#and when you exclaim they match he goes 'yeah cause I wanted them to'

[potionpeddlerpatchy]

but like listen. sero will 100% message you about what colour you're painting your nails, or what colour he should paint his, as a way of flirting with you; and he also gets a little turned on when you're oblivious to it.

[passionateseadruid]

Snake King’s Bride 3

The Daughter

⚠️Warning: There's some inappropriate content in here! Not smut but still, mildly sexual! Proceed with caution! For those of you that want to skip lucifer being a touch starved snake I will mark where that ends.⚠️

When you woke up you were still in that horrible room. Dark red silk sheets stuck to your legs and arms. Warm comforters cocooned you. The neon red translucent fabric of the canopy hangs over you. You turn over to your left towards the door.

"Good morning!" Lucifer smiled. You leapt backwards in fright! You almost fell of the bed if not for him catching you holding you by your waist, pulling you closer to him. "Careful darling! We can't have my beautiful bride getting hurt, now can we."

"How long have you been watching me?" You scooted as far away as he'd allow. 

"Not long. About an hour or so. Which in the face of eternity is about the equivalent to a microsecond for a human. Anyway I made you breakfast! I kept it nice and warm for you!" He smiles and brought over the tray from the side table and popped the silver cloche off the matching tray.

"Hm, pancakes. Thanks, I guess." You shrug and take the tray. You cut off a piece and looking at like it had sprouted a face.

"I made it with a special ingredient." He giggled.

"Is it your semen? Because that’s really crossing a line." You set your fork down and pushed the plate away

"EW NO!" He exclaimed staring at you as if you'd grown a second head.

"Period blood then?" You asked unamused. 

"Um no, I don’t have one of those." He grimaced. 

"Well I do, so thanks for that." You glared as he turned his head down.

"Why would you think that I put either of those in there?"

"I've seen enough yandere anime to know what to expect."

"What's an anime?"

"A necessary evil."

"Well I made these with love!" He smiled at you baring his spiky teeth

"So you used a love potion?"

"NO! No! Nononono! No, no, no! Yeah uh, the bird brain 4 floors down would kill me if I tried. Plus I'm confident in my abilities to woo you. I am the original "Mr. Steal-Yo-Girl" after all." He caressed your cheek. Well at least you know now that his hands are indeed an inky black.

"Which caused all the problems we have today." You deadpanned pulling away.

"Come on Doll! You gotta eat up!" He grabbed the fork and brought it to your lips. "Doll. Eat. Or I'll make you."

You growl and eat. What was supposed to be a romantic gesture ended up feeling hollow and forceful.

"Oh by the way I had a simple dress made for you from the measurements I took the first time I dressed you."

"What?"

"I altered that old wedding dress and shoes." 'So he knew that old shirt was too small for me! Pervert!' "I just had one made so we could go out shopping together! You can't exactly walk around Hell in an old wedding dress." He snapped his fingers and a white dress appeared before you with a belt that matches the pink in his vest appeared.

"…thanks." You force a smile. He places the dish to the side, and hugged you.

"Okay hang on!" You wiggled out of his grasp. "You need to stop touching me without my consent!"

He looked shocked but turned to look at the floor sullenly. "Sorry… I'm just happy to have someone around since my wife left me."

'He's trying to guilt trip you! Don't fall for it! Stand your ground!' You mentally screamed at yourself 

"And now that she's gone I guess I'm a bit touch starved. My daughter doesn't call or text. And the people of Hell aren't exactly the nicest, can't really go up to any of them and ask for a hug." He fiddled with the comforter under him.

'Stop it'  Your not sure who that was meant for.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you. I just- don't exactly pick up on people's feelings all the time. While that's no excuse I just… I'm sorry."

"…get out so I can change." You looked away. 'I will NOT develop feelings for the DEVIL of all people!'

He looked at you with big pleading eyes. "Can't I stay?"

"NO!"

"Oh right, you're traditional." He rolled his eyes.

'It's like it goes in one ear and out the other.' "Just leave!"

"Okay, sorry." He chuckled at you.

You slip on the dress and grab a comb from a big vanity across from the bed. 'I really need to be more observant. I can't stay here! I need to escape. But where would I go? It's Hell after all, not like they'll just let people out.' You opened the door and saw Lucifer fiddling with a duck in the hallway. He had put on a white top hat with a snake wrapped around it and had a crown and an apple as well. Next to him on the wall leaned a can with an apple for the handle. 

"Here! I made you this while waiting!"

"It's a duck." Was all you could say. 'No shit Sherlock.'

"Uh huh." He said with a big dopey grin.

"It looks like me."

"Cute isn't it?" He smiled.

"I think it’s ugly. This poor creature has to look like me after all." You joke.

He looked at you sadly. "Don't say that! You're beautiful! You're the most beautiful human I've met since Lilith!"

"Lilith? As in the Succubus from the Jewish religion?"

"Yeah... she was my first wife."

"I thought she was Adam's first wife."

"I told you I was the original "Mr. Steal-Yo-Girl."" He smirked. "Oh here!" He offers you white flats. "Can I put them on you?"

"Who the Fuck Am I Cinderella?"

"Well you certainly are a princess."

"If this is your way of telling me you see me as a pillow princess, just stop because that's not going to happen."

"Heh, I'm not even the one who made the innuendo this time."

"I'm not going to have sex with you."

"You'll want to once you fall in love with me!"

"Just give me the shoes." He handed them over and you slipped them on. "What's all this about anyway? Shouldn't you super busy running Hell, torturing sinners for all eternity?"

"I just want to spoil you with my riches! I'll give you anything you want! Anything at all! Just love me, want me, cherish me, and think only of me."

"Where have I heard that before? Other than a movie with IRL Kakashi (A/n: If you know, you know). I'm pretty sure it was in a big book. Matthew 4:10. Or is that wrong since you said that you and Satan are different people?"

"Doll. If you ever speak of that book in my house again, I will rip your tongue out."

'Daddy issues.' "So where are we going?" You change the subject.

"I'm so glad you asked." He grabbed his cane and started to walk away while you rush back to your room to put the duck down on the bed. "I rented out the fanciest shopping center in the pride ring! I don't know if I can take you to the other rings. Lilith transformed into a demon when she was cast into hell. Darling?"

"I had to put the duck down! Wait up!"

"Oh that reminds me I need more paint supplies. Hey! Have you ever had Cong You Bing. Let me tell you, for a pancake it's SO savory. I guess it's the syrup that makes pancakes sweet though. I like mine with whip cream. How about you?" 'He has a very one track mind.'

"Uh, chocolate chips and strawberries." You say as Lucifer opens the door to a long red Limo. 'Why is everything red? It's too much red!'

"Hm! I'll have to keep that in mind for tomorrow!" He slides in next to you. 

"We're not going to have pancakes every day are we? If So I might have to take over cooking breakfast."

"I would die to eat your cooking. I guess not because I don't really have a soul so I'd kind of cease to exist. But could you imagine if I ended up down here again! I'd be one unlucky bitch."

"Where will I go when I die?"

"I'm working on that Darling" You hadn't realized you said that out loud. 

Lucifer keeps talking while the limo drives into a huge town. Gigantic buildings lined every street. A few of the buildings had eyes. Some had strange designs like they were ripped out from a Dr. Sues Book. Others were dark and dingy; like whoever designed this was Tim Burton’s biggest fan. The limo took us into a bright neon district of the city.

"Wow! I've never seen a building so big! It's got to be at least 100 feet tall!"

"I've seen bigger. Box or whatever his name was is definitely trying to compensate."

The limo stopped in front of a long building, four stories tall. Neon blues mostly lined the outside and a bit on the inside. Neon pinks were scattered in some places. Lucifer turned to you and put a finger on your forehead bright light flashed from the tip. You looked down at you to see what he did and saw your skin turn gray. He brought out a mirror and sheepishly handed it to you. Your eyes turned black with yellow irises. Your hair was a vibrant aqua blue with some royal blue and royal purple streaks throughout it.

"Sorry. But I can't let everyone know that a live human is down here!"

He opened the door and held his hand out to you. You declined and opened the door on the other side and walked around the back to him. "Keep up."

He smirked and ran up to you. He motioned for you to follow him to the top floor. The whole top floor is only a single store. He led you to the front and immediately two attendants swarm him. "Welcome! May we have the pleasure of fitting you today, your highness?"

"Oh, no thank you ladies. We're here for her." The women looked back at you, like they weren't very impressed. One had black hair with the tips died purple with pink flowers tied throughout her hair. Her skin was lavender and so was her single eye, She wore a black button up shirt that was only buttoned on the last two buttons and underneath was a white lacy push up bra, her shirt tucked into black daisy dukes. She also had purple butterfly wings sprouting from her shoulder blades. The other girl was a blonde bunny with gold eyes. Her skin was covered in light yellow fur to match her hair. She was wearing a tight white dress with a sweetheart neckline, the skirt just barely covered her.

"Hm, we'll see what we can do." The bunny said. "I'm Firefly." She pushed herself against his arm.

"Adelpha." The other girl pushed herself against his other arm. "Renesmee!" A small Imp girl comes running out of the back. "Tend to her will you." It wasn't really a question. The two sale attendants led Lucifer away.

"Please follow me miss."

"Thank you Renesmee." You gave the small imp a smile. She wore a small black suit and her left horn was broken.

She lead you throughout the store looking for anything you might want. All you were interested in was finding a way out of hell.

"No one's ever gotten out, not since it's creation and the fall of the king and queen. What is your relationship with the king."

"Would you believe me if I said he kidnapped me?"

"Sold your soul, huh?"

"Someone else gambled away my life." You looked down sullenly. Renesmee was having trouble carrying all the outfits you had chosen, but she refused to let you help.

"What's that over there?" You pointed at nothing, and snatched a few outfits out of her hands.

"Miss please, this is my job!"

"I don't care! You're barely able to hold five outfits much less fifteen. You're a very sweet creature and you shouldn't overwork yourself." 

"Thank you miss, but really I can't allow you to. If the managers see that they'll report me to Velvette and she'll kill me! Or worse! She'll send me to work for Vox! No imp has lasted more than an hour in his care before they were sent straight to Valentino. I have a wife miss, and she's between jobs. I can't loose my job with the Vees and I don't want my face plastered in a porno."

"That's disgusting! Okay I won't hold them, but please sit and rest. I'll sit too."

"Okay." She sighed in relief.

"DARLING!!" Lucifer practically tackled you into a hug.

"What did I say about personal space?"

"Sorry I just missed you." He unhooked himself from you. "I found these cute duck pajama's in the clearance section and-" 

"Lucifer you said I could have anything I wanted."

"Yes! Anything!"

"I want you to hire Renesmee and her wife to be my personal staff."

"Miss that's not necessary."

The two clerks from before catch up and start to laugh. "Did you really think she'd hire you?" Adelpha laughed. "Pathatic! Get back to work you sister fucker!"

"Nina ain't my sister! She ain't even my species!"

"Does it really matter? You imps are so inbreed it's stunted your growth." Firefly doubled down. "The king would never hire a lowly Imp that can't even work an 8 hour shift without a five minute break every hour."

"Shut up! Renesmee is a much harder worker and a far better person than you whores!"

"Ignore them. It's just sinners being sinners." Lucifer turned you away from the women. 

"It's wrong! Renesmee didn't do anything except exist." You defended.

"Pfft look at this dumb bitch." Adelpha snickered. 

"That's just how thing's work down here. Imps work for the elite, they do menial labor." He retorted. 

"So you're telling me that they get abused and treated like shit because of how they were born. Isn't that literally racism?"

"Uh not exactly. It's just that sinners hold more weight than most Hellborn, since sinners are immortal and most Hellborn aren't." He panicked. 

"This stupid hussy is so dead." Firefly chortled. 

"We still get jobs miss. It's more of a social and raw power hierarchy." The small imp said. 

"So classism. What the fuck is this? Are you immortal? Is your kid going to have to inherit this flawed system? Is she immortal? Presumably she's Lilith's right? Or did you hook up in heaven? Is that allowed?" Thoughts flooded your head and spilled from your lips. 

"Woah woah, One question at a time darling. Heh, ironic coming from me. It's just all a bit much for me right now."

'A bit much for you? A BIT MUCH FOR YOU!? I had this whole thing thrust on me and you say that it's all a bit much for YOU!!' "You promised anything, Lucifer."

"Okay. Renesmee are you under contract with anyone?"

"I'm under a two week's notice policy with miss Velvette." 

"Go get any personal items from the back. I'll notify and compensate this Velvette character off your immediate resignation. As for you two." He glared at the two attendants that were mocking you. "Go ring up all these outfits and the ones I chose for my darling." He gives them a black card and escorted you to the exit. 5 minutes later renesmee comes rolling out riding on the back of a shopping cart. You don't even have the heart to ask where she got it from she looks too cute to mention anything.

You and Lucifer walked around the rest of the mall and he picked up anything that caught his eye. New paint supplies for his ducks; new rubber ducks; a duck necklace for you; a strawberry crepes that you two split begrudgingly on your side; he got you eight new pairs of shoes all in different colors and styles (red heals, orange flip flops, yellow sandals, green tennis shoes, blue boots, purple lolita style shoes, pink slip-ons, and black wedges); You drew the line at him coming in the with you to a store that was Hells version of Victoria Secret.

"Go buy some electronics! I'll need a phone down here."

He pouted. "Okay."

"He's so weird."

"I think the king just really likes you."

"No he's just weird. I hate how fast he's moving! It's suffocating." You gripped the skirt of your dress.

You bought out nearly the entire shop just as a little 'fuck you' to Lucifer that he wouldn't get to see you in any of them.

When you and Renesmee left you saw him waiting outside. He bought you a flatscreen, a Pc, a laptop, a wide screen monitor, a keyboard for said monitor, a matching mouse, cute cat headphones, and a fancy microphone. "I couldn't resist! I just had to spoil you!" He also had a few boxed in his hand. One was of medium size and had a picture of an iPad on it. One was small and had air-pods in them. One had a picture of a phone on the box. You took the phone and opened it up ready to get it set up.

Lucifer wrapped his arm around your waist and led you back to the limo as you fiddled with the phone.

Hey! This is the end of lucifer being a touch starved snake! If that's all you're here for I'll see you next chapter! If you want to stay for the angst enjoy the show!

The next day Lucifer woke up and was pulled away from you by Styx.

"Sire you have a meeting with the Sins today. It must have slipped your mind that the meeting was supposed to be YESTERDAY! the day of the new moon."

"Ugh let's get this over with." He walked into his study and slumped into his chair. He pulled up the video chat app. one by one the other Sins pop up. First Satan, next Mammon, then Leviathan. 

"Mammon." Leviathan said.

"Leviathan." Mammon retorted.

"Hah! I got here first I win! Fuck you guys."

"Technically I got here first." Lucifer smirked. Asmodues popped on.

"Froggy I have to go." He giggled as Fizz tickled him. 

"Oh uh, hi your majesty." Fizzarolli bowed awkwardly.

"Hello. It's always nice to see Ozzie's first serious fling."

"Hey!" Asmodues blushed. The others laughed.

"Well I should uh probably get going." Fizz blushed and hopped off camera.

"Hey everyone!" Beelzebub joined with no warning. "Hold on a second." She rushed to the door. "EVERYONE SHUT UP I'M ON A WORK CALL!! ... THANK YOU!"

"And as usual we're waiting for-" Mammon started sarcastically.

"I'm here!" Belphegor quickly signed on.

"Thank you everyone more moving our Doom Meeting to today." Lucifer smiled. (A/n: Zoom parody for those that don't get it)

"You better be fucking grateful!" Mammon sassed.

"What the fuck was so important that you had to move the meeting date!?" Satan screamed.

"It's not important." Lucifer dismissed their questions.

"Oh really? It wouldn't have anything to do with your new plaything would it?" Leviathan teased.

Lucifer blushed. "What?!" Ozzie and Bee gasped.

"You're out seeking love again after Lilith?" Ozzie took the lead.

"Let's go! Levi send the pics!"

"Don't you dare!" Lucifer threatened. Levi put them in the chat on the side. Belphegor had fallen asleep a while ago. She wasn't going to hear any of this. 

"She's adorable!" Ozzie squealed. 

"Where were you hiding this cutie?"

"A sinner? I thought you hated sinners!" Satan snarled.

"Are we going to have a meeting or not!" Mammon complained! "Time is money!"

"Leave, this is more important!" Ozzie encouraged.

"We can leave?" Satan asked enthusiastically. Him, Mammon, and Levi left.

"Hm?" Belphy woke up.

"You can leave Belphy." Lucifer smiled.

"You need help right? Charlie doesn't know, you've gotta tell her."

"Wait how do you know so much about this?" Bee looked at her surprised.

"Who do you think told Levi about the affair."

"Belphy!" Lucifer exclaimed.

"Sorry! You were just so sweet in those photo's to her."

"Should I tell Charlie? I mean I was hoping to just talk to her at the wedding."

"Woah! What wedding?" Ozzie asked.

"Oh yeah um her and I are getting married."

"How long have you two been together." Bee interogated.

"...three days."

"Yeah if you're going to move this fast you need to tell Charlie." Belphy encouraged.

"Okay, could you guys stay with me while I call her?" The three agreed and He dialed Charlie's number. "Hey sweetheart!"

"Hi dad. Do you need something?" She sounded a bit strained like she was waiting for him to ask a favor. 

"Um look Charlie. I know that things have been hard for you recently. And with the extermination that just happened a month ago you've been especially stressed."

"Uh Yeah! hold that though dad." She muted her dad and motioned Vaggie over. "Dad's finally talking about the exterminations."

"that's great honey."

"Hey dad!" she unmuted him. "you were saying..."

"Things have been hard for you and I appreciate everything that you're trying to do for the people." He was trying to butter her up and slowly easy into the idea of him getting remarried. "And you know things have been hard since your mom left."

"Yeah." She waited with baited breath. 

"Charlie... I met someone! Someone who's been a real big help and joy to me the whole time she's been with me. And I think she could really help you too."

"Really?! That's great dad!"

"Oh! Yeah, would you be willing to come by tonight and meet her?!"

"Of course! I'll be over at 5!"

"Great! See you then!"

"Bye dad!" 

"Bye!"

"Vaggie! We finally have a benefactor for the hotel!" Charlie bounced

"She took that rather well." lucifer smiled worried how you'd react to the news of meeting his daughter.

Surprisingly you took it rather well. You got dolled up and sat in the living room. Lucifer had to attend to a mini meeting to reschedule their failed meeting from this morning.

"You must be Charlie." You smiled. "You look exactly like your father. Only taller."

"Oh, thank you. My dad actually gave me this old suit jacket." It was pink and she had black flared pants with pink rims on the bottom.

You laughed. "It's hard to imagine someone like Lucifer wearing pink."

"No offense but you look... strangely human."

"It's a... long story."

"Right, well we better get down to business. may I ask what made you think redemption is possible in the first place?"

"...excuse me?"

"Redemption! The thing the Happy Hotel is- will be know for."

"What's the happy hotel?"

"Didn't my dad tell you? Isn't that why your here?"

"No." 'frankly I wish it were.' "Tell me about it."

"What?"

"No offense but the Devil's daughter trying to redeem people is a new one. And trust me I've heard a lot of crazy things." 

"I want to redeem sinners so that they can go to heaven!" She bursts out all at once.

"How will you do that?"

"Well I've been workshopping a little ditty. Would you mind if i performed for you? I'm better at expressing myself and my goals through song!"

"Please by all means! The floor is yours."

*insert inside of every demon is a rainbow*

By the end she's huffing and you clapped loudly giving her a standing ovation. "That was amazing!"

"Sorry I'm late ladies!" Lucifer entered.

"Dad! Who is she?"

"You didn't tell her?" He looked at you

"She's your daughter. It's not my place to say."

"If she doesn't want to be a benefactor for the hotel why did you want us to meet."

"Hey I never said I don't want to!" You chirped in the background but it's drowned out.

"Benefactor... Charlie when I said I met someone I meant... I-I didn't mean... I'm going to marry her..."

"What?" Charlie's voice cracked. "But what about Mom!"

"What about Mom?"

"I think I should go." You tried to leave. 

"Stay." Lucifer Ordered.

"You said that you'd love her forever!"

"Yeah at the beginning of Hell! Charlie SHE left ME. What am I supposed to do? wait for her to come crawling back to me?" 

"It would be better than you running around with some floozy under your arm digging her way into your checkbook. Does she even love you?"

"She loves me very much!"

"I really feel like I this is a father daughter Moment."

"Stay!" Charlie ordered her horns Popping out as she uttered the word. "How long have you been together?"

"A while!"

"You literally said like two days ago a month was nothing in the face of eternity." You said and this was ignored. "So now you'll ignore me."

"Don't lie to me!"

"A few days."

"A few days?!"

"When you were younger you only took a few days to know you wanted to date Seviathan!"

"I was a teenager! And look how that relationship ended."

"Charlie I know what I'm doing. I really thought that'd You'd be more supportive of me and my decisions."

"I Really don't think I should be here."

"STAY!" They both shouted at you, their horns popping from their heads, and this time you sat. 

"You always told me that Mom was the only one for you and now you're throwing that away?"

"Charlie... I thought that out of everyone I know, you'd be the most mature about this. You know I love you but you're being a spoiled brat about this! I've given up so much for your happiness. I have mad sacrifice after sacrifice and all I'm asking for is for you to understand where I'm coming from. I'm Lonely Charlie."

"I'm not going to sit here and listen to this."

"Charlie stop! You're acting like a child!"

"Don't dad. Just don't." She left.

"Lucifer! I don't want to come between you and your daughter. I grew up on evil stepmom stories, I don't want to be like that."

"Just!- We will talk about this later." And he left you alone.

"Great! Now I have the Devil and his daughter angry at me and each other! Way to go me! And on top of all of that I still don't have anyway to get home! I'm going to DIE!" You screamed into a pillow.

[twoidiotwriters1]

The Curse of Oenone (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: *Cradles Logan's Percy in my hands* I don't get you but I'd still kill for you -Danny Words: 2,288 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter Listen to: 'Starting Line' -by Luke Hemmings

IX: Sorry I Threatened to Kill You, It Will Happen Again

"What do you mean?" I stare at the goddess. "I've been obedient, I never complain—who cursed me?"

Aphrodite moves a strand of hair out of my face with a pitiful expression. "It's not something you caused, my dear."

"Am I an actual arae?" I ask in horror. "My father did this?"

"Oh no, it wasn't his intention to curse you when he named you Arae," Aphrodite makes a face. "He had the brain of a monkey, but oh, if there was ever a mortal with charmspeak, that was your father..."

"Lady Aphrodite," I frown. "Focus?"

She pushes the plate of cookies toward me. "You've seen Janus."

"Yeah, but he didn't talk to me this time. I thought he was taunting me," I state.

"I'm here to warn you," she continues. "In this lifetime, you are my daughter, so I can grant you an advantage. Take it as a birthday present."

I want the gods to think about what they consider a proper gift, 'cause telling a young girl that she's got a centuries-old curse on her ain't it.

"That's generous," I say.

"Your first time around," the goddess sinks into the beauty of whatever memory she's revisiting. "People traveled from afar just to catch a glimpse of you. You were perfect..." she wrinkles her nose. "And wasted. Given to an empty carcass of a man."

"Okay," I reply, not following. "And when did this happen, exactly?"

"Then he came," Aphrodite sighs, not listening to me. "Young and charming—I saw him for what he was: your match!"

I feel like she's about to drop a bomb on me. "Cute."

Her eyes focus on me again. "It wasn't cute. It was destiny. I had to give you to him, you see, your union would jumpstart my son's mission. The end of the golden age for Greek Heroes had come at last."

I've heard that sentence before. Not when talking about my love life, but during my lessons with Jason. "Mom," I start, voice shaky. "Are you talking about the Trojan War?"

Aphrodite looks at me."You understand, then?"

"That's crazy," I blurt out.

"Don't lie!" The goddess takes the plate of cookies away. "I've given you enough clues throughout the years for you to figure it out, and you were born my smartest child, Arae. If you ignore it, you'll never break the curse—"

"What curse?" I exclaim in frustration. "I haven't heard anything about a curse!" 

"Oenone's curse," Aphrodite declares. "She put it in place when Paris left her."

Ara drops the hammer and holds her injured finger cussing under her breath. This is the third time that she's hurt herself by not paying attention to what her hands are doing, which is not ideal when you're repairing a ship.

She thinks of her conversation with Leo last night. Ara has to tell him about the curse, but it's the kind of stuff that no matter when or how you say it, is bound to make things worse, and the more she waits, the more it scares her. She doesn't want to lose Leo.

Annabeth hands her a pair of safety gloves. "Won't do much to stop you from cutting off a finger, but it can help with the scratches and stuff."

"Thanks," Ara shakes her hand to get rid of the ache and then puts on the gloves. "I can't focus today... I don't know if Lily talked to you before we sailed..."

"I heard the screams," the girl replies, though she keeps it vague. "Wanna talk about it?"

Ara looks at the boards in front of her, lining them in place. "I don't even know where to start..."

"What do you mean?"

She goes back to work while she explains. "At first, it was about Nico, and then... I said things I'd never intended to say out loud and then Lily snapped too. I know I've been... difficult—"

"That's a way to put it," Annabeth walks past her.

"I thought it was for the best if, you know, if we didn't talk about... Michael," she clears her throat. "I had to look after our camp, I could grieve later, after making sure we were all okay."

The older girl sighs. "You wanna know what I think?"

Ara stops a second time and looks at her friend. "Always."

Annabeth leans against the mast, kicking some pieces of splintered wood as she gathers her thoughts. 

"After what happened to Michael, you kept Lily in place until you smothered her." The girl points at the dagger hanging from Ara's belt. "You care about what everyone thinks a little too much and you forget about your feelings. I think this is exactly what you two needed, she can process her grief like she wants to, and you do the same. Codependency between members of a good team is still toxic."

Ara rubs her nose with the back of her hand and leaves a smudge of dirt on it. "But when I leave her alone, all she does is get in her way."

Annabeth laughs. "Look who's talking!"

"That's not me!" She argues. "I've always gone after the things I want!"

"Have you considered that never stopping is just as bad as not moving?" The girl raises a brow. "Next time, Ara, try sitting down instead of... what was your last near-death experience?"

Ara pouts. "Are you implying I rather die than take a nap? Do you really think I'm that insane?"

"I grew up with you, I know you are. Which reminds me," Annabeth walks up to her and grabs her by the shoulders. "Talk to Percy. He's super bummed out. I don't know what happened but he hasn't seen you in months and now you don't wanna talk to him 'cause you're too busy coddling Leo."

"Percy has you to coddle him," Ara replies grumpily.

"But you're his sister," her friend insists. "Girlfriends and boyfriends are good, but you two need each other. I know it because I know you both." Something behind Ara catches Annabeth's eye. She squints. "Blackjack?"

"Wait—wait," I start pacing the room. "Leo and I... are Helen and Paris?" 

The statement sounds like something I'd say on my deathbed if I were in a soap opera. But my mom shrugs like this isn't news to her.

"Your soul once inhabited Helen's body, which is not the same as being her. You're Arae Jackson, the current curse bearer."

"But I was Helen of Troy once," I repeat numbly. "And Leo was Paris the loser."

Aphrodite gasps. "He wasn't a loser! He was one of the best romantic leads of ancient times! And that boy you love is carrying his curse!"

I wave my hand around to dismiss that. "Fine. Let's say we are, because why the Tartarus not, right? I died and was born again—and what, I found Leo and then... and then..."

I stop. It's been so long since I had those dreams that I'd almost forgotten about them, but now they're back all at once.

"Agape," I whisper, my heart pounding as I speak. "All those people in my dreams... they were all Leo?"

"Oh, you have regressions?" Aphrodite beams. "How lovely!"

"That's what they are?" I frown.

"Well, when a soul has been around for too long, they develop a slight immunity to the Lethe's powers, it creates a crevice in the mind. Some humans get to dream about their past lives, or they spend their first years with those memories until they're old enough to become a new person."

"But I..." I sit down slowly. "In all those... I'm never really with... Leo." 

It's weird to pinpoint all those faces to a single name.

The second realization hits me like a train: In some of my dreams, I've gotten this feeling, like a part of me knows I died too soon. My hands go up and over my mouth, but they can't stop me from talking.

"Oenone's curse... kills us?"

Aphrodite looks away. "At first, I loved it. A nymph's heart so broken that marked several lifetimes, how romantic! I thought it'd be one of those petty curses that lasted one lifetime, then the arai would let you go... but you came back and found each other. And it happened again, exactly like the first time."

"Why do you say it like it's a bad thing?" I hesitate. "Shouldn't you be glad that I'm still fighting against it?"

"Each time, you live blindly," she tells me. "There was a time when you could've chosen to stay dead and wander the Asphodels fields for eternity, but you came back, and the arai like to play with you."

"We keep making the same mistakes..." Suddenly I feel exhausted, like all the centuries my soul has lived through are finally weighing on me.

Aphrodite seems genuinely sad. "I think it's because you keep dying young. You never grew out of that youthful optimism, convinced that you'll break the curse on your next try." She leans and holds my hands tightly. "But I think this time you made the right choice when you came back, my dear."

"What? Why?" I'm unable to release my hands.

"The fates have granted you a chance," she cups my face. "They gave you a prophecy."

"My prophecy's about Oenone's curse?"

"I'm sure of it!" My surroundings start to get fuzzy, I'm starting to wake up. "You've failed too many times, Ara, don't do it again!"

When Piper arrives with Percy and Jason both unconscious, Ara heaves a sigh and carries them to the sick bay with Coach's help.

"At this rate, we're going to run out of ambrosia," he groans while helping Ara to patch up the boys. "How come I never get invited on these violent trips?"

"'Cause I don't have enough stuff to put your limbs back in place," Ara grumbles.

"Leo, are we ready to sail?" Piper asks.

"Yeah, but—"

"Set course for Atlanta. I'll explain later."

"But..." He sees the urgency in the girl's eyes and gives in. "Okay."

"What hit him?" Annabeth examines Percy's injury and winces.

"Blackjack."

"What?"

"They got possessed, just like Leo," Piper explains. "Fought each other and would've probably died in the process if Blackjack hadn't shown up."

By the time she finishes the story, Jason and Percy are awake but still out of it. They don't remember much, and they can't get up either.

"Knocked out twice in two days. Some demigod." Jason makes a face when he looks at Percy. "Sorry, man. I didn't mean to blast you."

Percy's body isn't as hurt as Ara's when she got hit by lightning, probably because he's more resilient. "Not the first time. Your big sister got me good once at camp."

Ara smiles while she puts away the unused bandages. "Same year I met Apollo."

"And Nico," Percy reminds her.

"Couldn't be a perfect year."

"Yeah, but..." Jason shifts awkwardly. "I could have killed you."

"Or I could have killed you," Percy replies.

"If there'd been an ocean in Kansas, maybe."

"I don't need an ocean—"

"Boys, I'm sure you both would've been wonderful at killing each other. But right now, you need some rest," Annabeth says.

"Food first," Percy sighs. "Please? And we really need to talk. Bacchus said some things that don't—"

"Bacchus?" Annabeth interrupts him. "Okay, fine. We need to talk. Mess hall. Ten minutes. I'll tell the others. And please, Percy... change your clothes. You smell like you've been run over by an electric horse."

Ara moves to the side so Annabeth can leave. Piper stays for a few more minutes and then takes Jason away to get him changed. Percy and Ara are left alone.

"You're lucky Blackjack didn't kick right through your hollow skull," she taunts him. "Mom would've killed me if all I'd brought back was a jigsaw of her son."

"Yeah, not ideal..." he rubs the back of his neck. "How is she? And Paul?"

"Worried, but when we located you, things got better. Not much, but they improved a bit. Dad decided to make repairs so Leo could visit more and—"

"Leo knows our parents?"

Ara leans against a cabinet and crosses her arms. "I told you, Percy, we've been dating for half a year. Everyone back home knows him."

He runs a hand through his hair, touches the bump at the back, and winces. "Crap. Does that mean you were thrown to the lake already?"

Ara wrinkles her nose. "Yeah, it was cold."

"Aw, man," he pouts and leans against the wall. "You hate the cold. Can't believe I missed it!"

"But you're back, and you'll be present at other stuff—and now that you've been possessed you'll cut Leo some slack, right?"

He sighs, pulling on the loose strands of his battered shirt. "Yeah, being possessed isn't fun."

She pats his knee with affection. "Let's get you changed."

He groans as he gets on his feet. "So how'd you two meet?"

"That's a fun story," she smiles. "I was looking for you with Annabeth, she'd had a dream the night before..."

As they make their way through the corridors, the stairs, and towards the cabins, Ara tells him about the first encounter she had with Leo, how bad it went, and then how it didn't matter because Leo still won her over.

Percy's sad that he couldn't witness the whole thing, and he'll have to ask Lily for details later. The girl's name causes Ara's gaze to shift for a brief second. Percy notices her expression and pauses. "What's wrong?"

"Lily and I fought," she confesses. "And now that Nico's been taken, if I don't get him on time... She might never speak to me again."

Percy squeezes her shoulder. "So that's what's been bothering you this whole time?"

"Not exactly..." Ara makes a face. "I'm sorry I was mean to you—"

"I wasn't any better..."

"You don't want me to get hurt," she says with understanding. "I get it, but my relationship with Leo is the one thing I can control, and I need to feel in control. When you questioned it, I got angry."

"Well, it happens to all of us," he pats her head. "No need to ruffle your feathers over it, Birdy. We'll rescue Nico."

Ara scowls. "Again."

"Again," Percy chuckles and guides her out of the room. "Hasn't been that many times though..."

"Speak for yourself," she scoffs.

Next Chapter –>

Taglist.

@siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @asnyox-the-hoarder @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen @orbitingpolaris @obxstiles @ellipsisspelled @thepixiechicks

[lunar-writes-things]

i've had this thought many a time but "soft n sweet reader goes absolutely feral on red life"

that concept is just *rapidly bangs fist on table*

-✨

Crimson Adoration

Pairing: C! Mumbo x Reader, C! Etho x Reader

Summary: In which you dive into a death game and find that you have a horrible soulmate and in a fit of rage, find a secret soulmate. 

Genre: Fluff to angst

WC: 2,335

Extra notes: Listen to 'The red means I love you' by Madds Buckley! This is what this fic was inspired off of! 

Content warnings (If any): CHEATING!!!!!!, MENTIONS AND EXPLICIT DETAILS OF DEATH!!!

16 people was a lot to have in a dimension for a death game. 

Met by choice and fated by chance. 

Mumbo wasn't a bad partner to be in double life with. Truthfully! 

When they were green for the first few weeks they felt their love, their attraction towards each other, as if their red string of fate had tied them tightly together.

Session one was absolute bliss for the newly soul-bounded couple

But then their first death came during session 2 

It was so STUPID! 

It caused a screaming match between the two that took hours to cool off.  

Etho had found you when you were fuming and cautiously approached you.

"You okay?" He asked softly and sat down next to you 

"A Panda Etho! I didn't even know you could die to a panda in this stupid realm of possibilities!" Y/n exclaimed "We were at half a heart! I was healing! But HE WANTED TO FUCK WITH SCAR AND MESS EVERYTHING UP!" 

your scream echoed off the cliffside as you panted and took shaky breaths 

Etho's warm hand rubbed your back and you sighed, leaning against him. 

"I wish I had a better soulmate." You muttered 

Etho stayed quiet but he wrapped his arm around your waist 

"I could be a better soulmate than him," The ninja said softly "And I wouldn't be so brash to die by a panda. I would treat you right and I know you would too, Better than Joel." 

"Damn straight... Etho... You do know what I'm about to ask... right?" You whisper 

"Yes..." He trailed off 

"Are you really willing to ruin your relationship with him like that for me?" You ask and cup his face 

"Y/n I would do anything for you, Even if it means killing myself." He muttered, leaning into your touch "I have been in love with you for the longest time."

"Are you saying this now because we won't remember anything after we leave?" You asked, slowly leaning into him

"If we are important enough we will remember and our love will stay alive." He whispered, lips so close to you're you could feel your breath 

"Etho Will you be my secret soulmate? My real soulmate?" You asked, feeling your lips brush against his 

"Yes," He sighed and pressed a gentle kiss to your lips

no matter how many times you kissed mumbo, you had never felt this 

Etho's kiss was like a hurricane and the beach waves all at once. Overwhelming and calm, a whirlwind yet steady gentle crashing waves. It felt like you were being swept up in the excitement but being grounded at the same time. 

it was heaven 

it was peace

it was Etho 

And Etho was perfect 

"Y/n!" Mumbo called out, eyes worried and hair mussed up "You're okay!" 

it was hours later when you returned home and Mumbo looked terrified and worried 

"Yeah," Y/n gave him a soft smile "I'm sorry I got so mad. I just don't understand why you did it. We were on half a heart and I was trying to heal us." 

"I got carried away," Mumbo said and walked forward to cup your face with one hand and rest his other hand on your hip "I'm sorry. I know it won't make up for what I've done but for now its all I can do." 

"Its Fine," You replied softly 

no its not 

"I forgive you." 

HA! Yeah right 

"I still love you." 

Etho. I want Etho. 

"I Love you too," Mumbo said and caressed your cheek with his thumb "Can I kiss you?" 

"Yes," You sigh and he pressed his lips to yours

Nothing

No butterflies

No fireworks

not even excitement 

How disappointing 

Just like Mumbo

The Next morning, you woke up early to meet Etho in a forest to kiss him and share breakfast. It lasted about 30 minutes until both Partners of yours began looking for you and You and Etho had to split, promising to text through communicators and meet up again when they had time away from their partners. 

You were giddy, the exhilaration of cheating, the taste of something new, something so... Etho. It was wonderful. 

You had to force down your smile when Mumbo found you in the forest, chopping down wood and collecting saplings, iron axe glimmering with the spotted sunrays singing through the trees. 

"There You are!" Mumbo smiled and you stopped hacking at the tree to give a forced smile back, heart dropping at the sight of him "You disappeared this morning, I'm so glad to have found you." 

"Yeah," You said and watched as he walked closer and placed a gentle hand on your cheek, a move you leaned into with a fake smile "Sorry, I was just so excited to get to work today."

"Have you eaten breakfast?" Mumbo asked 

"Yeah," You nodded, "I grabbed some food before I left and ate out here." 

Technically not a lie

"Anyway, Today I'm gonna head down to the enchanter with Etho," You said 

A plan to meet with him and get some work done, something they came up with right before the boys arrived. It was a win-win

"Don't be mean," Mumbo said playfully before turning serious "And Don't get touchy-feely with him. I know how you can be." 

"Why?" You teased playfully, hopefully hiding the panic "You jealous?"

"Yes," Mumbo admitted "I know you... I know you get along with him and Bdubs more, but right now, you're my soulmate. And I intend to keep that for as long as possible." 

"Oh Mumbo," You sigh softly "It's You, It's only you and has always been you." 

You use both your hand to cup his face and pull him in for a gentle kiss. 

That should stave him off for now. 

"Etho!" You whispered a wave of fear washing over you as he hid the corner, both hands over his mouth and eyes closed tight 

he was there for a few minutes before the warden finally decided to go back into hiding and you quickly ran towards etho into his arms, whispering his name and breathing in him. 

"Are You okay? Oh My gosh, that must have been terrifying for you," You exclaimed

"If it was so scary for me then why are you crying?" Etho asked gently and wiped a tear from your face "I'm okay. I promise. Are you okay?" 

"It didn't even come near me!" You cried and took a few deep breaths "I'm fine... Yeah, okay... You're okay. You're here. I can feel you and hear you." 

For some reason, you knew you could live with it if Mumbo was the one backed into that corner but the fact that it was Etho terrified you to oblivion and beyond. 

That was session 3

Session four was a bit messy. 

In session four, Etho had died due to his soulmate's stupidity and a fishing rod and You had died to Mumbo provoking Etho by taunting him and stealing his stuff. 

You didn't blame Etho for your death, but you did blame Mumbo. 

"YOU PROVOKED HIM! HE WAS A RED NAME!" You yelled 

Your eyes flashed red and your skin heated in rage as fury pulsed through your veins. 

"I DID THIS?!" Mumbo screeched, hair messy and wild and his eyes cold and cruel "THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"

"OH, AND HOW IS THAT?" Y/n asked, a tone so sarcastic that you could cut through it with a steak knife "I WASN'T THE ONE TAUNTING THE RED NAME AND HIS PARTNER WITH THEIR THINGS!" 

"OH PLEASE! THEY WOULDN'T HAVE ACTED LIKE THAT HAD YOU NOT BEEN SEDUCING ONE OF THEM!" Mumbo shouted 

there was a moment of silence as both caught their breath, eyes of pure rage staring at each other until you flipped him off and stormed off to Cleo's base 

Session five came and went with both You and Mumbo ignoring each other and slowly killing each other. You spent a lot of time with two other reds. 

Etho and Joel

Joel had no idea that when he turned his back, Etho snuck kisses and feather-light touches with you. 

Unfortunately came session 6, there was a lot of bloodsheds and maniacal laughing.

Mumbo came across you as you swung an axe into Martyn with Scar cheering you on in the background. Once Martyn was dead, you swung your bloodied axe over your shoulder to take a scathing look at Mumbo. 

"We need to stick together," Mumbo said 

"No," You replied and turned your back on him "You survive on your own from now on. I wish you the worst." 

"Even if it means you die too?" Mumbo asked, "What happens then?" 

"Then it's your fault," You spun on their heel to glare at mumbo " I haven't been the cause of any of our deaths because unlike you, I don't provoke and rush into things. I have never done anything to harm us and get us killed. So whatever you do, it's your fault." 

With those words, you turned around and walked off toward the burned relationship to meet with Etho. 

Your actual soulmate

"Etho?" You asked searching around the wreckage only for you to see him making out with Joel "Etho-" 

The silver-haired man pushed away from Joel who had a shit-eating grin on his face and looked at Y/n desperately

if it wasn't for the fact that Etho and Joel were soulbound, you would have killed Joel within the first five minutes of their soulbond. 

"Its not-" Etho tried to explain but you gave him a pained smile 

"It's fine Etho," You whispered and placed a gentle hand on his cheek "He's your soulmate and you actually get along with him. I'm only your side-piece." 

Etho looked heartbroken to hear that but as you turned to leave, he followed you. He kept following you until the both of you came to a clearing of forest littered with bodies, some of which you killed some of which just popped up out of nowhere. 

"Can I explain?" Etho asked softly 

"You don't have to," You replied looking at him 

"I want to," Etho replied "I promise It wasn't like that. He wanted to talk about maybe rebuilding the ship but he heard you calling my name and he grabbed me and forced me to kiss him." 

Your eyes flashed in fury and you glared at Joel who was hiding behind a tree. His eyes widened and he tried to turn and run but you had caught up to him by throwing your axe and pinning him to a tree. 

"You forced yourself on him?" You glowered standing over the man 

"ONLY TO GET RID OF YOU!" He yelled, voice cracking from panic as he attempted to rip his shirt out from beneath the axe and escape "You're ruing my chances of winning!" 

"You would have lost if you didn't share life points with Etho," You said "I would have killed you as soon as I turned red. You're lucky to even be thinking." 

You grabbed the wooden handle of your axe and pulled it out and Joel scrambled to get away from you as You turned towards Etho and slowly walked towards him because you didn't want him to run away. Instead, he rushed forward and hugged you tightly. 

"Etho wait-" You protested with a light laugh "I'm all bloody." 

"'s fine" He murmured and he buried his face into the crook of your neck "Let's just-" 

You stopped him by pushing him out of the way of a flying sword coming from your own soulmate. Unfortunately, the sword grazed Etho and he had a tiny cut on his cheek, cutting through the mask and revealing a patch of pale skin and freckles. 

You turned to glare at your soulmate to see him glaring back. 

"What Mumbo." You spat out, grip tightening on the handle of your diamond axe, the one Mumbo had given to you during the second session "What now?" 

"Do You actually love him?" He asked, "Or did you just want to get away from me that badly?" 

"I Love him." You stated before you turned to Etho "And the red on my face is matching you!" The sweet smile on their face didn't match the crazed look in their eyes and the words they were saying "And goodness you're bleeding! What a wonderful feeling! You're down and you're pleading! My head is just reeling!"

You gripped your head and watched how both their soulbound and secret soulmate reacted with horror. A giggle escaped your lips as you swung out a diamond axe, chipped from cutting down wood and stained with the blood of the bodies littered around the four people. Something in your mind turned twisted as their confession came out of their mouth

"The Red means I love you," You exclaimed and stepped closer to your secret soulmate and used your thumb to wipe the blood off of your secret soulmate's cheek before using your tongue to clean their finger "Tasting your blood means I love you-"

Your words were cut off as a phantom sword plunged through your heart and you dropped. Your legs crumpled underneath you as coughs of blood escaped your mouth and lungs. Behind you stood their soulbound, a sword piercing Mumbo's heart with tears running down his face

"You said there was only me," Their soulbound whispered out before their knees buckled and they landed on their face and chest, the sword impaling their heart deeper "This was your fault-" 

"Y/N!" Etho's scream of your name was the last thing you ever heard in a world of death 

[bechloeislegit]

25 Days of BeChloe Christmases 2022

Day 6 - Celebrity Holiday Bake-Off

Prompt from Tumblr User mamapitch: Music producer Beca Mitchell is asked to participate in a Celebrity Christmas baking competition for charity and is randomly paired with actress Chloe Beale.

"Come on, Beca," Theo implored. "Khalid already told them you'd do it."

"But I don't bake," Beca exclaimed.

"That's a lie," Theo said, chuckling. "You may not be able to cook, but we both know you do know how to bake."

"But why me?" Beca whined.

"Because the Food Network execs asked for you," Theo said. "Besides, it's for charity and will be good for your reputation."

Beca stared at Theo; Theo stared back at her with a raised brow.

"Fine," Beca finally said. "How is it even supposed to work?"

"The 'competition' will start with ten competitors," Theo explained. "They are all in the entertainment industry, and you will be randomly matched with another contestant and compete as a team."

"Who did I get matched with?"

"I, um, I don't know yet," Theo said. "I don't think you'll find out until the first day of the competition."

Beca sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"Anyway," Theo continued. "You will be given a challenge, and you and your partner will work together to make something for that challenge. If you score high enough, you both move to the next round. It goes like that until only two teams are left to compete in the finale. They will be crowned the champions and have $25,000 donated in each of their names to the charity of their choice."

"How long will it take?" Beca asked.

"They request you be available for a week," Theo said. "They will tape one show a day for five days. Plus, add in travel days to New York and back."

"If we lose, do we get to go home?"

"No," Theo said. "They want to have everyone there for the big finale and have asked that each contestant remain in New York until then. That shouldn't be an issue for you; you can work from anywhere."

"When do I have to go?"

"They want you in New York the week after Thanksgiving," Theo said. "They plan to tape the week of October 31 to November 4, so you should plan to fly to New York on October 30 and fly back to LA on November 5."

"Fine," Beca said, running a hand through her hair. "I'll have Dani block off that entire week and make my reservations tomorrow."

"Don't look so down," Theo said. "You might actually enjoy it."

"We'll see," Beca said.

~~ 25 Days of BeChloe Christmases - 2022 ~~

Beca couldn't stop yawning as she stood waiting to be introduced for the first day of taping. She had arrived in New York late the night before, and her body was still on L.A. time.

"Our next celebrity contestant is a Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/producer and was discovered during a USO Tour with DJ Khalid," the announcer said.

Beca was waved forward, and she was now standing outside the door to enter the competition kitchen area.

"Welcome, our final contestant, Beca Mitchell!"

Beca pushed through the door and saw several other competitors already in the room. She looked around and gave a quick wave as they lightly applauded.

Beca took her place and stood waiting for the questions she was told would be asked of her.

"Welcome, Beca," host Jesse Palmer said.

"Thanks for having me," Beca said. "I have to say I love watching these competitions."

"Hopefully, you've learned something along the way," Jesse said, chuckling.

"Hopefully," Beca said, smiling back at Jesse.

"Is everybody ready to find out who you'll be baking with?" Jesse asked.

"I am," Beca said.

Jesse chuckled as the contestants showed various levels of excitement as they shouted out.

"Yeah!"

"I'm ready!"

"I want Beca," one woman called out, causing Beca to snort a laugh as she looked at the woman.

The woman smiled back at Beca, giving her a salacious wink.

"Oh, my God!" Beca said, laughing again.

"Okay," Jesse said, getting everyone's attention. "In this hat, we have the names of our music celebrities." He holds up a blue knit cap; then he holds up a red knit cap. "And in this one, we have the actors in our group. I need some help, so I'm calling on Santa to draw the names. Santa! Santa, we need you on stage!"

Suddenly, Santa walked through a door from behind Jesse. Beca jumped when the woman standing next to her squealed and clapped.

"Looks like Santa has a fan," Jesse said, laughing as the woman jumped up and down.

Beca was looking at the woman; it was the same woman who said she wanted Beca as her partner. The woman smiled and winked at Beca, causing her to blush slightly and look down at the floor.

Beca zoned out, and a minute or so later, her eyes widened when she saw a pair of Vans come into her sightline. She looked up to find the overly excited redheaded woman standing in front of her.

"Looks like I'm all yours," the woman said with a saucy wink.

"I'm sorry?" Beca said, looking around. "What is happening right now?"

Beca looked around to see the other contestants looking at Jesse. She looked at him as well, hoping to figure out what was happening.

"Okay, contestants," Jesse said. "You have your teammate and your first challenge. As soon as I say go, it's time to start baking."

Beca looked at the woman, who was apparently her teammate, and had no clue who she was.

"Wait," Beca said, looking around. "What's the challenge?"

"Don't worry, partner, I'll fill you in once we get to our station," the redhead said.

"Oh, um, okay," Beca mumbled. "Thanks."

Jesse called out. "Your baking time starts now!

Each of the teams ran back to their stations. The redhead grabbed Beca's hand and pulled her to their station.

"Okay," the woman said, facing Beca. "We have three hours to make three dozen Christmas sandwich cookies."

"Um, okay," Beca stammered and held out her hand. "So, um, I'm Beca. Beca Mitchell. Who are you?"

The woman smiled. "I know who you are," the woman said. "I'm Chloe. Chloe Beale. I'm an actress."

Beca shook Chloe's hand, saying, "Sorry. I know you're an actress, I just didn't know your name."

Chloe smiled as Beca continued to shake her hand. Beca realized she was still holding onto Chloe and released her hand, dropping her hand down to her side.

"So, um, Christmas sandwich cookies? Do you have any ideas on what kind of cookies we should make?"

"Well, the challenge is a sandwich cookie with peppermint and chocolate as the primary Christmas flavors," Chloe said. "And I think we should decorate them."

"Oh, okay," Beca said. She thought for a moment before suggesting, "What if we made a hot cocoa cookie? We can make a chocolate cookie with a marshmallow cream filling with peppermint sprinkles."

"Yum," Chloe said. "That sounds delicious."

"Yeah, it does," Beca said, smiling. "Let's get started."

"Okay," Chloe said. "Could you get the flour and sugar? I'll get the chocolate and marshmallow and some peppermint sticks."

Beca hurried over to get the flour and sugar. She carried the two jars over to their station and set them down.

"Teamwork," Chloe said, winking at Beca as she set down the chocolate and marshmallows. "I like it. It's what's going to separate us from the other teams."

"Are you always so, I don't know, bubbly?" Beca asked, shrugging.

"I'm known for my bubbly nature," Chloe said matter-of-factly as she stood in front of the standing mixer.

"I'll get the oven preheated," Beca said. "And we still need the peppermints."

"Oh shoot, I forgot the peppermint," Chloe said.

"That's okay," Beca said. "I'll get it."

Beca walked over to the candy section and picked up a few peppermint sticks. She was hurrying back to her station when she stumbled and fell, dropping the peppermint sticks and causing them to break into pieces.

"Oh, my gosh!" Chloe exclaimed, running over to Beca. "Are you okay?"

"Beca," Jesse called out as he and a few stagehands rushed over as well. "Are you okay?"

Beca blushed as both Jesse and Chloe helped her up.

"I'm fine," Beca said as she got to her feet and looked down at the floor. "The peppermint didn't fare so well, though."

"You take it easy," Chloe said. "I'll get more."

Two people rushed out with a broom and cleaned up the broken peppermint. The cameras filmed the other contestants to allow Beca time to compose herself.

Chloe brought over some peppermint and checked to make sure Beca was able to continue.

"I'm fine, Chloe," Beca said. "The only thing hurt is my ego. And the peppermints."

Chloe chuckled and pulled Beca into a hug.

"I have a feeling we're going to be the best of friends by the time this is over," Chloe whispered before pulling away from Beca. "Now, let's get to baking."

~~ 25 Days of BeChloe Christmases - 2022 ~~

"Five minutes remaining, bakers," Jesse called out. "Let's get those cookies done and plated."

"Do you think we should taste one to make sure they're okay?" Beca asked as they placed the second cookie on top of the peppermint marshmallow filling.

"Yeah," Chloe said, taking a cookie and biting into it. "Mmmmm! These are better than I expected. Try it."

Chloe held the cookie to Beca's lips; Beca pulled her head back. Chloe was undeterred and pressed on. As Beca opened her mouth to protest, Chloe shoved the cookie into Beca's mouth.

"Hey," Beca mumbled and started chewing. "Mmm, wow! This really is good."

"I knew it would be," Chloe said, smirking. "We're definitely going to be the team to beat."

Beca rolled her eyes just as Jesse said, "Time's up, bakers. Step away from your stations."

Beca and Chloe put their hands up and stepped back. The judging began, and the teams each stood before the judges for the taste test.

It was Beca and Chloe's turn, and Beca stood next to Chloe and let her explain their cookie idea. The judges tasted their cookies, and Carla Hall exclaimed, "Dudes!"

Beca chuckled, and Chloe squealed.

"If these were warm, I'd swear I was drinking a cup of hot cocoa," Carla said. "The peppermint marshmallow is amazing, and you have just the right amount of peppermint flavor without it being too overpowering. Great job!"

"Thank you," Beca and Chloe said.

"This is a really good cookie," Duff Goldman said. "I'd say more, but I'd just be repeating what Carla has already said. I will add that you two have definitely set the standard high for the other competitors."

"Thank you," Beca and Chloe said, turning to smile at each other.

Their gazes turned to the third judge, Nancy Fuller. She was smiling and waving her hands as if she was conducting an orchestra.

"Does that mean she likes it?" Beca whispered to Chloe.

"It does," Chloe said, nodding as Nancy began speaking.

"You two definitely know you are in a Holiday Baking Competition!" Nancy said. "And if this is what you can do this early in the contest, I think you might actually win it!"

"That's the plan," Chloe said, chuckling.

"Thank you, ladies," Jesse said.

"Thank you, judges," Chloe said, waving and grabbing Beca's arm as they walked out of the room.

"We got a dude from Carla Hall, and Nancy Fuller thinks we can win it," Chloe gushed as she and Beca went to wait with the other competitors. "This calls for a celebration."

"Maybe we should wait to see if we actually make it to the next challenge," Beca said.

"Oh, we'll make it," Chloe said. "I'm pretty confident about it."

"I hate to sound overly confident," Beca said. "But you might be right."

"I know I'm right," Chloe said confidently. "Care to have dinner with me tonight to celebrate?"

"Um," Beca mumbled. "If we make it to the next round, we'll go out to dinner and celebrate."

"Great," Chloe said. "We can talk about it on the way back to the hotel."

~~ 25 Days of BeChloe Christmases - 2022 ~~

Beca and Chloe made it to the next round, and their cookies were voted best of the day by the judges.

Beca met Chloe in the hotel's restaurant and was surprised at how much she enjoyed Chloe's company. She found herself smiling and laughing throughout the meal. She also found herself staring a couple of times; Chloe was very pretty.

By the time dessert was served, Beca had learned quite a bit about Chloe. She learned that Chloe was discovered by a talent scout while still in High School and had come out as bi to her parents and friends when she was eighteen. She tucked that little tidbit away for later.

"And I'll be living in New York," Chloe said.

"What?" Beca asked, having zoned out for a moment and missing what Chloe had been talking about.

"I'll be living in New York," Chloe repeated. Seeing Beca's confusion, she repeated, "My new TV show will tape here, so I'll be moving here while we tape. It beats having to fly back and forth between here and LA every week."

Beca frowned at this news. She had hoped to ask Chloe out on a real date when they went back to LA. But it looked like Chloe wouldn't be in LA.

"That sounds like. . .fun," Beca said, looking at her phone. "It's getting late. I should get back to my room. I have some work I need to do before I go to bed."

"Oh, um, okay," Chloe said, frowning at the sudden change in Beca's demeanor.

Beca walked Chloe out to the elevators. Chloe leaned against the wall while Beca stood facing the doors.

"Is everything okay?" Chloe asked, watching Beca.

"What?" Beca said, looking over her shoulder at Chloe. "Yeah, everything's fine. I just have a lot of work. My bosses figure I can work from anywhere, so being here should be no exception."

The elevator dinged as it reached Beca's floor.

"This is me," Beca said, hurrying off the elevator.

"Goodnight, Beca," Chloe said and sighed heavily as the doors closed.

~~ 25 Days of BeChloe Christmases - 2022 ~~

Even after working until two in the morning, Beca was up early, dressed, and out of the hotel by seven. She grabbed a coffee from one of the street vendors and hailed a taxi.

Beca knew she was being silly, but she couldn't get Chloe and the fact she would be moving to New York out of her mind.

Chloe woke to her alarm about the time Beca arrived at the studio. She sighed and slowly made her way out of bed. Once she was showered and dressed, she made her way down to the restaurant to get something for breakfast.

Chloe looked around, hoping to see Beca having breakfast. Her shoulders slumped when she didn't see her.

"Maybe I'll just get something from the crafts table at the studio," Chloe mumbled as she turned and left the hotel.

Chloe went to the crafts table; she smiled when she saw Beca talking to Jesse. She walked over and stood to the side so they could finish their conversation with some privacy.

"Are you sure?" Jesse asked. "That was quite a tumble you took yesterday."

"Yeah," Beca said. "I'm good. I swear."

Jesse patted her on the shoulder and walked away. Chloe moved, so she was in front of Beca.

"I looked for you this morning," Chloe said. "But you had already left the hotel."

"Yeah," Beca said, looking down at the floor. "I was awake early and was afraid if I stayed, I'd, um, go back to sleep."

"Hmm," Chloe said, looking over the food selection.

"I highly recommend the spinach quiche," Beca said, pointing it out to Chloe.

"Thanks," Chloe said as she grabbed a bowl of fruit.

Beca felt bad about how she treated Chloe after dinner the night before, so she grabbed a cup of coffee and stayed close while Chloe ate. The silence was killing Beca, but she didn't know what to say to Chloe, so she didn't say anything at all.

"Okay, competitors," Jesse called out. "Let's get things started."

The Beca/Chloe team threw away their trash and followed the other competitors onto the stage and into position. They stood waiting for Jesse to tell them what the challenge was for today. Beca noticed Chloe was paying very close attention to everything Jesse was saying. Beca was too busy trying to subtly look at Chloe, but she did manage to hear what the challenge was.

"And your time starts," Jesse said, pausing for dramatic effect. "Now!"

Beca hurried after Chloe and stopped at their station.

"So, I'm thinking the cookie representing me should be a star," Chloe said, getting down to business. "I can decorate it to look like a Hollywood Walk of Fame star."

Beca smiled and looked at Chloe. "I like that idea."

"What cookie do you want to make to represent you?"

"Um, a musical note?" Beca said.

"I have a feeling every musician here is going to do a musical note of some kind," Chloe said. "Or a CD because it's simple. We need to go bolder with you."

"Bolder, huh?" Beca said, taking Chloe's arm. "Come with me."

Beca stopped in front of the display of cookie cutters and looks at them. One, in particular, catches her eye, and she takes it down. She examines it and crinkles her nose while she thinks.

"What are you thinking?" Chloe asked, trying not to smile at how cute Beca looked; she was still a bit mad at her after all.

"This is supposed to be a rainbow," Beca said, showing Chloe. "What if we use it to cut out the cookie, then we sort of bend it in the middle so it doesn't have such an arc? We can cut this side of the cloud off and bake them. Then we can pipe on the icing to make them look like headphones. I use them all the time whether I'm singing or producing."

Chloe smiled, and her eyes lit up. "That's genius!"

"Really?" Beca asked, excited to see Chloe excited about her idea. "Let's get started."

"Since our must-use ingredient is orange, I think we should do a basic cookie," Chloe suggested as they walked back over to their station. "We can add the orange flavoring into the icing."

"That sounds, um, good," Beca said, nodding her head. "But safe. I think we should add the orange to the cookie dough as well. That way, we'll have the orange flavor profile in both the cookie and the icing."

"Look at you talking about flavor profiles," Chloe said, bumping Beca's shoulder.

Beca blushed and smiled.

~~ 25 Days of BeChloe Christmases - 2022 ~~

Beca and Chloe didn't win the best cookie of the day, but they did make it to the next round. The judges loved their cookie ideas and thought they represented each of them perfectly. The biggest critique was Beca's piping work on her headphone cookies; the judges felt it wasn't "clean" and needed some work.

Chloe was disappointed they didn't win for best cookie again but didn't put any blame on Beca for it. Beca, on the other hand, blamed herself and sulked all the way back to the hotel.

The teammates rode the elevator to their respective floors. Chloe didn't get a chance to say anything as Beca stood in front of the doors, staring down at the floor. Chloe found herself alone when Beca hurried off the elevator as soon as the doors opened.

A short time later, Beca was still angry with herself and decided to order room service for dinner.

Chloe was going to stop by Beca's room to see if she wanted to have dinner together but didn't know Beca's room number. She called the front desk and asked for Beca's room number, but they wouldn't give it to her for "guest privacy" reasons.

Feeling a bit dejected, Chloe went to the hotel's restaurant, hoping to find Beca there. She was even more disappointed when Beca wasn't there. Several of the other competitors were there, and she ended up having dinner with a small group of them.

Early the next morning, Beca hurriedly dressed and rushed to the studio again. She found Jesse and asked if she could use a station to practice her piping; he said it wasn't against the rules, so she should go for it.

Beca didn't want to disappoint Chloe again, so she practiced until other competitors started showing up. She cleaned the station and waited for Chloe.

Chloe walked on set and saw Beca standing at their station. She stomped over to Beca with fire in her eyes.

"Are you avoiding me?" Chloe blurted as soon as she was standing in front of Beca. "Did I do something to upset you?"

"What?" Beca asked, looking around. "No. Why would you ask that?"

Chloe huffed and turned her back on Beca. The competitors were called to the set, and Jesse stood waiting for them. He went through the challenge for the day; the competitors had to grab a bag from the back to find out what plain pie they would have to transform and make into a holiday pie. Beca didn't have a clue what that meant but figured Chloe did, so she wasn't too worried.

Beca should have been worried. Chloe was still upset with her and offered no help regarding what to do about transforming a strawberry pie into a holiday pie. Beca started gathering ingredients for the pie crust as well as strawberries and sugar for the filling.

Chloe stood by and watched. When Beca heard Chloe huff at something she did, she had enough. She threw down the measuring spoons and looked at Chloe.

"You must not be a very good actress," Beca said with a snort, causing a small gasp from Chloe. "If you were, you would be better at pretending to be a contestant in a baking competition."

"How dare you?" Chloe said. "I am a good actress and have the awards to prove it."

Beca laughed. "Fine; you're a good actress. Now show me how good a baker you are, and help me transform a strawberry pie into a festive holiday pie. And, put your acting chops to work and pretend you at least enjoy my company."

"I am a good baker, and this pie will be amazing," Chloe said. "As for enjoying your company, even I'm not a good enough actress to pull that off."

Beca chuckled as she went back to measuring out the pie crust ingredients.

~~ 25 Days of BeChloe Christmases - 2022 ~~

After the judging, Beca couldn't erase the smirk from her face. Getting Chloe fired up was rewarding as she and Chloe not only made it to the next round but were also awarded the best pie of the day. Beca also learned that a fired-up Chloe was hot; very hot!

When the competitors were let go for the evening, Beca looked for Chloe so they could head back to the hotel together. Beca even had hopes of getting Chloe to join her for dinner again.

Beca frowned when she realized Chloe had left with some of the other competitors. She made her way to a car and went to the hotel alone.

Beca was sitting in her room, working, when her stomach rumbled from hunger. She ignored her hunger pangs and continued working on the track she had started. Well, she would have if she could stop thinking about Chloe. All she could see was Chloe's face smiling at her when they stood before the judges. After the judging, Beca wanted to speak to Chloe so she could apologize for the way she had been acting toward her, but Chloe had rushed off before she got the chance.

"I should go to her room and apologize," Beca mumbled to her empty room. "I really like her and hope we can be friends. If she wasn't moving to New York, maybe we could be something more."

Beca threw her headphones onto the bed and got up. She went to the door and opened it; she stopped when she realized she had no idea what room Chloe was in.

"I'll go down to the front desk and ask them," Beca thought.

Beca rushed out of her room and to the elevator. She burst out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened on the ground level and ran into someone. She reached out to keep the other person from falling.

"Beca?" Chloe said.

"Chloe?" Beca said.

"Are you okay?" they asked simultaneously.

"I'm fine," Chloe said. "Where were you going in such a hurry?"

"I know you won't believe this," Beca said. "But, I was going to the front desk to find out what room you were in. I'd like to talk to you if you have a minute. Privately."

"Um, okay," Chloe said. "Want to come to my room? Or we can go to yours."

"Let's go to my room," Beca said as she hit the elevator call button.

Chloe nodded and stood with Beca, waiting for the elevator. Beca waved Chloe into the elevator, stepping in behind her. Beca hit the button for her floor and leaned against the sidewall. Chloe stood across from Beca, chewing on her lip. She couldn't take the silence and cleared her throat, causing Beca to look at her. Before Chloe could say anything, the elevator came to a stop, and Beca led Chloe to her room. Beca opened the door and waved Chloe inside. Chloe turned to Beca.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about? Are you going to explain why you've been so angry with me and avoiding me?"

"I wanted to apologize for all that," Beca said. "To be honest, I wasn't angry at you, I was angry at myself and took it out on you."

"Why?"

"Um," Beca said. "I liked you. I mean, I like you. I realized it when we had dinner after the first day of the competition. I convinced myself that we would be good together and even had all these scenarios going on in my head where we started dating when we got back to LA. Then you started talking about moving to New York, and I thought-." Beca sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know what I was thinking. It just seemed like I finally meet someone amazing, who I felt a connection with, and she's going to be living across the country. I had myself believing that you didn't like me like that and wrote us off as being anything more than acquaintances after the competition was over, and that bothered me, so I was a dick to you. I'm sorry for that."

Chloe stood looking at Beca with her arms crossed. Beca started getting fidgety as Chloe stared at her, not saying anything.

"I do like you like that," Chloe finally said, causing Beca to let out the breath she had been holding. "That's why it hurt so much when you ended our dinner so abruptly and then avoided me the next day."

"I'm sorry," Beca said. "Can we maybe start over? Maybe be friends."

"I'd like that," Chloe said, stepping toward Beca. "But there is something I'd like even better."

"Um, oh," Beca said, her throat suddenly dry. "What, um. What would you like better?"

"I'd like it if you asked me out," Chloe said, stepping closer.

Chloe was now standing nose-to-nose with Beca. Beca cleared her throat and took a step back.

"I, um, I can do that," Beca said.

"Then do it," Chloe said, wrapping her hand around Beca's neck and pulling her into a kiss.

~~ 25 Days of BeChloe Christmases - 2022 ~~

Six weeks later, on Christmas Eve, Beca was sitting on her sofa waiting for the finale of the Celebrity Christmas Bake-off to air. She was startled by a knock on her door. It wasn't that late, but it was later than she was used to having someone drop by.

Beca opened the door and was startled when the person standing there yelled, "Surprise!"

"Chloe!" Beca squealed, pulling the woman to her. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going to stay in New York for Christmas."

"I couldn't have my girlfriend celebrate our first Christmas as a couple without me, could I?"

"No, no, you couldn't," Beca said as she captured Chloe's lips in a kiss.

The kiss ended, and Beca smiled. "Care to watch the bake-off finale with me?"

"As long as there will be kissing while we watch," Chloe said.

"It's a deal!" Beca said, closing the door as she took Chloe's hand and led her inside.

[harmonyindark245]

One Last Time [Chapter 8]

Summary - Elain and Azriel have known each other since they were 11 and had never been separated. But when their view for their future no longer matches, things break apart between them, causing a rift which had never been fixed. Elain goes on to become a neurosurgeon, while Azriel works for the deadlier part of the community. Ten years later, their lives get entangled as they cross paths, this time stakes much greater than just their hearts.

An: All characters belong to Sarah J. Maas

Warnings: Mature language, violence, alcohol consumption, smoking, drugs

Hope you all enjoy!

Masterlist

Songs: 

Lie To Me - 5 Seconds of Summer  Disturbia - Rhianna One Last Time - Ariana Grande

Something was wrong.

Azriel had begun suspecting it ever since they had picked up Elain and Daemon and had not heard a single word from Graysen since then. And then the day he had gotten shot, he knew there had been someone else after both of them. 

Azriel had also not gotten to figure out what Graysen had meant when he said that Rhysand was on a ‘deadline’. Along with that, there had been multiple attacks on Graysen’s companies, but somehow, they never affected his dirty business and he always came out as the victim, throwing their name in the dirt. 

Three attacks and not a single one were orchestrated by them. 

And Azriel knew that Graysen was aware of that, but still, he seemed to love blaming them for it. As if they were the only ones handling illegal businesses. 

He was glad that Elain and Daemon were with him. Both adults had managed to remain civil with each other. Kind of like friends. Yes, it was awkward at times, but it was nice. Azriel thought he once again had something to look up for. 

However, being confined to his house with only his office as a reprieve, there was not much Azriel could do. He had spent his entire ‘vacation’ spending time with Daemon, mostly playing video games.

Az’s competitive side jumped out when he first started playing JustDance with Daemon. He thought normal ten-year-old boys wouldn’t be good at dancing. 

He was terribly wrong. 

Daemon was apparently a pro at dancing and had, metaphorically, wiped the floor with Azriel. The worst part was the bragging and nagging that came after, even though Az tried to reason that he could only use one hand. 

But honestly, even with one hand, he was fucking killing it. Never in his life had he thought that he would dance to Shakira’s ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ but, well, his life had been taking really sharp turns lately. 

He turned around to complete the song with a final step of his own, only to find Elain standing at the threshold with a bottle of water in her hand, her eyes wide in horror. Beside her was Lucien, who was clutching his stomach tightly as he laughed. 

Az instantly stiffened, ignoring the artificial applause coming from the speakers. 

“Daddy! That's not fair! I lost!” Daemon exclaimed with a pout. 

Lucien started shaking with laughter. “Az, I had no idea you were hiding a Shakira within you.” 

Az growled at him. “Tell this to anyone and no one will be able to find you.” 

“Too late,” Elain spoke up from beside him, her initial shock gone and now a wide grin threatening to break out. “I already took a video and sent it to Cassian.” She gave him a sheepish look. 

Azriel groaned. Now, Cassian would probably have enough ammunition to last him a millennium. 

“Dad, I want a redo,” Daemon said stubbornly. 

Oh god, kid, please stop talking. 

“Yeah Az, we need a redo,” Lucien said as he flopped down on one of the chairs in the corner. “Or wait, I have a better idea! Hey little man, what do you say? Should daddy put on a show for us?” 

Elain giggled from behind him but instantly stopped when Azriel glared at her. Traitor.

“Don’t you have anything else to do Vanserra?” Az questioned with a sneer. Lucien smirked in response. 

“Not at all.”

Thankfully, Azriel’s phone started ringing. He quickly walked towards his phone, picking it up. “Thank god you called.” He released a relieved breath. “You have no idea what I was going to have to do.” 

“Yeah, well you’re not going to be glad when I tell you what happened.” Rhys’ voice came through the phone.

“What do you mean?”

There was a pause before he spoke up again. “It’s Graysen.”

~~~~~

Elain had noticed how Azriel’s whole body tensed while he was talking on the phone. He spoke quietly, so she couldn’t catch the conversation, except for the ending. 

He turned towards Elain with a stern face. “I need you to remove my sling.”

Elain frowned. “I can’t authorize that. I have no idea how to handle wounds like these. Or what the standard procedure is, but I’m pretty sure the sling is supposed to stay until you’re wound is filled.”

He grabbed Elain’s hand and dragged her out of the room, Lucien and Daemon now busying themselves with another game. “ I don’t fucking care what the doctor’s verdict is. I need you to remove the sling. Today.”

Elain paused. “I want to come along with you.” 

“I’m sorry, what?”

She inhaled deeply and sat up straight. “You’re obviously going for some super secret spy mission or whatever and I want to go with you.” 

Azriel cocked an eyebrow at her and Elain exhaled frustratedly. “Look, I was about to get married to that man. I need to know what kind of man he truly is. And I can also keep an eye on you. Ensure you don’t cause more damage to your hand and back.”

Azriel scoffed. “I think I can manage strenuous activities.” 

“JustDance does not count as a strenuous activity.” 

“I was talking about how I carried you up to your room.” He mumbled while crossing his hands. 

Elain’s eyes widened at the statement, but she held her ground. “I won’t remove the bandages restricting movement if you don’t let me come along.” 

“Fine.” He started walking away. “I’ll get it done by someone else.” 

Elain quickly dashed ahead and snatched the car keys from the bowl near the foyer. Azriel made a grab for it, but she moved away. 

“Stop acting like a kid.”

“You stop acting like a kid.” 

Azriel growled and pushed Elain against the wall, trapping her body with his. He bent down, his forehead against hers. Elain gasped, not expecting the closeness. Azriel turned his head slightly, breathing near her ear, a shiver running down her spine. He wrapped his hands around her waist. 

“I won’t forgive myself if something happens to you.” He whispered into her ear. 

Elain tilted her head up and looked directly into his eyes. “I have too much to lose to let something happen to me.” She breathed out. He once again rested his head against her forehead, his hands tightly clutching her waist, before he groaned. 

“Promise me. Promise me you’ll run away at the first sign of danger.” Elain was silent for only a moment when Azriel pushed deeply into her, their breaths mingling, bodies meshing into one. “Promise me, damnit!” 

“I promise.” She whimpered out, their lips just touching. She was about to reach out toward him when he moved away, holding his hand out. 

“Get ready by nine, we’re going to a club.” 

She placed the keys in his hand but dragged him to his room, where she silently removed his bandages.

~~~~~

Azriel spent the entire day preparing for the job. Rhys had informed him that Graysen would be holding an elaborate party at one of their own clubs, which they used for money laundering. It was suspected that Graysen might try and sell his own drugs there, and all Rhys had asked Azriel was to observe. 

A large ‘Do Not Engage’ post-it was stuck on the folder that had been delivered to Azriel regarding the mission. He had not informed anyone that he was also taking Elain along with him, however, he believed he should, just in case something did happen. 

Along with preparing himself, he also prepared Elain, informing her how to recognize if things were wrong and what to do if things went wrong. Unfortunately, he did not have enough time to teach her how to shoot, so he settled for showing her the basic way to hold a blade and the best places to stab someone for immediate effect. 

He pretended to not notice how her hands shook when she first grabbed the knife. He tried to make it easy for her, telling her to handle it like a scalpel, but that did nothing to ease her.

When he knew she had had enough, he sent her to get ready, informing her to dress accordingly. 

Which he was greatly regretting. 

Apparently, dressing for a club for Elain meant dressing up well enough to kill him. Or make him want to kill anyone for looking at her. 

She was wearing a black net blouse with a black bralette inside, leaving very less to the imagination. Below it, she was wearing a grey miniskirt that just reached her thigh. And then boots. Spike heeled, up to her thigh, black colored boots. 

“Is this okay?” She asked meekly. She twirled and his breath caught when he saw her back. There was just a single string, leaving the rest of her back bare, the only thing preventing me from touching her is the black netted cloth covering her. 

Is it okay? Oh God, fucking kill him already. 

He just nodded stiffly, walking outside to where her car was kept. He swung his hand, trying to get used to moving it. He had promised Elain he would get it properly checked, as well as a complete blood test, to ensure there weren’t any traces of poison left in his blood. 

Azriel slid into his car and grabbed the wheel as Elain sat on the passenger side. She looked around the SUV and smiled slightly. “You finally got an Aston Martin, huh?”

Azriel smiled hesitantly, remembering what they would discuss for their future. “Yeah, one of the first things I got when I started earning enough.”

“I thought you would’ve gone for a sports car or something. Not an SUV.” She pointed out. 

“Well, that was the plan, but I don’t know, this car just kind of caught my attention.” He shrugged and she just nodded, turning her head away, indicating the end of the conversation. He maneuvered the wheel slowly, his arm slightly aching. 

“Isn’t this kind of car for families?” Elain suddenly asked. 

Azriel glanced at her. “Not exactly, but it is family-friendly. Why?”

She looked down at her lap where she was wringing her hands. “Do you plan to have a family? In the future?” Her voice was filled with uncertainty.

“Never thought of one without you.” He answered truthfully. She closed her eyes and exhaled, her shoulders dropping. Was she disappointed? 

“What are we supposed to do?” She turned to look at him, her eyes standing out with black eyeliner and kohl.  

“You will be doing nothing. I, on the other hand, have to observe and keep an eye out for any illegal drug activities.”

“Isn’t that something the cops should be doing?”

Azriel let out a chuckle. “Sweetheart, that’s our club. We can’t have someone else come in and steal our business.”

He glanced at her to see her face scrunch up in confusion. It looked so damn cute, even in the sexy dress. Speaking of the sexy dress, her skirt had inched up revealing her soft-looking skin and all Azriel could think about was how they would feel wrapped around him. Hopefully, while he was eating her out. 

Shit, where did that come from? And now that it was in his mind, he started imagining how his hands would feel on her, inside her-

Stop. You’re driving. Nooo. 

He instantly looked ahead, paying attention to the road and the road only, ignoring the slight pressure he felt in his jeans. He knew bringing Elain along would be trouble. 

“So which club are we going to?” Elain asked, unaware of Azriel’s thoughts. 

He continued looking ahead as he answered, “City Nights. You’ve ever been there?” 

“Uh, no. My friends and colleagues go there but Graysen never allowed me. Although, he himself was there a lot.” Then she gasped. “What if we run into him?” 

“Why do you care? Want to run into his arms the first chance you get?” Azriel grumbled out without a thought and he instantly regretted it. He glanced toward her and she was staring at him with wide eyes, hurt visible in them. “El, I didn’t-”

“You’re right. I will run into his arms. Because I’m desperate, right? I’ll go back to the man who doesn’t even care if I’m alive.” He furrowed his eyebrows at her and she scoffed. “Yeah, I heard you telling Cassian about it. How Graysen said that he would be okay with me and Daemon dying with you guys. He practically gave you a thumbs up to hurt both of us.” She shook her head. “Of course, I’ll run back to him.” Then she crossed her arms over her chest and completely turned away from him. 

And he couldn’t help but feel like a major dick.

~~~~~

As soon as they entered the dimly lit club, Elain beelined towards the bar and downed three shots simultaneously. “I would like to start a tab.” She politely informed the bartender, who glanced at someone behind her, as if looking for confirmation. 

Elain whirled around and found Azriel standing behind her, shaking his head in denial. Elain groaned in frustration. 

“Don’t look at him. I am my own person. In fact, he’s kidnapped me and my son and is keeping us at his house forcefully. Be kind to me.” 

She could feel Azriel rolling his eyes behind her. “Her drinks are on me. And keep count.” He leaned down, his lips brushing her ear. “I have to go up to the office. Stay here.” She felt his lips travel down her neck, her core tightening. She shivered in response and he smirked at her, leaving her at the bar. 

Elain ordered a cocktail, nursing it for a while. She looked around when she found one of her old friends, Vassa, in the middle of the dance floor. 

Vassa also seemed to notice her as she moved toward Elain. “Lainie! Oh my God! It’s been so long!” She exclaimed, pulling Elain in for a hug. Vassa was wearing a golden satin slip dress, reaching only to the mid of her thigh. 

“What are you doing here?” Elain questioned. “Last I heard, you were working in Adriata in a lawyer firm.” 

Vassa nodded. “I’m still there. I’ve been sent here for a client. What about you?” 

Elain paused. “Oh, just letting off some steam.” 

Vassa gave an obvious lookover at Elain. “You look like you’re looking for more than letting off a bit of steam.” She stated with a mischievous smirk. When Elain didn’t say anything, Vassa grabbed her hand. “Come on, I know exactly what you need.” 

~~~~~

At the club. Will update if I see something. Azriel shot a message to Rhysand as he walked out of the back office. He hadn’t gotten anything out of the logs and information provided by the bar manager. 

So Azriel was left with the old-style technique. Staking out. 

Azriel groaned when he saw Rhys had sent a message. Perfect, and Az, we all know that your hips don’t lie. 

He looked up towards the bar where Elain had been, but only now, she wasn’t there. He frantically looked around the entire area but couldn’t find her anywhere. 

Azriel prayed to the gods above that she didn’t run away. 

He moved through the dancing crowd, ignoring the way they were all practically groping each other. He reached the back exit when suddenly the door opened and Elain walked in with another girl’s hand over her shoulder. 

The girl beside Elain was smiling widely, too widely, and she was wearing a golden dress that came up to her mid-thigh. She glanced toward Azriel and her gaze turned predatory. “Why hello there handsome.” She drawled. “I’m just finished here, wanna go next?” She winked at him and he widened his eyes at Elain who was grinning at the girl. 

Did they-? Is she-? In the few minutes, she was missing, they-? The fuck?

Elain giggled and swatted the girl on her shoulder. “Don’t listen to her Az.” She looked at him with hooded eyes. “She’s a friend of mine from college, Vassa. Just found her here.”

He glanced at Elain who seemed to be all smiles and sunshine at the moment. Maybe the shots did their magic. 

Suddenly Elain perked up and looked at her with wide eyes. “Ooh, I love this song!” She shrugged out of her friend’s grasp and clutched his hand. “Let’s go dance!” Before Az could even comprehend what was going on, she had already pulled him onto the dance floor and had her arms around his neck. 

Az didn’t recognize the song playing so he started swaying along with Elain, tentatively placing his hands on her hips. She rolled her eyes and brought his hand right behind her, placing it on her ass. Azriel’s breath hitched and he glanced at Elain, who was smiling at him. 

She moved forward and pressed herself into him, his jeans getting tighter and tighter by the second. 

Fuuuuuck. 

She probably noticed how much it affected him because she smiled mischievously and then she brought his mouth down onto hers.

He hesitated at first, utterly shocked at what the fuck was happening, but then he eased into it. Both of their bodies moved with the beat of the music, their lips molding together. She tightly grabbed his hair and tightened her hold on her. She bit his lower lip, causing him to open his mouth, allowing her entrance. 

That was when he tasted it. 

He was surprised he hadn’t smelled it on her before. It was the one scent he had an absolute aversion to, the smell of weed throwing him back to his childhood. 

He moved back, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look up at him. She smiled giddily and her eyes were bright, but red and dilated. Her cheeks were flushed, and he knew it wasn’t from the dancing or the kissing. 

“You’re high?” He asked her, but her smile was answer enough. He ran a hand through his hair. “You’re fucking high.” 

“It was just one joint.” She said nonchalantly, rolling her eyes.

Who would’ve given her the drugs? She hadn't talked to anyone but him and… her friend, Vassa. He looked around to spot the woman and he saw her near the exit, leaving. Az moved ahead, but Elain pulled him back. 

“Az, I want to dance!” She pouted at him. 

He ignored her and pulled her along with him. He marched outside the club, and the cold air hit him. He remembered that behind him Elain would probably be freezing. Ignoring all the annoyance he felt towards her, he shrugged off his shirt and placed it over her shoulders, leaving him in a black t-shirt. 

The girl was nowhere to be seen and any possible footprints were covered up by the heavy snow. 

He turned around to drag Elain back into the car but she wasn’t there. Instead, she was walking - skipping - towards the bridge, singing ‘Play-Date’ loud enough for the dead to hear. 

He rushed towards her when she suddenly climbed up on the ledge of the bride, causing his heart to drop. 

The fuck did she think she was doing?

“Elain, get off of the ledge,” Azriel said calmly but she wouldn’t listen, continuing to walk around as if she was a fucking professional acrobat. “El, it’s snowing. It’s probably very slippery. Get down or else you’ll fall and hurt yourself.”

Instead of getting down, she started laughing. “You really think falling off this bridge is going to hurt me more than you did?” She laughed again. “You’re very, very, very badly mistaken Mr. Knight.” She spread her hands. “I could fucking die and it won’t hurt as much as living without you hurt me.” She started moving her hands up and down as she walked on the ledge, slightly wobbling.

Only this time, she didn’t place her foot on the ledge. “Woah!” She lost balance and stumbled, falling behind in the river with a splash with a slight shriek.

“Elain!” Without a thought, Az ran and jumped into the water following behind her. He swam deeper, finally reaching her outstretched arm, grasping it, and pulling it upwards. He broke through the cold surface of the water, chills traveling through his spine. Finally, her head came above and she sputtered. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” She shouted. 

“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? You just jumped off a fucking bridge!” He screamed in return. She started flapping her hands in the water and he swam towards her. As soon as Az reached her, she latched onto him. He held her up and Elain wrapped her arms around his neck, oblivious to the pain it caused his still-healing shoulder.

“I didn’t jump off, I slipped.” She stuttered out, shivering due to the cold. 

Az scoffed at her. “It’s your fault for walking on the ledge. You’re lucky the lake isn’t iced over.” He looked into her eyes. “You normal now? Or do you want to try some more drugs?” 

“Fuck you.” Trust me, he thought, I want you to. “It’s your fault I was in that state in the first place.” Azriel ignored her jab,  dragging her towards the shore. “Actually, all of this mess is because of you. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve been back at my home with Daemon, living my normal life.”

“With Graysen? The man who treated you like trash? Who verbally abused my son?” She looked at him with wide eyes and then he finally registered what he said. 

“Verbally abuse?” She questioned. Azriel just shook his head, telling her to drop it. “What do you mean, ‘verbally abused my son’?” She asked, her voice a soft whisper. 

“You didn’t care when it was happening. Don’t care about it now.” He stated harshly, instantly regretting it.

She stiffened and he quietly carried her out of the water, not letting go of her until she was seated in the car. Az turned on the heater and passed her his jacket from the back seat. She quietly took it and looked out of the window. 

He didn’t say anything, knowing that she would talk once she wanted to. Instead, he turned the radio on and Ariana Grande’s ‘One Last Time’ was playing. Both of them listen to it silently, watching the lights pass by as they drove back home, the lyrics fading one after the other, but still stuck with him.

One last time

I need to be the one who takes you home

One more time

I promise that after that I’ll let you go

~~~~~

They spent the entire ride back home in silence. Elain stilled, wondering when she started thinking of Azriel’s house as ‘home’. Azriel hadn’t uttered a single word throughout the whole journey and Elain was grateful for it. 

She was still coming down her weed high. It was stupid of her, but her mind wasn’t working at the moment. She was already drunk, sad, and yes, lonely, so when Vassa had offered her a joint, she hadn’t given it a thought. 

Elain didn’t understand what Azriel meant when he said that Graysen would verbally abuse Daemon. If it were true, why hadn’t Daemon told her? Was she such a bad mother that her own son didn’t trust her? 

And how did she not notice it? Graysen had always seemed cordial enough around Daemon. Yes, he didn’t like that Elain had ‘baggage’ but he never showed his obvious dislike in any way. 

As soon as Azriel stopped the car in the garage, Elain ran out, rushing towards the house, and slamming the door behind her. 

She stormed up into her room, still wet and dripping, ignoring the cold chills passing through her body. She closed the door and had just removed her blouse when suddenly her door burst open and Azriel charged inside.

“Get out.” She demanded, pointing her finger towards the door. 

“No.” He folded his hands across his perfectly sculpted chest. “Stop hiding it.” He stated calmly, his eyes raking over Elain’s body just once before he locked eyes with her. 

She glared at him in response. “I’m not hiding anything.”

“Elain, please. Please do not lie to me. I can’t take it anymore!” He banged his fist into the wall beside him causing Elain to flinch, but he ignored it. 

“Az, what do you want me to say? That even after all these years, I’m still in love with you? Well, you’re wrong. There’s only one person whom I love and it’s my son. There’s no space in my heart for anyone else. And definitely not the person who broke me.” Liar, liar, liar. 

“Yeah, well I call bullshit.”

“Screw you, Azriel Knight! You can’t come back into my life and usurp my whole life.” She pushed against his chest, but it did nothing to him. “You can’t expect me to still have feelings for you. I’m fucking engaged!”

“You just needed someone who made you forget about me! Even though he didn’t love you, or you loved him back, at least he got your mind off of me.” He started stalking towards her, making her move backward. “And in all of that, you didn’t even care that he was abusing our child, telling him that he wasn’t good enough.” He was right in front of her, her back against the wall. “You might have gone through a lot in life El, but you screwed up when it mattered the most.”

Her hand moved on its own and struck him, causing a sting in her palm. His eyes were blazing as he looked at her. She raised her other hand to strike him again but he grasped it strongly and looked at her. Something flashed in his eyes that she couldn’t comprehend. 

“Fuck it.” He muttered as he leaned towards her, crashing his lips to hers.

~~~~~

AN: Hope you enjoy!

Next Chapter: 10 March

[drades-lair]

Blitz to the rescue

fandom: Helluvaboss

Rating: M for mentions of underage rape, violence, gore and swearing

Pairing: Blitz/Stolas

“Well, this place is creepy,” Moxxie absently commented, following Blitz and Millie into a dilapidated warehouse in the greed ring. Due to business getting a little slow the IMP gang had started taking odd jobs around hell on top of doing surface work explaining why they were in this situation currently.

“Shush your face Moxxie! You want to get us killed?” Blitz scolded putting a finger to his lips

“I’m whispering,” Moxxie pointed out with an exasperated look making Millie chuckle

“I said shush!” Blitz insisted making more noise then Moxxie

Moxxie was about to respond when the lights suddenly turned on in the warehouse making a loud humming sound. Blitz uttered a curse under his breath as several gruff looking imps started emerging with one big buff imp joining them, IMP stood back-to-back in a protective circle while brandishing they’re weapons. A scruffy imp with a scar on his cheek appeared from behind the large buff imp chortling at the group causing Blitz to growl and bare his teeth luckily this guy matched the description of their target.

“Well, well, what do we have here? Some pesky interlopers?” The imp with the scar on his cheek questioned in a teasing fashion although the group knew him now to be ‘scrapper’ or at least that was the name they were given from the client.

“Goes to show what you know dick for brains! We’ve been sent to kill you,” Blitz snarked with a smirk

“Let me guess my lovely rival has sent you to kill me?” Scrapper retorted

“Probably, we don’t ask too many questions,” Blitz responded with a shoulder shrug

“Humph, cocky as you are it won’t help you. Kill them!” Scrapper ordered his men with a hand gesture towards the IMP group.

“Ah shit! Scatter!” Blitz exclaimed to the group

Moxxie and Millie started hacking their way through half the group of imps unfortunately the other half took off after Blitz who’d managed to slip by. Blitz came to a skidding halt attempting to level out a shot only to have his pistol shot out of his hand first, prompting him to run off with a curse as the group continued to chase him. Blitz managed to skid under one of those crappy folding tables that seemed to be set up all over the warehouse, knocking it to the ground as a makeshift shield against the bullets that came his way. Panting heavily Blitz looked around for anything he could use as a weapon unfortunately nothing was close enough, grumbling Blitz opted to use the table itself tossing the piece of furniture directly into the group of goons. Blitz took off for a set of steel shelves that he started climbing up causing them to rattle, swaying once he got to the top eliciting a smirk from Blitz as he got an idea.

The goons below started shooting upwards at Blitz causing him to duck the bullets, dodging from side to side till he was able to leap straight upwards to grab onto a protruding dead electrical cable. The crimson imp gave a hefty shove to the shelving causing it to start falling straight onto the goons below with a series of crunching cracks eliciting a celebratory exclamation from Blitz followed by the sound of cracking concrete along with the cable jerking downwards. Blitz wrapped himself around the cable while pursing his lips, brows furrowed upwards as he glanced above him to see the cable slowly pulling from the ceiling.

“Oh…fuuuck!” Blitz exclaimed as the cable let loose, swinging the imp directly towards the warehouse wall. Millie and Moxxie looked up just in time to watch Blitz face plant into the wall with a groan, slowly sliding down the cable to the ground.

“Boss!” Moxxie exclaimed worriedly

“Blitz!” Millie exclaimed in turn following Moxxie over to Blitz

“Are you alright sir?” Moxxie asked

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Blitz assured him rubbing his head

“Here Ya go Blitz,” Millie stated handing Blitz’s pistol to him

“Thanks Mills,” Blitz stated taking his pistol in hand

“You little shits!” Scrapper’s voice rang out drawing the groups attention

Scrapper started monologuing about something causing Blitz to roll his eyes with a small snarl, firing his pistol without a second thought. Scrapper sputtered then crumpled to the ground with a bullet hole right between his eyes.

“Bingo Bango, job done. Now let’s make sure there’s no extra loot around then we can return to the client,” Blitz declared holstering his pistol

“I think I saw a basement area over that direction,” Moxxie pointed out to the left-hand area of the warehouse.

“Perfect, you two search the bodies while I go see what’s down there,” Blitz stated immediately heading in the direction Moxxie pointed in.

Moxxie and Millie set about doing as Blitz instructed meanwhile, he located a set of rickety metal stairs descending into what indeed looked like a basement area. Descending the stairs Blitz could barely see anything in the musty darkness encompassing the area although he could make out some familiar shapes including a potential safe in the far corner that Blitz made a B-line for. Kneeling in front of the safe Blitz began trying to crack it open when the sound of rustling came from somewhere behind him, glancing over his shoulder the imp watched cautiously eventually catching movement along with the rattle of a chain. Spinning around with his pistol drawn Blitz moved towards the sound determining it to be coming from a dingy little area underneath the rickety staircase covered by what looked like a mesh gate crudely welded to said staircase. Cautiously approaching the gate Blitz could see a torn dirty blanket resting on the ground and the soft sound of sobbing was becoming clear.

“Hello?” Blitz cautiously called into the darkness

“P-Please…don’t hurt me…” Came a weak little voice from inside. Looking towards the most under part of the stairs Blitz could finally make out a shape, a small form huddled there.

“Okay, take it easy. I’m not going to hurt you,” Blitz assured whomever it was, holstering his pistol while analyzing the gate. A lock was keeping it closed however a crowbar nearby helped make short work of that allowing Blitz to gain access. Able to see better Blitz could make out that the form was a small imp sitting with his knees up to his chest, arms wrapped around them wearing a blood/dirt encrusted homemade dress thing and a metal cuff wrapped around his ankle connected to a chain that was connected to the cement floor. Blitz took a knee in front of the young imp only to have him quickly try to scoot away releasing a pained cry in the process, clutching at his ankle which was swollen with a purplish hue to it.

“Hey, take it easy kid. I promise I won’t hurt you…I’m going to get you out of here,” Blitz assured him earning a teary-eyed pleading look from the young one.

Gently Blitz took a look at the kids ankle unfortunately there was no way to get the cuff off right here however the chain was probably pretty easy. Grabbing the crowbar Blitz made quick work of the chain resulting in the kid moving to huddle against the wall with more soft sobs, moving closer Blitz reached out to touch the young imp only to receive a shriek followed by flaying limbs.

“Don’t touch me please! I-I can’t take anymore!” The young imp pleaded through sobs

“Hey, hey, stop! Stop, it’s okay. I’m going to take you out of this place,” Blitz explained grabbing the younger imp’s wrists as gently as possible, pulling him close to try to calm him down.

“No more…please…no more…” The kid sobbed into Blitz’s chest barely conscious, body shivering as Blitz cradled him. Gently Blitz pulled the kid into a bridle style carry then moved out of the ‘cage’.  

“Hey Mox! Mills! Get your asses down here!” Blitz called up the stairs, moments later the couple appeared trotting down the stairs into the basement.

“Hey Blitz, whatchya got there?” Millie wondered upon seeing Blitz carrying an imp in his arms  

“I found him in there, we’re gonna get him out of here but first Mox, can you get that safe open?” Blitz asked gesturing over to the safe in the corner.

“No problem,” Moxxie declared proudly before strutting over to start cracking the safe. Millie proudly smiled after Moxxie’s prideful stride then turned back to the imp in Blitz’s arms.

“Poor little thing, he’s in rough shape Blitz, whatchya thinkin’ on doin’ wit him?” Millie wondered curiously

“I was thinking about taking him to Stolas, he should be able to help,” Blitz responded shooting a sympathetic look down at the young imp who had fully passed out.

“Probably a good idea,” Millie agreed

“Got it!” Moxxie declared pridefully as the safe door flung open

“Good work Mox,” Blitz praised

After getting all their loot Blitz sent M&M back to the IMP office to finish up with the job while he called Stolas requesting a portal to the palace. Stolas cheerily agreed to the request of course immediately opening a portal for Blitz to pass through although what he didn’t expect was to see him carrying another clearly younger imp in his arms.

“Darling, who is that?” Stolas inquired curiously

“I found him while on that last job in the basement of the warehouse…I think they’ve done some terrible things to him and I was wondering if you could help him,” Blitz explained frowning down at the unconscious imp in his arms.

“Oh dear, he does seem poorly…follow me,” Stolas answered gesturing for Blitz to follow him which he did without hesitation. Stolas led the way to a spiral staircase that descended to a large white room with sparce shelving all around and a large table in the center while off to the right there was a couple wire frame beds. Stolas gestured to the table in the center of the room for Blitz to lay the young imp on it then headed off to the one wall nearby with cabinets above the counters. Gently Blitz settled the young imp on the table and now in the light of this room he could see the extent of the young imp’s injuries.

Stolas returned with a cart carrying several medical instruments and supplies on its surface while below there were larger supplies. Gently Stolas pulled the young imp’s handmade piece of clothing off his arms then slid it down to his waist to expose most of his body for treatment, moving his hands over the imp’s crimson skin Stolas searched for broken bones first. Stolas found 3 broken ribs and the imp’s right wrist was fractured to go along with his obviously broken ankle that was still clasped in the metal cuff. Blitz started working on getting the cuff off the other imp’s ankle while Stolas started stitching some of the many deep cuts on the young imp’s torso.

“I got it,” Blitz declared, popping off the metal cuff

“Alright let me see, it’s broken but the biggest problem is all this swelling,” Stolas explained

“Can you fix it?” Blitz wondered, grimacing at the ugly wound

“I can try, first I’ll have to relieve the pressure then I can set the break,” Stolas continued, grabbing a scalpel from the tray.

Stolas gingerly pressed the scalpel to the swollen appendage instantly relieving the pressure as blood poured from the wound. The young imp jerked giving a whimpering weak cry as he was forced back to consciousness, Blitz quickly grabbed hold of the young imp’s closest shoulder and forearm not just to hold him still but to also provide a little comfort if possible. Stolas moved to help Blitz comfort the now sobbing, bewildered young imp by holding him behind his shoulders while his free hand rested on the imp’s chest.

“Hush little one, you’ll be alright. You’re safe,” Stolas tried to reassure the young imp as tears streamed down his face.

“Where am I? What’s happening?” The young imp cried out

“I’m Stolas, you’re in my palace where I’m currently trying to treat your injuries,” Stolas calmly explained

“What’s your name?” Blitz gently asked grabbing the young imp’s hand

“F-Fallon,” The imp responded

“Okay, I’m Blitz,” Blitz introduced

Stolas left Fallon in Blitz’s hands to go finish tending his ankle, once the swelling went down Stolas cleaned, stitched, and set the broken bone. Blitz continued trying to comfort Fallon however the young imp would flinch at most attempts to touch him past holding onto Blitz’s hand which in treating Fallon’s wounds Stolas soon had a theory of why that might be. Stolas needed some more supplies from the cupboards, so he made his way over there then called Blitz to help him carry them back.

“Blitz, Fallon has severe bruises on his inner thighs and what look like healed scars…I don’t want to be presumptuous…” Stolas began causing Blitz’s brow to furrow angrily

“I get where your going…fucking bastards!” Blitz growled finishing Stolas’ thought

“I believe that’s why Fallon is reluctant for us to touch him,” Stolas concluded

“Can’t say I blame him,” Blitz retorted helping Stolas carry his supplies back to the cart.

Stolas gently finished bandaging the wounds all over Fallon’s body before moving on to his fractured wrist. Blitz started cleaning Fallon up revealing the kid had a plethora of scars including missing the spade at the end of his tail indicating he’d been in captivity for a while.

“Fallon, I know you’re not going to like this idea but…I need to check you for…other injuries,” Stolas stated gesturing towards Fallon’s covered waist. Fallon immediately frowned while averting his gaze however he did nod his understanding, not fighting as Stolas removed the disgusting rag of a garment Fallon had been wearing. Stolas finished tending Fallon’s injuries then gave him a set of clean pajamas to wear which with Blitz’s help they managed to get him into.

Stolas started an IV line then they moved the young imp to one of the wire frame beds nearby where almost immediately Fallon passed out from exhaustion. Blitz carded his fingers through Fallon’s short white hair with a deep grimace on his face, he was just a kid.

“He needs to rest now,” Stolas informed Blitz

“He’s just a kid Stolas, can’t be more then, what? 12? Maybe 14?” Blitz snarled irritably

“Yes, what those monsters have done is deplorable,” Stolas agreed placing his hands on Blitz’s shoulders trying to sooth him a bit.

“Makes me feel all the better about taking that job,” Blitz stated

“We’ll take good care of him, Darling,” Stolas assured Blitz with a kiss to the top of Blitz’s head.

“Yeah,” Blitz agreed managing a small smile

…

 A few days passed before Fallon regained consciousness immediately withdrawing, he huddled in the bed as best he could without hurting himself. Blitz and Stolas did what they could to make him comfortable, they didn’t ask too many questions however they did eventually learn the young one was an orphan leading them to conclude that’s how the gang managed to get a hold of him. Blitz found himself thinking a lot about Fallon in the coming days including how even if they got Fallon back on his feet where would the kid go? He had no family nor really a home by the sounds of it, so what would happen to him? End up on the streets? Lost in thought while brewing some coffee in Stolas’ overly large palace kitchen Blitz jolted ever so slightly when Stolas spoke up from just a few feet away.

“Blitz? Are you alright, Darling?” Stolas wondered

“Uh…Yeah…yeah…it’s just…” Blitz trailed off

“What is it, love?” Stolas prompted  

“So…Um…Fallon doesn’t have a home or parents…” Blitz trailed off again, rubbing the back of his neck

“And you were thinking we could take him in,” Stolas finished Blitz’s thought as he prepared a cup of tea that he intended to take to Fallon.

“Maybe,” Blitz shrugged

“Actually, I was thinking the same thing,” Stolas revealed causing Blitz to grow wide eyed in surprise

“Really?” Blitz wondered in shocked amazement

“Yes, the poor thing has been through enough the least we could do is give him a home. It might take a bit to gain his trust though,” Stolas explained

“True,” Blitz agreed

Once Stolas finished the tea, they took it down to Fallon who was laying slightly on his side with a hand fisted in the blanket that he had pulled up to his chin. Gently Blitz pulled the blanket down then helped Fallon into a semi sitting position so Stolas could check over his injuries and they could both change Fallon’s bandages. Fallon refused the tea still not really wanting to interact with either Stolas or Blitz, but they were willing to be patient, Stolas provided Fallon with some books to read in case he got bored before leaving the young imp to rest.

 …

 Fallon slowly started coming around to Blitz and Stolas as his physical wounds healed so did his trust. Eventually Fallon was able to stand on his own allowing Stolas to move the young imp up to one of the guest bedrooms further allowing them to provide Fallon with items for entertainment.

“Here Fallon, you enjoyed the soup from yesterday so I brought you a little more for dinner today,” Stolas cheerily stated putting a bowl of warm soup on the bedside table.

“Thank you…um…thank you for everything…” Fallon shyly responded

“You’re welcome, I also wanted to ask you something if I may,” Stolas continued settling on the edge of the bed where Fallon was sitting with his legs out stretched and his hands in his lap.

“Okay,” Fallon consented

“How would you like to remain with me and Blitz? Even after you’re wounds are healed,” Stolas offered with a warm smile.

“What? You mean stay here?” Fallon asked in turn seeming both surprised as well as confused  

“Yes, we’ll take care of you and raise you,” Stolas briefly explained

“Why…would you want me to stay?” Fallon asked continuing to stare at his lap

“Because you don’t have a family and everyone deserves a family,” Stolas responded

“Oh, I…I don’t know what that’s like…” Fallon admitted, frown deepening

“Then allow us to show you,” Stolas insisted gently placing his hand on Fallon’s thigh

“I think… I’d like that,” Fallon admitted finally looking up at Stolas with a small smile on his face

[nuked126]

Chapter 4 - Android 11 Awakens!

After much walking, our heroes arrive in North City. This city amazes Pon and Maze, as they’ve never seen anything like it besides on television.

“It’s so big!” Maze exclaims. “Yeah. You know, I always wondered how they rebuild those things after they destroy them.” Pon asks. “What?” Maze replies confused. “When in movies like Godzilla where they destroy the city, how do they rebuild it so quickly?” Pon maintains. “You know godzilla is not real right?” Cliver says confused. “Of course I know Godzilla isn't real dumbass, he’s just an actor. I’m talking about the city, how do they rebuild it?” Pon asks, pissed off. The two just look in silence. “The city is just a prop set…” Maze says. “And Godzilla is a prop too.” Cliver says, exhausted. They look at each other in silence.

“Well, yeah, I knew that. It was just a joke, you guys take everything too seriously” Pon says to save face. They travel around the series, getting a few weird looks, they go to eat at a fast food place, and they buy matching shirts, chainmail for Cliver, leather for Maze, and just the shirt for Pon. “Well, what now?” Maze asks. “We go around the world, do errands, save people. Like the heroes we are.” Cliver says. They both nod in agreement and begin to leave the city to wander.

Meanwhile, Dr. Gero continues to work on his experiment. He begins opening up the pod to reveal Android 11. “You’re ready, wake up.” Gero tells Android 11. He looks at Dr. Gero expectantly waves its hand to say hello. “Listen, Your skills should be enough to find the dragon balls in at least 5 months, do so. If you get any resistance, eliminate them quietly and quickly, do you understand?” Dr. Gero says. “What is a Dragon Ball?” Android 11 asks, “Your “heart” has been made so that you’ll feel a Dragon Ball within proximity, so you’ll know when you need to.” Gero says frustrated. “Don’t disappoint me, if you do, I installed a bomb in your heart that I can explode remotely.” he adds. 

Android 11 looks at a remote in Dr Gero’s waist and shoots at it with their laser eyes, destroying it. “What is wrong with you?!” Dr. Gero screams angrily at Android 11. “I felt threatened. Do you not try to eliminate a threat when you feel threatened? I’m hungry, I’ll go eat something and then look for the Dragon Balls” Android 11 says as they leave the lab. Dr. Gero sighs and says “Another failure. I’ll have to reconstruct the remote and start all over again.”

Android 11 goes out into the woods and sees a deer. They point their finger at it and shoot a beam at it. She turns into small, chocolate elk and eats it. Android 11 suddenly grows horns, which they don’t like so they try to remove them with their bare hands. However, it’s too painful to do so, so she slams her head to the nearest mountain to remove the horns. She smiles, then sees a bird land on a nearby tree. She smiles devilishly as they shoot a beam at the bird as it turns it into chocolate. She eats the chocolate and then wings sprouts from her arms. She starts running and then jumps, soaring through the air at a high speed.

Going back to our heroes, they are traveling across the plains between North City and Central city, on the lookout for any danger they may find. They find themselves in a small village. Everything is abandoned, as nobody is out on the road. A wheelbarrow handled by two men with bags runs around the corner. They knock into each house, pointing a gun at them and asking for money from the citizens. They continue to do this until they notice our adventurers. “Hey, who told you to get out of your house? Get back in and wait for your turn.” one of the bandits says. “Wait a minute bozo, I’ve never seen these guys before.” The other replies. “Oh yeah, you’re right. Well I doubt it makes any difference, just add their names to the donation list.” He says. “What’s with people wanting to put our names on lists?” Maze asks. “I’m sorry, we don’t have any money to donate to your cause.” Cliver retaliates. The bandit aims with his gun as he says “This is not negotiable, put the money in the bag.”

The three of them prepare an Energy Barrier. “Fine, we'll give you something.” Cliver says as the three of them rush the bandits. The two of them shoot repeatedly at the heroes, with all of their bullets stopping in their aura. They knock both of them out with their fists. The townsfolk look out  their windows. “What have you done?!” one of them asks. “What? They were being unpleasant” said Pon. “Those were part of the Warthog raiders, if they find out what you’ve done, they’ll bring their wrath to our village. You’ve doomed us all!” an old farmer says. “Relax, I don’t think there is anything we can’t handle. We’ll take them” Cliver says. “Yeah! You guys have nothing to worry about!” exclaimed Maze.

And so they waited for the arrival of the rest of the Warthog raiders. Are our Heroes perhaps chewing more than they can chew?

Next Chapter

Previous Chapter

[hxney-lemcn]

No One Like You — Hunter x gn! reader

Summery: Reader comes to admit their feelings to themself. Then Hunter goes to reader's house for comfort after finding out some damned truths.

tw: Spoilers for season 2 episode 16. Breakdowns.

wc: 1.3k

Chapter Eleven

Master List | Chapter One

I was able to keep in contact with Hunter better now that he had a Penstagram. His typing…was still slow…and he made a lot of mistakes, but I didn’t mind. He even sent me pictures of him with his palismen. Well less of him, and more just his palismen but whatever. 

Communication with him still wasn’t perfect. He could go for a few days before responding, but I knew he was busy, being a coven guard and all. 

I sat in the living room of my house, on a crow call with Iris. Momma was off at work, and mom was baking a krying cake. 

“So,” Iris trailed off. “What ever happened to that Hunter guy?”

You see, I’ve been so busy with Hunter and Luz and that group of friends, I haven’t hung out with Iris or Damek much since…well since Luz joined Hexside. Which I felt bad about, but my life has been so hectic with everything I didn’t have much time. I talked with them yesterday and they mentioned that they didn’t mind, and that we all need to hang out again soon and go over things that happened to us. But Iris wanted some details now apparently. 

“Oh,” I replied, not expecting that question. “Hahaha, about that…we got pretty close. Also turns out he’s the Golden Guard and he’s caused some problems, but against the odds we’re still friends.”

“Oooo!” Iris exclaimed. “Frienemies to lovers who?”

“H-hold on!” I exclaimed back, feeling myself fluster. “Where did the lovers part come in?”

“Don’t think I didn’t see Willow’s Penstagram post,” She huffed. “You two were awfully close…physically and apparently emotionally too.”

“I-wha!” I stuttered, trying to come up with an explanation. “We were all close in that photo!”

“With the matching face paint?” Iris said, her voice deadpan. “Aaaaaand Damek told me he saw you kiss Hunter's cheek at the club fair…”

“Oh Titan,” I groaned, sprawling on the couch. “I-it was a friendly gesture! F…friends do that…totally.” 

“Then why haven’t you kissed me on the cheek?” Iris asked, and I could just picture the smug smile on her face. 

“Your…I…I don’t know,” I deflated.

“You are down horrendous and you don’t even know,” She said with a slight laugh. 

“Shut up, I am not,” I defended. But…thinking back on how much I care for Hunter, and how happy he made me feel. And how I actually haven’t felt this way towards anyone else before…Iris is right. I felt so comfortable with Hunter and…all the intimate moments we shared. “Okay maybe I am.”

Iris laughed, “That’s so sweet!!”

“He, uh, he made a Penstagram account,” I started. “So now we can check up on each other when we can’t meet in person. One time we didn’t see each other for a month straight…”

“And it gets cuter!” Iris squealed. “You need to confess already!” 

“Why me?” I asked. “I don’t think I could do that.”

“Well I don’t know Hunter that well,” Iris started. “But he doesn’t seem the type to have the confidence for that.”

“And I seem like the type?” I questioned incredulously. 

“Well I didn’t think you’d be bold enough to kiss someone either sooo,” Iris replied simply.

“It was only on the cheek!” I exclaimed. “And…I don’t know, it just felt right at that moment.”

Suddenly I heard a rapid knock at the front door. I looked out the window and I noticed it was really dark out.

“I don’t mean to cut this short,” I pipped up as Mama went to answer the door. “But it's getting late, let's talk again soon, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Iris agreed. “Have a nice night.”

“You too,” I replied before hanging up.

Sitting up on the couch, I went to stand up, only to see Momma leading a disheveled Hunter into the room. I perked up as she sat him on the couch and rushed into the kitchen. Hunter was hyperventilating, his eyes puffy from crying. I felt my heart sink as I knew something was very wrong.

“He knows,” Hunter wailed, putting his head in his hands. “He knows, and I know, and he knows that I know.” 

Having no context to the situation, I didn’t know what to say. I scooted closer to him and grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around him. Momma quickly rushed back in with a cup of tea, I took it from her with a shaky smile and set it on the koffee table. Momma looked at me with concern and I shrugged. She nodded before walking away hesitantly.

“Hunter,” I softly spoke, hoping to not alarm him. He only grabbed fistfuls of his hair. Grabbing his hands, I tried to get him to clutch to me instead, to get his attention in some way. “Hunter, look at me.”

Slowly, his tear soaked gaze met my concerned one, “I want you to take deep breaths with me, okay sweetheart?” He clutched my hands a little stronger and I took that as a sign of him agreeing. I took in a deep breath, keeping my eyes glued to Hunter’s, “In, two, three, four.” Breathing out I continued, “Out, two, three, four.” I continued this until Hunter’s breathing finally calmed down. I brushed my thumb against his fingers, waiting to see if he would say something first. And surprisingly he did.

“B-belos…” Hunter stuttered, looking to the side in fear. “He…I…Luz and I were transported into Belos’ mind. I-I was just trying to stop this group from performing the spell, but Luz got in the way and poof!” Hunter laughed slightly hysterically. “And-and there was this monster, and we had to hide, but we had to go through his memories. I felt awful, but then we found out about how he was planning something. And…” Hunter brought our intertwined hands to his face. “(Y/n) I’m…I’m a Grimwalker, I’m…I don’t know. I’m not the first, I’m just a clone.”

My eyes widened at the revelation. It didn’t change my thoughts of Hunter, I don’t know why it would, but it seemed to devastate Hunter. I couldn’t imagine what it felt like to find out you were a clone, grimwalker as he said. An artificial witch.

“Hey,” I said, gaining his attention. “You’re still you. You’re Hunter, my friend. And a player of the Emerald Entrails. A dork who likes history books and is slow with technology.”

Looking to the side, he whispered, “It’s not just that. The day of Unity…it’s…he’s planning on wiping out witch kind.”

I felt dread overtake me at that. Fear started to creep up through my veins but I tried to stay strong. 

“And he saw us,” Hunter continued. “He saw me, he…I can’t go back. He’s going to come after me.”

Releasing his hands, I rested my hands on his cheeks instead, pulling his face close to mine, “You can stay here. He’ll get you over my dead body.” Hunter shook his head vehemently, closing his eyes tight causing tears to trickle down, “No! I won’t put you in danger because of me.”

Wiping the tears with my thumbs, I cooed out, “Hunter he won’t find you here. He doesn’t know you’re friends with me. And besides, you really think I’m going to let you walk away now?”

Hunter held me in a bone crushing hug, nuzzling his face into the side of my neck. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him closer if that was even possible. I rubbed his back, my nails slightly scratching against the fabric of his clothes. 

The sound of the front door opening alerted us and Hunter visibly tense. Mom came into the living room, the sounds of bags rustling as she set them down by us. 

“Hey sweetie,” Mom said softly. “Momma called and told me the situation, so I stopped at the night market on my way home and bought some clothes.” 

Love overwhelmed me at how caring my moms were and I smiled, “Thanks mom, it means a lot.”

“Of course,” She nodded. “But you kids should head to bed soon, it’s really late.”

“Okay,” I nodded. Mom patted my head before walking off. “C’mon Hunter, you should change and let's head to bed.”

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[beccascribbles]

can you please do an omegaverse fic with inarizaki having an omega manager that goes into heat during a game and she tries to leave but some guys from another team stop her and harass her but the bois pull up and protect her <3

a/n - right, just a warning, i’m a big atsumu simp and this became abundantly clear to me when i was writing this... it’s less inarizaki and more miya twins (with the addition of kita). whoops

warnings - harassment (unwanted touching, sexual implications)

In hindsight, leaving the house without packing heat suppressants, or at least being aware of your own condition, was reckless of you. It wasn't your fault you had woken up late and had to rush to ensure you looked presentable by the time the twins came by to collect you. Though you would have loved to make the twins late (considering it was their fault - they didn’t have to get you hooked on a new TV show and leave the call midway through the season finale), you weren’t so keen on having any of Kita’s disappointment directed towards you. Therefore, when the twins arrived, Atsumu with a wide smirk at your slightly dishevelled self, you settled on directing a swift punch to their stomachs as revenge.

“Ouch,” whined Atsumu, rubbing his stomach with a pout. “What was that for, stupid?”

“Obviously she’s pissed off that we let her stay up late,” Osamu grumbled, also rubbing his stomach, though, instead of a pout, his lips were tugged downwards in a frown. “Although I don’t see how her terrible sleep schedule is our problem.”

“Don’t get me hooked on a new show next time,” you muttered, looping an arm through Osamu’s and beginning to pull him down the road. In your other hand, you held a cool bag with some snacks for the team. The only reason you had grabbed Osamu with your free arm was to prevent him from peeking into the bag. If he had hands free to look, he had hands free to eat the food within. Atsumu was less likely to eat the food, though that didn’t stop him from unzipping the bag and peeking inside.

“Oh, tasty!” he exclaimed, zipping up the bag and making eye contact with Osamu, whose head had turned in his direction once the words left his mouth. He was clearly pleading with his twin to reveal what was in the bag. Atsumu simply stuck his tongue out. “Why don’t ya use your nose to figure it out? You always boast about having a better sense of smell than me anyway.”

“Because I do,” snapped back Osamu, quickly becoming irritated, muscles tensing as he prepared himself to leap towards his twin. Your arm tightened around his, and you shot him a look, eyes holding a warning. With care, you let your scent wind through the air around the three of you, the twin alphas calming at the subtle shift in the air.

Atsumu looped an arm over your shoulder, pulling you closer to him, the bag you were carrying bumping awkwardly against his legs in the process. This action almost caused your arm to slip from Osamu’s, but he quickly tightened his hold. Atsumu was not going to pull you away from him. Almost in sync, they both turned towards you, noses nuzzling into the crook of your neck. You let out a slightly frustrated sigh, but let them continue scenting you. After all, when they were able to do this, they were at their calmest, and you still had a long bus journey ahead of you where keeping arguments to a minimum was preferable.

When you began to approach the school gates, you pulled out of their grasp, walking ahead of them. You began to walk faster, shooting a look over your shoulder to see the pair of them watching you with confused expressions. It was when you finally broke into a sprint, hefting the bag holding the food at a weird angle, that they realised what you had in mind. Letting out a laugh, Atsumu took off after you; Osamu quickly followed. If you had managed to get a bigger head start, you might have won. However, on this occasion, both twins pulled ahead of you, darting around a bewildered Kita and launching forward to touch the bus with their fingers.

“I won!” they declared in unison, an argument breaking out between them that you tuned out in favour of focusing your attention on Kita. Aran had already walked over to the twins, grabbing them by the backs of their jackets and hauling them away. It was this sudden movement that jerked them from their argument.

“Hey,” you greeted, giving Kita a weary smile as he reached forward to take the food from you. Together, you walked towards the bus. Kita, having arrived ridiculously early, had already packed away everything that the team would need. The only thing not within the bus was most of the team, their individual athletic bags, and whatever you had brought with you. You climbed in, reaching up to place the bag on the overhang above you. Once you had finished, you turned to face Kita. “I think we’re going to win for sure. I did some research on this team and they’ve put forward a series of underwhelming performances in official games, as well as practice matches. They’re no match for Inarizaki, especially with our captain ready to step in if the second years on court get too excited or lazy.”

The latter comment was directed towards Suna, whose head poked up from behind a seat near the back of the bus. He raised his middle finger up in response before refocusing on the phone he was holding in his other hand. You yelled over at him, “Good morning to you too.”

“Whatever, y/n,” he sighed, looking up at you once again. “Just sit down somewhere, preferably a place where the two idiots can argue over who gets to sit next to you.”

You just rolled your eyes, taking the seat you were planning on claiming originally. Kita stood in the aisle, giving you a small smile. “I’m glad you’re confident we’re going to win, especially with all the practice everybody has been putting in.”

“I know,” you grinned. While continuing with the conversation, you motioned towards the seat beside you, indicating for Kita to take it. You’d rather sit next to Kita than have to deal with the twins for the journey anyway. “Everybody has been putting in so much more effort. I swear I’ve had to physically drag Atsumu out of the gym most days.”

“He just doesn’t listen,” sighed Kita, resting his head against the headrest. “I keep telling him practicing too much is bad for his health. He even got a fever because he was practicing too hard.”

“He’s stupid like that,” you shrugged, a yawn cutting through whatever you were about to say next.

“You better be talkin’ about Samu,” interrupted Atsumu, taking the seat in front of you and turning around to face you. Osamu collapsed into the seat beside him, flicking him in the forehead.

“She was obviously talking about you, dumbass,” he quipped.

Osamu turned to you for confirmation, only to see your head resting against the captain’s shoulder. He questioned, “y/n?”

“Of course she’s asleep,” laughed Atsumu, nudging Osamu with his shoulder, previous comment forgotten in favour of teasing you. “She can’t take the late nights.”

“Keep it down,” Kita said, adjusting your head so that it was rested against him more comfortably. In response, you moved closer to him, an arm sliding around his waist to hug him as you mumbled something incoherent in your sleep. A furious blush spread along his cheeks, and he ducked his head to hide from the twins. Luckily, their attention was fixed elsewhere, on a video Suna had sent to Osamu, too lazy to get up to walk down the coach to show him. Kita let out a sigh, dropping his head to rest atop of yours. He chided, not that you could hear him in your slumber, “You should really try to sleep earlier.”

It was fortunate for you that you slept for most of the journey. You missed Osamu moaning about being hungry, and then proceeding to search up pictures of food to drool over. Consequently, you also missed Atsumu hitting his twin and being scolded by Kita, something that always made you laugh. However, Suna had got up to draw on your face, which would have been an unfortunate consequence. Luckily, it was only to shuffle back to his seat sheepishly, the sight of Kita beside you a deterrent.

“You had to fall asleep on Kita,” grumbled Suna, walking along beside you as you entered the gymnasium. You trailed behind the rest of the team, your footsteps unusually sluggish. You blamed it on your late night. “Why couldn’t you have fallen asleep on Atsumu? He would’ve let me draw on your face.”

“Yeah, well, I’m glad you didn’t,” you responded, transferring the food bag to your other hand. The weight, though it wasn’t abnormally heavy, was beginning to make your arm ache. In fact, your whole body ached. Eyebrows furrowed, you continued switching the bag from hand to hand. It made no difference. You still ached.

“You look constipated,” observed Suna, though he took the food from your grip. You gave him a thankful smile, which he waved off. “I’m not being nice. I just don’t like walking beside someone with such a stupid expression on their face.”

“I didn’t ask you to walk beside me,” you snapped, crossing your arms over your chest. They still ached, even without the bag. All you wanted to do was collapse on the bench at the sidelines.

“It’s not my fault you decided to walk so slowly today,” replied Suna, glancing over at you briefly. Something about you was off, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. It was probably a consequence of your late night, but even when you had stayed up late before, you were never this sluggish. Usually, you walked at the front beside Kita, or with the coaches. It was rare for you to be at the back unless you wanted to annoy him, which evidently was not the case this time. “I didn’t voluntarily choose to accompany you.”

“Leave me then,” you snapped, eyes narrowing in a glare, your scent suddenly spiking. He let out a grumble, releasing some of his pheromones in the air to soothe you. Suna hated being on omega duty, one of the reasons why he was glad you usually opted to walk at the front.

“You know I can’t just leave you,” he sighed, placing a hand on the small of your back to urge you forward. “The sooner we get to the gym, the sooner you can leave me and sit on the bench.”

That caused you to perk up somewhat, which also had the effect of pulling your scent back to its’ ordinary level. Your scent may have regulated, but the ache in your body persisted, each movement making you fight back a wince. It was with gritted teeth that you sat on the bench, and pulled your clipboard towards you. Suna gave you one last assessing look before beginning to warm up.

Your gaze was unfocused as you stared down at the words you had written on the page. They swam in front of your gaze, coming apart and then joining again in dizzying confusion. As you stared, you found your mind wandering, nose twitching as you found yourself seeking out any scent that felt comforting, felt familiar. Your head snapped up from the clipboard, falling on a pile of discarded jackets. From the pile, and wafting towards you in the air, was Atsumu’s rich scent that made you recall moments where you were held in his arms and shielded from the rain, Osamu’s that brought forward memories of laughing in the kitchen and collaborating on random food creations, and Kita’s that filled you with comfort, reminding you of his quite support.

Before you could process what you were doing, you were moving towards the pile, hand clutching the first jacket you found. You buried your nose into the material, breathing in Atsumu’s scent, a soft whine escaping your lips. Your own team, too engrossed in warming up, missed the sound. It did, however, attract the attention of the team on the other side of the net.

You were unaware of the sudden, and unwanted, attention, shrugging off your jacket and pulling on Atsumu’s. You turned your head into the collar, taking in a deep breath. Though the scent satisfied you emotionally, the joy at being wrapped in Atsumu’s scent, caused you to release your own pheromones, made you feel slightly dizzy. A sudden spiking heat rushed through you, and a quiet ‘shit’ slipped from your lips. Hurriedly, you began to head towards the exit, keeping your head ducked and trying desperately to stop sending pulse after pulse of pheromones into the gym. You figured that, once you were safely in the confines of the bus, you could send a message to one of the coaches, apologising for having to leave and explaining that your heat had suddenly started.

A large hand wrapped around your wrist, causing you to come to a jolting stop. The owner of the hand yanked you back into his chest and you let out a surprised squeak. His arm wrapped around your waist, holding you close to him as he let out a pleased hum. His nose ran along the scent gland at your neck, making you stiffen suddenly. Fear made you kick out, knocking against one of his teammates who was standing beside him.

“Get off me,” you panted, weakly thrashing in his grip, a sharp and bitter scent escaping from you. Across the gym, Atsumu and Osamu’s heads snapped in your direction. “Just want to leave. Need to leave.”

Twin growls ripped through the gym, sending shivers down the spines of many people in attendance, including the male currently holding you. All you could feel was relief. He looked over his shoulder, making eye contact with the furious twins. Their fury had caught the attention of the rest of Inarizaki, who all suddenly stood to attention.

“No need to be aggressive,” chuckled the male, though he made no move to release you. “I was just going to take care of this omega.”

“Like fuck ya are,” spat Atsumu, lunging forward and grabbing the male by the back of his shirt. His eyes were dark, expression twisted as another growl ripped from his throat.

“Get the fuck away from her,” growled Osamu, who had taken the distraction Atsumu provided to step in front of the male. The rest of his teammates had wisely backed off. One who had been about to pull Atsumu away had been stopped by Kita, his grip tight as he had pulled the man away by his shoulder. Despite the warning, the male’s arm remained around you. Despite Atsumu at his back and Osmau at his front, he had the nerve to push his nose against your scent gland and breathe you in deeply. A nervous whimper escaped your mouth, all Osamu and Atsumu needed for any last bit of restraint they had to evaporate. He muttered darkly, “I gave you a warning.”

Osamu’s hand curled around the male’s wrist, yanking it upwards harshly and twisting. His other arm went to catch you, pulling you away as Atsumu finally snapped. His arm wrapped around the male’s throat, his muscles prominent as he tightened his grip, crushing his windpipe. It was clear Osamu was frustrated too, eager to leap at the male. Yet, you were beside him, looking up at him with fear, and his first instinct was to protect you. He pulled his gaze away from the scene in front of him, scanning the gym until he finally found Kita. Kita was already walking towards you, anger prominent in the lines of his body. He took you from Osamu, letting you wrap your legs around his waist and snuggle your head into the crook of his neck as he held you. Kita left Osamu with a nod, giving permission the other man had not needed, but appreciated, to attack the male who had harassed you. He would let the coaches break it apart. Right now, you were his concern.

Kita walked from the gym, heading towards the bus. It was fortunate he was always prepared. Though he was certain you would be responsible enough to bring your own, he had packed heat suppressors in the buses emergency kit just in case. You let out a soft whine, hands curling into the material of his shirt.

“Atsumu… Osamu… Are they okay?” you questioned, needing to know. Kita let out a comforting purr, coupled with a release of soothing pheromones. The scent wafted around you, easing your racing heart, though it did little to cut through the haze of your heat.

“They’re fine,” he reassured, hand rubbing a soothing circle into your back before he placed you gently on a seat in the bus. You wrapped your arms around yourself, nose immediately pressing against the inside collar of the jacket, breathing in Atsumu’s scent deeply.

“Want the twins,” you whimpered. It was normal for you to want to be close to them. You had been with them since you were born, the three of you inseparable as soon as you were able to toddle. It was their scents that made up the majority of your nest, with the occasional addition of something Kita or Suna or another member of the team had scented.

Kita ignored your comment in favour of grabbing the heat suppressants from the bag. He turned towards you, grabbing a water bottle from where the spares were kept. Deciding it might be better for you, more peaceful and less painful, he also decided to include a sleeping pill. Kita handed them to you. “Have these. It’s heat suppressants and a sleeping pill.”

He watched as you took the medicine, carding his fingers through your hair affectionately. He gave your fingers a reassuring squeeze, “I’ll be back, along with the twins, when the match is finished.”

You nodded, barely registering his words as you let sleep overtake you.

When you woke up, strong arms were wrapped around you, holding you against a chest. You snuggled into the warmth, letting the distinct scent of Atsumu wash over you. Fingers stroked your hand softly, tracing its shape before sliding between your own. Your hand was lifted up, soft lips pressed against it before a face nuzzled into your palm. Sleepily, you looked up, blinking up at the twins. Even in your half-awake state, you could see the slight bruising that peppered their skin. Despite it being two-against-one, the male had landed a few solid hits before the coaches got involved.

“You’re awake,” cheered Atsumu, brushing a kiss to the top of your head as his fingers ran up and down your back, sliding beneath his jacket and your t-shirt to rest against your bare skin. Osamu gave a small cheer as well, a warm smile overtaking his features as he gazed down at you. That warm smile didn’t stop him from scolding you, something you were expecting from Kita and not him.

“And an idiot for not realising you were starting your heat,” he said, reaching over to give your hair an affection ruffle.

“We always know when our ruts are so you should know when your heats are,” chimed in Atsumu, ignoring the weak punch to his chest that you gave him with the hand not being held in Osamu’s.

“That’s because I always remind you,” you grumbled in response, though your anger was short-lived. The pheromones they were pumping out were so distracting any emotion but bliss was hard to feel, let alone hold onto.

“Considering how long you’ve known each other,” said Suna, deciding to add his two pence to the conversation, “I would’ve thought you two dumbasses would know what her pre-heat symptoms are.”

“You’re her friend too,” protested Atsumu, the only thing stopping him from engaging in a fall-blown argument was you in his lap. “Maybe you should have realised.”

“I did realise,” smirked Suna. In a quieter voice, he continued, “I just thought she was tired.”

“Can you all shut up?” snapped Aran, to which Kita was quick to agree, explaining that you would appreciate the peace and quiet.

That put a stop to any argument that could have broken out, both of the twins refocusing on you. Osamu resumed lazily playing with your fingers, while Atsumu nuzzled into your neck, rubbing his face against your scent gland. You let out a content sigh, finding comfort in their touch and the scents of the team wafting around you.

[bbyheedeungie]

Tales of the ring | Orphan! Jay AU Part 1

Pairings: Jay x Reader

Genre: fluff, angst, eventual smut, age gap (4 years)

Warnings: suggestive content, messy timeline

Synopsis: You've spent most of your lives together at a Catholic orphanage in a small town, with Jay being left there as an infant and you volunteering there since you were thirteen years old. Now twenty-three, every child in the orphanage looks up to you as their older sister. Well, except for that one stubborn kid named Jay.

You always tend to his cuts and bruises when he fell down after climbing on trees with his friends, but not after a long hour of bickering.

"Stop climbing trees if you're just gonna fall down!" You scold 9-year old Jay as you rummaged through the first aid kit.

"Just shut up and fix me up, woman." He demands, his arms crossed over his chest. You sigh.

"I'm just worried about you, okay? You could've broken a bone or something!" You reasoned with him. His eyes turns into slits, glaring at you.

"Are you calling me a wimp?" He challenges. Though it never crossed your mind, the thought of calling him a wimp was indeed amusing. You tried to suppress your laughter but it came out as a snort.

"Hey, I'm not a wimp. Drop it." Jay says, almost coming out as a whine. You nod, trying to calm yourself down from wanting to laugh. Cause you know Jay's going to end you if he even hears anything close to a giggle come out from your lips.

_

"Still as wimpy as ever, huh?" You teased him as you disinfected his wounded knees. He was sitting on the couch with you kneeled infront of him, and 16 year old Jay just can't seem to take his eyes off you.

Your lower lip is caught in between your teeth as you concentrated on his cuts, and Jay licks his own lips unconsciously.

At 20 years old, you have grown to be quite a lady, Jay notes. Beautiful, luscious hair that complimented the perfect features of your face, your body slightly plump in some places which gave you that womanly figure, dainty and gentle hands that cared for his wounds, any man would think of you as wife material. And Jay couldn't help but huff in annoyance at the thought of other men wanting you for themselves.

"And you're still as annoying as ever." He mutters before he pinched your cheeks hard, making you yelp in pain and involuntarily putting pressure on the cotton ball you were dipping onto his wound. Soon after, you were both crying from pain.

"How could you." He said in betrayal, clutching his wounded knee.

You always chased after him around the orphanage when he had a fever to make him take his medicine when he refused to drink them, dragging him by the back of his shirt to his room to make him rest.

"You can't just pull a stunt like that when I'm fixing up your cuts you dummy." You glared at him, massaging your reddened cheek.

_

"I don't want to stay in bed, woman. I wanna play outside!" 11-year old Jay huffs in annoyance, kicking off the blanket you've just placed on his body. You sighed and placed it back on him.

"Bold of you to call me a woman after I've just wrestled you at the lobby earlier." 15-year old you chuckled, remembering what you had to go through to make him go back to his room.

"Don't remind me, you were like a freaking hippo back there! Geez." Jay scrunches his nose and turns his back to you.

_

"You insufferable woman." He mutters as you tuck him into his bed. 18-year old Jay was just as irritable as ever, but only when it came to you.

"Yeah yeah." You rolled your eyes at him dismissively as you placed a cold compress to his forehead. He's such a big baby.

"Stop being a jerk for once and learn to take care of yourself, will you?" You scold him, leaning in to fix the position of his pillow. Jay's heartbeat goes nuts, with your body so close above him. He could just grab you by the waist then and there and hold you tight. Your feminine scent was so alluring, filling up his senses, your skin translucent in the moonlight shining through the windows and he even caught a glimpse of your cleavage through your thin, white dress shirt.

Shit, shit, shit. He thinks, fisting his blanket tightly. His cheeks glowed crimson red, but thankfully you thought it was just because of the fever.

_

Rest assured, Jay wasn't all that bad as others make him out to be, and you strongly believe this. You remember that one night, it was your fourteenth birthday but you didn't bother telling anyone. You didn't want to burden the sisters, and your family didn't care much about it either. But Jay did. He cared, and he remembered.

You sat on the roof, your secret hiding place, as you admired the starry sky. But it's not really a secret when Jay knows about it. The ten year old boy climbed up, grunting as he struggled keeping his balance. You flinched at the sound and panicked, but it immediately died down when you saw it was just him. He quietly sat beside you.

Silence took over as you sighed in content, taking in the peaceful evening.

"Happy birthday." Jay said, almost a whisper. Your head turns to him and he immediately looks the other way, refusing to meet your eyes.

"Thank you, Jay." You said in gratitude, not bothering to hide your smile. He still refused to look your way as he held out his fist.

"What is it?" You asked in confusion, furrowing your eyebrows at his closed hand. He sighs, taking your hand in his as he placed something cold and hard on your palm.

"It's for you." He says. You gasped, taking in the shiny object encrusted with tiny jewels that glinted in the moonlight.

"Jay, where did you get this?" You ask him, bewildered.

"The sisters said they found that ring in my pocket when they found me outside the door of the orphanage the night that they took me in. It's my most precious possession. In fact, it's my only possession." He says, laughing lightly as he looked up at the sky.

"Must be an heirloom, maybe you came from a wealthy family! Jay, I can't accept this. This is important to you!" You exclaimed, holding the ring back to him.

You're important to me. He thinks.

"Maybe, but they've left me here haven't they?" He simply shrugs.

"But why give it to me?" You asked, holding the ring close to your chest. Jay rolls his eyes and clicks his tongue.

"Hey, no more questions. I gave it to you as a birthday gift, so you better treasure it. Good night." He says and prepares to climb down, leaving you dumbfounded.

_

At nineteen, Jay was the oldest at the orphanage. He never got adopted, and younger kids would pick on him because of it.

"You never got adopted because your a weirdo."

"They can probably sense that you're useless."

But Jay being Jay, he'd beat them up everytime just because their faces annoy him. And you'd be the one to ask for forgiveness for his sake everytime he got in trouble. You knew him well enough to know that although he'd never admit it out loud, seeing other kids like Jungwon and Sunoo get adopted while he gets left behind hurt him more than it should.

"I'm very sorry for Jay's actions, please don't send him away." You begged to the Mother Superior's feet, and Jay couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Not of you, but of himself for having you go through all this for him.

"Noona, please you don't have to do this." He tells you softly, for once as he tries pulling you up to your feet but you just won't budge.

"I'm sorry Y/N, I know you have grown quite close to Jay for the past ten years. But he is now of legal age he can't just keep hurting minors." The mother superior, which is the head of the orphanage states.

"Jay promises he won't do it again, please." You continue to plead, at this point you were so close at kissing the sister's feet if that'll make them forgive Jay.

"What, when did I promised—." He says and you signal him to shut up. The sisters sigh, and decide to just punish Jay by making him work at the farm for a month. You thank them over and over, tears welling in your eyes.

"Y/N, may I have a word with you. Jay, you may retire to your room." The mother superior instructs. Jay looks at you hesitantly, before leaving.

"Have a seat." She commands you, and you oblige.

"What is it that you wanted to talk about?" You asked.

"Listen, dear. You're now twenty-three years old, you are at your ripest age of getting married. Not only that, but you're also one of the most beautiful maidens of this town. You can't spend your life at this orphanage forever. Won't you consider settling down soon?" She suggests, and you felt a lump in your throat, your heart feeling unease.

"That's alright, Mother Superior. I'm only twenty-three, I still have a lot to figure out in my life. When a man does take interest in me, I'll decide then." You assure her, and stand up to leave.

The next days, you'd wake up early to prepare breakfast for the kids and for Jay before he heads off to the farm. Jay being the stubborn boy he is, refuses to sit down and have breakfast and so on most days, you'd chase after him to bring him his breakfast and lunch box. He'd purposely walk faster, ignoring your shouts. A smirk never leaving his face.

"Jay! Jay! Wait!" You yelled, chasing your breath as you continued to run after him. But your quick steps were no match for his long strides.

"Jay you freaking dimwit! Haaaaalt!" You yell at the top of your lungs with all your might, and he finally stops in his tracks, turning to look at you.

"Oh, you've been calling for me? Did you need something?" He asks, feigning ignorance that you've been shouting his name for a good fifteen minutes. You huff, stomping towards him angrily. His face smug the whole time.

Others would think you're ready to punch him in the face, but instead you would take his hand and place his boxed meal there. You sigh.

"Take care of yourself, okay? And finish everything I packed for you." You say. Jay simply rolls his eyes and waves a hand at you dismissively.

"Yeah yeah, just don't go missing me too much." He teases, suppressing a smile. You scoffed, punching his shoulder lightly.

"Damn right, I wont." You stuck your tongue at him before waving him goodbye, running back to the orphanage.

As you walked back, you notice a fancy carriage parked in front of the orphanage. Many people were gathered around, gossiping.

"The crown prince has selected candidates to be his wife."

"Now that the queen has passed away, the prince must choose his bride in order to ascend to the throne."

"Oh what a lucky girl she must be."

You slip through the crowd of people, successfully making your way inside.

"Oh here she is now." Mother Superior introduces you to the men in fancy clothing, and you stood their dumbfounded.

"She is a beauty indeed." The men agreed to themselves.

"What exactly is happening?" You whisper to the Mother Superior.

"They came here for you, my child. You have been selected by the prince to become a candidate of being his wife. I've already had your suitcases ready, they will take you to the palace now. And don't worry, I've already informed your parents and they are more than happy and wished you the best."

Everything was happening so fast, it's like everything's been decided for you. And amidst the chaos in your mind, you could only think of one person. Jay.

"What about Jay, I haven't said goodbye—" You pleaded to the old woman to let you see Jay one last time but the footmen has announced your departure to the palace. You choked on your tears as pain burned through your chest, clutching Jay's ring to your chest as you were brought further and further away from the place you called home all your life.

Jay plowed the soil over and over, sweat trickling down his neck and forehead. The sun is high and the heat is a pretty tough companion.

"Jay! Jay!" Jay's friend, Sunghoon called his name, sprinting towards him as if his life depended on it. Sunghoon was one of the orphan kids who got adopted recently, whose home was only a few blocks away from the orphanage. Jay halted his work, placing the tool beside him.

"Haven't seen you in a while, what brings you here?" He raises his eyebrow. Sunghoon holds onto his knees as he catches his breath, before uttering words that shattered Jay's heart into pieces.

"No, it can't be." He refuses to believe it, shaking his head aggressively as tears welled in his eyes. It felt as if he was pierced so deeply in the chest with a dagger, so agonizingly painful.

"It is true, they took Y/N to the palace to become the prince's bride. It's been the talk of the town all morning." Sunghoon is sad for his friend, knowing his feelings for her all along.

"No! Y/N wouldn't do that, she wouldn't leave just like that. No." Jay cried and ran his way back to the orphanage, leaving his belongings behind.

He enters the orphanage, screaming for your name.

"Noona? Noona! I'm here, I'm here now. Noona? Where are you?" He kept on calling for you, his voice breaking as tears blurred his vision. The sisters tried to calm him down but he shoved their hands away from him.

"No! It can't be, she couldn't have left. Please tell me she didn't leave, please." Jay crumbled as he called your name over and over in agony. He begged for everything to be just some sick joke, a prank you planned to get back at him for always being so mean to you.

"Y/N." He choked out before everything spiraled infront of him and went black.

[procrastinatingsapphictrash]

My Tasha

Word count: 7334

Genre: Mostly angst but the ending is fluffy

Pairing: Natasha x fem!reader

Warnings: A sort of suggestive scene? I think that's all (let me know if I need to add any)

Request: congrats on those 500’ love!!! they are well deserved for all of your amazing words 🥺 i was just thinking how cute it be for nat to take a liking to reader, so she tries all those “seductive” tricks the red room taught her, but r just reads it as a cocky fuckboy thing and rejects her? soft!nat appearing later to ask her out? 🥺

Summary: Natasha tries to seduce you at a party but you misunderstand, assuming she's just using you. Both of you mope before realizing what happened.

A/n: Finally I finished this! It was supposed to be 2000 words max but I got carried away and @teenwonder I blame you since you were the one who sent in this idea. I actually really like how this turned out, even if it differs from the prompt slightly so I hope you guys like it too because this probably took at least ten hours to write and I have lost way too much sleep over it. Enjoy!

Natasha looks in the mirror and lifts the corner of her mouth into a slight smile. She looks hot and she knows it, spending hours in front of the mirror perfecting the look. Her eyeshadow screams seduction and her lipstick highlights and colours the natural shape of her lips. Her lashes are curled to perfection and her makeup is applied with the technique she learned years ago that was guaranteed to make people stare. Her hair is straightened because it matches the look and also the last time she straightened it you had complimented her hair so she knows you like it.

Her dress is black, the colour that looks best on her, with a neckline that is dangerously low and the bottom riding dangerously high on her thigh. Her heels are her go to ones for anytime she wants to seduce anyone, they manage to work every time and have become a small symbol of luck for her and tonight she needs all the luck she can get for tonight’s party.

Usually people are easy to seduce, she just has to figure out the likes and dislikes of her target and play up to them. Tonight shouldn’t be much different except for the big added aspect of her actually caring. She’s never had to seduce someone she’s wanted to before so she knows it’s going to be harder than normal. Taking a deep breath she pushes the nerves away and smirks at her own reflection before going to meet everyone in the main room.

Your breath hitches when she walks in and you quickly look away so it doesn’t seem like you’ve been waiting for her arrival. She’s gorgeous, she always is, but tonight there’s something about her that’s different, like she put more effort than usual. You force yourself to stay calm and look away, pretending to still be interested in the conversation you had been having with Carol that you zoned out of the moment Natasha entered the room.

Carol’s looking at you strangely. “What?”

She gives a half laugh. “You think I didn’t notice you drooling over Natasha.”

“That obvious?” you ask and she nods. “Damn.”

“Damn is right, she’s smoking!” Carol whisper-yells, glancing over quickly and then back to you.

“Carol!” you exclaim aghast.

She laughs again. “Don’t worry I’m not trying to steal your girl, after all I have Valkyrie.”

“Yes and you constantly remind me of that.” you mumble which she ignores.

“I’m just saying that some people are already staring at her and are going to be all over her soon, you need to make your move quickly.” she finishes.

“I will.” you tell her, with no real intention of going to talk to her.

“Sure you will,” she says quietly at first before yelling in Natasha’s direction, “Hey Romanoff! Come here.”

Natasha is surprised and she hopes Carol isn’t calling her over because she noticed her staring. Logically she knows that Carol doesn’t want to date you and is dating Valkyrie but it looked far too much like flirting in her opinion. There were whispers and giggles and at one point you got all flustered and embarrassed. She doesn’t like how possessive she feels over you when she has no right to but somehow when it comes to you she can’t quite control herself.

Showing none of the inner thoughts that go through her head she weaves her way over to you. At first some of the team is staring because they got startled by Carol’s yell but a small glare gets them to look away again.

“Hey.” Carol greets when she walks over.

“Hey.” she says back with a smile and it’s not her fault if the smile is a little flirtier than normal and directed more towards where you’re standing. “What’s up?”

“I want to go find Valkyrie and see what’s taking so long for her to come back from the bar but didn’t want to leave Y/n all alone at a party and since you were alone too I thought it would be a great idea for you guys to spend the party together!” she explains quickly. “I’ll come back soon!”

With that she leaves and you and Natasha are left looking at each other awkwardly. She wants to say something to break the silence but all her earlier confidence is gone and she feels like a schoolgirl with her first crush. Which is half true, she is definitely not a schoolgirl but she’s never had feelings like this for anybody before.

“You don’t have to stay here.” you offer, feeling bad that she was forced to come here and babysit you. Carol is your best friend but sometimes you just can’t stand her. This is so uncomfortable and Natasha is looking at you weirdly and you just know that she’ll apologize and leave so she can spend the party with people who actually know how to have fun.

“I know but I want to.” she says and you can’t help looking away shyly and smiling. She smiles herself at your cuteness, now slightly more confident knowing that she can make you react like that.

---

She smirks as for the thousandth time that night you struggle to keep your gaze from dipping below her neck. The dress was a good choice and judging based on your lack of eye contact you appreciate it. She knows you find her attractive, it’s hard not to know that with you staring at her boobs every few seconds but as the night goes on she’s more and more hopefully that you want to date her. Your flushed cheeks and occasional stuttering give you away.

Some guy interrupts your conversation and she resists the urge to punch him. She doesn’t know what he’s here for and shouldn’t punch people for interrupting a conversation with a girl she really really likes (she doesn’t allow herself to consider love just yet).

“Hey beautiful.” he greets her, stepping into her space and ignoring you. Against her better judgment she does punch him and giggles as he staggers backwards muttering about bitches under his breath. Really the punch shouldn’t have affected him that much, it was light and not in an area that would cause serious injury, he was just weak.

“Holy fuck.” you whisper under your breath.

“That didn’t bother you, did it?” she rushes to confirm, not wanting to have upset you by resorting to violence. She wasn’t quite sure how to take your holy fuck, whether you meant it in a good way or not.

“It was so hot.” you breath and then immediately clamp a hand over your mouth once you’ve realized what you’ve said out loud.

You’re about to apologize but she speaks first. “Really?”

You don’t understand how she makes her voice sound so smooth and seductive but it makes your knees weak. You’re nervous but there’s no point in taking it back now and it does seem like she’s flirting with you so you continue.

“Yeah, what can I say I like strong women who don’t take shit from men.” you say, moving closer to her. You haven’t flirted very much before but judging based on how her eyes darken slightly you think it’s working.

She reaches out and runs her hand down the side of your face slowly, making you shiver. “Looks like we have the same type.”

She keeps her hand there for a second then leans in slowly, giving you time to pull away. You’re frustrated by how long it’s taking and try to take a small step towards her so you can kiss her. It doesn’t work well since you forgot you’re wearing heels and lose your balance, making her laugh, her breaths dancing over your lips. And then suddenly she’s not moving slowly anymore and her lips are on yours and it’s all you can think about. Your other senses are all dulled and you kiss her harder to prove that this is real.

After a few seconds she pulls back. “I didn’t want people to see,” she explains when she sees your pout, “hallway?”

You’re not sure if it’s even possible for you to do anything but nod and take her hand as she leads you out. Inside of taking you to the main hall she takes you to a side one that doesn’t get used often and only the avengers have access to. Glancing around again to make sure nobody notices she pulls you inside and immediately you’re kissing again.

She presses you against the wall and you grip her shoulders tightly, your nails dipping into her bare skin. When she pulls back again she notes in satisfaction that your lips are smeared with her lipstick and she applauds her choice of bright red. Inside of going back to your mouth she kisses along your jaw and your neck, the lipstick marking you. Happy with her work she moves back to your lips, humming happily at the feeling.

She likes it even more when she feels your mouth open to let her in, taking the opportunity to explore your mouth with her tongue. You let out a small whine and the noise reminds her of where you are.

“Come up to my room?” she asks, smirking. You’re about to say yes when you notice her smirk. It bugs you for some reason, it makes it seem like she’s winning some sort of prize. Breathing heavily you look more closely at her and notice her heels. It’s her seductive mission heels. And then you realize she often wears a black dress to seduce people as well. You feel like a complete idiot, she doesn’t want you for anything more than a quick fling. This was a calculated move on her part.

“No.” you tell her firmly, only able to hold back your tears due to sheer anger. You thought that you were friends, how dare she try to play with your feelings just because she knew she could. Taking advantage of her shock you push past her, running out of the hall and back into the party. You look like a disaster so as quickly as possibly to rush to the doors and leave, running to your room, thankful that everyone seems too invested in their own conversations to notice you going.

You keep running until you reach your room. It didn’t look like she was following you but you don’t want to take any chances. Flinging off your heels because they’re uncomfortable you launch yourself onto your bed and curl up, pulling the covers over your head and putting your face into a pillow. You’re probably getting her lipstick all over right now but you don’t care, you don’t have enough energy to care right now.

You berate yourself again for how stupid you are. You got so caught up in your own emotions that you didn’t even consider that it didn’t mean the same to her as it did to you. It’s so obvious in hindsight. How after one kiss she wanted to sneak away so nobody saw, her glance back at the room before you entered the hall. She wasn’t looking for a relationship that much was clear. She invited you to her bedroom, not on a date.

You try to reason with yourself to make the pain go away but it doesn’t. You weren’t super close but you considered her a friend. Apparently she didn’t consider you one if she was willing to put your friendship aside for sex. You briefly consider that maybe she didn’t know about your feelings but you shake that thought off. She’s smart and reads people easily, she knew she just didn’t care.

You hate the tears that roll down your face. You can’t tell if they’re from sadness or anger and it doesn’t matter. Nothing seems to matter right now. Sobs wrack your body harder and you scream silently into your pillow. You hate this so much, you hate crying and you wish you could hate Natasha but you can’t. You hate yourself for letting yourself get hurt like this though.

---

Natasha watches you leave. She wants to run after you but the look on your face when you pushed by her stops her. You looked so disgusted that you had just made out with her and she can feel her heart breaking into a million pieces just thinking about it. She doesn't know what she did to get it. It’s obvious that you regretted kissing her but it hurts that you seem disgusted by it.

She allows herself a few moments to stand there and try to comprehend what just went on, a single tear dripping down her face. Swallowing hard she wipes it away and takes a breath to collect herself. She makes sure her dress is straight and runs her fingers through her hair so it doesn’t look too wild.

It doesn’t really matter what she looks like, she’s planning to slip out the back of the hall, the opposite way that you went, so it’s unlikely anyone will see her but she wants to be prepared on the off chance that the halls aren’t empty. Biting her lip to stay calm she walks out the end of the hall and slowly makes her way to her room.

She feels so stupid. She’s not even mad at you for feeling disgusted she’s mad at herself. She got so caught up in her own feeling that she never stopped to think about the fact that you don’t like her back. For a moment it seemed like you did but that was probably you being too nice to say no to her.

Her heels seem to mock her as she walks up the stairs with the way they clip clop. So much for lucky heels, she’ll never be able to use them again without remembering how badly she failed. She tugs on her dress from both the top and the bottom, trying to pull it longer in both directions. She felt so confident in it earlier in the mirror and especially when she caught you staring but now she just feels dirty and slutty.

“You’re a fucking idiot.” she mutters out loud to herself when she finally gets to her room. Looking in her mirror upon entry only makes things worse. She’s lucky that she didn’t see anyone in the halls because even after her attempts at cleaning up she looks like a mess. Her makeup is smudged all over and she can see the upset written plainly on her face.

Usually it’s easy to hide her emotions but usually she doesn’t feel such strong ones. You make her feel and she hates it. Only earlier today she loved that you made her feel. She loved the way her heart fluttered thinking about you and how she wasn’t always perfectly composed. You made her feel normal. But now she hates the way her heart betrays her, happy at even the thought of you.

Her only option right now is to forget and she thanks herself for always keeping a bottle of vodka in her room. A bad habit perhaps, but she rarely drinks from it and it is perfect for this situation. Drinking doesn’t help much, even after a while the hurt is still fresh in her mind, but it stops her from overthinking. When she eventually leaves the bottle and slips into bed it’s nobody’s business but hers if she cries herself to sleep.

---

You bury yourself deeper into your covers when you hear knocks at your door, hoping that whoever it is will go away soon.

“Y/n open up!” you hear Carol shout, still pounding on the door. “Unless Natasha’s with you, don’t think I didn’t notice you left the party earlier.”

Carol’s mention of Natasha makes a lump form in your throat and suddenly you feel the sudden urge to take a shower and wash all of her off you. You must have stayed silent for too long because Carol’s knocking stops and she speaks again.

“If you don’t say anything in five seconds I’m coming in.” she tells you.

You don’t know if you want her here or not. Carol is always good at making you cheer up but you feel embarrassed to tell anybody what happened.

“Four.”

Carol would understand though, she’s never been one to judge people for things and she was the one who helped push you towards Natasha, telling you she liked you back.

“Three.”

You realize that Natasha’s lipstick is still all over you and you’re still wearing the dress from last night. It’s too late to fix the clothes but you try to wipe the lipstick from your neck as quickly as possible (spoiler, it doesn’t go very well).

“Two.”

You’re still not sure if you want her to come in so you open your mouth to try to tell her to go away but the lump in your throat prevents you from speaking.

“One, I’m coming in now.” she says, opening the door. “Is that Natasha’s lipstick?”

It’s too much and you get overwhelmed, bursting into tears. Her grin of triumph from when she saw the lipstick quickly disappears and she rushes over to comfort you, wrapping you in a big hug.

“Do I have to kill her?” she asks, when you’ve calmed down a little bit. If you didn’t know Carol enough to know she’s actually a huge softy you would think she is dead serious.

“No,” you tell her, managing a weak smile at how quickly Carol comes to your defense.

“Are you sure?” she asks. “You have her lipstick all over you and you’re crying because of her. What did she do wrong?”

“It’s not her fault,” you protest. Natasha and Carol are friends and you don’t want them to stop being close because of you.

“It’s not her fault you’re crying?” Carol asks skeptically.

“I-um, she,” you stumble over your words because technically it is her fault you’re crying. “She didn’t mean to.” you finally settle on saying.

Carol doesn’t look any happier with the situation than she did before. “Please tell me what happened Y/n so I can go beat her up for you. Did she try to force herself on you or do anything you didn’t want?”

“No.” you say, shaking your head. Natasha may have only been looking for a one night stand or short fling but you can confidently say that she would never do that.

“Okay, then what did she do to make you so upset? It doesn’t look like she rejected you.” Carol is both stubborn and curious and you sigh knowing you’re not going to be able to get out of this conversation without telling her what happened.

“At first it was really nice, we were talking and then we were kissing. But then-” you pause and take a deep breath as Carol rubs a hand comfortingly on your back. “But then she asked if I wanted to go up to her room.” you pause again, trying not to cry for the second time this morning.

“What did you say?” Carol asks softly, knowing this is hard for you.

“I almost said yes, I was planning to say yes,” you tell her, “but then I looked down at her heels.”

“Her heels?”

“She was wearing the heels she always wears for missions where she has to seduce shady old men.” you explain. “And her dress seemed different than normal, like one she’d wear on a mission and she was smirking at me, like she got exactly what she wanted.”

“She treated you like a mission.” Carol states, a hard look in her eye. “That bitch.”

“Carol,” you warn, “you’re her friend too.”

“And as her friend I’m going to give her some friendly advice.” She emphasizes the word friendly giving the impression that it wasn’t going to be friendly at all.

“It will only make things worse.” you tell her. “I just want to forget about it.”

Carol keeps the hard look but softens a little, smiling at you. “Okay, whatever you want. We could spend the day watching movies and eating ice cream?”

“Okay.” you tell her. You’ve never been heartbroken before but you’ve seen movies and apparently this is what everyone does.

“I’ll go get the ice cream while you pick a movie.” she tells you, standing up. “I’ll even watch a disney one if you’d like.”

You give a halfhearted cheer, trying to convince Carol that you’re excited. She frowns as she leaves the room, that cheer was obviously fake. Any other time and you would be beyond happy that she was agreeing to watch Disney movies with you, you’ve been begging her to for almost a year. She can’t help but feel anger at Natasha and anger at herself. Anger at Natasha for playing with your feelings but anger at herself for pushing you to be with Natasha. She should have realized Natasha wouldn’t treat you right but she was so caught up in trying to pair you together that she didn’t see it.

---

Natasha wakes up as normal, feeling a headache forming already. Glancing towards her alarm clock she sits up in shock when she reads how late it is. She’s never in bed after noon. She groans when she realizes sitting up that quickly was not a good idea and makes her feel nauseous. She takes a few breaths, in and out, to calm herself and tries to remember why she drank so much. She was upset, she remembers that. She was upset because her plan didn’t work.

She feels a sharp pain in her heart when her mental blocks seem to go away and she remembers everything that happened, how the night had been going so perfectly and she had felt so happy only for it to all come crashing down when you ran away, disgusted that you kissed her.

“Stupid.” she tells herself, getting out of bed. She reminds herself of that as she goes about her normal morning routine, washing her face, brushing her teeth and getting dressed. She was so stupid to risk your friendship for something more, now it would be a miracle if you still wanted to be around her. Even if it hurt to pretend you hadn’t kissed she would go back to being friends with you in an instant if you still wanted her. She tries not to think about how big of an if that is.

When she is presentable she decides to head down the kitchen and grab some food. It’s been awhile since she last ate and there’s no use in trying to hide away and avoid her problems; she will either see you and have to confront them or you won’t be there. She knows that hiding away will only make things worse and appear weak, if she leaves her room and pretends everything is normal it will make her seem less hurt than she is.

“Hi Natasha.” Tony says in a weird voice when she enters the kitchen, waggling his eyebrows. She does her best not to show her obvious disappointment that almost everybody is here. The one upside is that you’re not.

“Hi Tony.” she says tiredly, walking over to grab a piece of bread and plopping it in the toaster.

“So Natasha,” he starts, oblivious to her unrelaxed mood, “how was last night?”

Natasha whips around lightning fast, staring at him. “What do you mean?”

He couldn’t possibly have heard, could he? She had hoped to talk to you before word got out about the rejection, to try to keep it on the down-low because the guys would never let her live it down. She assumed you wouldn’t tell anyone but you did leave the hall in the direction of the party so maybe you decided to stay.

“I mean with Y/n.” he says casually as Natasha fights to keep a straight face as her heart beats wildly in her chest. “Don’t think we didn’t notice how you both left early.”

Natasha lets out an almost unnoticeable sigh of relief. He didn’t know anything important.

“Well that may be the case but I can assure you nothing happened.” she tells him.

“Then where is she now?” Tony challenges.

“I don’t know, if you haven’t seen her she’s probably in her room.” Natasha responds smoothly. It’s just her luck that after being rejected by the girl of her dreams Tony thinks they got together.

“And where were you?”

Natasha gives him a deadpan stare. “My own room.”

He scoffs. “First of all you could be lying to us, I know you spies are good at that. But if you aren’t you need to get some balls and ask her out already.”

Natasha scowls. “A man’s balls are the weakest part of his body, I am good without them.”

Tony has enough self preservation to step back for a second. Natasha lets him think that her annoyance is solely over his sexist statement but really it wasn’t that bad and she’s just upset that she can’t have you so she really doesn’t want to be talking about asking you out.

“You should.” Clint speaks up.

Natasha rolls her eyes. “Not you too.”

“See Clint agrees with me and I bet the others do too.” Tony says smugly. Natasha lets her eyes move slowly around the room and one but one they all look away when she catches their eye, showing her that while they are too nervous to outright say it, Tony is right and they do agree.

“I don’t care about that,” she says, “I am not and that’s the end of the story.”

“What not?” Tony persists. “You like her, you can’t deny that, so give me one good reason not to.”

“Because she wouldn’t want to and I respect that.” Natasha says calmly. Inside she feels her stomach twisting and she wants to break something. She may be good at hiding her emotions but this conversation is proving to be next to impossible.

Tony scoffs again. “There’s no way, that girl is so in love with you it’s ridiculous.”

“What’s ridiculous is that you assume things about other people and can’t let this go.” Natasha tells him icily. “You don’t know what she’d say.”

“Then you don’t know either.” Tony counters.

“Then why did she say no when I asked her out last night?” Natasha snaps at him. There are gasps all around the room and to her mortification she is barely holding in the tears that spring to her eyes.

“What?” Sam asks in disbelief.

“I asked her out, she said no and that’s that.” Natasha explains, trying to keep her composure but failing when a tear falls down her cheek. “Excuse me.”

She hurries out of the room, no longer able to handle the talk of asking you out and the disbelieving stares. As she gets back to her room and lies in bed once more she notes in annoyance that she never got her toast. Not that she’s hungry anymore anyway. She doesn’t feel anything anymore except sadness and emptiness. She knew her feelings for you were strong but now that she knows for sure that you don’t want her they feel even stronger and it makes her realize just how much this meant to her and how much she lost.

---

“Hey.” Carol greets as she walks in the kitchen and heads straight for the freezer.

“Morning Carol.” Bruce says, looking shocked when he sees the amount of ice cream she’s holding. “Ice cream for breakfast?”

“It’s for Y/n.” Carol explains.

Tony’s expression turns dark. “What on earth does she need it for?”

“Girl problems, also known as none of your business.” Carols says, in an admittedly sassy voice.

Tony glares. “By girl problems do you mean what happened with Romanoff last night.”

He may tease Natasha but she was like family to him and he would not allow your feelings to be coddled while you stomped all over hers. He doesn’t care if you feel bad for rejecting her, you had flirted and let her on for too long and feeling bad was the least you deserve.

In an instant Carol is across the kitchen and inches from his face. “How do you know?”

“Hey, calm down.” Bruce says, stepping in when he notices Clint and Sam have both tensed up, presumably to defend Natasha’s honor. Even though he’s a man himself he doesn’t understand them sometimes, Natasha was more than capable of taking care of herself and starting a fight between Tony and Carol, the two most stubborn on the team, would only be a headache for weeks to come.

“How do you know?” Carol asks Bruce, thankfully stepping back from Tony.

“She was here a few minutes ago and told us.”

Carol curses under her breath. “That bitch.”

“Hey!” Clint says loudly. “If anyone is a bitch here it’s Y/n.”

“Yes because it’s all Y/n’s fault.” Carol says sarcastically.

Sam decides he’s had enough of Carol. “Yes actually, it is.”

“Bullshit.”

The three of them go back and forth with Carol, mainly cursing and getting a little off topic.

It’s when Carol calls Tony an idiot that Bruce speaks up. “You weren’t here to see Natasha cry.”

“What?” Carol turned to face Bruce, shocked. He isn’t one for petty arguments so she believes what comes out of his mouth. But why would Natasha cry? It doesn’t make sense, she was the one who broke your heart, not the other way around. “Natasha never cries.”

“Well she just did.” Tony says but it’s not in a confrontational tone anymore. He’s not sure what Carol knows but it’s obvious she didn’t know fully what happened.

“Why?”

“It was partly my fault,” Tony admits, “I was teasing her about asking out Y/n and she kept saying no and eventually snapped and told us that she did last night but Y/n rejected her.”

Carol scrunches her brow in confusion. “That’s not what Y/n told me- OHHH.”

“What?” The voice comes simultaneously from all four men at once.

“They are both idiots.” Carol says, smiling and laughing for the first time since entering the kitchen. “They are both huge idiots that don’t know shit about feelings.”

“What?” Tony asks again, wanting to know what Carol’s thinking.

“Okay I’ll tell you but don’t interrupt.” Carol warns and looks at all of them to make sure they nod in agreement. Once she is satisfied she starts. “So this morning I found Y/n in tears and covered in Natasha’s lipstick. Apparently they had fun at the party last night and then snuck away to makeout. Y/n was upset because Natasha asked her up to her room instead of on a date and she noticed that Natasha was wearing her mission heels, do you know them?”

“The ones that she uses to seduce old men for Shield?” Sam asks just to make sure.

“Yep.” Carol confirms. “So anyways Y/n is upset because she thinks that she was just some sort of challenge to Natasha so she left her there…”

“...but Natasha was actually serious about her.” Clint finishes.

Tony laughs. “They really are idiots.”

“I am definitely telling this story at their wedding and to their future kids.” Sam says, also laughing.

“Well first they need to actually talk to each other about this.” Bruce points out, lowering the happy mood of the room. “Right now they’re both in their rooms miserable and feelings like the other doesn’t want them.”

“We should get Natasha to talk to Y/n,” Carol suggests, “because I know that Y/n won’t believe us unless Natasha is the one to tell her.”

“Okay I volunteer to talk to Natasha.” Tony suggests.

“No.” Carol tells him.

“Well you’re Y/n’s best friend so she won’t want to talk to you either right now.” he counters.

“Yes but you’re also a horrible option, I think Bruce would be best for this.”

Bruce looks around the room. “Me?”

“That does make sense,” Clint agrees with Carol, “out of all of us you’re the best at calming people down and she’d be most likely to believe you quicker.”

“But-”

“No buts Brucie, don’t you want to see them together?” Tony pleads.

“Yeah come on Brucie,” Sam mocks Tony, “do it for love.”

Bruce sighs as he watches Tony pout and Sam flutter his eyelashes ridiculously. “Fine.”

“Get straight to the point,” Clint advises, “because she will kick you out if you don’t.”

“Okay.”

Bruce leaves the kitchen to head to Natasha’s room. It took ages for him to be convinced to join the avengers and every day he can’t tell if he regrets his choice or loves his choice. Certainly no other job in the world would force him to go talk to his scary assassin coworker so she and his other coworker can get together. He really isn’t paid enough for this.

A knock startles Natasha. She didn’t think anyone would come after her because she assumed they would all be too scared when she’s in a bad mood.

“Who is it?” she calls out.

“Bruce.”

“Bruce,” she sighs, “I’m sorry but I need to be alone right now, I hope you of all people can understand that.”

“No.” he responds, surprising both her and himself with how determined his voice sounds.

“Bruce-” she starts but he interrupts.

“Hear me out first Natasha,” he begs, “please.”

She thinks about it for a moment before giving up and sighing, she’s not in the mood to spend time arguing. “Fine, but you have to stay outside the door.”

“If that’s what you want.” he agrees, pausing a second to figure out how he wants to word things. “I just came back from an interesting conversation with Carol in the kitchen.” he settles on saying.

“Oh?” She tries not to think about what that means. Carol is your best friend and after her scene in the kitchen this morning she doesn’t think there would be any other reason he would bring her up.

“She was getting ice cream for Y/n because apparently she’s upset.” he offers as a means of explanation.

“Oh.” she says again and it’s so quiet she doesn’t think he heard her. “You can tell Carol that I’ll apologize to Y/n tomorrow, I need to gain control of myself first.”

She never thought about how it would be from your end of things. She forced you into more than you wanted and tried to ask you out and she selfishly focused on her own feelings when you probably were upset that she kissed you. Or you thought you would lose her as a friend. She doesn't think she is capable of talking to you without breaking down right now but in a few days she’ll be fine and able to pretend nothing changed.

“That’s not what she was upset about,” Bruce tells her, “Carol says she was upset because she thought it didn’t mean anything to you.”

“What, why?” Natasha can’t help but let her interest be taken. She doesn’t want to get her hopes up, what Bruce said could mean a lot of different things.

“I feel like I’m in middle school and there’s broken telephone being played between two crushes.” Bruce jokes.

“Bruce, tell me why.” Natasha demands. Her voice is soft but they both know if Bruce stalls any longer she’ll drop the sweet act.

“Well Carol said she said that it seemed like you were acting as if she was your mission to seduce and not like you actually wanted to be with her.” Bruce says, relaying the information.

“Crap.”

Bruce waits for Natasha to elaborate but she doesn’t say anything. “Are you okay in there?”

“Yes, thank you Bruce,” she says, “I need to go fix this, you can leave now.”

He can’t help but feel relieved as he speeds away down the hall. He is never going to do anything like that again, it was way too awkward. He still doesn’t understand how the others forced him to do this, damn his heart for being persuaded it was a good cause. The one upside is that talking to Natasha did seem to work and with any luck she’d be able to fix her mistakes with you. If she didn’t he did all this for nothing and may very well hulk out.

---

Natasha paces back and forth in her room. If Bruce was right (and she has no reason to believe he would lie) you didn’t run away because you didn’t like her, you ran away because you thought she didn’t like you. She winces when she thinks about it. Looking back she can see why you were mistaken and thought she didn’t have true feelings for you because she did treat you like a mark. She analyzed what hairstyle and dress you would like and wore her good luck heels. Even the way she talked and acted was calculated to be exactly what you’d like.

She’s stupid, so stupid and if she had just asked you out in a normal way instead of trying to seduce you she could be on a brunch date with you right now. It had never occurred to her to try it any other way, she was taught that seducing was the easiest way to get people to like you so why should it be different for a normal date? In hindsight using red room techniques to get a date is a horrible idea and she can’t believe she didn’t see it before. Maybe she hasn’t shaken off the red room ideals as much as she thought she had.

The thought scares her, her entire life upon leaving the red room has been dedicated to being a force for good, the opposite of everything the red room stood for so to realize that they still have their claws in deeper than she thought is terrifying. She takes a deep breath and tries to make it go away, which is mostly successful as the thought is reduced to the back of her mind. She can take her thoughts and analyze them later, which is another thing the red room taught her to do she notes, but right now she has to focus on the thing that’s most important, fixing her mistake.

As she walks through the halls to your room she runs through things she should say in her head but nothing sounds right. Perhaps it’s for the best though, that way you can tell she’s genuine and not performing another script. She pauses as she reaches your door, finding herself almost shaking with nerves. What if you don’t want her anymore or Bruce misunderstood or worst of all you still think she doesn’t care?

She almost turns around and goes back, unfamiliar with this type of fear but she knows that if she does all chances of fixing things and having a relationship with you will be reduced to zero. Taking a deep breath she turns the knob and pushes the door open.

You don’t look right away when you hear the door open, too lazy to care. “What took you so long, you were supposed to be back with the ice cream ages ago.”

“I-”

You spin around quickly. “You’re not Carol.”

“Nor do I have ice cream.” She tries to joke but it falls flat.

“Why are you here?” you ask and she winces. It’s blunt and straight to the point, your tone quiet but practically screaming at her to get out.

Since you got straight to the point she decides to do the same. “To ask you out.”

You must look even more shocked than you feel because she quickly jumps in to explain. “That’s what I was trying to do at the party last night, although I know you assumed that I didn’t mean it. I know you noticed the heels and I know I was smirking and it seemed like I was playing you but it really was genuine, I was just trying to do it the wrong way. I was always taught in the red room that to get people to like you romantically the best way to do that is to seduce them but obviously that is wrong and I didn’t realize until too late.”

There’s a lot of information to take in but your mind gets stuck on one question. “How do you know all that about how I felt?”

“Carol talked to Bruce who talked to me.” she says, looking slightly embarrassed at how elementary that sounds. “So?”

“So what?” You know she wants to know if you’ll go out with her for real and you really want to immediately say yes but you also want to hear her ask you properly.

She seems to understand. “Will you go on a date with me Y/n?”

You hesitate one moment before responding. It’s unnecessarily mean but you just spent a good portion of last night and this morning crying over her and besides, she looks absolutely adorable as she shifts her weight from side to side nervously. She looks exactly how you want her to look, no makeup and wearing sweatpants. It’s natural and genuine and everything you would have loved to see last night.

“Yes.”

“Oh thank god.” she laughs in relief, the pitch of it breathier than normal.

“I like it when you do that.” you tell her.

She furrows her brow, confused. “Do what?”

“When you laugh like that or wear old clothes, like you’re not trying to impress me.” you explain.

“So when I do the opposite of what I did last night?” she asks, laughing at herself for being so stupid. Of course you didn’t fall for all the acts, if you did she wouldn’t like you as much as she does. You make her feel different and that’s a good thing, she shouldn’t have to act around you.

“Yeah, don’t get me wrong last night was hot,” you tell her, “but it’s not you. That’s agent Romanoff putting on whatever mask she needs to be for the night, this here is my Tasha.”

“Your Tasha, huh,” she teases, “possessive much?”

“Sorry.”

“No,” she tells you, “I like it. I don’t need to put a mask on around you because you’re you and I am your Tasha. But you’re also mine.”

“All yours.” you confirm and she visibly shivers. “Apparently I’m not the only possessive one.”

“Apparently.” she says looking at you in a way that makes heat rise to your cheeks.

“Since we wasted time last night maybe we could start with a movie date right now?” you suggest shyly, changing the topic.

“Well we do have time to make up for.” she agrees, sitting down on the bed beside you. “What movie?”

“Mulan.” you tell her pressing the remote to drop the tv down into your room. There were definitely benefits to living with Tony.

“A disney movie?” she asks skeptically.

“Have you seen it?” you ask already knowing the answer before she shakes her head. “Then don’t knock it, it’s a great movie.”

“If you say so.” she says, still slightly skeptical but much more open to it. Even if the movie is garbage she doesn’t think she’d mind watching it with you. She definitely doesn’t mind it when your head drops onto your shoulder and you fall asleep, tired from the emotional rollercoaster you just went on. And when the movie ends she doesn’t move, happy to have you there, even when hours later her shoulder is all tense and cramped. It scares her how much she feels for you already but it also feels freeing, she knows she is not just the product of the red room because their biggest rule is to not fall in love and she’s definitely going to break that soon, if she hasn’t already.

---

Taglist: @fayhar@xxxtwilightaxelxxx@acertainredhead@madamevirgo@megaqueenmaeve@cherryblossomskye@aaron-despair@chickenhavewisdom@emril-osvigne@nyankitty987@agathaharkness-simp@midnight-lestrange@usernames-are-difficult (couldn't tag)@thewidowsghost@nyx-aira@stephanieromanoff@Satxnsupreme@likefirenrain@wlwlovesreading@natashadeservedbetter@stop-drop-and-drumroll@peggycarter-steverogers@casperlikej@redswing@mochamoff@king-star@blackbat2020

[malereader-inserts]

Unknown Volleyball Player

Fandom: Haikyuu Pairing: Karasuno & Male!Reader Summary: You didn’t want to join the team, but you kinda did. Word Count:  1,414 Request: @greyofthystallion​ “ You wanted Haikyuu? You getting Haikyuu! Karasuno x MR. R is really quiet/shy and comes to all of Karasuno's games/practises. One day when the team is practising a ball goes towards a group of people watching practise and he saves them. It turns out R is actually a really good player and was once in the top 3 Liberos, (Insert freaking out Hinata here) but was too nervous to ask to join 'cause he came in the middle of the year and the team was already situated? And he joins the team?”

After the lost with Abajo Sai, the team has been feeling a bit dejected. 

But, news had gone around the school that they made it to semi-finals, inclining people to come to watch their practices during the lunch hour on a Wednesday. You were one of the observers and the team noticed you often. You were the quiet one who liked watching what was going on, you hardly talked and you never like to draw attention towards you. 

The team was slowly getting better with techniques and working together, but there something missing. Whilst the unlikelihood of Noya being absent or hurt, they didn’t want Daichi to fill in as his position. They needed another libero just in case, plus, it’s only a matter of time they would need a new one after Noya will leave after his third year. 

“Is (L/n) watching again?” Noya asked, looking up at the balcony, see you watching them.

“Who is he?” Takeda asked the boys, Ukai wasn’t there for lunch practises on Wednesday, so he was there to watch them, “He’s the transfer, isn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Hinata exclaimed before Daichi glaring at him to quiet his voice down, “He’s in our year, see him go into class four with Tsukishima.”

“He’s quiet,” The blond boy speaks up, “I like him.” 

Nishanoya and Tanaka gasped, the fact that Tsukishima admitted he liked another person other than his best friend had wounded them. 

“Knock it off,” Daichi exclaimed, clapping his hands before telling to them to get changed so they can head off to their next lesson. 

You were a topic often talked about the boys, they wonder why you often came to watch, they had noticed that even before you joined their school you watch their matches. You were so amazed at the team, Kageyama’s brilliant serve with Hinata’s jump and their quick. You were astounded by Noya’s defending skills. 

When the next day had rolled about, you had gym that day and the volleyball club had their practice after school. You were about to leave school grounds when school ended, but you were preoccupied with the vending machine.

“Hi (L/n)!” Hinata greeted as you looked at him, grabbing your drink as Kageyama comes from the side to grab his milk, he nods you a greeting, “Will you be watching us?”

“Not today,” You replied as the two of them head away, Hinata being dragged away as he was upset you weren’t to watch them. You laughed as you see them dash into the gym, you shake your head.

You found the bunch funny, but you didn’t want to intrude on their practice. So, you decided to head home instead of watching. There was a group of girls walking past the gym doors, not noticing a flying ball towards them.

Your instinct kicked in as you ran to receive the ball perfectly, landing in a superhero stance. One stretched out, the other bent as you couched. One hand had propped itself on the ground to stabilize yourself after the powerful stray ball - yet your other hand still held your drink. 

You missed the stinging feeling of your arms, it was less there to feel as you had you school jacket on as the girls screamed before stopping that they hadn’t been saved.

“Oh, (L/n)-san! Thank you!” They say as you stood up, brushing yourself, a hint of embarrassment on your cheeks.

“Oh, it’s no worry,” You say with a smile as they bow to you, you waved them off as you scratched the back of your head as you turn around to see the volleyball team looking at you, “Hello?”

“What the fuck?” Noya screeches as you look at them sheepishly.

Tsukishima inclined himself to throw the volleyball in his hand towards you, just before anyone could scowl at him, you caught the ball with one hand, inches from your faces. The team looks at you dumbfounded with your insane reflexes. With a twist of your wrist, you got the volleyball to spin on your finger.

“What position do you play?” The coach asked you, you hold the ball as you looked up at Ukai.

“Libero.”

“Why have you been hiding that?” Tanaka screeches as you smile at them, throwing the ball back to the captain.

“Please show me how to do that!” Hinata exclaims just as you were about to answer. His arms outstretched in front of him, almost like a wrapped mummy reaching out for you, “Please (L/n)-san!”

You chuckled, “Yeah, maybe...”

“Wait, can we backtrack?” Suga made his voice heard, “Why did you hide that away from us?”

You shrugged your shoulders, “Well, your team seem so completed and I didn’t want to join whilst I just transferred here - I didn’t want to intrude at all.”

“You wouldn’t!” Noya says, jumping towards you, you barely flinched at a short teenager launching himself towards you, “We need you on the team, the more the merrier - right guys!”

“I believe it’s Daichi’s decision whether if he can join or not,” Asahi spoke up, his hand raised up slightly.

The team looked at the captain, even the coach didn’t want to interrupt this decision making. Ukai had no objections in you joining, you would be a great asset and hoping you could teach Hinata how to receive. Daichi relaxes his shoulders and smiles towards you.

“Come join us, you can start in this practice.”

You nodded as they tell you to head up on the changing room. You came down to join them in practice, it seems like you were having a blast - especially saving Kageyama’s monstrous serve that only you seem to save consistently. It came to a point that everyone was just watching the two of you.

The team had noticed that unbreakable focus you had, it was filling the room - it was challenging Kageyama’s aura. The boys watched from the side lines as Yachi looked like she was about to pass out - concerning herself about your arms. 

“Is that all you have Kags?” You asked teasingly, slowly bending down with a tinge of smug in your eyes.

“No,” Kageyama smirks as he delivers you another jump serve, to the back right corner.

But, like everyone, you were too quick for their eyes as you dive to save the killed serve and bring it back to Kageyama’s side of the court. The ball bounced in the silent gym as you face Kageyama. It seems like Kageyama was having a great time if anyone watches in - this could seem torturous.

“Alright, we’ll call it a night before we break (L/n)’s arms.”

“That’s so cool!” Hinata excitedly shouted, running up to you to talk about your skills whilst your senpai, Noya roughly pats you on the back.

“You’re freaking cool.”

You smiled, biting your smile back. When you really get into volleyball your shy demeanour fades away, you completely change that it almost scares the team on how focus you become. 

“It’s terrifying that you and Kageyama are only in first years, but you guys are scary - glad we’re on a team with you,” Suga says, roughly patting you on the shoulder.

“We’ll get you your uniform and jacket next week, we just got to get your measurements,” Daichi says, standing behind Suga, zipping up his jacket.

You nodded, as everyone started to file out the changing room with Tanaka locking up as Kiyoko waving them down, the majority gave her heart eyes as Yachi came behind her timidly.

“I knew I recognised you from somewhere!” Kiyoko blushes, it was so unlike her for her to exclaimed as you widen your eyes, she holds up a magazine - looks out of date, “Top three libero?”

You chuckled nervously as eyes snapped towards you, “Yeah...? I plan to go to Japan Youth in December, but I didn’t want to join the team because you guys-”

“You’re so FUCKING cool!” Noya shouted, jumping so high as you laugh, “You have to teach me more stuff!”

“Can you teach me! Please (L/n)-san!” Hinata asked, jumping behind Kageyama to get seen. 

“He definitely needs it,” Tsukishima mumbles as Yamaguchi snorts. 

“Come on, pork buns on me, we can listen to you talk about it,” Daichi spoke warmly as you smiled.

Noya standing by your side with Hinata coming to the other side, the two boys excited to know more about you - somewhat, you feel like you have no trouble in fitting this group.

[pot-of-terv]

FINALLY! It is here! The conclusion to my PuzzleJune series! Thank you so much for everyone who’s tagged along on this journey and thank you especially to @xauroraxborealisx for arranging this event. It’s been a wild ride for me because this is the first time I’ve ever done something this big so I’m incredibly grateful for everything ;__;

I might continue this story with tiny bits here and there but for the foreseeable future, this is it. Hope you enjoy!! 💗 (Please be sure to read the previous parts first if you’re new here :3)

PuzzleJune 2021, Week Four: Mind (School, Bond)

“Aren’t you hungry, Yuugi?”

The aforementioned boy startles, almost dropping his spoon into his soup. He looks at his grandpa and blinks.

“Uh, yeah, not really. Sorry.”

“Thought so,” Sugoroku nods and drinks his remaining broth straight from the bowl. “Give the rest to me.”

Yuugi blinks at him again, almost owlishly, and lifts his bowl with stiff arms to hand it over to the old man.

Sugoroku doesn’t waste any time and goes for the soup as soon as it’s in front of him. Yuugi smiles at him, amused, and stands up. He gathers up his spoon and glass and brings them to the sink.

“Thanks for the food,” he calls out as he leaves the kitchen. Sugoroku answers him with a grunt, probably already immersed in his crossword now that there’s no one else at the table.

Yuugi walks the stairs to his room slowly, silently thanking his grandfather for not making a fuss about his suddenly disappeared appetite. It’s been a quiet day but he feels tired and he’s kept zoning out. He blames it on the blistering heat of late summer but even to him, it sounds like a lie – the real reason is that he misses Atem.

He doesn’t bother closing the door of his room behind him and goes straight for the bed, falling onto it face first. It’s stupid, I know, he thinks and lifts his head enough to be able to tilt it to the side so he’s not smothered by the plush bedspread. He’ll be back soon.

Jounouchi had come to the house early that morning and asked to borrow Atem. He had reasoned that because school would start again in a week, he wanted to spend at least one day together with just Atem, doing whatever. Atem didn’t have to enrol, after all, so they won’t be able to hang out that much anymore after the classes start.

Yuugi understood him, of course – he will see Atem every day even if there’s a lot of homework, but the others don’t have that privilege. He had even joked that why aren’t their other friends waiting in line to get a turn, too, flustering Atem and making Jounouchi guffaw.

In all honesty, he’s really happy that Jounouchi would take the time to spend a whole day with Atem. They’d been going out as a group a lot after the first week and a half of Atem living (actually living) with Yuugi and while having all of their friends to hang out with is so much fun, Yuugi treasures time spent one-on-one.

It doesn’t change the fact that after being glued to Atem’s side for so long, Yuugi finds himself lost without him. His mind feels like candy floss, fluttery and sticky, and he can’t concentrate. He had tried to go through his deck in order to decide if it’s good enough (he and Atem need their own decks now, after all, so most of it is brand new) but couldn’t get past the first couple of cards. After that hadn't worked, he tried a few different games that he could play by himself but got no enjoyment from them. He’d just been going through the motions and realising that, he had decided to go down to help his grandpa at the shop for the rest of the day.

It’s not healthy to be so attached, he knows, and they really need to work on that – Yuugi is sure that Atem is fine with Jounouchi, but what about when they need to go to school and Atem stays home? He’d like to believe that the pharaoh will be much better off by himself than Yuugi is, but that is doubtful. They’ll have to have yet another talk soon – preferably today.

Yuugi bites his lip and sighs. There really is no coming back from the kind of bond that they’ve shared – through mind, heart and body – and Yuugi doesn’t want to imagine the pain that Atem’s departure to Afterlife would have caused when a simple day spent apart makes him unravel at the seams. Also, this train of thought could bring him to a place he most definitely doesn’t want to go now so to distract himself he turns onto his back and fumbles blindly to his left to grab the book he had left on the bed earlier that day.

- 

The sound of rustling wakes him an undetermined time later. He opens his eyes slowly, groggy enough to feel like he should just go back to sleep, but when he glances at the clock on his desk his stomach flips and he shoots up from the bed – the book he had attempted to read falling on the floor with a bang – and startles Atem who had been digging through a grocery bag.

“Ah! Yuugi!” he yelps and almost falls onto his butt from his crouched position on the other side of the desk. Thankfully he doesn’t send any of his purchases flying as he stabilises himself by quickly planting his other hand on the floor.

“Sorry!” Yuugi apologises quickly, his heart still racing. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep and he most definitely didn’t mean to sleep that late. It’s already seven in the evening, meaning that Yuugi had snoozed away for three hours. But – it also means that Atem is back, as evidenced by the boy currently looking up at him with concern written all over his face.

“I didn’t mean to wake you –” he starts but Yuugi silences him by shaking his head.

“No, I shouldn’t have slept in the first place. Really, I should thank you,” he says and pauses, then just looks at Atem. An unprompted smile makes its way onto his face. “Welcome home.”

There’s wonder in the pharaoh’s eyes and after a moment of silence, he returns the smile with such warmth it can almost be felt. “I’m home,” he replies, and Yuugi smiles wider.

He really is.

-

“Are you sure you’ll be fine?”

“Aibou, please,” Atem laughs and holds Yuugi’s face between his hands, squishing his cheeks. Jounouchi chortles from somewhere behind him and Yuugi frowns in his direction but doesn’t move away from Atem or try to pry his hands off of his face.

“But I worry,” he says, looking rightfully pouty as he shifts his gaze back to his partner. Atem laughs more and releases his face, patting his other cheek before crossing his arms.

“I’ll walk back home, help grandpa open up the shop and then it’s smooth sailing from there. You don’t have to worry,” he smiles at the still pouting teen in front of him. “I’ll be fine, you’ll be fine, and the day’s done sooner than you realise.”

“Yeah, Yuugi,” Jounouchi cuts in with a grin and drapes an arm around Atem’s shoulders. “Atem knows his way around the shop and we’re all here to take care of you. No sweat.”

“Honestly,” Anzu smiles and swiftly elbows Honda in the ribs before he can interrupt her. “We know it’s hard on you both but it’s just like ripping off a bandaid, right? It stings at first but it doesn’t last forever and even before you realise, you’ve forgotten all about it.”

“Y-yeah,” Honda says, rubbing his side, “what they said. We’ll be here, Yuugi.”

Yuugi stares at his friends, feeling his cheeks warming. How in the world did he get so lucky?

“T-thanks,” he mutters but can’t help smiling in the end. “You guys are great.”

“Hell yeah we are!” Jounouchi exclaims and does finger guns at him, his other arm still on Atem’s shoulders. Atem laughs but his eyes are soft when he looks at Yuugi.

“Go on, then. The gates are about to close, aren’t they?”

“Oh, shit!” Honda and Jounouchi yelp at the same time and the latter releases his hold on Atem. He ruffles the spiky-haired head before taking off after his best friend. “Stay crispy!” he shouts over his shoulder at Atem.

Anzu shakes her head, frowning. “These guys are too much. You don’t have to run yet!” she tries yelling after them but the duo is already too far ahead. She sighs but when she turns to Yuugi and tilts her head to the side, her eyes are twinkling.

“I should go after them. I trust you’ll be right behind, okay?”

And she winks. Yuugi flushes pink but before he can say anything, she’s already jogging off. There’s a chuckle next to him and he looks at the pharaoh who seems much too happy.

“That wasn’t fair,” Yuugi grumbles and that only makes Atem laugh harder.

“You’ve got amazing friends,” he says when he’s calmed down. Yuugi bristles at him but the pink on his cheeks takes away from his attempted glare. Just a little bit.

“They’re your friends too!” he reminds him and that makes Atem sober up. His voice is surprisingly quiet when he talks.

“They really are,” he says and smiles in that gentle way he's been doing a lot lately. Yuugi softens at his expression and they take a moment to just look at each other, wondering, smiling. There’s so much to be happy about, they both realise at the same time, and Yuugi takes Atem’s hand.

“I know you’ll be alright. I’m, just, I’m – I’m going to miss you.”

Atem smiles at him and squeezes his hand. “I’ll miss you too, Yuugi.”

It makes Yuugi’s smile widen and he chuckles. Of course he knew it but it feels good to hear it said out loud. He’s sure it’s the same for Atem.

“Well, I guess I should be going. Take care,” he says and without pause, kisses Atem on the cheek. “See you after school!” he grins and with one final squeeze, lets go of Atem’s hand and turns around to run after his friends. His chest is buzzing and he smiles the whole way to the building.

Atem is left standing at the curb, eyes wide, face red. He lifts his hand to touch his cheek and the skin there feels electric, as if that simple touch of lips had awakened a new sense that had been completely dormant until now. That feeling spreads across his skin, reaching the top of his head and the very tips of his toes and it’s so, so warm.

It feels really nice. Atem breaks out into a grin that matches Yuugi’s earlier one and turns around to leave, his hand staying on his cheek. He must look smitten as anything but he doesn’t care. He’s happy, so why not show it to the world?

As soon as he takes the first step, he almost collides with Ryou who had come running around the corner.

“Oh! Sorry, Atem. I overslept!” the white-haired boy exclaims and stops to give a quick pat to Atem’s shoulder. “Have a good day at the shop. I’ll come to visit if I can, after school!”

He grins and waves and dashes through the school gates before Atem can wade through the fluttery mess that is his mind for a greeting. He’s still reeling but Bakura didn't seem to mind his silence so it’s probably alright.

-

The walk back home doesn’t feel lonely in the least. After all, his partner is always with him, even when they’re apart. Hearts are wonderful like that.

And that, if something, is worth smiling for.

[spidernerdsblog]

Match made in Hell : Chapter Twelve

A/N : Chapter twelve is here. Ah only one more chapter left. Hope you like this chapter. Let me know what you think.

Pairing : Mob! Tom Holland x Reader

Summary : you always wanted a simple life but to be born as the daughter of a dangerous mobster turned out to be a curse for you. Everything changes when your father gets your lover killed and forcefully marries you off to another mobster as a part of a deal. You hate your father and your husband the only thing you seek is now revenge. Will you ever be able to fall in love again or this burning hatred inside you will consume you?

Warnings : fluff, pregnancy, misogyny, mention of blood, violence, language, missed typos.

SERIES MASTERLIST

“What's wrong?” Vanessa looks at you questioningly.

“I think I might have had skipped for a couple of days,” you admit, scrunching your nose.

“Can you be less vague? Cause I’m not getting it” she deadpans as you scowl at her for not getting your implication.

“Okay so I got shot a month ago I hope you remember that. I was on medication right? Well a lot of medications actually” you half shrug “so with all that going on I may or may not have forgotten to take the pills during that time and we got caught up in the moment at one time and things just happened you know”

“Well you guys are literal horndogs I have no doubt in that” she rolls her eyes “but you need to take the test” she states out to you.

“What? Now?” you looked at her stunned.

“Yes and right now” she stresses on her words.

“But I don't have any test kits at this moment” you mutter

“Then I'll ask someone to get them from the store”

“No! don’t tell anyone especially the boys” you give her a panicked look and Vanessa scoffs.

“OK relax I'll go and get it for you” saying so she left immediately. It took half an hour for Vanessa to make a trip round to the store as you waited for her in your room anxiously.

“Here” she hands you the pregnancy test kit. You nibble on to your bottom lip glancing back and forth between the box and her face.

“C'mon go on” she urged you on. You finally stood up and went inside the bathroom. Closing the door behind you let out a deep sigh taking one last glance at the box before opening it. After reading the instructions carefully you proceeded to do accordingly. When you were done you placed the stick on the marble counter and opened the door for Vanessa to come in.

“Done” you inform her.

“OK, now we wait,” she says, glancing at her watch. Five minutes appeared to be five years for you as you paced back and forth while Vanessa chewed on her nails leaning on the counter in anticipation.

“OK it’s time” she announces and you feel your heartbeat quicken. You took a deep breath and stepped forward to have a look but immediately backed off feeling anxious.

“Oh god I can't look at it” you wrap your arms around yourself.

“What?” Vanessa looks at you puzzled.

“You check it for me please I can’t” you gave her an earnest look.

“You're so dramatic” she rolls her eyes and goes to check the result and falls silent taking the test in hand.

“What? What is it?” you ask impatiently.

“Negative” she answers.

“Negative? Really?” you weren't convinced with the result as you looked at her with doubt in your eyes.

“Yeah” she confirms again.

“Oh that's a relief heh” you chuckle lightly “I told you before only it's just a stomach bug”

“You're upset that it's negative, aren’t you?” Vanessa gives you a knowing look.

“What? No I mean… yeah a little it wouldn't be bad you know but nevermind” you fiddle with your hands fumbling on your words.

“So you wanted a baby?” she raises her eyebrows questioningly.

“I mean yeah I love kids and wouldn't mind one of my own specially if it’s a cute little version of my husband running around the house on his little feet” you expressed your little desire.

“You sure?” she reasserts, raising her eyebrows as the corner of her mouth picks into a smile.

“Yeah but it doesn't matter anyways cause the test is negative as you said” you shrugged letting off the thought.

“Well then good news sissy it's actually positive” Vanessa smiles at you widely and you were taken aback.

“What?! You serious?” she nods, holding out the stick in front of you to see it yourself.

“Oh my god you bitch!” you gasp “who's dramatic now huh?” you scowl, hitting her arm lightly.

“Ow! At least I helped you figure out what you actually feel about the whole thing” she places her hands on your shoulders “congratulations sister you’re gonna have a baby!”

“I’m gonna have a baby” you repeat that to yourself. You still couldn’t believe that this was happening as you placed a hand gently over your stomach

“And I'm going to be an aunt. I’m so happy for you guys” she hugs you tightly but soon your face drops as you pull away from her with a worried expression.

“What happened? Why again the gloomy face?” Vanessa nudges you.

“I don’t want my baby to be part of this bloodshed. I have been trying to run away from this and here I’m again pushing my child right into that same hell hole” you rant with tears in your eyes.

“I think you need to first talk to Tom and then make a decision. You understand?” you nod “everything will be fine don’t worry” she pulls you in her embrace comforting you.

It was almost a week that you got to know you were pregnant but still you couldn’t break the news to Tom, you just didn’t have the nerves to do it yet.

****

You stood by the mirror glancing at your reflection though there wasn’t a visible bump but you still rubbed your hand over your belly. The thought of a life growing inside made your heart swell with warmth. Somehow you felt more livelier than you have ever been a certain glow emanating through your features. Maybe this is what people meant by pregnancy glow. You felt happy and content from inside out, you felt complete as if you had found the missing piece of your life. But you still had to tell Tom and the only person you could think of for some advice was your mom as you finally called her.

“Hi sweetie” your mother’s sweet voice comes from the other end.

“Hey mom”

“So what reminds my daughter about her old mother?” she snickers.

“Mom! you really think that I called for another favor” you grimace.

“Well you don't call much for me to think otherwise”

“C'mon mom you know my situation with dad”

“Yeah, yeah I'm just messing with you now, what’s the matter? you sound stressed” she observed.

“I... just really miss you” you sigh

“Sweetie, is everything alright?” she asks with concern.

“Yeah just wanted to hear your voice that’s all”

“I'm your mother Y/N, I can totally feel that something is bothering my little girl?”

“Mom, can I ask you something?” you say taking a deep breath.

“Anything honey”

“Were you scared when you first came to know that you were pregnant with me?”

“What?”

“I mean to say that I was totally unplanned and for my sake you had to marry that man so were you scared thinking about what your future will be in a crime family?”

“Well honestly I had little choice in that matter. I was stuck in the middle of the rivalry so in order to keep you safe I married him. But honey the day I held you in my arms all my fears went away. The only thing I know is that I can spend the rest of my life looking at you. You were never a mistake you were the best gift given to me”

“That's nice to hear” you smile

“But why after so many years you are bringing this up?”

“Nothing I just have somethings in my mind going on right now and it feels a lot” you try to shrug it off.

“Sweetie, what are you hiding from me?” she prods.

“Nothing mom I swear!” you exclaim.

“I know very well what this ‘nothing mom’ means c'mon tell me”

“Well I'm pregnant” you inform as you hear her gasp.

“What?! Oh my god I can't believe my ears, is this really true? This isn’t a prank right? Like you used to do when you were little”

“No mom it isn’t a prank” you reassure her lightly chuckling.

“Oh god I'm so happy for you honey. My little girl is going to be a mom herself? When did she grow so big?” she shrieks eyes welling up in happiness “Does Tom know?”

“Not yet” you inform.

“Not yet? Why what's wrong? Does he not want it?”

“No it’s nothing like that… actually I myself don’t know. This just happened so suddenly though I was thrilled initially but now I’m worried actually scared I-I don't think I will be a good mother. I mean my life is already a mess. I don't want to give this life to my child. They don't deserve this”

“Listen to me Y/N no one is perfect even I made mistakes too and that’s how we learn. How much ever you want to plan your life Y/N, it will always have a way of surprising you with unexpected things that will make you happier than you originally planned” she makes you understand “Tom is a nice guy I’m sure he’ll always be by your side. And I know my girl too and how much strong she is you have got this Y/N just believe in yourself and Tom”

“Thanks mom really needed to hear this from you”

“Anytime honey now take some rest and then tell everything to Tom, speak to you soon, love you”

“Love you too mom” you end the call feeling lighthearted as if a weight has been lifted off your chest. You grew up in a very dysfunctional family which made you yearn for a perfect happy family and when you have finally got it you’re not going to let anything mess it up at any cost.

****

The basement of your mansion was kind of Tom’s personal hell. He had particularly made it to held people captive for whoever dared to cross him and torture them to death. You were actually never allowed down there but today you got to join him. As you approached the room in the basement you heard screams and groans of a man in pain. Tom opened the door and you both stepped inside to find Ethan tied up in a chair beaten mercilessly barely conscious groaning in pain. His body was pale and face bruised with a black eye, nose bleeding, jaw swollen from the right temple down the cheek. Harrison was standing in front of him in a black tank top and jeans all worked up heaving in anger as you noticed his bloody knuckles. Two other lackeys were also present to help him with the interrogation.

“Haz anything so far?” Tom asks, lighting up a cigarette.

“Nothing till now this bastard won't speak up” he mutters, grabbing a fistful of Ethan’s silky black hair and tugging it harshly. Tom stalks towards him and bents down blowing the smoke on his face

“Well mate you have to speak up some or the other time” he smirks with a condescending tone.

“Over my dead body” Ethan grits under his teeth glaring at him.

“Sooner or later you are gonna end up dead anyways but not before you tell us everything you know about the rest of the viper gang”

“You think you can torture me to disclose everything” he snickers weakly “nah you have got the wrong man dude. You gotta do lot more than this”

“You know what Ethan? I'm not good with patience so the sooner you speak up the sooner you get your sweet death”

“And I think I’ve got the time of the world” he laughs tauntingly “why don’t you ask your wife to do it? Maybe she can seduce everything out of me like the pathetic whore she is” he slurs at you with a mocking tone. Tom clenches his jaw as his hands balled into tight fists and in no time he lands a punch right at his jugular as he coughs up blood.

“Watch your bloody mouth!” Tom growls, grabbing him by his collar “you really don’t know how tempted I am to cut you into pieces one by one as I watch you slowly bleed to death” he mutters, looking at him with malice in his eyes.

The scene in front of you wasn’t that pleasant though you’re used to it but with the raging pregnancy hormones everything seemed heightened for you. The room began to feel stuffy as you found it difficult to breathe adding to that the raunchy putrid smell of blood mixed with the smell of nicotine in the room swept through your nose which made your stomach churn and you tasted bile. The urge to throw up grew strong for you to hold it any longer. You grabbed your mouth, letting out a muffled "excuse me" you ran upstairs to your room.

“Y/N?” Tom lets go of Ethan and calls you back worriedly as everyone’s attention turns to you.

“You go check I can handle this” Harrison assures exchanging glances with Tom as he nodded and sprinted off to your bedroom. He finds the bathroom locked as he hears gagging noises from inside.

“Y/N, love you alright?” He knocks on the door

“Yeah I'm fine” you answer before throwing up again. When you were sure that there’s nothing left for you to throw up you stepped out of the bathroom face flushed and exhausted. Tom hastily went to hold your hand.

“Oh my god are you ok?” he gasps lightly

“Yes Tom I’m fine don’t worry” you tell him

“You don't look fine to me” he drapes a hand around your shoulders and slowly walks you towards the bed and makes you sit down.

“Tom it's ok”

“Y/N we need to go see a doctor now” he insists.

“No, no it’s fine a little rest will be enough for me”

“I’m not listening to anything, wait I-I’m calling the doctor at home only” he fumbles pulling out his phone from his pocket to make a call.

“Tom, relax! It's totally normal in the first months of pregnancy” you exclaim

“What?!” Tom frowns as your eyes go wide realizing your slip up  “Did you just say pregnancy?” he reiterates.

“Yes” you sigh standing up “I'm pregnant….with our child” you reveal placing your hand over your belly and Tom’s expression changed into a mix of shock and happiness.

“What? You're serious? You-you aren't kidding right?”

“Do I seem to be in the state of joking?” you raise your eyebrows unamused.

“Yeah, yeah right” he mumbles to himself as he processes the news and soon after excitement takes over him “Oh god Y/N this is such great news!” He lifts you up and does a little spin.

“Oh my god Tom put me down!” you squeal

“Oh I’m sorry” he puts you down “I’m just so excited. When did you get to know?”

“A week ago” you said meekly.

“And you didn't tell me? Why?” you felt a little intimidated under his questioning gaze. Even before you could say something he made his own assumption.

“Wait, you don't want this, is that why?” he looks at you with dreaded eyes

“No, No, no that's not what it is?” you shake your head vigorously in disapproval “you have got it all wrong”

“Then what is it Y/N?” he asks you softly.

“It's actually the opposite. I was just scared as it was totally unplanned and with all this going on with my father you are already tensed. I wasn’t sure how you would react” you rambled.

“Oh darling” he breathes out cupping your face gently with his broad hands “you don't know today you have made me the happiest man on this fucking world. This is everything I wanted honey. You, me and our perfect little happy family” you smiled at him as he carefully placed his hands on your belly.

“How far are you? Is everything normal? Are you both ok?” he badgered you with questions.

“I... actually thought you would come with me on my first checkup” you looked at him bashfully “it's-it's just I wanted you to be there with me if you aren't too busy”

“Of course love, no work is more important than you and my little one” he beams with joy. Tom didn’t waste a second to call at the hospital to schedule your appointment.

“Mr. and Mrs. Holland” the nurse calls out

“Yes?” you both respond standing up from your seats.

“Dr. Martin is ready to see you” she informs and leads you inside the room.

“Please lie down” she instructs and you follow by lying down on the examination chair while Tom sits on the chair beside you. The nurse then leaves the room and soon after the doctor arrives. She was a middle aged woman and looked quite experienced as she greeted you warmly.

“Hello Mrs. Holland, I’m Dr. Martin”

“Hello doctor” you smiled courteously.

“So how are you feeling today?”

“I feel fine, doctor, just a little bit tired...” you were quickly cut off by Tom

“No doctor she got really sick and nauseous the other day” he puts forth his concern.

“Morning sickness is normal at this time Mr. Holland. There’s nothing to worry about” she reassures him.

“See?” you whisper with a knowing glare. Tom still wasn’t convinced but let it go for now.

“Ready to have a first look at your baby?” she asks cheerfully as you nod, lifting your shirt up. She rubbed the cool gel on your lower stomach while Tom held your hand tightly. Then she switches the monitor on and runs the tool on your belly. A hazy black and white image appears on the screen as the room fills with the rhythmic beeping of heartbeat. You and Tom stare at the monitor in awe.

“You see right here?” the doctor points at the middle of the screen with a pen.

“Awww that's our baby” you squeeze Tom's hand gently, a stray tear of joy rolls down your cheek. Tom was himself brimming with emotions, he knelt down and kissed your forehead with adoration as you noticed London’s most feared mobster’s eyes wet.

“I can already pick the heartbeats” she reveals further as you both give her a puzzled look.

“Heartbeats? As in plural” Tom asked in shock.

“Yeah two heartbeats” she confirms “you're going to have twins Mrs. Holland” she adds. You gasped and smiled instantly feeling giddy and overwhelmed at the news.

“We're gonna have twins” you looked up at him with a sparkle in your eyes.

“Yes we are, love” a wide smile spread across his face “you gotta admit I did a really good job in there though” he whispers cockily and there he was back again in his usual self.

“Tom!” you glared, squeezing his hand tightly.

“Ow! Sorry, sorry” he chuckles when you both were interrupted as Dr Martin began to speak again.

“You are approximately 8 weeks and all parameters seem to be normal. The babies are growing fine, nothing to worry about. After 10 weeks we can identify the genders” she elucidates “But you have to be extra careful as you are a new mom and with twins. Everything will be doubled for you so maintaining a proper diet, getting a good amount of sleep is very important. No heavy lifting and most importantly no stress at all as it directly affects the babies. The expectant mother should always be happy” she advises.

“We’ll keep that in mind doc thank you so much” Tom acknowledges her.

“Well then I’ll see you on your next check up. Do you want the prints of the ultrasound?”

“Yes please” you both said together.

“Ok I’ll get it right away”

On the way back home the whole ride Tom kept rambling about how everything needed to be baby proofed and keep everything ready as if you are going to labor tomorrow itself. He even suggested that he shift your bedroom downstairs so that you don’t have to climb up the stairs. You had to literally ask him to shut up and relax that you have seven more months to go.

****

You were about to get off the bed when Tom came in with a huge tray of food.

“Good morning love” he went and sat in front placing the tray on his lap as you looked at the amount of food which was double than you usually have.

“What's all this Tom?” you ask frowning.

“Breakfast in bed”

“I can see that but is this a breakfast for a giant? What's with these enormous portions?” you pointed out.

“If I may remind you, you are now eating for three so you have to eat accordingly”

“In no way I'm going to eat that much” you stated firmly

“But darling…”

“Nope, not happening. I said no means no” you shake your head side to side “I don’t want to get fat because after a few I’m gonna be all big and round anyways and then you wouldn't look at me” your hormones getting the best of your insecurities as you rambled without much thinking.

“Hey look at me” he holds your chin between his index and thumb fingers making you look at him “you seriously think that? You. will. always. be. the prettiest woman for me do you understand?” he asks as you nod “I bet you are going to be the most beautiful mom. Our kids are lucky to have a fearless, confident woman like you as their mother” he says looking deep into your eyes “and I can’t wait to see you all big and round” he adds smiling.

“But I’m still not gonna eat all of it”

“Ok you can eat as much you can no pressure” he assures you as you take the fruit bowl in your hand and start to munch on the fruits one by one going into a deep thought.

“Now what is going on in that mind of yours?” he asks breaking you out of your thoughts.

“I think we should tell everyone I mean your mom and dad then the boys they would be thrilled to know”

“So you wanna invite them over lunch?” he offers.

“Yeah that will be really nice”

****

Tom’s family arrived on time, after lunch all of you gathered in the living room as you and Tom stood in the middle. Everyone looked at you both expectantly though Tom’s dad had a disinterested look like all times.

“Sorry for the short notice but this was kind of important and we were really excited to share this news with you” you started.

“Did the police catch your father?” Harry asks out of nowhere

“That would have been really nice but unfortunately no”

“Then what is it?” Harrison asks impatiently.

“Well….we’re pregnant” you both announce.

“What?!” everyone collectively gasped.

“Is it true?” Nikki looked between you two

“Yes mum” Tom confirms bashfully wrapping a hand around your waist and pulling you closer.

“Oh my god this is such good news” she gets up to you and takes your hands in hers “I’m so happy for you” she cradles the side of your face lovingly.

“Finally I'm going to get to see the face of my grandson, my heir. That's some good news after all huh” Tom’s dad remarks with gruff in his voice as Nikki looks at you apologetically.

“Actually dad, we're going to have twins,” Tom added.

“Well that’s good, can't wait to meet my grandsons as they’re going to take over our business in future” he said still emphasizing on having a son and honestly neither you nor Tom wanted your twins to join the mob.

“Oh dear now that’s something big” Nikki tries to lighten the mood “I remember when I was with Harry and Sam it was a lot of cravings and mood swings get ready for it Tom” she snickers as she starts to give you some helpful tips to make everything a little easier for you as this is your first time.

“Congratulations bro” Harrison goes and hugs Tom tightly.

“Thanks man”

“So I’m gonna be the godfather I assume?” he asks.

“Well we’re yet to decide that” Tom snickers.

“What? C’mon man I’m your best friend and I’m going to be the godfather, that’s final. I know Y/N is still angry at me which by the way is your fault but I’ll manage her” he states confidently

“Good luck with that,” Tom laughs. Everyone left after sometime leaving you both all by yourselves in your house. Tom turns to smiling.

“What?” you ask.

“Close your eyes,” he says.

“Why?” you look at him skeptically

“You still don’t trust me don’t you?”

“No” you quip with a smirk.

“Just close your eyes please I have something to show to you” he pouts with puppy eyes

“Okay” you close your eyes “happy?”

“Yes now come with me”

“Where are you taking me?” you ask again.

“You’ll see soon” he takes your hand and carefully guides you up the stairs. He brings you in front of a room with a large wooden door and slowly clicks the door open.

“Now open your eyes” he whispers softly into your ears. You flutter your eyes open to be awestruck as you look inside the room. It was a nursery for your twins. You looked at everything with wide eyes, two twin cribs situated in the middle with cute plushies in it, the walls painted in soft pastel gender neutral shades, the lighting of the room well coordinated making it look warm and cozy. An armchair for you to take rest.

“How is it?” Tom's voice breaks you out of your thoughts.

“Tom, it’s-it’s beautiful” you breathe out “but when did you?” you looked at him quizzical

“Well as soon as you told me I called in some favors and had this room renovated” he reveals to you.  

“It's-it's really beautiful Tom” you walked further into the room towards the cribs. Brushing your hand over the wooden railings you picked up the baby towel and rubbed it against your cheek feeling the soft texture.

“Sorry I don't have much idea about all this stuff, I just tried my best to make it as comfortable for you three. If you want anything else just tell me I'll get it done” he says scratching the back of his neck.

“Tom, it's perfect. You did a great job. I love it” you take his hand and place it over your belly “and they are gonna love it too” you reassure him.

“I installed a music system too” he adds, turning on the music as he wraps his hands around your waist and sways gently to the music “it's said that listening to calming music helps during this time”

“Someone has been busy reading I see” you tease.

“Well I just want to be there for you guys” he shrugs nonchalantly.

“Aww where did this softy come from? What did you do to my terrifying ruthless mobster husband?” you joke laughing.

“Haha very funny” he scoffs when you finally notice the lyrics of the song.

“Is this our wedding song?” you ask with a knowing smile.

“Yep”

I know you haven't made your mind up yet But I would never do you wrong I've known it from the moment that we met No doubt in my mind where you belong

“Did I ever tell you how bloody gorgeous you looked that day? Just like an angel from the heavens”

“Oh shut up!” you blushed, hitting his chest playfully.

“What? I’m serious” he laughs “couldn’t take my eyes off you”

“Well you didn’t look bad either” you snicker resting your head on his chest “that was such a long time ago isn’t it?”

“Hmm” he hums

“If anybody had told me that we will end up like this I would have never believed it at all” you chuckle at the memories of the numerous heated arguments you had with each other. But now you find solace in each other's arms.

“We have come a long way” he sighs as you feel him tense under you. Something was still bothering him, you knew it for sure.

“Wanna sit down?” you posed

“No it’s fine I’m not tired”

“Well I am pregnant with twins you know heh” he lets go of you and you go and sit on the floor near the cribs back resting against them. You pat on the empty spot beside you urging him to sit down too. He comes and sits down tilting his head on your shoulder as you run your fingers through his soft brown curls.

“I needed to say something to you” he finally lets out.

“Go on I’m listening”

“Don't mind my dad's words I don't care if they are girls or boys I just want you three to be healthy and safe” he says as you go to kiss his forehead lovingly “If you ask me personally I would be thrilled to have two mini Y/Ns” he add.

“Careful what you wish for Mr. Holland you don’t want thrice the trouble do you?” you chuckle.

“Gladly Mrs. Holland” he laughs before turning all gloomy again “do you think they would like me?”

“You are their father Tom they would always love you”

“But what if they don't? What if they hate me when they come to what kind of man their dad is and everything he has done in his life?” he rambles.

“Tom as the eldest son you didn't have a choice they would surely understand” you try your best to make him understand.

“I don't know Y/N, you know my dad wasn't that present for us. It was just us and mum. And when time came all of a sudden I was accompanying him killing people and beating them to death. I want to change that I want to be there for them, for you in every step of your life and most importantly I don’t want that life for them” he rants out.

“Honey, you wanting to do things right has already made you the best father in the world. They are gonna be so proud of their daddy” you cradle his face affectionately.

“You know what, I'm going to stop doing all the illegal trades” he blurts out.

“What do you mean?” you frown at him.

“Means no more shark loaning, extortion, gambling, contract killing everything, everything that's against the laws. I have already made a lot of enemies” he places a hand on your stomach “and I'm not gonna let them inherit this curse too. I need to cut off my ties with the underworld”

“But what about your dad I don't think he would agree with and your brothers then Harrison?”

“Dad will be angry I'm sure of that but Harrison, Sam and Harry would understand. I want to make sure that you all are safe and no more hiding skeletons in the closet” he gives you a determined look as you smile.

“Do whatever is necessary I'll always be there by your side cause I love you”

“I love you too” he says back as your lips meet softly into a chaste kiss.

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true Nothing that I wouldn't do Go to the ends of the Earth for you To make you feel my love To make you feel my love

****

You woke up the next morning hearing some commotion outside your room. You could hear Tom yelling at his men judging by the tone he was furious.

“What?!” he was shocked “how did this happen?! And what were you morons doing at that time?!”

“Sir-sir” the men stuttered in fear.

“I don't want to hear a fucking word from your mouths! Go and find him now or I'll kill you” he threatens “now get out of my sight!” meanwhile, you slip off the bed and put on your robe before stepping out of your room.

“Tom is everything alright” you ask with a worried expression.

“Oh I'm sorry darling did I wake you up? It’s nothing, go back to sleep there will be no more disturbance” he pretends to act like everything is ok.

“Tom, stop lying, what is it? What has happened?” you enquire.

“Nothing darling I promise” he tries his best to convince you but you weren’t buying any of it.

“You're not gonna tell me? fine! I'll go and find out myself” you glower at him.

“Y/N no wait you” he stops you, catching hold of your hand.

“Then tell me what it is?” you demand with a serious look on your face.

“Ethan escaped”

..................................................................................

Taglist in bio.

[lokislastlove]

Come One, Come All (dark!Loki x reader)

Summary: A girls night out to the fair takes an insidious turn.

Warnings: Noncon/Rape, knife play, oral (m&f), smut, bondage, kidnapping.

This is a dark fic! 18+ ONLY! Explicit Adult content. Please READ THE WARNINGS! Do not continue if these matters upset you!

Authors Note: I wrote another one! No idea where this came from, but it was fun to write. Still working on improving my smut, huge thanks to @darkficsyouneveraskedfor for some tips and editing the shit out of it. 😘 also I know there is a creepy clown in the pic but I feel like I have to say there aren’t any clowns in the fic. I hate clowns.

Chapter 1:

It was the kind of summer night you dream about, warm enough to keep you comfortable in your shorts and peasant top, but with a light breeze that keeps you cool enough to fight the flush of alcohol in your veins. You look forward to these moments when you are able to go out with your girlfriends and let loose, forgetting about all life’s responsibilities, if just for a single night.

“Come on!” Ash calls over her shoulder, her hand tight around your wrist pulling you impatiently.

“Aww but that looks so good” you groan as you press your face longingly against the glass barrier of the hand dipped corn dog cart.

The sweet scent of the frying corn dough wafts tantalizingly through the air making your mouth water. You friends laugh at your theatrics, having just helped you scarf down a large sugary funnel cake and a platter of nachos, the evidence of which still stains the corner of your mouth. Really, it was their fault for getting you tipsy before taking you to the county fair, everything just smelled heavenly and if you could you would try one of everything.

“Just a slushee?!” You beg as Jen steps behind you and pushes you out of the food court, giggling the entire time.

“Come on, fight the drunchies! You promised you would try that new funhouse,” Jen whines, looping her arm through yours, Ash doing the same on the other side.

“Oh yeah,” you grumble.

“Oh stop it” Ash scolds playfully. “Everyone at work keeps talking about it - it’s like a mini escape room! And I’ve always wanted to do one, please.” She rants excitedly before giving you her best puppy dog eyes.

“Ugh that’s cheating. No one can resist those big brown eyes” you pout, but yield as easily as they knew you would.

“I know” Ash smirks, tossing back her long silky black hair over her slender shoulder.

“This is gonna be so much fun, I promise” Jen bumps your hip, giving you a wide encouraging smile.

You manage a strained grin as you let them lead you through the crowd. It’s not that you don’t like funhouses or the idea of doing an escape room, having always loved solving riddles and doing puzzles. It’s just you don’t like clowns, and every funhouse in your experience has at least one.

“Oh damn there’s a line!” Jen moans as you all stop in front of a large structure covered in flashing lights, the ominous ‘Tricksters Trap’ bathing your face in a violent red glow.

Garish contrasting colors somehow both attract your eye and make it hard to look at. Your pupils dilate with the lines of fluorescent bulbs burning into your retinas. The stereotypical circus music blares through the cheap speakers, reminding you of one of those old Jack in the box toys. And of course, without fail, was the obligatory clown statue hanging over the entrance, like some creepy sentinel there to guide you to your inevitable demise.

“Ugh fucking clowns” you grimace as you pass by the entrance, heading toward the end of the line.

“Yeah they definitely nailed the creep factor,” Jen agrees, her eyes shining with nervous excitement.

“I know isn’t it great?!” Ash squeals.

You stand there taking in the horrific detailing painted on the side of the metal structure. You are thankful when Ash explains there is a time limit, only ten minutes to complete the puzzle or else they kick you out and you have to try again. If you figure out the puzzle you get to leave through the mirror maze and you earn the coveted “I tricked the Trickster” sticker.

“Gotta get that sticker, or else that bitch Katie at work will never let me forget that she got one and I didn’t” Ash complains, causing you and Jen to share a look and snicker.

“Hey! Don’t laugh, this is serious! We gotta be smart and figure this out, failure is not an option” she urges dramatically before collapsing into drunken giggles with you and Jen.

“You ladies seem eager to prove yourselves,” slithers a low voice.

Startled you gasp and spin around quickly. The three of you look up at the tall lean figure standing behind you. He wears a perfectly tailored black ensemble, that matches the color of his slicked back hair. His eyes practically glow green against his alabaster complexion. His sharp cheekbones and angular jaw make your breath hitch, causing his thin lips to curve into a sinister smirk. He is stunning.

“Um, yeah. Well this place has the whole town buzzin’. Seems like everyone is talking about it” Jen is the first to speak.

“Ah I see. Wouldn’t want to miss your chance to take a stab at it” the mysterious man surmised, eyes focused on you.

“We got this shit. Right guys?” Ash assures him as she playfully smacks you and Jen.

“Well, I guess we’ll find out. Good luck,” he challenges with a raise of a brow.

You stare after him as he saunters away without another word. His hips and shoulders sway smoothly, his soft footsteps giving him a dangerous almost feline vibe, like he could rival even the most deadly of predators. As he turns to round the corner of the ride he takes one last look over his shoulder at you. Your eyes lock for only a fraction of a second but it’s enough to send a chill down your spine.

“That was weird, right?” You mutter, eyes still transfixed where he disappeared.

“Eh, just another creepy dude. If I had a nickel for every weirdo who tries to chat me up…” Jen jokes.

“You’d have like a whole 50 cents,” sasses Ash.

You are finally broken from your daze when Ash is pushed into you. You laugh and try to brush off the lingering effect of the handsome stranger, shifting your focus back to your friends. The line goes by quicker than expected, with only one group out of the three ahead of you making it out with stickers. The losing groups return to the line from a back door, bickering about where they went wrong.

Finally it is your turn. Ash claps her hands excitedly, dancing up the metal stairs to the costumed man at the entrance. His red and white stripped suit is expertly torn and painted with fake blood to make him look as intimidating as possible. With a tip of his top hat he welcomes the three of you and begins to explain the rules in his well practiced accent.

“Come one come all to the Tricksters Trap, if you’re feeling lost, just go find the map.” He sings with flair and a perfectly timed bow, directing you to the inauspicious black door.

Taking a deep breath you follow your squealing friends into the darkened hallway. Pausing to look back as the door creaks shut, cutting off the jovial sounds of laughter and chatter with a sudden slam. You flinch at the loud noise and turn back to the dim hallway. The short corridor is lined with wall to wall green velvet curtains barely visible with the green rope lights running along the ceiling.

“Guys?” You whisper when you don’t see them next to you, causing your heart rate to quicken

You call for them again, this time louder, your feet unwilling to move from the spot. It has only been thirty seconds and you are already about to call it quits. Get a grip. You take a hesitant step forward.

“You guys?!” You call shakily.

“Hey! Come on we found the map!” Jen pokes her head from around the corner at the end of the hall.

She disappears just as quickly, waving her arm for you to follow. You breathe a sigh of relief and rush after her. You enter a large room filled with all sorts of random objects. It’s as if it is designed to overload your senses. The green from the hall carried on into the room, more velvet green curtains hung on the walls that were not obstructed by shelves of books or other oddities. You saw everything from perfectly aligned glass jars filled with alien looking creatures, grandfather clocks, to treasure chests overflowing with grizzled toys.

Jen and Ash are hunched over a table with a map spread out smoothly. It was easy enough to see it was a map of the room and hallway, with what appeared to be three small rooms hidden along the wall behind the heavy green drapery. You go over and pull back a curtain and find a locked door, the other two also hiding a locked door.

“Ok so it looks like we gotta find a way to open these doors” you offer, your anxiety calming a bit as you focus on the mystery at hand.

“Hey look there is some sort of code over here by the lock on the door.” Ash hollers excitedly.

You each pick a door code and frantically search the room. It doesn’t take long for you to figure out you need to use the books on the large shelf along one wall. The first number tells you the book the second refers to a specific page. You find a slip of paper in the book with a riddle written in a blood red ink.

“I make two people out of one” You read aloud.

“You can hold me in one hand, but I’m used to fill the room” Ash reads hers, her face twisting in concentration.

You both look to Jen, “I have two hands, but I can’t clap.”

“Damn no wonder so many people failed, definitely wish I wasn’t drunk right now” Ash laughs.

“No no we can do this, it’s probably items in the room so let’s just focus. We’ll do one at a time.” You assert, pacing the room and trying to take in all the random objects.

“Two hands…” you mutter as you stop in front of a large grandfather clock. “Clocks have hands!” You yell excitedly and open the narrow door.

The heavy pendulums swing inside and you see a shining silver glint off the rounded golden end. You pull off the small silver key, stuck on by a tiny magnet, and jump in excitement.

“Holy crap! You’re a genius!” Jen exclaims running over to take the key and try it in the door.

The key slides in smoothly and the door opens with a gratifying click.

“Woo! Keep going, you are on a roll!” Ash claps as she cheers you on.

“Ok, ok” you giggle before taking a deep breath. “Two people out of one… maybe a camera? Or wait…” you realize as you stare at Ash currently checking her makeup in an antique mirror hung between two curtains.

“Ash! Try pulling on that mirror!” You yell pointing frantically at the mirror in front of her.

Her brows knit together briefly before understanding, grabbing the frame and tugging gently until it swings open, revealing a key hung on the wall.

“Yes!” You all shriek together.

Suddenly, the lights flicker and a loud maniacal cackle reverberates through the surround sound speaker, turning your elation into yelps of surprise.

“Two minutes left” a familiar polished voice echoes forebodingly throughout the room.

“Shit, that scared the crap out of me” Jen laughs clutching at her chest.

The warning gives you pause, managing to shift the spirit of the whole room. Ash giggles nervously as she watches the lights of the room transition from their previous dim yellow light to a menacing red hue. The mood lighting in addition to the increasing volume of the horror soundtrack playing over the speaker helps to put you back into your initial anxious state.

“Seriously? Is this fucking necessary?” You curse, shaking your head.

“Ok let’s get the last one guys! We can still do this!” Jen yells through the cacophony of sound effects.

“Yeah what can we fit in our hand but somehow also fills the room?” Ash reiterated the final riddle.

“These red lights make it so much harder to see” Jen complains bitterly as she rummages through the items inside a large chest.

“Lights… Jen that’s it! A lightbulb!” A smile breaks out on your face as you figure out the final clue.

“Look up there!” Ash points to a solitary darkened light bulb screwed into the ceiling.

“I got it.” Jen jumps onto the table and reaches up, unscrewing it quickly. “There is a key inside!” She shouts.

She unscrews the bottom of the fake lightbulb and received the key before handing it to Ash. Each of you run over to the corresponding doors and turn the key, squealing in delight when they all slide open.

“Is that it?” Jen asks looking into the cramped dark space behind the door.

It was little more than a closet. Barely enough room for each of you to stand in. You were at a loss. You could have sworn that would be the end.

“Guys there is a lever here on the back wall of mine, how about yours?” Ash’s muffled voice calls from inside her closet.

“Oh yeah mine too!” Jen replies.

“Do you think we have to pull them at the same time? ‘Cus mine did nothing when I tried it” Ash says poking her head out to look at you.

“Thirty seconds!” That haunting voice booms again as a tick clock sounds through the speakers, counting down your final moments.

“Ok let’s try it together!” You nod at both of them, before stepping into the tight dark space.

“THREE! TWO! ONE!” You shout, mirroring your friends calls, pulling down your lever with a snap.

There is a moment of silence as the lights of the room behind you suddenly go dark, the music and sound effects cutting off instantly.

“Did we get it?!” You yell.

You don’t get the chance to hear your friends response as the wood door slams behind you, locking you into the small space.

Tags: @darkficsyouneveraskedfor @caffiend-queen