#and i saw him at the funeral for the first time since his sister's wedding in 2011

[reuptakeinhibitor]

.

[cumsuga]

Grey Areas

taehyung x fem!reader

genre. implied smut, fluff, angst, romance, non-idol!au, twin!taehyung, BIL!taehyung, widowedmother!reader

Your husband is dead, now you're trying to avoid the man that looks exactly like him. The only problem with that is trauma bonds people, sometimes in more ways than one 

warnings: spouse in the military, death of a spouse, mentions of decapitation, sleeping with your brother-in-law, grief, implied unprotected sex (Be safe and be smart; please use condoms), infidelity, smoking, light drinking, taehyung may or may not be in love with his sister-in-law aka reader, you're a mama (no drama)

word count: 5k

18+ (Minors DNI)

A/n: First and foremost, thank you, @vintagedtae and @cxffee-addxct, for testing/proofreading; if I could give you two kisses, I would! I really needed the feedback. I don't know if I will make this a series because it differs from anything I've ever written, but I really like it. If anyone has seen the movie Brothers, it inspired it. I really hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoy Twin Taehyung! Thank you all for reading and interacting with it. Please like and reblog! 💜

On January 30th, 2023, you received a knock on your door that would alter your life forever. 

You met your husband when you were ten years old. He was sweet and gentle, and you knew you would get married when you two got older. When you turned 18, he joined the military as a combat medic. He would always tell you he wanted to be a real-life superhero. At 22, he asked you to marry him. It was a beautiful beachside wedding. At 23, you gave birth to your son; you never saw yourself as a mother, and sure, Azra was a handful, but you were happy. By 25, you were a widow, watching as they lowered your husband into the ground, holding your crying son. 

The date was February 14th, the day he was supposed to come home, but you didn’t think it would be in a casket. You weren’t allowed to see your husband one last time. You were told they had gone out on a medevac mission when their helicopter was shot down. In nicer words, they told you your husband was decapitated, and they never found his head. And that was the image you would have to live with forever. The image of your decapitated husband never coming home. 

On the day of the funeral, his family showed you and your son so much compassion. His older twin brother, Taehyung, held your hand as he was lowered into the earth. Everyone expected you to be a mess, but no one knew that you and your husband prepared for this.  He talked about it often to desensitize you. While his dying in combat was always a possibility, you never thought in a million years that what you two spoke about in private would become a reality. So while internally you were destroyed, on the outside, you were stoic, unphased even.

After the repass, you watch quietly as everyone leaves. The only person who stayed was Taehyung. He told you he stayed to help you and that it was customary for someone from the family to stay with the widow while she grieves. Since he had no female siblings, his mother asked Taehyung to stay. 

“Hey, why don’t you go lay down?” he asks, taking a sleeping Azra from you. You just look at him, the dark circles under your eyes prominent. “Okay, I’m going to put him in the nursery, and I’ll be right back.”

It was silent when he walked away. Quiet enough for you to finally hear your thoughts. The inner turmoil is finally getting to you, and at this point, you are far too tired to hold it in anymore. So you let it out, sobbing loudly into the chaise. When Taehyung hears you, he bolts, the need to comfort you overwhelming him.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. Everything is going to be okay,” he says softly, cradling you in his arms. You pound your fists into his chest, angry at the world for taking your person. Eventually, you lose the energy to continue, balling your fists into his shirt. After what seemed like forever, you passed out in Taehyung’s arms.

Taehyung sighs in relief. What did he know about comforting anyone, let alone his younger brother's widow? What was he supposed to do to help you? Nothing he could say would ever bring him back, and telling you everything would be okay would only comfort you for so long. And who would comfort him? He lost his best friend since birth. He wasn’t like you, though. He never kept it bottled up. When you called to let him know, he dropped to his knees, sobbing loudly into the receiver before hanging up. He cried every day leading up to the funeral and even at the funeral, but no one told him that they were sorry for his loss. They only focused on you and his mother, but what about him? What about how he felt? He lost his identical twin brother, someone he spent every day with for 18 years. He had always held a little resentment for you for stealing his best friend, but right now, he loathes you. You weren't the only one hurting. He didn’t even want to stay here with you while you grieve. He begged his mom not to make him but was met with a slap to the face.

Nonetheless, he picks you up gently and carries you to your room. He sets you down just as gently as if you would break if he weren’t careful. He grabs the blanket at the bottom of your bed and covers you with it, tucking you in. He stands over you, admiring you briefly. He hated you for many things, and one of them was for being so pretty. He pushes the thought away, too inappropriate considering what is going on, before turning to leave. 

“Sujin?” you call out to him. Your dreams came true. He came back to you, “Come back to bed, don’t leave me again.”

“I’m not Su-” he can't finish the sentence. You won’t let him. You desperately want it to be your husband. You know deep down it isn’t him, but lying to yourself will help with the giant hole you have in your chest right now. 

“Please, Sujin… I’m scared.” it comes out so weak and pathetic that it genuinely pains Taehyung to hear. His heart breaks for you, the hatred he had for you dissipating. But he still doesn’t turn to face you,  so you plead for him again.

“Close your eyes…” he says softly. Taehyung decides to do this for you just once. He knew that it would hurt you more if he just walked away. It would hurt him just as much to pretend to be his brother, but he just wanted you to sleep. “Tell me when they’re closed.”

You tell him, and he walks slowly to the bed. He cups your cheek and runs his thumb against it softly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you…” You lean into his touch, and he joins you on the bed. “Let’s go to sleep.”

Taehyung takes you in his arms once more on this terrible day. You bury your head into his chest, and he strokes your hair. He swears he felt you kiss his collarbone, but he chalks it up to you being delirious. He wants to hate you so bad, but to hate you would be to hate a piece of his brother. He wants to get up and leave you to wallow in your sadness, but he knows that isn’t what Sujin would want. Taehyung hasn’t felt so conflicted in his life, but what he is sure of is that seeing you call out for your husband hurt him more than he expected. And what he was absolutely sure of was that he would never let you cry like that again.

When you woke up, you felt arms wrapped around you. So you turned slowly to see who it was, and the face you saw excited you, so you cupped his cheek softly. You moved to peck him gently and realized who it was before you did. You knew it wasn’t Sujin because of the small moles under his eye and on his nose. So you jolt up, startling Taehyung in the process.

“What hell are you doing in my bed?!” you move away from him quickly. Taehyung is rubbing his eyes, looking around at where he is.

“Where am I?” he seems confused about where he is and who you are.

“Taehyung, why are you in my bed, let alone in my room.” You stand up and make a lot of distance between the two of you. You turn to face the door. The last person you want to look at is Taehyung. Right now, you hate the fact that he looks exactly like Taejoon. It makes you physically ill to look at Taehyung. But before you can dwell on that for too long, Azra is crying. You look towards the nursery sighing. "Anyways, get out of my room and go home.”

He nods and gets out of bed, “I’ll get the baby. Just rest, please.” He’s noticed you refuse to look at him, and he can’t be sure why, but it hurts him a little.

“No! No, I want you to leave, Taehyung. Please.” he moved back into your line of sight, so you turn away and walk to the nursery. Taehyung follows behind you.

“I can leave you alone, but I’m not going. I told my mom I’d stay for the next couple of weeks.” He takes Azra from you, and you move to take him back but are immediately deterred by his face. “You know you’re going to have to look at me eventually. I’m his uncle, I’ll be around…”

You sigh in defeat but still don't look up, “I don’t think you’ll ever understand how hard it is to look at you, Taehyung. It hurts... And I don’t want to cry anymore.”

He scoffs, “You’re not serious, right? I don’t understand? I have to do is look in the fucking mirror and be reminded of my brother. Someone I shared a womb and room with almost my entire life. You’re not the only person hurting.” he leaves with Azra to the kitchen, and you're just standing there. You want to yell at him, but you don’t want to upset the baby.

You knew part of you wished that Taehyung was Sujin and that life was normal. You thought it was unfair that you had to go through this. But he’s right; he isn't the only one hurting. You’d been so selfish with your grief that you weren’t allowing anyone to join you in it. And he was also right that you’d have to look at him eventually, but you'd deal with that when the time was right. Right now, all you want is your son.

“Can I have Azra, please?” Azra coos out a little mama when he sees you, and Taehyung looks over at you and then back to Azra as he feeds him his banana baby food. 

“Um, we're having nom-noms right now. Right, Azzy? We’re having nom noms?” Azra giggles, repeating the word, and you wish you could be in his shoes. Living his baby life with no concept of death. You stared at him and realized one day, you’d have to tell him about his father, and tears welled up in your eyes.

“Taehyung, I don’t need your help. I need you to leave, please. You can come over later, but I want to be alone now.” You take Azra out of his high chair and walk towards the den. “We can discuss why you were in my bed after I take Azra to daycare, then you can come with me to pick up some of Sujin’s things from the base. Come back in 2 hours, I’ll be ready then…”

Taehyung reluctantly agrees. He’s scared to leave you, in all honesty. Sujin had mentioned to him about your past struggles with your mental health, but he didn't want to come off as he couldn’t trust you. He wanted you to know he understood what you were going through and was there for you and Azra. 

You watch through the curtains as Taehyung pulls out of the driveway and drives off into the distance. You turn back to the living room and look around. You feel… empty. You knew that grief never grows smaller with time and that life grows around grief. It was such a cliche analogy, and it helped you when your grandmother died, but this was different. You and Sujin talked about getting old and grey together. About watching Azra graduate high school and college, get married, and have children. Now, it was just you, no Sujin, to help with the woes of parenting. You, at 25, are a widowed mom of one. You’re going to miss hearing the sound of him breathing when you lay your head on his chest. You’re going to miss the way he kissed you, held you, and made love to you. You would miss the way he would quote Napoleon Dynamite at the most random times. You were going to miss him. Plain and simple. You wish you had time to grieve but couldn’t because you had responsibilities. So you pushed yourself to keep going because of Azra.

About 2 hours later, you pull into your driveway, returning home from taking the baby to daycare. Taehyung is already there, waiting outside, smoking a cigarette. The feeling of annoyance was brewing inside you. But then you push the feeling away because how could you be annoyed with someone just trying to do the same thing you are; grieve. So you get out of the car and join him on the stoop. “Why are you waiting outside? You know where the house key is. It’s the middle of fall; it's cold.”

“I didn’t want to be reminded of him right away.” he takes a drag, handing you a coffee he picked up on the way back to the house, which you happily accept. “Your house smells like him still. It’s weird.”

You nod; he’s not wrong. It does smell like him, but you like that. You didn’t want to forget that smell. “Yeah, I know. It is kinda weird, isn’t it.” you chuckle softly. He smiles at you, and you meet his eyes finally. You feel something weird, something that makes you blush. He looks away quickly, taking another drag of his cigarette as he stands before flicking it. “Let’s go get my brother’s shit.”

An hour later, you finally leave base with the bit of stuff your husband left behind and some paperwork explaining how your benefits will now work. You don’t even care about that stuff, especially because this wasn’t how life was supposed to be going for you. You get back in the car and give Taehyung the box. “I have to go meet with a lawyer about his will. I need a witness so they can open it. Would you like to come?” He nods, and you drive off.

“So why were you in my bed?” you ask, looking over to see his cheeks are now rosy.

“Well, after you passed out from crying, I went to put you in bed and..” he looks worried; he doesn’t want to embarrass you. 

“And???” you press. 

“And…” He sighs, “And when I went to leave… You confused me with Su, and I didn’t have the heart to stop you, so I held you until you fell asleep. However, anytime I moved, you’d grip me tighter, so I fell asleep with you…” He rubs the back of his head, and you know he’s just as embarrassed as you are. “I know it was inappropriate, but you wouldn’t let me leave..”

“Oh..” the silence that follows is extremely awkward. “Well, thank you for staying, I guess..”

“Yeah, don’t mention it. Literally.” He chuckles. 

The drive to the law office is quiet and gives you time to think about what his will could say. It’s strange, though, because he never told you about it. You just assumed when he died that everything would go to you and Azra by default, but knowing he had a will scared you. Because what could he possibly have to say?

“We’re here..” you don’t move, not even to unbuckle yourself. Your hands are gripping the steering wheel so hard your knuckles are turning white. Your heart feels like it’s going to explode. Taehyung takes your hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

“Calm down, nothing can get worse. I know my brother. He’d never do anything to hurt you.” You wished it soothed you to hear those words, but his brother had done something to hurt you. Of course, it wasn't intentional, but it hurt nonetheless.

“Taehyung, your brother has done a lot to hurt me. None of them like this, though. This one he can’t fix with flowers and chocolates.” you say, half giggling, the other half getting choked up.

“Listen, I know this seems like the end of the world, and trust me, it sure as fuck feels like it. But let’s be realistic. You’ll eventually grow to deal with the loss of my brother. You’ll move on with your life, find some awesome guy, and fall in love with him. You’ll probably even get remarried. Realistically, of course.” you just look at him. The way he could say the most asinine shit you’ve ever heard honestly pissed you off.

“Why the fuck would you say that to me right now? I just buried him yesterday. Are you dumb? Please just shut the fuck up until I tell you to talk.” You finally move to get out of the car, slamming the door behind you and mumbling about how much of an idiot he was.

But that was the thing; Taehyung wasn’t stupid. He just says ridiculous shit. In fact, Taehyung graduated cum laude from Stanford, which is why you can’t understand why he doesn't think before he talks. 

He sits in the car briefly before coming out and following closely behind you. You two walk into the law office. The receptionist says she’s expecting you and leads you to a small conference room. “I’m nervous…” you sigh, fidgeting.

Before long, a tall, tan-skinned man walked in. He explained the legal jargon and then allowed you and Taehyung time to read over the will. But that's the thing: It wasn’t a will; it was more like letters to people in his life. You found the page for Taehyung and handed it to him. It wasn’t long before you heard sniffling coming from him. You smiled at him. You thought it was sweet how vulnerable he could be.

One page was dedicated to you, telling you all the passwords to his socials and bank accounts, where he had hidden money for Azra, and that he was sorry, but that was all. Nothing else was there. No, I love you, no, I’ll see you again someday, nothing. It was like all you were to him was a vessel to carry and care for his child. To say you were hurt was a complete understatement. But before you could take in the reality of what was happening, you found a page for a woman named Natalie. It describes how much he cared for her but also how much he regretted cheating on you while you were pregnant. He went on to tell her about the life he had imagined with her during their affair, but when you gave birth, it gave him a new meaning in your marriage and that he was sorry they ever got involved. He left her a small amount of money; it wasn’t said for what, only that she would understand what it was for. You only knew of one Natalie; you all went to high school together, but the last you heard, she moved to Los Angeles and hadn’t been back since. There was no way. This had to be Sujin’s idea of a joke. There was no other explanation.

You wanted to know when he even had time to cheat? If he wasn’t at work, he was with you. You try to think of any time he was not with you, but then you remember that he started going to the gym more often during your pregnancy. You thought nothing of it. He was in the military, for god sake. And you held on to that notion until you spotted her walking into the office.

“Hey, what does yours say? Mine tells me to take care of you and Az, and he finally admitted he broke my Donatello figure when we were younger. Plus some other stuff, but that's private.” He chuckles. He must’ve noticed your eyes glazed over because he waved his hand in front of your face. “Helloooo, anyone home?”

“He cheated..” is all you could squeak out. It’s almost inaudible.

 Taehyung doesn’t want to believe that you just said, “What? How do you know that? Let me see.” he snatches the papers from your hands and reads them repeatedly. “No way, Joon would never do that.”

“He did, and she’s here. The blonde woman you see in the lobby. Thats her… I don’t think she knows I’m here, nor was I even supposed to read that. I don’t think he meant to put it in there.” You both sit there in silence; before you know it, you’re storming into the lobby.

She looked shocked to see you, like she didn't understand what you were doing there. “y/n, what’re you doing here?”

“What the fuck do you mean what am I doing here? What are you doing here?” You scoff. You can’t believe this lady. She has the nerve to question you like you’re the mistress. So, you do the most logical thing you could do in any law office. You slap the shit out of her. “So you like fucking married men while their wives are at home caring for their children? Huh? Huh? ANSWER ME!”

She looks terrified and confused, clutching her now red cheek. “Married. He told me you two were divorced and that he only wore his ring to keep appearances with his parents.”

“Oh please, you can’t be that fucking stupid. YOU WENT TO FUCKING BERKLEY! You knew; don’t play dumb with me!” You are furious and yelling so loud a crowd is starting to gather. Taehyung comes up behind you, trying to calm you so he can get you outside, but you’re struggling in his grip. “HEY EVERYONE, HIDE YOUR HUSBANDS NATALIE STARK LIKES TO FUCK MARRIED MEN. NO, LET ME GO TAEHYUNG!”

“Nope, it’s time to go,” he says, flinging you over his shoulder.

Taehyung finally got you into the parking lot, but you still weren’t calm. He didn’t know what to do or say, so he lit a cigarette and handed it to you. “Here, it helps with the stress.”

You take it. You hadn’t smoked a cigarette in almost two years, choosing to quit right before you found out you were pregnant. “Thank you,” you say before taking a long drag. The nicotine rushes straight to your head, mellowing you out. “I swear to god, your bother is so fucking lucky he fucking died before I found this out because I would’ve killed him my-damn-self.”

You sigh. Your world is crumbling around you. How could you not have known? And what did you do to deserve this? You never spoke down to him, hell you doted on the mother fucker, and still he cheated. He lied to you every day with a smile on his face like everything was fine. Why couldn’t he be a man and tell you he was unhappy? Why did he have to die for you to find out? You wanted answers, and the shittiest thing, about it, was that you’d never get them.

Taehyung is still quiet. You wish he would just go away because looking at him makes you angrier than before. “Can you turn around or something? Your face is pissing me off.”

“Listen, I understand you’re upset but don’t take that shit out on me. I’m not Sujin, I didn’t do shit to you. Get in the fucking car, I want to go home.” He snatches the keys from you and walks to the other side of the car.

You finish your cigarette and get in. By the time you two make it back to town, you have to go pick up Azra. So you drop Taehyung off at your house and get him. When you left, you told Tae you wanted him to be gone when you returned, but he didn’t listen.

You were too tired to argue with Taehyung, so you put Azra down for a nap and then walked to the kitchen. “You want a glass of wine? I have a feeling the rest of the week is going to suck as bad as today,” you call out to Taehyung from the kitchen.

“Yeah, sure. Can I smoke in here?” he’s walking around the den, looking at all the pictures. He stops on a photo of you two at your baby shower. He smiles fondly. If Taehyung was honest, he wished he was around more. He hadn’t seen you or his brother since Azra was born. And he regretted that. 

Taehyung had a secret he told no one but hated you for. At your wedding, you told the story about how you met your husband, but the boy you met that day was Taehyung. He fell in love with you the moment he laid eyes on you. He confessed to you a week later and told you to think about it. When he went to find you the following day, he saw you kissing his brother; the rest is history. 

“Uh, no, but we can go into the sunroom. It’s heated, and I have the baby monitor.” You leave the kitchen and go into the den, “Is that okay with you?”

Taehyung looks over at you. He wished that it was him that you had fallen in love with. He would never hurt you in the way that Taejoon had. He felt selfish for his thoughts about you. They were wrong. Especially considering the current circumstances. But if he was being honest, you’d never look more beautiful to him than you did right now. Your hair was messy, with no make-up on, in sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt. “Yeah, that's fine.”

You grab the bottle and some glasses and walk towards the sunroom, placing them on the coffee table and going to the sound system. You didn’t want to listen to the silence. You put on something soft and airy to help soothe your nerves. Your week had gone from bad to fucked up in a matter of 24 hours. Whoever you were in your previous life must have been one fucked up person because your current life is kicking your ass.

“Hey, you guys got it remodeled. I like it.” he looks around, admiring the work.

“Uh, no, I remodeled it. Your brother did jack shit but complain about how it was keeping him awake.” You roll your eyes and throw yourself into one of the many chairs, sighing.

Taehyung takes a seat next to you.“I’m sorry this is happening to you. I know I was giving you a hard time earlier today, but I just wanted you to know you’re not alone. I’m here for you completely.” He grabs your hand. You look down at your hands and then back at him.

“It’s just tough to be around you, Taehyung. Even more so now than before. I wish you would get that, but you’re so goddamn stubborn. And you’re really touchy, it’s weird.” You remove your hand from his and pour two glasses.

He chuckles. “I’m sorry. It’s just how I show people I care. But if it makes you uncomfortable, I’ll stop.” He grabs a glass and takes a sip. He stands to open a window and then lights a cigarette. “Do you have an ashtray?”

You set one down on the coffee table. Taehyung turns to look back at where you set it, and for a split second, life feels normal. Like Sujin didn’t die, you didn’t find out he was cheating, and you felt happy. The silence that follows you is so comfortable. He smiles at you before looking back out the window. Then Fade into You by Mazy Star comes on, and Taehyung walks over to you.

“Dance with me.” He extends a hand to you.

You scrunch your face with a smile, “I’m tired.” you try to push his hand away, but he pulls you up by your hand. You give into the dance eventually, resting your head on his chest.

“I know I’ve said it a lot today, but I’m sorry about everything my brother has put you through… I would’ve never done that to you. You’re way too precious to me.” you pull away to look at him. And he stares down at you. The tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife. And before you knew it, your lips were crashing together. 

You both knew it was wrong, but it was like magnets. You two couldn’t pull away. Your hands move to the hem of Taehyung's shirt, sliding up against the smooth skin of his torso. He wasn’t lean, and you liked that a lot, so you scraped your nails against his stomach. “Take this off.”

He takes his shirt off and moves to take yours off. When he finally gets it off, he starts kissing down your chest, “I’ve wanted to do this since I was 15..” You swear you hallucinate him saying that. You unbutton his jeans and slide your hand into his boxers. He moans softly into your neck, and that was enough for him to snap. He tugs your sweatpants down, having you step out of the. He kisses your inner thigh before pulling your panties down, not even allowing you a second before he picks you up and pins you against the window.

Now, to say that Taehyung wasn't gentle was an understatement. He fucked you like he hated you like he wanted you to know how much you ruined his life, but also how much he was willing to give up to be with you. And as much as you knew it was wrong, you loved it. Neither of you talked the whole time. You both enjoy not being sad for once. When everything was all said and done, Taehyung set you down gently and walked away, sitting on the floor. He knew the severity of what had just happened and needed time to process it. But there was no going back from what just happened. You both had effectively ruined each other's lives.

You joined Taehyung on the floor, sitting behind him and leaning your head on his back. You planted a small kiss on his shoulder. You knew everything would be okay when he reached back for your hand to hold. “I’m gonna take care of you from now on,” he says as he kisses the inner of your wrist.

© @cumsuga 2016-2024. All rights reserved. — Unauthorized use or duplication of these works, including reposting, translating, and modification in any form, is strictly prohibited. DO NOT USE MY CONTENT FOR ANY AI PURPOSES WHAT SO EVER

credit to @cafekitsune for the dividers

[centuryberry]

What would have changed if yue had played all the routes before she died

A lot. It would have changed A LOT.

Like, for one, Yue would know EXACTLY who she was related to the moment she saw that Sangshen had six ears. And when Sangshen told Yue about her tragic backstory and her dead little brother? Well, Yue did some scheming to make Sangshen aware of a certain six-eared warrior serving the infamous Monkey King.

And, just like that, the Zodiac Monkey Clan reached out to Flower Fruit Mountain requesting the Six-eared Macaque to visit his sister. Wukong came too. While neither was very impressed by the Clan, they both adored Sangshen and Yue. They were also friendly with Shanzha (literally the only decent person in the clan and a fellow Yue enthusiast). The timing also had them cross paths with the Red-Buttocked Baboon and the Long-Armed Gibbon, who were watching after Yue.

Wukong and Macaque would play an active role in Yue's life, even bringing her over to FFM with them for a visit (at Yishan's insistence.) During this period, Yue would play matchmaker. Even though the two were friendly with her Aunt Shanzha, she couldn't risk any chances. So the Truth Route HAD to be triggered.

Sangshen passes away like in canon unfortunately. She leaves Yue in Macaque’s care since there’s no way she’s leaving her in Yishan’s. Macaque carried her all the way home after the funeral and Wukong welcomed them home with open arms. It was bittersweet.

Not long after Yue left for FFM permanently, RinRin was pulled out of Diyu by Shanzha. It was love at first sight for the both of them. Since she heard Macaque complain about her, Shanzha recognized RinRin instantly and made arrangements to get her back home. At the meantime, they had this cute little whirlwind romance/situationship filled with looks of longing and almost kisses. Then, Shanzha let her go back to FFM and remained in LoES.

You’d expect some drama but no, there wasn’t. RinRin kinda breaks up with Wukong point blank the moment she returned and all but tells him to kiss Macaque already (he does). Then, she goes and mopes in a hut. She only comes out whenever Shanzha visits Yue (and her) every year. They pine and flirt and sigh after each other. Iceflower becomes Shadowpeach 2.0 and it drives FFM crazy.

When the Otome Game story rolls around, Shanzha ends up being the bride but everyone is significantly more chill about it.

Wukong: Look, I don't know what Heaven is scheming but - Oh hai, it's you. You're a bit early in your annual visit to see Yue.

Shanzha, tied up and in a wedding dress: Believe me, if this was planned I'd be here with presents.

Since Heaven states that Shanzha was a bride for the ruler of FFM (a fact Yue points out), RinRin takes the chance to reclaim her previous Queen status solely to snatch Shanzha from the palanquin and run off with her.

RinRin, cackling like a gremlin: Wife, wife, wife!

Not to be outdone, Wukong proposes to Macaque and suggests a Spring Wedding.

Some drama with Azure happens later but that’s not important. (Or is it?)

[ashblooddragons]

My Heart, My Ruin (Chapter 6/?)

Dragonstone

36 ac

Rhaellas pov

We all stand in front of the funeral pyre where Grandsire lays dead. He passed in his sleep with a smile on his face, Father says it's because he's with Rhaenys again. 

It's a lovely thought, and probably true, but I know Aunt Visenya won't like it. She never did like how close Rhaenys and Grandsire were, but she accepted it. 

I try not to move much, I started my moonsblood just the night before and all I have to say is I'm glad I'm wearing black. 

I remember the first time I woke up with my moonsblood. It was a moon after Maegor's wife passed, I woke up in excruciating pain in my lower abdomen. When I lifted my covers to call for a maester I saw blood, so much blood from my core. I don't care how many lessons a girl has about their moonsblood, she will never be ready for that sight.

So here I stand as a Valyrian Septon chants as blood leaks from my core and feeling like a knife is twisting in my belly. 

I was a sobbing mess when I heard Grandsire passed, but none was as broken as Father or Aunt Visenya. For his Father has left him, he has no one to guide him besides courtiers. And Visenya has lost her final sibling, the only other person who understood what she felt when they conquered Westeros. They both lost someone dear, but I only lost a Grandsire who barely spoke to me if he didn't have to.

He always preferred Aegon and Viserys over me and Rhaena. From what Mother says he was trying to convince Father to marry another seeing as Mother had two pregnancies and failed to give him a son. Thank the gods Father ignored him. 

I breathe in the cold salty air that always has a darker edge that you can only find here. I've always loved the smell here, Mother and Aegon prefer the scent Driftmark brings with it's spices and overwhelming saltiness that seems to stick to your skin. 

Rhaena grips my arm as Vhagar moves forward to light the pyre. She was hit the hardest out of me and my siblings. She always wanted his attention, wanted to feel his love that he always gave Aegon and Visery. But no matter how hard she tried, he probably wouldn't be able to tell us apart. 

“Just a bit longer Rhaena, then you never have to feel his disappointment again.” I whisper to her as she glares at the pyre. 

With one look at her I saw the rage and fire in her violet eyes. I knew her sobs weren't because she lost Grandsire, it was because she would never be able to show him, he was wrong about our worth. To prove we are more than just broad mares that only need to be wed off. 

“We're more than he ever thought of us, we are the riders of Dreamfyre and Meraxes. We don't need him to be breathing to prove him wrong. Because there are more like him, and we'll show them, we'll show them why they bent their knees to Grandsire. Not because of him, but because of his sisters.” I swear and Rhaena nods as she stands straighter watching as Vhagar lights the late King's pyre turning him into worthless ash in the wind.

I watch as courtiers who never even spoke to my Grandsire sob and talk about how wonderful he was. I have to fight a scoff each time someone stops me saying how sorry they are and how he was a good man. 

You would think he didn't burn their homes to the ground if they didn't bend the knee. I think as I roll my eyes as a drunk lord I know never even saw my Grandsire talk about how amazing he was.

I finally find the person I was dying to speak to since the news had reached my ears. I waste no time making my way over to the balcony he is leaning against.

I already know what he is looking at before I even reach him. “He is now riderless, a dragon without a rider is a cruel joke.” I say as I watch Balerion sleep where we had just burned his rider. 

Maegor shakes his head with a sigh. “No, it is too soon.” 

This peaks my interest as I turn to look up at him. His jaw is set in a tense line, his eyes are set on the dragon and with one glance I can see the embers of an inferno burning within them. I know he may say it it is too soon, but I also know he doesn't care anymore. 

“And who made the rules on when you can claim a dragon? What is it he used to say, ‘you claim or you die? And a Targaryen without a dragon isn't a Targaryen at all’?” I say knowing the quote will hit close to home for him, for it always did for me until I claimed my Meraxes.

He only hums as he looks down at me. I fight the blush that threatens to rise to cheeks as he pushes a strand of hair behind my ear. “Tell me, what does it feel like when you claim a dragon?” 

I think about his question as he turns back to stare at the Black Dread. “It feels like your soul is complete. It feels like home, like the world could burn but as long as you have that beast you could make it.” 

He hums and looks down at me again before turning back to the dragon we both know he will claim in the coming days, if not tonight.

I take this as a sign that the conversation has ended, but I have one final thing to say. “I don’t know if he loved you, I hope he did but Grandsire never was good at showing you his affection. But I want to know, you don’t need him, you have proven yourself beyond what anyone could imagine already. And you much farther to go, you don’t need him, never did, and neither did I.” 

And with that I turn on my heals leaving him to his brooding and thoughts. If only we knew of the darkness on the horizons, maybe my brothers would still be here, maybe it would be Rhaena as Queen instead of me. But of course these are just maybes, and there is nothing we could have done. For how are you to defend yourself from a threat you didn’t know was coming?

Series Masterlist

Special thanks to my bestie @sugutoad for making the header for this fic! I swear I'd be lost without you girly!

TAGLIST: @sugutoad @ilikefelines @classicsimpforaaronwarner @mmogurl @sachaa-ff @athzhowakar @thelastemzy @themoonlitquill

[sunnyie-eve]

3. Won't Listen

Fandom: House of the Dragon

Series: Devious Opportunity

Pairing: Aegon II Targaryen x Cousin! OFC Targaryen!

Word Count: 1.5k

Notes: mention of death, playful flirting between cousin, sibling marriage mentioned

| MASTERLIST |

News of Laena's death is sent to everyone and in Driftmark they were holding the funeral to set her out to sea. It would also be the first time Celeste would see her father in person in a very long time. She felt more sorry for her half sister losing their mother then her father losing his wife. For the ceremony she stood with Rhaenyra, Leanor, and the boys, who happened to stand next to Viserys and his wife and kids. Aegon made sure to stand next to Celeste since he missed having her in Kings Landing.

"Have you talked to your father yet?" Aegon asks as everyone mingles.

"No, and I haven't talked to my sisters either. I hardly know them." Celeste tells him glancing over at her father.

"You know I'm to be married to Helaena... Mother is making us in order to strengthen our family." He lets her know.

"I wish you both the best."

"I wish she was betrothed to Aemond." He takes a glass from a maid to drink.

Celeste looks at him and starts to giggle slightly confusing him, "Sorry, I was just thinking about how you have to produce children with her in the future." He gives her a look, "What? I'm not wrong."

"Get it over with so no one gets on me about taking too long after we wed."

"Hopefully they get their looks from their mother instead of their father." She jokes with him and they start to play bickering with each other.

Alicent watches the two from a distance and her father notices where she was looking, "Something wrong?" He asks her.

"Do you think I made a mistake not wanting Aegon to be wed to Celeste? He has a genuine smile when she's around him."

Otto looks over at the two watching them closer. The way Aegon looked at her and how all it took from her to make him smile was just to look at him. "His mind needs to be clear." Otto tells his daughter.

"But he is happy." She looks at her father.

"Alicent," He just says her name so she nods her head not wanting to argue with him.

As he walks off a bit she looks over at Aegon and Celeste as they continue chatting. She catches sight of Aegon's free hand move to Celeste's hand resting on the ledge. Celeste didn't seem to mind as he played with her hand before holding it.

"Perhaps I should go give my condolences to my sisters now." Celeste looks over at them alone with Jace. "I'll find you afterwards." She leaves his side.

While she walks away to her sisters, Aegon goes to get another drink and another and another till he couldn't drink anymore. Drinking for him was ways he could be free and forget about things.

When Celeste was to go back to Aegon, Rhaenyra asked her to help the boys to bed so she does that first then helps her sisters before going back to find him. It didn't take long because she saw Aemond watch Otto walk o we to him so she watched as well.

Otto looked around before kicking his grandson to wake up, "Celeste?" He asks still expecting her to show back up.

"You are not to speak with her anymore. Now get to bed." He shoves him up the stairs and Celeste moves so he wouldn't see her.

She follows them carefully without being seen to his room then goes in when Otto was long gone. Entering the room she sees Aegon laying back the bed, "I'm in bed!" He shouts thinking it was Otto coming back.

"Are you going to listen to him? About me?" She asks walking over so he sits up.

"You didn't come back right away."

"I had to put boys to bed then I decided to do the same with my sisters. They said they wish they had grew up with me. Their mother would tell them about me because Leanor would write about me in his letters her." She tells him, "I'm sorry. Maybe if I had finished earlier, Otto wouldn't have found you that way."

"It's not your fault. I just like drinking to numb the pain inside." He lays back down, "I don't care what he says."

"Obviously because you're speaking to me." She walks over to him so he sits back up again.

"I could never stop. Only you care for me nobody else here does. If they did they would betroth me to you instead. They would know you make me happy and feel loved. They would already know I care for you and I want my future with you." He rants to her.

Celeste smiles taking a seat next to him on the bed, "I'm honored to hear such a thing. I really am Aegon but things are already chosen for you."

"I do not want that!" He shouts getting up from the bed, "I thought it was only princesses that had duties to follow? And not being the heir to the throne, I should not have any to follow." He paces the room.

"Aegon," She tries to get him to calm down but he just keeps ranting, "Aegon, would you please calm down." She gets up grabbing his hand, "Maybe it's for the best?"

"For the best? Are you serious? How would it be for the best? Tell me."

She had no idea what to really respond with, "I do not know, honestly. They want you a certain way and I'll get in the way."

"I will write to you everyday. No one can change my mind." He looks her in the eyes.

She just wanted to hug him tightly and never let go but she knew that Otto and Alicent could keep her away if they wanted too. She shakes her head no, "I do not want you getting in trouble for a silly girl like me." She walks backwards away from him, "Forget about me." She heads for the door but her rushes for her.

Before either could speak a guard enters the room saying something happened with the younger ones and the Kings wants everyone. As the two enter the room together, Alicent and Otto look at the two.

"Boys, sisters!" Celeste rushes over to see them then sees Luke's face then looks over at Aemond to see he had it the worst.

"Where were you?" Alicent stands up moving over to Aegon.

"Me?" He asks before she slaps him across the face, "What was that for?"

"That was nothing compared to the abuse your brother suffered while you were drowning in your cups and off wasting time with Celeste, you fool."

Celeste looks away as he looks over at her before all the other adults show up asking what happened causing the five kids to shout at the same time. "He called us bastards." Jace tells his mother.

Rhaenyra then goes to talk about her sons and their inherent to the iron throne and that it's treason to say things. The king asks his son where he heard lies and so he looks at Aegon.

"Where did you hear such calumnies?" Viserys walks over to him and Aegon gives Celeste a sad look, "Aegon! Tell me the truth of it!"

"We know, father. Everyone knows. All you have to do is look at them."

Viserys wanted everyone to make up since they were family but Alicent wasn't for it wanting the debt to be paid wanting either Jace or Luke's eye as well. Alicent ends up snapping grabbing the blade from the King going over to Rhaenyra and the boys so Rhaenyra stops her.

Luke screams rushing into Celeste wrapping his arms around her so she moves them away from the chaos. He cries into her as she watches the scene in front of her.

"What have I done but what was expected of me? Forever upholding the kingdom, the family, the law. While you flout all to do as you please. Where is duty? Where is sacrifice? It's trampled under your pretty foot again." Alicent lets her feelings out.

"Let go of the blade, Alicent." He father tells her.

"You let the girl lead my oldest astray and now you take my other son's eye, and to even that, you feel entitled."

When Alicent finally gives up she accidentally cuts Rhaenyra before everyone just stands around taking in what happened and looking at the children. Luke leaves Celeste going over to his mother. As soon as he left her she was tugged back by Aegon pulling her away and rushing out of the room.

"Aegon, what are you doing?"

Before he could answer her they were stopped by Daemon who was approaching them from behind, "Where are you taking my daughter?"

They both look at him and Aegon doesn't let go of her hand even when Otto shows up finding them as well. Knowing what she had to do, Celeste lets go of his hand, "Bye Aegon." She walks away.

Daemon and Otto both look at each other silently exchanging words before Daemon follows his daughter. Otto gives Aegon a look, "What did I tell you boy?" He shoves him down the hall.

"Celeste," Daemon catches up with his daughter and she turns to face him, "You won't reach out to him by raven."

She can't help but laugh a bit, "Suddenly you want to act like my father?"

"I am your father young lady and what I say goes."

They share a look till Celeste stands up straight, "You are no father to me, father. As far as I know I have no father and just a cousin who took the role as my mother." She walks way going to bed.

[xq1zi]

the other women will always cry herself to sleep

|angst| fem!reader| english not fist language| not proof read

being born into a noble family was never a good thing. others may say differently. but really what do they know? the way you try to “grown up” but in reality, you don’t even know what those words mean anymore. never having a friend or someone to cry on. not even having a sibling as you are an only child. your parents wishing that they had a boy her he can carry on the family name. to your parents never saw you as a person let alone someone with feelings.

you have a chance to be someone. as you are getting married to kamisato ayato. it almost felt like a blessing from celestia.

finally to be first someone's choice. someone who will see you or let you be free.

you had only met the young lord couple. as late teens when giving your grievance at his parent's funeral. or at social gatherings when you saw him from afar. this time will be at your wedding. “[name] for the love of all good, please don’t mess this up.” your mother said. “yes mother.” dinner time was never your favorite time. having to sit with the people you hated most in the world for a meal everyday. “may i go now? i have finished.” you said. “you may go.” your mother sighed.

when getting up and leaving the dining room you could hear some maids bad-mouthing you

“oh it’s lady [name]”

“she is quite weird you know.”

“i know i heard her once about how she wanted a new life.”

“what?! she is so lucky to be born into a noble family.”

“right, we could never be so lucky”

they stop bickering when they see you getting close. but it was too late you had heard it all. you go quickly to your room and locking the door. it seems like no one will understand how you feel.

the wedding will be next week. and everyone is getting ready but no one wanted your help so you were left with nothing to do and just think. will even he love you? will he even care about you? was this even worth it?

“my lady, we should get you ready for bed.” it was the head maid. she always took care of you. you sigh. you need time alone. “okay.” you walk to the bathroom with them and got in the warm bathtub. “you can leave, i can wash myself.” “i can't do that. i must be with you all the time. what if someone tries to take your life? I can not leave you”

“well i can tell you this no one will try to kill someone whose life has no meaning to it.” she sighed. “alright, i will be waiting outside the door.” the water is so warm. so calm. it was time to get out.

sleeping was extremely difficult. your eyes won't close. so you just lay there.

time went by so fast that you didn't even notice it

the day of the wedding felt so wrong. were you really about to get married? the answer was yes when you said your i do’s. ayato was a handsome man. you feel sorry that he was to be married to you. the wedding was short. so when it was over you had to go meet your sister-in-law. she was so beautiful. you also meet a man called thoma he was a kind man. the three of you talked but your social skills weren’t the best. thoma showed you the bedroom that you and ayato will be sharing from now on.

there you are, in the room that you will be sharing with him. but he never showed. you slept alone. you ate alone. you spend your time alone. you only saw him at the wedding. and nobody told you where he was because no one seem to know. the wedding was two weeks ago havent seen him since then. making up your mind and deciding to sneak out since you can’t go outside without a personal guard.

you could feel the cold night. it was refreshing. you went and walked around. this feeling of freedom was amazing. you walked for hours you were at a unknown place. someone had bumped into you as to see they weren't seeing where they were going. the man was surprised that someone walking at night in a strange place.

“are you lost miss?” he had a soft spoked voice

“oh, im afraid i am. i know don’t the city very well”

“thats fine whats your clothes look very nice so i suppose your a noble?”

“ah! yes i am my name is [name] [last na-] oh its kamisato now”

he looked at you with confusion but he continued to introduce himself

“my name is aether come i’ll lead you to the kamisato estate”

“thank you very much”

as you two walked you had a small conversation he asked you about your new marriage. “well im not sure if im even a good wife,” you took in a deep breath “i havent seen him seen the wedding but i hope we can be a good couple. im sure hes just busy” he took a second to answer “yeah i hope you too the best. so here we are” you didnt noticed that you had arrived. “thank you once again. goodnight.” and then you went back inside.

aether knew that when ayato that when he had bumped into him a few week ago with the ‘love of his life’ in matter in fact it was not you. he felt bad for you because he probably knew that ayato was avoiding you and spending time with her. as he was leaving there he was in the flesh. “aether its surprising see you here at night” “ahah ayato can speak with you please”

as you were seeking back in you heard something from ayato office. “ayato please tell them, they need not to get their hopes up” “no, then what a divorce? we cant do that or better yet let the people know that i kamisato ayato is not truthful to my wife! i just cant i know its bad”

you went back to bed. what a fool you had been. you’ll really always be the other women that will cry herself to sleep. he will never love you. he will never care. you’ll never have someone there for you and to care. life is never fair.

[blueshistorysims]

July 1923, London, England

Jack Porter’s birthday party was very large and very loud. People crammed every part of their house, from the first floor to the third, and it was amusing to watch as Wilhelmina and her husband scrambled around their house, trying to speak to all the people they invited. 

“Byron! You’re just standing there looking like a wallflower when I know you’re not,” Wilhelmina exclaimed, moseying her way over to him. 

“I’m just observing the crowd. He nodded his head toward the tall red-haired man. “I’ve not seen that man at any of the parties you’ve hosted or any I’ve attended recently. Who is he?”

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to introduce you, he and Jack were flatmates back before he made it as a poet, and he was still in medical school. They’ve been friends longer than I’ve known Jack. Dr. MacGregor has been traveling the world since his wife died, and he’s only recently returned to London. You two would get along greatly—you’re both arguers.”

Byron froze. “I’m sorry, did you say his name was MacGregor? Montgomery MacGregor? From Perthshire, Scotland? The Scottish communist Montgomery MacGregor?”

“You know him?”

He gulped, nodding slowly. “He… he was… he’s my late sister’s husband.”

Wilhelmina looked equally shocked. “...Edeline was your sister?”

“Yes. You knew her?”

“We were friends, my god, I had no idea you were related. I’m so sorry.”

“You weren’t at their wedding or her funeral.”

She frowned. “Jack couldn’t get leave, and Joel had just returned home when they were married.” She bit her lip. “And Jack was still getting over the flu when she passed.”

“I… I think I am going to speak to him.”

Byron swallowed as he made his way over to the bar. It had been over four years since he last saw Montgomery, not since his father’s and sister’s funeral. He was clean-shaven, his hair was shorter, his glasses different, and if Wilhelmina hadn’t pointed him out, he doubted he would have recognized him.

“You look very different without a mustache.”

He turned around, and his eyes widened behind his frames. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ! Byr—no, it would be yer grace now, wouldn’t it?”

“Don’t fucking call me that. My god, it is you.”

He set his drink down. “Jesus. Ho-how are ya? How do ya know the Porters?”

“Divorced. Wilhelmina’s late brother and I were roommates in boarding school, and… we were sweethearts for a summer when I was younger.”

“...Ya look well. Better than the last time I saw ya.”

Byron looked at his feet. “You as well. Where have you been? It’s been four fucking years.”

Montgomery shrugged, pushing up his glasses. “Everywhere.”

They spent hours talking (and drinking). Byron told him everything he’d done in the last four years, excluding his sexual escapades with men while Montgomery described the last four years of his life. He had traveled all over the world as a way to grieve. He’d been from everywhere from Tibet to the northernmost point of Alaska, which impressed Byron greatly. He’d helped organize the British Communist Party but had only recently left it after a spat with the general secretary and a trip to Russia, and how he’d become disillusioned with the political ideology he once held to heart, and its lack of choice and democracy.

“Democratic socialist I suppose I am now, but I dinna ken.”

He’d only returned to Britain from his travels a month ago, and had moved into an old house that had been converted into three townhouses, smaller than his old one. It was difficult to be in Edinburgh, so he’d returned to London, working as both a private physician and part-time instructor at a teaching hospital.

“I have an old whiskey me mother gave me when I turned 30. Never opened. Fancy it? Me place is only a block away, straight down the road.” His accent had grown nearly twice as thick.

Byron looked around at the dwindling party. “Sure, I’d rather not be a straggler.”

It was well decorated, which immediately gave a clue that Elspeth had been the one to do his house. He watched as Montgomery disappeared into the kitchen, and he sat on the sofa, staring at the photographs of his late sister, who stared right back. It was uncomfortable, though he couldn’t place why. 

It wasn’t until half the bottle was gone, and Byron and Montgomery were both properly drunk, when he glanced at the clock on the wall and saw it was past one in the morning. 

“Oh fuck, it’s late.”

Montgomery blinked, slowly turning his toward the clock. “Aye, yer right.”

Slowly, Byron stood up, looking around for his overcoat. “Thank you for the whiskey. Do you think taxis operate this late?”

“Where are ya stayin’?”

“The Ritz.”

“Shite, that’s the other side of town. No taxi is available now.” He waved upstairs. “Take me bed, I dinna care. I can sleep on the sofa.”

“No, I can take the sofa, I don’t want to impose on your hospitality.”

“A duke on me fuckin’ sofa?”

“I’ve slept in worse places.”

The older man shook his head firmly. “I insist. Me bed feels like heaven.”

Byron shrugged, deciding he’d rather not argue with the Scotsman.

When Byron stepped inside the bedroom, a pang of sadness hit him. The way the room was decorated, shades of green and florals reminded him of Edeline, who adored green and decorated any space with it when she was able to. He wondered if Elspeth had done this for her brother on purpose. 

He sat on the bed, feeling the mattress sink. He felt awkward, and things around him had begun to blur. Byron looked up to Montgomery had gotten closer, to the point where their feet were almost touching. There was a glossy look in his eyes as they made eye contact and all of a sudden, the room grew very quiet. 

“Byron?” Montgomery whispered after minutes.

He licked his lips. “...You’re quite attractive, you know that?”

The Scot bent down and grabbed his face, and not much was said after their lips touched. 

[liminalmemories21]

have you seen the deleted wedding scene? hell, even the whole thing? I want your thoughts.

Sorry, I saw this right as I was going to bed and needed to be awake and functional again in 5 hours.  So, thoughts developed during my commute to work this morning.

My thoughts on the finale episodes fall broadly into three categories - the good, the okay sure but why, and the bad.  I think this is actually kind of my reaction to this entire season, but that's a longer discussion. The Good

These episodes had some gorgeous scenes between characters.  TK doing Carlos's tie for him before the funeral.  The conversation between Carlos and TK where they postpone the wedding, and the way the whole thing is a mirror of the proposal scene, and TK promising that he's not going anywhere.  The moment where Carlos comes back and says, no now because this makes sense, you make sense for me.  The entire conversation between Owen and Carlos.   The joy of the wedding. [cutting here for anyone who wants to skip the rest of the commentary]

The Okay Sure, but Why

Iris stood up with Carlos at his wedding in place of his father?  Why?  Why on earth would you not have Andrea stand up with Carlos?  It would be such a mirror for Owen standing up with TK.  Or, if for some reason you don't want to do that (again, why?), Iris is an odd choice simply because we do not know her.  This has nothing to do with anything I think about the Iris plotline in general - but she's there in the first few episodes and what we know is that they used to be best friends but haven't spoken in 5-6 years.  If you want to have her as a major player at the wedding you need to foreshadow that - some throw away lines about, hey we had dinner with Iris the other night, or have her show up in the background at game night like Asha did.  And, if you aren't going to do that, and you aren't going to have Andrea stand up with Carlos, it would have made more sense to have one of the 126 stand up with him (Marjan maybe since Paul was officiating) - we've seen his relationship with the 126 for 4 seasons.  They know him. Carlos's sisters - why?  In a season that is heavily about Carlos's relationship with his family we know nothing about his sisters.  What did they think when he came out?  What did they think of his marriage to Iris?  What do they think of TK?  What's their relationship with Carlos now?  Do they live nearby?  It's possible I missed it, but I don't think they even got named in the episode.  I had to go look up their names on IMDB.  So, if you're not going to do anything with them, why have them there.

Especially, why cast Carlos's sisters - and their husbands, and at least one child - if you aren't going to cast Enzo and Jonah.  We haven't heard Carlos even mention his sisters before halfway through this season, but TK's first thought when he hears that Gwyn died was, but what about Jonah.  They had Carlos's sisters and family, and TK's uncle and family (who he's known for a hot second) at the rehearsal dinner, but not his brother and the man who was basically his step-father for 15 years?  Why? The Bad

Okay, the entire Judd-Wyatt plot line is a hot mess of stupid.  Wyatt is a grown man who was training to be a firefighter, but got no say in his occupational therapy?  What about his fiance/mother of his child?  She didn't get to have an opinion about this?  Is she also going to move into the Judd/Grace household?

Judd isn't trained for occupational therapy.  Just full stop, no further commentary.  And, giving up your pension is a really stupid financial decision?  Take the leave of absence Owen offered, get a home loan to make your house more accessible when Wyatt gets out of OT.  Continue to have a salary.  I do not understand any of the reasoning in this plot line.

There's a comment from Tim floating around that there were 30+ minutes of cut footage that they just didn't have time for.  And, what that tells me is that this should have been a three-episode arc, instead of trying to cram all of this plot into two episodes.  It would have given Carlos's grief time to breathe, and time for the investigation of Gabriel's death to play out.  It would have given more time for the wedding - why cut the scene of Andrea helping Carlos get ready the morning of his wedding?  This whole season has been about the wedding, and it's this triumph of choosing life, but we barely get to see it?

Also, the timing of Robert dying - TK and Carlos are going to cut their honeymoon short to come back for another funeral?  They're not going to the funeral?  They're coming home from their honeymoon and being told, hey while you were gone . . . .?  Also, this is so very obviously going to come back and bite Owen in the ass I can't even. I feel like the theme of this season was fathers and sons - TK and Owen finding a way back to each other, Carlos and Gabriel (and Andrea) finding a way back to a relationship.  But, I feel like a lot of the time the way it read was Carlos being gaslit about his relationship with his parents.  You hear Andrea regret the way they reacted when Carlos came out, but you never hear her say it to him.  You never hear Gabriel say it to him.  You have three seasons of Carlos feeling alienated from his family, and then a lot of moments this season where people tell him that he was wrong to feel like that, that he was so loved.  Which, fine, that's great, but doesn't actually erase a decade of feeling like he wasn't good enough.

So, in conclusion, some lovely gorgeous moments in an episode that had a lot of tonal and emotional whiplash.  Which is kind of what I think about the season in general.

[chaoswithkaycee]

A Farewell to Papaw

He was born in 1946, two days after Christmas, the third son of an Appalachian coal miner and his bitch wife. You may think I’m being too harsh on my great grandmother - but trust me, if you’d known her, you’d agree. West Virginia was a beautiful place to grow up, poor as they were, and Papaw told me stories all the time of his upbringing. He got into making moonshine shortly before he married my Gramma in 1964, when he was 17 and she was 16. I saw the picture once, of them on their wedding day. She was wearing a tea length, cream-colored dress, her curly brown hair pinned back and swept off her neck, and little lace gloves. He was wearing gray slacks and a mismatched jacket. At 17, he already had calluses on his hands and dirt in every pore, no matter how hard he scrubbed, from working in the mines with his daddy. He told me, when he showed me the picture, that right after they’d gotten married, he’d gone right back to work that day. He worked everyday to give “Annie” (my Gramma) everything she deserved. 

At some point, West Virginia lost its luster and they moved to Texas before their first child, my aunt, was born. Not too much later, their second child, my father, came around too. Around that time, Papaw gave up moonshining and got sober himself. Once he left rehab, he never touched alcohol again. Coal mines aren’t a thing here on the gulf coast, so he moved into the next most common working poor job we have here - a refinery plant. He worked at the same plant until he retired, some 40-ish years later. That job paid for him to buy a little three bedroom house with a shed, paid for the tools he used to maintain that house and yard, paid to keep his sweet wife at home to raise their kids and grow her rose garden and plant a pear tree in the middle of the backyard. That job paid for his kids school clothes and shoes, for all the food that filled their bellies - and they never went hungry, that was a rule he had from his own time as a poor child in the Appalachian region - paid for Annie to go and get her hair done at the salon down the road every other week, paid for the small donations they could muster at church. And when Annie got sick, it paid for her treatment and surgery, and eventually, her funeral. He taught himself how to make rosaries, and made her one every day from the time he retired to the time she passed away. 

Of course, all of that happened long before I came around (Except her death. She passed when I was 13). He was still working when I was born, though. I grew up in the same house that he raised my daddy and aunt in. He helped my mama put my bedroom together, bought a swingset for the backyard, and built a playroom add-on next to the laundry room, attached to what would become my bedroom. He and Gramma helped to baby proof the house, bought toys and books and clothes, and talked my terrified parents down a hundred times over. 

When my aunt announced the birth of her second child, mama was devastated to find out it was a girl. Now my aunt, daddy’s older sister, had given birth to both the first grandson and the first granddaughter, a month before I would be born (well, really, it was three months before I was supposed to be born, but I surprised them two months early). Mama said she sat on the swingset out in the backyard and cried. Papaw came out to talk to her, and asked her what was wrong. She said she was scared that I wouldn’t be special to him, since I wouldn’t be the first granddaughter. Papaw looked her dead in the eye and told her every baby that came into his life was special, and I was no different. He would love me just as much as the first two, and he’d love every one that came after just as much as the ones before. Years later, when I told this story back to him (as mama had told it to me), he told me a little bit more. “She was my special girl, your mama,” he said, adjusting his cannula and stopping to catch his breath. “Annie liked her well enough, but I loved that girl. Day she married your dad, she became my daughter, and I loved her just as much as my own baby girl. She’s still my special girl, tell her that next time you see her.” I did tell her, and she cried.

I was born two months too soon, and he was there at the hospital as soon as his shift was over. He sat and prayed with my mama, he gave money to my daddy so he could call off work to be with me and mama. When the doctor predicted I’d die, he told me I wasn’t allowed to. I don’t remember it, but he’s told the story back to me so many times that I feel like I can. I was in an incubator, in a diaper so small he said it couldn’t have been any bigger than a tissue (according to him), and I wasn’t crying or anything. Just fighting for every breath. And he said he told me I wasn’t allowed to die, because he hadn’t been allowed to hold me yet, and I would break his heart if I died before he could hold me.

I’m sure my survival is far more likely because of the dedicated team of nurses and doctors that took care of me around the clock for the next month, but my Papaw believes it’s because he told me to stay. Maybe both are true. I have so many memories of sitting in his lap while he learned how to use a computer, watching tv with him, laying on his chest and listening to his heartbeat. He always smelled like gasoline and tobacco, which are both considered extremely acrid smells, but they smelt like home and comfort to me. I remember how he used to hand me a comb and some oil and let me comb his beard and mustache, and even when I got snagged on knots he never yelled or gave any sign of discomfort. I remember the silver watch he wore, an anniversary gift from my gramma to celebrate their first year together. His hair was already thinning when I came around, but it still had a little curl to it, and he let me comb that too. 

I remember how he used to take me to the park in his pick up truck when the fair was in town, how he’d buy me a caramel apple even though I would just eat the caramel part. He always ate the apple for me. When he went to the grocery store, he’d go to the candy section and pick out all the banana Runts to bring home to me in a little bag. To this day, I can’t eat banana Runts without thinking of him. Even when he moved up to Tennessee and I only saw him once every few years, he made it a point to go down to the store and buy me all the banana Runts he could find, enough for me to snack on for the next week.

When I came out of the closet, I expected him to stop loving me. To tell me that it was wrong, that God would be angry, that he was angry. I was so scared of his reaction that I hid it from him for almost ten years after I told everyone else. He found out when my dad accidentally mentioned my girlfriend at the time, and he called me to talk about it. “Monkey,” he said, because that was his nickname for me, “tell me about this girl.” And I did. I told him about how her smile made my insides feel like melted butter, how she smelled like chocolate dipped strawberries and laughed at all my jokes. “Sounds like she makes you feel like Annie made me feel.” He told me. Gramma had already been gone for awhile at this point, and he sounded sad when he said it, but I knew what he meant. “Don’t be afraid to tell me something ever again, baby girl. You’re always my Monkey, and I love you no matter what.”

Last time I saw him was in 2018, a few months after that phone call. He was already pretty sick then, and a little confused. He told me probably a hundred times that I was his Monkey and he loved me so much. I thought it was because he forgot he already told me, but now I wonder if he knew I wouldn’t see him again and he wanted to make sure he said it enough times to fill up my life when he was gone. He wouldn’t let me comb his beard this time, but he sat and played checkers with me for awhile, then candyland with me, my sister, and my dad.

Papaw wasn’t perfect. But he loved me, and I loved him. He helped shape who I am, taught me kindness and steadiness to counteract my chaos. I got the news yesterday that he isn’t expected to make it another week, and I’m a wreck. He always told me that as long as you love someone, as long as you remember them, they’re not gone. So I thought I’d tell y’all about him, and maybe y’all could love him and remember him too. Thanks for letting me ramble.

[1d1195]

a couple years back i made a playlist called ‘songs i want played at my funeral’ and it was just songs i was really into at the moment but my mom somehow saw it and she was maaaaddddd😂 NO I GET IT THERE ARE JUST SOME SONGS THAT WHEN YOU HEAR THEM AT A WEDDING ITS LIKE YOUR HEART STOPS WORKING IDK WHAT THAT IS

went out with my oldest brother to run some errands today and i made us listen to 1D in the car nwbdjejwh it’s a hit with everyone, no matter who they are, he had the time of his life even if he would never admit it🤣

i’m glad you liked it !! i sat down and really listened to the lyrics and it was just so cute and sweet

hidden writer is so real of you lol. you’re literally changing lives out here and then living a normal life behind the screen, humble queen🙂‍↕️ you’re like our super hero (i laughed at u telling him u took a writing class when you didn’t just as an excuse, you’re so funny for that) i think it’s really therapeutic to have something just for yourself like this, idk but i really like to keep things to myself, as much as i love my family and friends and all that. even if it’s something small (or a hit tumblr blog in your case)

I LOVE NORMAL PEOPLE !!!!! i bought the book a couple of years ago when i was traveling and one time my sister picked it up and was like “i couldn’t even get past the first few pages, it was too confusing!” 😭😭 not for everyone i guess, but i really enjoyed both the book and the show.

SAW THAT YOU LIKE MADELINE MILLER AND GREEK MYTH STUFF ??? TWIN !!!! i read the song of achilles and jwhdidjwhaks i was in LOVE with it, ive been meaning to get to circe for soooo long but idk i just haven’t, gonna get that one on the next bookstore trip hopefully 🤞

i got Love & Other Words, The Book of Goose (saw something abt this online, super psyched for it), A Certain Hunger (cannibalism i think?? fun!!😃), and a Mary Oliver poetry book !! i have this obsession with reading deep, serious, (sometimes dark n sad) books because the writing is just sooooooo good !!! and i just always go back to them, they’re my favorites, but ive realized i have to balance that out with a cute, soft, easygoing romance afterwards cause i can only handle so much😭😭 even if it’s just a cute fic i need to remind myself there’s still happiness somewhere🤣🤣

HOPE YOUR HAVE THE GREATEST DAY EVER SAMMMM MWAHHH😚✨

~🎶

THAT'S SO FUNNY regarding the funeral playlist 😭😭

OF COURSE HE HAD THE TIME OF HIS LIFE. I do that to my bf all the time. I tell him "this song is a bop. Do you remember who wrote all the bops?" And he'll be like *sigh* "Louis..." it's my favorite thing in the world. He doesn't need to admit he had a good time, it's an internal thing that he needs to feel and nothing more 💕 ask him what his favorite song was and report back. I have my bf take 1D quizzes from Buzzfeed all the time 😂

I never thought about how much I keep from him and other people I love, but really it's just this blog. A HIT 😭😭 You're so sweet 💕

I LOVE Greek Myth stuff. I've read Elektra, Galatea (short story by Madeline Miller, didn't love it tbh, but anyway), Ariadne (Theseus is a D-BAG idk why I was surprised but still), I also have A Thousand Ships on my shelf as well as Pandora's Jar (which is actually looking more like a book describing all the greek myths in terms of why men suck and women get blamed for it anyway). I liked Circe more I think--been a while since I read it so I don't remember why, but I did. SO good.

PLEASE tell me what you think of Love & Other Words. I just got it back from my sister, I was rereading parts of it--it is my favorite of theirs so far 💕

I'm intrigued by The Book of Goose! Let me know what you think! I think I would skip A Certain Hunger personally, but I can't say it didn't reel me in a little. That's cool you picked up a poetry book. I'm not very into poetry--I think my brain is broken for higher order thinking. I can only do fluffy stories these days and historical fiction. But yeah. I think that's pretty cool you like the deep serious stuff! Nothing wrong with that! It's probably very thought provoking and I can't wait to hear your reviews! 💕

LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

xoxo

[vxntagedior]

heyyy i love ur writing and have fallen in love with xavier so fast!! can i request xavier falling for tyler’s sister when she comes into the cafe while he is volunteering but she gets super shy around him? if u felt like writing something longer it could evolve into how she realises tyler is the hyde and she is the one to free xavier and help him get to nevermore to help wednesday

all good if not 🫶🏻🫶🏻

chai latte

summary | the monster in the woods brings you and Xavier closer than before

pairing | xavier thorpe x fem!reader

warning | fluff, angst, xavier and reader dancing around their feelings

word count | 1.9k

You never really like drinking coffee, but having your twin brother working at the Weathervane, it basically means you get free drinks. 

Walking across town after class, you saw how the town was preparing for Outreach Day, when all the Nevermore students came into town. 

The bell on top of the door dinged as you entered through, you were surprised it was so empty but with everyone working for the day, you were glad you had most of the place to yourself. 

“Xavier.” You smiled softly, not expecting to see him at the Weathervane, “What are you doing here?”

“Weathervane was my assignment for Outreach Day.” He leaned against the counter, “Can I get you a chai latte.”

You were surprised that he even remembered what you drank. The two of you had an odd relationship. Meeting for the first time last year during the last Outreach Day, you apologized for what your brother and his friends did to him.

It was a blooming friendship since you usually spent your time at the Weathervane, not wanting to go home any longer then you needed to and you got free drinks while you did your homework. 

Xavier usually came into town every once in a while, always making sure to stop by and talk with you before he went back to Nevermore, always leaving you with a drawing he made while the two of you talked. 

You never told Tyler nor your dad that you were friends with Xavier, both of them not liking the students are Nevermore, saying how bad they were for Jericho. There was nothing bad about Xavier, he was kind to you, never said anything ill about anyone. 

“Here ya go.” He smiled. 

“Y/n.” You looked over his shoulder to see Tyler coming out of the back, “What are you doing talking to him?”

You frowned looking back at Xavier, seeing how his face fell, he gave a small smile, saying nothing more. 

“I was just making her a drink.” Xavier said, “Nothing else.”

“Go home Y/n.” Tyler sighed. You never knew why he was growing so agitated lately, but not wanting to cause any problems with him, you walked out. 

Xavier watched as you crossed the street, cursing himself mentally for not asking you out, once again. 

-

Since your mom had passed, your dad was barely home and whenever he was, he didn’t spare any attention to you and Tyler was always at work or school and now with Wednesday Addams. 

You were noisy, something Dr. Kinbott seemed to notice while you attended therapy. Since her funeral, you kept trying to figure out why your mother died, though the coroner said it was suicide, you didn’t believe it, she wouldn’t you all like that. 

Growing up, your mom never really talked about her life, keeping everything in the present, the only photo you saw of her when she was young was her wedding. 

Before she died, she had given you a box of her mementoes. You never really looked at it, still overcome with grief but it seemed like she would answer some of the questions that were still unanswered.

There are many photos of you all as a family, a few things that she loved, but there was one that caught your eye. 

Seeing the purple uniform, your eyes wide, pulling it out further. It was a Nevermore Academy uniform. Looking closer at the photo, you tried to figure what your mother was. Turning the photo around, you looked at the familiar cursive handwriting.

‘I’d never hyde anything from you’

You looked at it for a few more minutes wondering why she spelt hyde wrong. 

“It’s not wrong.” You whispered to yourself, pocketing the photo, putting the box back in your closet. 

Running over to your bookcase, your finger traced against the spines of the book before stopping at the one you needed, Jekyll and Hyde. 

You remembered hearing Tyler talking with Wednesday about the monster being a Hyde. Pulling out your phone, your fingers typed rapidly to Xavier, wanting to know more about the Hyde. 

The sound of your ringtone pulled you out of your mind, seeing Xavier’s name at the top. 

“Do you know something?” He asked almost immediately. 

“I think my mother was a Hyde.” You sighed, “I heard Tyler and Wednesday talking about it, that’s what that thing is that’s been killing people.

“Wednesday.” You heard him say. Assuming that he walked away from the phone without picking up, you couldn’t hear the conversation but hearing the doors slam open you jumped. 

“Freeze!” You heard through the phone, you knew that voice anywhere, screaming into the phone. 

“Xavier, Xavier!”

It was blurry from there, getting out of the house and running to the police station, forgetting all about your car. 

“Dad, what’s going on!” Your eyes were wide, seeing the handcuffs on Xavier, watching him being pushed into the room where the holding cell was. 

“I found who has been murdering all those people.” He said simply. 

“You're joking.” You said in disbelief. Looking behind your dad, you saw Wednesday behind him. “What the hell did you do?”

Before you could get any closer, he had pushed you away from her. 

“Y/n, you need to calm down and go home.”

“I’m going anywhere!” You screamed, “You just arrested someone who didn’t do anything.”

“Tyler, please take your sister home.” Your dad just sighed before walking into his office. You noticed how it wasn’t in the room, no one was, letting you slip into the holding room. 

“Xavier.” You whispered, coming to stand in front of the cell. 

“You shouldn’t be here.” There was no emotion in his face, like he had just completely given up at that point. “You can’t see me like this, go home, please.”

Tears started to water your eyes, wiping them with the back of your hand, you sniffled, “I’m gonna get you out of here. I promise”

Walking out of the room, you missed the tears that were streaming down his face. 

Coming back home that night, you spent hours re-reading Jekyll and Hyde, trying to see if anything from the book gave you any sense of what this monster was. 

You reminded yourself how genetics plays a role into many things, and if your mother was born a hyde, that genetic would pass down to you or-

Tyler. 

Not believing yourself, it was the only answer that sounded correct, but you never wondered how he truly got it. Knowing the truth now, you had to get Xavier out, and get him to help you and tell the truth not only to your father but to Nevermore. 

Knowing your dad like the back of your hand, he had kept a set of spare keys to the station and others needed in the building, hidden in a junk drawer in the kitchen. 

You were slamming down on the gas, driving through town, getting to the station in a record amount of time. Slipping through the remaining officers in the station, looking around before going back into the holding cells. 

“Xavier!” You smiled, pulling the keys out of your pocket, trying each one before it was unlocked. 

“It’s Tyler.” Xavier saw how devastated you looked, as much as he was a monster, he was your brother. 

“We’ll go back to Nevermore and figure it out.” He wrung his hands out, rubbing at his wrists, seeing how red they were. “Thank you, you saved me.”

Something felt bad when you arrived at Nevermore, you always had uneasy feelings for the school but it was different this time. Seeing the crowd of students running towards the entrance, you slammed down on your brakes, looking over to Xavier. 

“We’re gonna have to run.” He decided, jumping out of your car. 

Grabbing your hand in his, Xavier pulled you with him as he weaved in and out through the students. You could hear the terror in their voices explaining about how Crackstone had invaded the quad. 

Though you had never been to Nevermore, you watched as Xavier ran away from the main part of the school down into the fields. Never speaking, you watched as he grabbed his bow and arrow before running back towards the quad. 

“I need you to stay here.” He hid you behind a corridor. “If someone happens, run, and do not look back.”

“Xavier!” You screamed for him as he ran into the quad, from where you were standing, you couldn’t see, but all the commotion made you fearful. Hearing someone screamed, you choked on your breath, sliding on the wall, curling yourself into a ball, practically making yourself invisible. 

Your eyes were closed, just listening, eventually, it quieted outside, and you heard footsteps approaching you. Covering your mouth with your hand, muffling your breath and your sobs, you pushed your head into your knees. 

“Y/n.”

You let out a muffled gasp, looking up to see Xavier only a few feet away from you. 

“Xavier.” You cried, coming up from the ground, running towards him. His arms were already open for you, one hand wrapped around your waist, the other holding the back of your head. 

“C’mon, let’s get out of here.” His arm was still slinged around your waist, as he brought you out to the quad. You saw Crackstone and a woman, both on the ground dead, Wednesday and two other students standing above them. 

None of you talked as you walked out of Nevermore, coming to the group of students outside the gates. The sounds of leaves crunching against your feet, you found yourself looking up at all the students. 

“You okay?” You asked Xavier. 

“Yeah.” He nodded, “I’m just glad you're safe.”

-

Coming home that night was dreadful, your dad had Tyler taken into custody, somewhere he couldn’t hurt anybody. 

Hearing through the grapevine, you heard that Nevermore was closed down for the rest of the semester. You were a little glum that you wouldn’t see Xavier for almost two months before he came back. 

Sitting in your usual booth at the Weathervane, you heard the doorbell ring, looking up. 

“What are you doing here, I thought you left already.” You smiled, watching as he came over towards your booth.

“I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye.” He said, “What type of guy would I be?”

You pushed yourself out of the booth, sighing softly, before wrapping your arms around his shoulder, resting your head on his chest. 

“I’m gonna miss you.” You whispered. 

“I have a phone, you know.” He laughed. 

“Can’t you say you’ll miss me too.” You huffed. 

“I’ll miss you too.” He said softly, his hand cradling your cheek, leaning down to kiss your forehead. Your eyes closed in content, feeling his lips linger for a second before pulling away. “Maybe over break, you’d like to take a trip.”

“Are you inviting me to your house?” You said in amusement. 

“Something like that, can’t be away from you that long.”

“Course I will.” Hearing a horn honk outside, you both looked out to see a man who assumed who was Xavier’s father.

“He always knows when to ruin a moment.” He pulled away from you. “I’ll see you.”

“You too, Xavi.” You quickly kissed a cheek before settling back down.

Watching as he exited the Weathervane, seeing him walk towards the car, Xavier looked back to see you already watching. He just smiled before getting in. You waited until you couldn’t see him anymore, before settling back into your work. 

fin.

[wishfulwithwine]

Eye of His Storm - Prologue

Aemond Targaryen x Velaryon!Fem!Reader

She was the pure beauty of the Targaryens and Velaryons, only daughter of Rhaenyra and Laenor Velaryon, second child.

He was the scarred, menacing son of the King Viserys and Alicent Hightower.

They put together the broken pieces of their lives, and made each other whole.

Warning: series will have INCEST, cursing, smut, violence, ptsd, alcohol, and other possible triggers. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF MINOR. 18+ ONLY

photo from pinterest

Y/N stood faithfully next to her father at Laena’s funeral, wrapping her arms around him as Y/N tried to comfort him while Laenor did his best to be stoic. 

As the second child and only daughter of Rhaenyra Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon, Y/N was seen as the sunshine of the family. The gem of the Velaryon house - as she was also the only child that was clearly visible the product of the two wedded parents. 

Her skin wasn’t nearly as dark as her father’s, nor her cousins Baela and Rhaena, but she had a glow to her skin unlike her mother and brothers. Her hair and eyes were the same color as both of theirs, but the silkiness of her hair was Rhaenyra’s. Y/N was pleased her hair did not have the typical Velaryon texture, as her father showed how his unruly hair troubled him daily. 

There was never any question of her legitimacy, in contrast to that of her brothers.

During the funeral, as the only child that looked like her father, Y/N was subject to the staring, as the Velaryon legacy was whispered about. She heard the whispers from Princess Rhaenys, Lord Vaemond, the Queen, and everyone else it seemed. 

All throughout the ceremony, she kept her head down or buried her face in her father’s side, unwilling to look at anyone. Her mother was more concerned with her brother’s - Jace, who wished to be mourning his actual father at Harranhaal, and Luke, who was too young to quite understand anything. Y/N reasoned that her mother’s increased attachment to the boys was because of the loss of Ser Harwin, however it didn’t make it feel any better. It wasn’t the first time she didn’t feel the affection of her mother, and Y/N knew it wouldn’t be the last. Y/N was a product of duty, not love, and Y/N felt more alone than anyone else. 

After the funeral, when everyone was eating, she followed her father to wade in the water. He was clearly drunk, but she’d rather be with her father than the eyes of everyone else. 

When Laenor got too drunk, Ser Qarl brought him and Y/N back to Laenor’s chambers, where Laenor brought out some more wine, drinking again, trying to drown out the memories of his sister. It didn’t take long before Ser Qarl told her to leave in order to put her father to bed.

As she passed through to go to her own room, she heard her grandparents’ Rhaenys and Corlys’ conversation of heirs - how Princess Rhaenys wished to transfer the Driftmark inheritance to Laena’s daughters or state Y/N instead of Luke as heir, since none of the boys were of true Velaryon blood. Lord Corlys denied it, however, as they both knew how women were treated, and “names were to be remembered”. 

Tears flooded her eyes, as Y/N scurried away as quickly as she could without being noticed, before she saw Helaena and hung out with her in her room. The girls had grown close, almost as sisters, as both the middle children with only brothers at Kings’ Landing. Y/N didn’t mind Helaena's fascination with bugs - although Y/N had learned that the spiders were something that she did not want to touch or be near. 

“Are you okay, Y/N?” Alicent asked, when she saw her with Helaena playing. Alicent had noticed the red eyes from tears all too well on Y/N’s face, despite the fake smile Y/N was showing to her daughter to keep Helaena happy. Y/N turned to Alicent, a woman that although had drifted apart from her own mother, was someone that she didn’t have any bad interactions with. Y/N looked down at her hands, before looking over to Helaena, before back to Alicent.

“My Queen, may I - may I talk to you?” Y/N asked, softly. Alicent gave the girl a soft smile, nodding as she gestured the girl away from her daughter. 

“What is troubling you?” Alicent asked, looking at the girl who had become so close with her daughter, as well as Aemond. To be honest, Alicent was surprised Aemond wasn’t there as well, considering whenever Y/N was around, so was he. 

“Everyone’s talking about my brothers and I, how different I look from them, and I don’t know how to deal with the stares. How do you - how are you always so calm as Queen? I..It’s overwhelming” Y/N said. “I apologize. I know I should ask my mother this but-“

“But nothing, sweet girl. Y/N, you have been my daughter’s best friend since she was born, and technically you are family. Everyday is a new battle, I suppose. I am grateful that you think I am calm, sweet girl. I cannot tell you how to stop the stares, but just know that you have done nothing wrong. You are a beautiful girl, my darling, absolutely perfect,” Alicent said, treading lightly on her words, as she brought the girl into a hug. Alicent looked up, locking eyes with Ser Cole, who was staring at both of them with regret. 

When Rhaenyra had proposed the joining of houses, she had no problems with Y/N and Aegon marrying. However, in order to protect Helaena from marrying Jace, a bastard, she needed to marry Aegon to Helaena. Y/N was the daughter Alicent wished she had, a girl who enjoyed the finer things such as painting and needlepoint, and who’s mother clearly did not appreciate near enough. 

“Thank you, my Queen” Y/N said, holding Alicent a bit tighter, before going back to play with Helaena. 

Soon there was loud commotion outside the room, and Alicent was urgently brought out to address a fight that had occurred between the other children. She had instructed the guards to keep you and Helaena there, protected, until she otherwise said so. 

“He’ll have to lose an eye” Helaena mumbled, and it stroked fear inside of Y/N. Worried, she tried to see anything outside the window or hear anything from the guards, but all she could do was wait with Helaena. 

It was a while before they found out what had happened, Aemond came through the doors, alongside his mother, Otto and some maesters.

“Oh Aemond!” Y/N said, rushing over to him as soon as he was settled in a chair, holding his hand, as tears started to fall down Y/N’s cheeks as they stared at one another. Y/N was on the side that he could still see, as the maesters worked on the injury on the other side of his face.  “Who did this to you? Gods, I’ll kill them. Tell me who and I’ll rip their eye out” Y/N said, with such conviction, that Alicent’s stomach dropped. Although she was still furious at Rhaenyra and her sons for doing this, it clearly was not Y/N. Her family once again putting her in the crosshairs of the drama.

“It’s okay. I claimed Vhagar” Aemond said, which seemed to soften Y/N’s face. Everyone stared at the pair, but each other’s focus was on the other. There was love there, it seemed. Love that everyone had seemingly ignored.

“I’m so proud of you, Aemond. You got the dragon you deserve. That is not enough, though, and whoever did this to you needs to be punished. I don’t care who it is” Y/N told him, squeezing his hand lightly, before looking to Alicent who she knew would tell her.

“It was your brother, Lucerys. Your brothers and cousins attacked him” Alicent said, regretfully to the girl. The maesters and guards who were in the room were surprised at Alicent’s response, seeing her reaction during the fight and now with the daughter of who she injured.

Y/N stilled, shocked by her family’s actions, before hugging Aemond closer.

“Oh gods, I am so sorry” Y/N cried, kneeling on the ground besides Aemond, placing her head on his arm. Aemond reached out his hand, rubbing her back, with almost a tilt of a smile, looking down at the girl he loved - which didn’t go unnoticed by Alicent.

“Take my eye” Y/N whispered, looking directly at him. The room silenced with shock. 

“No” Aemond stated.

“Take my eye. I assume my mother has protected her sons, but I’m here. Take my eye. Let me repay the debt” Y/N said, tears falling down her face as she looked to Alicent, who was struggling internally. 

Here was the daughter of her now enemy - willing to sacrifice for her son, understanding the debt to be paid. Alicent looked over at her father, who shook his head.

“You are too good for this family, Y/N. You did nothing wrong. You are not to be blamed for the sins of your brothers” Alicent said, coming closer to the girl. 

“Then I’ll go get it from Lucerys” Y/N said, going to stand before Aemond pulled on her, causing her to stop, kneeling back and being by his side.

“Don’t leave me” He pleaded, and she looked over to Alicent.

“Stay, it is Aemond’s wish. The King has ordered this all to be done, so there are no actions to be taken” Alicent said, trying not to let the bitterness she still held show. Y/N nodded, and rested her head back against Aemond’s shoulder.

“I will stay here as long as you’ll want me” Y/N promised, as the maester finished working on Aemond.

Aemond couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face, as he held Y/N closer to his side. He may have lost an eye, but he got a dragon and it seemed his love as well.

[tiannasfanfic]

This Ain’t High School

Adrian Chase/Vigilante x Reader

@peacemakernet Adrian Chase Appreciation Week: Day 2: Fake Dating

Summary: When you ask Christopher Smith to be your fake date for your 15-year high school reunion, he jumps at the chance to turn some heads and set the rumor mill ablaze. It should be a fun time, but, for some reason, his best friend, Adrian Chase, seems very against the idea.

A/N: While I spell checked and edited some grammar, I didn’t have the spoons for a full edit and proofread. Enjoy though! 💜

CW: None that I can think of, just some fluffy fluff with bonus Chris Smith fluff of being a good friend.

Word Count: 3,835

“Dude, you need to relax,” Chris said, watching you pace the length of his small trailer for the millionth time.

It was getting close to when you two would need to leave. It was your 15-year high school reunion and now the nerves were finally starting to hit you.

You were only going as a joke. People didn’t like you in high school. Well, for the most part. They left you alone, so you didn’t hate your school experience, but you were a weirdo even among the weirdos, and glided through your school years largely friendless. The few you had were still your friends to this day and they all thought you were crazy for going. They certainly weren’t. So, since you and the boys from Evergreen went to rival high schools, you thought it would be absolutely hilarious if you showed up with Christopher “Peacemaker” Smith. He absolutely loved this idea when you asked him.

They were all going to talk anyway, might as well give them something juicy to really gossip about.

While you had first met Chris shortly after you got out of high school and hung out a few times due to mutual friends, you didn’t really count him as a friend until after you reconnected after he got out of prison. You two always had a very brother/sister like connection, but it had gotten stronger in the last year. Chris would freely admit you were his younger Big Sister due to you being slightly younger than him and your tendency to call him on his bullshit like an older sibling would. But you both were confident you could pull off a dating each other vibe.

Neither of you had any interest in dating, he was just grateful to still have the friendship of someone who knew him from before. Chris had told you that many times and you could tell he was a changed man actively trying to be a better person. You promised him you’d help him as best you could and be patient with him. He had really worked that patience sometimes with his offhand comments, but he was getting better you had to admit.

You turned to look at him. He was almost ready and was just tucking his short-sleeved button down into his jeans. He was giving you a look that said, “stop overthinking it.” Before you could say anything, a unique sounding knock came from the front door.

“Come in, Adrian,” both you and Chris called.

The man himself slowly opened the door and walked in, balancing a case of beer on one hip. Adrian blinked in confusion when he saw Chris was dressed up, then his eyes got slightly wider as he looked at you.

“What’s going on here?” he said, eyeing you from head to foot and back again.

You quirked a brow at him. He was looking at you as if he had never seen you before, which irritated you at the moment. You weren’t dressed much different from normal. One of your nicer tops, your casual funeral/wedding pants, and a pair of your nicer shoes. The reunion was in a park on an early summer evening, not the Ritz Carlton. You and Chris both looked nice, but comfortable.

You bit your tongue, not wanting to use your nerves as an excuse to snap at him. You hadn’t snapped at him yet and tried not to since you didn’t have anything against him. Besides, despite your nerves, you were in a good mood and that would just start an argument.

“Oh shit!” Chris said and smacked himself on the forehead. “I’m sorry, I totally forgot to call you, dude. I can’t do movie night tonight, I’m taking Y/N out.”

Adrian had been walking over to set the case of beer down by the table and suddenly stopped in his tracks. He looked back at you suddenly with wide eyes, then back to Chris.

“The fuck?” Adrian said, surprised. “Why?”

“She needed a date to her reunion,” Chris said, checking himself over in the mirror and doing some last-minute preening.

To your surprise, Adrian whipped his head around to look at you, his cheeks red.

“Why the fuck did you ask him?” he almost demanded, a sharp tone in his voice.

Your eyebrows shot up to your hairline.

Adrian was not someone you could read or figure out at all. You met him not too long after you started hanging out with Chris again. The fact that you hung out with Chris a lot meant you also hung out with Adrian a lot. You didn’t mind. He was just that perfect balance of adorable and sexy that made him absolutely hot as hell. While you were always very good at maintaining your composure around people you found sexually attractive, he was one of a very select few you had a tough time keeping it cool around. You did it, it was just very hard.

This should be a good thing, though, right? Hot available friend of a friend?

Wrong.

Adrian didn’t like you. You had no idea why. As far as you knew, the only thing you said to him before he immediately went cold to you was “nice to finally meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you” when Chris introduced you two. He wasn’t mean about it; he just had no real warmth towards you at all. He was polite, speaking to you only when you spoke to him first and was directly to the point when he did, he didn’t ramble to you like with other people. He wouldn’t joke with you or laugh with you, and his eyes always went blank when he looked at you, which he usually didn’t. You could count on one finger the number of times you’d gotten him to crack a smile at your humor.

Oh well. Can’t please everybody, I guess. It was disappointing though after Chris swore the two of you would be crazy about each other. Chris had really hyped Adrian up to you, and you saw what he was talking about. Adrian had a brilliance to him, only it seemed like he had walled you off from it. You had asked Chris about it finally and it seemed like he knew more than he was willing to say, but he assured you that Adrian was fine with being around you. There was that, at least. He didn’t completely hate you, just didn’t care for you. You could handle that. He wasn’t your first “I guess I’ll just admire you from afar then” crush.

This attitude change was completely new. Now it felt like genuine hostility or dislike towards you.

“He was the first person that popped into my head,” you said, answering Adrian’s question with a shrug. But now nerves were starting to get the best if you, so you turned to Chris. Though, maybe Adrian’s right and this is a sign. It was all a dumb idea, if you think about it.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you thought you saw Adrian nod suddenly before stopping. But you did see Chris’ gaze flicker briefly over to Adrian, his brow raised, then come back to you as if nothing had happened.

“Nope! We’ve had this all planned out for weeks now!” Chris exclaimed, then grabbed his keys off the table before. “And it is a dumb idea, that’s what is so fucking great about it. It’s gonna be a fantastic night! You’re going to have a blast, trust me!”

Chris was an excellent hype man when he wanted to be, and his energy soon had your nerves draining away. A grin came to your face.

“Good point!” you said and grabbed Chris’ hand. “Let’s do this!”

Chris grinned back and started pulling you out the door.

“Adrian, I know you have a key, can you lock up?” Chris said and surprised you by running to open his passenger door for you. “We better go and get to Stone Creek Park before Y/N actually changes her mind.”

“But-“

You didn’t hear the rest of Adrian’s reply since Chris shut your door after you got in. He came around the car and opened the driver’s side.

“-that big of a deal, then hang out here and we’ll get wasted after I take Y/N home,” Chris was saying as he got in the car, then promptly shut the door before Adrian could reply.

“He okay?” you asked.

“Yeah, he’s just being a little bitch about us leaving together,” Chris said, then started the car. “He’ll either get the fuck over it or finally do something about it.”

You thought that was an odd comment, but just nodded in agreement.

As it turned out, all of your nerves were for nothing. You both ended up having a lovely time. The people you most dreaded seeing weren’t even there and you reconnected with a few people you’d lost touch with. Oddly, not that many people recoiled from Chris. While a few kept their distance, most thought his story was fascinating.

The relationship ruse worked perfectly. While it wasn’t going to fuel the gossipers as much as you’d hoped, the secondary reason of going with someone you could talk to was a success. Many times, you two ended up keeping to yourselves as the old cliques grouped together to catch up. Chris stayed in character the whole time, including the kind of PDA you two had discussed beforehand. He even started doing it a lot more than you thought he would, which was great since it made things more believable. It wasn’t anything major, just slight touches that indicate a comfortable intimacy with someone; he would lean in close to talk to you, lightly place his hand on your lower back while walking, softly touching your hand every now and then during conversations, lightly bumping you with his shoulder. When he had something particularly mean to say about one of your old classmates, he’d lightly place his hand on your shoulder and steer you closer so he could lean in close to your ear. He’d whisper whatever he had to say, usually about someone you didn’t like, so it would get a good laugh out of you.

You teased him about how sweet he was being at one point.

“Why is everyone always so fucking surprised when they find out I actually do know how to treat a lady?” Chris feigned hurt, knowing full well you knew some of his past history. “Random fucking notwithstanding, when I’m actually into someone, I don’t act like a total jackass. So, I’m treating you as if I were into you and imaging how I would be several years in.” Then he chuckled. “I gotta take care of my longest running relationship, after all.”

The story was you two stuck to was simple and close to the truth. You had known each other for years but reconnected when he came home. Lies became hard to keep straight when they become too complicated. But, since Chris’ longest relationship was about seven months, and you two were claiming you were just under a year together, you were now his longest running girlfriend.

This had already become an inside joke between you two.

Periodically throughout the night, Chris took an interest in the trees scattered throughout the little park. Since Stone Creek Park was nestled in a little valley just on the outskirts of dense woodlands, there were plenty of trees in all sizes. It was odd, but you thought they looked neat to him or something. It was a nice park, and you were already planning to come back sometime during the day to meander about.

It was close to 11 when Chris pulled up outside your house. Still keeping up the ruse, he tutted at you when you went to get out. Instead, he hopped out and came around to open your door for you again.

You chuckled and got out of the car. “You don’t have to keep doing that, you know.”

“Nope!” Chris said, shutting the door, then offered his arm to you. “I’m invested now! Gotta see it through to the end!”

You snort laughed at that and took his offered arm. Chris set a slow pace as he walked you to your front door, asking you some questions about one of your classmates you had reconnected with. This turned into you telling a story from seventh grade about the person. This resulted in you two standing outside your front door for about ten minutes, talking.

“All right, this has been a lot of fun, but I better get back to Adrian,” Chris finally said.

“Do you really think he stayed there this whole time waiting for you?” you said, surprised.

Chris glanced over at one of the bushes by the sidewalk near where he was parked. You got curious and looked over to the bush yourself. It was very brief, but you thought you saw a flash of what looked like teal and white by it. You blinked a few times and figured the streetlights were playing hell with your eyes again. Chris chuckled, so you turned back to him.

“Probably, knowing him. All right, see you later,” he said and started to turn back to the car.

“Hey, at least let me kiss you on the cheek before you leave so the night ends with a kiss,” you said. “It was a good date, and it feels like inviting bad luck for both of us on our future dating endeavors if we don’t.”

Now it was Chris’ turn to laugh, and he turned back to you, shaking his head. You had some weird quirks and odd superstitions like that at times. It was never anything too bad or weird, so he usually indulged you. “Yeah, my love life is cursed enough sometimes, I definitely don’t need to make it worst.”

Chris leaned down a bit towards you as you were leaning up. Just as he turned his head to present his cheek for your lips, the bush by the sidewalk decided to start yelling.

“What the fuck, dude?!?”

You both stopped and turned to see someone in a black, teal, and white costume try to jump out of the bush, but trip and end up rolling out of it instead with several muttered curses.

Chris raised one hand in greeting.

“Hey, Vig! Fancy running into you here!”

The figure from the bushes then sprang to his feet, ran at full speed toward you both, and then skidded to a sudden stop just a couple of feet away.

It was a little dark on your street at night, so you didn’t recognize the figure until he was within the illumination of your porch light. You blinked several times as you realized this was that crime fighter named Vigilante who ended up helping Chris with Project Butterfly.

Why was he here? Surly he didn’t think you were some kind of threat to Chris? That would be ridiculous.

“Seriously, Peacemaker, what the fuck?” Vigilante snarled at Chris, completely ignoring you.

“What’s got you so steamed, Vig?”

“You know what the fuck has me steamed!”

“Nope, can’t say I do,” Chris shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “You say one thing, but do the exact opposite of what you say, so I really don’t know what’s got you so upset anymore. It’s not like you’re doing anything yet.”

It was like watching a tennis match, your gaze went back and forth between the two men as they argued. Each time your eyes came back to Vigilante, they lingered for longer and longer. There was something familiar there…

“I fucking told you I am working up to it. I will do it, I just…don’t know when.”

Your eyes got wide as it started clicking in your brain. The voice, the mannerism…

“That isn’t good enough, Vig. You’ve been saying that for months now. You’re here now, so, as my dad’s old neighbor would say, it’s time to shit or get off the pot.”

Vigilante raised a finger and his change in stance indicated he was about to retort when the shock finally abated enough to where you could finally speak again.

Your head whipped around from Vigilante to Chris, your eyes wide.

“Holy shit, Adrian is Vigilante??? The fucking Vigilante???” you said.

You looked back over to Vigilante; you could see his eyes were wide behind his visor.

“I-I have no idea who you’re talking about…”

Vigilante started to say, sounding like a panicked Adrian, but then he trailed off when you rolled your eyes and turned your attention back to Chris.

“Now that that’s cleared up,” Chris said. “I’m going to head home since you two obviously have a lot to talk about. Y/N, be sure to ask him about why he has been following us tonight ever since we left my trailer.”

Vigilante huffed, sounding uncertain. “I was not-“

“I was wondering why you kept looking over at the trees,” you said, cutting him off. “You never had an interest in being an arborist before.”

Chris nodded. “Yup. Anytime this fool saw me touch you or lean in, he’d fully expose himself and leave himself wide open to dart to a closer tree to get a better look.”

“I-I-I did no-“

“Good thing the few people at the reunion who saw him thought it was funny and weren’t freaked out,” Chris looked at Vigilante and shook his head. “Not smart, Vig. You know what Harcourt would say about this.”

While you hadn’t met any of the team he worked with (aside from Vigilante, apparently), Chris had told you enough about Harcourt to know she was serious. Vigilante’s head drooped.

Everyone was quiet for a couple of minutes, looking at Vig. Finally, Chris broke the silence.

“You gonna take the mask off? Or do I have to wrestle you to the ground and do it for you?” Chris asked him.

Vigilante sighed again, this time sounding resigned, but he slowly took his mask off. Once that was done, he rifled through a pocket for his glasses, putting them on before finally looking up at you.

You smiled at him.

“Hey Adrian,” you said with a gentle tone, knowing he had to be feeling raw and vulnerable right now.

“Hey…” he finally said.

Adrian suddenly seemed very nervous, your porch light giving away the fact he was turning red. This was also new.

Chris looked back and forth between you two then shook his head before stalking off to his car and driving off to leave the two of you alone.

That didn’t help the conversation flow any easier. In fact, it completely killed what little conversation there was. Adrian shuffled his feet and wouldn’t look at you. You were trying to be patient, but you were also tired after having to be so social today. Your spoons were low.

“Well, it’s getting late,” you finally said, figuring he would’ve said something by now had he wanted to. “You have a good ni-“

“Did you mean what you said when we first met?” Adrian cut you off suddenly with a question.

You blinked,

“That it was nice to meet you?” you asked. “Yeah, Chris had been hyping you up to me for weeks.”

Adrian blinked and finally met your gaze.

“He did?”

You nodded. “Yeah. Said we’d hit it off and I actually had looked forward to meeting you.”

This shocked the man. He stood there and stared at you for a while, then shook his head.

“No, it was before that,” he said. “You actually said it to Chris before I walked up, so I just overheard you.”

You had to think about it for a minute, and then shrugged.

“Honestly, I don’t remember saying anything to Chris before that,” you said, shrugging.

Adrian nodded. “You did. I had just gotten to his trailer and was getting the beer out of the trunk when you said something to Chris.”

You blinked. “How in the hell did you even hear that then? You were like thirty feet away.”

“I have excellent hearing since my eyesight is bad,” he said.

You were pretty sure it didn’t work that way, but whatever.

“Okaaaaay,” you said. “So, what did I say to Chris then.”

“You said, ‘Why the fuck didn’t you warn me that he’s so hot? You just said he’s really cute!’”

Now you remembered. You had said that and could remember the smirk Chris got on his face at that.

“Well, yeah,” you said. “I don’t say shit I don’t-“

Quite suddenly, you were cut off by Adrian’s lips on yours as he kissed you softly, both of his hands coming to rest on the sides of your face. The thick fabric felt warm against your skin, the textured pads on the fingertips slightly rough but not unpleasantly so. Your eyes closed and you tilted your head towards him, leaning into the kids. Adrian started to deepen it, but then broke away, taking a step back.

“I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that since you went out with Peacemaker tonight, but I couldn’t help myself,” Adrian said in a rush, rambling at you for the first time ever, and you found it to be the cutest thing ever. “It’s just, I like you so much, and he knows that, and knows I’ve been wanting to ask you out, but he went behind my back and now-“

It was your turn to cut him off with a kiss. This was what you had been wanting since you first laid eyes on him. There was a very short pause before his hands rested softly on your waist and you draped your arms over his shoulders.

After several intense moments, you slowly broke your lips and looked up at him with a smile.

“Man, I wish I would’ve known asking Chris on a fake date would get me a real date with you,” you told him with a grin. “I would’ve asked him on one months ago.”

Adrian looked confused then blinked.

“Wait…fake date???”

“Yeah, I just wanted to freak the people I used to go to school with out by making them think I was dating Peacemaker,” you chuckled. “He loved the idea since our schools have always been rivals. So, we really went as friends, but told anyone that asked we were dating.

The look of shock and then relief on Adrian’s face was indescribable. He threw his arms around your waist, picked you up and spun you around, while he made whooping noises. You couldn’t help but laugh.

“Alright, Vigilante,” you said, pulling away from him and taking his hand in yours. “Let’s get you inside before someone sees you so we can talk about all this.”

If you thought Adrian was adorable before, that was nothing compared to the smile and look of adoration he had on his face as you led him inside.

[paigenoelchas-blog]

Four Dresses

a JAKE x MC one shot that picks up sometime after episode 10 and the end of the game.

18+Warnings: slight sexual innuendo and a discussion of grief and its processes.

A woman needs a minimum of four good dresses in her closet: one for a funeral, one for a wedding, one for church, and one for a date. Well, at least that is what my mom always said.

I didn't always listen to my mom's advice. Today, I am glad I did. Since I met my friends from Duskwood, I have needed all four in quite a short period of time.

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The first dress was black. A long somber a-line devoid of sleeves and much personality. Whether Richie deserved to be honored or not, which is something that my soul hasn't settled on yet, he was a person that I loved. His funeral was quiet. Family and friends gathered to say goodbye. Jessy couldn't face it and Dan refused to come, staying by her side. Jake was still in hiding, but in my heart, I knew that he was safe. I would wait for him because really, there would never be another to speak to the corners of my soul. Tears were shed for the person that Richie had been, one that I had only seen glimpses of. Hannah was inconsolable, though Thomas was doing his best to cheer her. She carried a large amount of unnecessary guilt for what had happened both with Richie and before all of that. Lily and Cleo were quiet hostesses and made sure everyone's sorrow was diffused by full bellies. It was a hard day, but it allowed us to begin the process of moving on, and it allowed me to heal a little.

I brought Jessy and Dan back food and we talked and ate. Dan and I drank a little as was our custom. Jessy finally cried. It was the cry of longing and regret, one of missing the things that will never be. She remembered him in her own way. Hers were happy thoughts that were destroyed by deception, a conundrum that she couldn't make sense of. Dan, ever faithful, held her hand and listened to her speak of her love for Richie while his heart was breaking for both her and himself.

Somewhere in the early morning, my phone buzzed. It was a simple message from an unknown number.

I know today was hard. They are the luckiest of all to have you in their life. I am equally as fortunate. I will find my way to you. Soon, but not soon enough. I love you, MC.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The second dress was peach-colored silk, the dressmaker called it sunset blush. My hair was up in a loose bun and adorned with eucalyptus leaves and peach-colored ranunculus. Lily and I stood under the canopy watching as Thomas and Hannah professed their undying love to each other. The setting was beautiful with an ivy-covered brick wall set as their backdrop. The wedding was outside, under the stars with Edison lights strung about. There was something simple and pure about the way that both the decoration and the ceremony displayed the elegance of Hannah. I looked around at people who know the couple watching faces of mixed emotion. Some were truly happy for them, others concerned this was a decision made too soon. Still, others hoped this wasn't just a bandage attempting to heal Hannah's pain. I saw a figure in the back, hiding almost entirely in the shadows. It must be him. A smile crossed my face and I tried not to detract from the vows. This was not my moment, I reminded myself. But it was, in a way, because as I stood there, he ever so slowly stepped into the light and showed me his handsome face. The world around me faded away at that moment. It took all that I had in me to not run to him. He smiled and my heart melted. Then he held up his finger to his lips and stepped back out of the light. I could still feel him there as he watched his sister as she exchanged her vows, I could still feel his eyes on me. My mind drifted to the day when he could have his arms around me. The ceremony ended and he was gone. I looked for him and found nothing. My phone alerted me of a message from Jake.

My love, that is what you are, the one that holds my broken heart. I know I said I will find a way for us to meet and I will. It is not safe yet, for you or for me. It took all of my willpower to keep my feet from running to you and taking you into my arms. I can't wait for the day when we can be unencumbered and can freely express our love for one another. Soon, it has to be soon. You were a vision today. More beautiful than I could imagine in my wildest dreams. I could not take my eyes off of you. The look on your face when you saw me filled me with pride and gladness. I will find a way for us. I simply can not be without you. Don't worry about my safety. I won't let anything happen to me that will cause our eternal separation. Dance and have fun. Soon, you will be in my arms. You already dwell in my heart.

A tear fell as I read the message, but I wiped it away. His wishes were mine as well. We would be together soon. He promised. I had some dancing to do and this dress was perfect for that. I approached my friends. Jessy was still recovering from the ordeal, but tears came less and less. I slipped off my heels and dragged her to the dance floor where the group of us flung our arms and stepped on each other's toes until the early morning. Finally, we sent Thomas and Hannah off to their new lives amidst confetti and cheers. Hannah was happier than I had seen her. Thomas was beaming with pride. Their love was unhindered and innocent, despite the turn the last year of their life had taken. When we were done cleaning up, Cleo brought us a cake with tears in her eyes. I knew she missed her best friend. Weddings are always bittersweet, goodbyes mixed with the joys of new beginnings. I wrapped my arm around her and we sat and waited for the sadness to subside. Each of us carried our own sorrows, but the peace of being with people who cared for us made the pain bearable. We stayed that way as the sun came up, not talking just being.

As I climbed into bed that night, visions of Jake danced in my head. I reread the text about a million times, like a schoolgirl reading her first love letter. I couldn't help it. Jake was my match in every way and he was finding his way to me.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The third dress was a maybe too low-cut emerald beauty that hung close to my skin. Its long, tight sleeves showed off the hours I spent at the gym impatiently waiting for Jake to find and keep me. My black stilettos showed the hours I had invested in running as a way to get rid of the nervous energy I felt while waiting for him to return to me.

It felt naughty to wear such a dress to church on Christmas morning, but I liked to mix the naughty with the nice. I loathe being a stereotype. I'm not much of a church girl, but it is Christmas and I should pay my respects to the Creator. When Cleo asked me to come, I couldn't refuse, but the cheeky me had to make sure my attendance was noticed. I drove to church and greeted the gang. Everyone had shown up knowing that we would go to my place afterward and exchange gifts and share the day. I guess we all felt like we owed it to someone. Dan was in a tie, which didn't even happen at the wedding, his hand on Jessy's back, pushing her toward the door. She saw me and we exchanged hugs. Dan and I did the same. He had been a true friend through all of this, standing unfailingly by Jessy's side and by mine.

I have this habit of always leaving the seat beside me empty just in case he can sneak in next to me. I have done it since the day at the mine and my friends know it is my way. Even if it was all that we have, a few stolen moments of hand-holding and feeling the warmth of each other, it would be enough to sustain me until the next stolen moment or until he is free. The choir began to sing and I could feel a body slide in next to mine. I was about to tell him that the seat was saved when I felt a hand grab mine and intertwine our fingers. I looked over and saw that it was my Jake. No one else noticed as the warmth rose from my hand through my body, into my soul. I was afraid to move. Afraid that he would leave.

He leaned over and whispered in my ear which caused me to shiver. "MC, my love, that dress is incredible. You are incredible. I love you. Merry Christmas." He placed a quick kiss on my cheek and squeezed my hand. I looked into his ocean eyes as he released my hand and disappeared. Before the choir finished singing, I lost my heart. I didn't know how I could continue this. I was about to give in to the sadness, and I probably would have had I not gotten distracted as the pastor began to speak of love that came in the form of a baby.

Everyone filters into my house slowly. Some had gone home to change. Some had come directly, bringing food and snacks with them. The dress code was pajamas. I bought us all matching ones to wear. They were hideous, with snowflakes and reindeer, but the rule for the day is that each one of us brought a family tradition that we all had to participate in. My tradition was these pajamas. I bought a pair for Jake, hoping that he would show up. I never forgot to be prepared for his return to me. Dan looked the most uncomfortable, It made me chuckle. I needed that today. Cleo's tradition was a yule log, which we all ate greedily, Dan's was switching from whisky to peppermint schnapps for the day, and so on. We all participated in these activities and opened presents. It felt like a family. It was wonderful, but my mind kept wandering to the fact that Jake wasn't here. I had all of the hope in the world for our eventual union, but I missed him. I missed the feeling of his hand in mine, of his breath on my ear.

My phone rang, I answered immediately.

"MC, Baby, how is your Christmas?"

"Good, I am here with all of the people I love except you. I miss you, Jake. I can't wait until Christmases and all of the other days are spent together. What about your Christmas? What did you do today?"

"Well, I saw you, that was the best part of the day, then I grabbed some Chinese food which made me miss you more," he paused, "We won't have to wait much longer, that is a promise. I love you, MC and I really need to be with you."

"That will be the best Christmas present I could ask for. I do have a gift for you."

"I just need you in my arms," Jake says longingly. "That will be the best present I could ask for."

"I understand you completely. I have to go watch "Home Alone" with the gang. It is Jessy's tradition. I can bring you on the phone with me? That would be fun."

"I would, but I can't right now. I will talk to you soon. Have fun with your friends. I just wanted to let you know that I love you and that I am counting the minutes until we can share everything together."

"Merry Christmas, Jake."

"Take care of yourself, Love. I will be dreaming of you tonight and that green dress. We will talk soon."

We watched the movie and laughed and sang. We did all of the things friends do on Christmas. I watched them sleeping on my floor, some in sleeping bags, some not. Jessy's head was on Dan's chest, his arm holding her close. He had a smile on his face while he slept. I was so thankful for my friends that had become family.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The fourth dress is my favorite dress. It is blue, the color of his eyes, It is a form-fitting dress that leaves nothing to the imagination. I am wearing the same shoes from Christmas. They make me five inches taller than my normal height. I leave my hair loose, flowing down my back.

He had texted earlier today. It was a short text.

I am taking you on a date. Finally. 4:30. Be ready. I love you.

The clock says I have five minutes when I hear the doorbell ring.

I open the door and see him standing there. He is wearing a green shirt and some black pants but that is about all that I see before he ushers himself inside the apartment, dropping his bag on the floor. As he walks toward me, he shuts and locks the door. I am worried. Is he running from someone?

"I am sorry that I slammed the door. I just wanted to be able to do this properly." He says as he locks his lips on mine. I thought it was incredible to hold his hand, but this was life-altering. My knees go weak as he pulls me closer, refusing to leave the kiss. One of his hands holds my neck, allowing him to support my head while the kisses grow deeper and deeper. His other hand rests on my back, he slowly lowers it down and it settles just below my waist. I am caught up in the moment enjoying the feeling of his arms around me, of his lips on mine.

His lips move from my mouth to my cheek. I miss the contact, but am grateful for a chance to catch my breath. I don't know how to do it while I am still in his arms. I can feel every part of his hand that touches mine. I can not escape the feeling of him on me.

"I have been waiting to kiss you properly for too long. I couldn't wait to... I messed up your makeup." He brushes a strand of hair off of my face and then traces my face with his finger. "My, you are gorgeous, it should be illegal to own a dress like this." His hand slides down to my hip slowly. His eyes move over my body in a way that gives me chills. His hand stays there, on my hip, dangerously close to my ass. I refuse to move farther from him.

We stay still for a long time just watching and sharing all of our love as we stare in each other's eyes.

"You are here? Is it safe?" I ask, breaking the silence. I suddenly realize that I have no idea how he is able to be here.

"Love, I am safe for good and so are you. I would never have come here if it brought any danger your way."

"So, you..."

"I told you that I would find a way for us to be together, Do you still want to be with me?'

"Absolutely," I say as I throw my arms around his neck. I lean back and kiss his face repeatedly. They are sloppy kisses, but I don't care. This is the happiest moment I can remember.

He laughs and smiles. "Are you always this enthusiastic.?"

"No, but I really really want to be together... with you."

He grabs my face with both of his large hands and pulls me in for another kiss. This one is lighthearted, almost playful.

"So, do you need to fix your makeup so we can go out?" His feet still haven't moved from their place.

"I have a better idea."

"Oh yeah?' He says raising one eyebrow.

"Let's stay home and call in for food. We can watch a movie, or whatever." I wink.

"Well, I did want to take you out, show you off, and enter the world without being afraid of getting caught, but there should be plenty of time for that. Are you sure that you don't mind staying in?"

"I don't mind, in fact, these shoes are killing me. I wore them for the wow factor."

"They are certainly wow." He checks out my legs approvingly.

I slide off the shoes and head to the bedroom. "I just need to get out of this dress."

"I could help you with that?" He say slyly.

"Yeah, if you can catch me." I tease over my shoulder. He runs and quickly scoops me up in his arms, carrying me to the bedroom where we proceed to liberate ourselves from our clothing and test out the firmness of the mattress.

We lay on the bed in the afterglow, clothes scattered about, sheets tangled, and our skin glistening, he looks at me.

"I was going to take it slow with you, you know." He says in earnest, rubbing his hands through his hair, "I was going to come here and take you dinner, wine and dine you, drop you off and give you a nice kiss goodnight. Maybe bring you coffee in the morning to ask you for a second date, and a third. But in that damn dress, I couldn't resist your charm." He looks at me softly, then his eyes turn dark, "...and your ass, how do you have an ass that perfect?" He rolls me over to admire it.

"Well, I had a lot of extra energy waiting for you all of these months so I joined the gym. I was there a lot. And for the dress, you can thank my mom. She always made sure that I had a date dress in my closet."

"I will have to remember to thank her when we meet." He rolls us over so that he is on top of me and meets my eyes. His hand goes to my waist and he leans in to kiss me.

Before my brain leaves me to mind-numbing bliss, I think about this man and how much I can feel his love. I think about my mom and this blue dress that lay on the floor. I think about the year that I have had. One that has changed me in ways too numerous to count.

I lean in and kiss him back. The future looks bright and hopeful and full of joy. I wonder if I need a dress for that? I should call my mom.

[aliteralchicken]

i made a post about a timber engagement earlier so here’s the first fanfiction I’ve written since I was 12:

The Drakes never had a family ring.

By the time their son was thirteen the Drakes were considered new money. He wasn’t sure how long ago they stuck their fortune but he did know that before he was born and before they were married they hadn’t been especially wealthy, he knew they were more comfortable than most in Gotham but things like expensive jewelry wasn’t something they would even consider.

It wasn’t considered when Jack asked Janet to marry him.

Janet wasn’t particularly fond of jewelry, wearing stud earrings at most, getting a ring for nothing but symbolism seemed like a waste of money. She and Jack once walked by a ring shop to look at the simple rings in the window but nothing took her fancy.

But as archeologists by profession, one’s who had been known to take home artifacts from those historical sites, when Jack found a simple ring without any historical significance or monetary worth, but something they found together and Jack proposed again, this time with a ring.

She half suspected it was a ring he bought and just hid it in the sand to ‘find’.

On the way back to Gotham, the ring was carried in Jacks pocket as it was too large to be comfortable, or even stay on Janet’s finger. It wasn’t new enough to pretty or old enough to be worth anything as well as missing the jewel it had clearly once come with but Janet did find herself asking Jack to check his pockets to make sure it was safe until they reached their home.

After their wedding Janet still wasn’t fond of rings, but she cherished the two she had, the wedding band she rarely took off, though increasingly so as her and Jacks marriage became strained. The engagement ring was placed in a jewelry box that was originally a gift she only used for show, which is where it remained for long after she died.

Janet was buried in her wedding band but the ring left in the jewelry box had stayed almost equally unseen, Jack would listen to music to remember her by, but to him opening the box to see the ring seemed too personal. Tim opened the box though, most often when Jack was in his coma, remembering the story his mother told him about her ‘second proposal’.

Even when Janet and Jack fought it Tim knew it was a story she loved to tell, even if she wasn’t around that often to tell it.

After Jack had decided he wanted to ask Dana to marry him, he bought a brand new expensive engagement ring, with the large amount money he wouldn’t have for long, not that he had known back then. Unlike Janet’s, Danas ring was sized correctly and had a gemstone, a diamond specifically.

The engagement ring was one of the things that helped identify Dana’s body after the explosion that leveled Bludheaven, and like Janet she was buried only with her wedding band. Dana’s will started that if she passed her belongings would be shared amongst her husband, Tim and her sister as they saw fit. The engagement ring included.

Nothing could be shared with Jack as he had already passed and since Blüdhaven was no more, the little objects she had taken (or rather someone had taken for her) from her old life in Gotham were also gone. All that was left was the engagement ring. Her sister argued that she should get it so she could pass it onto one of her daughters, Tim had reminded her that he had been the one to organize the care facility Dana had stayed in before her death and very funeral they had just attended.

Tim was the one who ended up with the engagement ring, the diamond was fire damaged but still salvageable, the ring itself would need replacing. Tim left it as it was.

Tim kept both rings in the same jewelry box Janet originally did, over the years it was scratched and stained with some ink Tim wasn’t really sure had come from. Tim also used it as decoration.

Knowing what was in the box made him wish he’d begged Janet to stay around more when he came home from boarding school or wish he’d called Dana ‘mom’ at least once, even if he’d of lied and said he did it on accident.

When Bernard asked him if he wanted to get married, not a proposal just a question, Tim was hesitant. He asked if he could think about it. They talked about how Jack and Janet had fought, how quickly Jack and Dana had fallen in love, how Bernards parents were very similar people but it seemed like they were more co workers than married and even how Bruce had been left at the alter.

Tim told Bernard if he asked him to marry him he would say yes, he just needed a bit more time. He knew Bernard was good at waiting, and he knew Bernard would wait for him.

A year later Tim was back looking at the jewelry box, he didn’t want Bernard to wait any longer.

He picked up Janet’s ring, a ring from his life before robin and when he was just starting out as a hero, unaware of the tragedies ahead, and rubbed his thumb over the place the gemstone was missing, something his mother would do when telling the story of how she got it.

He put it back and gingerly held up Dana’s, a ring from when he had experience from robin and experience being retired. The band itself was one knock away from snapping, but the burned diamond could be fixed with a good jeweler.

It was also a ring from the time he met Bernard.

One ring needing a gemstone and the other needing a band, both Tim’s from times when he was and wasn’t a vigilante, both rings from family that he loved.

Tim took the diamond to be restored and the band to get cleaned at a well known jeweler Selena had recommended. He probably should have done it sooner.

The jeweler assumed he had wanted the diamond placed in the other ring. Looking the diamond and the band, now a single ring, he wasn’t sure if he’d assumed incorrectly. They had fit perfectly, almost like fate.

The Drakes had never had a family ring, or any family heirloom, but traditions have to start somewhere, so he bought a blue ring box to keep the new tradition safe.

He kept it safe until he and Bernard were stood at the edge of an empty pier, the sky was filled with stars, rare in the Gotham smog and the moonlight reflected on the water.

He took out his blue ring box from his pocket and looked over to Bernard who had pulled out a matching red one, neither of them had the chance to get on one knee, neither of them even asked the question.

Tim slipped the diamond ring over Bernards finger first, though fate or some miracle the ring fit perfectly. Tim didn’t believe in fate no matter how many things seemed to line up, but he was open to the idea of someone watching over him.

When Bernard in turn had has slipped a ring on his finger, one with a small colored gemstone Tim was confident Bernard would tell him the specific reason for getting him later, that small belief in someone watching out for him grew a little stronger.

And on the day they married, the day the ring on Bernards finger became a family ring because now they legally were, a fact that made a little giddy every time he heard it, Tim decided that maybe in a world with so much tragedy and loss, believing someone was watching out of him wasn’t the most ridiculous thing to believe in.

And if that belief had lead him to purposely leave an empty chair or two in the rows of the isle and at the head table it could be a belief that he could hold onto, and maybe like how Janet had told him about her ‘second engagement’ he could have someone to tell about his ‘double engagement’.

He knew it would be a story he would enjoy to tell.

[countrymusiclover]

33 - Desirable Soulmates Evening

Part 34

Her Life Means Everything

@mrs-fanfiction-2001 @the-big-bad-klaus @queenieala @samsgirl93

Entering the living room with the giant fireplace of the mansion I saw Nik sitting on the couch watching me. "Well I am pleased to see a smile grace that beautiful face after the sad days we've dealt with. Care to share why, Mads?"

He was right that ever since my mother's funeral it was rare to see me or my sister to smile. Sitting beside him on the couch staring up at him I giggled. "My sister decided to watch the twins tonight. So we have the entire evening to ourselves...to do whatever we want."

"That is tempting. So love what would the soon to be Mrs. Mikaelson wish to do?" He hummed, laying his right arm on the back of the couch staring at me with those deep blue eyes.

Avoiding his gaze for a second a thought crossed my mind. Since I was turned into a vampire I thought the soulmate bond would have disappeared. Yet I felt the twinge still inside my chest. On top of that my sister told me that I was apparently sired to Nik. The first day I drank blood she reminded me that's why I couldn't keep down animal blood. Only his blood or from the vein because he said so. "I want to see if the sire bond is real or at least if the soulmate bond is still there.

"I thought we agreed that I wouldn't force you to do anything, Maddie." He replied softly, staring at me.

Slumping my shoulders to my fiancé I knew he was trying to be nice but if I was asking he wasn't necessarily forcing me into it. "Nik, please. You wouldn't be forcing me. I'm asking so it's different."

"Tell me what you've feeling, Nik. What's your desire tonight?" I asked, smirking at him wrapping my arms around his neck climbing onto his lap.

His left hand goes to my hip while his right hand cradles my cheek in his hand. I let myself lean into his touch. Missing being able to be this close and simple with him. Ever since the twins were born it's like my life has turned upside down. "I want to kiss you...hold you like this...make love to you...and above all just treat you like the queen you are." He pressed his lips to mine, making me fall into his embrace.

"Let's get married...tomorrow." I mumbled in between kisses as his hand moved into my hair twisting his fingers into it. He moaned into the feeling when I started doing the same, making his hair a slight mess.

He bent his head down, starting to leave kisses up and down my neck. Throwing my head to the side I gasped gripping his hair in one and on the other hand I gripped his shirt in my fingers. "You're sister won't like such short notice..."

"It's not like she'll not figure it out..." Pulling his lips back down onto mine I cupped his face in my hands smiling. "She's had her whole wedding planned out since she was six."

Nik breaks the kiss showing me his hybrid eyes at me. Pulling my right hand back I used my thumb to trace the veins underneath his eyes. He parts his lips just watching my movements. "The first time I saw you like this I was terrified...but seeing it now. It makes you even hotter, Nik."

"Bloody hell, Mads..all you have to do is look at me like that and I'm almost weak to my knees. I can't stand it." He breathed out resting his forehead against mine. Moving my hands down his chest I played with his dog tags. "I want to draw you like this, Maddie.."

Lifting my head up a little if I could still blush as a vampire I would be a blushing mess right now. "Like Jack did for Rose on Titanic?"

"Well I don't know who those people are and I lived through that tragedy. But if it means I get to sketch you then yes." He replied a little snarky until I got to my feet offering me his hands vamping us into his art studio grinning ear to ear.

Klaus got his sketchbook waiting for me to enter the room. He was just wearing some pants and one of his gray long sleeve shirts. His hair is a little curly mess from our events a few moments ago. "I must admit I don't quite understand your fascination with such an event like the Titanic sweatshirt. It wasn't a good event in history."

"It's not so much the event, Nik. It hurts my heart and I will never understand how horrible it must have been for the ones who survived." I entered the room wearing only one of his tea shirts that was basically a dress on me. "But the movie characters Jack and Rose. They're just...epic. Every girl at one point must have wished they were Rose in that film. So just let me live out my little fantasy, please."

Nik waves his right hand shaking his head with a smile on his face directing me over to lay on the couch. "Tick tok Maddison or I'll have you in our bed before the evening is over." He teased a devilish smirk on his face.

"Like I didn't already know that, Nikky." I giggled pulling the shirt over my head letting my hair fall loose from its braid. Laying down on the couch I struggled to not laugh when I could see the urge in his blue eyes as he drew me. He was almost done by the time he dropped it on the ground vamping forward hovering above me.

He leans down, capturing my lips with his moaning into it when my hands flew up into his hair. His left hand runs through my hair while his right trails up my side. "Maddie, any work of art will not do you and your beauty justice. I could draw you like this a thousand times and still be baffled that you're mine."

Running my fingers through his locks letting my other hand move under his shirt tracing the tattoo on the front of his chest. He started breathing heavily, crashing his lips onto mine where I moaned into the kiss using my vamp speed flipping him on his back yanking his shirt over his head smirking down at him once I broke the heated kiss. "I love you, Nik. Now let's end this night together.."

Before I could blink my back hit the soft mattress of the bed with him hovering above me with a smirk on his lips. Closing my eyes for a brief moment I couldn't imagine that I was so worried about losing my virginity to him. Because now I enjoyed it far too much. "Tomorrow night I shall treat you like the queen you are, Maddie Forbes and every night after that..always and forever." He trailed off leaving kisses down my neck.

Throwing my head back against the pillows I giggled gripping his shoulders mumbling into his ear. "I love you, Klaus. Always and forever."

"Maddie, Klaus, I just had the greatest idea for our kids. Oh geez!" My sister enters the room covering her eyes with her freehand causing us to stop our current actions.

Klaus flopped on his back as I buried myself underneath the covers not expecting her to be home so soon. "Caroline, haven't you ever heard of knocking? We were right in the middle of a pleasant evening." He said, rolling over burying his face in the crook of my neck.

"Well I'm sorry but this idea I have is so great and it would hopefully help a lot of people. Especially kids." She sighed, removing her hand from her eyes. I could see it on her face that she was almost about to burst if she didn't tell us right now.

Shifting under the covers I looked at my twin knowing whatever it was it would be a big deal to her. "What's your idea, Care. Oh and Nik and I have decided on something."

"So I was watching the kids play today and I remember the school complaints about Lizzie and Josie..." She spun around on her feet grinning like it was Christmas. "I want to open a school for supernatural kids. To be a safe place for kids like yours and Ric's."

Nik sits up resting his hands on his knees underneath the covers glancing between me and my twin sister. "That's a brilliant idea, Caroline. In fact I'll give you some funding to help get it started."

"Thank you, Klaus. So Maddie, what do you think...and what's your news?" She clasped her hands together in front of her mouth, almost squealing.

Intertwining my hand with Nik's he lays his head against mine mirroring the same pure grin I have. "It's perfect Caroline...as for our news we were wanting to get married tomorrow."

"Are you two serious!" She slightly sounds annoyed but overjoyed over my news.

Comments really appreciated ❤️