okay?" Ona then decided you attack the over side of your neck sending you into euphoria. You breath was caught in your throat as the two made break as you gave a audible moan. Lucy smirked but notice Ona.

The Lionesses grip the back of Ona hair and pulled her away from you "Did i say to do that?" You bit your lip as your favourite side of Lucy came up. Ona whilst Lucy was holding her hair gave Lucy a smirk that screamed brat. You then felt Lucy grip your jaw and aggressively kiss you and you responded lucy didn't even have to try you let her tongue overpower you within seconds. You faintly hear Ona chuckle before Lucy stopped and let go of Ona and pushed you onto bed like a Lion finding its prey and used her teeth to mark you. The intensity made you gasp with pleasure as a wetness form between your legs. As you let Lucy clam your neck Ona layed next to you, She loved to Lucy make you hers. She was like a hyena, she would try and try to have a bite of Lucy's food and pick off the left overs.

"Papi" You moaned as Lucy responded by licking your neck and gripping you jaw making her stare at you "Say it pup" she growled you as you feel her hand roam under your shirt

"Say it"

*Smut Incoming*

"Fuck me Papi" you said in a submissive voice as Lucy's smirked with fire in her eyes.. She lifted your Madrid top over you head and held it against you wrists and held your wrists with one hand above your head. You couldn't see clearly through the sheet and excitement ran throughout your body. You loved being Lucy's plaything. You heard lips smacking, knowing Lucy she is marking Ona's neck. "Do it brat" You heard Lucy say calling Ona a brat. But all of a sudden you feel a wet sensation on your left nipple making you gasp and arch up. you legs rubbing against each other as you moaned. "Good Girl" you hear Lucy say through your moans. You couldn't concentrate feeling Ona tongue flick and make circle around your nipple as you felt her leg wrap around one of yours and feeling another body most likely Lucy layed on your right side holding you down copying Ona. You then screamed with pleasure feeling Lucy's mouth on your right nipple, licking and sucking like an animal.

These girls were sending you into a moaning mess, you were tortured by your girlfriends for what felt like hours. To be honest you didn't care you loved this feeling of being controlled by two Barcelona girls. You felt Lucy leave your nipple as you felt Ona roughly pulled off you. You shirt was pulled down you see Lucy smirking holding Ona by the back of her head, holding her head between your legs. "Time to eat brat" Lucy said to Ona before pushing her head down on you. Making you moan, feeling Ona's mouth, her licks, her kisses, treating you like a meal that has even kept from her all month. Lucy laugh would send electricity through you. Lucy push Ona harder and Ona pulled your legs towards her, showing she needed your taste on her tongue. You felt the texture of her tongue run up and down you as she chuckle. Starting to feel you body. "Papi" you said looking at Lucy, She smirked at you knowing you were close. "Yes Pup?" You shiver as she traces her fingers down your waist. "I i I go- ugh gonna cum" She smiled devious "Not yet pup, not till Papi says. You start to squirm with pleasure and excitement, hearing the slurps and licks from Ona makes you feel more alive.

"Say the magic word puppy" You bit your tongue and shook your head "N-no never" She gripped your jaw making you more close "Say it now" she growled. You couldn't, you can't break your loyalty. "If you don't say it" She gripped harder. But you felt it coming in the moment you said the words that Lucy didn't want you to say. As you the orgasm take over you arched up and during released said

"HALA MADRID!"

Dazed from the amazing orgasm, you couldn't see Lucy's furious face. How dare you say that in her house. Ona's was chuckling as she licked up every essence of yours. "You fucking pathetic bitch" you knew you fucked up but you didn't care you would never pledge love towards Barcelona. "BRAT!" Ona looked up deeply breathing "Hold them" Lucy said in a tone you both understood well. You gulped as Ona pounced on you, pulling you on her and wrapping her arms and around you. "You shouldn't have said that my pet" She said before placing her lips on yours and staring to make out with you. You both battle trying to over come.

"Fucking dumb bitch" You hear before a overwhelming force entered you, you eyes bulging and you screamed into Ona's mouth. You felt you hair pulled as Lucy made you look up into her eyes "You are going to pay for saying that word in my house, you pathetic galáctico" She said before thrusting again. Making you shake on her strap. You couldn't help but love when Lucy brought your team rivalry in it, it made things spicier.

You couldn't to jolt everytime you felt Lucy pound into you, the sounds of slapping skin, Ona licking your nipples in a teasing matter. You hear Lucy groan and grunt as she found a rhythm. You knew she had a vibrator behind her strap. You feel her push your head down and without hesitation you start to make out with Ona. You moan and scream as you are being pounded into a weakened state. You feel Lucy body weight onto you making you stop kissing and gasp more as she picks speed "Who do you belong to" Lucy said as you feel her hot breathe on the back of your neck. "Who do you belong Pet" Ona said in a seductive tone. "Y-ah ah uh Y-"

"Wrong answer pet" You feel Ona bite the right side of your neck and start to mark. Lucy now growling in you ear as she thrusted harder and place her hand of the back of Ona's head and pulled her into your neck"Who do you belong too puppy" she slowly liked your ear before biting town on your left side neck and Ona holding Lucy's head

"AHHH MY OWN-ERS I BELONG TO YOU, I BELONG TO YOU" You repeat and repeat you couldn't take it, you squirmed as you release at the same time as does, making her bite down enough to draw blood. You collapsed as Ona and Lucy continue to mark your neck for another minute. You don't move you just let it happen. The two girls making sure you and others who see your neck, that you are property of Lucia Roberta Tough Bronze and Ona Batlle Pascual.

Lucy sighs and falls off you as you then fall off Ona. As you lay there mind broken, you glanced to the side, seeing Ona wasting no time as she climbed on a spent Lucy and began to ride her. You stared at the two girls you loved, you couldn't imagine not having them in your life. It was heaven. Lucy now regaining her composure started to move ger hands up and down Ona and thrusting upwards. You slowly scooted towards Lucy and draped your arm across her chest. She looked at you. "You did good puppy, stay by my side and rest" She pecked your head as you slowly fell into slumber letting the two others finish.

*Smut End*

You woke up groggily. You felt arms around you, you opened your eyes to see Lucy sleeping in front of you. you felt arms behind you, you knowing it was Ona spooning you. Thought still all naked, the covers were dropped over all three of you. This is what you needed, what you always looked forward too. Being sandwiched by the two most important and beautiful beings in the universe.

You feel back asleep, knowing you were protected in the arms of Ona Batlle and Lucy Bronze

The end

Holy shit, my first smut. I hoped it worked if not I apologise. I don't write smut so let me know how I did,it would REALLY help me knownif I did a good one or not .

How was the story too? What about Keira insult from bronze? Bringing the team rivalry into the dynamic.

Let me knownif you guys want more Ona and Lucy

[mrs-dr-reid]

“Lecture”

A Wolverine Fic

Pairing: Logan Howlett x Mutant!Fem!Reader

Summary: Logan's late-night crisis of worth leads to a loving reassurance/lecture from the reader

Genre: Super frickin fluffy, but a teensy bit suggestive at the end because why not?

Warnings: Swearing, allusions to Logan's past, suggestive language, tooth-rotting fluff

A/N: The voices got me. I'm writing for Wolverine now

Word Count: 1668 (just a baby)

———————————————————————

As time went on, Y/N began to appreciate the quieter moments she shared with Logan. Sure, she enjoyed the banter with the other X-Men and watching Scott get humbled, and of course, she adored seeing him interact with the kids. But her favorite time to spend with the man she loves was when it was just the two of them in their shared room talking about nothing and everything all at once, wrapped up in each other like they were the only two people in the universe.

On one of these nights, Y/N was snuggled against Logan’s chest as he traced random shapes on her back, and she was almost asleep when she heard him heave a sigh and whisper, “Shit,” so she opened her eyes and mumbled, “Logan? Is everything okay?”, making him run a hand over her arm and say, “Ah, it’s nothing, Baby. I didn’t mean to wake you, go back to sleep,” while shaking his head.

Y/N craned her neck to look up at him and said, “Lo, we’ve talked about this. When you start getting into your head too much, you need to talk to me,” while bringing a hand up to cup his face, a look of concern taking over her features. Logan grabbed her hand and kissed it before saying, “Yeah, okay. I was just… and this is gonna sound stupid, but I was just thinking about how you could do so much better than me,” which made Y/N fully sit up with an aghast look on her face.

She said, “Please tell me you’re joking, because if you aren’t, you’re in for one hell of a lecture, Bubba,” and when Logan just looked at her with a somber expression on his face, a crease formed between her eyebrows before she cupped his face in both hands and said, “I love you, Logan Howlett. Every scar, every bruise, every freckle and line is perfect to me. There’s nobody else I’d rather be with than you, and I need you to believe me when I say that because it is God’s honest truth, okay?”, her thumbs lovingly stroking his cheeks.

Logan looked at her mournfully and murmured, “Why me?”, so Y/N repositioned herself so their shoulders were pressed together, and she grabbed one of his wrists before saying, “First of all, I love your hands, because they’re warm and rough, and you have to admit mine fit in them pretty good,” and lacing her fingers with his, which made him chuckle despite himself and say, “Yeah, they do fit together quite nicely,” squeezing Y/N’s hand for emphasis.

Y/N turned his hand over in her grasp, then double-tapped one of his knuckles and said, “I love your claws, because they’re a part of you whether you want them to be or not, and because they help you protect yourself and other people, but mostly me,” earning her a soft snort from Logan as he rested his head on hers. Y/N continued by running her free hand up and down his arm and saying, “I love your arms, because they’re strong and sturdy, and because I never have to worry about anything when you’re holding me,” which made Logan playfully flex his arm and joke, “You sure you don’t just love them because they’re big?”, earning a loving swat to the chest from Y/N.

She brought a hand up to trace his mouth and said, “I love your mouth. Not just because you can do some… very enjoyable things with it, but also because you have a wonderful smile, and the corner of your mouth quirks up when you know I’m right but you don’t want to admit it,” and Logan was barely able to stop himself from doing that exact thing before saying, “Are we just gonna brush past that first part?”, which made Y/N shoot him a look that clearly said she wasn’t done yet, so he raised a hand in surrender and let her continue.

Y/N’s fingers wandered up to the creases by Logan’s eye, then she said, “I love your eyes, because even though they’ve seen some of the most awful things you could imagine, there’s still a tenderness to them, especially when you’re looking at me,” and he couldn’t help the lovestruck look in his eyes as he smiled at her. Y/N added, “I also love the little glint in your eye when you’re knocking Scott down a couple of pegs, or when the kids are getting up to some mischief that you helped them orchestrate,” and tapped his nose, which made him chuckle and tap her nose back.

Her hand migrated back to his chest as she said, “I love your chest. Not only because it’s a really nice pillow…,” and Logan flexed the peck her hand was resting on playfully at that sentiment, which made her shoot him a lovingly exasperated look before she continued, “But also because it’s where your heart is, and I love your heart most of all because even though you’ve lived through some truly horrible things, you never let them harden your heart. You love so fully and so fiercely, you put the most famous lovers in history to shame,” her thumb stroking the skin where his heart was. Logan put a hand over hers and whispered, “Thank you,” so Y/N smiled and whispered back, “Of course,” with a loving wrinkle of her nose before leaning in to press a loving kiss to his lips.

After she pulled away, a wicked grin spread across her face, and she slid her hand down to the waistband of Logan’s sweatpants while saying, “I also really love your co-...,” but she didn’t get to finish her sentence because Logan cut her off with a hand over her mouth and said, “Okay, Darlin, you’ve made your point,” trying to fight back a blush at her salaciousness. Y/N said, “Are you sure? You don’t need a demonstration?”, while toying with one of the drawstrings, so Logan said, “Can we raincheck that? I just want to hold you right now,” which made Y/N make a playful thinking face before saying, “I can work with that,” and snuggling against his chest once again.

Logan rolled his eyes, but he still pressed a kiss to the top of her head and said, “I love you, too, Y/N. You have no idea just how much,” making Y/N say, “I think I get the gist of it. Sweet dreams, Big Guy,” and tighten her grip on him. Logan murmured, “All my dreams are sweet because you’re in them,” earning a playful nudge to the ribs and a grumble of, “Sap,” from her. After a few moments of silence, Y/N said quietly, “Did I forget to mention how much I love your butt?”

The belly laugh she received was all she needed to know that Logan wouldn’t be having any crises of worth anytime soon.

———————————————————————

MCU Taglist: @libraryofloveletters

Let me know in the comments if you want to be added

[placeinthemiddleofnowhere]

All I wanna do is go the distance

Pairing: König x Reader

Summary: You’re determined to find out why everyone thinks König is so scary, afterall he’s just some guy that’s taller than most people right? He’s probably harmless! Well, he’s a little scary, but you still like him anyway.

(No use of y/n or mention of gender/race)

AN: Hey guys, I'm super excited to give you guys this next chapter 💕 I have big things planned hehe

I would reccommend reading this oneshot, but as I am not jon favreau, you don't have to read extra stuff I make to understand the main stuff. Enjoy 😈

Part 7 of A Rocky Start - Full Masterlist Here

-☠️-

It had taken a few weeks for your head to get completely right again after the concussion. On some days you worried that you’d never get through the fluorescent infested hallways of the base without jamming your fists in your eyes ever again. Sometimes you’d catch Price staring at you with those concerned world weary eyes of his in the worst moments, when the headaches were screaming outwards, bursting through your skull. Though with enough time, and a lot of pain killers, the pain died down and dulled until you were completely back to normal.

It was a good thing too. For one, getting Price off your back while you were continuing to sneak around with König was a must, being under the microscope was only making the head trouble all the worse. And for another, which you were sometimes shocked to think was the secondary reason, you’d been going on more and more missions again as the 141 and KorTac got ever closer to tracking down Rousseau. Things were getting tense now, Ghost had been falling under a lot of pressure to perform and his temper was all over the place. Oftentimes you’d be the lucky one that had to chase him and calm him down.

In the months and missions after you’d come back you’d put away three of Rousseau’s men behind bars, including a very high level man that acted as his consigliere. Apparently he’d been worked on quite a bit since his capture. 141 weren’t privy to the intimate details of course, that was up to the CIA and KorTac, but as far as you’d all been told he’d given over a wealth of information on Rousseau’s location and even some limited blueprints of his hideout. 

Price had told you all in advance that intelligence would be confirming your next mission in a matter of days, so you should all stick close to the base. You were actually getting ready for an upcoming training exercise, Rousseau’s man revealing the details on his base meant that command were adamant that you did a run through first and came up with a successful strategy for the big boss’ take down. 

Luckily for you, because of the stay close order, that meant more time in your little airbnb paradise. The place was starting to feel like home. You were both etching yourselves into the apartment, carving your living narratives into it. 

You could identify marks where König had been clumsy and dropped things or scuffed his boots against the wall. There was a tiny stain on the couch from where you’d come and sat after a mission. Lastly, but not least of all, was the curtain that had been sneakily stitched up to the railing after you and König had accidentally pulled it off several of its hooks when you’d grabbed it a little too enthusiastically one night. And on top of it all was the lingering smell of the room spray you’d bought a few weeks into renting the place, preferring the smell of ‘violet rain’ over the faint notes of tobacco that clung to the walls from other renters.

Sometimes you and König even liked to tell each other ‘see you back at the house’. It was becoming all so humdrum to you both.

You smiled as you glanced over at König one night, ruminating over your little routine. The warmth of you could’ve lifted the apartment into the air. It just felt so good to know that you had something that was yours, something that wasn’t your job, something that wasn’t a material thing, you had a life with König. It was most apparent to you when you watched him, when he was free of his hood and his armour and plates and he lay on the bed on his phone, unburdened from rules and duty. He undressed himself from the myth and lay comfortably as König the man, lounging in his boxers and T-shirt like any boyfriend would act with their partner.

Though that night, his brows were knit together in concentration and his lips were pursed, he was adamant that he be left alone for a minute to do whatever it was that he was doing. It intrigued you because he was rarely so mysterious, normally he’d tell you if it was a work thing, but this time he just waved you off and told you not to be nosy. That being the case, you were watching him closely trying to see if he’d give you any hints or signs of what was so captivating on that screen of his.

“I can feel those doe eyes burning a hole into me,” he chuckled, finally gracing you with his attentions.

“Can you blame me? You’re being all suspicious,” you shrugged, tilting your head a little to see if he’d explain himself.

“I’m not being suspicious, I just asked for some quiet.”

“You said ‘Sneaky, I have something I need to do, but don’t look’ and then when I asked if it was work stuff you said no. That - is suspicious.”

“Well it gave you an excuse to imitate me, so that’s something isn’t it,” he scoffed. 

“Well, you know I do it so well,” you grinned, watching with delight as he rolled his eyes.

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” you repeated, feeling as if you were copying him perfectly. 

“If you think that’s how I sound then I'm surprised you have any kind of attraction to me,” he laughed.

“Well some days are a struggle more than others, but-”

You weren’t given the chance to finish your sentence, he’d forgotten all about his phone and thrown it from his lap, launching himself at you faster than any RPG you’d seen. In a matter of seconds you were pinned to the bed and fighting for your life, tears pouring from your eyes as he tickled you and trapped you underneath his annoyingly unyielding legs. 

“What happened to the Sneaky that cried when I told them that I was bullied for my accent in school, hm? Now you’re making fun of me? I’ve got to say, that hurts me Sneak,” he said, an overdramatic fake upset lacing his tone. “You deserve every bit of this!”

You cried out and tried to protest, making a grab for his hands, but were merely shoved away when you made any kind of headway in distracting him. You wriggled and squirmed and screamed, but it was all for nothing. There was no way to make him stop until he wanted to.

“Kö- K…König, please!” you yelped, struggling to breathe. “Enough!”

You were beginning to feel like a struggling furnace as you endured his torture. Your lungs were burning from their failing efforts and you only screamed more as you grew tired of trying to fight back. The second he finally stopped his assault, you gasped in a huge lungful of air and laid back, groaning as you looked up at the blaring lights overhead and registered your sweaty forehead. 

“Remind me not to bully you again,” you sighed, finally finding your voice again.

“Mhmm. I tell you all the time, but you just always insist on being so mean to me regardless,” he chuckled, unhooking his legs from your sides.

König came to rest beside you and tucked a stray strand of hair back in its place. His eyes scanned over your heaving chest and he laughed as he watched you attempt to struggle into a sit. Nevertheless you managed to wobble yourself upwards on the shaky mattress and looked down at him, then over to his forgotten phone. 

“Will you do that again if I try to ask what you were doing so suspiciously on your phone?”

“There’s only one way to find out,” he smiled.

His new favourite line. The way he said it, it always had the undertones of a threat, but it was never said outright maliciously. König could affect his voice with so much masked intent it would have your head spinning sometimes trying to work out what he’d do next. Sometimes you’d get lost thinking about how long he’d practised that. The unfortunate people that had come across his path and challenged him, ending up with a far worse fate than just your tickling. Though you never liked to dwell on it for long. 

“What were you suspiciously doing on your phone, König?” you said, pulling yourself out of your thoughts before you got too sucked in. 

“Well, if you must know…” he trailed off and made a jump toward you, pretending he was going to attack again.

“No! No, no, no! Not again,” you cried out, leaping away from the bed. 

You made a mental note to thank Soap and Ghost one day, all their messing with you had made you quick on your feet. Instinctively, you threw your hands up ready to fight and narrowed your eyes, watching his every movement like a hawk. König remained on the bed though and sat up, laughing and shaking his head to himself as he picked up his phone again and scrolled through it. 

“Please, Sneaky, you really think I’m going to be threatened by those fists?” he tutted, not even looking at you as you remained in your defensive stance. “Put them away and come sit down.”

“These hands have killed people!” you defended.

“Yes, I know that, you’re a good soldier.”

“Exactly, so you should be threatened,” you retorted.

“If I was anyone else, sure. You’d never hurt me though,” he said, looking up from his phone with a smug grin. “I’m your boyfriend after all.”

You felt your cheeks heat up and immediately covered your face in your hands. Every little bit of you was drowning in the feeling of your thundering heart.

König didn’t much care for that particular title, he usually preferred to say partner, but he knew how it made you feel and he weaponised it as much as he possibly could. Knowing that he was all yours still scattered the butterflies in your stomach and you always felt like a little kid in the face of his teasing. You couldn’t help that him being officially yours still got you so excited.

“Are you ever going to stop using that against me?” you mumbled, finally coming to sit by him.

“No. I like watching you get flustered,” he chuckled. “It’s very cute.”

Before you could protest anymore though, he slung his arm around your waist and pulled you in for a kiss, softly releasing all the fight you had left with his teasing lips and tongue. You were locked together for a few moments and sighed contentedly when he broke away, pressing your head to his shoulder and feeling ready to sink down into the bed with him. 

Though it wasn’t time for that yet.

“Would you like me to show you what I’ve been working on?”

You opened your eyes and faced him again, watching his nervous smile grow. Seeing him look so sheepish re-sparked your curiosity and you nodded, ready to see what it was. He hurriedly entered his password and the screen flashed open, landing on the homepage screen with a shot of you both from one of your photobooth pictures from an impromptu date months before, before your concussion. Pictures he was adamant that he couldn’t let you keep because he had to protect his image, even if he was wearing his half mask at the time. As if he was somehow a much better secret keeper than you.

You smirked at the memory of all the playful bickering you’d done over those photos and shook your head, eyeing the screen again as König brought up his tabs. He clicked onto the latest one and it opened onto a confirmation email. It wasn’t what you’d expected, not that you were sure of what you even were expecting. As you read it you raised your brows and looked up at him, wondering what was happening. 

“This is a confirmation email for renting a hire car from some company in Austria,” you stated. 

“Some company has a name,” he retorted. 

“I’m not going to insult you by trying to pronounce that.”

“I see you’re restraining yourself now,” he laughed. “Well yes, it is a hire car confirmation for a cheap company in Vienna.”

“And you’re hiring a car in Vienna because?”

“Because, in a few months time, I’m taking you to Austria. Now, wait! Before you protest, I’ve thought it all out and you don’t need to worry about explaining any passport stamps to Price. I’ve found us flights to Slovakia and a train that can take us from Bucharest into Vienna, and from there I can take you around to see the country for a few days.”

He hastily explained himself and you smiled as you watched his hurried hand movements, his body in a flurry of motion. It was particularly fun to see him turn his hand into, what you figured, was a high speed train. He looked at you seriously as he finished, waiting in a suspended state of worry to see what you’d say. 

As if you’d disappoint him. 

“You sat and booked all that just for us?”

“Of course. I’ve really wanted to take you for a while now, so when you said you had time booked off and the higher ups indicated this mission will be coming to a close soon...I thought, this is the time. So what do you say? Will you come with me?”

“Obviously! I’m so excited, I can’t believe it. I’m getting to go on holiday with my Boyfriend,” you laughed, this time making yourself squeal. “It's gonna be so good! We’re gonna eat so much good food and see so many cool places and oh-  I wanna see those mountains you were talking about! Can we go?”

“We will see the mountains, yes. I’ve put time aside for that,” he laughed.

“You’ve planned the whole trip already?” you asked incredulously. 

“Sneaky I’ve been planning this for weeks,” he smiled. “I just finished the last arrangements there. I want to keep most of it a surprise, but…I actually have one thing on there that I need to ask you about before we go though.”

“Oh?”

He pursed his lips again and looked away before looking back to you. 

“I was wondering if you’d like to go out to Burgenland? To my mothers house.”

Your heart skipped a beat and somehow you managed to reach new levels of excitement. Meeting König’s mum meant a lot more to him that it did for most people. It came with a lot more meaning. Meeting König’s mum meant that he was accepting you as part of his family, it meant that he wanted you to know more of his annoyingly buried secrets. It meant that he’d have to tell you his name. 

It’s not like his own mother would call him König. 

It had been a sore subject for a little while. The cause of your only serious fights so far. You’d pushed to know a couple times, complaining that he wasn’t letting you in and that it was ridiculous that you were a couple and you wouldn’t even know what to call him  if anything should happen. Something could happen to him out in the field and all you’d know is a codename, he could be taken away from you and you’d never know who he was. 

Of course König argued that that was ridiculous and you knew more than almost anyone knew about him - excluding his mum of course. He claimed that his name was just a burden, that it was just something that would give people an excuse to take from you. Though you argued about that as well, if someone wanted to hurt you to get to him then they’d do it anyway. It didn’t matter if they believed you knew his true identity or not. 

The last time you’d gone almost hysterical because the whole thing was so silly to you. The little airbnb walls felt like they were going to go flying with all the verbal mortars being thrown, like you were going to be swept up like something from the wizard of Oz. You’d both bickered back and forth, forming a dark comedy sketch, two squeaky little cartoon characters that were on the verge of strangling each other as you both held your ground.

“Why does it matter if I know! You keep saying people will come for me, and that it's more dangerous to know you, but it's not that. I know it's not that! Otherwise you wouldn’t be seen with me, you wouldn’t have let me come this close. You just can’t face that all your walls would have to come down. You just don’t want to let me in.”

“It is dangerous to know who I am, how many times must I list the reasons? But you know what, fine, you’re right.You win! I’d love to let you in fully, but yes I am afraid of letting you close! Even though you have no idea how much you’ve taken already. I’ve given you more of me than anyone else has ever gotten, even while it’s been hard. You have no idea how hard all this is for me.”

“Hard for You? I’m in a relationship with someone that won’t tell me their name!”

 “Because it's the last thing I have to protect myself! If you leave me, what then? You could decide you want out of all this complication and find someone nice and simple and then where would I be? You’d have taken everything from me.”

“What am I taking from you? Knowing who you are is not taking anything from you König. Besides, I’m not leaving you. Why do you think I’m so hell bent on trying to find someone else when I spend all my time jeopardising my job just to be here with you? You think I like facing down Price knowing that he’d turn on me if he knew what I got up to in my spare time? I put the respect of someone that I deeply care about on the line, just so that I can be with you and you’re acting like I’m ready to run off at the first chance!”

“Because you’ve done it before!”

“That’s not fair and you know it.”

König may as well have turned and stuck a ten foot spear through your heart. You’d felt a tide of tears wash up in your eyes and you’d walked away from him then, not willing to let him see how much he’d hurt you. Not that that was an option. From his widened eyes alone, you knew that he’d known it was a mistake to dredge up old wounds, his sparkling blue irises dimming as he lost his self conviction. 

“Wait! Hold on, I’m sorry.”

König raced up to you and stopped you in your tracks. His strong arms wrapped around you fast and held you snugly against his chest as pathetic droplets of tears streaked your burning cheeks. You didn’t bother trying to free yourself from him. You just whimpered and clung to him as he shushed you and apologised for what he’d said, kissing your dampened face like it was nothing.

“I’m so sorry. What I just said was stupid. Will you please come sit with me for a moment… I have something I want to tell you.” 

A flare of anger and rebellion flared in you for a second. It was stamped out immediately, but just for a moment you wanted to storm off and tell him that if he wanted to keep you from knowing him then he’d done a great job - that that was it. Though, you couldn’t bring yourself to follow through. Even when you hated him at that moment, you couldn’t bear to see him upset again. You knew that you’d hurt him badly already that day you’d run from him in the park outside the base, you knew that you couldn’t bring yourself to do that again. 

“Ok,” you’d sniffled.

He’d sighed and taken you to the couch, sitting across from you after propping you up against your favourite fluffy pillow. You held onto it with one of your hands, losing yourself in its soft textures as you threaded your fingers through it. König watched you play with the loose strands for a second before looking you in the eyes, his face a perfect picture of remorse. 

“You didn’t really run away from me, that was silly of me to say.”

“I did run from you though, I ran from you that day you tried to explain yourself after the mission” you frowned, not able to help your crackling feebly. “You were  right, I can’t act like I haven’t given you reasons to be wary.”

“No. You didn’t leave me then though. You agreed to work through things and I suppose that’s what we’ve been doing…with mixed results,” he said, laughing dryly. “You haven’t really given me reason to be like this. This is what has happened after years of keeping people out and I suppose…I’m just having a hard time adjusting to what it feels like to let someone in.”

“I know. I know that really,” you sighed. “It's just hard sometimes because sometimes it feels like things are as they should be, like everything we have is so normal. Then I snap back to reality and there’s all this stuff with work where we have to pretend to hate each other and then we have missions that don’t line up and we don’t get to speak, like not even a phone call a lot of the time. Then there’s this intrusive voice I have over it all saying- well saying ‘you don’t even know his name, what is it we really even have together’ and I know its ridiculous and we care about each other and I should ignore it all-”

“It’s not ridiculous,” König soothed. “I feel the strain of these things too.”

He leaned forward then and grabbed your hands, making you jump as you were taken out of worrying at the pillow. His calloused fingers rubbed against yours and his warm grip kept you grounded into reality. The scars that scraped up the backs of his arms jumped up at you in the warmth of the yellow lights, his whole body a patchwork of battered skin. You traced your eyes from his rough hands and arms, up to his bobbing adam's apple and to the depths of his ocean eyes and worried face.

König’s jaw was tensed and he breathed as he worked up to what he was going to say. Your own breath was held then, lungs burning as you waited for him to speak.

“Other people have let me down in the past. My mother moved us to Germany for a manipulative piece of shit that hated me and looked to rid himself of me at every opportunity. I grew up with few friends, in a country that wasn’t mine, and fought so hard for so long that I didn’t know how to be vulnerable. I met a woman after I was forced to join the army that told me I was a hollow shell of a man, and that no one should have to be sentenced to dealing with me…There’s times I’ve agreed with her too, I’ve moved through life feeling like half a person some days. Then I met you. None of what I’ve told you is any excuse to treat you badly, but sometimes I’m so set in my distrust that I can’t let myself cross the lines I need to be able to get to where you are….And- and for you…I’m working on crossing those lines, because you’re the only person I’d ever want to give myself to, but for now its a slow process. You’ve seen my full face, we’ve made love and I have given you almost everything that I can give you for right now. All of this is to say…well - to ask - if you would give me a little more time and allow me to keep working on things with you.”

Listening to him then, as his voice crackled and wavered with emotion, was so very difficult. He kept a hold of your hands the whole time, his fingers shaking as he went on. His whole body looked ready to crumble as he explained himself.

Though before he could be brought down by everything you leaned over and held him, winding your arms around him as tightly as they would go. You hugged him close for the rest of the night and whispered to each other in the darkness when you went to bed, giving your affirmations, like a secret promise, that everything would be ok. 

As you thought back to that night, your body shook with an icy cold shock of frisson. You didn’t want to go through that again. 

“I would love to meet your mum, König,” you said softly, swallowing as you tried to tactfully avoid another horrific argument. “Does this mean…that you’ll tell me your name soon?”

He smiled knowingly at you and nodded, stroking the warm apple of your cheeks fondly. 

“I will tell you sometime soon, yes,” he confirmed, speaking warmly.

You felt a beaming smile shine brightly over your face and jumped on König, feeling full force  of excitement as things seemed to be heading in a good direction. Everything was lining up. Your mission would be done soon, you and König wouldn’t have to worry about sneaking around anymore because the taskforce would have some downtime until you were called upon again for some other earth shattering mission. After that you were going to finally learn his name. 

You sighed. It was almost too good to be true. 

“You just gotta promise me one thing,” you said, shifting your tone seriously. 

“What?” he asked, breaking away from your hug so that he could look at you properly. 

“If it’s something ridiculous you have to prepare me in advance.”

He rolled his eyes and groaned, falling comically backwards onto the couch. 

“I’m being serious,” you laughed. “If it’s something crazy like Wolfgang or Ferdinand I need to be prepared!”

“Do you really think that that’s what Austrian people are called?” he giggled.

“I have no idea! This is what I’ve been saying, I could see your passport in a few months time and could be having to fight myself not to laugh!”

“You would really laugh at my name if you thought it was silly?” he snorted. 

“All I can promise that I’ll try not to,” you grinned, crossing your hands over your heart while he stared back at you with a displeased glare. “All I’m saying is that if I see something mad I can’t be held accountable for my actions.”

He rolled his eyes again and sighed dramatically, throwing his hands up into the air. 

“I can’t believe I’m being lectured on silly names by someone called ‘Sneaky’.”

“Hey!”

-☠️- 

When Price called you all in the next day, nothing could’ve prepared you for the shitstorm that was going to ensue. Though you were feeling the full force of it as you stood in the darkened labyrinth of the warehouse that had been set up to emulate Rousseau’s hideout. The 141 and KorTac had been told to find the best way to clear the base and get to Rousseau, but the problem was that you were taking too long and being overwhelmed by too many of Price’s fake men. There were just so many rooms that were connected to other rooms and it meant that a lot of men could get by each other undetected. It was a nightmare.

You’d run through the exercise around eight times already and the more that Price was making you reset, the more tension was being put on the team. It was only a matter of time till someone snapped. Although, given their quick temper and worn down attitude in the last few months, you were sure of who that person was going to be the entire time. 

In the latest reset, you stood next to one of the floppy wooden walls and bit your tongue, watching on with fear as Ghost marched up to König and got in his face. They were almost mask to mask, eye to eye as Ghost took what little gap there was between them and cinched it tight. You felt every little notch in the wood then, backing yourself into it just so that you could force yourself not to get yourself in trouble by intervening.

“Stop fucking around you useless pile of shitting cloth!”

ouch.

“You’re blaming me for the reset?” König scoffed, squaring up his shoulders. “If you would stop lagging through the hallways and would get them cleared properly, then we might be able to get through one of these attempts successfully, Lieutenant.” 

“It was your bright idea to split off with Soap and Gaz and leave us with Horangi. So far it’s been nothing but problems with you and your team rushing and getting hasty and now I’m done. We’re doing it my way again. Slow and methodical. Like it or lump it, king cunt.”

“Problems aren’t from me going too fast, they’re occurring because your team isn't clearing the halls properly, Ghost. I need Soap because Fender is out of the country, I need someone to blow the doors so I can breach plus the extra cover. Your idea failed five times already, why don’t we try to execute mine properly, hm?”

“I’ll fucking show you an execution, König!”

Ghost rammed König and sent him back peddling into the wall you were leaning against with heavy thud. You were sent flying forward as the wood bounced and watched as it rattled with the men’s efforts to take each other down.

It was like watching two stags lock horns, they were grabbing onto each other furiously and neither man seemed to want to let the other go. König swung his fist and Ghost dodged. Ghost tried to knock König unbalanced with a kick, and only succeeded in almost sticking his boot through the cheap chipboard.  

The rest of you watched on helplessly. There was very little anyone of you could do to pull the two titans off of each other -  Not if you didn’t want to get taken out of action in the process. 

“Right! That’s enough boys!” 

Price’s voice echoed through the warehouse, powerful and commanding as it sailed through the air like a brick. It smashed through the two fighters and in a matter of seconds König and Ghost were standing to attention, looking up at Price from his spot on the balcony. The blue light of the warehouse shone starkly against the white in Ghost’s mask, but it failed to stick on the inky black of König’s hood. 

“I appreciate that its been a long day gentlemen, but that doesn’t mean you get the luxury of turning into little school boys that can’t contain their fucking tantrums!” Price bellowed, continuing to reset the temperature. “König, stop pushing so hard when the others are still trying to clear the rooms on the left side. Ghost, work faster and spread your team out. Reset and do it again!”

The Captain’s word was final. Even at the height he stood, illuminated by a few bulbs that flickered like burnt orange like cigarettes, you saw that he was in no mood to be argued with. He’d stood watch for all of the attempts and with every one that failed he grew more and more dissatisfied as your joint teams disintegrated into in-fighting. 

Well, that wasn’t going to be a problem on this attempt. Not unless anyone was in the mood to invoke Price’s wrath. 

All you marched off without another word, dragging your feet as you made your way back to the start point. Ghost was glaring so hard at König it seemed like all of you were staying purposefully clear of his path; attempting to avoid the crossfire. Soap and Gaz grunted a few words of annoyance toward each other on the way, but luckily you all made it in one piece.

A few tense moments proceeded to ebb slowly by. The clatter of doors and scrape of fallen soldiers and obstacles being reset was echoing throughout the building, the heavy breaths of men around you intermingled and all too eerily you began to feel like you were in the belly of a beast. It certainly appeared that way to your eyes, you couldn’t see much through the darkness. You’d have to position your night vision down again. 

In the briefing before training, when you’d had the blueprints and locations revealed to you, you’d been told that your guys would be able to cut the power beforehand. They were sending your two teams in while Price waited with another team on standby. That way if Rousseau tried to make a clever escape, Price would be there to close in on him while you rid his headquarters of his followers.

All of it was easier said than done though apparently.

“If we fuck this up again I’m going home. Fuck the dessertion charges, prison’s better than this,” Gaz muttered.

“If we fuck this up again,” Ghost growled in disbelief. “You mean If your team fuck it up, Garrick.”

“Aw, putting the blame on us, LT?” Soap chuckled. “You’re so sweet. Maybe it's me just looking to spend a little more time with you.”

His laugh still held a little humour in it, even for all the torture you’d all been through. Although he knew for a fact that he had nothing to do with it. It was his big lumbering steam train of a teammate that couldn’t be let off so easily. 

It was true what Price said, he had been moving too quickly. König was frustrated. Somehow, despite not even being able to see him most of the time, and at times just barely through the green haze of your goggles, you could tell he was finally feeling the strain of working with your team. He was getting antsy and forceful, trying to power through so that he could escape the stifling atmosphere that the other men created for him.

You wanted to tell him he’d only make it worse by prolonging the day. Though it wouldn’t have been a good idea to speak to him then - not with Ghost feeling the way he was. 

“If we spend any more time down here you’ll all be wishing for a nice cosy jail cell by the time I’m done,” Ghost spat. 

You flickered your eyes over to König and held your breath. He looked like he desperately wanted to make a comment on the situation, his eyes were narrowing in a familiar way, the kind of look he got when he was about to fight a point. You silently begged him to stand down and cast a wary glance over at Horangi, hoping he’d stop his friend from doing anything dumb.

Though in the end it didn’t matter. Price interjected before König could air his thoughts, entering the scene like a benevolent god shouting from above. 

“Alright. Begin again in 5…4…3…2…and…”

The warehouse descended into complete darkness, all lights were off and it was just you and your two teams, huddled together in the lonely gloom. Ghost silently gestured for you all to get moving and with the rehearsed speed of a broadway play, you filed into two teams and braced as Soap got the first charge ready. 

You drew in a breath and felt your heart thudding in your chest, it made you tighten your grip on your gun as every booming beat cracked out like thunder. You swallowed and scanned your eyes through the green fog, watching bleary eyed as Soap set the first charge. You looked away and hunched your shoulders, already tensing for the first explosion. 

The door broke away and the charge sounded off with a dull boom, soon enough your teams were ‘firing’ on your fake enemy with your fake rounds. The guns clacked and clicked in a foreign kind of way and instead of screaming or disappearing in a spray they took a moment to notice the hits and would drop to the ground like seasoned actors. 

Even despite that all though, the adrenaline felt all too real. The soldiers were growing smarter smarter, even hindered by the darkness,they had begun to forsee your oncoming attacks and fought back twice as hard as before now that they'd seen your strategy a few times. It was taking longer and longer to clear the first room. 

Nevertheless, determined to stay in the exercise and take it through to its bitter end. You kept down behind Ghost and shot out at the hostiles, doing your duty and hoping it would be enough. Luckily for you the men fell after trading a couple rounds of fire.

“Horangi, stay on me. Sneak when I say the word I want you to move up ahead to the first room on the left. Horangi and I will cover you while you clear it and block the entrance on the otherside,” Ghost ordered. 

“Copy that,” you responded, also hearing Horangi sound off similarly. 

König had moved up already, but rather than have Soap and Gaz blow the next door, they were all taking cover and helping your team with the oncoming flood of men. Even as two separate teams you were now united in a common purpose - to improve the strategy and ensure you’d never be put through the exercise again. 

Most of you hated having to do those sessions, rehearsing for the main event. After All It’s not like you can account for everything that can happen when the real mission goes live. Its not like the men would be expecting you like the hapless new recruits, that was only natural as you reset the mission for the ninth time in a row.

With that in mind, you kept your gun in your hands like it was superglued to you and marched on, following through with Ghost’s plan as he directed you forward. You gulped and sprinted toward the room, taking cover behind the door and angling your head so that you could spot the men that were spraying heavy fire just inches from where you stood. You blinked and took a breath, reminding yourself that you had the edge. You had night vision. 

In a flash you whirled around and took out one of the men closest to you, diving behind a desk before anyone else could get to you. Already marking out your next target, you were relieved when you spotted Ghost in your peripheral and shot up.

“Support pillar, LT!” you shouted, marking out your ‘kill’. 

Ghost acknowledged you and directed his gun toward the other two, and soon enough you were standing in an empty room, listening to the fire outside. Though you weren’t done, you hustled over to the entrance on the other side and tipped a desk over the doorway, making entry very difficult. Then seconds later another explosion went off and Ghost signalled for you to follow him, covering the rear of team König. 

“On me, team!”

Horangi and you followed Ghost as closely as possible, heeding his every command as you cleared the rest of the rooms with slow and steady precision. König battered down every door with Soap’s help and with he and Gaz ploughing forward, you were able to keep watch of the rear as more men crawled out of the woodwork in an attempt to surprise you. 

Even with the fake ammo your blood was pumping around your body like white water rapids and your breathing came fast and heavy. The clack of the guns and the sound of feet scrabbling against the crumbly warehouse floors were echoing around your head and before long you were beginning to feel wired, could feel your body shake as you grew ever closer to the end. This was it. An escape from the labyrinth and the endless blurry green of the night vision goggles.

“Ready?” König asked, standing prone at the last door.

Ghost and Horangi took out a couple of stragglers, and once they were down and static silence was ringing all around you, König was given the go ahead.

“One last door and then we’re home free, Gazzy,” Soap grinned, setting the door to blow. 

“Yeah yeah, just blow the door, Soap,” Ghost growled.

The last breach felt strong enough to shake the ground you were standing on. Though you’d concede that by the time the charge went off, you were starting to shiver a little. You were full of anticipation, ready to sit down and get some rest before the actual mission. A good night’s sleep was within your grasp. 

Once that door swung out, you’d realised that you’d never been so relieved to see a potential hostage. 

The new recruit made a mighty effort to mimic Rousseau, he tried to go down fighting and raised his gun at you all. Though with six people on him he didn’t have a chance. All of you shrank back from his shots while he attempted to flee, though when you noticed that the recruits back was turning to run, you took your chance and barrelled toward him. 

With every ounce of strength that was left in your body you tackled the man to the ground, landing softly on his thick padding - something Rousseau definitely wouldn’t have when it came time to dive on him. Even with your body protesting, exacerbated limbs crying out for a break, you wrestled his gun from his hands and pinned them to the ground. Fake Rousseau had nowhere to go after that, he was stuck below your body even as you heaved out heavy breaths and soon was surrounded by the rest of your team.

At long last it was game over. 

“Alright, very good team,” Price’s voice called, “You can take off the night vision and we’ll turn the lights up.”

You were all too eager to follow Price’s command. You whipped the goggles up and looked around in the sheer darkness for a moment until the blue lights faded on and were then chased up by the stark flicker of the overhead lights. 

Everyone was blinking hard, adjusting to the brilliance and grimacing as you all looked around the grotty old warehouse with new eyes. When it was set up with low lighting there was something very intimidating about the training area, though now that you looked at it in the new light you couldn’t help but compare it to waking up the morning after a one night stand. 

The chip boards looked floppy and pathetic and the huge towering walls beyond your little simulated maze were covered in warning signs and caution notices. The mirage had cleared, and finally you could look up at Price properly, settling your strained eyes on his terse expression.

“Much better. That’s the sort of performance I expect from you lot, and that’s what I want when we launch tomorrow. Get yourselves cleaned up and get ready to meet in the hanger for oh-four hundred. You’re all dismissed.”

-☠️- 

“Fucking Training exercises.”

You lumbered behind Ghost and made your way to the bathrooms, getting ready to wash up with the rest of the team, hearing bed calling out to you sweetly before your early start. Soap and Gaz were unsuaully quiet, meanwhile König and Horangi were their usual type of quiet. Ghost wasn’t satisfied with that though, he was muttering to himself and stomping down the hallway like a man about to fly himself off to Rousseau and end the mission himself.

“At least it’s over now,” you sighed. 

“Would’ve been over a long time ago if we hadn’t started improvising with the hired help,” Ghost groused.

“How many times, Ghost. We tried your plan and we failed, we worked mine out and we passed,” König growled. “Doesn’t matter how many times you whine about it, the plan worked and that’s all that matters.”

“Is it? Is that all that matters?”

“Yes. We all wanted out and now we’re out. Job done,” König groaned. “What else is there to bitch about?”

“It’s not bitching when I have legitimate concerns about letting a private contractor shit all over my team’s dynamic and split us up!”

“What dynamic is that? The one where you get them all killed?”

Ghost flew toward König again, except this time none of you were allowing it. You, Gaz and Soap leapt toward your Lieutenant while Horangi acted as a barrier, keeping a steady hand on König’s flaring chest. All of you struggled as Ghost threatened to explode, but in a matter of seconds he calmed enough to see he wasn’t going to be allowed his revenge and broke away, grumbling that he’d leave it. 

König watched the exchange between you all and laughed to himself, the little titter escaping the thick fabric of his hood even as he tried to keep it soft. You glared over at him, not appreciating his antagonising just as you’d managed to get a grip of Ghost, though he rolled his eyes at you and walked off. 

Only when he was around the corner did you finally feel it was fit to let Ghost have it.

“What the fuck was that, LT?”

“What do you mean what the fuck was that?” he growled.

The way Ghost looked at you, the way his eyes glinted like he was settling on a new target, normally would’ve had you crumbling like brittle harling in a storm but you were resolute in your mission. You straightened your shoulders and walked up to him, not letting the disappointment fade from your face. 

In your periphery, you caught your fellow teammates giving you a shared look of fear. Soap and Gaz more than made up for what you lacked in that moment, but you ignored them keeping your mind focused completely on Ghost. 

“Price cleared the op to run just as we practised it there, just as it was successfully run and you want to have a go at König because he happened to make a valid suggestion?”

“I’m not having a go, I’m pissed that we’re taking orders from paid guns that shouldn’t even be here in the first place! This was supposed to be our mission, Price assembled our taskforce back together all to take down Rousseau and what happens? The government get involved with KorTac and suddenly we have to play nice with money grubbing slime balls. It’s all not right, Sneaky, and I won’t sit by and take it!”

“It might not be right, but it's the situation we’re in. You might not like König, and things have been…not ideal with all thats happened, but like it or not he made a good call and Price recognised it for what it was.”

Ghost grunted and was about to fire back another load of verbal ammunition, though Soap interjected before he could say anything else.

“Sneak’s right, Ghost. If they’re telling you to let the König thing go, then let it go. Sneak has the most right out of anyone to be pissed about König calling the shots, and they’re not. Fuck sake, Ghost, even Price hates the man. If Price likes his plan, then its a good plan.”

You raised your brows, surprised at seeing Soap opposing Ghost for once. He walked over to you and stood shoulder to shoulder, holding the giant back as he teetered on the verge of a rampage. The warmth of Soap brought a calm to your bones and now that you knew you had someone else supporting you, you let out a breath you’d barely been aware of holding. 

You so rarely had to butt heads with your Lieutenant, you’d never get used to the feeling. Your bones felt like they were rattling with the energy it required.

“You don’t have to worry about the team dynamic, Ghost,” you continued, hoping to expel the last of his anger. “In fact arguing with König is more of an issue than anything that he or any of KorTac can do. We get through this mission and take down Rousseau, then KorTac will leave and we can get back to our jobs until the 141 is called on again. If we fuck this up then we’ll be dealing with losses and we’ll have to keep working with them. We just need to get through this and its done…ok?”

Ghost sighed and cast his eyes down to the floor. Silence reigned for a few beats, but eventually he looked back up and eyed you and Soap and Gaz who’d moved to your other side. The blue in his darkened irises could’ve been swamp water with the way they’d been tainted with frustration. Though even with all of his anger at the situation, he had visibly sagged as he recognised he was looking at things wrong.

“You’re right,” he grunted, rubbing his head and furling up his mask. “I’ll go apologise and see if I can’t get through the rest of our time together without murdering the bastard. Like you say, Sneak - not long till he fucks off.”

With that he left to go slink down the hall and catch König, still grumbling to himself even as he retreated. You and the rest of 141 laughed as he turned the corner and eyed each other, smiles slowly spreading across your mouths as if you’d just turned up to a mad hatters tea party. A moment of euphoria shared as you thanked your lucky stars that Ghost didn’t go Godzilla on all of you before he carried on with murdering König just as he’d said.

Though a small part of you still worried for your boyfriend. You’d winced a little when Ghost insulted him, but on the other side of the coin, you realised that with the mission coming to a close soon you’d be able to stop the obligatory concerns that came with König being on base. Soon you could carry on with your illicit affair and not worry one bit that Price would be any the wiser. What you can’t see can’t hurt you, right?

“Thought for sure ma neck was gonna get snapped there,” Soap chuckled.

“I know, I was picturing being the next skull he wore,” Gaz laughed, his nervousness expelled in a low rasp. “Fuck, Sneak. Next time you want to go on a crusade, give us a bit of warning.”

“I’d have loved to have given myself warning,” you snorted, still in disbelief you’d stood up to Ghost. “It just came out of me out of nowhere. If anyone was getting scalped there, it was gonna be me.”

“Well…at the very least, thank jesus,” Soap smirked, “Ghost listened rather than wringing yer little brass neck. But you know what, Sneaky? Next time you decide to have a brave moment like that, leave us the fuck out of it!”

“Yeah, let us get out of the blast radius first, and then go at him,” Gaz laughed, slapping your shoulder. 

With that they both walked off to the showers together and you rolled your eyes, following after them so that you weren’t hanging around the hallway by yourself. Your weary boots slapped against the floors and you continued to joke as you rounded the corner, feeling at ease as you got your mind focused on getting ready for the mission and the calm that would ensue after its completion. 

When you got to the changing room though, you frowned when you saw König’s things scattered. Normally he wasn’t one for throwing things around, he was usually quite careful to pile things up. However his shirt was sprawled on the ground and his trousers were hung over the benches like a set of bowlegs straddling a horse. Most unsettling of all was when you’d glanced down and saw the wooden bird you’d given him months before laying on the floor just under his upturned pockets. 

“Huh, big man must’ve been in a hurry to shower,” Soap noted.

“Probably wanted to try and hurry to avoid Ghost,” Gaz snorted. “Not that I can blame him, I’d hide from the LT too if I knew he was after me.”

You laughed along with the guys because it seemed like the thing to do, but the smile on your face dropped instantly afterward. Something wasn’t right. You gulped and looked over the mess of his clothes one last time and bit your lip, barely feeling the harsh scrape of your canine against your soft flesh. 

“You gonna wash up, Sneak?” Gaz asked, elbowing you out of your thoughts.

“Huh?”

“You’re standing there like a spare prick, Sneaky,” Soap laughed. “You gonna shower? Or are you cooking up a little pre-mission prank?”

“Don’t encourage that, Soap,” Gaz laughed. “We need to put all that to rest. Like Ghost said, this is the last time we have to see the guy. Let’s just get past it and pray we don’t ever work with KorTac again.”

“I’m not planning anything,” you said, stopping Soap in his tracks just as he picked up the hem of König’s shirt. “I agree with Gaz, let’s leave it, alright? I’m just gonna see where Ghost got to first then I’ll go shower. His stuff’s not here, so he must’ve gone off and I figure I should make sure he got away from König in one piece.”

“Ghost getting away from König?” Gaz snorted. “Think I’d worry more for the other way around…if I gave a shit about König that is.”

You gave another little weak laugh and walked off without anything else to say. You didn’t have anything else in the chamber. Your mind was too busy reeling and wondering where Ghost got to and why König’s stuff was laid out everywhere and all the ways you could combine those pieces of information into horrible conclusions.

You walked through the doorway to the opposite corridor and mindlessly carried yourself forward while your skin burned too hot and your stomach tightened into tiny knots. 

Did they have an argument? Did Ghost notice something about König’s things that gave you both away? Had he seen the bird and known it was yours? If so, how? You’d never shown anyone else the bird that you could remember, but then you cursed to yourself as you remembered your less than sound mental state and struggled to try and remember if you possibly had told the guys or shown them the bird at any point. 

Why did König have to carry it around with him? Why couldn’t he have left it in his room on base or secreted it away somewhere safe?

Were you being crazy? You reasoned you were being crazy. Maybe he really had just left his things in a hurry. Perhaps he did just want to get through his-

You felt your blood run cold when you heard a low growl tear you from your thoughts and speak your name, your real name.  

“You look lost.”

You glanced up after trailing your eyes along the gloomy grey floor and shivered as you finally noticed Ghost towering above you, casting a mighty shadow. He had his eyes fixed on you like a shark, cold and deadly as he surveyed your trembling form. He was glaring hot pits into your skin and from that moment on you had absolutely no doubt that he was onto you. 

He’d never looked at you like that in his entire time leading you. He looked furious, distressed, agitated, so many emotions were etched those glaring dark eyes of his and you were losing track trying to figure out how to best appeal to him. 

“I was trying to find you,” you murmured, barely speaking above a whisper. 

“Why would you be doing that then, ay?” he gritted out, walking toward you cornering you into a wall.

His boots sounded against the floor like canons. With the way he was acting, you worried he’d shove you and crush you underneath them. Though maybe that would be kinder than the fate he had in store for you…

“You.. you- uh, tossed König’s things didn’t you?” you whimpered.

“I did.”

“Why?” you breathed, feeling your eyes welling with tears before you could even attempt to think of calming yourself. 

“I’ll admit I got angry at the thought of having to go crawling and apologising to him and I lost it. I knocked his things off the bench. It went everywhere and shit went scattering out his pockets, y’know he left his wallet in his trousers, stupid cunt. Shouldn’t even have personal shit on a training exercise, but I suppose that’s what happens when you hire a bunch of undisciplined mercs… you know what I happened to see when I spotted his wallet though? You have any guesses, Sneak?”

You gulped and all of a sudden, it became all too clear to you exactly how Ghost had caught you out. 

“The photos,” you whispered.

“That’s right,” Ghost growled, “I saw the fucking photos of you two poking out of it.”

Next part here

[brokenpieces-72]

Split

CoD Hybrid AU | Navigation

You have options for what to do next. Communications are still open, you have contacts that can assist you, and you can reach weapons easily enough. The problem is… the problem. The people who raised you, took care of you, and trained you are now trying to kill you and innocent people. There aren’t too many hybrid units that can be easily reached and it’s selfish but if the program found out about this you would be taken back immediately.

“Right now we need to wait this out.” Ghost admits. The problem is, plenty of people could die. There are evacuation and containment measures for when something like this happens but like any emergency, no one is guaranteed safety. Most of the men were likely out if not holed up somewhere.

“What about a flu shot?” You suggest. Ghost and Rudy both look at you, a little confused.

“A flu shot?” Ghost asks.

“It put me out of commission.” You point out.

“Yes, but it took a couple days.” Rudy reminds you.

“But I couldn’t do anything for a while before that. I even tried to shift, but it just made super tired…having a hard time shifting even now.” You mutter the last part. Ghost and Rudy share a look. It could be difficult, and they’d need to get to the flu shots, but it wasn’t a terrible idea. Certainly worth a try. It is concerning that you can’t shift properly but that’s an issue for later.

“Does Hunter have any vaccines?”

“Got a few extras just in case, there’s enough for every soldier on base.” You say.

“Administering them could be tricky.” Rudy mentions.

“I can hold them down if you can deliver.” Ghost tells him. Rudy nods. Ghost turns to you. “You know where the vaccines are?”

“In the medbay.” You say. Shit. That could get complicated.

“Jet injector might be useful. More force to it.” Ghost thinks aloud.

“Those would be in another part of the base.” Rudy says. It’s risky even leaving the room, but staying in one place is not safe either. Right now you three need to get to work before there’s too much bloodshed. Rudy is low on energy, and cadejos could take a while to recharge. Ghost can’t expend his abilities too much without risk, so hiding in shadows has to be limited. You can’t shift which was a bit of an issue, but you’re a quick runner, and you can duck into anywhere.

“Alright, we’ll try to go at this together, but knowing the odds we’ll get separated. Spirit, find the vaccines, as many of them as you can gather. Rudy, jet injectors. I’ll keep an eye on both of you as much as I can.” Ghost says. You get off the desk and stick close to the men’s sides. Thankfully Rudy still had his side arm, but you and ghost don’t have much.

Ghost looks down at you, and worries for a moment. “Y/N?”

You look up at him. “If we get separated, don’t open the door for anyone. Not unless it’s me or Rudy, and you ask us a question only one of us would know. Got it?”

You hesitate but nod. Ghost knows you’re worried about the team first and foremost. You’re scared for Johnny, as is he. König is one of your only friends. He gives your shoulder a light squeeze and you take a deep breath.

You can feel your heart thumping in your chest as the door is slowly opened. Price’s door lets out a soft squeak, something he refused to get fixed for his own purposes. You can hear some noises in the distance that make you want to go back inside the office. You have to steel yourself though. This is a mission, and you’re entering what is essentially a war zone with highly dangerous targets and bogies. Unfortunately you also know that soft squeak of the hinge is a blip on the radar for plenty of your team with enhanced senses.

Rudy is tense, which makes sense. He’s low on energy, and who knows how long he originally had before all hell broke loose in the infirmary. The cadejos would likely need a minute before he could summon them again.

You hear a howl, all of you do. You look back down the hall. Your brother is somewhere nearby, you know it’s him. It couldn’t be anyone else. There’s an odd pull towards it, but Rudy catches your shoulder.

“Mija, don’t.” You look back at him, knowing what he means. Throughout your time here, Soap had been nothing but supportive, and you feel like you could be letting him down. Another howl rings out and Ghost looks back as well. He knows that howl too. You look up at Ghost, wanting nothing more than to see your brother.

“We need to hurry.” He says, and continues moving. Then you hear your name. Soap knows you can hear it, and only you can hear it. It pulls your attention away from the set course. Rudy gives a soft tug to your shoulder, keeping you from taking off.

“Rudy…” you say softly.

“Not a good idea. We stay on target, yeah?” Rudy says. You nod and continue to follow. You hear some more noises. A few are cries, some are squelching and wet, and you can make out a pounding noise, something banging against walls. You realize you’re moving closer to it and stop.

Ghost takes notice as does Rudy.

“What?” Ghost asks.

“I think I hear Konig.”

“I don’t hear anything.” Rudy says.

“It’s near the medbay. Something trying to break out.” You explain.

“You can hear that?” Rudy asks.

“Yeah.” You say looking between the two men. They’re a little red in the face, exchanging looks. “Why do you think I wear headphones at night? Block out you two with you Soap and Alejandro down the halls.”

“Not the time.” Ghost says, not wanting to lose focus. “Let’s focus on findin-“

“Horangi.” You say seeing a familiar haetae approaching. Shit. His eyes are red, and his mouth is drooling. There’s no chuffing only low growls.

“Spirit… you know what to do.” Ghost instructs focusing on the stalking beast as you three step back. Rudy moves into your line of sight and Horangi. Your vision started to go white, as you realize Horangi is trying to hide himself. Ghost would be fine but Rudy? You have to hope Rudy with be okay. You take off without another thought, taking another route to the medbay. There’s growls both canine and feline but you don’t look back.

You turn the corners trying to focus on whatever smells of carnage you can track down.

Fresh scent, raw and meaty but still fresh. You pause for a moment taking time to locate yourself. You’re out of the fog at least. Frying pan and fire though because you’re exposed. Okay ignore the smells, you’ll smell blood and meat regardless of whichever way you go. The sound of banging though. That had to be Konig surely.

“Little rabbit…” you heard, and the hair on the back of your neck rose. It was soft but close. You took only a second to look up and see what was your worst nightmare.

He stood, half shifted, and covered in gore. He wiped his mouth on his arm, smearing the blood even more, approaching you with a hunger in his eyes.

“Johnny…”

“Run rabbit… run run run…”

Taglist: @yourlovely-moon @kaoyamamegami @h0n3y-l3m0n05 @sans-chara @1mommyrose4ever29 @smitten-haematite-quartz @talia-the-gemini @yuki2129 @whitetiger846 @graystorm444 @chibiduck @reaperxxxxzz @danielle143 @sobbingnshtting @cringeycookies @cryingpages @dcnocap207 @reaper-chan666 @bestbookfriends @thriving-n-jiving @cutiecusp @shikigami-the-paper-spirit

[onestepbackwards]

oh, requests are open- super excited, I first found your blog via your requests :D mmm… if it’s something you’re okay with writing, could I ask for pokemon men of your choice comforting a reader dealing with really bad period cramps? mine have been bad recently, rip-

I got you (o゜▽゜)o☆ Sorry this took a while! I hope you're feeling better!

Word Count: 1845 words!

CW: Period talk/cramps, attempted breaking and entering (its fine don't worry)

Characters: Leon, Giovanni, Nanu

---

“Is it really that bad?”

“Leon, I feel like I’m dying.”

You couldn’t see the pained look on Leon’s face as you curled up further in bed. Leon had come over earlier to see if you wanted to hang out and have a mock battle, but when you answered the door, you looked awful.

His first thought had been you must be sick, and he supposed that wasn’t too off the mark.

You invited him in, though apologized right after. Something about how you were on your period, so you wouldn’t be able to host that well, nor do any battles.

After that, you had told him he could help himself, and do whatever while you went back to your room. All while apologizing again as you entered your room and crawled in bed.

Leon had to admit, he felt awful that you felt miserable. You were usually so upbeat around him, so to see you in such pain…

He didn’t like it.

It’s how he ended up sitting next to you on your bed as you held a pillow close, asking if you would be alright.

“Yeah, I’ll live. Ughh… I just can’t relax, the pain is too much today, and the medicine hasn’t kicked in yet.”

A moment passes, before you hear the sound of a pokeball opening. You open an eye, and your gaze softens when you see Leon’s Charizard next to you, looking at you concerned.

The sweet pokemon gently nudged your arm with it’s snout, and you hesitated a moment, before lifting it. Leon’s Charizard then gently took the pillow you had been curled around, before making itself comfortable by laying against your abdomen.

You sighed in slight relief at the warmth, and Leon smiled at you as your body sagged into the bed.

“Warm…” you said with a sigh of relief. This was waaay better than any heating pad.

Leon’s Charizard proceeded to get comfortable next to your bed, minding it’s flames. No doubt you needed this, given your reaction.

You barely had time to notice though that Leon had kicked his shoes off and climbed into bed with you, at least not until he curled close to you under the covers.

“It’s been a while since I had a day to rest. How long has it been? Months?”

You weakly smiled.

“Being Champion isn’t all fun days either, I take it.”

Leon pulled out his phone, positioning it where you could watch as well, and leaned against your shoulder.

“Nope! It’s usually fine, but… It’s nice to take a break and spend time with you. I don’t mind hanging out in bed.”

His words were sweet. Maybe you wouldn’t mind having more days like this with him.

Well, when you weren’t in agonizing pain, at least.

–

Being friends with a Mob Boss had its ups and downs, you liked to think.

Even if ending up close with the leader of Team Rocket of all things by complete accident, was nothing short but the work of a lot of shenanigans.

At least it came with benefits, such as an impromptu visit when you don’t answer your phone for a day.

You’d give Giovanni credit. He was possessive of the few people he was close with, meaning he was not happy if he thought something happened to them. Of course, this could also be read as borderline obsession, but you liked to think that with his… unique line of work… he couldn’t afford to be too careful.

It’s how you weren’t too surprised to hear banging on your door after you ignored your phone for several hours.

You had set it to charge that morning, and unfortunately started red week.

The cramps hit you like a hammer, and you ended up scrambling to take medicine, and get comfortable before crawling in bed with a heating pad. In your haze of pain, you forgot to grab your phone where you had it charging.

Groaning, you wondered if it was someone who would leave if you ignored it. Though when you heard the banging again, and the sound of your doorknob jiggling, you sighed and got up from bed.

You unlocked your door quickly, before pulling it open.

On your front porch was Giovanni, caught red handed clearly trying to lockpick your door.

Clearing his throat, he adjusted his hat, his face turning into a scowl.

“Uh… everything alright, Giovanni?” you asked. Said man raised a brow at you, showing his hands into his trench coat pockets.

“I should be asking you that question.”

“Huh-?”

If you didn’t know Giovanni as well as you did, you probably would have flinched at the glare he gave you.

“No answered calls, no answered texts. It’s been hours. What happened?”

Ah yes, Giovanni was definitely possessive of those he considered his.

Sagging a bit, you gave him a look.

“Sorry, I’m not feeling well, and I left my phone to charge in another room before crawling in bed.”

Another thing about Giovanni was how paranoid he could be. Calculating every possible result he could. He didn’t seem entirely convinced.

Rolling your eyes (though there wasn’t any actual annoyance behind the action), you opened your door for him to come inside.

He followed almost immediately, letting you shut the door behind him. You knew he wouldn’t let this drop if you didn’t let him see for himself you were fine.

Just because he somewhat trusted you, did not mean he trusted anyone else besides his inner circle of ‘employees’. He tended to rely on himself to make sure bigger things went smoothly.

No doubt he’d try to break in again unless he saw for himself, or he’d send one of his inner circle to do it.

Giovanni followed you into your home, and you gestured towards your charging phone, before looking at him a bit weak.

“See? I’m sorry for missing your calls and messages, but I really don’t feel well…”

Giovanni looked you up and down, and you felt yourself internally sigh.

“Just what are you even sick with? Flu?”

You gave him a deadpan look.

“Red week.”

It was silent, and a look of realization hit him.

“Ah.”

It was almost comical how his demeanor changed, though you decided not to pick on him for it.

“Make yourself at home, I’m going back to bed.”

You knew he wouldn’t mess with anything. Not like you had anything he couldn’t buy himself, and he wasn’t interested in any of your valuables.

With that, you headed back to your room while holding your gut, cursing your beloathed organ. Behind you, you could barely make out Giovanni pulling out a phone before you turned a corner and walked back to your room.

Crashing dramatically onto your bed, you curled up against one of your pillows and let out a groan. Here you had been comfortable, and had to get up.

Of course, you weren’t upset at Giovanni, but definitely more irritated at the circumstances of having to leave your cocoon of comfort.

You laid long enough to nearly end up in a drowsy slumber after being alone in your room for a bit, before you heard your door squeak open. You hadn’t shut it completely in case Giovanni wanted something, though you jolted slightly at the noise.

“Relax.”

Looking up, you saw Giovanni. How long had it been since you let him in? You weren’t sure.

“Wh-”

“Here.”

Before you could even ask what he needed or was doing, he tossed something on your bed. Blinking in confusion, your eyes looked over to whatever had landed next to you.

Your eyes then widened when you noticed it was a rather high quality heating pad.

“Wait-”

He held up a hand, and you paused.

“Don’t worry about it. Consider it a get well soon gift.”

Your mouth opened and closed like a fish, and you barely managed to react in time and catch something when he tossed something else to you.

Confused, you looked at it, before your eyes widened at the sight of a pokeball. Curious, you clicked it open, and Giovanni’s Persian popped out.

The giant cat-like pokemon lazily blinked at you, before hopping on your bed and did a long stretch, before curling up next to you with a purr.

“Persian will look after you. I’ll be back to check on you later.”

Before you could even get a word in, Giovanni gave you a nod, before turning and leaving your room, closing the door behind him.

Persian nuzzled against you, and you reached out to scritch behind its soft ears.

Giovanni was a busy, cold man. You knew this well, and you wouldn’t argue if someone said it.

…But you’d admit, he could show he cares in his own strange ways to the select few he was close to.

–

In hindsight, you should have expected this.

Starting your period while hanging out with Nanu was awful. Not only did the cramps hit you out of nowhere, but the headache and nausea decided to slam into you at the same time on top of it all.

Nanu, to his credit, was sympathetic to you despite how nonchalant he seemed.

“Got ya some meds and a blanket.”

Looking up from your spot on the couch, you saw Nanu next to you, holding each thing out to you to grab.

“Oh thank Arceus, thank you Nanu.” You said, sitting up with a wince before grabbing the items from him.

“No problem.” Was all he said, before sitting next to you as you tried to get comfortable as you took the pain killers.

Chuckling at the wince you made as you swallowed the pills, Nanu held back a grin as you groaned. He found your reactions funny, but he knew better than to laugh when you must be feeling absurd amounts of pain.

That, and despite his grin, he truly hated to see you like this.

You rarely let anyone see you feel this way, he had realized earlier. No doubt always staying home and canceling plans to ride the pain out.

Just how many times have you stayed home because of this? Or had simply pushed through the pain?

Glancing at you, he watched as you wrapped the blanket around you, giving a small smile to a Meowth that carefully pawed at your leg in concern.

The lil guy then carefully jumped up and crawled into your lap with a small noise of comfort, and you absentmindedly began to pet him as the Meowth made himself comfortable.

After a moment, Nanu let out a silent sigh, before reaching over and wrapping an arm around your shoulders. He pulled you close in a comforting manner, and grabbed the tv remote with his free hand.

“Stay as long as you need.” he said, before turning the tv on and flipping the channel to one you had mentioned liking.

You were silent for a moment, before leaning against Nanu’s shoulder.

“Thank you, Nanu.” you whispered.

The corner of his lips ticked upwards in a small smile.

“No problem at all.”

[blues824]

hello! First of all i enjoy your writing alot! Can u write an imagine/headcanons of Malleus, Riddle and ruggie (seperatly) with a Fem! Reader who's obsessed with shopping and drags them excitedly to the mall? Reader has them trying on outfits like a silly fashion show and etc! And can u make them and the reader in a relationship already? Thank you i hope you're doing well! 💗💗

Because you only requested three characters, I am making the scenarios longer.

Riddle Rosehearts

He just can’t find it in himself to say no to you when you ask him with puppy dog eyes if you two could go to the mall on the weekend. Plus, Trey and Cater pointed out that you had been following each of the Queen’s rules as well as maintaining a good grade in all of your classes, and thus deserved a break like this.

So it was a date that the Housewarden found himself very excited for. It wasn’t everyday that he got to take his girlfriend off of campus and go do something she liked to do, so this was a once-in-a-while opportunity. The town wasn’t far away from NRC either; just at the bottom of the mountain that NRC was built upon. Thus you wouldn’t waste a bunch of time commuting.

When Saturday rolled around, he heard a knock on his dorm room as he was getting ready. He opened the door to see you in a casual outfit, ready to head out. He was ready too, and he made sure that he had his wallet before leaving. As you both exited the Heartslabyul doors, he yelled out to Trey that he would be in charge while he was away with you. You took him by the hand as you dragged him to the bus that was taking students down the mountain.

During the bus ride, he was looking up some of the stores that were within the mall. You were peering over his shoulder as you made an effective plan on the places you were going to visit, since you were aware that Riddle preferred to have this kind of thing organized. You then pressed a kiss to his cheek and thanked him for agreeing to come with you, and he just had a dopey grin as his mind went completely empty.

Within the mall, you just let out a gasp as you looked at the huge building. You turned to look at Riddle and he asked you where you wanted to head to first. You pointed to a nearby clothing store that had a dress in the window that looked super cute, and he took your hand in his before leading you inside. You took him to the dressing rooms after choosing a few different outfits, and you asked which ones he liked more. There were a few that exposed a bit more skin than he was comfortable with, so he was definitely flustered for a few minutes.

The next store was actually a men’s store, so he was kind of confused as to why you chose to go there. You said that he needed a few more outfits and maybe even a few matching ones like you had so that people could tell that you were a couple. You picked a few that you thought he would like and you had him go try them on. You sat outside of the changing rooms, scrolling through some of your friends’ Magicam posts when your boyfriend called your name.

You looked up and saw that he was wearing some black pants, a white button up, and a red sweater over it. You stood and walked over to him to adjust his collar, and as you were doing that he asked if he looked alright. You gave him a kiss on the lips as you stated that it looked great, and you asked if he felt comfortable as he was the one wearing it. He nodded his head, so you went to the cashier to purchase the clothes before making your way to the next store.

Ruggie Bucchi

The only concern he has is how much money he’s going to be spending, but you told him that you had been working at the Mostro Lounge to save up money for this, and that Leona offered to loan some money as well (totally not because you threatened to wake him up with ice cold water every morning and drag him by the tail to classes if he didn’t). So, he was pretty excited to go with you.

As the days ticked by, the hyena was getting more and more excited. Honestly, it was annoying to the Savanaclaw Housewarden because Ruggie kept messing things up because he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing. You weren’t in a very different state, considering it was the first time in a while where you were able to go on a proper date with your hard working boyfriend.

When Saturday arrived, he was super happy. He got ready in just five minutes before he ran to your dorm, where you were about to head to Savanaclaw. After laughing at the coincidence, Ruggie took your hand in his and pulled you to the bus that was taking students to the village at the bottom of the mountain. Because it was 9 in the morning, it was a bit chilly, so you squeezed his hand because it was warm.

If we’re being honest, this trip was a spontaneous thing that you wanted, so he was just going to be following you around. He listened intently as you went on about some of the stores you saw online and how you wanted to visit as many stores as possible. His tail was definitely wagging in pure happiness at just being able to be with you when he’s been so busy lately.

Anyways, he wasn’t surprised when you spotted a really cute outfit in one of the shops’ windows and dragged him in. He would be the kind to look at different articles of clothing and hold them up to you, trying to picture an entire outfit. You brought the right guy for the job, as he’s done this before a few times but in thrift stores. Actually, he had a pretty decent sense of style, and you saw that in the outfit he came with you in.

After you got some food at the food court, you spotted a store that you wanted to go into. Ruggie was just going to follow you without a word, but he noticed that it was for men’s apparel. He, too, was very confused as to why you wanted to go in there, and you said that you wanted to buy him an outfit that matched the one you had purchased from one of the prior stores. The entire idea was absolutely adorable, and so he went to try on the clothes.

A few moments later, he emerged from the changing room in a light orange hoodie with some distressed jeans. You chose the hoodie because 1) you could steal it when Ruggie wore it enough so that it smelled like him and 2) it matched a dress you got earlier. He asked if you chose the hoodie to steal it, and you just shushed him jokingly as you hugged him. The hyena started laughing before wrapping his arms around you in return.

Malleus Draconia

This man was so happy when you asked him if he would go to the mall with you on the weekend, because he never gets invited to anything. Plus, a date with his beloved sounds absolutely amazing, so he asked Lilia if he could go. The bat fae was definitely very excited, so he cleared Malleus’s schedule as well as informed the other two knights that he would not need a security detail for a simple date. Sebek was kind of hysterical, but this isn’t about him.

He could have very well manipulated time and made it move faster, but he knew that patience was rewarded. The entirety of Diasomnia could sense the pure joy radiating from the dragon fae, and did their best to make sure that no one or no thing got in the way of his good mood. He, however, didn’t notice because the only thing he paid attention to was the way you were also beaming about your date.

Malleus had to admit to his retainers as well as his guardian that he had no idea what to wear to something as casual as a date to the mall. All of his clothing was either for school, or for more formal occasions. He opted on some black dress pants as well as a white button-up and some comfortable dress shoes, and he grabbed the flowers he purchased before and showed up at Ramshackle. The gesture made you a bit flustered, but you put the bouquet in a vase of water and took his hand in yours and led him to the bus.

During the ride to the bottom of the mountain, he asked you why you wanted to go on the vehicle rather than just allow him to teleport you there. You told him that you knew that as a royal member, he might not have had experience with the life of an ‘ordinary commoner’ and thus wanted to provide that perspective. He then said that you were not an ordinary commoner, but rather the princess to his prince.

You made a joking comment that he looked like your sugar daddy instead of your boyfriend, especially since he insisted that he pays for everything you wanted while you were there. He didn’t get it, but it didn’t matter. Then, you spotted a dress that looked so cute, and Malleus waited outside of the dressing room. He thought it looked absolutely beautiful on you when you came out and gave him a bit of a twirl. This guy has a whole other way of testing out the length of dresses. He will dip you down and kiss you in front of everyone to see where it raises on your leg. So that’s what he did, and he seemed satisfied with the modesty of the length.

Anyways, you brought him to the food court so that the two of you could get a bite to eat. He made you laugh by saying that he preferred the fast food over Lilia’s cooking, and he was practically inhaling his food. Once you were finished, you started walking through the mall when you spotted a men’s store. Your prince here was kind of confused as to why you wanted to go in there, and you said that he needed some casual outfits and you dragged him into the shop.

There, you immediately spotted some black ripped jeans as well as a few muscle t-shirts and hoodies that you had him try on. He admitted that he did like how the shirts outlined his muscles so that he could impress you a tad more. Also, the clothes were a lot more comfortable than the formal things he typically wears, so he purchased them and walked out wearing them. All in all, you both considered this date successful.

[onim5]

Isekai Au

Chapter 1: The beginning

Portgas D. Ace x Female Reader

Warnings: um, Ace fighting.

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Ace fought Black Beard with all his might. Refusing to back down. Though, after big attacks from both, Ace collapses in pain. Black Beards laughs and grabs him at the neck. "Men chain him, we give him to the navy, and then I become a war lord!" Blackbeard laughs.

Ace groaned in pain, and then some words an old lady said to say if he ever needs escape. She was a kind old lady, so he would do it, even though it was embarrassing. "%^~`°$%>♤£¥!?&÷/×%=+." Blackbeard laughed at him again as expected. "I didn't hear that, mind repeating?" He asked, squeezing Ace's neck.

"I don't . . . . . " Blackbeard watched, surprised as Ace disappeared in front of his eyes. "What the?" He let out as Ace disappeared completely.

Ace opened his eyes and took in his soroundings. It was dark and dusty. On both of his sides, high towering walls stood. Ace slowly crawled in pain and leaned on one. "Where am I?" He whispered. In one direction, he found a lot of people walking past. And on the other more people walked past. Could he ask one for help? What other choice does he have?

"Hey, lady. Could you perhaps lend a hand?" He mumbled out to a woman walking past. As expected, she didn't hear. Ace frowns in disapair, though he couldn't blame her. "Huh?" Ace glanced up at the woman, now standing before him. "I'm slow, sorry. Do you need help?" She asked, concerned. "Yeah, you wouldn't mind?" He asked, his voice low and scratchy. "I call an ambulance." She said, holding up a flat weird thing. "Don't I just need food and a long nap, then I be fine." Ace mumbled again.

"Oh, okay. You can come with me, I guess. Can you walk?" She asked. Ace very slowly stood up. Losing balance, the lady grabbed him and then allowed him to lean on her. "It's not far." She states.

"The names Ace, Portgas D. Ace." He introduced himself. "I'm Y/n." You see that building. It's the place." You told pointing at a tall skyscraper. After quite a long time, they made it into the building. Ace tried to make them change direction to the stairs, but instead, they ended up going into a small room with a weird door. "Your place is quite small. It's nice, though." Ace states, but she just looked super weird at him. "I don't live in an elevator." You answered, pushing some buttons.

Ace felt so motion sick. As he could feel the room move. He grabbed a pole that hung on the side and practically clung to Omin. After a short while, the room stopped, and the doors opened. Ace stumbled out with you. And then you got out a key and opened the door before him.

Soon laying down on a couch. Ace finally relaxed his body and fell asleep. You, on the other hand, started to cook. Glancing now and then at the sleeping man.

Why did you take him in? What if he's a criminal? If he is, he will regret messing with you. After all, you're a lawyer.

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End of chapter 1.

Chapter 2.

Chapter 3.

Chapter 4.

Masterlist

[minniesmutt]

𝔇𝔢𝔰𝔦𝔯𝔢: 𝔱𝔴𝔬

♱ ━━━  PAIRING: LEE KNOW X READER ♱ ━━━  CW: READER HAS A NIGHTMARE, HINTED AT SA/SH TOWARDS READER (IN THE PAST) ♱ ━━━  WC: 1.3K

     Three months passed quickly. Y/n didn’t expect a lot when she came to the vampire’s manor. Everyone did their own things to do most of the time, but there was always at least one or two of them that remained around the manor at all times and kept her company. She’d grown accustomed to their feeding schedules as well. It wasn’t super often that they would feed from her, more so when they didn’t want to go into town than anything. It was maybe once or twice every two weeks or so. Nothing crazy.

     There was one thing, she noticed with each of them. The pleasure from that came along after the pain. She’d only felt it a bit when Felix first fed on her. But she’d feel it more when the others started feeding from her. 

     “Could you imagine if it hurt the entire time?” Minho had asked her after she’d brought it up to him after he had fed from her.

     “No,” She shook her head as Felix was dressing the bit as she held her hair away. The two were lounging around in the library when Minho came in and asked if he could feed from her, not wanting to make the trip into town.

     “It’s just something to make sure the human we’re feeding from doesn’t run,” Felix explained

     “Don’t want to rip out anyone’s throats,” Minho joked.

     “Minho,” Felix warned

     “Sorry,” Minho laughed it off, but meaning his apology

     “Why do you ask Princess? Does it bother you?” Felix asked

     “No, not at all. Just didn’t understand why or what it was,” Y/n explained

     “Have you never had a lover?” Minho questioned

     “Pardon?”

     “Someone you’ve felt happy with.” Felix expanded 

     “Kissed, snuck out your castle to see, taken to bed,” Minho listed

     “No. I’ve been kissed and bedded but never felt pleasure.”

     “How—” Minho started but Felix stopped him.

     “How are you feeling, princess?” Felix asked, changing the conversation

     “Tired,” Y/n answered. That was another thing that never changed with the bites. The fatigue.

     “Let’s take you back to your room,” Felix offered before letting her wrap her arms around his neck and he picked her up. He gave Minho a look that told him to find Chan. Minho nodded

     Y/n almost fell asleep as Felix carried her to her room. It wasn’t uncommon. All eight of the men had carried her to her chambers at one point or another. Whether it be after they had fed from her or she went into town with them and they stayed out late. She’d conclude Changbin was the comfiest to fall asleep on. Second was Chan.

     He tucked her under the sheets after she had fallen asleep during the walk to her room. She moved slightly but didn’t wake. He slipped out of the room as Chan and Minho joined him in the hallway.

     “What did you need to talk about Felix?” The greater vampire asked

     “Do you recall when we were bringing Y/n back and she mentioned the king using the staff?” Felix said as the three walked down the hallway.

      “Yes. But what does that have to do with Y/n?”

     “She mentioned the advisors as well.” Felix reminded him.

     “Is this all about what she said about never having a lover?”

     “Why were you all talking about that?”

     “She asked about the pleasure from the bites after Minho fed on her. What she said about the advisors being no better than her father—”

     “Felix, I understand your concern but two one-off conversations does not mean something happened. Not without Y/n telling us.”

     Chan left after that bit afterward. Leaving the blond pouting. Minho believed him though but he got where Chan was coming from. Minho was the one making once-a-month trips back to her castle to collect from the advisors. He’d heard the maids whisper how the king’s advisors were in an upheave over Y/n being gone.

     Some were concerned that they would never get her back. More being worried about having an heir. He recalled one of the maids mentioning something about how the advisors wished they tried harder. Harder for what he didn’t know nor did he have the time to question it. But he was piecing the puzzle together.     “I’m going to talk to Hyune about it. They are in each other’s company quite a bit.”

     Felix wandered off down the hall as Minho turned back to her door. He’d wait it out if he had to. Taking the steps to the room and silently pushing the door open then closing it. She was still fast asleep, unaware he had even come in. 

     He thought she was beautiful when they had first met —when he held her father’s life in his hand. He wouldn’t deny a part of him chuckled when she offered to stay with them so the kingdom would pay off the debt. He didn’t think much at first, planning to just feed from her and continue his day, but three months with her around changed those plans. The whole manor felt that shift.

     There was one night during the second month that the eight of them were in the library, Y/n had long since gone to sleep. They’d all been busy so they took the night to just chat like old friends over a glass of wine or blood. Whatever they had fancied that night

     “How come you three didn’t warn us how gorgeous the princess was before she came?” Jisung asked, the wine starting to get to him.

     “You fancy the princess Jisung?” Seungmin teased

     “What if I do? There’s nothing wrong with that!” Jisung proclaimed which made the other seven giggle

     “I didn’t think I needed to,” Chan answered.

     “You did. Think of it, how would you feel when you walk into the ballroom and find a gorgeous woman playing the piano? I almost fainted!”

     “You’re being far more dramatic than Hyunjin now,” Minho commented

     “He does hold a point. I feel like we should have been warned about how pretty she was,” Hyunjin agreed

     Somewhere, they all came to an agreement that they all fancied the Princess one way or another. Hyunjin had mentioned their conversation in his office/studio which may have sparked something in them— at least in Minho.

     They wanted to protect her more than anything. None knew when she snuck into their undead hearts but she had, even if some didn’t fully accept it.

     He got pulled out of his thoughts as he heard an almost pained sound coming from the bed. He had taken a seat by her window and moved over to the bed cautiously. He was worried the bite was irritating her in her sleep. He noticed more so she was tossing and turning a bit, eyes going moving erratically under her lids.

     “Princess?” He called

     No response. Minho placed a hand on her shoulder. The contact pulled her out of whatever was happening. Jolting up, Minho offered a hand to her. She took a moment to register it was him and accepted. 

     Minho helped her sit up before sitting on the edge of the bed with her. “What's wrong?” 

     “Nightmare. I get them on occasion.” Y/n sighed, “I’m fine.”

     “Are you?” Minho questioned, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles

     “I don’t wish to speak of it right now.”

     “Alright. Is there anything I can do?”

     “If it’s not too much…”

     “Nothing is princess.”

     “Lay with me?”

     “Of course.” Minho offered her a smile.

     Y/n made room for him under her covers as Minho slipped under with her. He pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms comfortably around her body, letting her drift off to sleep again.

     Y/n felt a sense of comfort in Minho’s arms. It was warm, comforting even. Something she hadn’t felt since her mother’s passing. She felt the same with the other seven vampires. Even if stories portrayed them as monsters, she couldn’t see them as such. She didn’t know exactly what the feeling was, but she selfishly wanted to keep it for the rest of her life.

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