#and i feel like i should probably take it but i'm scared of reacting bad again

[cheapshrimpysheep]

Dating in a Dream - Jamil Viper

SUMMARY: What would his dream be like, exactly the same as in the original story, but with the small detail that he is dreaming that you two are dating?

CHARACTERS: Jamil Viper x Reader 🐍🦐

TAGS: Fluff; a little angst; GN Reader; In a Relationship (kinda); Kiss

WARNING: Spoilers from Book 7 and Jamil’s dream (Eng Server)

WORD COUNT: 6.220 words

COMMENTS: This was written as a companion piece to the original dream story, so the parts that are the same as the game are just summarized.

I would also like to say: I kept the endings "sama" and "bocchan" because I thought they would make more sense, and since "sama", from what I researched, is gender neutral it could be used with Yuu. I don't know if Jamil's shawl has a specific name. And I'm not good with color names.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy 🐍

Dating in a Dream: Idia / Epel / Rook / Vil / Kalim / (Jamil) / Floyd / Jade / Azul / ...

“Aether signal tracking successful.” Ortho announces. “We have arrived at the designated coordinates.”

Kalim seemed to have enjoyed the dream-to-dream journey, and even compared it to his carpet rides. But Vil didn't look or feel very well. It seemed like some kind of motion sickness specific to those dream travels. Everyone agrees that Vil should rest. Silver and Ortho stayed with him in the shade, while you, Grim, Sebek, Kalim and Idia, or rather his tablet, went for a walk to analyze the world of that dream a little more.

After walking around for a while, Sebek comments that it is as hot as in Kalim's dream. Which is explained by the fact that both dreams take place in Scalding Sands. Kalim recognizes the Camel Bazaar and suggests that you all should buy Vil some coconut juice, it's cold and refreshing and might help him feel better. Grim agrees, but Idia and Sebek fear that this could cause problems because they don't have the local currency. However, Kalim assures that everything will be fine.

Kalim orders, to everyone's surprise (or almost everyone's), TEN coconut juices. The vendor gives him a heap of whole coconuts with an opening at the top and a straw each. Kalim encourages you all to try a sip and you do so. It really felt good in that heat. Kalim prepares to leave with the coconuts when the vendor calls his attention.

“Excuse me, sir! You need to pay.”

“Pay? Sorry, I don't have any cash on me.” Kalim responds too naturally and tells the vendor that he can just bill his house like usual.

But the vendor didn't know what Kalim was talking about. When Kalim told him his name the vendor recognized the name, however...

“Al-Asim, huh? If that's true, that's even less reason to put anything on a tab. You think you can dine and dash at MY stall? You've got some nerve, kiddo!”

“This is going south fast...” You say. “There's no returning the juice now that we've drunk it...” You approach Kalim to talk to him about that situation and that's when the vendor finally sees you well.

“OH! (Y/N)-sama!” The vendor practically stutters your name and completely changes his attitude. “I-I didn't see you were in this group. Are they your friends? I am so deeply sorry for my bad manners. If you don't have money with you either, I can just bill the Viper's house if you'd like.”

“The Viper's house?” Kalim wonders. “Why Jamil's house?”

“Hey! (Y/N)!” Grim whispers loudly at your feet. “Just say yes and get us out of this!”

You accept the vendor's offer and he lets you go with all those coconuts and a smile on his face. But a slightly scared smile. Returning to Vil, Silver and Ortho, you all discuss what happened.

“So, (Y/N) seems to have more power here than Kalim.” Ortho observes. “And apparently they are also somehow connected to Jamil Viper's house.”

“But how?” Sebek wonders. “And why?”

“Well, by the way the vendor reacted when he saw (Y/N)...” Idia says. “I have an idea... but let's analyze this place better first.”

Vil and Ortho exchange glances with each other, probably thinking the same thing as Idia.

“We can start by checking my place.” Kalim suggests. “Jamil's place is on our grounds.”

Arriving at the place where Kalim's house would be, it was deserted... Literally.

“Wh... This can't be right... MY HOUSE IS GONE! The main building, the annexes, Jamil's home, they're all gone! Where'd everybody go?!”

A local resident who was passing by asked if you were tourists and told you that the Asim Palace had a change in ownership years back. The new owner had it relocated to high ground on the outskirts of town. He didn't know who the new owners were, but he know that the Asims had to give up their house after their business failed.

You go look for the palace.

You all go to where the palace was now and Kalim is shocked to discover that it was true that his house really did get relocated to higher ground. And not only that, but it looked like the exterior's been repainted too. The roofs have gone from teal to red, and the walls from white to black.

“Hey!” A Guard suddenly approaches. “What are you kids doing here? This is a private－ ah! (Y/N)-sama! It's you, and Kalim. My apologies, I hadn't recognized you from afar. Jamil-bocchan has been looking for you to go to school together.”

“Jamil?” Kalim steps forward. “Jamil is here?!”

“What kind of question is that? This is where Jamil-bocchan lives... Viper Palace!”

You discover that the one who bought up Kalim's home was Jamil's father, the head of the Viper family. He bought that manor from the Asims when they were in sore need of money, and know the Vipers were the richest family in Silk City.

After the guard's explanation, you hear music coming from somewhere and an elephant emerging through the front gates at the head of a whole parade. You see that the guy riding the elephant was none other than Jamil, wearing a uniform just like the one the fake Jamil wore in Kalim's dream, but this one was red and black instead of turquoise and white.You also see the dreamer's silver bird around his head.

“Make way! Coming through!” Another guard announced. “Make way for Jamil-sama!”

You all step aside.

“Why are YOU making way, Kalim?” The guard who was with you questioned him. “Take this parasol and join the procession!”

Since you were distracted looking at that guard and Kalim, you got startled when you suddenly felt something grabbing you by the waist and lifting you into the air. When that thing finally lets go of you, you are in Jamil's arms and you realize that that thing was the elephant's trunk.

“Where were you, my desert bloom? You are quite late.” Jamil asks you and then looks at your clothes. “Have you been shopping? Hm... no offense, but I've seen you in better clothes.” He smirks.

Jamil lands you on the elephant's back, but you can't stand on your own and cling to Jamil. He laughs.

“You haven't gotten used to it yet, have you? But let me just change those clothes real quick. You can't go to school without a uniform.” He uses his magic pen to turn your NRC uniform into a uniform similar to the black and red clothes with gold jewelry he was wearing. “Much better~” he says in a lower, slightly seductive tone. “Black already looks good on you, but red looks even better.” He grabs you firmly by the waist to hold you, before turning to the people in the procession behind you. “Get marching, and don't break formation!”

“Jamil looks like he's having a ton of fun!” You hear Kalim say right behind the elephant.

“You there, quiet down! Less talking, more walking!” Jamil orders him.

You look back and see two lines, in front of one of them is Sebek, followed by Vil and lastly Silver, in front of the other is Kalim, followed by Ortho and lastly Grim, who you imagine would be complaining.

“So...” You try to chat with Jamil. “How long is the path to school again?”

“Is it just me, or are you more spacey than usual?” He looks at you slightly suspicious. “Unless... Oh, you're asking because you're tired from shopping, aren't you? Well, Jahar Sahir College is on the other side of the city, but the path is straight so you'll see we'll get there in no time. Enjoy the parade.” His watchful gaze returns to the people behind the elephant. “You there － your parasol is drooping. Hold it properly!”

“Whoops, sorry! I'll fix that right away.” You hear Kalim apologize.

Jamil is very suspicious and attentive. If you take too many risks, he might realize that you are not one of the NPCs from his dream. And it’s not a good idea to take that risk more than 2.5 meters above the ground.

Suddenly, in the midst of the euphoria of the moment, Jamil pulls you to lie on his other arm, making you lose your balance and scaring you. Even if you shouted in fright, it was just another scream in the middle of the cheers. Jamil laughs before pulling you back to your feet and grabbing you to hold you steady. If you hug him or cling to him, he will like it even more.

“What was that?!” You ask, it really looked like you were going to fall off the elephant.

“Ha ha ha!” He laughs in a way you don't remember ever seeing. “I just felt like surprising you.” He smirks. “Or maybe it was a little punishment for disappearing on me and arriving so late to the parade.”

And as another surprise he kisses your lips quite lovingly, but only for a couple of seconds. When he breaks the kiss, he laughs at your surprised face.

“I know, I don't usually do this with so much attention on us. But no one will dare tell us anything.” his smile had a hint of menace.

“All right, we're here.” Jamil finally announces. “Parasols closed, elephants to the stables!”

Jamil leads your elephant to a special platform for you to get off, and he helps you, giving you his hand to support you. You look around and see a school just like the school in Kalim's dream, but once again red and black instead of teal and white. And the statue in the fountain was also different. It wasn't the Ruler of the Oasis's, but you recognized this one, it was a statue of the Sorcerer of the Sands, the same man from the Scarabia Dorm.

“We should go look for Kalim.” Jamil bends his arm to invite you to intertwine yours with his. You do so and he starts walking towards the fountain. “Kalim! Where are you?!” He shouts displeased.

“Oh, I'm right here!” Kalim waves with a big smile. “Hello!”

“Don't give me that!” Jamil retorts. “How can you loaf around without looking after your boss...? Wait. What's with that outfit? Did you botch your color-changing magic again?”

It was as if all that joy of his had disappeared as soon as he approached Kalim. It was a little sad to see, both from Kalim and Jamil's side.

“Huh? I didn't botch this.” Kalim explains. “It's supposed to look like the Ruler of the Oasis. Cool, right?”

“The Jahar Sahir College uniform uses traditional red and black colors like what the illustrious Sorcerer of the Sands wore. What were you thinking, bleaching them to your whims? The nerve.” Jamil takes his magic pen and changes the colors of Kalim's clothes to the same as his.

“Ooh, the colors changed! These are pretty nice too, actually. Thanks, Jamil!”

“I think you mean to say, 'Thank you very much, Jamil-sama, sir.’” Jamil corrects with an offended expression. “Honestly... You'll never let go of that pampered rich boy demeanor, will you? Look. The Asim family owes the Viper family more money than you could pay off with a lifetime's worth of work. So you should try to make yourself at least a LITTLE useful to me.”

“Jamil!” You say, as if asking him to moderate his words.

“I know, you don't like it when I'm like this to Kalim, but he needs to know his place.” He looks at you strangely, almost sulking. “You always had a soft spot for him that I never understood.” he addresses the group again. “By the way, who are you people? Jahar Sahir College isn't open for the general public to just waltz in.”

Silver explains that they are from Night Raven College and Vil says that the reason they came to Scalding Sands was a Film Research Club project, but that they had heard so much about Jahar Sahir College that they had to visit it. He said they were looking for the reception and it was shortly after that Kalim spotted them and approached them. Jamil seems suspicious at first, but after thinking about it for a while he supposes there is nothing strange about it.

“Considering their shabby attire and vapid expressions, I'm sure they're simply students.” Jamil murmurs.

“Hey, I heard that!” Grim informs.

“Oh dear, I beg your pardon.” Jamil says smugly. “I let my inner voice slip out there...”

“Wait a minute...” Grim notices the way Jamil talks to him. “You don't recognize me?”

“Recognize you?” Jamil repeats, confused. “My apologies, but I don't remember ever meeting a little beast like you.”

“WHAT?! You know (Y/N) but you don't know me?!”

“What does one thing have to do with the other?” Jamil turns to you. “Do you know this strange cat?”

As Grim complains that he's not a cat, you think about what to say. But what should you say? That you don't know him? That you met him once? But when? And how? The more time you let pass, the more suspicious Jamil would become.

“We crossed paths with (Y/N) before the parade.” Vil saves you. “I think Grim developed a special liking for them after meeting them.”

You see Grim look surprised at that excuse and then lower his ears a little sad, reluctantly accepting his new role in Jamil's dream.

“I can see why.” Jamil smirks. “I've never met anyone who wasn't enchanted by (Y/N). Which is ironic coming from someone who is not a mage. Allegedly.” He looks at you with that mischievous smile and raised eyebrow.

“Forgive my indiscretion if so.” Ortho says. “But would I be correct in concluding that you two are a couple?”

“Yes, you would.” Jamil answers casually.

“However, you said that they are not mages, but they are students of Jahar Sahir College?”

“An exception was made due to personal circumstances.” Jamil said defensively. “Nothing you need to... worry about.” He finished in a slightly threatening tone despite the smile. “Returning to the subject of your visit. As the student council president, I would be a far more fitting person to show you around campus than Kalim.”

“Oh, truly?” Vil smiles. “How fortunate for us to receive hospitality straight from the student council president himself.”

“I wouldn't want Kalim giving them the impression that our students are subpar.” He mutters.

Jamil says that, personally, he is interested in hearing about Night Raven College. He knows about the Dark Mirror and says that Scalding Sands also has long been a flourishing producer of magical artifacts.

“There's the Magic Flying Carpet, the Great Serpent Staff, the Hourglass of Clairvoyance...” He looks at you for a split second with a smile on the corner of his mouth, when talking about the hourglass. “And the Magic Lamp.”

Jamil says that the Sorcerer of the Sands himself employed such artifacts in his great deeds, and that to this day many people in Scalding Sands, including students from Jahar Sahir College and Jamil himself, are interested in them. He also brags about his family's treasure being bursting with artifacts collected from all over the world.

“I'd love to hear more about the ones housed at your school.”

“Ooh, wow! You liked (Y/N)? I had no idea!” Kalim says. “I'm so happy for you two. And you're the student council president? That's great, Jamil!”

“Why are you acting like this is the first you've heard of it? Not only do you GO to this school, but you and (Y/N) are friends. Now stop standing around and prepare a proper reception for our guests”

“Whoops! Right, I'm supposed to work for Jamil. Okay, a proper reception means a party, right? I got this!”

Kalim starts by asking someone to prepare a party, until Jamil reminds him that this was HIS job. Then Kalim says that a party needs drinks, but instead of going to the kitchen to get some, he uses his signature spell, Oasis Maker, to make it rain.

“You fool!” Jamil says to Kalim as he uses his own shawl to cover you and try to keep you from getting too wet. “Who goes around spraying water without any warning?!”

“We'll need food, too.” Kalim continues, oblivious to what Jamil was saying. “I'll go grab some food from the kitchen! Be right back!” The rain dissipates as he runs away towards the interior of the main building.

“What's gotten into him?” Jamil mutters again. “He's never been the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's usually not THIS bad.”

“Maybe he's just too excited that we have guests from so far away?” You suggest.

“Trying to alleviate his incompetence as always.” he mutters to you, slightly disapprovingly, before turning back to the others. “Ahem... I'm sorry you all had to see that.”

“Please, don't worry about it at all.” Silves tells him.

“Here you are, Jamil - uh, I mean, Jamil-sama!” Kalim comes back. “I brought a bunch of your favorite foods. Look! I've got a whole pot of curry, some dates... Oh, and lots of silky melons! Where should I put them?”

“I had a bad feeling, but seriously... Who brings the food out before they even set out rugs and tables?! This is beyond bad. You're utterly useless!”

“Ah hah hah! Sorry about that! I've never done this sort of things before.” Kalim apologizes, good-humored as always. “Jamil-sama, could you hold the pot of curry? (Y/N), Grim, you hold the dates and melons.”

“Mrah! Don't plop a whole pile of melons on my head!” Grim appeals unsuccessfully. “Geez, this is heavy!”

“Okay, I'll get some rugs next!” Kalim announces excitedly and runs away again.

“Hey, wait! What kind of staff makes their bosses and guests do the work?!”

“I thought you hated dates.” You say, looking at the large basket full of them that Kalim passed into your hands.

“And I do.” Jamil confirms. “At least someone remembers. Ahem... I'm so sorry about this.” he apologizes to Grim too. “I'll keep the dishes levitated with magic. You don't have to hold them.”

“Ooh, it's all floatin' now.” Grim says relieved. “That's much better!”

“Ugh, that dimwit gets on my last nerve. Mom and Dad are far too lenient. And so are you.” Jamil tells you.

“I see you don't like that about me.” You concluded as the others spoke amongst themselves.

“It's not that I don't like that side of you and you know it. But there are people who don't deserve it.”

“Well, I think Kalim deserves it.” You defend him.

“How stubborn.” Jamil sighs. “But I'd be lying if I said I disliked it. Depending on the situation, it's quite attractive.” he smirks.

You didn't know, but while the two of you were talking about Kalim, the others were also talking among themselves about Jamil and you.

Grim wondered if Malleus's spell wasn't supposed to be giving people happy dreams, but Jamil was in a snit, he didn't seem all that happy to him. The Shroud brothers concluded that this dream followed the same pattern as Vil's dream. Kalim was a source of stress for him, just like Neige was to Vil. But Kalim exerts an outsized influence over Jamil's personality and capabilities in reality. Removing a figure that influential would make the dream more prone to major paradoxes. Unlike Grim, and maybe that's why Jamil didn't remember him.

“Nonetheless...” Ortho sees Jamil smiling at you, even after that silly little argument. “He seems pretty happy with (Y/N).”

“True, he seems more relaxed with them.” Silver agrees.

“We must not deviate from the main point!” Sebek reminds them. “We need to make Jamil realize this is a dream as quickly as possible!”

“Right.” Silver agrees. “Between this place and the bazaar, Jamil's definitely got a strong imagination. I don't think a simple shock would do the job. How do we approach this...?”

Kalim returns, saying he went to Zahab Market and got some nice pieces from the rug merchant. Vil comments that those "nice pieces" look like they'd cost an arm and a leg. Jamil finally seems satisfied with Kalim's work, taking the opportunity to boast again about his family being the richest and most influential in the city.

“Anyway, check this out! Doesn't this carpet take you back?” Kalim shows him a carpet almost identical to the flying carpet of his that you knew, but instead of red, this one was purple.

“Take me back? Why would it?”

It was a regular, unenchanted replica of the flying carpet. Kalim talks about a time when the two of them and his father went to a rug merchant, Kalim thought it was a real flying carpet, spread it out on the ground and walked right onto it. That got him a scolding.

“How could I forget? The look on that merchant's face when you stepped on a vintage silk carpet with your muddy shoes－HRK!” The dream world begins to distort. “Wait... I would never take someone as overeager as Kalim to a high-end store. Rgh... What's going on?! I suddenly feel dizzy...”

Seeing Jamil wavering, the others encourage Kalim to keep talking. Kalim remembers a time when they snuck out of the manor to visit the Camel Bazaar and drank coconut juice together, but Jamil says that Kalim was the one sneak out on his own and Jamil had to scramble after him. Then he remembers a time, just before they enrolled in Night Raven College, when Jamil used his signature spell to make the bad guys fight each other to get him and Kalim out of trouble. But this time Jamil insisted that he didn't know what he was talking about.

Kalim says that he was always the best and most dependable friend he could have, and that he trusted everything would work out just fine as long as he left it in Jamil's hands. But he was the only one of them who felt that way and now he know that Jamil hated it all along.

“That's why you used (Y/N), Grim, and the students in Scarabia to try and get me kicked out and sent home, right? Winter break sure threw me for a loop. I was super crushed when you betrayed me and told me you hated me.”

“Used (Y/N)?! How dare you... I would never... I... I did... What I did... That Winter break...? Betrayed? Augh! My... My head!”

The world distorts a little more.

Kalim says he doesn't know what Jamil is thinking, but he knows that the person he is right now isn't the person he really wanted do be. He wanted to be the best version of himself, but that isn't this.

“Remember who you truly are!” Kalim transforms his clothes into his Scarabia Housewarden uniform, which makes Jamil start to remember.

“What was that scene just now? It shouldn't be familiar to me, but... it is. The... The real me is...”

“JAMIL-SAMA!” You hear someone shout, and a second Kalim, wearing a Jahar Sahir College uniform, appears running.

“There are two Kalims!” Silver says. “That means...”

“Yes, it must be the darkness.” Vil completes.

“Jamil-sama, when I heard you went to school earlier than usual. I scrambled to catch up...” Fake Kalim says, worried. “Oh no, how could this be?! Please, hold on! I'll get you to a doctor! Guards! GUARDS!”

The ground was painted black and Jamil began to sink rapidly into darkness, surrounded by a dark fog that prevented him from seeing you all well. And guards of black goop formed to prevent you from approaching them.

“Kalim...?” Jamil says with some difficulty.

“Yes, that's right. I'm the real Kalim, your loyal retainer.”

“Huh? Jamil, look again! That's not me!” the real kalim tries to warn him.

“He's an assassin sent to end you.” the fake Kalim tries to convince him “Don't listen to a word he says.”

“Wait...” Jamil looks directly at you with heavy eyelids struggling to stay open. “(Y/N)... they...”

Black goop rises from the ground and forms a figure, a perfect copy of you, also wearing Jahar Sahir College's uniform.

“I'm right here, my love.” your copy tells him. “They had the nerve to impersonate your beloved as well. But I'm here now. The real me. The real (Y/N). Look in my eyes. As long as you stay here, you can be a ruler forever. Money, land, freedom, love... Everything is yours!”

“Yes... That's the truth...” Jamil gives in. “You're absolutely right, both of you...”

“Wait! Trust us, not them!” Kalim shouts again. “JAMIIIL!”

But none of that stopped the darkness from swallowing Jamil.

“Stop disturbing Jamil-sama's sweet dreams, you street rats!” The false Kalim commands you.

“As if we'd listen to you!” Sebek retorts. “Let's do this!”

You all change your clothes and fight the darkness. And after defeating it, Kalim jumps into the pool of black goop without hesitation behind Jamil, followed by all of you.

When you open your eyes again, you see that you’re in the Hallway of Scarabia Dorm. By the red light that dimly illuminated the place and the dark fog, you realized that it was the same scenario as when Jamil overbloated. Suddenly, you hear a creepy laugh you've heard before and you all go to the lounge.

“I did it... I finally got Kalim ousted from school and claimed the position of housewarden for myself!” Jamil is the center of attention in the room, wearing his drom uniform, and had that psychopathic smile on his face. “Bring on the food and drinks! This calls for a celebration. The foolish king is gone, and the true power behind the throne has risen in his place!”

While the Scarabia students follow his orders, you see Azul next to Jamil with that red glow in his eyes.

“Wait a minute, those eyes...”

“Hey, (Y/N). You put it together too, right?” Grim tells you in a whisper. “Looks like Azul ain't fakin' it like he did during winter break. He's really under Jamil's control.”

Most of the dorm's students, who were all actually the darkness in disguise, were gathered in the lounge. You were decidedly outnumbered. Idia says that the best thing would be to get into a more advantageous position and make a surprise attack, so you will quietly make your way behind the students and then launch a coordinated strike on cue. Silver says that Idia should give the signal and the others would carry out the attack.

“Ahh, I feel on top of the world. So this is freedom! How sweet it is.” Jamil keeps chattering. “The biggest thorn in my side, Kalim, is gone. Azul has fallen into my hands.” he looks to his right side to see Azul standing right there. “And (Y/N)...” He looks to his left side, but finds no one. “...is trying to escape again? *sigh* Bring them back to me!” he orders the Scarabia students.

Silver pulls you behind a pillar and you all hide.

“Mrah! What do we do now?!”

“Hand (Y/N) over.” Idia says to everyone's surprise.

“What?! Have you gone insane as well?” Sebek protests as quietly as he can. “What about the surprise attack?”

“Listen, if Jamil really likes (Y/N) he won't hurt them.” Idia explains. “And (Y/N) can help distract him and provide a more effective surprise attack.”

Sebek, Silver and Grim are reticent, but you are the one who takes the initiative and gives yourself to the Scarabia students while the others remain hidden. Two students hold you by the arms and take you to Jamil. And to your surprise, as soon as they let go of you the darkness forms shackles around both of your wrists.

“It pains me to see you reduce to this, (Y/N).” Jamil tells you and pulls you by the chains of the shackles to bring you closer to him. “But you insist on resisting me. Oh, and those clothes... Let's give you more suitable ones, shall we?” He uses his magic pen to turn your NRC uniform into a Scarabia Dorm uniform. He laughs with satisfaction. “A beautiful desert bloom such as yourself should be on the arm of the most powerful housewarden in Night Raven College. What do you say, my dear? Why refuse to be my new Vice Housewarden, and partner?”

“To be honest... I also have a crush on you, Jamil.” you admit and he smiles, too pleased. “But not this version of you. The real you. Or rather, the best version of you, that I know exists behind this senior psychopath.”

“The... real... Hrk!” his head hurts and the world distorts a little, but Jamil pushes you, making you stumble and fall to the ground.

“I'll teach you some respect... but until then...” he orders that the Scarabia students grab you by each arm and lift you up. “Let's just calm that rebelliousness of yours for a while.”

As the students hold you by the arms, he holds your chin to make you look at him. You knew what he wanted to do to you and struggled to keep him from using Snake Wisper on you. You are saved by Kalim, who attacked Jamil before the signal with a solid blow.

“Wh... Kalim?! What are you doing here?!”

Silver and Sebek attack the students who were holding you and free you from the shackles by breaking them.

“(Y/N), are you okay?” Silver asks you, holding you in his arms in case you need a little comfort.

“Huh? I don't understand...” Sebek says. “The students aren't attacking us...”

“YOU BIG DUMMY!” You hear Kalim say.

“D... Dummy?!” Jamil responds in disbelief.

“The biggest one there is!” Kalim punches him again. “How can you treat (Y/N) like that?! I may not have realized you liked them, but I know you would never do these things to them. You don't want to force them to like you. You want them to like you for who you are. That's why you started getting nervous whenever we met with (Y/N), right?

“Nervous? ... Hrk!”

The dream world begins to distort as he remembers the first time he felt good around you and then begins to worry if you secretly hated him for what he did to you and Grim on Winter break.

“You don't want to use them, you don't want to deceive them.” Kalim continues. “And the same applies to competing with others. What you wanted wasn't a prize earned through dirty trickery! And you know it! Wake up right this instant, Jamil!”

“What I wanted? ...Hrk!”

The world distorts again with another memory: Jamil telling Kalim to shut up! Telling him not to give him orders! That he was through following other's orders! That he was going to BE FREE!

“Argh, you keep trying to tell me my business...” Jamil says, annoyed. “What would someone as oblivious as you even know about me?!” he punches Kalim.

And the two of them begin to fight while insulting each other. Until the insults are reduced to one adjective at a time between punches. Cynic, Imbecile, Jerk, Airhead, Blockhead...

“Such childish bickering...” Sebek comments. “The other students and Azul are all pawns made from darkness, but they're just standing there staring.”

He suggests that you aid Kalim, but Silver stops him.

“Let them get it all out of their systems.” Silver says. “Sometimes a fist fueled by emotion is more effective than any words. ...It definitely was for me.” He gives a small smile.

After some time of fighting, Kalim starts laughing.

“Huh? What could you possibly have to laugh about right now?” Jamil questions.

“Y'know, Jamil... I think this is the first time in our 17 years together that we've ever fought like this!”

“What?! Well, obviously! If I beat you up in reality, it would spell disaster for... Ah?!” The world distorts again. “Gaaah! Augh! It hurts... My head! In reality...? Why did I say that? Rgh, augh...!”

“That's right. This is all just a dream! Please, Jamil, remember! Remember the real you!”

“Right... That day... What I did to you... What I did to... Ah, aaagh...” Jamil remembers what happened on winter break, the dream shatters and he wakes up. “Heh. Haha... Ahahaha... That's right. I failed to oust you that day.”

Kalim celebrates that you all managed to wake up Jamil, but after a little chit-chat the ground starts to shake and fissures began opening all over the place. The dream was starting to break down because Kalim wasn't supposed to exist in it.

Idia warns everyone to get out of the dream as quickly as possible, but then the floor started giving out beneath Kalim. Jamil dove in to save him and the darkness began to dragging him in. Kalim grabbed Jamil to try to get him out of there, but Jamil told him to leave him and punched him when Kalim refused to do so. If you had also tried to help Jamil, he would have just push you too. And Jamil was swallowed by darkness.

When you returned to the dream after the Shroud brothers informed you that it was safe, you landed in Jahar Sahir College. And when you see Jamil he is wearing his Scarabia uniform. Kalim ran to hug him but Jamil dodged successfully.

You and Silver say you're glad he made it back, and Jamil says that he owe all of you a great deal before asking if someone could please fill him in on what was going on.

After the Shrouds show him the explanatory video he says he gets the general gist, and admits that he wasn't entirely sure the rest of you weren't more illusions he subconsciously conjured up, but he never would have thought of the cheat tools idea that Idia came up with. And continued talking about the possibility that it was part of Malleus' spell but it didn't make sense to bring it up to him at all, if that were the case.

“So it's probably safe to accept that all of you aren't illusions created by me or Malleus.” Jamil finally concludes.

“Dude, you were questioning our whole premise...” Idia comments.

“Why wouldn't I, after having my mind, my memories, and my whole world rewritten? But... if you're all real that means...” Jamil looks at you and starts to get worried. “W-when exactly did you get here?”

“Some time before you appeared riding an elephant at the start of the parade.” Ortho answers.

“Yes, we were even part of it!” Kalim adds smilingly. “It was super fun!”

“S-s-so... those people at the parade...” Jamil stutters as the panic grows. “T-the person w-who was with m-me on top of the elephant...”

“Aaaall that until we lost you to that black goop after our fight.” Kalim adds, oblivious to the main point.

“So... that means... that (Y/N)... that whole time...”

“Jamil Viper, please breathe.” Ortho asks him. “I am detecting worrying imbalances in your aetheric structure.”

“Jamil looks like he's going to explode with embarrassment.” Idia says. “I don't even know if that's possible in a dream, but I'd rather not find out.”

You realize the best thing to do is to calm him down, he was unable to say a single word anymore. You take his hands, tell him everything is okay and ask him to breathe.

“I-I-I'm really sorry...!” He says still in panic and almost petrified. “I-I don't know why I did that... I-I didn't want to... I didn't...”

You hug him and feel how tense all the muscles in his body are.

“It's okay. I don't blame you.” You say in a whisper close to his ear. “We don't control our dreams. If you remember what happened, do you remember what I told you?”

“W-what did you tell me?”

You confess that you like him too and that you knew that wasn't the real him. Maybe you even say that you’re willing to forget all that and start over as it should be when you return to the real world.

You then feel Jamil’s muscles begin to slowly relax. Until he reciprocates your hug, is as gentle as it is strong.

“I'm sorry...” He apologizes in a whisper, probably the most sincere you have ever heard or will ever hear from him.

“Aww, GROUP HUG!” Kalim says excitedly.

“NOOO!” Everyone else grabs him and stops him from joining you.

“My goodness, Kalim!” Vil scolds him. “You really need to learn how to interpret social insights.”

When you break the hug, he still tries to look you in the eyes, but can't. You chuckle and cup his face to make him look at you.

“Ironic.” You say with a reassuring smile. “You being the one who doesn't want to look into another person's eyes.”

A small smile begins to form on his lips and he brings a hand to one of the ones you have on his face. He looks at your lips for a second and when he sees you smiling connivingly, he kisses you.

A kiss that lasts until Grim loudly clears his throat. As soon as Jamil breaks the kiss and looks at the others, remembering that they exist, he... isn't embarrassed. He smiles smugly at them, still holding you.

“Hey, last time I checked, it was still my dream.”

If you would like to read more from me, you can find it in my pinned post: INDEX

[20-th-centurygirl]

work for it

jude bellingham x reader

a/n: based on this because i can't get over it

summary: jude slides into your dms and what follows is something you could have never imagined

navigation masterlist

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

instagram:

judebellingham started following you

surely not? why was the jude bellingham following you??

yourusername added to their story

↳ judebellingham: 😍😍

yourusername: hello 🤨

judebellingham: hey

judebellingham: just wanted to say i think you're gorgeous

yourusername: thank you 🫶

judebellingham: anytime

you couldn't actually believe what you were seeing. jude bellingham calling you gorgeous? what sort of dream were you living in? you tried not to get too excited, you'd heard all about his reputation and he'd probably never give you a second thought. but you were wrong.

2 days later

instagram

judebellingham: hey

judebellingham: how are you doing

yourusername: i'm doing great

yourusername: how are you doing? i saw your last few madrid games and you played great

judebellingham: thanks. i'm good

judebellingham: maybe you should come to a game one day 😉

the next 6 months that followed were a dream. you'd exchanged phone numbers with jude a month after your first conversation and you'd spoken every day since. you'd congratulated him after every win and comforted him after every loss. facetiming eachother became your nightly routine and you couldn't believe how lucky you were.

but you tried to take it all with a grain of salt. jude had a reputation of being a player, something you already knew and had been reminded of by your friends. you were more than a fuck and you wanted jude to know that.

jude: hey love

jude: i've got a big game and i was wondering if you want to come and then stay over with me for a few days? i really wanna see you again

you: i'll try to come but i don't know if i'll be able to get the time off

jude: just let me know so i can get enough tickets x

you didn't really know how to react. you loved meeting jude for the first time, but the idea of going over to stay with him scared you. you'd started to really like jude, and worried that he only wanted to get you to come over to him so sleep with you.

you knew all about his reputation, and you didn't think you knew him well enough so you slowly distanced yourself from jude.

jude: can you come? we haven't spoke in a few days and i need to know

you: i can't come sorry. the next weeks just super busy for me :(

the following week consisted of you and jude barely speaking. you felt bad about it, you didn't mean to upset him but you didn't want to get your hopes up. you'd heard about footballers and the way they had casual hookups then ignored girls. you didn't want that. you were worth more than that and you didn't want to get hurt by jude because he didn't have the same intentions as you.

but jude was on the exact same page as you. he didn't understand why you'd just basically disappeared, had he done something wrong? did he make you feel like he was rushing you? he'd tried to call you, but you didn't answer, instead texting him a simple "sorry i've been busy lately" and leaving him alone.

at first jude tried to appreciate that you were just abit busy. he knew you cared alot about your studies and work and were independent, but he couldn't help feeling a bit hurt. nothing in your routine had actually changed, and jude had started to get the impression you were ignoring him on purpose.

you wouldn't answer his calls and barely texted him, so he decided to come to you. he messaged one of your closest friends that he'd met before and asked her to help him suprise you.

the pounding on your door abruptly woke you up, and you swung it open with a scowl on your face until you saw who was behind it. your eyes locked with judes, and you couldn't actually believe he was infront of you holding the biggest bunch or roses you'd ever seen.

jude's heart melted at the sight of you. your hair messy, a duvet wrapped about you and a tired grin on your face. "jude?"

"hi" his voice was shakey but he smiled widely regardless.

"what're you doing here? come in you're gonna get ill"

he stepped in, shutting the door behind him but he didn't dare move any further. "i'm sorry. if you want me to leave i will but i just wanted to see that you were ok. we've suddenly just stopped speaking and i was worried that i pressured you. i'm sorry if i made you think i was pushing you to get too serious to fast. i just really like you"

"seriously?"

"yes"

"jude i'm so sorry. i didn't wanna upset you i just got scared. i know all about footballers reputations and yours and i just didn't wanna be another girl that you just sleep with then ignore" you felt mean saying it. super mean.

"what? look i've done that before but you're so so different. everything about you is so perfect. your laugh, your eyes, how kind you are, the way you always see the best in people. i've known you for six months but i feel like i've known you all my life. you're literally perfect. i'm sorry if i made you feel like i didn't see you that way. i will do whatever it takes to prove to you how much you mean to me" he brought his hands up to cup your cheeks and you leaned into them, the warmth of his palms and his words making love wash over you.

"i really really like you jude" you mumbled, and he grinned wide "good cause i really really like you too"

"y'know, if you can still get me tickets i'll come to your matches"

"don't feel like you have to baby"

"i do. i want us to spend more time together jude"

he pulled you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you. "d'ya wanna go and get breakfast tomorrow? it can be our first proper date" he lightly pinched your side, melting when he felt a smile form on your face. "i'd like that"

[pompillar]

Hello! I wanted to ask how the Ghouls would react to an MC who's very close with Jiro? Like it's obvious to everyone in Darwick MC is WHIPPED for him and the ghouls are just like.. really? That guy 💀 idk, I feel like it would be humorous for the guys to find out MC's type is literally the guy everyone is afraid of lol

Oohoohoohoo! I love this idea! Probably because I also adore Jiro. Anywho!

Jin - Alright who set the ice king on fire?? Jiro who? It might take him a second to recall mortkranken's vice captain. But once he does he's hopping mad, not that you'll see it. How is that freak show your favorite? His lack of personality and dry banter is ridiculous! What do you mean that reminds you of someone? Oh he's butthurt. Big butthurt.

Tohma - all in all he's not too bothered. He knew you would eventually find a ghoul you favored above the rest. While you did surprise him with who it was it didn't hurt him unlike his captain. Which he finds very amusing. Just try to keep Jiro from scaring the frostheim first years so much will you?

Lucas - he wants to let you know he supports you in all your endeavors of befriending the ghouls. If he feels a slight twinge of disappointment that it's not him he won't show it. He can't blame you though, as someone who's sparred with Jiro he knows the other is strong despite his illness and can easily protect you. He may try to drag Jiro into more friend stuff with you and Kaito much to the latter's dismay.

Kaito - speaking of... You thought he was loud before? Hope you have earplugs. He's breaking the sound barrier. What do you mean Frankenstein is your favorite ghoul?!?!!??! He's super creepy and greasy and scary!!!!! What do you mean it should be Frankenstein's monster? Huh? What are you defending him for?!??!?? Safe to say he's gonna need Luca to cool him off if you don't make him grovel with that disappointed look on your face.

Alan - I'm not even sure Alan knows him... But regardless maybe it's better that way. You should be around people who can keep you safe. Not people like him... Though he might start sighing more frequently after learning who your favorite is.

Sho - alright okay normally he's chill and all but he might take you aside and ask you if you're being coerced into saying this. No he's being serious this actually isn't a joke. He's concerned you don't know how to say no and wants to know if he needs to step in. Just tell him to cool his jets you're serious too. Though Sho's confident he can change your mind with enough homemade dinners and some one on one time...

Leo - augh he is fuckin fuming. It's so funny thinking about how mad he would be. Steam rising from his ears type anger. On the surface it's just his usual huffy behavior when he's in a bad mood. But really? Some nobody from mortkranken with bad hygiene and a worse personality? I mean being realistic he knew he wouldn't be your favorite but had hoped you had better taste. Will start bullying you harder about it and saying shit like you like them big huh? Like he's not also a size queen

Haru - I don't think this busybody has met a Kirisaki in his life. But he will pout a bit. Just for a second before playing his ace in the hole. Clearly peekaboo is your favorite!!! If you try to deny it your favorite little anomalous bunny baby will look dejected. So expect that to happen any time you bring up Jiro and favoritism.

Towa - uh oh... Who told him? You knew that was a bad idea but the storm cloud over jabberwock just gets bigger... How dare someone else become his dandelions favorite! Even if it is Zenji's little brother he won't forgive him! He's going to be glued to your side more than usual. Just don't bring Jiro around... We don't need to know how lightening would affect him...

Ren - it's fine or whatever!!! Who cares about your favorite ghoul??? Not him!!! He says good riddance, you would be way too annoying if he was your favorite anyway. You would never give him peace and quiet, you'd ask too many questions about his movies, or be useless in the games he wants you to play. Who cares!!! ...Ren. Ren cares a whole lot. He's going to be upset because you couldn't even pick a normal ghoul you had to pick one of the weird ones! Shut your tsundere ass mouth sir.

Taiga - if he remembers you is one thing, if he somehow remembers Jiro's existence is another entirely! This man doesn't even know what a mortkranken is... oh wait they have tasty anomalies in there? Nvm he remembers now. Oh, oh so when he pulls his gun out it's a problem but when this lug whips out his chainsaw it's totally fine??? Double standards kitty cat. How is that fair at all? He's actually more annoyed than you know.

Romeo - what ... Why?!?!!!?!!! That guy?!!!?!!? That's your favorite ghoul??!!!!! WTF is this sorry excuse for a joke you BB?!?! Pissed. Just fucking pissed, he thought you had better taste than that... The guy's a walking petri dish of germs that cause bad skin and eye bags. His fashion sense is worse than your taste!! God help you bc Romeo isn't letting this go easily.

Ritsu - clearly he misheard you. You're his business partner, so of course naturally he's your favorite... What do you mean Jiro Kirisaki is your favorite ghoul? That doesn't add up... Let him check his behavioral models... He's going to be trying to understand where his model is wrong for a while. Sorry he's going to short circuit over this. Hope you have him under warranty!

Subaru - are you sure you can't just fib a little bit??? Do you wanna see that sad face? The one he perfectly constructed for this moment when he sees you again after finding out? He looks so sad... But ultimately says he understands... You can't help who you find comfort in... Like how he finds comfort in you... Did you know you're his favorite along with Haku and Zenji and Lyca? You are. He's sorry. That sounds like he's trying to guilt trip you... He would never...

Haku - saw this coming much like Tohma. I mean you weren't falling for his charms, or Rui's, or Ed's, or Kaito's, or Towa's. He could go on about the advances you've ignored... But yeah he figured your type would be pretty different from them. Less energetic, not as flirty, definitely someone... Well okay not quite what he pictured but okay. You like what you like. He can see the charm, it's like if Zenji ever closed his mouth- don't repeat that princess. He can't make Zenji feel bad for his yapping nature.

Zenji - uh of course Jiro's your favorite?! He's his wonderful intelligent little brother! It would be ridiculous if he wasn't your favorite! Man is proud as a peacock like you said he was your favorite or something. Is just happy to know Jiro has someone else looking at him in a positive light. Definitely ignores the dull ache in his heart when he heard the news, that's unbecoming of a refined man like himself. Squashes any bit of jealousy like it's a horrible anomalous bug.

Edward - ughhh gramps is at it again. Guilt tripping you with intent to drag you away from mortkranken. He wants to spend more time with you suddenly. Don't ask why he's sniffing you more frequently, it's definitely not him checking if your sensuality has gotten stronger since you've been hanging out with that boy so much...

Rui - shot through the heart! And you're to blame! Baby you give lo- *whack* in all seriousness Rui is going to pull the playful tease of oh you must not care that much about him now that you've got a bigger stronger man around huh? Enjoying his replacement? Still flirting even when he's hurting. Has no bad feelings towards Jiro he just wishes he wasn't cursed so that maybe he could have changed your mind about who your favorite is...

Lyca - he's confused. Like at first he's mad, upset, hurt, goes down the slide of emotions about why it's not him. He said he'd protect you and take good care of you. Why is this weird smelling guy your favorite??? Pouting so hard whenever he sees you with Jiro. God forbid you go hang out with Lyca after you've been around Jiro long enough to smell like him. Wolf boy is so cranky!

Yuri - of course Jiro's your favorite! That's his best work in the flesh! In a way you're saying Yuri's work is your favorite! His not quite so little miracle of modern medicine. Yeah he's proud of it. It might sting a bit but nevertheless he's thrilled you care so much about Jiro. Someone else to keep up with his damn condition? Please and thank you, he needs an early warning system for when it acts up anyway.

Jiro - *that damned amused giggle* Thanks, you're his favorite too

[avocado-writing]

Okay, I've had this idea bouncing around in my head, waiting for you to reopen suggestions, haha. How do you think the Origins Companions + Halsin, Rolan, Dammon, and Zevlor would react if they found out that Tav had been hiding a very serious injury from them? The kind of injury where Tav is convinced that they're fine and they don't want to worry anyone with something they can handle on their own, especially the people they care most for, but as they try to ignore the injury it only gets worse until it's potentially life threatening and they can't keep up the facade anymore. I will leave it up to you whether or not Tav and the other individual are in a romantic relationship. I think both ways have potential for wonderful angst 😆

ooohhh noooooo! but also oh yes, LOVE this sort of angst lol. written as if you have had an infection come on from an injury. this is gonna be a long list so let's buckle up...

Astarion

really tries to hide his panic but fails miserably.

can't help but start snapping - how could you keep something like this from him?

you try to give your excuses but he waves them away, angry, but mostly because he's terrified that he might have lost you.

if he has any healing potions he helps you take them, if he doesn't he immediately... sources some from somewhere.

holds you as tight as he dares, worried that he will aggravate the injury otherwise.

as you begin to heal and drift off to sleep he spends the whole night watching you rest, making sure that you're still breathing, still safe. doesn't mind when you cuddle up to him in the night, sleepily.

Gale

curses himself for not noticing your condition. he's a wizard, damn it! he's meant to be bloody perceptive.

wishes for the first time ever that he didn't just know wizard spells. wishes he knew how to heal, too.

makes you as comfortable as he can while he finds a book about what he can do for an infected wound, probably swallowing his pride and going to Shadowheart if it's bad enough.

you manage a weak, "Gale, you don't have to--", and he cuts you off, "if you're going to insist that I don't have to look after you, I'm telling you that I do."

fixes you something to help with the pain and infection, makes sure you drink it all despite the horrid taste, then tucks you into his bedroll to let you rest.

when you go to reach out and cuddle him he slips into your arms, presses his lips to your hair, and whispers as you fall asleep about how much you scared him. about how he'd never be able to lose you.

Lae'zel

only realises how unwell you are when you fall over mid-journey.

"tsk'va! why did you hide the extent of your injuries from me?"

hauls you onto her back and carries you back to camp, muttering about your foolishness the whole time.

makes you comfortable in her tent and uses her knowledge of githyanki medicine to help start healing you.

it isn't comfortable as she works on your infection but for the first time you feel her hands being soft rather than vicious.

"you should not have kept this from me." "I know. I'm sorry." "hm. ridiculous thing. zhak vo'n'fynh duj."

goes and intimidates the camp into being quiet so you can rest. it works. this is the nicest she's ever been to you. you could get used to it.

Shadowheart

obviously this is not a huge problem for her, but she is still worried that it got so far without her noticing.

immediately heals you, pouring far too many spell slots into your body in order to get it up and running again.

it helps, immediately breaking the fever you've been nursing, and the touch of Shadowheart's hand to your face is cooling and reassuring.

"lady shar teaches us to embrace our pain... but not like this. you should have known better. you could have died."

her hand slips down to cup your cheek, you cover it with one of your own. she's telling you off but you can tell it's because she cares.

"I'm sorry that I scared you." "I know. don't do it again."

she smiles and the ache in your heart is lifted, too.

Wyll

panics.

you collapse on day in camp and he immediately calls on the others for help, not so proud as to be unable to admit when something is out of his knowledge. he is not a healer. he needs help.

he manages to catch you in his arms as you tumble, hugging you close to his chest while magic is worked or a healer checks you over.

lets out a breath he didn't realise he was holding when you begin to stabilise.

helps you back to your tent to rest, gently chiding you but letting you know that he's glad you're alright.

when your hand weakly comes up to touch him, he indulges you in a kiss to let you know how relieved he is.

constantly watching you on the battlefield from that moment on. if he can help it, you'll never be hurt again.

Karlach

another panicker.

scoops you up in her arms and holds you to her chest, running to the tent of the nearest healer in camp - or, if you're in the city, kicking down the door of a local doctor.

begging the healer to check you over, but is reluctant to let you go. if she stops holding you it's like she's relinquishing control and that scares the life out of her.

you're healed and she feels you start to stir in her arms, peppering you with kisses of relief, choking through her tears that you're never to scare her like that again.

carries you back home, even if you're totally capable of walking. she just wants to make sure you're okay.

Halsin

sternly disappointed that you didn't tell him, but more annoyed that he didn't notice something was wrong himself. how could he not see how out of balance with nature you were?

squirrels you away to his tent to heal you, make you soothing and medicinal teas, his big hands over the source of the infection.

you burrow into his touch, into his chest, and you end up sitting in his lap as he heals you.

he wants to tell you off a little, but is more relieved that you're alright. encourages you to share all your burdens with him.

kisses you on the forehead, then on the mouth when he's sure you're strong enough for it not to knock you flat.

Dammon

my poor boy is just a blacksmith, so though he doesn't exactly panic, he does scoop you up and try to find a healer as soon as he can.

waits quietly and nervously as you are examined, silently cursing himself for being too busy to see how you were hurt. he's meant to be better than this. he's meant to love you, how didn't he notice?

when you come to he can't stop apologising, and it takes several of your kisses to soothe him and tell him it was not his fault but yours.

he makes you promise that you'll always tell him when you're hurt. has you look into his eyes and swear it.

he can't do much on the battlefield but he can protect you where he can.

Rolan

another one cursing that he doesn't know healing spells.

"you aren't meant to die, gods damn it! you're meant to be strong... what good am I if I can't keep you safe..."

rushes you to the best doctor in Baldur's Gate. pays for all the treatment that you could need. holds your hand at your bedside for your entire recovery... until you come back to consciousness, of course, at which point he just starts telling you off for being stupid enough to get into his mess in the first place.

you grab him by the collar and drag him down for a kiss. that finally shuts him up. but he never lets you forget how foolish you were.

Zevlor

practical but still worried about you.

you collapse in the field and he finds a safe place to hide the both of you from dangerous eyes, using his Lay on Hands ability to channel his magic into healing.

you try to apologise but a finger to your lips silences you, and all you can do is watch in quiet wonder as he burns the infection out with his Paladin's light.

when you're better he gently chides you. tells you that you have people relying on your leadership, and that a problem shared means there are more heads working on how to fix it.

when he sees how sorry you are lets you cuddle into him. when you say you'll repay him, he insists your happiness and well-being is enough for an old warrior like him.

does take the kiss you offer, though. he's been wanting to do that for a while...

[gfdazai]

Kissing his tears away. ♡

no cws rlly, Atsushi is having a flashback and is in a state of confusion for the first half of it. established relationship. It implies his episodes to be a repeated thing towards the end. Hurt/comfort? Wc 500ish, not edited/proofchecked. GN reader! {No pronouns or terms (other than precious) being used towards reader.}

Atsushi, who's crying after having an episode of flashbacks. He's stuck in his dorm, curled up in a closet as he mutters and pleads for whoever to stop.

You, precious, you. You stepping into his dorm, the door falling shut alarming him of your presence — taking your shoes off by the door, wanting to be polite, after all.

Atsushi doesn't want to come out of the closet, scared of what's waiting outside of it for him. He's shaking — his breathing quiet, but panicked.

He's wants to plead for forgiveness, scared of whatever punishment he's getting from the head of the orphanage, but is frozen when he hears footsteps approaching.

He puts his hands over his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut, silently praying for forgiveness, when he hears a short, soft voice.

"Atsushi?"

He pauses, not sure of what to do. What if this was all a trick? He's probably imagining you, and the director will find him any moment...

He doesn't fight when you gently tug him up, or out of the closet, just apologizing and standing there, unsure of what to do. ...Should he say he's fine, when he's clearly not?... He's never been caught in this bad of an episode. He's supposed to be bright and sunny Atsushi Nakajima.

"Atsushi..." You say softly, "Can I touch you?" His eyes slowly and hesitantly open, eyes fluttering to your face — the image being slightly distorted by his tearful eyes.

His hands slowly unclench his hair, the stinging finally settling into his scalp — he hopes he didn't cause himself to bleed. Again. He nods a little, swallowing — not trusting his voice.

You smile, and God. You look so trustworthy, so... So different from the director. Of course you're not the director — how could he ever think so?... The director is gone, Atsushi is out of the orphanage. He's not there anymore... He shouldn't be having these thoughts — these memories.

You gently tug him onto the couch, your hand lovingly combing out the tangles in his messy hair. He lets you. He stiffens a little at first, but when you intertwine your fingers with his? His breathing grows a little softer.

"Would you be comfortable sharing what triggered you?" You ask, voice not pressuring him at all, but he still feels guilty for not answering automatically. He swallows, his gaze falling to the floor as he shakes his head.

"It's okay, Atsushi." You murmur, and he feels your soft, slightly warm lips pressing against the coolness of his tears. When did he start crying?... He sniffles pathetically at that.

"I'm sorry..." He mutters, hiding his face in his hands. "I'm sorry." He repeats. He doesn't know how to react, but he doesn't stop you again.

"It's okay. I'm not mad." You mumble softly, and he folds, turning and clinging to you. He hides his face in your neck and just... Cries. He cries like a broken boy — like a broken child.

You kiss his tears, kissing away the salty, memories of the past. You kiss away his scars, his scares — his past.

Please don't steal my work, nor feed it to any sort of AI. Thank you! ♡

[free-boundsoul]

I keep thinking about the ea

I have a few thoughts. Pre warning I shoulda been in bed 2 hours ago so imma little loopy

Im picking up early Gavin vibes from Porter, in the way that he's always mentioning his Empowered-ness to Treasure. Always reminding them that he is 'other'. (Maybe he's trying to maintain a boundary by reminding himself that they are unempowered and mortal and he doesn't have an eternity with him. And he doesn't want to bring them into it when he's afraid of losing his own life by stepping out of line)

"I said, no you don’t. You couldn’t possibly understand what this is like, you’re a human."

Oof Porter, this fucking stung. Also felt a bit...belittling? I think that's the word I'm thinking of. Which felt even worse when he compared their "problems" were mundane and his held so much more weight. (Which, in the grand scheme of things, is probably true. But we shouldn't weigh one thing over another. You never know what someone is going through. What they could be hiding. How their life is going and how close they are to the edge. How one wrong word or action could be the straw that breaks the camels back. Pain shouldn't be measured)

"Now that’s rich, coming from you. Tell me, have you ever taken more than a moment to think of the chain of events that has led to us standing here in this room together? The kind of internal tumult that has led you here into the arms of a total stranger, inconceivably vast power imbalance and all? And you think I’m the only one who needs help? You think you have a leg to stand on telling me that I need to work on myself while being completely blind to your own issues? Those are some beautiful stones you’ve been throwing in this glass house, wherever did you get them? God. When I want to be false-therapized and patronized by a hypocrite, I’ll let you know."

My first thought (after the pain that sparked in my chest at this dig) was that what if Treasure is going to therapy? Trying to better themselves after meeting Porter because he was right. Their friends did take advantage of them and they had been too scared to talk about it, confront them. They wanted to be better for him but was scared to admit that they were going to therapy because of things they heard growing up. That therapy was a weakness or a waste of money. It was only for crazy people or people who had trauma and their life wasn't so bad.

They can see that Porter is suffering. He needs a healthy outlet. And communication is key to any relationship. They didn't communicate well enough to their friends, so they want to communicate with Porter, be there for him like no one was for them until him.

But they're only human, and they're new to this and they can't help but feel frustrated. They say things they regret. It's a folly of being a person.

"What’s that? Say it with your full chest, Treasure. If you want the words to hurt, you have to say it like you mean them. No no, come on now. Say it. Spit it. Let’s be honest with each other for once, all the way. Good. And now, in return: I’m not the only coward in this room. If you think for one second that what we have here isn’t both of us running away, then you need to turn that appraising gaze inward for a bit. If I’m avoidant, then my god, what does that make you?"

Im sorry but my only thought with this was imagining Porter lightly holding their throat, fingers pressing lightly enough for them to feel it as he leans in close. His breath ghosting their cheek as he keeps those silver eyes, swirling with frustration and pain, locked on theirs.

"So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go figure out what I need to do to save a few dozen lives, if not multiple Houses. I’ll leave you to solve whatever your equivalent conundrum would be, like… should you actually do your laundry tonight or just push the pile farther over on the bed? Again? Good night."

Of course he had to get the last words in and they are scathing.

Now, I keep thinking about how Treasure might react and there are too many options.

Treasure fixating on the fact that because they are human, they aren't enough to be in a relationship with Porter. Maybe they go to Wonderworld to see if anyone there would turn them?

Treasure distancing themselves from Porter. If their problems are so mundane, they won't talk about them. Whenever Porter asks how their day was it just becomes "Oh, it was fine. Nothing interesting happened." No matter if the day was joyous or frustrating or even devastating. Their 'human' worries can't compare to all that Porter is going though, they shouldn't waste his time on them.

Treasure feeling like they're only a distraction that Porter picked up so he could momentarily forget what he does for his King. They wanted a relationship with him. But how could they be with him if they only have seen one side to him? Eventually people get bored of a distraction, right? How long would it take for Porter to lose interest and then he'd be gone?

Darkest turn would be if Treasure asked Porter to make them forget about the Empowered world. He was right, they were only human. They didn't belong in his life after all, leaving Porter to be the only one who remembered the time they spent together.

But I mean... it could always end up in angry make up sex too. 🤷‍♀️

[danihow]

You are... what?

Enhypen hyung line x Fem!Reader

Summary: How would Enhypen's hyung line react to you telling them you are pregnant.

Word count: 3.6k

Heeseung (0.82k), Jay (0.99k), Jake (0.96k), Sunghoon (0.83k).

Warnings: pregnancy, unplanned pregnancy, mentions of vomiting, mentions of unwanted pregnancy, mentions of implied abortions, use of nickanmes as baby, love, etc; they're scared.

A/N: This is a year and a half year old imagine so you may have an idea of how off this is on the members.

❁ Heeseung

Heeseung had been away for a month now, coming home today, and you should be absolutely thrilled, as you always were when he come home from touring.

But you couldn't feel thrilled.

You felt rather nervous and slightly panicked.

The nerves were eating you from the inside out, and you felt like vomiting the three toasts you had in your system, but Heeseung was supposed to walk in the apartment by any moment now and it was probably the worst way of telling him the news.

How were you even going to tell him?

Hey, you are going to be a dad?

Hell no, he would faint, and you were ninety percent sure about it.

You should be simple and straight forward, tell him in the face.

That way it’s probably easier to process, no confusion, no problems, just... news.

Yeah. That'd be it, that's how it should be done. Not good or bad news, just news.

"Love I'm back!" You hear right before the sound of the door closing, and the thud of his bag hitting the floor.

You walk out of your shared room, walking towards him and hugging him, giggling as he twirls you around before leaving a sweet kiss on your lips.

"How was it? How are you?"

"I'm tired but great, missed being home. And the tour was amazing." He says, placing his hands on your hips as he takes a moment to look at you.

"And how you've been?" He asks back, smiling widely as he stares at you.

"Been good..." You start, trailing off to think if the moment to tell him is now, or maybe he needs to rest.

"But?" He asks a tiny bit confused but amused at your expressions, as cute as ever but a bit more zoned out than usual, noticing the way your eyes nervously moved around his features.

"Uh I- I got to tell you something." You say quickly, the courage pushing to the no return point, Heeseung just humming as he looks at you intently. "I'm pregnant."

That's it, you've done it, it’s done. And Heeseung is as confused as you thought he would, face blank, eyes wide as Bambi’s.

"Say again?" He reiterates, brows furrowing a bit as if he heard wrong.

"I'm pregnant."

"Oh..." He simply states, looking around, he wasn't going to ask how, he knew how, and he inferred when. "How long have you known?"

"A couple of weeks maybe? Didn't wanted to tell you over the phone." You say quickly, rather surprised by his silence and calm reaction. "Are you okay Hee?"

"Most definitely, yeah, in shock, but okay i guess'." He nods, hands grabbing yours to check if it was real, pulling it genlty towards his face, resting his cheek in your warm palm. "We're going to be parents, I'm going to be a dad." He says, the idea slowly dawning on him."

"Yes."

"And you are going to be a mom." He says, eyes falling back on yours.

"Yeah, that's pretty much how it works." You nod, worrying yourself. "Are you... upset?"

"What? No, no, I'm... scared, in shock, excited?" He says, unsure himself of what he’s feeling. "You're keeping it?"

"You don't want me to?"

"No! No, I mean, yes, I want you to keep, but you know, your body your choice and all that." He says, blushing by his statement. Oh, it had downed on him now. "Oh my god you’re pregnant." He reiterates, excitement soon filling his face, the shock still the most evident emotion in him, making you chuckle as he hugged you tightly. "Oh my god."

"Yes Hee, we're having a baby." You say, laughing as he twirls you again now, kissing your face repeatedly. "Didn't expected you to be this excited."

"What you mean?" He asks happily, putting you back down. "I'm abso-fucking-lutely scared of the idea, yeah, but happy." He nods, worrying as you seem less colored now. "You good hun?" He asks, right hand caressing your cheek.

"Yeah just..." You say, before feeling that familiar instinct of vomiting, sprinting to the kitchen as its nearer than the bathroom.

"Oh god yeah, and I twirled you, oh my god I'm sorry love."

"It's okay." You way once you finish, cleaning your mouth with a paper towel. "I kind of got used to it."

"You've faced all that puking all alone?" He asks, now a bit sad that you got through a month and a bit more of pregnancy by yourself.

"It's alright." You reassure him. "Can you serve some orange juice for me?" You ask, hating the taste of vomit in your mouth.

"Sure, anything for my love." He smiles, almost placing a kiss on your lips before he remembered and kissed your forehead before going to the fridge.

Heeseung's reaction was by far off of your expectations, but you smiled to yourself at the sigh if him, happier than you thought he would be.

❁ Jay

"Y/N! I'm home!" Jay said, walking into your apartment with a bag full of ice cream and snacks for your weekly movie night, met up by a silent apartment. "Y/N?" He called, leaving the bag on the counter to go and search for you, maybe you were asleep?

He looked on the living room, the kitchen, the laundry room and then got to your room, finding it empty. "Maybe she went out..." He said in a whisper to himself, before hearing a silent sob from the bathroom, waking out to the hallway and then to that door, seeing a glimpse of light shining under it. The shadow of your body sat on the floor worrying him.

"Y/N? Are you okay? Did you got hurt? Do you want me to come in?" He asks as he knocks the door, worried, his breathing getting uneven as his mind wondered bad scenarios.

"N-no, no, I'm fine." You say from the other side, a silent sniff making you regret even talking, he knows you're crying, how are you going to keep from him now.

Is not that you didn't want him to know, you knew he had all the right. But you were scared, you both are too young, he is an idol, and you are still studying, you can't be pregnant right now, you shouldn’t.

"Can I come in? You wanna talk with me about it?" Oh Jay, how sweet and caring he has always been, and how fucked he is now. You thought, scared.

"If you want to, you can." You voice is low, as if not wanting him to hear, as if you want him to forget he had even heard you.

"Coming in then." He says, door slowly opening, revealing you sat on the floor in front of the toilet, head resting against the tile that covers the walls. "Hey darling, what's wrong?" He asks, coming to kneel besides you, brushing your tears away with his thumb and making you cry again.

"I'm so sorry..." It's all you manage to say before sobbing again, hands coming to cover your face and tears falling down your cheeks again.

"Hey, hey, don't, please look at me, please." He says almost in a plead, gently snaking his hands around yours to softly pull them away from your face. "What's wrong? Why are you apologizing?"

"I'm pregnant Jay, I'm pregnant." You says, feeling even worse when you see him freeze in place, face blank as he processes your words, your own eyes clouding with tears once again. "I'm sorry."

"No, no baby, don't apologize, there's nothing to be sorry for, it's not wrong." He says, moving to cradle your face, kissing both of your cheeks where the tears stained.

"You are an idol, this is going to ruin your career, the boys I-, I don't want to ruin your life." You say, looking up at his face, confusion setting deep in you at the look in his face.

"You are not ruining my life, first, this is not something you can control now, second, we should rather think of making our lifes... better" He smiles weakly, brushing the hair out of your face to look at your beautiful eyes. "We are young, maybe its earlier than we thought, but i know we can do this, if you want to keep it, that is."

"I... I do want to keep it, I'm scared, but... i don't know" You say, grabbing a few squares of toilet paper to clean your stuffy nose.

"It's okay not to know, are you really sure you are pregnant?" He asks, grabbing you to move him to straddle him. Seeing your every move as you then stretch to grab two tests from the counter, showing the prominent two lines in each of them. "You're sure then." He says, grabbing them and placing them aside. "A penny for yout thoughts?" He asks, letting you rest your head against his chest, his chin resting above your head as his hands slowly caress your back.

"What if I'm not a good enough mom? I know nothing about motherhood." He hears your voice crack mid sentence, placing a rather long kiss on your head before talking.

"Do you think your mother knew how to be one? Or mine? I don't know how to be a dad, but I'm willing to learn as we go." His one hand stayed on your back, thumb drawing figurines on the fabric of your shirt as the other moved to caress your thigh.

"But is not fair for the baby..." You whisper slowly, shrinking a bit in your place in his lap.

"Hm... maybe, but, if we try our best and fill them with love, I think they will understand when they grow up." He mutter back, still rubbing your back soothingly as he talks. "Imagine it, you, me, a little you running around, giggling." He says against your hair. "Your eyes, your hair, and your smile." He starts, making you smile.

"What about you? They are not only going to look like me." You say against his chest, feeling him chuckle.

"But you are prettier." He mumbles, resting his head against the tile.

"I would love if they had your smile." You say, making him smile, seeing you finally come around to term with the idea of the baby.

"They are gonna be beautiful, I just know." He says in a happy tone, letting you two fall in a few minutes of silence as you both came to terms with the idea.

"Thank you for hearing me out." You mutter.

"Always, thank you for trusting me."

"You're my boyfriend, I couldn't push you away even if I had to, my heart wouldn't let me." You admit, separating yourself to look at him and smile. "I love you, I'm sorry I was being pessimistic."

"It's okay, you're scared, it's totally okay."

And maybe it was, after all, he was the rational one between the two of you.

❁ Jake

You'd known you are pregnant for the past month, thinking of ways to tell your boyfriend the news.

You've thought of everything, from gifting him a box of cupcakes that spelled "I'm pregnant" to just giving him the 5 pregnancy tests you took and keep hidden in the bottom of your drawer.

Resigning with a little gift bag that had an enhypen-merch-like newborn onesie.

"Jake?" You asked, head picking through the door from his little studio-like room in your shared apartment.

"Yes?" He asks, eyes still focused on his lyrics notebook, pencil fiddled between his fingers.

"Oh your busy, nevermind." You say in a whisperish tone, starting to close the door when Jake's head snap up to meet your gaze.

"No, no, come in." He says, putting the notebook aside and turning in his chair towards you.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, totally, what happened?" He asks, looking at your figure walk in, hands behind you back.

"I got you this, open it before i overthink more." You say, almost shoving the bag in his hands before nervously start picking at your fingers.

He takes a hot minute analyzing your words, opening the bag slowly and eyes blankly stopping once he extended the onesie, face unexpresive as he process it over and over again.

"Are you for real?" He asked, your gut slowly feeling as if its closer and closer to the floor, himself adorning an unreadable face not helping at all.

"I so so for real I'm about to puke." You confirmed, your hands playing with the rings in your fingers nervous, himself nodding before returning his gaze to the clothing piece.

"You're pregnant..." He mutters, slowly downing on the realization but you are so scared you actually feel like passing out. "Oh my god..."

"I know it's not at all in our plans, and I get that you are mad or sad and I-" you couldn't even speak properly, tears filling your eyes and your throat knotting itself.

"Oh my god, oh my god Y/N, you're pregnant." He said, standing from the chair straight into your arms and passing his around your torso, bringing you closer to his body as his face buried in your neck, he was so full of different emotions he didn't even knew how to react.

You couldn't answer him, silently crying, scared, anxious, all the possible emotions drowning you. Your hands slowly coming up and resting on his hair to caress it, excitement slowly buildng up.

"We are going to be parents." He mumbled, voice muffled by your shirt that you slowly felt dampening.

"Jake, are you crying?" You asked now worriedly as if you weren't too, taking him apart from you, hands cupping his face as you checked on him, trails of wet tears down his cute little cheeks and the brightest and cutest smile you'd seen in him painted along his face.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just really stunned Y/N, we are having a kid, I- I am really really happy right now, a so fucking scared too." He said, leaning against your loving touch, kissing your palm as his hands rubbed your sides up and down. "No, don't cry you too, you know I hate see you crying." He says noticing the tears falling down your cheeks too, voice slowly turning bubbly as he leans to leave multiple kisses all over your face until you laugh your tears out, his right hand moving up to craddle your cheek and clean the trail of the tears.

"You scared me so much." You admit between giggles, a few sobs escaping in between.

"I'm so sorry for scaring you, I- I don't know how to feel just... thank you so much for being in my live, Y/N. I mean it." He says, his forehead resting against yours as his thumb still caresses your cheek. "I'm so, so grateful right now." The smile in his voice was easily picked up by your ears, putting a smile as bright as his in your face.

"I love you Jake." You say, your hand in his face pinching his cheek with a bit of tease.

"I love you too" He says, eyes wandering down to your belly for a few seconds. "We'll really have a mini us." He mutters, looking you straight in the eyes, his hand on you waist playing with the hem of your shirt.

"We will, yeah." You slowly smile at his rising excitement. "A mini you, or a mini me."

He smiles, his hand slipping under your shirt to caress the skin of your waist. "I can't believe it, god."

"Well, you better start believing it soon Jake, 'cause it really real." You say, his bright puppy eyes never leaving you, the few confetti you gathered scattered throught the floor and the onesie somewhere forgotten.

"So this is why you were throwing up the other morning when I sleft a bit later." He startes, bringing a cringing sound from you, the morning sickness you've felt for the last month since you found out and were figuring out how to tell him still haunting you, specially because you weren't out of it yet.

After that you better trust me when I say you and Jake spent at least half an hour just cuddling and kissing in the couch, not even talking, just enjoying each other company and taking it all in together, his hand leaving sweet and loving rubs on your belly from time to time.

Now there were three of you, Jake feeling slowly happier as his mind kept on making out all the posibilities, feeling excited to say at most.

And yes, later that night he spent all the damn night talking about your future as a family.

❁ Sunghoon

You two already owned a cat. He gifted it to you before going on tour so you wouldn't feel alone at night without him at the apartment.

Now, with your white cat all grown up you had found out while he was at work that you were pregnant, your period had been late, but it was usual, and as you started to have this sickness in the mornings after sunghoon went to work, you decided to do a pregnancy test, just to be sure.

Much to your surprise, you were not just late this time, you were pregnant, for real.

You decided to just put the pregnancy test in a ziploc bag and bury it in a bunch of confetti you bought at the convenience store near your building, waiting for him to finish his daily schedule qand just come back home.

As you sat in the soft cushions of your couch, you mind started pacing.

Were you ready to be amother?

What if Sunghoon isn't ready to be a father?

What if he doesn't want to be part of it?

No, that's dumb, he loves you.

But he's so early in his career, it will do more damage than good.

But he would be really cute as a dad, just a month ago he was high on baby fever after babysutting your cousin with you.

Nevertheless, your train of though was interrupted the moment he closed the door behind him , the sound snapping you out of it. He turned around and his brows almost immediately furrowed at the sight of you sat in the couch, nervousness, doubt and a tiny bit of excitement flowing out of you.

"Hi love." He says, walking with suspicion to you, sitting at your side after you patted it. "What's going on?"

"Here, I got this for you." And with that, he took it from your hands with maybe a bit too much precaution, opening it up as if it could explode in any moment, just to be more confused at the ridiculous amount of white confetti it had in it.

The moment his eyes saw the pregnancy test they were wide, wider than you have ever seen; silently, he stared at it, in case he understood wrong and it said covid somewhere, but it didn't. "Is this real? You aren't joking?" He asks, voice shaky and glassy eyes looking up to you, rather than tears there was no sign of any other emotion on his face, making you over think, your heart twisting in its place at the look of him.

"I would never joke with that, love." You mutter, fiddling with your fingers that rested on your lap. "I know we're really young, and you have so much in your life right now for me to put it out for you now, but I didn't knew how to tell you and I totally get if you are disapointed or mad, I would be too, but I really want to keep it and..." You were rambling, nerves tajing over your mouth and eyes dropping to stare at the floor.

You were gladly interrupted just to be engulfed in the most bone crushing hug ever, his hands slowly lowering themselves to grab you by your hips bring you over to his lap; quite a bunch of little "oh my god"s leaving from his mouth as you two hugged, each getting more breathier as he realized, his head buried in the crook of your neck, his unsteady breath tickling your skin.

"You're pregnant." He said finally letting you go, eyes a bit red as a few tears fell from his eyes, hands still placed on your hips as his thumbs rub up and down.

"Yes, I am" You nodded, unable to stop a little sob from escaping your lips, Sunghoon's face morphing into a worried expression. "You aren't mad?" You asked in a mutter, ashamed.

"Not at all." He denied, leaving a sweet kiss on your nose before placing his forehead against yours. "I'm rather excited, thank you." He says, smiling into your lips, giving you a couple centimeters of space. "Did you really think I wouldn't want to keep it though?" He asks still, a bit hurt.

"What?" You asked, looking in his deep eyes.

"You said so in your rambling, did you really thought so?" He said, eyes watery, again.

"I was being dumb, I'm sorry, I got scared when I found out." You said with so much regret he nods, blinking the unshed tears away.

"No, its okay, I get it." You hear him say, his eyes closing as he exhales. "I'm going to be there for you, we're in this together." He reassures you. A soft giggle escaping you as hi presses a ticklish kiss on your jaw.

"Thank you. I really needed to hear that." You whispered, kissing his forehead back. "I'm scared."

"And I'm really scared too, but we can with this, I know we can."

[pascaloverx]

NO LIGHT

SUMMARY: Your life is simple. You are a pastry chef who has just opened a bakery near your home. A new life, being a new person. But when James Barnes shows up at your bakery injured, asking you to offer him shelter, your life takes a sudden turn.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The characters in this fanfiction are not my creation and all belong to the Marvel universe. This story will feature scenes of violence, brief intense intimate moments, and inappropriate language. To the readers, I wish you a good read and ask that you engage with the fanfiction if you like it. Do not interact with this fanfiction if you are underage. Enjoy reading.

PREVIEW TWO

ONE

You are exhausted. What should have been the perfect end of the day turned into a real action movie right in front of you. And the worst part is, you still don't know the name of your handsome client. But that doesn't even matter. He'll probably be arrested anyway. And the question that most disturbs your mind is, "Are you being his accomplice?" But something else scares you more: how will he react when he finds out you hit his head on the ground twice? It's not your fault; you're not used to dragging anyone across the floor of your bakery.

"Are you planning to make a hole in the floor?" Barnes or whoever he is asks with a certain sarcasm. You didn't even notice you were pacing in circles in the back of the bakery. Barnes is lying on the floor, his forehead bleeding, and looking at you as if he's trying to figure out your bank password.

"Do you have a plan for us to escape from here? Will we need new identities? What will we be to each other? I was thinking about it, and maybe we could be dating. Fiancés would be weird since I don't know your first name, but definitely dating works. Or maybe you could be my husband who just lost his memory. Personally, I'm fine with a new identity as long as I can have a bakery and good company," you say nervously but trying to be confident while finishing biting your nails, which honestly are so bitten that your fingers are hurting. The handsome blue-eyed man quickly gets up from the floor and holds your hand, stopping you from biting another nail. His eyes are staring into your soul in the most penetrating way possible. It's almost hard to breathe.

"My name is James, in case you're interested to know. You don't need to be nervous, we won't have to run away. Now can you explain so that I understand how I ended up in the back of your bakery and why I feel like someone hammered my head?" Hearing your handsome client's name might have given you chills, but right now you're trying to find a way to say that you let him fall from your arms and dragged him by his feet into your establishment.

"I personally believe that our biggest problem is that you stabbed a guy. But if you want to talk about the damage to your head, I admit it. I admit that I wasn't prepared to to hold you. If it happens again, I promise to be more careful." You speak softly, like someone who wants to comfort the other person. Barnes looks at you like he's judging you.

"Does that mean you didn't bring the body of the guy in question into your bakery and he's outside?" Barnes concluded incorrectly but he seems to be disappointed in you. You wonder if at some point in your brief history together one day it seemed strong enough to carry two men. Of course he doesn't have to know personal things about you but I think he put a lot of faith in you.

"So, thanks for the vote of confidence. Obviously, after helping you—which you haven't thanked me for yet—I went to check on the other guy. And here's the bad news: he escaped. Or rather, he disappeared. And any sign of your fight: the knife, the gun, the blood; everything evaporated. But not all news is bad; there was a blackout on the street. Which, thinking about it, might have been caused so they could attack you without being recorded. Whoever you pissed off is smart." You say, trying to be positive, but Barnes seems to be feeling guilty about something.

"I need to go somewhere now. I appreciate the help and the headache. But listen to me carefully," he says as he approaches you and lightly touches your face, which is honestly quite distracting, "don't tell anyone about this; if anyone comes here asking about it, make up something but don't tell the truth. Don't worry, I'll be back soon, so try not to panic." Barnes speaks with incredible self-confidence. But inside, you're afraid he won't return, which you make somewhat obvious when you hold Barnes' hand just before he leaves.

"Try to be careful. I need my number one customer intact to try my new bread recipes," you say, trying not to sound too clingy while still concerned for his safety and indirectly for your own. After all, nothing is stopping them from trying to eliminate you. And Barnes said you would be safe with him. He chuckles lightly and then leaves. You get lost for a bit but after packing some things at the bakery, you go home.

After a warm bath and sleeping in your cozy bed, you feel like a new person. At least that's what you try to convince yourself of while having breakfast at six in the morning, getting ready to open the bakery. In reality, you barely slept, so you thought getting your hands busy would be the best solution. When you arrive at the bakery, you try to ignore the bullet hole in your wall as you put on your apron and prepare the dough to make some cookies. After all, what is more comforting than a nice batch of cookies? Of course, you also put the bread dough you prepared yesterday to bake, along with a cake you mix up after making the cookies.

"Good morning, would you be Miss Y/L/N?" A man in a black suit accompanied by a young boy also wearing a black suit approaches the counter, and you naturally smile, trying to be friendly. But the truth is, now you're suspicious of everything and everyone.

"Yes, that's me. What would you gentlemen like to order? Today I made chocolate chip cookies, and modesty aside, they're delicious." You say, trying to convince yourself that the two in front of you are just customers and pose no threat. The younger guy even seems to be a real customer, paying attention to your menu on the counter and getting excited about the possibility of eating chocolate chip cookies. But the other guy is terrible at disguising his intentions. He's analyzing every detail of your bakery. Fortunately, you found a picture your best friend gave you at the bakery's opening, which brilliantly hides the bullet hole in your wall.

"Sorry, I'm Agent Stark, and this is Agent Parker. We're actually here on business. There was a report of noises resembling a physical fight and gunshots. My partner and I are asking some questions to see if anyone saw or heard anything suspicious. It would be extremely helpful if you could assist us." Stark says while still seemingly looking for any signs of wrongdoing in your bakery.

"Unfortunately, I can't help you. But I can offer you both a hot cup of coffee and a cookie on the house." You smile fakely like you're not afraid of being discovered. You quickly get them two cups of coffee and two cookies. Agent Parker ended up getting two cookies, while Agent Stark only got a cup of coffee.

"We thank you, Miss. If you see anything strange or suspicious you can get in touch with us." Agent Parker speaks as if he was trying to convince you. Agent Stark looks at him sideways and then takes a sip of coffee. After Agent Stark lightly elbows Parker as if he forgot something and then Parker hands you a card with a phone number.

"I'll get in touch if I see anything strange, but I have to get back to work. I hope you have a good day." You say politely while trying to get rid of them. The two quickly head towards the exit of your bakery, bidding you farewell. You go back into the bakery after seeing the two agents leave. Your bread is already done, and as you take the bread pan out of the oven, you hear a noise at the back exit of the bakery. You place the hot pan on the table near the oven and then grab the rolling pin, heading threateningly towards the noise. But before you can attack any potential threat to your life, you find yourself face to face with Barnes.

"You always have a very peculiar way of welcoming me. But I'm glad you didn't betray me." Barnes says, holding the rolling pin you were holding firmly and moving closer to you. For a moment, you thought you might kiss him right then and there, but you're interrupted by a red-haired woman who enters behind Barnes.

[clarisse0o]

Camp Wiegman-Part 18

Lucy Bronze x Ona Batlle

Alternative Universe : Military School

Words : 5k

Masterlist

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Sunday, November 15; 1:00 PM - Park.

This morning, I woke up in the arms of Joan, who was still fast asleep. My head hurt so much that I was glad I hadn't been woken up by his cries. I quickly realized I had a hangover. I had to text Mapi to understand how I ended up in my bed without her. Usually, we go home together. She replied an hour later, telling me about my exploits from the previous night with Bronze. I felt guilty immediately. She's going to give me hell when I return to Manchester. I'm already mentally preparing myself, knowing she won't go easy on me. To change my mind, I suggested going to the park with Joan before I left. He jumped for joy. I told my mom, who didn’t even react. We're even more at odds than before. This atmosphere made me eat and leave for the park right after. Here I am, sitting on a bench watching Joan play with kids hIS age in the playground. I'm happy to give him one last good moment. He often looks at me to wave, and I happily wave back. I jump when I feel two hands rather roughly placed on my shoulders.

- BOO!

- Oh damn, Maria !

She bursts out laughing as she sits down next to me. I immediately relax, letting out a sigh of relief.

- You're crazy!

- I can't help it if you still get scared so easily, she giggles. I love scaring you every time!

I roll my eyes in amusement. And they call me a child. Bronze would change her mind if she knew Mapi.

- How are you feeling since yesterday? she asks seriously. Is your headache gone?

- Yeah, after three pills and a good cold shower, I say, making her laugh.

She may be my best friend, but she's the first to make fun of me. She's the type who would laugh before asking if I'm okay if I fell. She calms down, and I smile when she waves to Joan in the distance.

- Your flight is at three, right?

- Yeah, I sighed.

- Joan's going to miss you, you know.

- I know... He asked me if she could fit in my suitcase this morning. I laughed a lot.

- I bet, she chuckles. He could probably fit, too, I'm sure.

- Probably, yes.

I smile, watching my brother. I'm going to miss him so much if he only knew. If I could, I’d take him with me. I sincerely hope he'll stop misbehaving while I'm gone.

- Excited to go back?

- Not really, given what's waiting for me...

- That bad? she laughs.

- Bronze is really mad at me. She texted me this morning, telling me not to message her all day and that we'll talk face-to-face tonight.

- Ouch. She seemed nice when I talked to her yesterday.

She's not laughing this time. She must have understood that I'm not at my best. Bronze trusted me, and now I've let her down again. I always mess up. What was I thinking, calling her in the middle of a party? Even drunk, I should have known better.

- You like your supervisor a lot, huh?

- What makes you say that? I asked, intrigued.

- It's obvious. You're practically biting your nails with guilt, she smiles in amusement. You're singing a different tune than your first days when you called me crying, saying you hated her.

- Well, I was being rebellious in the beginning, I chuckled. We’ve moved past that. I realized she just wanted to help me.

- Yeah, but I don't know, I feel there's something more. Isn't there?

- You're probably right... Things have been different between us since my detox... I admitted.

- Different how?

- I don't know, I sighed, leaning back against the bench. It's just... different. She was nice, even though she didn't pity me.

- What aren’t you telling me? she raises an eyebrow.

She noticed I'm hesitating to continue. I look at her for a moment, biting my lip.

- I-I don't know... I had a low point after my detox, I finally confided. She was there, having spent a week taking care of me... I don't know what came over me, but I just broke down. I needed to tell her how I felt about everything that happened.

- And did you?

I nodded timidly. I feel guilty knowing it took me three months to confide in Mapi. It took me barely half that time to do it with Bronze, whom I barely know. In the end, I don't really know her. I don't know anything about her or her life. I still wonder why I feel the need to confide in her.

- Hey, I don't blame you if that's what's worrying you, she said, placing her hand on my knee. Maybe she's the one you need. Well, she corrected herself seeing my expression. I mean, if you feel comfortable with her, go for it. She only wants what's best for you; it's obvious. Just look at how she reacted last night and the blackmail she makes with you.

- They're deals, I corrected her. Deals that I agree to after negotiation... I know they're for my own good and effective. The thing is, she’s never judged me, never pitied me. Even when I was weak... She always treated me as if I were the same, and I feel heard.

- Can I ask you a question?

- Of course.

- Do you have a relationship with her?

- What? I exclaimed. Of course not! What makes you think that?

- Maybe the fact that you called her "baby" last night.

- I did what? I screamed.

Oh my God. I'm in even deeper trouble than I thought. Mapi can't help but burst out laughing at my distraught face. I start to wonder if she's playing a cruel joke on me. That idea quickly fades when she speaks again.

- OK, I guess you're not lying given your reaction. You're not dating her then, you promise? I wouldn't mind, you know!

- No! Are you crazy?! Never in a million years! I'd never even think of it! She'd probably punish me just for thinking that! Oh damn... I say, sinking into the bench. She's going to kill me...

- Why? It's not that dramatic. But if she does, I'd like to see it! It's not every day you see Ona Batlle being put in her place!

- Believe me, she's the first to manage it, I sighed. I'm in big trouble. I should never have gone to that party, I groaned, running my hand over my face. I told you it was a bad idea!

- Hey, don't blame me! It was just a party where you had fun, that's all. You didn’t mess up. I didn’t even have to refuse drugs; you did it yourself! Plus, you got at least three numbers.

- Hmm... It was a good party, but it's not worth it. You don't know my supervisor!

- Relax! I'm sure you'll handle the situation. She doesn't seem that bad. She was worried about you. Besides, she wasn't here to keep an eye on you. Maybe it made her anxious?

- That's exactly why she's going to yell at me! I promised her I wouldn’t do anything wrong.

- You didn't do anything wrong, she rolled her eyes. Well, how about we change the subject, huh? I can see this is killing you, she chuckled.

She's probably right. She doesn't give me a choice and starts talking about stories from last night and her girlfriend. As for me, I talk a lot about my new friends and the camp. Joan interrupts us, reminding me of the time. Saying goodbye to Mapi is painful. I miss her more than she lets on. It's going to be hard to hold on until the next holiday. I especially feel that Bronze will make it harder for me to go out. I'm already depressed just thinking about it. I have only myself to blame. I ponder all this on the way back. I barely have time to stop by the house before heading to the airport. Joan insisted on coming with me. I didn’t see any reason to refuse since Hector would be there. I know he'll take good care of him. When we're there, he enjoys helping me check in my bags. It's only when we head to the boarding gate that he starts to realize what's happening. Especially when the intercom announces the imminent departure of my flight.

- I don't want you to leave, he cries, tears streaming down his face. It was way too short.

- I'll be back soon, don’t worry.

- Next weekend?

- We'll see... I can't promise anything, I grimaced. Oh, I almost forgot.

He looks at me intently while I rummage through my backpack. I pull out a big brown teddy bear. His eyes light up. When I saw it in a shop window in Manchester, I immediately thought of him. I had to get it for him. I silently thank Bronze for making me go out last week. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to bring him anything.

- Is this for me?

- Of course, I handed it to him. So you can sleep with it and think of me every time you see it. It will remind you that I’m thinking of you and that I'm never far away.

- Thank youuu!

I barely have time to crouch to her level before his little arms wrap tightly around me. I smile, feeling the teddy bear between us. He clings tightly to it when we part.

- It smells like you!

- That's normal. It’s been in my stuff for a week, I chuckled.

The intercom brings me back to reality. I sigh in annoyance. The silver lining is that Joan's tears have stopped, replaced by a big smile.

- I'll be waiting patiently for you.

- You better! No more mischief, you promised me.

We pinky swear, and I kiss his forehead. I ruffle his hair while saying goodbye to Hector. I walk towards the flight attendants to hand them my ticket. I’m one of the last to board, so there isn't much of a line. I barely have time to settle in before the plane takes off a few minutes later. I put my headphones on and close my eyes, thinking about everything that happened this weekend. I’m dreading this return. I really don't feel good about it. I reach the point where I can hardly fall asleep.

Sunday, November 15; 6:10 PM - Manchester Airport.

The plane just landed. The flight attendant had to wake me up when it was time to fasten my seatbelt. I managed to sleep a little, thanks to my calming music. She joked that she might become my personal flight attendant if I keep flying like this. I get the feeling she likes me, and it's mutual. After all, we’re both young. She’s also very beautiful, exactly my type. Her blue eyes stand out perfectly with her dark hair. I smile at her and say we’ll see each other next time, which seems to please her. I grab my bag from under my seat and exit the plane. I take the initiative to turn off and put away my headphones. Bronze is picking me up, and I know she doesn't like seeing me with those things on my head. I hope she hasn't changed her mind. The last thing I need is for her to send a taxi because of what I did. If not, I'll have to face her right away, but at least it will be over. I'm relieved when I see her in the arrivals hall. It's the second time I’ve seen her in regular clothes. She’s wearing jeans, a sweater, and a jacket over it. I cringe when I see her arms crossed. It looks like she's not hiding her anger this time. I take a deep breath before walking over. I hold back a smile because I’m still happy to see her again.

- Hi, Bronze... I say timidly.

She only gives me a nod in response. I think I'm getting off easy. She could have completely ignored me. We collect my suitcase without saying a word. I don't dare force a conversation, so I wait patiently for her to speak. Maybe I would have preferred a taxi after all. We reach her car, and she opens the trunk for me. I put my suitcase in, and then we sit in the front. I said I would wait for her to start, but this silence is unbearable. I'd rather she let out her anger than ignore me.

- Bronze... I'm sorry for what I did.

- You're such a damn fool! she snaps.

I lower my head, staying silent. At least it’s clear. She's mad. Without warning, she suddenly swerves to the side of the road. Luckily, my seatbelt holds me back, or I would have gone through the windshield. She stops the car and turns sharply towards me.

- You're such an idiot, Ona, she yells without giving me a chance to respond. You just came out of detox, and here you are starting again! Was the first time not enough for you?! What will it take for you to understand how serious this is?!

- I'm fine! I shout back. Why are you overreacting so much?! You're not my mom, my girlfriend, or even just a friend as far as I know! Even my mom doesn't care where I spent my evening, so why do you care so much?!

- Do you even think? she scolds, raising her voice even more. You called me at three in the morning from Barcelona, completely wasted. Damn it, Ona! Can’t you imagine how worried I was for a single second?! You called me in a terrible state while I was stuck across the country, unable to do anything! I asked you one thing. Just one thing! Not to go to places like that, and you did it!

- No, I retort. You asked me not to touch illegal substances, which I didn't! Even while drunk, I refused everything!

- And you feel proud of that?! Just for what you told me, I should ban you from leaving the camp for a month! I was so wrong about you, she finishes, lowering her voice. I thought you were more responsible and mature, but I guess not.

I close my eyes to absorb those last words that sting. I've been called immature twice in two days. I jump when she vents her anger by hitting the steering wheel violently. I didn't think it would affect her so much. She's right. I'm just a reckless kid. I never should have worried her like that. Nothing would have happened if I hadn't had her number.

- I'm really sorry, Bronze... You're right, it was immature of me. Mapi convinced me to go to meet her girlfriend... I just had a few drinks, I promise. I never intended to worry you. I shouldn't have called you while partying. I found out this morning what I did from Mapi and immediately regretted it. I didn't want to disappoint you. Not you.

I don't dare look at her. I needed to get that off my chest. I nervously play with my fingers, waiting for her response. I'm afraid she'll hold this against me for a long time. I’d hate myself if I lose her trust. She sighs heavily, running a hand through her hair.

- Yes, you were immature, she agrees. I never thought you’d do something like this after the last time ended so badly. However, I also need to apologize. I shouldn't have overreacted like that. You're right; we're not that close, but I'm still your supervisor, and that doesn’t stop me from worrying about you.

- No, you don't have to apologize. It's my fault, and it’s your job to correct me... I appreciate you worrying about me like this. You're not mad at me anymore? I bite my lip.

- Oh, I'm still mad. If it were up to me, I'd keep you grounded all Monday to teach you a lesson. You're lucky I don’t have a valid reason to report to the administration.

I suppress a smile. I wasn't entirely wrong when I told Mapi I’d probably have to do extra laps. I finally dare to look at her for the first time since we got in the car. She's looking at me too. I’m sure she hasn't taken her eyes off me since the beginning.

- What can I do to make it up to you?

- What can you do? she repeats, raising an eyebrow. Stay away from parties for a start. As for the rest, we'll see, I'm thinking.

- You can't be serious? You're not really going to stop me from going out, are you?! I've never been grounded in my life!

- Well, there's a first time for everything.

- I'm twenty, Bronze! Parties are what people my age do! What do you think your other students do on weekends, huh?

- You're not like the other students, Ona. You’re my student, under my responsibility. Besides, you just came out of detox, and I'm sure you were around drugs all night.

Take that. I bite my lip to stop myself from confirming her suspicion. I deserve this. I think I’m getting off easy. I'm sure she was a hair’s breadth away from restricting my outings. The only thing holding her back is our deal.

- Am I wrong?

- Excuse me?

- Am I wrong? she repeats sternly.

- No, I whisper. But I didn't touch anything, I promise.

- I wonder how you managed to hold out in just two weeks. I want you to promise me something.

- Promise what?

- No more parties... Please.

- Fine, no more parties, I roll my eyes. You explain that to my best friend.

- No problem, I’ll tell her myself if I have to.

I raise an eyebrow. She really will do anything to get her way. Now I'm banned from partying. Even when she's thousands of miles away, she'll have an influence on me. Just thinking about it frustrates me, but I know she's doing it for my sake.

- Are you hungry?

- Are you asking me if I'm hungry?

- Let's go eat.

She doesn't have to ask me twice! She changes direction once we’re back on the road. She doesn't ask my opinion on where to go, but I trust her. In the end, I’m not doing too badly after this confrontation. She could have forbidden me from leaving Manchester if she wanted. The meal goes smoothly. We talk about our weekends without going into details. She just confirmed that she saw her ex to return her things and spent both evenings with friends. She asked me to detail mine, so I told her about my afternoons with Joan and my night out. I avoided talking about my mother, not wanting to go into details. Our little evening ends around nine o'clock. She dropped me off at the street corner near the camp so I could walk back alone, to avoid being seen arriving together. I wished her good night then.

I hurry back to the school, feeling the cold. I forgot how much warmer it was in Barcelona. I'm relieved when I reach the dormitory. The place is far from warm, yet I feel more at home here than in my own house. I must be abnormal. I take my time climbing the stairs now that I'm warm. I struggle a bit to carry my suitcase. It's always a hassle to get it up the stairs. I stop at the entrance of my room, thinking about what's about to happen, and it doesn't take long. As soon as I step inside, Alexia literally jumps on me. I lose my balance, unintentionally taking both of us down, narrowly avoiding my suitcase.

- You're crazy, I laugh.

- I missed you so much! I thought you’d never come back.

I giggle when she helps me get up. She helps me bring my things into the room. She is already in her pajamas. Then again, I didn't come back early tonight. I ask her how she is while I start putting my things away in the closet. If I don’t do it now, I never will, knowing myself.

“Did you have a good weekend?” she asks me.

“Great! Joan didn't want to let me go at the airport; it was almost painful... And you?”

“Yeah, awesome! I finally got to see my girlfriend”

I stop dead in my tracks. Girlfriend ? She’s never mentioned a girlfriend. I furrow my brows and slowly turn to face her. She bites her lip to stifle a smile.

“Your what? Since when do you have a girlfriend?”

“Uh... yeah, girlfriend.”

“Wait, wait... You talk to me all day long and you've never mentioned this?!”

“Sorry,” she chuckles, “but it’s a bit complicated...”

“Complicated?”

I furrow my brows again. She seems very nervous, but I don't see why she would be. It’s normal to have a girlfriend, right?

“I think you have the right to know now... First, I want to apologize for not telling you sooner, but I couldn’t... not until I knew if I could trust you.”

“Why? It’s not a state secret as far as I know.”

“Yes, it’s true. Sorry, but you'll understand if you let me talk.”

Just when I thought I was going to have a quiet evening after Bronze, I was wrong. I sigh as I put the sweater I had in my hands away. Since it seems to be an important subject, I prefer to sit comfortably on my bed to talk.

“Alright, go ahead. I’m all ears.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be? You have the right to keep things from me. You don't have to tell me now if you don’t want to.”

“No, I want to. I trust you.”

I smile. It's a pleasure when someone tells you that. After all, we’ve known each other for a month and a half, and I've never betrayed any of her secrets so far.

“Go ahead then. I'm listening.”

“Well... First, it’s been two years since Alba and I have been here,” she begins, to which I nod. “I’m dating someone from the school... or rather someone who used to be here, but probably not in the way you think.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember the story you heard about an instructor and a student? The one you mentioned one night with Leah after your punishments?”

She already has my attention. I nod to show I remember.

“Both were expelled, right?”

“Not exactly...”

“What do you mean? Wait, don't tell me it was you?!”

Her silence says it all. I'm stunned. Alexia broke such a serious rule? What’s going on! This is impossible. She’s such a model student... Yet the fact that she bites her lip in front of me makes it clear that it might be true.

“Okay, assuming it was you... why are you still here then?”

“It’s quite simple,” she sighs. “They knew who the instructor was... but not the student. They just knew it was someone from this room, since... since she came here a lot during our breaks.”

“I don't even want to know what you did here.”

I grimace in disgust, making her laugh. Now I’m imagining her with a complete stranger whose face I don’t even know. I’m still waiting for more explanations.

“I had another roommate before you, Luna. A reckless one like you. She absolutely wanted to leave to live her life with her boyfriend, unlike me who had my sister and best friends here... So Luna got blamed instead to be able to leave. My girlfriend, on the other hand, couldn’t escape being expelled.”

“Wow... I didn’t expect that!”

“You’re not upset?”

“Why would I be upset? You do what you want,” I say with a smile. “Are you still with her then?”

“Well, I don't know. You never know, and yes, of course, we’re still together!”

“Didn’t Alba take it badly, the whole thing?”

“She doesn’t know... If she did, I’d be in big trouble,” she giggles.

I've noticed that Alba is very overprotective of her. I don’t even know how she puts up with it. I would have set her straight by now if I were in her place. I think she loves her too much to do that. She’s her sister, and she’s always taken care of her, after all.

“But how did you manage to see her if Alba doesn’t know?”

“I pretended to visit a friend to come back here.”

“I see. Well, tell me everything now while I finish putting my things away. What's her name?”

She smiles broadly. Her stress has subsided. She probably didn’t expect me to be this interested. I really like Alexia. I told her I was her friend, and now is the time to show it. I get up and continue to unpack my suitcase while she starts her monologue. I learn a few things, like her name. Her name is Jennifer. She’s tall, muscular, and tattooed. According to her, she’s the perfect girl. I almost want to call her Aphrodite given the way she describes and compliments her. I thought she was exaggerating until she showed me a photo of them. I realize she’s really handsome for her type, and the nickname I was thinking of giving her fits perfectly. She tells me about their beginnings, explaining that she was the one who made the first move by trying to get her attention in any way she could. She even flirted with her. She resisted for a long time before giving in to temptation. When she finishes, and so do I, I rush to take a shower quickly before curfew. Luckily for me, I manage to turn off the light a few minutes before ten.

“Thanks for not judging me, Ona.”

“I will never judge you Ale. Goodnight, Alexia.”

I turn over in bed to face away from her. I try to fall asleep, but my mind is too occupied with what she just told me. Luckily for me, fatigue gets the better of me.

[helloalycia]

𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐃𝐌𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐑 [𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄] // 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐘 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐃

summary: with everything left in limbo between you and Lucy Gray, there's no chance to talk about it because reaping day is finally upon you.

warning/s: usual warnings that come with the Hunger Games, such as death and violence and all that jazz. Also cheating, again.

author's note: and this is the final part! it was a fun one to write so i hope you all enjoyed it! kinda have an idea for another lucy gray one but whether it’s fully thought out is another thing, so stay tuned! 😂

one / two / masterlist / wattpad

As if things weren't bad enough lately, the Hunger Games reaping day was finally upon us. Every year I tried so hard to forget it existed, knowing the results would be inevitable and I should just make the most of my life without worrying about it, and every year I found myself growing scared the few days leading up to it, mainly because it meant it was one year closer to Y/S/N being old enough to have her name in the mix.

My parents, Y/S/N and I were approaching the square where the reaping took place, neither of us saying a word, but I could see their fear in their eyes. Y/S/N was holding my hand, trembling slightly, and I hated that there was nothing I could do to put her at ease.

My eyes raked over the residents of District 12, all getting in line as the peacekeepers kept guard, and then Y/S/N tugged at my hand, making me look down at her with concern. She nodded to the left of me, where the Covey were getting ready to line up. Barb Azure was the eldest at nineteen, so gave them all a big squeeze with Maude Ivory before leaving them to go. I caught her gaze and she gave me a sad smile, nodding reassuringly, and I did the same. Maude Ivory seemed to spot Y/S/N and lifted her hand in a slow wave. I noticed the only person who was missing from their group was Lucy Gray. Where was she?

"Why don't you go stand with Maude Ivory?" I encouraged Y/S/N with my best attempt at a smile. "Her and Barb Azure are probably lonely."

Y/S/N glanced at our parents, who seemed to understand what I was doing and nodded with approval.

"Good luck, Y/N," Y/S/N mumbled as she hugged me tightly once more, and I almost didn't let go.

After she ran to join the others, I gave both my parents a final hug, pretending I couldn't notice the tears in their eyes, and watched as they joined the rest of the crowd at the back, made up of those either too young or too old to take part.

As I turned to find my place in line, Lucy Gray suddenly appeared, startling me. I hadn't seen her since a few days ago when she kissed me, and it had ended so awkwardly that I still wasn't sure what to think. But right now, it was the last thing on my mind.

"Just wanted to see you before it starts," she said kindly, and my heart warmed at her words.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her, noticing the frown on her lips, and it looked like something more than just everyone's usual fear of the Games.

She sighed, looking down at her fumbling hands, before avoiding the question and instead saying, "I'm sorry about the other day, Y/N. I really am."

I lifted my brows slightly, not expecting her to bring it up, especially not now.

"Thanks for everything," she continued, a tight smile on her lips. "For being there for me."

"What?" I asked, because she wasn't making any sense. "Lucy Gray, I–"

She hugged me suddenly, arms wrapping around my shoulders briefly, but long enough for me to smell the spritz of an old floral perfume on her neck and make my head go cloudy. Leaning back, she kissed my cheek before I could react, and gave me a knowing look as my skin warmed where her lips just were.

"Remember to stay away from Billy Taupe and Mayfair," she reminded me sternly. "You promised, remember?"

I furrowed my brows, searching her eyes for some sort of explanation to why she was acting so strangely. "Lucy Gray–"

"In line, both of you, now," a peacekeeper interrupted, pushing between us and shoving me slightly to the others.

I tried to look at Lucy Gray once more, but she offered me a slight smile before joining her line. I told myself I'd have to talk to her afterwards, but then as the reaping took place, I realised why she'd been so confusing.

She was to represent District Twelve in the Hunger Games.

I could hardly believe it, not when the mayor called her name out on the stage, not when she threw a snake down Mayfair's dress, not when she sang her song of defiance, and not when they whisked her away, never to be seen again.

She knew she was going to be chosen. I wasn't sure how, but she'd figured it out, already prepared to go out with a bang, in typical Lucy Gray fashion.

It wasn't fair. All because Mayfair held a pathetic grudge, she'd made sure Lucy Gray paid the price – it had to be that, otherwise what was the need for the snake? And now I was never going to see her again. After everything, I couldn't talk to her, hear her voice, see her pretty little smile, ever again.

Why?

I was hurting, still in disbelief but knowing the Covey were even worse for wear, definitely unable to accept that their sister was truly gone. Unfortunately, I had to work that evening, but the Covey weren't performing tonight. There was nothing to celebrate, and even the Hob itself was emptier than usual, nobody quite in the mood to remember the stolen life of another.

Instead, the Covey were sat at a table in the corner, saying nothing and looking distraught. I wasn't sure what to do to make them feel better because how could they? All I knew how to do was be a waitress, so Miles let me bring them some fruity, non-alcoholic drinks on the house, a rarity and a treat, but one they definitely needed right now.

"Hey, guys," I said, tray in hand as I approached their table. Setting it down, I began to share out the drinks one by one.

"We can't afford that," Barb Azure mumbled, and neither of them touched it.

"It's my treat," I said sympathetically. "Thought it might make you feel a bit better."

"How are we supposed to feel better when she's gone?!" Maude Ivory snapped in a broken voice, before jumping off her seat and walking away.

I swallowed hard, suddenly feeling stupid as I looked to the others. "Sorry, I– she's right. I didn't mean it like–"

"Don't, it's okay," Tam Amber cut me off with an apologetic glance. "We're just missin' her. It's hit Maude Ivory hard."

I pressed my lips together, nodding sadly.

"Thanks, Y/N, we appreciate it," Barb Azure added, offering a small smile, before taking a sip.

"If you need anything, just let me know," I told them earnestly. "I'll be here for you."

They nodded, and I reluctantly left them to it, knowing they probably wanted some space.

There had never been a winner from District 12, and I hated that that's all I kept thinking as I thought about Lucy Gray in the Games. She could still win, there was a chance she could, but she was a performer, not a fighter. Her chances were slim. There, but slim.

We couldn't watch the Games, the Covey and I – nobody in District 12 could. The reception was simply terrible, no matter how hard we tried to tune in. There was one evening however, when Y/S/N and I were at the Covey's home. We'd been visiting them often the past few days, both to cheer Y/S/N up and to simply be there for them, but this night was different. Tam Amber had been able to get some signal on their small TV, using a lot of tinfoil and taking advantage of the clear night.

"It's on! It's on!" Maude Ivory shouted, pointing at the screen. "Don't move!"

Tam Amber held his position on the antenna, tilting his head to get a good look at the screen. Clerk Carmine turned up the volume and I wasn't sure what we were watching at first, unfamiliar with the Hunger Games as we rarely had access to it. And then I noticed the expensive clothing, the bright lights, the witty presenter – it was in the Capitol. Some sort of interviews were taking place between the tributes. A girl from District 11 was finishing up her interview and we all watched with slight amazement, rarely seeing anything like it.

A spotlight shone onstage and the audience fell quiet. It was quiet, before the familiar sound of a guitar strumming sounded, and to everyone's disbelief, Lucy Gray walked out into the centre of the stage.

"Lucy Gray!" everyone said with realisation.

It was her! It was really her! Only a few days had passed since she'd been stolen away, but it felt like forever without her energetic presence alongside us. My heart was beating exceptionally fast as I studied her. She was wearing the same dress she wore on reaping day, but it looked as if it had been cleaned, ironed and made brighter – a white dress with vibrant rainbow ruffles at the bottom, only the brightest for someone who loved colour. Her lips were painted red, eyes dusted blue, and she looked as well as could be, though a little slimmer. I wondered if they were feeding her, concerned it could hinder her in the Games.

Her voice started soft, gradually growing strong as she sung about herself and a mystery lover, whom everyone soon realised was Billy Taupe. And as she finished her hauntingly beautiful song – "Too bad I'm the bet that you lost in the reaping. Now what will you do when I go to my grave?" – we realised she'd only confirmed our suspicions of it being because of him and Mayfair that Lucy Gray was chosen as a tribute.

"It's their fault," Clerk Carmine said what everyone was thinking, upset as it dawned on him what kind of brother he had. "He let this happen."

Y/S/N wrapped an arm around his shoulder comfortingly as we all watched the screen, the cutaways to the audience cheering after her performance. And then as we were all savouring the sight of Lucy Gray for a little longer, the signal cut out.

"Sorry," Tam Amber said with a sigh, stopping his stretching and sighing. "It's not gonna work."

"It's fine, thank you," Barb Azure told him.

Nobody spoke for a moment, the sound of the static the only thing to fill the room. If it was interviews today, then the Hunger Games would officially begin tomorrow.

She'd be fighting for her life tomorrow, and there was nothing we could do about it.

The Games ended yesterday, that's what rumours around town were saying, but nobody knew for sure since nobody could watch them, and so nobody knew who'd won either. I was trying not to think about it, unsure whether to believe it they'd truly ended or not. For all I knew, they could have still been going on, or they could have ended days ago. Either way, the last thing I wanted to imagine was Lucy Gray battered or bloodied or bruised.

Instead, I tried to distract myself with the job at hand – working. In particular, throwing some old beer crates out back in the bins as Miles had asked me to. I was on the third one, carrying it from the backdoor of the Hob and to the bins next to it when I felt someone's presence behind me. Curious, I turned around and my jaw dropped, the crate almost slipping from my grasp.

It was Lucy Gray.

"Hey, darlin', what's with the long face?" she asked, tilting her head and smiling playfully.

I blinked, certain I was imagining this – it wouldn't have been the first time she'd infiltrated my dreams. But when she didn't disappear, I found my voice.

"You're back," I said hesitantly, afraid I'd be mistaken. "You're here. You're– how? How are you here?"

"Why, I won the Hunger Games, of course," she said like it was nothing, an easy accomplishment, which we both knew it wasn't. "Turns out I wasn't finished here after all."

Her statement was so insane that I couldn't help but let out a quiet snicker, tears filling my eyes when I accepted that she was finally home. She'd done the impossible – she'd won.

Setting down the crate, I swallowed the lump in my throat before approaching her suddenly, pulling her in for a hug. She was here, she was real, she was home.

Her arms wrapped around me, squeezing me tightly, head tucking into my shoulder and curly brown hair blinding me. Every part of me was ignited by her touch, unable to believe she was actually here.

I wanted to say so much to her, and yet nothing came to mind because I was too overwhelmed with her presence, my senses invaded by her scent, her warmth, her touch. Just when I tried to pull back to truly look at her, she pulled me closer, tighter, and I couldn't do anything other than let her embrace me a little longer.

After a moment, I pulled back, eyes scanning her worriedly. She looked a little tired, circles under her eyes covered by makeup, and her hands were tougher than usual – I felt them through my shirt – no doubt a result of what she'd endured in the arena. But she was alive, and that was all I could have asked for.

"When?" I asked, voice embarrassingly thick with emotion. "When did you get back?"

"Midday," she answered, brown eyes bright as they flickered between mine with focus. "I went straight home after they sent me here on a train. Reunited with the family. Counted my lucky stars."

I smiled a little, still in disbelief, and hung onto her every word.

"Then I wanted to come 'n' see you," she continued lightheartedly, though there was some truth to it. "See if you'd forgotten about me."

I began to laugh, wiping away my stray tears. "I could never, Lucy Gray. Nobody could."

She smiled appreciatively, before looking down at her hands, long eyelashes casting a shadow across her face as she blinked. I could have watched her for a while, merely existing, glad that she was back, but she needed more than just another admirer right now.

"I won't ask you what it was like over there," I said gently, making her look up again. "I can imagine you don't wanna talk about it. But if you do, well... I'm here."

She exhaled through her nose, smile widening. "You haven't changed a bit, have you?"

I didn't know what to say, suddenly embarassed under her stare, and she chuckled at my reaction.

Clearing my throat, I changed the subject and pointed over my shoulder to the Hob. "Are you staying tonight?"

Her eyes flickered over to it, lighting up excitedly. "I might perform a few songs, why not?"

At this, I suppressed the urge to smile and admitted, "That would be nice. I missed hearing your voice. I– I missed you."

Her eyes fell back to mine, smile faltering a moment. "Even after how we left things?"

Our last encounter before the reaping came to mind, and I nodded honestly. "Especially after that."

She hummed, smile fading completely, and I wondered if she was thinking about it too.

"I've been so worried," I admitted, my heart beating a little quicker in my chest with each word I spoke. "We all have. But the TVs didn't work and the peacekeepers wouldn't tell us anything."

"I didn't mean to worry you," she said sweetly, taking my hand and squeezing it. "The Covey said you and Y/S/N checked in with them whilst I was gone. You didn't have to do that."

"Of course I did," I said, placing my other hand on hers and taking it between mine.

She glanced at her hand, making me realise I was still holding it, and I let go gently.

"I should go home and get ready," she said with a nod. "But I'll see you in a few hours, Y/N."

"Can't wait." 

Her smile widened and she turned to leave, my eyes unable to look away from her retreating figure for fear she'd only be a dream.

As promised though, she returned to the Hob a few hours later, and by then, word had spread fast about her victory and return. The Hob was bustling with people, all unable to believe Lucy Gray was finally back. Even Mayfair and Billy Taupe were there, mainly in disbelief that she'd survived, but I tried not to focus on them since they didn't matter anymore. They couldn't do a thing anymore.

The Covey hadn't performed since Lucy Gray left, so everyone was in for a real treat when they kicked off with her introduction. Spirits were high, drinks were flowing and I couldn't have been happier than when I saw Lucy Gray back onstage, where she belonged.

We'd left things in a strange place, but it all seemed so futile now. My heart was full of adoration for the Covey girl, and maybe it was time I just started listening to it instead of overcomplicating everything. 

It was a long evening, and by the time I'd finally finished cleaning up with Miles, we both left and waved goodbye to one another, my feet hurting from standing on them for so long. Only, as I was about to start my walk back to the Seam, I spotted Lucy Gray waiting outside, startling me.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said between a laugh. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Hand to my chest as I regained composure, I said, "No, it's fine. It's... what are you still doing here? It's been half an hour."

When her and the Covey had finished performing for the evening, it had been too busy for me to spare a moment to say goodbye to them, so I'd just assumed Lucy Gray had gone home with them.

"I was waiting for you," she said simply, and I instantly felt bad.

"If I'd known, I would have hurried," I said, stepping towards her.

"It's okay, I didn't want you to rush," she assured me, before shrugging. "I missed you. It's been too long and I just wanted to walk you home."

My expression softened at her words, a warmth spreading in my chest. "You don't need to," I told her.

"I want to."

I pressed my lips together, exhaling quietly, before nodding and readjusting the strap of my bag on my shoulder. She flashed me a stunning smile before joining my side and leading the way.

"You did great tonight," I said to her, glancing over and trying to ignore the flutter in my chest at her profile. "Your songs, your spirit – everything."

Her smile grew. "Thank you, that means a lot. I guess I just really missed performin'. It's not the same as singin' for the Capitol."

"Tam Amber managed to get signal one night," I said without thinking. "The night of the interviews. We just about caught yours. Your song."

She sighed, her smile fading into more of a grimace as she remembered, and I felt bad for bringing it up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to remind you," I quickly said, frowning. "I– never mind that."

"It's not so easy bein' back after everything," she admitted, looking to me, before stopping walking all of a sudden, I stopped too, and then she continued, "but I've realised a lot of things."

I furrowed my brows slightly. "Like what?"

She clenched her jaw, before her dark eyes met mine with conviction. "I didn't kiss you because you were Billy Taupe's replacement."

Surprised she'd bought it up, I asked, "What?"

She didn't dare look away as she answered, "Back before the reaping. When I kissed you at the bonfire. It– it wasn't me confusin' my feelings or usin' you, and I'm sorry if I made you feel that way."

I wasn't sure what to say at first, unable to make sense of what she was admitting. Because if that was the case, then that meant she liked me, and how could that be?

"It's okay," I said slowly, heart rate beginning to speed up as she held my gaze. "It's history now."

"I don't want it to be," she said desperately. "I missed you so much, Y/S/N. I was there and– and all I was thinkin' about was the Covey, your sister and you. All of you, and how I had to get back to you all." She swallowed hard, stepping closer. "With you, I need to clear the air. Because after everything, I've learnt that life is too short and too tender to let things slip by. And I've fallen for you, Y/N. Deeply. And you just– you need to know that that's why I kissed you. Nothin' more, nothin' less."

Frozen in place, I hoped she couldn't hear my heart hammering in my chest, or feel the shivers on my skin from the warmth emanating from hers. She was stood so close, enough for me to make out the tears pooling in her eyes, and I didn't know what to do. This whole time, she liked me. I wasn't a fool for thinking so – Billy Taupe had been wrong. All this time, I'd had a chance and it was almost ruined because of my own stupidity and insecurities.

"What are you thinkin'?" she asked between a halfhearted chuckle, a tear slipping from her eyes. "You're stuck in your head again, darlin'."

"I'm sorry, I–"

"Don't be sorry," she said, taking a step back, and she'd misinterpreted where I was going with this.

"No, I mean, I–" I began, but the words were lost on my tongue, and the more she looked disappointed, the stupider I felt. "I didn't know, Lucy Gray. I didn't expect it. Billy Taupe, he–"

Another of her tears fell, and I groaned quietly to myself, shaking my head. Why would I have ever listened to him in the first place?

"I'm sorry," I repeated, meeting her gaze with the utmost sincerity and guilt. "I should have never listened to the likes of him."

It was her turn to be confused. "What do you mean?"

"I let him get in my head," I admitted, cheeks heating with embarrassment. "He convinced me that you were using me as a replacement for him. That you only liked me because–" I stopped myself, it sounding stupid when I said it aloud, especially to the girl in question. "It was stupid. You would never do such a thing, I should've never listened to him."

She frowned, trying to find my eyes, but I was too embarrassed to look at her. "That sounds like him. I'm sorry he did that."

"No, I'm sorry," I said, shaking my head and getting stuck in my own head again. "I ruined this, and then you left, and all I kept thinking about was how I let you go, and if you didn't come back then–" I paused, frowning to myself, before finally lifting my eyes to meet hers. "I've always liked you, Lucy Gray, but so does everyone else. And I didn't wanna be just another Lucy Gray admirer. But you saying this– meaning this– it's just– you're just– it– you can't–"

She began to smile, nodding. "I get it."

I stopped talking, flustered and embarrassed and unsure what else to say or do, because after so long, the girl I liked actually liked me back.

She stepped toward, hand lifting to my cheek and cupping it gently, and I practically held my breath as her glassy eyes met mine. Then, she looked down to my lips and leaned in, kissing me.

Unlike last time, I let myself enjoy it, closing my eyes and kissing her back. Her lips were soft, sweet like her lip balm, and fit perfectly against mine. This couldn't be real, she couldn't be real. After everything that happened, she was here and I was getting a second chance. How?

After a moment, we both pulled away for air, though she didn't let go of my face just yet, nor I with my hands on her waist. I opened my eyes, submerged in pools of brown, and forgot how to speak, lips tingling where hers just were.

"I've wanted to do that for so long," she said quietly, thumb tracing my lips gently, and sending shivers all over my body. "I thought I ruined it, the last time. Lost you for good."

I shook my head. "I don't think you ever could, Lucy Gray."

A smile formed on her face, and then a laugh escaped her lips, and she looked at me once more, making me feel like the most important person in the world.

She kissed me again, and I wondered what I'd done to be so lucky.

[pyromaniaccc]

Headlock

Anya x fem!reader

Summary : Anya told you what Jimmy did to her. You cant help but get VERY pissed. Who wouldnt, after all? Anyways, you took matter into your own hands.

CW/TW : Swearing, mentions of r-pe.. and mentions of murder. My bad spelling too, of course. English is not my first language, i'm sorry.

A/N : So guys.. i'll write for Anya, but WLW only. Sorry guys that love her, but here, Anya is a girl's lover! Took me some time to write this, but I hope you guys like it!

You don't remember last time you actually had a good sleep, but it was surely a long time ago. Recently, things got very tough around the tulpar.

Considering Curly was.. not in the best state, that was very clear, and Jimmy was 'replacing' him as the pilot. Jimmy was NOT a good leader, and that is very clear to everyone. Funny thing, it's especially to you and Anya, he isn't trusthworthy.

Swansea doesn't trust him, at all. Like, he really doesn't. To him, Jimmy was actually something making things even more bad, which pratically wasn't a lie. After what happened to Curly, food was not actually able to get. Everything you got is mouthwashing, but not exactly good food.. if it was considered food.

But things took a rougher turn, when your girlfriend; Anya, finally decided to tell you what Jimmy did to her. You knew he was a dick, but to the point of taking advantage of her? That was absolutely REPULSING.

You weren't disgusted of her. No, you could NEVER be disgusted of her. She was just scared you'd think low of her, make things even rougher. But you could never feel mad or ashamed of her, especially as a victim of that.. that.. that MONSTER. That's what he is. A monster. A truly disgusting one at that.

Rage filled your entire being. You were NOT letting this slide, definitely not. Anya begged you to not tell Swansea, and you promised her to not tell him. She was still scared of what Jimmy would do to her if Swansea couldn't reach him, protect her from everything he could do and attempt.

But you were most certainly making him pay.

𓏵 : : 𓏵

You held on tight the axe, the hate feeling burning on your blood. You could have used the gun, but you wouldn't be able to, anyways. You didn't knew where it was hidden, and Anya didn't wanted to tell you, afraid you'd do something drastic. That didn't stop you from anything.

Jimmy was sitting on the chair at the table, thinking deep. It was obvious he was focused on whatever shit he was thinking, though you doubt he even has a brain. Everything passing by his head is probably sickening.

You stood close, close enough that he'd stop whatever he was focusing on.

"What is it? Can't you see i'm busy?" Jimmy said, hearing his voice annoys you more than it should, his voice sounding more like an annoying scratched record other than the sweet melody it was when you heard Anya's voice.

"I can tell. Busy with what, exactly? Thinking about how you're gonna do to me what you did to Anya?" Your speech seemed to pass by his head multiple times, him staying absolute shut for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry, what-" He started, you immediately cutting him off by hitting the axe hard on his head. He didn't had time to scream or react, the blood already falling to the floor. Your hand was bloody, making the handle of the axe stained with the blood of this totally asshole of a guy.

"You know exactly what." You muttered, staring at the dead corpse infront of you. Maybe the tulpar was even more lost now that the pilot, co pilot or whatever those two were, not were able to reach anymore. But you felt satisfied. If there was no way to get justice for Anya with the police or anything when you got back; if it WAS possible that you'd get back to earth alive.. considering the tulpar was pratically lost.

But atleast, you took matter of justice for your girlfriend into your own hands.

𓏵 : : 𓏵

You held Anya tight, her tears making your clothes wet.

"Shh.. it's okay, sweetie. Jimmy's not a bother for us anymore.." You muttered, kissing her forehead gently and wiping away the tears from her face. Even if she was a tiny bit scared, she was also relieved of not having to worry about Jimmy anymore.

[lgbtransgirl]

Hey, I completely agree with your ice cold takes, except for one point. I think that certain places like women's restrooms should be reserved for cis women and trans women who pass as women because they are a safe space. (Yes, even if some trans women may appear more masculine, but there are also cis women with more masculine facial features.)

But it's not that okay if people like Lilly Tino use it. For one thing, she doesn't look even remotely feminine. That wouldn't even be a problem in itself, but she acts and looks much more masculine than any crossdresser or drag queen, which is kind of strange because she wants to be a woman? I'm sorry, but even these childish clothes, which are portrayed as sexy - none of it gives me the feeling that she's really just a trans woman and really just wants to use the toilet.

Ahe also says publicly that she pees standing up, still has a p*nis, talking all the time about it and things like that. And her behavior is completely misogynistic. Apart from that, she has a history of (sexual) harassment, stalking, predator behaviour and more against women. I think it is important to differentiate I would feel safe in a restroom with a trans woman, but absolutely not with someone like Lilly Tino, who still acts like a man and, tbh, looks like one too.

I have a few trans friends, and none of them used the women's bathroom until they were kinda passing as a woman. And most importantly, they really just used the restroom like any other woman and didn't make a big deal out of it like Lilly Tino who focusing primarily on how other people would react.

I think that many people immediately think of Lilly Tino when they think of trans women and are therefore against it. It harms the whole community.

I'm going through this point by point so I address everything in a neat manner. I am in no way trying to sound angry or upset with you Anon, I just need to be serious here because I'm assuming all of this is in good faith.

Who decides if a woman passes? Even you, in your ask, recognizes that some cis women have "masculine" features and that has led to them being mistaken for being transgender women, then leading to them getting harassed outside of bathrooms. IMO, I think we should replace current bathrooms with a handful of single stall unisex bathrooms because that solves all the issues, but that's besides the point here.

Why does one bad apple ruin the bunch? I've heard a bit about Lily Tino and she sounds like a misogynistic and annoying rage-baiter, but for what reason does a single bad rep for a group paint that entire group as unable to enter their safe space? Many trans people can't get HRT or surgeries and genuinely still look like their gender assigned at birth and easily mistaken for that.

Also, people can dress how they want? I don't really have much context for Lily Tino and from what I've seen she wears relatively normal outfits, so why does it matter?

I still piss standing up sometimes. Many transgender women still have their penises, and many of them don't want to get rid of theirs. How does that invalidate how I use a toilet?

"I don't want [predator] in the bathroom with me because of [predatory behavior]", anon it sounds like you just don't want to share a bathroom with predators. You don't need to hate an entire demographic for the actions of one person. That's the same logic Republicans use of "not wanting men in women's restroom because they might assault women" but they're not scared of trans women who just want to use the bathroom, they're scared of other men coming in and being sexual predators.

They didn't use the bathroom until they "passed" probably because they were scared of being labeled as a predator for being "a man in a women's bathroom" because that has gotten people harassed and killed. That's certainly why I have still been using the men's restroom even after >1.5 years on E

Nobody should make a big deal out of using the bathroom. It's a bathroom. It just sounds like you hate Lily Tino (which if all of that above is true, is fair) and are taking it out on more masculine women and gender-non-conforming people using the women's bathroom, who just want to piss/shit in the toilet and leave in peace just like you and I.

For your last paragraph again I need to emphasize, you cannot judge an entire demographic on the actions of a single person. If someone thinks [Stereotype] about every single [demographic] without any exceptions, that is a problem for that person to get over. Plug in any stereotype and demographic and you'll see what I mean.

Trans women, cis women, trans men, cis men, nonbinary people, intersex people, etc, all deserve to use a toilet. We all need to be less weird about bathrooms or just start building single stall bathrooms.

I'd tell you to get off your porcelain throne, but that's kinda what we're in the bathroom to do sooooo... Do you have any extra toilet paper in there? This stall is out.

[chorusofkhonshu]

Noone was going to die.

Mostly I made this because I guess people on some platforms were saying Noone was wrong for going with the Ferryman or that she should have stayed with Otto. So I guess I made this to inform that, no, she could not have stayed with Otto. Well she could have, maybe, but she would have died shortly after. She made the best possible choice to survive when she didn't know it at the time, and here's why. In the first episode she is already ill, she survived the water sickness but still has these lingering headaches. We even get told that the flower that she got from her parents died that morning as well. Get to that soon. Following the first episode Noone's condition slowly deteriorates more and more. The headaches get stronger, she starts to scratch behind her ear. The EEG machines hurt her head as well, she doesn't like the way they feel, a burning sensation in her head growing stronger and stronger. Then along comes episode 4 where near the end of the episode she starts to react violently to whatever happened to her at the end of the nightmare. Episode 5, back to that flower I mentioned earlier. Otto gets her an exact replacement to the one her parents got her. This is where we find out what kind of flower was given to her by her parents. That flower being a Chrysanthemum. In different parts of the world these flowers have many different meanings depending on their color. However it seems to be in Europe for the most part that these flowers are for gravesides or mourning the dead regardless of color. If this wasn't important they wouldn't have bothered mentioning the type of flower. Finally the last episode. There is a time jump of 2 or 3 days. Otto says so. Noone vanished again, this time a whole night, reappearing at sunrise in the south wing of the institute. She was then confined for two days. When Otto goes to see her, I can only assume she is in a haggard state because A. her illness has progress further and B. While she is scared to sleep, she still wants to and has presumably been trying to sleep, she says the nurse keeps interrupting her, the fire in her head hurting now more than ever. She's been kept awake for two days and nights, not allowed to sleep. Her stomach is also hurting yet Otto forces her to eat the sleep inducing candy. He does not want to wait for her to sleep and needs her to be in a deep sleep. You know the rest, she goes to Nowhere. My conclusion? Everyone one knew she was going to die. Her parents, probably other doctors before coming to Otto, he's a psychologist I guess so it makes sense for him not to find out until he sent her up for radiology. This is why her parents come to see her even once! They are bad parents, this is why her disappearance will be swept under the rug. Everyone expects her to die! They used to live in a crappy apartment but moved into a rich house, probably because of money they got when Noone was pronounced a survivor of the "water sickness" as she was paraded around on television to show the world there is a cure. How do you think that would look if the kid you paraded around as cured just up and died? That the cure was a lie? If the water sickness is a huge pandemic if could even be the case that the government is involved, silencing everything to prevent the truth that no cure exists. Her going to Nowhere was the only choice she had. I don't think Otto knew she was dying, mostly because he is blinded by the pursuit of the Ferryman. But this was her only chance to continue living. Listen, if it was me and I had the choice between staying in our world and going to Nowhere, I'd stay here. Now if I'm dying? You best believe I'm taking my chances in Nowhere.

[bee-a-garbage-shipper]

trans!tim + pregnancy

tim, because he's an idiot with no self preservation, decides to stalk the red hood when he first shows up

he ends up finding one of red hoof's safe houses and decides that breaking in is a good idea

he's shifting through some paperwork when he's suddenly being pushed against the floor by a wall of muscle

obviously jason is pissed, he wants to know what his replacement is doing here

except tim is busy trying not to be to horny because yes the red hood is hot and yes this is like something straight out of one of his favorite fantasies but it is not the time

jason notices and decides to being an ass calling tim a slut

tim takes offense

"i'm still a virgin because i couldn't even sleep with my own girlfriend because i was too busy feeling guilty for being in love with someone else"

which causes jason to roll his eyes because tim could have easily pursued whoever it was instead

"sorry but i'm not into necrophilia"

which ok jay's happy the green is gone but kinda feels like an ass now but he also assumes that the person in question would want tim to be happy and move on and he tells tim this

"it's not, he didn't know, honestly he probably didn't even know i existed, i was to scared to talk to him before,"

and yeah jason really wants to end this conversation he doesn't want to feel bad for his replacement

he shifts around and tim reacts again

"you know if you're so desperate i don't mind helping"

tim definitely finds that idea appealing but argues because that's the right thing to do here

"why not, you can call out his name and live the fantasy and i get a nice warm hole"

and tim knows this is a bad idea he should be saying no and trying to get the fuck away from the crime lord but

"we never speak of this again"

obviously sex happens, jay does briefly pause when tim says jason but he's definitely telling himself it's a coincidence

(it's a common enough name so like, it could be)

afterwards they're both tired but then tim gets oracle reaching out via his previously off comms like

"i know you were busy but we've got a situation, mass arkham break out"

tim shelves the implication that at least barbara is aware of tim's very bad decision making skills and gets his ass up and out to help out

unfortunately for tim the night ends with him catching ivy and even more unfortunately she caught him too

thankfully it's just cuddle pollen so, bc he is the king of bad decision making and has 0 self worth, tim goes home and hides in his closet and rides it out so he doesn't bother anyone

problem is because of all this he forgot that he needs plan b

he remembers when his period doesn't show up

the 3 pregnancy test all say positive and tim is not looking forward to that conversation with red hood

not sure where it goes after that except both jason and tim get the terrible experience of finding out that tim did get to lose his first time to his first love

[polyamorousmood]

Hi! I've viewed your blog for quite some time now and I've gotten the urge to send this ask a few times now but I've always gotten nervous about it. Like I accidentally forget to put on anonymous mode or something. But I've finally worked up the courage to ask for your advice on this.

So I um...I pretty recently discovered I'm polyamorous. It felt weird and first but now it just...feels right to me. It's great, and I'm glad I discovered more about myself. But I've also been having issues due to...crushes.

I may have...gotten a crush on a couple.

(This is an online thing, for the record)

I had just been trying to get over my previous crush due to some stuff happening (Nothing bad mind, we're still good friends) when I briefly talked to this person. I had seen them around quite a bit and they seemed nice so I'd always liked them in a way, just not like this. Then suddenly after that talk I...kept thinking about them. More and more I kept thinking about how cool they were and how funny they were and how cute they must- Ah crap.

Yeah, I realized pretty quickly I got a crush on them. So, knowing they're a fairly well known artist in the fandom I met them in, I rushed to Twitter to check out their account to see if they already have a partner. Low and behold, they do! So everything should be good and I can move on...right?

...

I developed a crush on their partner too after doing more digging.

So now I'm kind of just...scared because I've never had a crush on a couple before. I'm not really sure what to do. I've done the usual stuff I do with my initial crush. Just saying hello and having some chats with them to become their friend and it's been really fun! But I just...I don't know how I'd get to talking with their partner or hinting at my feelings. I don't wanna feel like a creep or weirdo or anything.

This is all very new to me and I'm a little scared. I'm trying to brave my way through this and I'm gonna try and confess at some point. But I just...don't really know how at the moment. Not like I intend to confess any time soon, we're still relatively new to each other.

Do you have any advice?

Heyyy, congrats and welcome to the team!!!! 😊😊

Its a lot of fun here, and I'm happy to have you aboard.

I've answered a similar ask before, but I can't find it now (thanks tumblr search disfunction!) so you probably don't have a prayer.

Basically, step one is to mention your own polyamory, and see how they react (once you get to a point that's a normal thing to do, since you said its still early). If they seem uncomfortable, take that as your no. If they seem polite, proceed with caution, and if they get suspiciously into it, well... I'd take that as a good sign

Fingers crossed for you!! 🤞🤞

[k-tarotz]

Hello Hun and Candy

Omg thank you for replying to my ask 💖🤍💖🤍💖🤍💖🤍💖🤍💖🤍💖🤍💖🤍💖🤍💖🤍💖

Ok so I didn’t really think about the specifics but here we go🪩

I put 2 variations and honestly you should just choose whichever one you actually want to do bc either way I’m just grateful that you even took this into consideration 🥰🤗

Variation 1 - Ok so say someone flirted with Enhypens significant other (e.g. guy friend?) and enhypen and their s/o started arguing about it and things got heated and enhypen lashed out and were harsh with their words that it made their s/o cry 😢

‼️Omg‼️ so the real question would be how would they feel after seeing their significant other cry because of THEM. Would they comfort their s/o? Cuddle? Cook some food? Which members would apologise? Would they want to stay with their s/o or leave and give them space?

Variation 2 - Enhypen and s/o are arguing about their relationship status - enhypen wants to make things official but s/o needs more time and tries to be pushy with their s/o and making things official in a harsh way that makes s/o cry. I think even for this variation I would still ask the same questions as above.

I tried my best 😂 I hope it helped a little bit and if you do decide to do this reading I would like to say that I’m obviously insanely excited about it and obviously always grateful.

Thank you🤗🤍💖

Thank you for sending your ask with context, now it's a lot easier to answer!! You seem very sweet! We will go with variation 1 🤗🩵

How would enhypen react if they make their s/o cry? Variation 1:

King of cups, Ace of swords, 3 of wands

Heesung:

He would be surprised and stop talking immediately, he would need a few seconds to progress what's going on. He would instantly feel bad but try to keep his emotions together to not make it worse, he would also not make any sudden movements to not accidentally scare his s/o. He would apologize right away and try to calm his s/o down with words. After they calmed down he would apologize again and be much more affectionate than usually. Probably lay down with them and hold them gently in his arms, stroking through their hair and not letting go even after his s/o fell asleep in his arms. He would keep up a little longer, still not letting go, playing the scene over and over in his head again and definitely remember it, he would try to be less harsh with his words in the future and try to be more communicative.

Page of wands, 3 of cups, wheel of fortune

Jay:

He wouldn't like the reaction of his s/o. He would think that they should have rejected whoever flirted with them because he is a very jealous and quite possessive person who definitely wants his s/o to be into commitment and like stand up for him like "I have an amazing boyfriend already, I'm in a happy relationship and not interested in you" so if they weren't rejecting the person and now cry at his harsher words he wouldn't feel bad for it, at least not in the moment. If he is mad he is mad, he needs to calm down first. He would want to talk things out but wouldn't be able to in that moment, as both would be triggered clearly and Jay is an emotional person. He might even need a bit alone time after this, then try to talk things out and see how things go from then on.

Ace of coins, the star, 6 of coins, page of coins

Jake:

He would be caught off guard the moment his s/o starts crying, need a few seconds to progress things also. He would put his own feelings away at that moment and calm his s/o down until they stop crying. After that, he would actually spoil his s/o to make up for making them cry. He would either take them with him and let them choose anything they want on a big shopping spree or he himself would go alone and buy multiple things, expensive ones too, and surprise his s/o with it. Only after making up with gifting them things, he would reflect on himself that he shouldn't be so harsh with his words and after that talk things out properly, calmly and gently with his s/o.

The star, the fool, the world

Sunghoon:

He would have hoped to have a mature conversation about it and wouldn't realize that his tone/words are somewhat harsh, all he wanted in the first place was to talk things out like adults, trying to find a solution together and trying to open up about his feelings that the flirting bothered him and he most likely doesn't want his s/o to be friends with them anymore especially because he would now think the other person definitely has a crush on their s/o - the very minimum thing he would want is for the s/o to at least not spend time alone with that friend anymore. But back to the topic - he would be quite disappointed and view his s/o as too naive and perhaps too sensitive in this situation. He himself would be emotional too but hold himself back from showing his vulnerable side, he simply wouldn't feel comfortable to anymore because he was trying to open up in the first place but when he sees his s/o crying so easily he would feel defeated. As if he can't show his feelings and his likes and dislikes. In this situation he would put his feelings aside though and comfort his s/o with words of affirmation but also hugs and caressing their back gently. He would probably reflect on himself too after a while, but only if his s/o checks up on him after it too, how he feels like ect. If he can't communicate his problems properly with his s/o he will tend to bottle up his feelings and get overwhelmed until he "explodes" and it wouldn't be good for him, so he would try to be softer with his words and tone but regardless observe his s/o if and how much they care about him.

Queen of wands, the tower, 5 of swords, 2 of coins rx

Sunoo:

He would at first try to maturely talk about the conversation, even if it would be a hard one. Even though he would dislike the situation he would try to approach it gently and hide his feelings. Unfortunately his S/O crying because of this would set him off since he would look at it as a form of disloyalty. Maybe in his eyes this would just prove how his S/O doesn’t see anything wrong with the situation and keeps being stubborn, which would ultimately result in a fight. He wouldn’t necessarily be mad at his partner crying or being emotional but rather at the fact that they really see nothing wrong with the situation and would even defend another man. - or woman. - over hearing him out. It would be a heated argument due to being affected by one another’s mood but after taking time to calm down he would apologise to his partner and explain himself as well as hear them out. Definitely would take them out to eat or perhaps shopping as well. ‘Let’s make a thousand good memories so the bad ones do not matter’ vibes.

The high pristress rx, queen of swords, page of cups

Jungwon:

His entire view on the situation would change in an instant since he would see this as a moment where his S/O trusts him enough to be vulnerable with him. Jungwon would immediately feel bad and hold his S/O close to himself and reassure him with words of affirmation, and hear her side out. He might also find his partner extremely beautiful while they cry! Not in a sadistic way but rather looking at them as the most beautiful person to ever exist even when they go through hard times. He might also plant kisses on his S/O’s hand and cheeks in order to comfort them, letting them know he doesn’t have hard feelings towards them or wants bad for them, simply just afraid to lose them to someone else because to him they are very precious. Might also have a movie night with them, watching anything they wish to and showering them with gifts the day after. Would definitely be more affectionate after this as he would look at his S/O crying as a proof of their love rather than lack of.

The devil rx, 7 of cups, 8 of wands

Ni-ki:

He would personally feel really insecure. Niki isn’t necessarily an experienced person when it comes to relationships so he would be worried about not only losing his S/O but also accidentally treating them the wrong way by accident. Seeing them cry would absolutely kill his ego and he would immediately feel guilty, his heart my drop even. He doesn’t enjoy showing vulnerability but such a situation would absolutely break him, his heart at least. He might even tear up himself and start over thinking, blaming himself for anything. He would ask for forgiveness quite a lot of times and wipe his partner’s tears before becoming sane enough to comfort them. He might hug them and start venting out of fear, a pure kind of panic. Apologising rapidly while swearing to make up for it. Holding his S/O close to himself. He would be hurt by default, so this would just be cherry on top. He would also ramble sweet nothings about how he loves the person ect. He himself would have to be calmed down, he might take such things to heart. Though, after calming down enough he would definitely like to take his S/O on a date and tell them how much they mean to him, spoil them with love and affection. He would of course talk it out when it’s time for it, if there’s any. This would just make him realise how much he loves his person, though be might still overthink about this from time to time.

-Hun