#anyway i know at this meeting he was like 'ive yet again made a huge mistake bc i felt like owed her something goddamn it' | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

httpjeon · 5 years

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SEHEBON ― KTH (M.)

synopsis. you find yourself on izo huen, home to the sehebon. luckily for you, you've arrived at an interesting time.

pairing. taehyung/reader genre. angst, fluff, smut au. alien!au wordcount. 16,580 contents. Huge Dick Tae, cocky!tae, soft!tae, protective!tae, lowkey possessive!tae, human!kink, slight harrassment, dom/sub themes, size kink, size difference, sensitivity kink?, orgasm kink?, cunt slapping, breath play, dry humping, cunnilingus, fingering, cumflation, belly bulging, lowkey consent kink, unrealistic sex but it’s aliens what do u expect, lots of mention of humanity note. tae just wants to learn human things ):

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It had been a little over a half a year since your move to the Vela System of the Fanet IV Galaxy courtesy of the Interplanetary Relations Commission had begun. You were still adjusting to your new environment, Izo Huen being a vastly different place compared to Earth in terms of culture and climate.

"So, to wrap up the events of this past week," you shifted in your chair, staring into the lens of the camera you used to send reports to your superiors, "I met with the head of the Embassy for a dinner in order to meet the head of Izo Huen's military. The only way I can describe the whole interaction is...tense. Warrior Sehebon are truly another level of terrifying. Horrible burns across their bodies correlate with the information we had about their rituals. They wear the burns with pride, however ― a mark of bravery I suppose. The middle of the week was rather uneventful," you shifted in your seat, leaning over just out of frame to take a sip of your water. You stared at the arched ceiling, thinking of anything that could come to mind of importance to note. Outside your window, you could see people walking through the streets, laughing and chatting with one another.

"Oh!" you sat up straight again, "The monthly market came back once again. This time it was mostly vendors from Liana. They had the most amazing fruits I'd ever seen ― nothing like Earths. They were delicious too, so sweet. I wish I could send some back for everyone to be able to taste. You know," your gaze shifted out your window again, to the people bustling about, "Things got really hectic here in Fia recently, I don't know what it is. They're hanging banners up and there seems to have been an extreme increase in population of the city. I'm not completely sure what's going on."

After ending your weekly log and sending it to your fellow researchers on Earth, you downed the rest of your water and groaned. Izo Huen was sweltering hot, the two suns that hung in the sky upping the temperature past comfortable.

You couldn't wait for night to come, the freezing cold giving you a wonderful excuse to cuddle under the wool blankets.You decided to take a bath to pass the time, as it would be night in just a few hours. Plus, you desperately wanted to wash the days grime off your body.

By the time you woke up the next day, you were acutely aware of how incredibly loud it was outside. Shouts and cheers emanated from just outside your window. So with sleep-filled eyes you hurriedly dressed yourself and rushed out to see what the fuss was all about.When you stepped out of the door, you were shocked by the incredible crowd of people filling the streets.

Banners and streamers, even balloons, decorated every inch that could be covered. The alphabet was one you hadn't yet learned to decipher so the meanings were completely lost on you.

"Excuse me?" you asked a nearby woman. She was much taller than you ― a key trait in both men and women of their race. She turned and looked down at you with surprise in her eyes, "What's going on?"

"It's the pre-celebration," she answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

She turned her back to you once again and quickly disappeared into the crowd and you sighed. Sehebon citizens were still getting used to their planet being visited by other races outside their own solar system ― they were the newest planet to be opened for visits by the Interplanetary Commission.

It unfortunately resulted in some of the citizens to hold ill feelings towards those entering their cities.

Sighing, you decided to follow the flow of the crowd to appease your own rabid curiosity. A lot of the cultural information on Sehebon had yet to be discovered or disclosed, as a race that held their own traditions close to their hearts.

You were surprised that the place everyone was flocking to was the massive Colosseum that was centered in the very middle of the city. Larger than any stadium found on Earth, you'd never had the opportunity to find out what it was for.

In your excitement to get through the crowd of large Sehebon, you stumbled over your own feet and hit the ground hard ― knocking the air out of you. The crowd didn't wait, stepping over you and for a second you were scared you would be literally crushed under a stampede.

However, strong hands grabbed your arms and lifted you up, grabbing your wrist and dragging you out of the crowd. You stumbled trying to catch up, with his large steps while trying not to end up slammed into unsuspecting people.

The person tugging you pulled you out of the crowd and rounding the stone walls until you realized the amount of people had dissipated. You had the opportunity to look at the person who had helped you ― a male Sehebon finding a safe spot for you and finally slowing down.

"I...thank you," you muttered when he didn't say anything, his back still facing you.

"You're a human right?" he asked, finally turning to you. You choked on your own spit at the sight of him ― black hair hanging over two pretty dark eyes. He was tall, probably a little above average for his race and he was absolutely gorgeous, "I heard there was one staying in Fia but...damn."

"Uh...I'm an advocate for the Interplanetary Commission," you sputtered out, unable to break your gaze away from his face. He had tanned skin, smooth as could be with a jaw so sharp it could cut glass, "I'm from Earth, yes. My name is _____."

"Incredible," he moved closer, having to lean down to look at you how he wanted. You could feel his breath on your face and you could see the way he had one mono-lid and one double ― which was absolutely adorable, "My name is Taehyung...you know, you're so...small."

"I-I'm actually quite average," you refuted, glancing away under the power of his gaze.

"Maybe by human standards but..." he straightened up, looking around, "You should be careful. You can get hurt easily, you're lucky I saw you fall and bothered to help you."

"Bothered..." you whispered with a soft scoff. You could still feel his eyes on you, burning into you as if he was analyzing every inch of you, "Hey, so what's going on anyway?"

"You don't know?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow when you shook your head.

"I asked someone and she just said it was a pre-celebration," you shrugged.

"Yeah sort of," Taehyung gnawed at the inside of his cheek, jaw cocking to one side at the action, "It's gonna be our lottery in a few days so we come to the stadium to get our tickets."

"Wait...lottery? Like a money thing?" you asked, "You guys have that?"

"What?" Taehyung shook his head, staring at you like you were stupid and you suddenly felt embarrassed.

"O-On Earth we have this thing called a lottery and...you scratch these little papers and you can win money," you explained, hoping to help him make sense of you assumption.

"Huh, that's interesting," he actually did seem interested and maybe a little impressed, making you feel weirdly proud, "But no, that's not what we have. Once a year the government holds a lottery here in Fia, in the stadium. You draw and if your number is picked you gotta fight."

His words made you blank out.

Fight?

They had to fight?

"What the hell?" you sputtered before you could stop yourself and Taehyung cocked his head to the side.

"Have you not read any of the banners and information sheets floating around?" he asked, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets, "They put them up to inform new visitors of what's going on, you know."

"I..." you cleared your throat, suddenly feeling embarrassed again, "Can't read the alphabet."

Taehyung went quiet for a minute before he snorted, beginning to laugh way too much for the simple problem you had. Your cheeks burned as he held his stomach, no doubt aching from how hard he was laughing.

"Oh my gosh!" he choked, wiping under his eyes, "Y-You're illiterate!"

"I am not illiterate!" you gasped, ears beginning to burn now at his accusation, "I-I just haven't had a need to read the alphabet! Since we speak the same language, you know?!"

"Okay, okay," he sniffled, finally calming down from his outburst. He looked down at you and cooed, placing his hand on your head, "Aw, don't-don't pout, I'm sorry. You're so cute!"

"St-Stop making fun of me!" you whined, petulantly stomping your foot which just made him coo more at you, calling you cute.

"I'm not making fun of you!" he argued, standing at his full height again, making you look up, "Isn't it only natural that I find the small little human girl cute? You're so...small."

"So you keep saying," you mumbled, crossing your arms over your chest, "Are you going to go into the stadium?"

"Yeah, probably a little while later," he shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets, "It'll calm down soon enough and it'll be less hectic. You're welcome to wait with me, if you'd like."

"I might as well," you sighed, leaning back so you rested your shoulder against the wall, "I'll probably literally be killed if I try to go in there at this point."

"Probably," he agreed, looking away from you when you squinted up to glare at him, "Say..." He looked back at you, head cocked to the side curiously, "Is it true Earth has a lot of oceans? And only one Sun?"

"Eh? Yeah, that's right," you nodded, making him hum, "You've never been to Earth?"

"Nah, can't afford to make that trip," he sighed, sliding down the side of the wall to sit on the ground, "I read about it when the news that we'd be open for visits from them, though. Here sit," he tugged your hand until you were finally sitting beside him.

"About this...fight," his head lulled to the side as he gazed at your through his lashes, "What...why do you guys do it? How's it work?"

"Well," he rested his hands on his bent knees, head resting against the wall behind him again, "You know majority of our planet is uninhabitable right?"

"Yeah, dominated by deadly deserts that will kill even Sehebon," you replied mechanically, having studied their landscape immensely on your voyage from Earth.

"Then you also know there's only a few, select places suitable for us to live," you nodded and he continued, "We have three cities on Izu Huen, Fia our capitol, Veles, and Holis. That isn't a lot of room for an entire planet to live, right? We have to stay within the habitable zone and fit every person on the planet in the cities. Excluding those that have the means to move to Vimoldara, that is. That's a lot of people, isn't it?"

"Wait," you sat up straighter, jaw dropping open, "You mean, it's a form of population control?"

"That and," his gaze turned much darker, sending a chill up your spine, "It's a chance for us to show each other how strong we are. That we're the best and we deserve to live, we offer more. Those who lose are killed and only the winner can stand."

"That's..." you cleared your throat uncomfortably, "That's scary."

"Not for us," Taehyung shrugged, casting a sideways glance your way, "It's a celebration. We're all excited and ready to do it. We get to make our families and ancestors proud as we fight."

You hummed, still weary of the lottery but kept the rest of your opinions to yourself. You and Taehyung dissolved into talking about things he was curious about on Earth, deciding it would be worth it to travel there simply after hearing what a cheeseburger was.

The suns began to set when Taehyung stood, helping you to your feet.

"We should be able to get in easily now," you followed him to the large entrance that you'd been unable to see past when you had first approached.

With the smaller influx of people, you could see fully inside the stadium. There were banners and decorations strewn about everywhere, a wash of white, red and black colors seeming to be the theme. In the very center of the stadium was a booth with a man standing inside, handing things out to the people in line.

"I hope he doesn't think I'm here to pick a lottery," you mumbled to yourself as you stood in line with Taehyung. He was still holding onto your hand as you waited, large fingers wrapping completely around your wrist, making the size difference more apparent.

He really was right when he said you were small. But his hand was so warm and comforting against your skin that it made you feel...cute.

"Nah, they won't assume a foreigner is here to participate," he said, not breaking his gaze from the booth.

By the time you reached the booth, the suns were down to just peeking over the horizon and the moon was, instead, shining large in the sky. The temperature was dropping and you couldn't help but move closer to Taehyung for warmth. You weren’t dressed to be out at night, you’d only anticipated spending the daytime hours out.

"Thank you," he said, tucking a slip of paper into his pocket after folding it up. The man behind the booth nodded, waving the next person forwards.

He began to walk when he paused, looking down at you with wide eyes. You scrambled to detach yourself from his side, not realizing just how close you were to him. However, you were quickly brought back when he pulled you flush against him again with a small smile.

"You humans are so fragile," he breathed, beginning walk, keeping you tucked into his side. Your face was burning with embarrassment but you also felt a strange sense of pride flowing through you at the prospect of such a good looking man treating you like he was.

"I-It just gets really cold here, you know?" you mumbled, trying to defend yourself albeit weakly.

His chest vibrated with his laughter, tightening his hold around your shoulders, "I guess if you're not used to it. You live around here?"

"Uh yeah," you pointed in the general direction of where you were staying, "I live down this road a ways."

"Alright, I'll walk you there," he offered, though he left no option to refuse.

You both fell silent as you walked, every once in a while another person would pass and stare at the two of you. Their eyes followed you even as you passed, turning back to stare at you and you began to feel strange about it.

"Why is everyone looking at us like that?" you asked suddenly, making him look down. The moonlight cast a soft glow on his face causing the shadow of his lashes to dust his cheeks.

"Probably because you're a human and you're with me," he answered as if it was the most normal thing in the world, "It's not exactly common for Sehebon and foreigners to be together yet."

You swallowed thickly, cheeks burning for the thousandth time that day it seemed.

It wasn't long before you reached the stoop of your house and you dislodged yourself from Taehyung, wrapping your arms around yourself to keep in the warmth you now missed.

"Um thanks for walking me home," you said, shrugging your shoulders self-consciously as his eyes scanned over your body.

"It was my pleasure," he leaned closer to you, "Hey, why don't you come to the celebration in a couple days, hm?"

"You mean the fighting?" you asked, feeling uneasy at the invitation. He nodded eagerly, eyes bright in excitement, "Taehyung, I do understand it's an important practice for you...it's your culture. But humans and Earth...it's punishable to kill someone. It's against the law. We find the concept of death scary...you know?"

His head cocked to the side, brows furrowed and the excitement in his eyes gone, "You're scared to die? And you don't like to see others die?"

"Exactly, it's...it's a very negative thing for humans," you attempted to explain while trying not to upset him.

"You know being invited to a fight is a very special thing," he muttered with a frown, leaning close to you so his nose was touching yours. Your eyes grew wide at the fire burning in his eyes and you swallowed nervously, "It's very offensive to reject an invitation to a fight. I want to show you how good I am, how well I can fight. I want you to be proud of me. Impressed by me."

Your mouth grew dry at his words and the way he uttered them, deep voice dark and no hint of the gentleness he had spoken with before. You attempted to move back but found your back pressed against the door. He loomed over you, leaning on his forearms above your head ― caging you in. Strangely, the only thing you could think of was how good he smelled; like the fruits you'd eaten a couple days ago.

"I-I'm sorry, Taehyung," you whispered, licking your lips in an effort to rid yourself of your nerves, "I just...Y-You don't need to kill someone t-to impress me, you know?"

"Then how can I?" he squinted, "I find you fascinating. A cute little human girl, smart and charming. I want to...what is it you humans call it...court you?"

You wanted to smile at the sound of the outdated term he used. But it was stopped by his confession, of what he thought of you.

"W-Well...you're trying to court a human girl..." you spoke slowly, meeting his eyes in faux confidence even though your heart was beating a mile a minute, "Why don't you try...a human method?"

"A human method," he gnawed on the inside of his cheek ― apparently a habit he had while thinking, "What are human methods?"

"Well um..." you noticed that with his body covering yours like it was, you weren't affected by the cold and that your trembles were no doubt excitement, "Like...dates. Do you guys have dates?"

"Usually an invitation to fight for someone to see is sufficient enough to begin a relationship," he explained, making you sigh. He frowned at the sound and leaned closer to you to meet your gaze, "Tell me what to do and I'll do it."

"F-For humans usually a man will ask a woman on a date," you explained simply, "Like...you would ask to take me to see a movie or take me to dinner."

"A dinner," he repeated, seeming to mull it over for a moment before nodding. The dark look was gone and he smiled the cutest boxy smile you'd ever seen in your life, "Then I'd like to take you to dinner, _____."

"I'd like that, Taehyung," you smiled, feeling your cheeks burn under his soft gaze.

"After my fight, to celebrate my win I'll take you."

"Alright, Taehyung, I look forward to it," after what seemed like an eternity, his eyes flickering from your lips to your eyes, he finally stood up straight. The cold immediately began to sink into your bones and he stepped back off your stoop.

"See you soon, cutie," he waved, twiddling his fingers before spinning on his heel and walking in the direction you both had just came from.

You opened your front door, slipping inside and relaxing once the warmth hit you. Leaning back against the door, you pressed your hand to your chest and sighed.

"Not how I expected my day to turn out," you mumbled, taking a seat at your chair in front of the camera, turning it on so the red light blinked indicating recording, "I know it hasn't been a week yet but I've found something interesting. I met a man named Taehyung and he told that they're about to begin a planet-wide lottery. Everyone draws a number and they're picked to fight. It's a...form of population control and some kind of cultural flex on each other to show who is the toughest and bravest. The fights are set to take place in a few days and I was invited but...I had to decline. The prospect of watching it was just too much for me to consider so I apologize for that."

You went quiet for a second, deciding to leave out the fact that the invitation was an attempt to ask you out. You greeted the people who would be watched goodbye and shut off the camera, turning to your computer monitor and hurriedly sending the video before shutting everything down.

The city was quiet for the next few days, everyone packed into the stadium. You would frequently hear the thunderous roar of the crowd but ultimately did your best to block out the prospect of the death no doubt going on.

You laid on your bed, reading a book you'd read several times already but lacked the means to acquire a new one. You wouldn't be able to read the books in an alphabet you couldn't read. Though you could take the time to learn but, you were in no mood to study.

As expected, you found yourself thinking of Taehyung. He was charming, no doubt, and you were surprised by how much you ultimately enjoyed his company. It was quick that he decided he wanted to date you, by human standards anyway, but Sehebon were very fast-moving people as more than half their race were warriors who could be killed in the blink of an eye. No doubt a cause for Taehyung's rush to be with you.

You couldn't deny the complete attraction you had for him; he was incredibly good looking and had the cutest smile. His voice was hypnotic, smooth as whiskey and as deep as the ocean. Dating someone of a completely different species wasn't the strangest thing by far ― plenty of humans had counterparts from different races. Dating a Sehebon, on the other hand, was different since the brand new introduction of their race to humans.

There was no fear that Taehyung would bring you any harm or have ill intentions, there was just a lot of confusion about him. You didn't exactly know much about who he was as a person rather than his race.

The date would no doubt clear things up and open doors for you.

Remembering the fact you would be going on a date with him set butterflies off in your tummy and you bit your lip to hold back the gleeful grin that threatened to spread across your face.

It was a full week before the streets became the same again. The population of Fia went back to normal as visitors from other cities left and went back home. The banners were taken down from around your street and before long everything seemed to have returned to the way it was.

Unfortunately, you were running out of food so you needed to go food shopping. As the suns were beginning to set, with the temperature steadily dropping, is when you decided to go shopping.

You slid a sweater on to keep you warm before stepping out the door. It was still a little warm but you knew you'd be grateful for your choice later.

In the past, you'd made the mistake of forgoing something warm and had to quite literally run home before you froze to death.

You carried a bag, an effect from when you lived on Earth and refused to use plastic bags in fear they'd end up in the oceans. When you first presented the bag at the local grocers, the cashier had looked at you like you were stupid ― making you feel just a tad self-conscious.

Fortunately, they'd now grown used to your practice and barely batted an eye in response when you brought.

The shop wasn't busy during that time of day and you were thankful to be able to navigate the aisles without having to avoid the giant Sehebon people that easily blocked your shelf access. You packed your bag with things you were vaguely familiar with. There was a lot of food you didn't dare try ― you couldn't read what it said or it was just gross looking.

Unfortunately, however, the shelves were so damn tall that you sometimes had to scale them to actually reach the things you needed. Standing on your tippy-toes using one of the shelves to grab a simple box of noodles ― something you were very pleased to find on Izo Huen.

You chose a lot of fruits and vegetables ― trusting them more than their alien-meats. You were basically the alien version of a vegetarian at that point.

When you stepped outside, you were immediately grateful of the sweater you wore. The cold still seemed to seep in a bit but it was tolerable despite the light shivers that took you. Carrying your bag, you hummed a tune to yourself as you navigated the darkening streets. The lamps were lit to illuminate your way but there were no other people in sight, making you feel calm.

"Hey, you a human?" scratch that, there were people.

You paused, looking into an alleyway separating two residential streets. A small group of young men were smoking cigarettes. Part of you wondered if they were cigarettes or some Izo Huen-version.

"Yes I'm a human," you replied, pulling your bag off your shoulder to hold it in front of you.

"You want a hit?" one of them asked you, offering you what he was smoking off of.

"N-No thank you," you backed away slightly to get away from the smoke emanating off the burning end, "I really should be getting home...I have things to put away."

You turned to walk away but a hand aggressively gripped your arm to stop you, startling a gasp out of you.

"Hey, that hurts," you mumbled, attempting to tug your arm free but he tugged you closer to him, "Let go!"

Before he had the chance to speak, a hand was violently wrapped around his throat and slammed him back. He pulled you with him slightly, knocking you to the ground as the man was pinned to the wall. Looking up, you could see Taehyung leaning close to him ― whispering something that had the man's eyes widening.

"Do you understand?" Taehyung growled, loud enough for you to hear. The man nodded so hard you were sure he was going to give himself a headache. Taehyung held him still for several more seconds, looking over him to make sure he was telling the truth.

When the man was dropped, he took off down the alleyway with his friends following, none of them daring to look back.

"Are you alright?" he asked, crouching down to where you were sitting on the ground. He cupped your cheek ever so softly, thumb grazing beneath your eye, "I didn't mean for you to get knocked down."

"It's alright," you muttered, using his shoulders to pull yourself back to your feet. He remained crouched for a moment, just gazing up at you silently, "W-What is it?"

"You should be more careful, _____," he said, picking up the bag of groceries you had dropped, tucking some of the things that had been knocked out back in where they belonged, "Didn't I tell you that you could get hurt?"

"W-Well yes but that was different― "

"It wasn't," he snapped, moving close to you once again. Fingers hooked beneath your chin to make you look at him, "Don't you understand how much people want you? How they look at you when you walk around?"

"N-No..." you blinked as you tried to recall any staring while you were on your own.

"Everyone finds you alluring here, _____," Taehyung's voice dropped and he stepped even closer so your foreheads were just barely touching, "The cute little human girl. And I'd be very disappointed if I had to kill someone for hurting you."

You were speechless, lost staring in the fiery blaze within his eyes. He held your gaze for several seconds before stepping back and smiling.

"I'll walk you home, I was on my way to see you anyway," you sputtered in shock as he tugged your hand in the direction of your home ― his rapid change of demeanor no doubt going to give you whiplash.

Your feet pounded the pavement as you struggled to keep up with his large strides. You were running out of breath and stamina, though he appeared unaffected.

"T-Tae...can you s-slow down?" he halted in his tracks so suddenly that you fully ran into his back.

"What did you call me?" he looked over his shoulder, staring sharply down at you.

"I-I..." you pulled yourself away from his back and stuttered, "I called you Tae. I'm sorry i-it just slipped out...h-humans like to make n-nicknames, you know?"

He was quiet for a second before he turned around completely, cocking his head to the side.

"Say it again," he commanded.

"Uh...T-Tae?" the name sounded more awkward than it had before coming out of your mouth.

"Hmm," he made a noise akin to a moan, rolling his head back in response before looking down and smirking, "I like that. You're the only one allowed to call me that, yeah?"

"A-Alright," your heart was racing from the way he had reacted to the nickname but you didn't get to dwell on it long before he was tugging you along once again.

You stood on your stoop again, looking at Taehyung, a small smile on his lips as he watched you. He held your bag of groceries out for you and you had to hold back a gasp when your hand brushed his.

"Shit, your hands are freezing!" he gasped, taking one of your hands in his and bringing them closer to him.

"U-Uh yeah it's...pretty cold," your words came out a whisper, reveling in how warm his hands were against yours.

"Poor thing," your eyes widened as he pulled your hand up to his lips, pressing a soft kiss against your fingers.

"T-Tae," the nickname had his eyes flicking up and he hummed, pressing another kiss against them.

"Did you like that?" he dropped your hand from his lips but continued to hold it, smiling at you, "I read in a book about common human practices for courting and it said a kiss to the hand will make her heart flutter. Did it work?"

"I..." you swallowed thickly, nodding your head ever so slightly, "I-It was nice, Tae..."

The two of you fell quiet, his hand enveloping yours and his soft gaze fixated on you. Your groceries hung in his free hand and he slowly reached out to hand them to you once again. Once the bag was in your hands, he released your hand from his hold and shoved his own into his pockets. He stepped backwards off the stoop but continued to stare at you, bottom lip tucked in his mouth.

Your eyes danced over his body ― never really looking him over that much besides his face. He had a black button-up tucked into tight fitting jeans and boots that made him even taller than he already was. It surprised you how thick his thighs were but how small his waist was ― it's like he was sculpted by actual gods.

"Well," he smirked, no doubt having caught you staring, "See you around, cutie."

"Hey, Tae wait!" you called before you could stop yourself.

He halted immediately, turning to look at you once again, "You alright?"

"I just..." he jogged back to the stoop, stepping up and moving close to yours.

He cupped your chin between his fingers and made you look up at him.

"You can tell me, sweetheart," his brows were drawn together in concern.

The pet name causing a shiver to go down your spine, "What is it?"

"C-Can...Would you...like to stay for a while?" your cheeks were on fire and you couldn't meet his gaze after whispering the words.

Taehyung's eyes softened and his lips quirked up, running his thumb over your lips for a split second ― so light you almost missed it. He stood up straighter, removing his fingers from your face. You found yourself missing the touch and your heart was pounding at the possible rejection you could face.

"Were you nervous to ask me that, baby?" your core lit on fire at the new pet name and you held in a whimper, "I'd love to stay with you."

"O-Okay..." you reached behind you, turning the knob and pushing the door open.

Warmth hit you from the inside and you scurried out of Taehyung's view as fast as you could to the kitchen. You could hear him walking, the sound of his boots on the floor seeming deafening in the silence of the house. Leaning against the counter, you took a few deep breaths to steady yourself.

You began putting your groceries away in their designated places, noticing that Taehyung's footsteps had gone silent.

"This place given to you by your job?" he asked suddenly, making you jump.

"Um...yeah," you cleared your throat, "It's nothing special but it's cozy."

"It's nice," he muttered before falling silent.

You placed the box of noodles in your cabinet, steeling yourself before moving to the living room. Your brain nearly short-circuited at the sight before you.

Taehyung sat on your couch, legs spread wide and arms stretched out on the back of the couch. His head was tilted back, exposing beautiful expanse of throat. The way he sat was so confident and commanding that you had to clench your thighs together to control yourself.

"Um...are you okay?" you whispered, stepping forward as he lifted his head to look at you.

"I'm perfect," he responded, scooting to the side to allow you to sit beside him, "I think I've figured out a place to take you on our date."

"Oh?" you'd nearly forgotten about the date, "So you're ready to take me?"

"I'm thinking tomorrow, if that's okay," he looked down at you and you smiled.

"I'd love that," your gaze fell to your thighs, noticing the size difference between his and yours ― reminding you of how large he was.

Flicking your eyes up, you were frozen by the sharpness in his own as he stared at you. As you kept his gaze, you felt one of his hands find its way to your thigh and you bit your lip to keep from outright whimpering at the feeling.

"You're so soft," he muttered, shifting to turn more towards you, "And absolutely breathtaking..."

His lips drew closer to yours, his hair brushing your nose as he dipped down. When he pressed them completely, his hand tightened around your thigh. You whimpered, seeming to set Taehyung off as he cupped the back of your head with his free hand ― deepening the kiss.

Your hands clutched at the front of his shirt, losing yourself in the feeling of his lips and hands on you. The hand on your thigh traveled up, grazing your hip, drifting up your stomach and over your breasts before wrapping around your throat. You gasped at the feeling, lips parting from Taehyung's just slightly before you surged back forward to reconnect them.

He groaned against your lips, giving your neck the lightest squeeze before he released you and reached lower to cup your breast through your sweater. You arched your back into the muffled touch but he didn't linger for long because his hand was diving between your legs.

Your jeans impeded you from feeling his touch properly and you whimpered, grinding your hips forward in hopes to remedy the problem. You reached down, holding his hand against your core as you whimpered into his lips.

"Do you want me to touch you, pretty baby?" he asked, kiss parting until your lips just barely brushed his.

"P-Please Tae," you whimpered, feeling your eyes sting with tears of desperation ― having never wanted to be touched so badly in your life.

Taehyung didn't reconnect the kiss, instead he tilted your head back to press his lips to your neck. His long fingers unbuttoned your jeans and hurriedly tugged them off your hips until you finally reached down to pull them off completely, tossing them away.

The way you cried out when his hand cupped you again, this time through your panties, was nothing less than lewd. He tugged your thighs open further, one of them resting across his own, leaving you completely open to his fingers.

"Sound so pretty," he mumbled, teeth grazing your neck where he continued to mouth at you.

You wrapped one hand around his wrist, dragging his fingers up ever so slightly until you were able to push them past the band of your panties. He immediately took over, fingers diving between your folds to find just how wet you were for him. He groaned, pulling away from your neck to meet your gaze, his lips open just slightly as he brushed against your clit. Your hips twitched and you found yourself clinging to his arm as you whined.

"So sensitive, little one," he whispered, wrapping his free hand around your thigh to pull you even closer to him until you were completely in his lap with your back tucked to his chest.

"Tae..." you whispered, eyes fluttering closed when he began to press kisses to your shoulder ― the sweater not allowing you to feel it properly but enjoying it nonetheless.

"Yeah baby?" he cooed, resting his chin on your shoulder to watch his hand move beneath the fabric of your panties.

"C-Can..." you trailed off, feeling your cheeks burn and he tsked.

"Tell me what you want and I'll do it, baby," he assured, fingers now running across your folds without dipping between ― teasing you.

"Can you...take them off?" you asked, turning your head slightly to meet his gaze.

"If that's what you want," he pulled his hand out of your panties and you whimpered at the loss, making him chuckle, "So needy, huh?"

His thumbs hooked into the band and he pushed them down your thighs. You pulled your legs up to help him take them off ― tossing them off somewhere else to join your jeans. He gripped your knees, roughly tugging them open until your cunt was completely exposed to him ― glistening in the dim light and flushed swollen with your arousal.

"Fuck, babygirl..." he breathed, reaching down to run his fingertips through your parted folds, "Such a pretty little pussy, hm?"

Deep in your mind, you wondered where he learned such delicious dirty talk from ― seeing as he didn't even know the proper word for courting. The thought was completely wiped from your mind, however, when he used two fingers to spread your folds open. Your hole clenched around nothing and Taehyung let out a choked groan.

"St-Stop staring!" you whined, snapping your thighs closed around his hand.

Taehyung growled, wrapping his hand around your throat again and pulling the back of your head against his chest. You whimpered, eyes flicking up to briefly catch his glare. His jaw was set, glaring down at you with a gaze that made you feel incredible small.

"Spread your fucking legs," he ordered, tone making your eyes flutter slightly. When you hesitated to do as he said, he leaned closer until his mouth brushed your ear, "I said...spread your legs."

You whimpered, bottom lip trembling as you pouted, slowly opening your legs back up. Too slow for his liking, he jerked one open and pinned the other down until you were just as exposed as before. His hand cupped your entire core, middle finger sliding between the folds.

"That's more like it," he sighed, finally releasing your neck, "You better act right, baby, or else I'll have to punish you."

His words made you tremble, thighs twitching ever so slightly. He raised a brow at your reaction, an almost detached look coming across his face.

"Would you like that? To be punished?" when you only whimpered, he smirked, "I see...how would you like it, hm? To be choked until your lungs burn for air? Or maybe if I spanked your little cunt?"

"Tae..." you felt your hole clench, sending a gush of arousal to meet his fingers.

"Oh?" he chuckled, making you cheeks burn, "You'd like to be slapped, huh?"

Before you could even think up a reply from your foggy brain, a sharp pain right against your clit had you crying out. Your eyes found his face but he was watching as he smacked your cunt again. His fingers ran over your folds to soothe the sting and he laughed.

"Interesting..." he hummed, middle finger circling around your clit. Your eyes fluttered and your hips arched into the touch more.

His index and ring fingers spread your folds, his middle finger swirling over the hardened bud until you were moaning. He pulled the hood back, exposing it even more to his sensitive touches. Your eyes rolled back in your head and you choked out his name.

"Does that feel good?" he asked, pressing a kiss to your shoulder, "Does it feel nice to have your little clit touched?"

"Y-Yes!" you squeaked, reaching down to take hold of his wrist. Your body was practically vibrating as you trembled beneath the almost too much stimulation. Suddenly, his touch was gone and you were left still trembling with the remnants of his fingers lingering.

"It's alright," he cooed, wrapping one of his arms around you to hold you tighter against him, "I've got you, little one."

"Please, Tae," you begged, burying your face into his arm, thighs trembling still spread.

"What is it?" he asked, voice soft as silk.

"Your...Your fingers," you canted your hips up ever so slightly and he hummed.

"Want my fingers inside?" he asked, although he already knew before you nodded.

He hummed, two fingers finding your spasming entrance, coating them in your juices. You held your breath as he finally sunk them inside you, stretching you deliciously even though you were plenty wet enough. His fingers were big, filling you up nice and deep. Gasping against Taehyung's arm, you mindlessly ground your hips up as he slowly pulled them out. You didn't get to mourn their loss for long because he was quickly pushing them back in ― slick sounds accompanying the movement.

"You're so fucking tight," he muttered, "So small...Shit, how long has it been since you've been fucked, pretty girl?"

"Ah-Never..." you gasped, hand circling around his wrist as you squirmed.

His fingers paused, halfway inside and you whined, "You've never been with somebody?"

"N-No, Tae," you whined, using your hand on his wrist to push his fingers back inside, "J-Just you...only you!"

He cursed under his breath, wrapping his arm tighter around you before he began to finger fuck you wholeheartedly. The sounds pouring from your lips only spurred him on, your cunt tight like a vice around just two of his fingers.

"This little cunt won't ever be able to take my cock, sweetheart," he growled, crooking his fingers up to nail that little spot that made you sob, "I'm gonna be too big for you."

"W-Want it a-anyway, Tae," you cried, nails digging into his wrist. Tears welled up in your eyes, trickling down your cheeks as your body was sent into overload.

"Yeah? Want me to fuck you open until you can't take anymore?" he groaned, "Watch your virgin cunt get stuffed full of a cock you simply can't handle...have you make those pretty noises while you cream all over me..."

His words seemed more self-indulgent than aimed at you but you whined and nodded anyway. His palm ground against your clit as his fingers filled you up so nice and you found yourself teetering on the edge.

"I-I'm gonna cum," you panted, thighs twitching erratically in response to your pleasure."Go ahead, cum for me," he commanded, groaning alongside you as you tightened up around his fingers.

"Tae! 'S so good..." you slurred, eyes closed as you buried your face in his arm to ride out the pleasure he was giving you.

"Coming so prettily, little one," he whispered into your ear, fingers beginning to slow as your orgasm died down, "You're such a good girl."

"Ah...Tae," you whimpered as he pulled his fingers from your still-clenching pussy, sensitivity hitting you like a brick wall. Your thighs clenched shut, trembling uncontrollably in the aftermath of the most pleasure you'd ever received.

Taehyung slid his cum-soaked fingers into his mouth, eyes rolling back at the taste of you on his tongue. His arm still held you tight as you continued to whimper against him.

"Taste so so good," he whispered, mostly to himself.

Once his digits were clean, he glanced down at you. It was clear you were still a bit overwhelmed and he cooed, shifting you in his lap until you were facing him. He pulled you into a hug and couldn't hold back a chuckle.

"Humans are so fragile," he whispered, "So overwhelmed...even that was too much for you, huh?"

You didn't respond, simply tucking your face away in his neck. You let your weight drop fully on his lap but froze immediately. You hadn't realized while you were being touched, how hard Taehyung's cock was against you but with a clear mind you could.

He was fucking big.

He chuckled darkly, lips finding your neck as he slowly made you grind against his covered length, "I told you, babygirl, I'm too big for your little pussy."

When you whined and tightened your grip on him, wanting to avoid the painful overstimulation, he simply chuckled. He let you cling to him and lay with him until your eyes fluttered shut ― sleep quickly and eagerly overcoming you.

Just as you sunk into darkness, you felt him press the softest of kisses against your forehead.

"My cute little human," he whispered, voice fading out as you finally fell asleep.

When you woke up, you were tucked cozily in your bed beneath your wool comforter. The sun was up and you groaned, kicking the blankets off as you grew warmer with every passing second.

You had on your sweater from yesterday and a pair of panties you hadn't been wearing. Looking beside you, you found the bed empty and sighed.

Despite yourself, you found yourself feeling disappointed he hadn't stayed the night. He had shown you such a sweet, caring side before you fell asleep. It had made your heart flutter, how he treated you so delicately yet used such a sharp tongue to fluster you.

"He's such a strange dude," you muttered, staring at the ceiling as you spread starfish on your bed.

There was a dull ache between your legs, reminding you of the night before. Feeling your cheeks flush, you sat up straight and hurriedly crawled out of bed intending to take a cold shower.

Drying your hair with a towel, you hunted around your closet for a cute outfit for the date. Briefly, you wondered if he was still planning to take you out. Excitement thrummed through your veins, a giddy smile lighting up your face and making your cheeks ache.

After choosing your outfit, you took a seat in front of the vanity you had set up. You had found a mirror at the monthly market a few ones back and decided it was the best purchase ever. You hadn't known mirrors were scarce on Izo Huen for whatever reason until you desperately needed one.

Deciding to leave your hair down, too lazy to try and make anything of it, you mindlessly spun around in your chair.

A strange feeling bubbled up in your chest that made your heart race. Leaning your head back against the back of the chair, you ran your hands over your face with a groan.

"I actually miss him," you scoffed, leaning forward to rest your head on your vanity counter, "What is wrong with me?"

The day seemed to drag on longer than any other as you waited for Taehyung to arrive. The heat hadn't even bothered you, your mind too muddled with thoughts of your date. You wondered if he would hold your hand and where he planned to take you.

As the sun finally sunk beneath the horizon, you were more antsy and began to pace your living room. Every once in a while, you'd glance out your window in hopes a passing man would be Taehyung. Unfortunately, you were mistaken every time.

Before long, you began to realize that he simply wasn't going to show up. You changed into your pajamas, rejection burning in your veins before sitting on your bed. The streetlights and the moon cast a decent glow around you.

Your feelings were hurt. You’d been stood up by an alien.

Your heart ached and you felt your eyes sting with unshed tears. You flopped over, covering your face with a pillow before screaming into it.

"What a jerk!" you shouted in the material.

By the time you went to sleep, your simmering anger gave way to pitiful dejection. Your eyes were wet with tears as you closed them.

He was polluting your mind, everywhere you went you found yourself hoping that he'd turn up around the next corner. You’d hoped he would come knocking on your door with a sheepish smile, apologizing.

Though as the days passed and you had seen neither hide nor hair of him, the prospect of an apology made you angry. You didn't want his stupid apology anymore.

A week lapsed and it was time, once again, for your weekly log.

Sitting in front of the camera, you sighed, "The...friend I had made seems to have disappeared. It's weird, I was perfectly content by myself but once he showed up and vanished ― it's made me lonely," you gnawed on your bottom lip before sighing, disappointment becoming a common feeling in your life by then, “Maybe I need to make some friends but...I can't explain it; the Sehebon are such a strange race that it feels like it's going to be really difficult to make friends. There's really nothing eventful that happened worth logging besides my own problems so...I'll sign off."

A couple clicks on your computer had the log sent. You'd be getting paid again soon, perhaps you'd be able to go out and find something to do for yourself. Maybe you'd hit the jackpot and find someone who would want to be your friend.

It felt childish, the need for friendship you had. But with Taehyung's absence, your loneliness was at an all time high.

It was beginning to get dark and you decided to say 'fuck it' and get dressed. You'd find something to do ― you hadn't really checked out nearly all the districts of Fia and you knew there were some popular places to hang out.

It was a long walk to the area they dubbed the Social District. The second you stepped onto the rowdy street, you were blown away by the flashing lights and heavy bass emanating from the various buildings.

They had their own clubs.

You suddenly felt out of place and awkward, weaving through the giant people blocking the streets as they talked with friends. It seemed like no one saw you, as if you were just invisible to them. You moved to the sidewalk, being able to squeeze by the people and avoid the large crowd that filled the street.

You slipped into a pub ― judging by the tables and bar. You couldn't read the sign but you still walked in anyway. It wasn't very crowded, a few tables still open. The vibe inside was much cooler and calmer and you felt yourself begin to relax.

Walking up the bar, you took a seat, grabbing a menu without thinking about it.

"God dammit," you muttered, staring at the alphabet you still couldn't read.

"Can I help you?" the tender asked, moving to stand in front of you.

"Uh...I can't read this," you admitted, feeling your cheeks burn.

"That's alright, what do you like?" she pulled the menu from your hands and looked over it herself.

"Do you have any good alcohol?" you slumped against the counter, chin resting in your hand.

She regarded you with furrowed brows, closing the menu, "You do know alcohol is poisonous, right?"

"Wait what?" your head snapped up and the woman laughed.

"Alcohol is poisonous to us. We don't drink it," she placed the menu back where you got it and smiled, "We have some Soda."

"You do?" you perked up at that, not tasting soda since you'd left Earth. You watched eagerly as she filled a glass with brown liquid, placing it in front of you.

"It's not...Earth's soda but it's basically the same," she smiled, "It's got seltzer and sugary syrup in it."

You thanked her before she was whisked away to take care of another customer, leaving you by yourself. You sipped out of the straw, sighing at the taste. It was slightly off compared to the soda you were used to but bubbling seltzer had you smiling.

"_____?" you jumped at the sound of your name, choking on your drink and erupting into a fit of coughing. A hand carefully patted your back until you calmed down, "Are you alright? I didn't mean to scare you."

"I-It's fine," you choked out, clearing your throat and swallowing a few times to rid the feeling. Your eyes flicked up to meet Taehyung's and you felt a frown fall over your face before you realized it, "Taehyung."

His brows furrowed at your using his full name but he didn't say anything, "I uh...didn't know you came around here."

"It's my first time," you muttered, turning back to sip on your drink. When you didn't offer another opening for a conversation he let out a sigh and slid up next to you between the vacant seat beside you. You didn't have any choice but to interact, seeing at he wasn't going to back off.

"I'm sorry I missed our...date," the word still sounded foreign on his tongue, "I had urgent business to attend to in Holis."

"You don't owe me anything Taehyung," you muttered, failing to mask the hurt in your voice.

He sighed again, "I had to go visit a friend of mine, he was stranded and couldn't get home on his own. I promise that's all it was, _____."

You sighed, feeling your hurt and anger soften. Turning to look at him, you opened your mouth to reply but were interrupted.

“Whoa, is this the little human?” a loud voice from behind you made you jump. Twisting around, you saw a large man with biceps so big his t-shirt was stretched taut, “Oh you are a cutie!”

“U-Um...hello,” you greeted timidly.

"Uh yeah," Taehyung smiled, placing his hand on your shoulder, "This is _____. And _____ this is Wonho."

"N-Nice to meet you," you held out your hand, gasping when he leaned down and pressed a kiss against your knuckles.

"It's my pleasure," you could hear Taehyung let out a long sigh, "Bartender, I'll take a Blue Ice please. I gotta take a leak," he muttered the last part to himself, fingers lingering on your shoulder before he disappeared.

"You drinking a soda?" Wonho asked, peering into your glass, "Mind if I have a sip?"

"I guess not," you shrugged, watching him wrap his hand around the glass and bring it to his lips.

He was good looking, you couldn't deny. He had cute ears that stuck out just slightly and pretty teeth as he grinned at you. You found yourself comparing him to Taehyung ― deducing Taehyung definitely set your heart racing the second you looked at him.

"You know," Wonho placed your glass back down in front of you, "I was surprised to hear Taehyung was fooling around with a little human. I never thought he'd be the type."

"What do you mean?" you asked, brows furrowing as you mindlessly stirred your drink with your straw.

"Well I just can't believe he's actually giving in to it," Wonho said, pulling out a menu to look over it.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," you muttered, quite blunt.

He seemed surprised, chuckling and waving his hand, "Just the whole human kink that's going on. You know, since humans have started coming here it's become like a game to see who can actually manage to bang one. Can't believe Taehyung managed to snag one."

Your eyes drifted to your glass, the ice melting in your soda ― watering it down. A human kink?

"So...I'm just a conquest?" you whispered, though you were sure Wonho didn't hear as he was ordering a drink.

So many things bubbled up inside you; anger, humiliation, shame. Humiliation at the fact you'd been used, shame over the fact you fell for it and were so close to giving in, and anger of the audacity he had to do such a thing to you. Tears stung your eyes and you bit your lip to hold them back.

"Oh man, that looks delicious," Taehyung groaned, grabbing his tall glass of blue drink and taking a sip.

"I'm leaving," you muttered, sliding off your stool and moving to walk away.

You were stopped by a hand grabbing your elbow. Taehyung stared at you, brows drawn together.

"You just got here," he muttered, obviously confused by your sudden change.

You scoffed, "I'm going home, Taehyung."

You snatched your arm out of his grip and stormed out the doors and onto the busy streets. You could vaguely hear your name being shouted but it was quickly covered by the noisiness of the people. Crossing your arms over your chest, you weaved through the bodies. Tears were burning your eyes but you held them back.

"Hey a human!" you heard someone shout but you didn't stop, "Why don't you come party?"

'The whole human kink.' Wonho's words echoed in your mind, making it harder to fight your tears. 'It's become a game to see who can bang one."

By the time you reached your front door, your jaw was aching with keeping your tears in. Slamming the door behind you, you immediately burst into tears ― bringing your hands up to cover your eyes with your sleeves. Sniffling, you dropped onto your couch and let your sobs out freely.

Hugging one of your throw pillows, you attempted to calm yourself down. Just as you were about to drift off to sleep, eyes fluttering against your will, there was a series of sharp knocks against your door. You didn't move, silently waiting to see if they'd go away.

Unfortunately, the knocks became harsher and more frantic. Deciding that they weren't going to go away, you stood up and dragged your feet to the door.

You already had a feeling who it was and you weren't wrong ― Taehyung standing on the other side. His fist was raised like he was going to knock again and his hair was a complete wreck. His shirt clung to him with sweat and his breathing was a little heavy.

"What do you want Taehyung?" you muttered, crossing your arms around yourself.

"You've been crying," he whispered, moving to step forward but stopped when you moved back, "I knew you were upset. What's the matter, sweetheart?"

"Don't!" you snapped, turning on your heel and storming into your house.

"What?" Taehyung whispered, closing the door gently behind him.

"Don't call me that," you said, keeping your back to him so he wouldn't see your tears.

It felt so nice to have him call you pet names so gently. But you remembered it was just a ruse to lure you in ― and it was so hard not to fall.

"Why not? I thought you liked being called that?" he sounded so confused and you could imagine he looked akin to a kicked puppy.

"Because it's not fair!" you shouted, finally turning around, "You can't just play those games with me because I'm a human, Taehyung!"

"I really...What are you talking about?" his voice was so soft, so gentle. He took a couple steps towards you, hands outstretched, "I'm not playing any games."

"Oh yeah?" you scoffed, wiping away a few stray tears from your cheeks, "Wonho told me about your disgusting kink! You don't care about me, you just wanted to be able to say you fucked a human!"

"Wh―" he stumbled over his words, irises desperately scanning over you, "That's not...true."

You scoffed, shaking your head., "You're so unfair, Taehyung." he cocked his head to the side curiously, "You made me like you and I trusted you. But you just...you really aren't any different from men on Earth, huh?"

"What do you mean? Of course I'm different!" he argued, his own eyes growing glassy, "I never lied to you, _____. I promise!"

"You just wanted to use me as a conquest, something to brag about," you breathing stuttered as you sobbed, "And I almost fell for it!"

"Would you listen to me?!" he snapped, suddenly moving and pinning you against the wall.

He was caging you in, scent overwhelming you and making more tears fall from your eyes. You refused to meet his gaze, even though you could feel his eyes burning into you. You sniffled, staring down at your cardigan sleeves that were functioning as sweater paws.

"I never once intended to use you like that," Taehyung growled, voice giving away his frustration, "Everything I have said and done for you is real and not because you're a human. I don't want you as a...a...conquest," the word sounded foreign on his tongue, "And I certainly am not like your pathetic human men on Earth. I am better in every single way."

"Taehyung..."

"Stop calling me that!" he snapped, making you jump, "I-I want you to call me Tae!"

"I don't think..." you shook your head.

"Why won't you believe me?" he sighed, voice going soft, "Is it really so easy to lose trust in me when I haven't even done anything? You heard my friend say some stupid nonsense a-and you're suddenly convinced I'm evil!"

When he put it like that, you felt silly. Your own insecurities caught up with you and you shifted awkwardly in your place against the wall. You sheepishly looked up to find him staring at you, eyes dark beneath his long bangs. They were damp from sweat and you swallowed thickly at how good he looked.

"I'm sorry Tae..." you mumbled, nibbling on your lip beneath his glare, "I just...I really like you and I don't want you to―

"Listen to me," he tilted your head up, making you look at him directly. His eyes were much softer now and your eyes felt hot once more, "I have no intention of hurting you. You can trust me, _____. I promise."

It felt like all self-control slipped through your fingers as you suddenly surged forward to press your lips against his. Standing on you tippy-toes, you wrapped your arms around his neck. He eagerly kissed you back, arms wrapping around you ― teeth nipping at your bottom lip to make you whine.

One of his hands traveled lower, cupping your ass and pulling you closer to him. You could feel his length hardened in his jeans ― and it was just as big as you remembered. It made you whimper, feeling him so hard against you. You squeaked when the floor was suddenly pulled out from beneath you and you found yourself pressed against the wall with your legs wrapped around his waist, his weight supporting you.

You whined when his lips found your neck, trailing his lips over the sensitive skin beneath your ear. He smirked at the feeling of you shuddering against him.

"Are you wet for me, baby?" he asked against your skin. You whimpered and nodded, feeling your pussy clench and gush into your panties, "Do you want me to touch you? Tell me."

"Yes please, Tae," you begged, blushing when he chuckled at your desperation.

The wall was pulled out from behind you and you scrambled to hold onto him around his shoulders, "I got you," he reassured, turning to walk through the open doorway of your bedroom.

You were deposited onto your mattress, making you bounce slightly on it. Taehyung was covering your body once more, however, as he met your lips for another kiss. Resting his weight on one forearm beside your head, he used the other to push your shirt up.

Getting the hint, you pulled your cardigan off and tossed it off the side of the bed before tugging your shirt off as well. Taehyung groaned, his lips kissing the swell of your breast above your bra. His fingers trailed over your bra ― cupping you and sighing softly.

You were surprised by your own boldness as you reached behind you and unclipped your bra. Before you could tug it off, however, Taehyung pinned your arms above your head and growled.

"Why are you so eager?" he asked, making your blush further.

"I-I just want you to touch me..." you confessed, lashes fluttering when he leaned down to brush his lips against your lips once more.

"There's no rush, little one," he cooed, "I'm not going anywhere until I've made you cum for me."

You clenched your thighs with a whimper at the pressure in your core. He pulled off your bra, finally, tossing it away and sitting back to admire your body. You were laid out beneath him, breasts heaving in your arousal.

His head dipped down and you held your breath as he enveloped a perked nipple into his mouth. Your hands flew up to clutch at his hair, back arching. His teeth grazed the bud, and groaned at the way you whined.

"Fuck, you're so responsive to everything I do," he gasped, pulling his lips away from your nipple. His fingers found it and brushed his thumb nail over and you choked out a sob, "I love it so much..."

"T-Tae please!" you whined, arching your hips up.

"Alright, baby," he cooed, flicking the button of your jeans open and tugging them down. Your panties went with them but neither of you cared, "Look at that. So wet."

"Please touch me, Tae," you begged, spreading your legs wider around him.

"You ever been eaten out, sweetheart?" he asked, watching the way your breath stuttered at his question. When you didn't answer, he gave your cunt a swift smack. You cried out, clutching at the blankets desperately, "I asked you a question."

"N-No I've never― " you were cut off by his fingers sliding over your clit softly.

"Do you want to?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Yes, yes please, Tae!" you gasped, eyes wide when he shifted down the bed until his head was positioned over your core.

"So pretty, baby," he sighed, spreading your folds open to expose the pretty wet hole that clenched desperately around nothing.

Your mouth fell open, a stuttered breath escaping you when his tongue slid over your entrance up to your clit. He hummed, licking his lips to chase the taste. He looked like he was in heaven, swirling his tongue over your bud and chuckling when your whole body trembled.

"Love how you react to me," he whispered, mostly to himself. He tongued at your hole to taste your juices once more before dragging up to your clit once again, "I don't think I'll ever get enough of you."

"Tae!" you cried, tugging his hair harshly though he didn't seem to mind.

His lips wrapped around your clit, sucking the bud into his mouth. You keened, eyes rolling back into your head at the stimulation. You nearly screamed when you were suddenly filled with two long fingers.

"Fuck!" you cried, back arching. You abandoned your hold on his hand to wrap your hands beneath your knees ― keeping yourself open for him.

"Good girl," he praised, making you smile down at him.

He pressed a kiss against your thigh before diving down to take your clit into his mouth again. His fingers stretched you open, catching your g-spot every chance he got. He reached so deep inside you with just his fingers and you suddenly remembered how big his dick was. Just the thought of it had your walls clenching around his fingers. He groaned in response, the vibrations against your clit making your thighs twitch.

"A-Another finger, Tae, please," you begged, voice not above a whisper.

"Can you handle that, sweetheart? Your little cunt’s already stretched around two," he teased, his index finger beginning to nudge against your entrance.

"N-Need it," you gasped, "Need to take it for you cock."

His fingers froze and you felt him exhale sharply against your core ― as if the air had been punched out of him. Glancing down, you saw his jaw was clenched and his brows were furrowed.

"Don't say things like that, little girl," he growled, finally pushing the third finger into you, "Don't make promises you can't keep."

"Tae I― " your words died on your tongue when he enveloped your clit once again.

You felt stuffed with his fingers, the digits making your entrance stretch deliciously. You lost your grip on your knees and let them fall open once again. Taehyung's tongue danced over the sensitive nerves, eyes closed as he relished in having your cunt wrapped around his fingers. You were gushing, coating the digits in your juices and he couldn't wait to have them in his mouth.

"W-Wanna cum, Tae," you gasped, reaching above you to grip desperately at the pillow.

He reached up, pulling on one of your hands until you released the material. You felt your walls clench tight when he urged you to put your hands on his head.

He wanted you to pull at his hair.

Not one to reject such an offer, you tangled both your hands in the soft locks as he began to fuck you with his fingers eagerly. The wet noises were obscene, mixed with your moans made an incredible melody for Taehyung.

The fact he was the only one who had ever had you like that made his cock throb. His hips moved mindlessly against the bed beneath him to get some stimulation. His cock hurt in the confines of his jeans but he didn't dare try to pull it out.

Suddenly, your walls clenched tight and the grip on his hair began to sting the harder you pulled. Sobbing out his name, your entire body began to quake beneath him. The pleasure was overwhelming and you snapped your thighs closed around his head. He didn't pull away, however, keeping his lips attached to the throbbing bud through your orgasm ― milking every spectacular second until you were whimpering from overstimulation.

He gasped as he pulled away, sitting back on his heels before pulling his fingers out of you. He spread your folds, groaning at the way you gaped slightly from being stretched open. Sliding his soaked fingers into his mouth, his whole body trembled and he reached down to palm himself through his jeans.

The feeling of a smaller hand covering his had his eyes snapping open. He pulled his fingers out and stared down at you as you shyly palmed him through the material. He groaned, head falling back.

"C-Can I..." you trailed off, not quite sure what you were asking.

"I...I don't know..." he bit his lip, apprehensive.

"Please Tae?" you pouted, looking up at him through your lashes.

"Shit, alright," he whispered, switching your positions. He scooted up until his back rested against your headboard, shoving your pillows aside to make room for himself, "Come here. Sit on my lap, pretty girl."

Your hands were trembling as you did what you were asked, swinging your leg over his lap until you were straddling him. As you pressed your full weight on him, he tossed his head back in a groan. The pressure of you sitting on him felt spectacular.

Gripping his shoulders, you suddenly felt shy with his eyes on you. He gazed at your body on top of him like you were a goddess, hands drifting up your sides and cupping your breasts. Thumbing your nipples, he smiled crookedly when you shivered at the feeling. He cupped your cheeks, finally, and pulled you down for a soft kiss.

"Go ahead and grind on me, baby," he cooed, gripping your hips to urge you to move.

The first grind against him had him releasing the most beautiful moan that you felt yourself gush in response. His head leaned back against the headboard, watching through lidded eyes the way your cunt ground against his cock through his jeans. He wishes he could take it out and feel your wetness drip all over him ― to feel you cream against him as you came. He swallowed the urge down and continued to guide you.

"D-Does it feel good?" you asked, biting your lip as you watched his jaw tense as he held back his moans.

"So good, babygirl," he groaned, feeling his heart stutter when you proudly grinned down at him, "You're so fucking cute."

"D-Don't call me cute when I'm doing this," you hissed, narrowing your eyes at him.

"Doing what?" his head rolled against his shoulder and he smirked at you, "Go on and say it."

"No..." You whispered, clutching his shirt. Leaning forward, you wrapped your arms around his neck and held him close.

"Why so shy, little one?" he chuckled, kissing your temple and trailing his hand up your back before cupping the back of your head, "Grinding your wet little cunt against me like this...wanting to make me cum. And you want to act shy?"

You whimpered, gasping into his ear so prettily that he shuddered. He felt his orgasm coming and he groaned through clenched teeth.

"Close..." he whispered, fingers digging into the soft skin of your waist while he other clenched in your hand, "You're gonna make me cum, baby."

"Please cum, Tae," you begged, gasping when he wrenched your face out from where you were hiding in his neck.

"You want my cum?" he panted, mouth falling open as you fastened your pace. You nodded as best you could with his hand in your hair, "How about you cum first for me?"

Your eyes fluttered, realizing with his words how close you were to another orgasm. You leaned forward, pressing your lips against him. He hummed in response, smiling in the kiss when you started trembling in his lap.

You pulled away from the kiss and tossed you head back as you cried out his name, gushing against his jeans. Taehyung cursed, his own hips stuttering beneath you.

By the time you came down, you realized how wet his jeans were beneath you. You whined, falling off the side of his lap. He still sat up, chest heaving as he caught his breath. With his eyes closed, he didn't see you cupping his softening length through the wet material. He hissed, brushing your hand off of him.

"I-Is that all your..."

"I should get home," he interrupted. You frowned, watching him stand up and shift uncomfortably.

"Can't you stay?" you asked, finding yourself not wanting him to leave.

"Sorry, baby," he leaned down and pressed a kiss against your forehead, "Maybe another time." With a final, departing kiss, he turned and stepped out of the door. He paused, however, and looked back at you, "Be ready tomorrow, 8PM. I'll take you for dinner."

You were left alone on the bed with a little smile on your lips ― the promise of seeing him tomorrow making you giddy.

You felt apprehensive when 8PM rolled around and there was no sign of him ― the time blinking on the screen of your computer. You sat on your desk chair, watching the moments tick by.

It was nearing 8:30 when there were a series of knocks on your door. You jumped to your feet and raced to the door, pulling it open to see Taehyung with a guilty smile and a handful of flowers.

"Sorry I'm late I uh..." he cleared his throat and held the flowers over to you, "I had to go a bit out of my way to get these."

"Oh Tae..." you smiled, taking them from his hands and bringing them up to your nose to smell, "They're beautiful."

"They're imported from Liana," he smiled, shrugging sheepishly.

"How'd you think of this?" You asked, motioning for him to enter your home as you went to your kitchen to put the flowers in water.

"Well..." he cleared his throat, "I just...I've been reading about human dates and just human things like that, you know?"

"You've been studying for our date?" you giggled, putting the flowers on your counter before turning to him. He looked shy, keeping his eyes averted from you, "I really appreciate it, Tae."

"Really?" his eyes lit up and he grinned his adorable smile.

"I think it was very thoughtful," you led him back to the door and out into the cool night.

"There's this place I really like around my place," he suddenly explained, taking your hand in his as he helped you down from the stoop, "I like to go there with some friends. I think you'll like it!"

"I'm sure I'll like anything, Tae," you admitted, smiling when he squeezed your hand in response.

The two of you made simple talk as you made your way to the restaurant. You hadn't had the opportunity to go to one in the time you'd lived on Izo Huen.

It was a simple, small building with an Open sign in English. You grinned, bouncing inside tugging Taehyung by his hand excitedly.

"Pick a seat, little one," Taehyung cooed, nudging your back.

It was set up exactly like a restaurant on Earth and you slid yourself into a booth, grinning. Taehyung took the spot across from you, lounging back as he looked at the menu. You followed his lead and opened the menu yourself. Eyes wide, you realized you were able to read everything.

"Hey...It's in English!" you muttered, eyes scanning over the words. They were translated underneath into what Taehyung could understand ― the characters and symbols lost on you.

"Yeah it's the only place around here that does it," he shrugged, "I figured you might enjoy that."

"You're..." you grinned, shaking you head, "You're so thoughtful, Tae. I really appreciate it."

He shrugged, though you could see that his ears were tinged red.

You both ordered drinks and food, the atmosphere dissolving into one of calm company. You both chatted idly about anything ― Taehyung asking a lot of questions about Earth and him trying to teach you the different characters for his alphabet. He gave up when you just couldn't get a hang of it ― teasingly calling you illiterate and cooing when you pouted.

"Hey Tae," you muttered, picking at the salad you had ordered. He hummed, mouth full of some type of steak ― though the meat was of a consistency that made your stomach turn, "How did you learn to speak so...casually?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, sipping his soda.

"You know..." you blushed, realizing the question wasn't really something to ask over the dinner table, "When you talk you use a lot of slang terms. Like...in bed," You whispered the last word and picked at your salad again.

"Oh," Taehyung chuckled, "See, I have a friend who has been to Earth a few times. He has a lot of...interesting material that he let me read. And he kind of taught me some popular slang on Earth."

"You didn't have to go to so much effort, Taehyung," you whispered, although you were grinning. Your heart fluttered in your chest nonetheless.

"I wanted to," he suddenly set a hard gaze on you, "I want you to like me and I want you to feel comfortable around me. I want to be good for you."

"Tae..." you reached across the table and cupped his hand in yours, "I already like you very much. You make me feel comfortable and you make me feel very happy."

He grinned, looking away from you shyly but squeezed your hand tightly.

The walk home was peaceful, you found yourself wrapping your arms around one of Taehyung's ― wanting to be close to him. He didn't seem to mind in the slightest, squeezing your hand tightly and staring down at you with sparkling eyes. It felt like he looked at you like you hung up the moon ― it made you feel fluttery inside.

"Do you want to come inside, Tae?" you asked, opening your front door.

He hesitated for just a moment before stepping inside. He kicked his boots off along with you, watching as you tucked both of them away in the corner. You went to your bedroom to change into something comfortable ― settling on some pajama pants and an oversized sweater. When you walked back out, Taehyung was sitting at your desk looking at your computer.

"What's this?" he gestured to your setup with your camera.

"It's where I record the logs needed to send back to Earth," you explained, "I update my superiors every week on things that are happening. When I learn something new about the culture or something interesting happens."

"Interesting," he muttered, sitting there for a moment before standing up and navigated over to your couch.

You dropped into the seat beside him and molded yourself against his side. He wrapped his arm around you and pressed a kiss against the top of your head. The silence was comfortable and you rested your head on his chest ― listening to his heartbeat.

"Hey Tae?" he hummed, looking down at you when you looked up at him, "Can I have a kiss?"

His gaze softened and he quickly leaned down to press his lips against yours. He went to pull away but you followed him, pulling him into a deep kiss making him moan. Swinging your leg over his lap, you straddled him boldly. He seemed surprised by it but didn't say anything, just moving his lips against yours.

"Tae," you whispered against his lips, "I want to touch you, please?"

"_____― " he pulled away from the kiss, pushing you back slightly by your shoulders.

"You keep saying I can't handle it, but I can!" you argued, pouting at being pushed back.

"I don't want to hurt you, _____," his brows came together in a deep furrow, "It wasn't just talk when I said you couldn't handle it. It's too much, you're too...small."

"It turns you on though doesn't it?" you teased, noticing how he was growing hard beneath you, "Can't we at least try, Tae?"

"I-I..." his head fell back when you ground against him, "Fuck, we can try."

You held in a squeal of joy when he scooped you up in his arms and carried you to the bedroom. He dropped you on the bed and stripped his shirt off.

It was the first time seeing him naked and you sat up to admire his body. He was fit, as you expected. His stomach was flat with a small trail of hair leading beneath his jeans. On his shoulders were patches embedded in his skin that reflected off the dim light of your bedroom.

"What..." you sat up on your knees, brushing your fingers over them. It felt like normal skin, and you hummed in wonder.

"They're...light-sensitive patches that we just...never evolved out of," he explained, "They were useful for survival when we dominated the deserts. Now they're just...here."

"Interesting," you muttered, trailing your hand down his chest and stomach to the button on his jeans.

Before you could flick it open, however, he grabbed your wrist and pinned you back to the bed. His gaze was dark, making you shiver underneath it. He smelled wonderful and you reached up with your free hand to brush his bangs out of his eyes.

"You've got another thing coming if you think you'll get anywhere near my cock before I think you're good and ready, little one," he growled, making your thighs clench at the sound.

You whined when he rushed to discard your clothes, not wasting a single second in getting you bare for him. He palmed himself through his jeans as he looked down at you, licking his lips.

"So pretty," he whispered, smoothing his hand down your body. Smirking, he pinched one of your nipples to hear the way you whined, "Spread your legs for me."

You hurriedly did as you were told, shame and inhibitions thrown out the window. You felt nervous under his gaze but with every compliment and soft touch ― you began to feel better. Mouth falling open, you gasped when his fingertips brushed against your folds.

"You're so wet," he mumbled, more to himself, "Are you always so wet, baby?"

"Y-You're the only one ― "

"I know that but when you touch yourself, pretty baby," he glanced up when you tensed, "I know you do. Tell me do you get this wet?"

"O-Only when I think of you," you admitted before you could think twice about it. You felt your cheeks burn at your own admission but Taehyung cursed and grunted as he squeezed his cock.

"You're such a good girl," he praised, fingertips trailing up your body again. Goosebumps ignited across your skin and you arched your back to get more of the feeling of his touch.

His fingers eagerly dipped back between your thighs to find your entrance. You whimpered when he immediately slipped a single digit inside. It felt nice but unfulfilling.

He pulled his finger out and circled it over your clit ― using your own juices to lubricate the movement. You hummed, eyes fluttering as he circled the bud several times. When your thighs began to tense, he pushed his finger back inside.

He continued the teasing until you were whining beneath him. Suddenly he pressed his thumb against the bud, circling and pressing against it relentlessly.

"I'm gonna cum!" you warned, your eyes squeezing shut.

"Go ahead, pretty baby," he urged, not pausing in his torture of your clit.

You came quickly, arching and trembling on the bed. Your cunt was empty, gushing and clenching around nothing. His touches on your clit slowed until they stopped all together.

You figured he'd give you a moment to recover but, he was suddenly sliding two fingers inside you. You were so wet from your orgasm, your cum slicking down his fingers and onto the bed. You sobbed, grinding your hips into his touch. He didn't try touching your clit or your spot, showing that much mercy. Instead, he leaned down to envelop a perked nipple in his mouth while he scissored his fingers, stretching you a bit more.

You hummed, cupping the back of his head to keep him in place. He didn't seem to mind, beginning to fuck his two fingers into you faster.

"A-Another, please," you requested, whimpered when he immediately did so.

There was a slight, tiny burn that immediately gave way to pleasure. His palm pressed against your clit ― still so sensitive that it made you tremble. As he fucked you with his fingers, he switched to give your other breast attention.

Your hips jerked with his every movement, following the pace he'd set. Every time he brushed your g-spot and you whined, he would laugh.

He took so much enjoyment in your pleasure it was almost baffling. You were always sure that men would be selfish and unsatisfying in bed but Taehyung was nothing but attentive.

Perhaps he was right; he was better than any human man.

"Cum again for me," he purred, swiping his tongue along your chest before meeting your neck.

The feeling of his fingers and teeth on your neck had you inching closer to the edge of the abyss.

"T-Tae, please," you whined, grinding your hips down, "T-Touch me, please."

He hummed, moving his thumb to press against your clit. The simple touch set you off and you were coming once again beneath him. Your body was on fire, sweat sticking to you and making you pant. It crested beautifully and faded out into trembles and whines.

He didn't remove his fingers, instead beginning to nudge a fourth into you ― his pinky finger. His eyes met yours, keeping his eyes on your face as he stretched you further than he had before. The width of his hand was bordering on painful but you found it highly enjoyable. His thumb continued to circle your clit even as you sobbed in overstimulation. Your spasming walls eagerly accepted the new stretch and you found yourself relaxing into it.

He was quickly going to send you to another orgasm but before you could fall off the edge again, he removed his thumb. You whined, grinding your hips to chase the feeling. His eyes drifted down to where his fingers were buried into you, smoothing two of his fingers from his free hand over your folds.

"Stretched so wide," he muttered, scooping up some of your cum on the digits and popping them in his mouth. Your walls squeezed his fingers in response to his display.

He suddenly pulled his fingers out and you cried out at being empty so fast. Your walls weren't able to close properly and you closed your thighs at the feeling.

Instead of stopping you, Taehyung stepped off the bed. Your mouth went dry when he unbuttoned his jeans and began to shuffle them down his thighs.

You realized he wasn't wearing underwear when his cock popped free ― flushed incredibly red at the head and leaking precum down the shaft. He visibly shuddered when his cock was free from its confines and he quickly wrapped his hand around himself ― giving himself a few good squeezes.

He was just as big as you thought. His fingers didn't meet when wrapped around the girth. He was wider than his four fingers and so long that you found yourself whimpering at the thought of him drilling into you that deep.

"You still think you can take me, little one?" he asked, crawling on the bed to kneel in front of you still clenched thighs.

"Y-Yeah...want it," you let your legs fall open, showing him your flushed and swollen cunt.

Her cursed, tapping the fat head of his cock against your cunt. You whimpered when you saw just how big it was compared to your own pussy. He was surely going to rip you in half but damn if you wouldn't enjoy every second.

His precum mixed with your cum as he slid his shaft between your folds, getting the underside of him nice and wet. You whimpered, feeling him grinding against your clit bringing you close to the orgasm you'd been denied.

Before you could fall into it, he positioned his tip at your entrance. Prodding ever so slightly, he sighed at the feeling of your heat against him. You spread your legs wider for him as he began to press inside.

You cried out, clutching the sheets beneath you as he stretched you wide open. The head of him was so thick, bordering on painful. You reached out to stop him from going any further, gritting your teeth at the feeling.

"You're okay," he whispered, shifting back so he pulled out of you.

You breathed heavily, relaxing once more as he circled your clit with his thumb. As your eyes fluttered, he began to press back inside. You whined as he pushed past what he had been, thumb not letting up on your clit. You walls spasmed around him, making him groan as you began to tremble.

The head of him popped inside and you cried out as you were sent over the edge. Taehyung's body fell over yours, catching himself on his hands beside your head. You sobbed, tears filling your eyes at the pleasure of being stretched as you were.

Taehyung's mouth fell open as he felt you cum around the head of his cock. When you calmed down to just little sniffles and whimpers, he leaned down to press his lips against your neck.

"You okay, baby?" he whispered. You nodded, reaching up to cup his cheeks and pull him into a soft kiss.

He took that as his cue to sink further into you. The flare on the head of his cock was the thickest part of him and it felt much easier for the rest of him to slide in. He nudged your cervix and when you flinched at the pain, he pulled back slightly.

"Look at that," he chuckled looking between your bodies. Following his gaze, your eyes widened, "You can't even fit all of me inside you, little one."

He was right, you'd only managed to fit half his cock inside you. Your walls clenched around him at that.

"Feels so good, Tae," you whispered, feeling his cock twitch against your walls.

He grinned, moving his hips gently, sinking in as far as he comfortably could before pulling back out. Although he wasn't able to fit in you completely, he still found himself groaning against you

"Such a tight little cunt," he growled, nipping at your jaw, "Took me so well, like a good girl."

You began to grind your hips up as he sunk into you and he growled. Sitting back on his heels, he soothed his hand over your body to soothe you.

You cursed loudly when he snapped his hips much harder into you ― testing how much you could take. When you gushed and spasmed around him, he took that as a sign to keep going. You moaned so beautifully for him, body reacting like a dream to his every touch and movement.

Cunt stretched wide and stuffed full of cock, you couldn't even think of anything else. You felt drunk, dizzy and lightheaded. Taehyung cooed when you slurred out his name, swiping his thumb over your bottom lip to collect some drool there.

"You're so cute," he grinned, breaking out into a moan when you clenched him tight, "All you can think about is my cock, huh?"

"'S so good..." you whispered, the words coming out almost breathlessly.

"I know, baby," he replied, licking his lips as he moved to his cock pounding you open wider than you should have been able to take, "You're gushing and squeezing me so nice. Are you gonna cum? Can you cum for me?"

You swallowed and nodded, whining when he hit your cervix. It hurt but it blended in with the pleasure. Mindlessly, you reached down to find your clit ― intent on sending yourself over the edge.

"No, no baby," he cooed, brushing your fingers away, "You'll cum without touching your pretty clit, yeah?"

"C-Can't," you sobbed, tears leaking out of the corner of your eyes.

"I think you can," he muttered, smoothing his hand over your lower stomach. "Fuck, look at that, babygirl."

You lazily followed his gaze to where his hand laid. Your cunt clenched at the sight of your stomach bulging every time he sunk in ― his cock literally molding you around it. You gasped, your high bubbling in your stomach.

"Wanna cum!" you cried, attempting to reach down and circle your clit again only to be stopped once more.

"I said no, little one," he snapped, pinning your hands above your head as he loomed above you, "You can do it. Cum for me."

Your body went still, focusing on the feeling of his cock filling you and stretching you. His cock was so big that he didn't even have to try to reach any good spots within you.

Astoundingly, you shrieked as your orgasm finally washed over you. Taehyung cursed in your ear, fucking you ruthlessly through the high. Distantly, you felt wetness splatter between your thighs and coat both of you. You chanted his name as you squirmed and writhed at the overwhelming pleasure.

"Shit, I'm― " Taehyung's warning was cut off by a groan.

His weight fell on you fully and he hid his face in your neck as he came. You hugged him against you, still trembling as he pumped his hot cum into you. There was so much, his cock keeping his cum plugged inside you. You gasped and twitched as you felt your stomach bloat over so slightly. You walls clenched around him, the idea of him filling you so much sending you into another quiet orgasm.

It was less spectacular than the others, but still left you gasping of air. Taehyung groaned in your ear as he felt you cum around his sensitive cock once again ― forcing a couple more spurts out of him to add.

It seemed like forever until his body finally relaxed. He continued to hold you, pressing kisses against any place he possibly could.

"That was...nice..." you muttered, making him laugh as he rolled off of you.

Your mouth fell open as he pulled his cock out ― it ached, there was no denying it. There was a gush of his cum, so much of it that it formed of pool beneath you. Your cheeks felt hot as Taehyung watched his cum pour out of your abused hole.

"Who knew my little human girl could take so much?" he teased, enjoyed the way you squirmed in embarrassment, "Want to take a shower?"

"Only if you will with me," you offered with a tired voice, watching his face morph into an expression of confusion.

"Is that some type of human thing?" he asked, sitting up and stretching his muscles.

"Apparently so," you whispered.

"Hey..." he paused from getting off of the bed. "You...you'll be here a while, right?"

"What do you mean?" you asked, clenching your thighs shut as you felt your core begin to burn and ache as you came back to yourself.

"Like...you won't have to go back to Earth any time, right?" his voice sounded small, almost fragile.

"I'll stay as long as I want to," you reassured, leaning over to kiss him but freezing before you could.

"What is it?" he asked, frowning.

"I'm just really fucking sore," you mumbled, flushing when he burst out laughing.

"Ah, my cute little human," he cooed, kissing your nose.

12K notes · View notes

lumosinlove · 4 years

Text

Relic Keel

(warnings in tags)

PREVIOUSLY ON RELIC KEEL

Marlene got into college and hasn’t told Dorcas because she’s scared of how she will react.

Lily and James had sex and obviously like each other, but Lily is scared to have attachments on Hogwarts when they’re going to college soon.

Leo and Logan question each other about their pasts without much progress. Logan finds out that Leo hopes to own The Lion restaurant one day, and that his father’s death has something to do with “The Voldemort.”

Saint and Sirius talk about leaving the island and how they met when they were eleven years old. They have sex and avoid more difficult topics.

James and Lily meet at the Gryffindor Club as promised. Lily tells James that she doesn’t want anything tying her to the island, that she hates the fake boundaries that Hogwarts has and that James isn’t crossing them as much as he thinks he is. James understands, even though it hurts.

Saint and Sirius are cleaning the Potter’s pool when James arrives with Remus and Luke. Remus and Sirius have a tense moment in the kitchen, Luke and Saint argue, and Sirius finds out that it’s Remus who sails the Wolfsbane every morning—Remus thus finding out that Sirius notices.

Logan returns to the Carrows to hand over his money and stock up on Crucio. We find out that he works for them in the hopes that they will help him get Finn out of Saint Clair, only the Carrows are angry with him for using their Crucio—they say that Logan owes them now.

Logan heads over to Saint Clair to watch Finn from afar, and swears again that he will rescue him.

part iv

Remus closed his eyes, soaking in the morning sun and the salty air. The wind pushed his hair back as he tightened the rigging, catching the wind. Sometimes his sails felt like his bare hands. Like he finally had something to hold onto, even if it blistered his palms. The sea made him feel alone, in the best way. Usually, it felt like people were always around. He couldn’t go anywhere without running into at least two people from school, or his parents’ friends. Yes, he’s excited for college, no, he’s not sure exactly yet, yes, he’s still sailing, yes, he’s still obsessed, yes, he remembers learning at Gryffindor Club, sure, I’ll tell my mom you say hi.

Solidarity was less exhausting.

The wind buffered and he sighed as he slowed down. he looked back towards Shack Beach. Saint had said they saw him every morning—that Sirius saw him every morning. He wondered if Sirius was watching now.

He couldn’t see anything from this far away. Part of him wondered if he could make this island disappear completely, just for a moment. But it was dangerous to stray that far. Even The Cradle, the small U of islands just off of Hogwarts’ southern coast, was pushing it. Remus huffed out a laugh as he managed the ropes to come about, back towards shore. If that wasn’t a metaphor, he didn’t know what was.

Things on Hogwarts had become complicated in what felt like overnight, even though Remus knew that wasn’t true. They were older now. They didn’t just care about summer vacation. There was college to think about, and then jobs. Hogwarts wasn’t the dream it once was. Remus wanted to see mountains, and huge cities, or snow—and not just for a week on vacation. He wanted to belong somewhere because he wanted to be there, and not just because he had grown up there. He was tired of knowing everything there was to know.

He tied up his Wolfsbane on autopilot, stroking his hand over the side before tugging his shirt over his head and jumping straight into the water. It was cooler from the night, but it was what Remus needed. He held his breath as he found the sandy bottom, his eyes closed. For a moment, he didn’t have to be anywhere. He got to enjoy the ocean and its predictable changes.

When he came up for air, he remembered why he loved this island. That still didn’t mean he didn’t want to leave.

“Are you headed to the museum, sweetheart?” his mother said when Remus came down to the kitchen, freshly showered. He preferred to let the salt linger all day, but he figured he should be fresh for his first day of work.

“Yeah,” Remus held up his keys. “Just looking for some coffee first.”

His mom held up a mug for him, laughing. “Ask and you shall receive.”

Remus smiled. “Thanks, mom.”

“How was it this morning?”

Remus poured some milk into his cup. “It was good. Sun’s going to be strong today. Went near The Cradle—not too far, don’t worry.”

“You know me too well,” Hope laughed, whisking some eggs into a lather. “Well, it’s pizza night. We’re ordering in so, if you want to have some friends over and take it to the den, that’s fine with me. But don’t complain if Jules crashes the party.”

Remus nodded. “Actually, I think we’re going out. If that’s all right?”

Hope nodded. “All right, sure. Be safe, though. Who, uh…”

“James and Luke,” Remus sighed. “Mom—”

“I wasn’t going to say anything—”

“It’s not Luke’s fault,” Remus continued anyway. “His dad, I mean. He didn’t know.”

“I know that,” Hope sighed. “But…Even I can see that boy’s hurting and I barely see him at all.”

“Then shouldn’t he be with his friends?” Remus said.

Hope raised her eyebrows at him, and Remus raised his own right back.

“All right, all right,” Hope said. “You’re gonna be late, I’ll see you later, baby.”

Remus knew he should take the car his parents had given him. He knew he should get used to driving, knew his dad wondered why it just sat in the garage. But here, on the island, Remus liked his bicycle. He liked the warm breeze. It reminded him of being out on the water.

Which, in turn, now reminded him of Sirius Black.

When Remus remembered Sirius, he mostly remembered bruised cheeks and nasty looking cuts. He remembered the hushed way people used to whisper about him, and how, even when he was loud, grinning and well-liked, he was still from Salazar. Sometimes he had eaten lunch surrounded by people, and sometimes he had eaten it alone with his brother.

Remus didn’t understand this island. Was Sirius really so different because he was born a few miles South rather than North? It made no sense—only it did, but only because it was all Remus had ever known.

The Hogwarts History Museum was a pride of the island. Remus knew it well from school trips, and from his own interest. He’d spent many Saturdays there as a kid, gazing at all of the small models of ships and dreaming about what it would be like to sail them, wishing they weren’t trapped behind glass—feeling a little like he was trapped behind glass. A ship in a bottle.

“Hi there, Remus,” Layla smiled at him, green eyes kind and skin a rich, dark brown against the pale pink scarf in her hair.

“Hi, Layla,” Remus smiled. “Having a good summer so far?”

“Sure,” Layla shrugged. “Lots of time here. I saw you win the sailing race last Sunday, congrats.”

Remus smiled. “Thanks. It was real fun. Sorry I beat your brother, though.”

“Oh, Lyle doesn’t mind,” Layla waved a hand. Her nails were painted pink, too. “Don’t worry about it.”

Remus had been friends with Layla since they were little, competing for best in class usually. She was wicked smart and mellow. Remus could always use some mellow, good conversation—especially with James being James and Luke being…well, whatever Luke was now. Layla liked history, and her family owned the museum, which meant Layla told tales that were, albeit tall, fun to listen to.

Remus leaned against the desk, looking around. “This place never changes, huh?”

Layla laughed, clicking a pen. “History doesn’t tend to change that much, R, and so neither do we. Unlike the world out there.”

“I don’t know about that. Nothing ever feels too different out there,” Remus laughed, too. “But I guess you’re right. I’m glad you’re here, though. Or else I’d be sitting behind this desk by myself.”

“I’m glad you’re here, too,” Layla nodded. “What made you take the job?”

Remus snorted as he rounded the corner, picking up his name badge where Beatrice, Layla’s mother and the museum curator, said it would be. “Don’t pretend we didn’t see each other here when we were little all the time. Not to mention at Gryffindor Club. You, obviously.”

Layla raised an eyebrow. “Me and your mom.”

Remus winced and Layla laughed.

“C’mon, we both know you’d be out on your boat all day if it was up to you.”

Remus laughed. “Fine. But seriously. You’re a perk.”

Layla nodded, rolling her eyes with a smile. “Just a couple of history buffs, I guess.”

Remus shrugged. “There are worse things to be.”

The day was pretty slow. A few tourists here and there, taking photo behind the cardboard cutouts that made you look like you were dressed as a sailor, or a pirate.

“Are there really pirates here?” one little girl had asked Layla.

Remus had smiled when Layla crouched down and whispered to her, “careful, there’s one there,” and pointed at Remus.

When lunch rolled around, Remus expected Layla to pull out a bagged sandwich like him, but instead she scoffed and picked up her bag.

“Come on. We have to get out for a bit.”

Remus shrugged. “All right, where to?”

“The Lion, of course,” Layla replied. “It’s the best food on the island.”

“The Lion,” Remus repeated slowly. “You mean—in The Hollow?”

Layla gave him a look. “Oh, you’re not one of those are you?”

“One of what?” Remus said. “No. I’m not, I just… c’mon, you hear things.”

“Hear things? You’ve never been?”

“Once,” Remus swallowed, thinking of the fight. “It didn’t really go well.”

Layla just shook her head.

“History is just one great field of stories, Remus. You’ll never get to the truth unless you listen to them all.”

And so Remus found himself riding alongside Layla on their bikes and right through Gryffindor. The Hollow didn’t have a sign or anything, but you knew when you were in it. Remus almost wished he had been able to see some sort of line to cross, but everything was just suddenly different. Low houses with open doors, people gathered together and laughing. Kids running with surfboards over their heads, towards Shack Beach. It had seemed even more vibrant in the dark the night of the party, even through the tinted windows of Luke’s car. String lights hung over cookouts, and music blasting from speakers. It had smelled amazing, and Remus would have to say Layla was probably right about the food.

The Lion was just as bright as everything else. It was bustling with lunch-goers, and the doors were flung wide, letting the heat right in. Remus looked around at the people. Some tourists, obviously. Some not. Hollows. Some of them smiled when they caught Remus’ eye, and some narrowed their eyes.

“Hi, Leo, babe,” Layla said as she slid onto a stool at the counter.

There was a blond boy behind it wearing a tank top and a snapback. He smiled as he set some shrimp down in a frier. “Hey, Layla, babe, ça va?”

“Just working. At least I’ve got Remus for company now.”

Remus smiled awkwardly when Leo fixed his blue eyes on him. He really didn’t know what he was waiting for. Something terrible to happen?

Leo only held out a hand. “Leo, nice to meet you.”

“Remus,” Remus said, and took it. He tried not to look at the rainbow bracelet on Leo’s wrist for too long, but he could tell Leo had felt the way his hand tightened. “Yeah—you, too.”

Leo touched it briefly, like an old habit, as he pulled away, giving another smile to Remus.

It didn’t necessarily mean Leo wasn’t straight, but on such a small island, Remus tended to notice these things. He and Luke had figured each other out pretty fast around sixteen. They’d kissed. Once. And then winced, laughed, and shoved each other in the pool. Sometimes Remus wished he and Luke had worked. He didn’t see any other boys coming his way. Leo was smiling at him like he knew what Remus was thinking.

“What can I get you two?” Leo asked.

A boyfriend? Remus thought wistfully.

“Two of your specials, please,” Layla said. “Re, you’re going to lose your mind it’s so good.”

“What’s your special?” Remus asked.

Leo shrugged, but he was grinning. “Like a chef ever gives up his secrets—”

Leo had stopped mid-sentence, eyes going over their shoulders towards the door. Remus turned to look, and a moment later, a brown haired boy was slinging a backpack down carefully between his feet and taking the seat beside Remus.

“Well, look who’s back,” Leo said to him.

The boy glanced at Remus and Layla, then gave a small shrug. “Yeah.”

Leo snorted. “Yeah,” he parroted. “You’re just hungry.”

The boy shrugged again.

Leo sighed, and gave Remus a look that said, can you believe this? before turning back to the stove. “This is Logan guys. Apparently he doesn’t talk today. Three specials. Coming up.”

Logan didn’t recognize the boy sitting at the counter. He didn’t recognize the girl either. Then again, he didn’t recognize many people. He didn’t know anyone. Except Dorcas—if that even counted. And Leo. If that counted, either.

The Felix was heavy in his pack, wedged protectively between his feet, and he wished the strangers would leave so that Leo would talk to him. He hadn’t said two words that weren’t him making sure that Logan liked his food, and asking him where he’d been.

Logan was a little annoyed with him for asking that question. It wasn’t like Leo didn’t know what Logan did. Then again, Leo didn’t know why Logan did what he did.

“You guys get the new madness exhibit up yet, Layla?” Leo was asking the girl with the scarf in her hair. “The one you were telling me about.”

The sandy-haired boy looked up from his food. “The madness exhibit?”

The girl—Layla—cocked her head. “Remus, you…you don’t know?”

“Know what?” the boy—Remus—replied.

Layla sat up a little, looking suddenly awkward. “Your mom donated almost everything we have. I mean…it is your family that’s famous for…”

Remus raised his eyebrows. “Losing their fucking minds?”

Layla winced. “Well, yeah, okay, poor choice of words on my part. But madness isn’t always a bad thing, you know. People say people are crazy all the time. Sometimes they’re just extraordinary.”

Remus looked back down at his food. “My family’s not extraordinary, believe me.”

“Usually extraordinary-ness belongs to one person, I’d say,” Leo said. “My mom’s pretty extraordinary. Doesn’t mean I am.”

“You want to stay on this island, don’t you?” Logan found himself saying. Then, he felt his neck heat and he turned down to his food.

“What’s so extraordinary about that?” Layla replied at the same time as Remus said, “You do?”

Leo just laughed, rolling his eyes at Logan. “I’m with Layla on this one, guys, sorry.”

“What about you, Logan?” Layla asked. “I want the museum after I go to college. At least I think I do. Leo wants The Lion, Remus wants to sail the world…” Remus blushed at that, and Layla’s eyes were very green. “What do you want to do?”

Logan found it strange that they were treating him like that. So normally. Logan knew his necklace was on display. It was easier than explaining why people hadn’t seen him around and pretending to be a tourist. That lead to questions. Being abandoned didn’t. And he was. He was abandoned. People didn’t ask. Most probably thought he had just aged out. People didn’t ask. It was better that way. Logan didn’t have any answers. All he had was the memory of that last night with Finn. Finn had returned to their room, eyes wild and voice urgent.

Come on, Lo, wake up. Wake up, Logan, we have to go. Now.

Logan had felt helplessly awake in the first weeks of being out. He was still sorting through what that meant.

Logan swallowed. “I don’t know. I’m—looking for someone first.”

Remus sighed and mumbled. “Aren’t we all.”

“You are?” Leo asked softly.

Logan nodded. “Or, not looking. I’m just…I’m waiting for someone.”

He knew where Finn was, but Logan knew that he could wait forever and he wouldn’t come. Logan had to take what he wanted. It was a lesson he was learning fast.

“Oh,” Remus replied. “Um…cool. I hope you find them.”

Logan just nodded.

“Well, we should head out,” Layla said, rising. “Gotta get back to work.”

“Sure thing, just pay up front,” Leo smiled. “See you later, Layla.” He nodded at Remus. “Nice to meet you.”

“You, too,” Remus smiled back. “The food was great.”

Logan watched Leo watch them leave, then snort. “That guy looked more spooked than a horse with a snake.”

“Isn’t that what Gods are supposed to look like?” Logan replied.

Leo shrugged. “Usually you can’t see their eyes behind their aviators.”

Logan laughed a little. “Right.” he looked back down at his food, realizing he had begun picking his fries apart, rather than eating them.

“I’m looking for someone too, you know,” Leo broke the silence.

Logan did. Only, he hadn’t thought about it like that. Leo’s dad and Finn. Leo’s dad was probably dead. Finn wasn’t.

“I hope you find him,” Logan replied. “Your dad.”

The Lion was in full swing now, the lunchtime rush loud and boisterous. Leo had a tank top on, and Logan thought he looked a little tired. Sleeplessness showed easily on his skin.

“Do you have to run?” Leo asked instead of responding. “And hide? Like, from the police?”

Logan sat up, instinctively looking behind him. “I assumed I would have to. But…it hasn’t been that difficult.” He laughed a humorless laugh. “I guess I keep overestimating how much people actually care about me. Maybe I should have learned something by now.”

“Maybe you’re just looking at the wrong people,” Leo said quickly, and looked up with a smile, a small one, then down again. “I know a few others who got out. They don’t seem to have trouble, so, you know, if you needed a job or something, you could work in my mom’s workshop. With me. Or here. I’m sure Celeste and Pascal would be all right with it.”

Logan felt taken off guard. “Oh. I…” he thought of the powder packets in his bag. Of the Carrows. How much do you think you owe us by now?

Others? he wanted to ask. What others?

“Just think about it,” Leo said, and turned towards one of the stove tops to check on some boiling water.

“Yeah. Okay.”

They sat in silence for a long moment.

“It’s a boat,” Leo began suddenly, answering Logan’s yet unasked question. The Voldemort. What his father had been looking for. It was almost like Leo was thanking him for telling the truth about his situation. An eye for an eye. A truth for a truth. Logan sort of liked that consistency. “Was a boat. In the eighteenth century.”

“Oh,” Logan said.

“Biggest story on Hogwarts,” Leo said. “Ten thousand pieces of gold, all fallen to the depths of the ocean just off of Hogwarts’ shores…and never seen again.”

“But if it’s just off the shore…”

Leo smiled a little, shaking his head. “But you have to know where off the shore. Otherwise, you have a whole circumference of miles and miles of open water to work with.”

“And your dad figured it out?”

Leo shrugged, expression closing off a little. “He thought he did.” He cleared his throat as he put an order on the counter for a waiter to take away, and ripped another piece of paper down from the line up to look at. “The Cradle. You know it?”

Logan shook his head.

“It’s a sort of…horse shoe shaped cluster of islands, just off of our southern tip.”

“Salazar,” Logan said quietly.

Leo nodded. “Salazar.”

“Your dad was a treasure hunter,” Logan said slowly. “He was looking for a treasure.”

“Yeah,” Leo said, flipping a crab cake in sizzling oil. “He was.”

“And did he find it? Do you want to find it?”

“I don’t know,” Leo whispered, busy hands stilling. “He never came home.”

Logan nodded.

“He wanted to find it,” Leo said softly. “Really badly. And I… I feel like I should.”

“And was he close?”

Leo glanced up from his knife. “Yes.”

“Leonardo,” a voice came suddenly, entering the restaurant. “What does your mother feed you, you gorgeous specimen?”

Logan froze. He knew that voice.

Leo rolled his eyes, and looked at the newcomers. “Fuck off, Saint. Hey, Sirius.”

“Hi,” a second voice came, and it was closer, almost beside Logan at the bar.

Leo’s eyes caught on Logan’s again, probably meaning to introduce him, but he stopped instead.

“What’s wrong?” Leo asked.

But Logan just shook his head, and then the newcomers—Saint and Sirius—were leaning against the bar. Logan felt the breath beside him catch just as his own had, and he turned to look.

Logan thought the boy standing beside him looked different. Older. More muscular. Squarer jaw. But the same. Same eyes. Same shock of blond hair. Same warm, brown skin.

“Logan?” Saint breathed, his eyes disbelieving.

Logan went to open his mouth, when Saint’s arms were around him suddenly.

“It’s Saint,” he said softly, just for Logan’s ears. He squeezed him tighter. “God, you’re here.”

“Saint?” Logan whispered into his shoulder. No one had touched him like this in what felt like forever.

“Yeah,” Saint said. He pulled back and raised an eyebrow. “Okay?”

Logan shrugged. “I…yeah, okay.”

“Knutty,” Saint’s serious expression morphed into a grin. He leaned against the counter, keeping his palm on Logan. “Handsome as ever.”

Logan blinked at Saint, then at Leo. “Knutty?”

Leo rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to a word he says.”

“Oh, Logan already knows not to do that,” Saint laughed. He tapped his cross necklace. “We’re practically brothers.”

“Oh,” Leo blinked. “Right.”

The other boy—Sirius—looked just as taken aback.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Saint called in a sing-song voice, looking at Sirius. “Order for us, won’t you? And get us a table? Logan,” Saint nodded towards the door. “Come hither.”

Logan was so thankful to see Saint, he nearly tripped while getting up. A familiar face. A familiar anything. Saint had gotten out almost seven years ago. He’d been there one day, in his bed, in classes, in the courtyard, and gone the next.

“Sweetheart?” Logan asked, glancing back inside at the dark-haired boy, Sirius.

Saint just put his hands on Logan’s arms, eyes more intent than Logan had ever seen them, then on Logan’s cheeks. “Holy shit, how did you get out?”

Logan felt his heart slow, then speed up. He swallowed dryly. “Finn. How did you?”

Saint ignored the question.

“Finn,” Saint repeated, nodding. “Of course. When?”

“About a month ago. And he—he’s still in there,” Logan said. “He’s…And I’m—”

“I hear you,” Saint said. He jerked his head over to the table. “Not now. Let’s get back.”

“Saint?” Logan asked again.

Saint rolled his eyes. “Leave it alone. For now.”

Saint hadn’t been ready. He hadn’t seen Logan in nine years, but he’d know his face anywhere. All eyelashes and sad, green eyes. A smile he wore with Finn only. He looked spooked now, and tired. They’d sat at the bar, watching one of Leo’s shifts go and another one come, then moved to a table. Watching it get dark outside now, Saint wondered where Logan had been living for a month.

He eyed the backpack that Logan held so protectively close, and thought of the way Dorcas did the same thing.

Saint had a bad feeling.

“So, how’d you two meet?” Sirius said, gesturing between Logan and Leo with a fry when Leo brought over more water.

“Party,” Leo shrugged after a moment of hesitation. “Shack Beach.” He jerked his head at Saint. “You two were there, judging by Sirius’ shiner. Could hear that fight at my house, probably.”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “I didn’t start it.”

“True,” Saint said, wondering how he had missed Logan that night. “Some God—albeit a beautiful one—thought we were selling Crucio.”

Saint flicked his eyes over to Logan. Sure enough, he blushed.

Saint cocked his head. “The horror. Dangerous stuff.”

Leo looked at Saint quietly, and glanced at Logan, then back to him. Saint nodded. Got it, it said.

“Well, would you look who it is,” said a deep voice from behind them, and then there were two strong arms around Saint and Sirius. Pascal placed a loud kiss on each of their heads.

“Eck,” Sirius laughed. “You smell like grease, old man.”

Pascal Dumais laughed. “Grease that feeds you, maybe. And who’s this?”

“Dumo, meet Logan,” Saint said. “Logan, meet Pascal. He owns the Lion with his wife, Celeste.”

“The most beautiful woman in the world,” Pascal said, accent heavy. “Logan, it’s nice to meet you.”

Saint watched Pascal eye Logan’s necklace.

“We were together at Saint Clair,” he supplied.

“Maybe not so loud,” Logan said harshly. “Saint.”

“Oh?” Pascal said, and squinted at Logan. “Who are you with now, mon cher?”

Saint watched Logan open his mouth, frozen, and was about to speak up when—

“Me,” Leo cut in. He looked down at the carrots he was chopping as he said it. “Me and my mom.”

Oh, Saint thought.

“Oh, Leonardo,” Saint sighed. “Un ange.”

“Not my name,” Leo said.

“I know.”

“Yeah,” Logan replied to Pascal’s still questioning gaze. “Yeah.”

“I see,” Pascal nodded. “Well, I’m happy you and your mother will have a helping hand now. I miss your father dearly, mon fils.” He smiled sadly at Leo.

Leo just nodded. “Yeah.”

“Him and his treasure, eh?” Pascal said. “A wonderful man. I miss going out on that boat of his.”

Leo’s smile was small, but fond. “Those were some of his favorite mornings.”

“Treasure?” Sirius asked.

“Black!” a new voice shouted. “Thank fuck.”

Saint looked up when Sirius did. James and Remus were barreling towards them from the dark outside.

“Good lord,” Saint said. “Rain, from Olympus. Water my crops, why don’t you.”

“James?” Sirius said. “What are you—”

James and Remus walked right up to their table—Remus looking slightly more reluctant. “We have a question.”

“How did you know we were here?” Sirius raised an eyebrow. “I mean, just…it’s a little out of your way, non?”

“Remus came here earlier, and when I told him—well, you’ll see—he said maybe you’d be here.”

Saint watched Sirius’ eyes narrow at Remus, confused. “Okay…”

“Well, it’s good to see you again, tweedle-hot,” Saint said to Remus. “Up close this time. We actually though you were going to sail right out of sight this morning.”

Sirius stepped on his toe beneath the table.

“Excuse me?” Remus choked out. “What the fuck did you—”

James blinked at Saint, then shook his head, as if to right his thoughts. “All right, setting every strange thing that comes out of your mouth aside for a moment —where is Dorcas?”

“Meadowes?” Logan chimed in.

James’ eyes turned on him. “You know her?”

Saint raised his hand. “I have the same question.”

“Well,” Logan hesitated. “Sure.”

“And she sells Felix,” James said, as if trying to confirm the information.

Logan narrowed his eyes. “Says you.”

James sighed. “I’m not here to turn her in, Jesus, I just have a question.”

“Do…” Sirius was looking at Logan. “Do you sell…”

“What kind of question?” Saint cut in.

Remus spoke up. “A does-she-deal-to-Luke type of question.”

Saint laughed. “Deveaux?”

“You know who Luke is, Saint,” Remus sighed.

“Well, yeah I do, Lupin, he tried to buy off me,” Saint shook his head with a tisking sound. “Turns out he’s a prejudice piece of eye candy. Who knew.”

“Come on,” James sighed, rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses. “Please, Sirius, come on.”

Sirius shrugged. “We don’t know who Dorcas deals to. We’re not involved.”

“If you did would you tell us?”

Sirius smiled, just a little. “Probably not. But I really don’t know.”

James sighed, sagging away from the table. He looked at Remus. “Fuck.”

“What were you hoping to accomplish here?” Sirius asked slowly.

“We—” Remus said, then sighed, too. “We were going to see if she would agree to stop. If it was her, if she would stop giving it to him.”

“We’d pay her,” James added. “Obviously.”

Saint scoffed, and Logan laughed a little, too, from beside him.

“Obviously,” Saint mimicked.

“We just meant—” Remus began.

“We know what you meant,” Sirius said.

Saint popped a fry into his mouth. “If we’ll clean your pools for a few bucks, we’ll grant you three wishes, too.”

“Jesus, Saint,” James groaned.

“Mary. Joseph—”

James ran his hands through his hair. “We’re sorry, we misspoke. We’re just trying to help our friend. His dad got taken to jail, his mom pops pills all day and night. That’s already draining what little money the bank didn’t seize and if he wants to do anything with his life he needs a straight head. Just—fuck, we’re just asking.”

Saint prided himself on gathering information, but most of that were things he didn’t know. Luke’s dad had got taken away. But the pills? The financial distress? All of that paired with that guarded snarl the boy always seemed to wear…it almost made Saint feel sorry for Luke Deveaux. He almost said so.

Instead, he said, while twirling the cross around his neck. “Wow, he must feel like an orphan or something.”

“All right,” Remus sighed. “James, let’s just go.”

“What does he look like?” Logan said suddenly before they could turn to leave.

James looked a him warily. “Um. Sort of blond-ish. More brown-haired, I guess. Big guy, built and tall and all that. Oh, he’s got this green spot in one eye.”

Logan nodded. James raised an eyebrow. Saint waited.

“How much will you pay me to stop selling to him?” Logan finally said. He rose as he did, slinging his backpack over one shoulder. “That’s a lot out of my pocket.”

“Logan,” Saint said, but Logan didn’t look at him.

James blinked. “I—oh. Oh, uh—God, what do you want? Two hundred?”

"One grand,” Logan said.

James laughed. “Dude. Who the fuck are you? No, I don’t have that much just—on me.”

“Logan,” Saint warned again, and this time Logan did look at him. Saint shook his head softly.

“Fine,” Logan said through his teeth, and held out his hand. “Two.”

James took his wallet out and handed over the cash.

“Thanks,” Remus said from a little behind James’ shoulder. “Really.”

Logan just nodded, shoved the bills into his pocket, and headed for the door.

“Pardon,” Saint sent a grin to them all, and followed him.

Once they were outside, Saint gave him a wack on the back of the head.

“Fuck,” Logan swore. “S—”

“You get out of that shit-hole and you go around selling Crucio? To Gods?”

“I—”

“I mean, seriously, what the fuck was that? Do you know how not careful that was?”

“I don’t even know who that boy is,” Logan bit back.

Saint blinked. “What?”

Logan looked out towards the ocean where they could hear the waves crashing against the shore. “He offered to pay, and so I told him what he wanted to hear. When his friend shows up hallucinating next, that’s their problem.”

Saint scoffed. “Fine, okay, clever boy. But you do sell Crucio.”

“Felix,” Logan countered. “And yes.”

“Crucio. And no.”

Logan shrugged. “I need the money.”

“For what?”

Logan looked at him and, this time, his eyes were hard. Desperate. “For Finn.”

Saint froze. He opened his mouth, and then closed it. “Excuse me?”

“If I can get enough cash, I can get Finn,” Logan said.

Saint stared at him, and then Saint laughed. Then, he laughed louder.

“You’re shitting me,” Saint said. “You think that?”

“What do you…”

“You think you can buy Finn out?” Saint repeated incredulously. “You think you can walk back in there and buy Finn out.”

Logan took a breath. “He—”

“Logan, Jesus Christ,” Saint snapped. “You walk anywhere near that place and you are never getting back out.” Saint pressed a hand to Logan’s shoulder and shook him. “Do you hear me?”

“I need to do something,” Logan shouted back. “I need to do something, I can’t just leave him in there, he’s everything to me.”

Saint shook his head. “He got you out. Don’t waste that.”

Logan nodded, eyes bright with tears now. “And you know he got punished for it. You know he did—”

“Stop,” Saint spat, glancing around, as if anyone could hear. “Don’t.”

“You could help me,” Logan said, wiping his nose. “Bash, you got out once—”

“No,” Saint said, and turned away. “No. And don’t call me that. Don’t you ever call me that.”

“Please,” Logan begged. “Please—Saint.”

Saint whirled on him again. “I am never going near there, and neither are you. Finn’s still in there, fine. But he’ll need to get himself free like us if he wants it bad enough.”

“I owe money,” Logan began, then his breathing hitched. “I owe them, I took some of it to see—to see Finn and…Bash—Saint—”

“Them?” Saint took a step forward. “Them?”

Logan pressed a hand over his eyes, but Saint walked forward and pulled it away.

“Logan,” he said lowly. “Tell me you didn’t.”

Logan closed his eyes, mouth twisting against his tears.

“Tell me, right now, that you didn’t let the Carrows tell you they’d help you. And that you didn’t believe them.”

Logan shook his head, not in negation, but in defeat. “I need him. I need him, I’m so…I’m alone.”

Saint pulled Logan against his chest and let him cry. The sobs heaved out of him for a long while, until the collar of Saint’s shirt was wet. Until Logan was breathing softly again, exhausted, and until his voice sounded shot when he spoke.

“You’re really staying with Leo?” Saint asked, more gently this time.

Logan nodded.

“I have a place, too. Here, in The Hollow. If you want.”

“With the others?” Logan rasped.

“What others?”

“How many others are out?” Logan said softly.

Saint shook his head, fingers in Logan’s hair. “Just me, that I know of.”

“You still wear it,” Logan said, pulling back to look at him. “The cross.”

Saint let his hands drop with a last touch to Logan’s hot cheek. “So do you.”

They were both silent.

“I’m sorry about Finn,” Saint said rigidly. “I know how much he meant to you.”

Logan’s brows pulled together. “He’s not dead.”

Saint nodded. “Right.”

“Saint…” Logan began, and Saint heard the almost B instead. “Would you—just thinking about it—“

“No,” Saint said, and then turned and went back inside.

Sirius, back at the table, looked at his face, and then at his wet shirt.

“Okay?” he asked softly when Saint sat down.

“Just dandy,” Saint replied, and looked towards the door. Logan was gone.

#warnings: brief mention of drugs and past abuse and death of a father #relic keel #lumosinlove #relic keel lumosinlove #wolfstar #wolfstar fic #saint #lumosinlove ocs #Logan tremblay #Leo knut #lelo #Logan Tremblay x Leo knut #o'knutzy

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missmorosis · 4 years

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Jealous

anonymous asked:

I’m BEGGING for a hc where zuko and sokka like the reader and get jealous of one another. Plot can be anything! :)))

anonymous asked:

oomgomg Hii u replied to me earlier 🥺👉🏽👈🏽 LOVE THAT YOU LOVE SOKKA!!! I love zuko too but sokka needs more appreciation imo.

Would u ever write an zuko and sokka x reader or oc where they both like the same person? Because I find myself conflicted between who I like more because they’re great for totally different reasons! Idkk but anyways looking forward to reading more of ur work!! And happy early valentines dayyyy 💕💕💕💕💕

please this prompt makes my true beauty heart go 📈📈📈

ALSO THE TWO OF YOU BASICALLY HAD THE SAME REQUEST LSAKDJS

enjoyyy <33 THIS MAKES NO SENSE IM SORRY

Pairings: Sokka x Reader x Zuko

Warnings: fainting and sickness (sighh yes yes i wrote another sickfic IM OBSESSED) & it may be the worst thing ive ever written-

Summary: a sick y/n is caught up in a love triangle... which boy is better?

Word count: 1.4k :)

The doorbell rang, and Y/N rushed to answer it. She opened the door to reveal a smiling Sokka. He was your best friend, so he normally showed up unannounced once in a while.

"Hey, Y/N!" he said.

"Hi, Sokka! What brings you here?"

"Knowing you, you probably haven't had dinner yet?" She nodded with a laugh. "Wanna get something to eat?"

It was past dinnertime, and she still wasn't hungry... In fact, the thought of food made her nauseous. Y/N nodded anyways, and Sokka smiled, getting his car keys out of his pocket.

Driving past the streets, the two blasted music out of the car's speakers, and Sokka sang along to all of the pop songs on the radio. Y/N laughed at the silly expression Sokka had on his face, even though the music was way too loud; it was honestly giving her a headache, but it was okay. She looked out the window to see Zuko, another close friend, heading out of the Jasmine Dragon. He must've just finished work...

"Oh, it's Zuko!" she chirped, giving him a wave. Sokka said nothing, his singing quieting down to silence, but he pulled over anyways to say hi. He parked his car, and the two hopped out.

“Y/N!” Zuko ran over with a huge grin on his face, waving his hand as a greeting. “Nice to see you again! Oh... hi Sokka.” Zuko’s cheerful smile slowly morphed into one of distaste when he noticed that she had been with Sokka.

“Hey, Zuko,” Sokka acknowledged. Y/N turned to see that Sokka’s face also fell when his eyes met Zuko’s. Sokka slung an unnecessary protective arm over her shoulders, and Y/N cleared her throat to clear up the growing tension. Shaking Sokka’s arm off, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Is it cold out here or is it just me?" Y/N blurted, causing Zuko and Sokka to look at each other worriedly. Sokka pulled off his jacket to throw it onto her. He zipped it up, and met her eyes.

"It's not cold at all... you feeling okay?" Y/N nodded slowly, signaling that she was okay, so Zuko and Sokka dropped the subject. She could have sworn it was chilly out.

"Anyways," Sokka continued, heading into his car, "wanna go grab dinner together or something?” The other two nodded, also following Sokka into the car. Y/N hopped into the passenger seat, and Zuko was stuck in the back seats. She could tell he wasn’t happy with her sitting next to Sokka, but she ignored it. They were just being plain childish, and it was giving her a headache.

“Oh, Y/N,” Sokka started. “I went to-”

"Sokka, go left," Zuko interuppted. Sokka sighed and turned the wheel, following through with Zuko’s command.

As the car turned, it pushed Y/N to the side of the car, forcing her to lean on the car door. Deciding not to get up, she nuzzled closer to the car window, her warm breath fogging it up. She blinked, trying to stop the growing sleepiness clouding her head.

Y/N heard Sokka ramble on about his day in the background, and her eyes closed for a second... just a second. She was just so... exhausted...

"Hey... Y/N? Are you asleep?" Sokka's voice asked softly. He poked her side, making her slightly stir awake. She tried to lift her heavy eyelids. Wow, she felt so sluggish.

"What, is Sokka boring?" Zuko laughed, as Sokka gasped, offended. "I should have been the one driving next to her."

"Y/NNN- how could you fall asleep in the middle of my story?" Sokka shook Y/N awake with his free arm. "Come on, you can't leave me with Zuko."

"Hmm?" Y/N hummed quietly, letting them know she was awake. Her voice was raspy; she had a sore throat, but the boys seemed to wave it off as a symptom of sleepiness.

"Am I too boring for you?" Sokka asked.

"No, of course no-"

"So you're saying you'd be with Sokka rather than me?" Zuko accused.

"N-no-"

"So you'd rather be with Zuko?"

"What? You guys are arguing for no reason," she mumbled, but the two boys ignored her.

"Of course she'd rather be with me; she's just too nice to say that to your face," Sokka argued, his voice increasing in volume.

"No, then why would she fall asleep while you were talking? You're boring." Zuko's voice was also loud.

"Please stop," Y/N whispered, rubbing her temples, and this gesture didn’t go unnoticed. Sokka and Zuko froze at once, watching her with concern.

"You have a headache? Are you sick?" Sokka asked immediately. Y/N sighed and nodded.

"Is... that why you fell asleep- because you were sick?" Zuko added, and Y/N nodded again weakly, and sighed. Sokka reached out next to him and put his hand on her forehead.

"Y/N, you're burning up..." Sokka gasped.

"Let me see," Zuko mumbled, placing his hand on her forehead. He sighed. "Y/N, you feel really warm."

"I'm so sorry for waking you up- it would have been better for you to stay asleep," Sokka apologized.

"No, no. It's my fault." She shivered, pulling Sokka's jacket tighter. “If I knew I was sick, I shouldn’t have come with you guys.”

"Here, have my jacket, too." Zuko wrapped his jacket over her as well, draping it over her shoulders.

"She doesn't need more than one, Zuko," Sokka scoffed quietly. "Anyways, we can go home if you'd like?"

"Oh, no, don't worry about me! We can go get dinner or something, it's just a headache. It'll go away," she reassured them.

"I don't know..." Zuko said. "Maybe we can get something to eat at your house?" Sokka turned around, heading back towards Y/N's home.

"I agree, you need rest." Sokka looked at her in the mirror. "Sorry to break it to ya, but you don't look so good."

"Okay... if that's alright..." she said, and Sokka smiled.

Everyone arrived at Y/N's house, and Zuko helped you out.

"Shall we?" he asked, gently grabbing your hand.

"C'mon, Y/N," Sokka said, glaring at Zuko. He grabbed your other hand, and pulled you along.

"Y/N," Zuko muttered.

"Zuko, let go of her," Sokka said, warningly.

"Who do you think I am? I don't have to listen to you," Zuko snapped back.

"You guys are driving me insane, can't you both just shut up and get along?" Her voice now matched theirs in volume, and the two stopped arguing, looking apologetic.

Boy, were you lightheaded all of a sudden. She staggered on her feet, and she buried her face in her hands. Not now...

"What's wrong?" Sokka's voice immediately asked.

"Are... are we scaring you? We promise it's not going to get too serious..." Zuko sounded concerned. She could feel both of the boys' arms hovering around her body, trying to protect her, catch her if she fell, or give her reassurance.

"No, no..." she breathed. "I'm.. fine..." With that, she promptly passed out.

Both boys rushed to be the one who caught Y/N. Zuko scooped her up into his arms, and he carried her into her room, leaving Sokka alone.

Zuko gently laid her down onto her bed, pulling the blanket over her. With a swift kiss that he was tempted to do all evening, he got up and headed out the door.

"Well..." he said, glancing at Sokka. The atmosphere was now awkward, and neither boy was going to leave for a while...

Y/N woke up, and judging from her headache and how warm she felt, she wasn't any better. Groaning, she got out of bed, expecting to be alone, but she was wrong.

She opened her eyes to see two boys asleep on the couch. They had stayed...

Medicine was laid out for her on the counter, and she gladly took it.

"Y/N?" Zuko's voice croaked, making her jump.

"Oh, hey... I wasn't expecting you two to stay..." she said, and he rolled his eyes.

"Of course we stayed... you feeling better?" Concern was written all over his face.

"I still feel like trash..." she answered truthfully.

"Maybe I can kiss it better," Sokka said with a small, playful smile, now awake as well, and she laughed.

"Anyways, thank you both..." She gave a quick kiss on both of their foreheads, making both of them blush. "Now, get some rest at home... I'll be fine."

"No way, I'm staying," both said at the same time. Y/N sighed; there was no way of getting rid of them, and she loved them for that.

"Do you need anything?" Sokka asked, getting up to get her some water.

"Nah, I'm alright... we can watch a movie, though?" She flopped onto the couch, in between the two boys. She turned on the classic Meet the Robinsons and laid back.

Both boys rested their heads on her shoulders, and she laughed.

"You two are idiots, you're going to get sick." They shrugged, and she smiled.

LMAOBDJJEEK OKAY WHOO IM TIRED BUT I WANTED TO GET SOMETHING OUT

this is totally unedited too IM SORRY

taglist (send an ask to get added!) @urmomoness @zuko-is-the-sun @busyforkuvira @appa-gaangnam-style @xxspqcebunsxx @akiris @welovediaaxx @ray-ofmoonlight @sokkaandzukosimp @u-4iia @sunnimochix @kaylove12

Zuko taglist: @duh-dobrik

#zuko x reader #sokka x reader #zuko x you #sokka x you #atla #atla fluff #atla sickfic #sokka sickfic #zuko sickfic #zuko fluff #sokka fluff #atla x reader #atla x you #atla x y/n #sokka x y/n #zuko x y/n #sokka comfort #zuko comfort

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theasstour · 4 years

Photo

𝐅𝐈𝐂 𝐏𝐀𝐆𝐄 | 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 𝟏𝟐.𝟗𝐤 𝐍𝐁: 𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐨𝐥, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬

A/N: Massive thank you to my dearest @fromyourstrulyh for the help! You’re an angel sent from above 🦑🌊✨

Monday, 22 June

Y/N walked through the doors to the Inn, placing her red heart shaped sunglasses at the top of her head as she started rummaging through her purse for the keys to her room. It had just passed 10am and she’d been strolling about town, popping by Vintage Divine again. Now all she needed was a small reading session and she’d be ready for the beach later. However, her attention was brought to the sound of voices and laughter coming from the back garden. She remembered how Bessie had been seated there the first day Y/N arrived, how tranquil the garden had looked hidden away behind the Inn.

Curiosity got the better of her and Y/N walked over to the open door, peeking her head through it properly for the first time. Vines ran up and down the white cement fence, the small square in the middle littered with different coloured flowers, a few bistro chairs stood around a round table, a few women around Bessie’s age and the woman herself all seated there chattering away. As soon as Bessie noticed Y/N, she put down the knitting in her hand and grinned from ear to ear.

“Well, hello!”

The other women looked at Y/N and she smiled at them all, recognising Camilla and Florence from before. They all exclaimed various greetings, motioning for her to come over to where they were seated.

“You’ve met Florence before, and Camilla I hear.” Bessie gestured at the two women. “And this is Barbara.”

“Just call me Barb,” the woman in question said, grinning at her. “I’ve heard so much about you, Y/N.”

“You have?” Y/N asked, sitting down in the chair beside Bessie, who had been patting it since Y/N entered the back garden. “All good things, I hope.”

“Oh, all the girls have said you’re just lovely,” Barb reassured Y/N, removing her glasses from the bridge of her nose so she could take a proper look at the knitting in her hands.

“Have you ever tried knitting before, Y/N?” Bessie asked, cocking her head a little to the side as she watched Y/N look around the table at all the four women knitting.

“I tried when I was younger, but I was no good at it,” she said. “My mother used to be a very good knitter. Or, she still is, but… but I never managed to pick it up proper.”

“It’s all about the technique and how you’re taught it.” Bessie moved her chair a little closer to Y/N, bringing a tote bag with her and retrieving some bamboo knitting needles and pink yarn from inside it. Startled by the sudden change of pace, Y/N was left staring at the yarn in her hands, and then back at Bessie, who only continued to look at her. The old lady didn’t wait long, however. She made Y/N look back down at the knitting in her hand again.

“Right,” Bessie started. “Do you know how to cast on, dear?”

“No.”

“Okay, first you need to tie a slip knot, like so.” Bessie took the bamboo needle from Y/N’s hand and showed her how. She did it slowly, letting Y/N really see how she did it before taking the yarn off the needle and doing it again. “Now you do it.”

Dread filled Y/N. She’d fail. She couldn’t do this. She had tried it before and her Mum told her she had no talent for knitting. Why was she letting Bessie teach her this? Sweat started beading at Y/N’s forehead. Bessie gave the yarn back. Y/N took a slow breath, placing her hand and finger as Bessie had.

Y/N swallowed thickly. “I can’t.”

“You can, darling. It’s very easy.”

Y/N shook her head. She was afraid her hands would start shaking. “I can’t.”

“Why can’t you?”

Y/N couldn’t just tell Bessie how bad she was at knitting. Bessie would be so disappointed if she did, but at the same time, the innkeeper would be beyond sad if Y/N didn’t at least try. Y/N felt like she was choking for a second, as if she was running straight for a cliff, unable to stop. It would be disastrous. She didn’t want Bessie to hate her.

However, she felt Bessie staring her down. She knew that she had to do it. Bessie had given her a piece of yarn and a needle. She could not disappoint. She just couldn’t. As slowly as Bessie had, Y/N managed to do the knot stitch. Her hands were trembling slightly, and with everything within her, she hoped Bessie couldn’t see it. Y/N’s accomplishment was rewarded by a single clap from Bessie and a huge grin on the old lady’s face.

“Again.”

Y/N felt her mouth fall open. Though this wasn’t knitting, she had a long, long way to go still, she’d managed to do a knot stitch. She remembered this was how you started every single project, but she didn’t think she’d be able to do it again. Y/N looked at Bessie, and the old lady was grinning at her. Bessie placed her hand on Y/N’s back and rubbed her tenderly, a silent encouragement to go on. The touch had come as a surprise, Y/N didn’t know why Bessie did it. The hand on her back did wonders to calm her down and tell her she’d manage to do it again.

Slowly, Y/N repeated what she’d just done, feeling her racing heart calm down just a tad when she managed to do the knot again. Bessie rubbed Y/N’s back again, and this time it startled her enough that she jumped a little. Bessie only laughed at the reaction, squeezing Y/N’s shoulder before gesturing at the needles in front of her.

“Well, you saying you weren’t any good when you were younger, look at you now! That’s a good start, my dear.” Bessie tapped the stitch. “Now, since you deem yourself a beginner, I’ll show you the easiest way to cast on. There are multiple ways of doing it, but this was the one I learned. If you don’t understand what I’m doing, please tell me, okay?”

“Okay.” Y/N gave Bessie the bamboo needle back, turning her body so she could better watch Bessie cast on.

“You see this?” Bessie asked, motioning with her head at the needle she was holding out in front of her. Y/N nodded and Bessie put her glasses back on, getting ready to properly teach Y/N how to cast on as easy as one possibly could. Though Y/N hadn’t envisioned herself spending time trying to knit while she was in Cornwall, here she was. It wasn’t like she was going to start knitting an actual jumper or something nice. For today, she focused on that little square so she’d get into it. It wasn’t the prettiest thing she’d ever seen, she didn’t believe Bessie and her ladies for a second when they told her how nice it looked, but regardless, Y/N brought it up to her room with her and put it in her bag.

Y/N Walking from the Inn now xx

Y/N started walking along the Terrace, leaving the Roaming Crab Inn behind as she typed Porthmeor Beach into her Google Maps. It was a fantastic day. The sun beamed down on St Ives as afternoon approached, a slight ocean breeze cooling Y/N down on her way to meet the Styles-Flores family. The wind wasn’t strong enough to make it uncomfortable to walk in her white and orange tie dye culotte trousers or white transparent beach shirt. In fact, she felt very good in this outfit. Her straw hat sat neatly on her head; she was sure Harry would be able to make her out the second he saw her.

Harry Wicked, walk along the Terrace and I’ll meet you on Fore Street 😊

The little emoji made Y/N soft for some reason. She went back to focusing on the Google Maps on her phone, walking along the streets of St Ives, taking in the people that were on their way home from work. It was a little busier than usual now, but that only meant Porthmeor Beach wouldn’t be as crowded as it normally was. Not that Y/N would know if it was since she hadn’t been there yet, but she imagined people were either on their way home or at home making dinner. It just so happened that the Styles-Flores family were eating their dinner on the beach.

She noticed Harry right away on Fore Street, shining in the yellow afternoon sun. Wearing a revere Aztec striped orange, white, red and blue shirt along with denim shorts that reached his knees.He spotted her through his round dark sunglasses and gave her a close-mouthed smile and a small wave.

“Hiya, you,” Y/N said, giving Harry a beam as they got closer to one another.

“Hi.” He ran a quick hand through his hair as they fell into step, strolling back the way he came. “You alright?”

“Yeah, just been walking around and reading most of today, really. What about you?”

“Helped Jessa get everything ready down at the beach, driven all the food there. I think right about everyone’s there now.”

“Am I late?”

Harry looked at Y/N, shaking his head quickly and making his sunglasses slide down further on the bridge of his nose. He readjusted them hastily. “No, no, no. We wouldn’t have started till you’d arrived anyway. Dinner’s not served till everyone’s there.”

Y/N smiled a bit. “I would hate to have-“

“-No, honestly,” Harry smiled back. “That’s how we are, and we don’t mind waiting.”

“Forgot to tell you the other day, but I really like your family. They’re so nice,” Y/N said truthfully, making Harry glance down at the ground before them before looking back up again.

“We’re a bit loud, and a little rowdy sometimes, but they’re my favourite people on earth.”

Y/N looked away from Harry, blinking rapidly. “Can tell they absolutely adore you.”

There was a slight pause in conversation as they turned to walk up The Digey. Harry walked behind her as the cobbled street narrowed, the stone cottages rising up on both sides making it hard to walk side by side.

“By the way,” Harry said as he came up beside her when they walked past Bumbles Tearoom, the tiny square-like opening providing more space to walk on. “There’s… Uhm, there’s this thing on Thursday.”

“Yeah?”

Harry made sureno cars were coming as he let Y/N take the secure pavement while he walked on the side of the road. “My mates have gotten a whiff of what’s going on.”

“Which is?” Y/N smiled as she saw the ocean straight ahead, past the small stone fencing, seagulls flying and singing overhead.

“That my girlfriend’s in town.” He fell quiet for a second. “Pretend girlfriend. But they don’t know that.”

Y/N chuckled. “Alright.”

“One of them sent me a text asking if they could meet you. His Mum… You met her, Mrs Rose? Florence?”

“Oh! She’s so nice.”

“Yeah, suppose. A proper gossip, though. Anyway,” Harry said, waving his hand as if to dismiss what he’d just said. “Dax has been fed all this information by Florence and he’s now proper fuming I’ve never told him about you.”

“Dax is your best friend?”

“Him and Amir, I’ve been friends with them ever since I moved here.”

Y/N nodded. “So, what’s happening Thursday?”

“Ellie’s coming back from visiting her girlfriend in Ireland, so the lot are going to the pub.”

“You want me to come?”

“Dax asked if I could bring you. Rather, he demanded it. He’s quite offended that I didn’t tell him I had a girl- pretend girlfriend.”

The red that creeped along Harry’s cheeks after the stumble/slip made Y/N smile. “I’ll come. Have told you a couple of times already, haven’t I? I don’t have anything to do this summer anyway.”

Harry looked up at her, biting his bottom lip before looking at the beach before them again. “You really don’t mind?”

“Harry, you could ask me to come shovel cow shit at Jessa’s farm, and I’d be there without hesitation.”

That got him. He laughed and it was such a high-pitched boyish exclamation of joy that it surprised even him. His eyes grew wide and he slapped his hand over his mouth, making Y/N join in and laugh herself.

“I’m sorry, sometimes I sound like a hyena.”

Y/N shook her head while still laughing. “Why are you apologising? You’re laughing, you should laugh.”

Harry smiled at her as they crossed the road to the pavement on the other side by the fence along the beach.

“My Mum always said that you never have to apologise for being happy. You never have to atone for smiling or laughing or feeling content or ecstatic. Happiness isn’t permanent, one shouldn’t apologise or feel bad for experiencing it. It’s there ‘cause it’s there.”

“It’s there for a reason, though, isn’t it?” Harry asked, stopping and hooking his sunglasses to the collar of his shirt.

“Happiness doesn’t need reason, does it? It just is. It exists because without knowing it’s there somewhere and it’s attainable - ‘cause it always, always is, no matter how dark the world gets, happiness will be there to bring light when the going gets hard, - there’s no reason to go on, is there?”

Something about the way Harry watched her the next few seconds made her feel important. It was as if he was digesting her words; truly taking them in and listening to her. His eyes flickered between hers and it was only her that had his attention. She wasn’t sure she’d seen that look on anyone else’s face before when she talked.

“Are you afraid of heights?”

The question took her off guard, but she managed a, “No.” Which was the truth. She didn’t mind heights.

“Sound.” Harry sat down on the stone fencing lining the beach, his feet dangling off the far side. “This way is quicker.”

Y/N looked down the road, the stairs leading down to the beach were a bit away, so she understood why Harry was doing this. But… her hat would go flying. There wasn’t much time to think about it, because when she looked back, Harry jumped off and down into the sand. It wasn’t far down, it definitely didn’t scare her in the least, but she’d never jumped from any height like this before. Maybe from the side of a pool and into it, but never like this. That being said, she didn’t want to keep Harry waiting. So, telling herself to get over it, she sat down on the edge of the fence the way Harry had.

“Would you mind taking care of this?” she asked, taking her purse off her shoulder and holding it out.

He nodded, lifting his arms up as she dropped it.

She took a deep breath, watching as Harry caught her purse, and waiting till he’d taken a few steps back before she held onto her straw hat and mimicked what Harry had done a minute earlier. The sand came toward her at a rapid pace, butterflies appearing in her belly at the rush the jump brought, and before she knew it, the sand was right under her feet. The impact took her by surprise, and she fell to the side, an “oomph” sound leaving her mouth when sand got in her face.

“Oh, shit!” Harry ran over to her, sand spewing up behind him and unintentionally falling to his knees beside her, purse hanging from his shoulder. He held both his hands out, as to help her up, though both of hers were still very much holding onto the hat on her head. “You okay?”

She laughed, moving her hat some to look up at Harry, whose eyes were wide and hands still there at her disposal. “If we wouldn’t have looked like idiots, I would demand we do that again.”

A smile of relief washed over Harry’s face, and at the sound of Y/N laughing some more, it widened and turned into a genuine and elated one. “But you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I was just so focused on not losing my hat.”

“Right,” Harry chuckled, watching as she sat up on her knees. For a short second, his eyes flicked to her thighs, then back up into her eyes. Upon being caught looking, he glanced away, clearing his throat and getting up to his feet again. Y/N couldn’t help a slight giggle as she did the same.

“Never seen you in trousers before,” Harry said, giving her the purse back.

Y/N stared at him for a second before they started walking in the direction of his family. She couldn’t help her smile. “I didn’t know I’d never worn trousers around you.”

Harry let out a breathy chuckle, scratching at the back of his neck. “I, uh… I dunno… I have a good memory, I suppose.”

The two of them walked all the way over to the edge of the beach, right by the green Island that stood lush and majestic above all the houses that lined the beach. Jessa noticed them approaching first, clapping her hands together upon seeing Y/N. Y/N grinned, holding her hand out to Harry’s stepmum. Jessa took Y/N’s hand and Y/N did a tender mano po that got Jessa beaming so brightly it felt like she was singlehandedly lighting up the entire world.

“Y/N!” Grace exclaimed, running over with her arms outstretched. She hugged Y/N around the waist and Y/N quickly hugged her back, taken a bit off guard by the warm welcome. She wasn’t used to hugs, but she wasn’t about to tell Grace that. “You need to sit beside me.”

“Of course, I just need to go and greet your grandpa.”

Jessa put her hand over her heart as she watched Y/N walk over to Harry and Grace’s Lolo. She took her hat off upon approaching, the old man watching her with a look that was neither disapproving nor reassuring. She remembered what Harry said about this being important to him, that he didn’t want the tradition to die completely, so he probably expected her to do the mano po every time she met him as well.

“Mano po?” Y/N asked and he gave her his hand. She brought his knuckles up to her forehead, held them there for a second before pulling away.

Once she did, the old man reached beside him and revealed a hat that looked almost exactly like Y/N’s. He placed it on his head and a tiny smile graced his lips, and the way he looked when he smiled made Y/N see his resemblance to Jessa.

“Would you look at that!” Y/N grinned, putting her own hat on her head. “Great minds.”

“It’s important to keep your head cool when it’s sunny and hot out,” Lolo said and Y/N nodded eagerly, heart beating fast with the possible approval of a highly respected figure in Harry and Grace’s life.

“Y/N is here!” Jessa exclaimed, sitting down on the sand beside her father. “Kain na! Let’s eat!”

That was when Y/N really paid attention to her surroundings. The table they were eating at was low and long, no chairs in sight. The rest of the big family of around twenty , sat down by the table, Jessa and Lolo in the middle. Harry sat down in the sand opposite Jessa, looking over at Y/N and patting the spot next to him. She walked over, sitting down, putting her hat and purse behind her.

“So, this is kamayan,” Y/N said, remembering what Jessa had invited her to that Saturday at Grace’s birthday party.

“Y/N’s first kamayan!” Jessa said, looking so delighted Y/N felt her shoulders relax. She hadn’t known she’d been nervous about this until now. “Harry, where’s your camera?”

“It’s, uhh…” Harry looked at Y/N, the redness in his cheeks showing again as he quickly looked away when meeting her eyes. “In my bag.”

Jessa got up, walked over to Harry’s bag and started to rummage around it.

“Nanay,” Harry said, about to get up and get the camera for Jessa, but his stepmum found the Super 8 Camera and brought it over, waving it in her hand. “Please, be careful.”

“Harry’s quite nostalgic and sentimental, you see. He likes to video everything, especially during the summer when all his family and friends are here.”

“I know,” Y/N smiled, though she really had no idea, telling Jessa and the rest of Harry’s friends and family wouldn’t look good. Especially considering how Y/N was supposed to know everything about Harry.

“Of course you do,” Jessa said, bringing the camera up to her face. “Everybody, don’t mind me, do your thing!”

“Nay, switch the camera to tungsten since you’re using daylight stock,” Harry said and Jessa waved his worries off like she’d already taken care of that, turning her attention back to the camera to focus in on everyone. She started filming down the long table and Y/N looked away from her, first at Harry and then at the table in front of her. It looked unlike anything she’d ever experienced before.

“I usually…” Harry started, his voice low so only the two of them would hear. “I usually film when the family and friends are together each summer. Kind of like… i-it’s something we can look back on in a few years and remember, you know? ‘Oh, that happened that summer’ and ‘I’d completely forgotten about that’, and so on.”

Y/N smiled. “I really like that. Keeping memories.”

“Exactly.”

“Oh, we have to tell you what it is!” Jessa grinned as she sat back down, Harry’s Super 8 Camera back in Harry’s bag. “Basically, kamayan is a feast where we use no utensils, we eat with our hands.” Jessa wiggled her fingers at Y/N, a small laughter emitting from her. “First – so it’ll be easier to clean up after – we put newspapers on the table, even though we only ever use this table for this exact purpose on this exact day every year. The banana leaves that we put on top always leave a faint white residue behind. Then as you can tell,” Jessa went on pointing to the table, and Y/N looked down to see huge leaves covering the table as well. It wasn’t just the pattern of the table; these were actual leaves. “Then we grill banana leaves and put the ridged side up. The ridged side is the waxy side, it’ll keep the sauces from soaking through.”

“You align the spines of the leaves with the table edge so they won’t hang off the side of the table,” Harry explained, looking over at Jessa for confirmation.

She smiled at him, then at Y/N. “I’ve taught him well.”

Y/N smiled. “So, no plates? We just put our food on the leaves in front of us and eat?”

“For the kamayan, we don’t use any plates, we scoop everything up in lettuce leaves, coconut cups, and so on. First, we put down the rice, then around the rice is the pancit bihon guisado, which is rice sticks noodles with vegetables. All of that should be good for you to eat. Harry forgot-“ Jessa leaned over the table and swatted Harry over the head, though the gesture was more out of love than annoyance as both smiled after. Harry quickly fixed his hair again. “Your useless boyfriend forgot to tell me you are vegetarian. I’ve never been more insulted in my life.”

“Nanay, it just slipped my mind-“

“-Shush!” Jessa turned to Y/N. “If I’d known, I swear I would’ve made more food you could’ve eaten last Saturday as well.”

“That’s completely fine, don’t even worry about it, honestly,” Y/N smiled, glancing over at Harry who was looking at the food in front of him with a smile as he listened to the conversation. “I’m just honoured I was invited to this at all.”

“Of course! You’re Harry’s girlfriend!”

Again, a pang of guilt exploded in Y/N’s chest and swam across her entire body. The joy that was so incredibly transparent in Jessa’s voice would be gone when August came. Y/N felt sick to her stomach at the thought.

“Then there’s fried fish, shrimp, roasted eggplant, pan-fried bok choy, barbecued chicken, lumpia – I made them vegetarian this time around so you can eat them as well -, and a mango and some other fruits, but those are all in front of you.” Jessa gestured at the food in front of her. “Made Harry put it all where you two’d be sitting so it’d be easier for you, that way you won’t have to reach around the table for the vegetarian options.”

Y/N didn’t know when her hand had come to rest above her chest, she didn’t know when her heart had started hammering a million miles an hour, but she supposed this was her reaction to people going out of their way to make her feel welcome and included. A smile spread out across her lips as she looked to Harry, who was actually looking right back at her this time, maybe to make sure she was alright. When Y/N met Jessa’s warm eyes, she felt something in the back of her throat almost start burning. This was all so thoughtful. Though she shouldn’t have been surprised, Harry’s family were the type to go out of their way for one another, she just hadn’t thought they’d do that for her. The only person that had done that had ever done that for her was herself.

“Thank you so much.”

“No need to thank us, this is a feast for everyone.”

Again, Y/N was struck by how beautifully the table was decorated. So many colours, so many different dishes; it looked like a piece of art.

“These are edible orchids, by the way,” Harry gestured at the purple flowers that were strewn across the small mountain of food in the middle of the table. “We’re not trying to kill you.”

“Yet!” Grace grinned from beside Jessa.

“Don’t spoil our plan, Gracie,” Uncle Tim said, giving Y/N a nod as their eyes met.

“You lot are being creepy.” Harry got up, walking over to the portable cooler and bringing out a few beers, strolling over to the far end of the table and giving them to his aunts Rachel and Abby and their husbands. Then he gave one to everyone else over 18, handing the seven children a juice each.

“Cider or beer, Y/N?” Harry asked, meeting her eyes as he bent down to get some more drinks. “Or do you want juice? Water?”

“I’ll have a beer, please.”

Harry got one for her, his Lolo, Jessa, and him, before giving one to Uncle Tim, Jack – a close family friend – and Jack’s husband. Grace got a juice as well, making Harry open and put a straw in it for her before she happily started drinking.

“Gracie,” Jessa said, nudging her daughter. “Everyone!” Jessa brought her beer up, grinning at everyone around her and meeting their eyes before she said, “Mabuhay!”

Harry looked at Y/N, raising his beer, and she quickly got the memo, mimicking his movements.

“Mabuhay,” everyone else repeated, then took a sip of their drink, put it down on the ground beside them and finally started eating.

“Is that a toast of sorts?” she asked Harry, watching as he picked up a few lumpias and put them down on the banana leaf before him.

“A Filipino toast ‘to life and to live.’ We always do it before we dig in,” he explained, giving her a little smile before focusing back on scooping some rice into his hand and putting it down on the leaf in front of him.

Y/N mimicked him, picking up some rice with her hand and placing it right before her, she then reached for some of the vegetables and lumpia. She looked over at Grace who was happily munching on barbecued chicken, listening to Uncle Tim as he talked about something that happened in the fishing boat yesterday. Aunt Rachel and her husband were watching their hoard of kids with a smile on their faces, eating the rice and some roasted eggplant. Everyone around the table seemed so at home and completely at peace. It didn’t matter that their hands were greasy or that the sauce was getting everywhere, it was beyond them. All that mattered was the company around them - their family and the people they loved most.

“What did you think of the lumpia?” Jessa asked, hope in her eyes and some pan-fried bok choy in her hand. “It’s Harry’s favourite.”

“Mine too!” Grace chimed in before looking back at Uncle Tim and then Jack across the table, falling into their conversation again.

“They’re absolutely incredible,” Y/N said. “Did you cook all this yourself?”

“We cook everything together,” Lolo answered. “The family makes the food, it’s a bonding experience. We prepare the food the day before and reheat it before we eat it here.”

“And it’s great being on the beach, ‘cause if we spill something or anything like that, it won’t matter, and then we can just wash off with a bath afterward,” Jessa smiled.

“The weather’s beautiful down south, understand why you’d wanna do it on the beach,” Y/N said, taking a sip of her beer.

“You haven’t been to Porthmeor Beach yet, have you?” Harry asked, just loud enough so everyone chatting around them wouldn’t hear them talking. “This beach, I mean.”

“No, it’s much smaller than Porthminster Beach. It’s right by the Inn.”

“This one isn’t as crowded.” He paused for a bit, shaking his head once. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s crowded when tourists come here, but think most flock to Porthminster.”

“Which one do you like most?”

Harry swallowed a piece of roasted eggplant. “Porthgwidden. It’s the smallest one in St Ives.”

“How far is it?”

“On the other side of the Island. So, Porthmeor is on this side, and Porthgwidden is on the other.”

“You there often?”

“This one’s closer to the lighthouse, but I like Porthgwidden better. Dunno why. It was the first beach my father and I went to when we got here.”

Y/N smiled a bit. “I’ll have to go there at some point.”

“If you like the gang Thursday, they might try and convince you to come to a party there in July.”

“If it came to that, I’d be easy to convince.”

Harry only let out a small chuckle before the both of them turned back to eating. While eating, Y/N realised that while partaking in kamayan, you strip yourself of everything. You sit around a table with people who mean a lot to you, catch up on life, and talk about nothing and everything. Using your hands to eat food was a humbling, intimate experience. One felt vulnerable eating like this; using your hands to eat your own food and also handing food to others around you with those same hands. You connected on a sort of deeper level, eating and talking like this. Throughout the meal, Y/N felt closer to the people around her than when they’d started. She understood why this was a tradition in the Styles-Flores family now. If this was her family, it would undoubtedly be something she’d look forward to when summer rolled around.

“Harry, can you come with me?” Grace asked after a little while, her juice box empty and no food on the leaf in front of her.

“You want to go for a swim?”

She nodded at his question.

“Alright.” Harry turned to Y/N as Grace squealed in delight, getting up to take her summer dress off. “You wanna come?”

“I’d love to.” Y/N got up, smiling as she watched Grace get her arm floats on. Harry drank the last of his beer, saying something to Uncle Tim that Y/N didn’t catch. Aunt Rachel and Abby were already by the shore watching their children, so it seemed an appropriate time for the rest of them to go for a swim as well. Y/N took her stuff and walked around the table to Grace, putting her purse and hat with their things so they were more protected against the wind. Though it wasn’t a strong one, she still didn’t fancy her stuff flying off, never to be seen again. She took her trousers off first, then took her white transparent shirt off over her head.

She really liked the mint green colour of her bikini. A square bandeau top and a leg high waist bottom. She’d never worn it before, but in her haste to get away from Winchester, she’d grabbed it. Grace complimented it, grinning as she took it in and “wished she was as old as Y/N so she could wear nice bikinis like that.” Y/N noticed then that Harry hadn’t gotten up and gotten ready with them.

Looking over at where she knew he was seated, she found him already staring at her. With his chin slightly lowered and eyes glancing through his dark eyelashes, it was as if his intention had been to look away. He met her eyes and quickly looked away, his cheekbones flaring up. He coughed and hastily got up from where he was seated, knee bumping into the table in the process, causing some of the rice to go everywhere.

“Sorry!”

“What’s wrong?” Jessa asked, looking behind her at Y/N, and then back at Harry. “Did she make you flustered-“

“-No! No. No, I was not checking her out.” Harry walked over to Y/N and Grace, unbuttoning his shirt and placing it with Grace’s clothes.

“What’s wrong with that?! She’s your girlfriend, Harry.”

“Nay-“

“-You must’ve done it before if you two are together, surely you-“

“-Nanay!”

Grace took a grip of Y/N’s wrist and the two of them started walking toward the ocean. Grace giggled some beside Y/N as they heard more loud chatter behind them coming from their table.

“What?” Y/N asked, smiling down at the seven-year-old.

“Harry was checking you out.”

Y/N huffed, putting her hand on Grace’s shoulder, choosing not to say anything as doing so might make it all worse. She was sure Harry had just been deep in thought, maybe just waiting for Y/N and Grace to be done getting undressed, so he could do so as well without the bag area getting too crowded. No matter what, she was sure it had just been accidental. Regardless, Jessa was howling with laughter behind them now, so it was all forgotten. The girls quickly found out why Jessa had laughed, though.

Harry zoomed past them, running straight for the ocean in a pair of short yellow swimming shorts. Grace yelped in glee, shouting Harry’s name as she sprinted after him. Y/N watched the two of them, walking at a normal pace to let the siblings have some fun before she joined in. Harry ran into the ocean, water splashing up around him before he dove in. When he resurfaced again he whipped the hair out of his face before running a hand over it to get most of the water away.

He grinned from ear to ear at the sight of Grace following him, her small form not being able to lift her feet high enough to run at any proper speed. He walked over to her, lifting her off the ground, and as Grace knew what he was doing, she shifted her weight so she was on his back. Her arms barely made it around his neck with her floaties on. At the same speed as before, Harry ran back into the water, Grace laughing and squealing and clinging to Harry as water came up around them.

The sight melted Y/N’s heart. The two siblings had such an immense love for one another. They communicated so well, always knowing what the other one needed without needing to voice the actual words, and it was so beautiful to see them together. Especially like this.

“I want to jump from your shoulders,” Grace said, reaching for Harry’s shoulder in the water and trying to push him down.

He went underwater, taking Grace’s hands when she was settled, and then resurfaced. Grace screamed in delight, looking over at Y/N with the biggest beam on her face.

“Y/N! Watch this!” Grace jumped from Harry’s shoulders; chin lifted toward the sky as if that was going to prevent her from getting water all over her face. She giggled once she looked over at Harry again, begging him to let her do it again. He did it without hesitation, ducking underwater and letting Grace settle on his shoulders before he came up for air again. Y/N was nearing them now, water up to her ribs, and though it was a tad cold, it was nice to cool down a bit. The afternoon sun was extra hot today, and it didn’t help when they’d just been eating warm food with their hands and were all full.

“Y/N! Look at me!”

Grace let go of Harry’s hands balancing on his shoulders for a few seconds before she fell into the ocean again, giggling loudly. Y/N gave a short applause which seemed to have been the right response as Grace beamed back at her.

“Now you do it!”

Y/N blinked a few times. “Do what?”

“Get on Harry’s shoulders!”

“Gracie, I don’t think Y/N wants to-“

“-Don’t answer for her!” Grace pointed a warning finger at Harry and the sight made Y/N laugh. “Will you? It’s super fun!”

Y/N looked at Harry, putting her hands on her hips, smiling over at him. He smiled back, running a hand over his face to get most of the water off.

He was very soft. His belly protruded some from his swimming shorts and his love handles looked squishy, though his shoulders were broad and strong looking. It was no wonder why Grace always wanted her older brother to carry her, he looked to be a very good hugger. His biceps were beefy and tanned like the rest of him, muscle and a softness to him Y/N wasn’t sure she’d seen on anyone else before. She hoped he hadn’t caught her taking an extra good look at him.

“You think you can carry all this?” Y/N asked and Harry let out a small chuckle.

“Yes.” There was a slight pause, Harry blinking a few times and shaking his head before gesturing at his shoulders. “Yes. Yes, of course. Do you want me to go underwater?”

“No, I’ll just try and climb on.”

Grace watched as Y/N walked over, Harry walking a bit further out and lowering himself till his head was the only visible part of his body.

“Told you not to lower yourself, didn’t I?” Y/N laughed, putting her hands on his shoulders.

“Well, I don’t want you to jump off and hit the bottom!”

Y/N only laughed and she saw a smile on Harry’s face. She did a little jump, putting both feet on his hips before daring to put one on his shoulder. In doing so, Y/N realised how long of a torso this man actually had. Lifting her legs onto his shoulder was a challenge in itself.

“Here.”

Harry put his hands out in case she needed some help. Y/N took them, leaning on them as she lifted her other foot, putting it on his shoulder. She tried to stand, but before she’d even straightened her knees and back out, she felt herself tip backward. She felt Harry’s hands leaving hers and his shoulders disappear from under her feet. A little scream left her mouth before she fell underwater. When she resurfaced again, Grace was laughing and Harry was smiling at Y/N.

“Oh, me falling is funny, is it?” Y/N asked laughter in her voice. “Maybe I should stand on your shoulders next.”

“Nooo!” Grace tried to ward Y/N off, but Y/N walked toward her. Grace tried to run away and Y/N pretended to be running as fast as she could after her. “Harry!” Grace shouted, jumping into the water in front of her brother. He laughed, picking her up and jogging off, then tipping over and underwater, dragging Grace with him. Watching the two of them like that, and being out there, acting silly with them was the happiest Y/N thought she might’ve ever been.

The three of them went back to everyone else a short while after. Y/N and Grace spent a considerable amount of time building an impressive sandcastle, though it collapsed in the end, making Grace so mad she started crying a bit. After that, Y/N chatted some with Uncle Tim and a few other of Harry’s family members, listening to them talking more than anything else. She didn’t mind, though. She quite liked listening to others.

After a little while of Harry playing with his cousins in the sea, he walked up over to everyone else. It wasn’t till he’d dried off a bit and put his shirt back on that he asked if Y/N wanted to take a stroll. She put her loose trousers back on before she joined Harry, the two of them falling into step and walking in silence until all of his family members were out of earshot.

“Been to The West Beach Bakery?” Harry gestured at something that looked to be a restaurant in the distance.

“No, would you recommend?”

“Highly,” he said. “The sourdough pizza with some sangria on the side is ace.”

“Sounds lush.”

“We could’ve gone but-“ Harry patted his stomach and Y/N laughed. “Anyway, whenever you have the time. I would suggest going there.”

Y/N smiled. “Thank you.”

Harry smiled back, giving her a nod before he looked at the sand underneath his feet as they walked.

“Can I ask you a question?” she said as she felt a wave wash over her feet, wetting the bottom of her trousers. As Harry gave a small nod, she went on, “When you eat… your blood sugar levels rise, right? How do you regulate it? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to talk about it.”

“No, I don’t mind talking about my diabetes. I did before, but not anymore.” He gave her a little smile before he glanced ahead. “I use insulin therapy. So, for someone who doesn’t have type 1 diabetes, insulin will be produced and regulate your blood sugar levels. After you eat, carbohydrates break down into glucose, a sugar that is the body’s primary source of energy.”

Y/N knew this, but she liked listening to him and wasn’t about to interrupt when he was talking about something that affected his life to such a huge extent.

“Between meals, when insulin levels are low, the liver releases glycogen into the bloodstream in the form of glucose. This keeps the blood sugar levels within a narrow range. But if you have type 1 diabetes, your glucose levels will continue to rise after you eat because there’s not enough insulin to move the glucose into your body’s cells.”

“Ahh.” Y/N nodded.

“People with type 2 diabetes don’t use insulin efficiently and don’t produce enough insulin, while people with type 1 diabetes make little or no insulin. Insulin therapy for me and everyone else with type 1 is therefore vital for replacing the insulin my body doesn’t produce.”

“Gotcha.”

He was quiet for a few moments before he stammered, “I… I-I…” He frowned before he cleared his throat and went on. “I got diabetes when I was 11,” Harry started. “My Dad didn’t know what it meant at the time. He didn’t know that much about it; he went to a seminar at the local hospital to learn more about diabetes. Free for family members living with diabetics.”

Y/N nodded.

“I… I used to be overweight. I know I mentioned it briefly, but… are you comfortable talking about weight and body image, by the way? ‘Cause if not, we won’t-“

“-I’m fine, honestly. Thank you for asking, though,” Y/N smiled, motioning for Harry to continue talking.

“Well…” He readjusted the dark sunglasses on his nose. “I used to be bigger, I had some fat on my body. I knew it, my Dad knew it, and everyone who knew me did. I tried to hide behind baggy clothes and behind my humour, it made it easier for me to find confidence to hang around people.”

Y/N frowned a bit.

“But when I was 11… I started losing weight. It wasn’t intentional, it just sort of happened. I started going to the loo quite a lot, was always thirsty, was very irritable and had a lot of mood changes. That doesn’t happen to me, I’m a pretty nonchalant, calm person. So, my Dad knew something was wrong, especially when he realised how quickly I’d lost weight. We’re talking that I used to have a bit of a stomach and suddenly I didn’t anymore. It was strange for a 11-year-old.”

Y/N nodded. “What happened then?”

“He took me to the doctor, they directed us to the hospital, and they told me I had type 1 diabetes. They said my body had started burning muscle and fat for energy since it didn’t get enough energy from food. I hadn’t changed how I ate at all, not that I ate particularly unhealthy before, but it just happened.”

“How does it just happen?”

“Well, it can be genetic. It’s been running in my Mum’s side of the family, and it skipped her generation but latched onto me,” Harry said. “But basically, what happens is when glucose levels become high, the kidneys work to get rid of unused sugar through urine. This causes weight loss due to dehydration and loss of calories from the sugar that wasn’t used as energy.”

“Ahhh.”

“Kids who develop type 1 diabetes often lose weight even though they have a normal or increased appetite.” They fell quiet for a moment. “Sorry, this is probably very boring.”

“No! I’m studying- Or I’m trying to study for the UCAT, so I find it interesting and necessary to know. Also very honoured you wanted to tell me. Thank you.”

Harry shook his head, as if he was telling her he didn’t mind. He suddenly looked at her, narrowing his eyes. “You’re trying for the UCAT? You taking the piss?”

Y/N laughed and Harry joined in. “No, I’m seriously trying to read for it.”

“I thought you were interested in books. Like, a literature nerd or something.”

“Why, ‘cause I read a lot?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Harry chuckled, meeting her eyes for a second before looking away.

“Well, that’s more of a hobby, really,” she explained. “I want to become a dentist. Though… I’ve just turned 24, so… don’t know if I’m too old to be following my dreams. Everyone else taking the test is gonna be 17 or 18 or 19, and I’ll literally be the same age as their grandma.”

Harry laughed. “How’s the studying going, then? How are you getting on?”

“Okay. I’ve only read the first two chapters, but… it’s fun.”

He chuckled, buttoning some of his shirt so the wind wouldn’t get it. “Convincing.”

She smiled. “I’m sure I’ll get there. Somehow.”

“So,” he dragged it out, pursing his lips some. “What will you study at uni?”

“Dentistry.”

“Makes sense.”

She laughed. “You asked!”

“It completely slipped my mind that there’s a course dedicated to it.” He smiled at her as she chuckled some more. “Not my fault I didn’t remember it.”

“I’m going to forgive you this once.”

Harry smiled, in the light from the sunset, his skin was a glowing orange and the tips of his hair golden. “Right, as not to trigger anything else uni related,” he said, and Y/N giggled. “What’s your absolute favourite and least favourite book?”

She looked at him. “Ever?”

“Ever.”

Y/N inhaled, bringing her hand to her chin as she narrowed her eyes in thought. “My favourite has got to be Uses of the Erotic by Audre Lorde, and my least favourite is The Alchemist by Pablo Coelho. Though, Uses of the Erotic is an essay, really, but it’s the most profound text I’ve ever read.”

“Right, what’s it about?”

“Audre argues that eroticism, which has been inappropriately relegate to the domain of sex only, should instead be understood as a basic life force of vitality and creative power that guides us truthfully in all interactions. It’s the depth of feeling and engagement with ourselves and others. It relates to sexuality but doesn’t end there. It transcends all domains of life; domains we’ve been instructed to keep in neat, separate boxes.”

“Sounds interesting.”

Y/N smiled, nudging Harry’s arm with her shoulder.

“No! I genuinely mean it. It sounds interesting. I don’t really think of these things, so reading essays about stuff I don’t know much about is fascinating.”

“Exactly!” Y/N said. “As for The Alchemist… might just be that the English translation is bad, but it’s a poorly written book, for starters. It’s too philosophical, it’s full of boring, biased writing which tries to tell you that the world is controlled by destiny. There are also explicit religious themes that are hard for non-Christians to agree with. And the author’s extremely sexist.”

“You don’t believe in destiny?” Harry asked, taking Y/N a bit by surprise.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you said he tries to tell the reader the world is controlled by destiny. You don’t think the universe brings you someplace or something or offers you an opportunity ‘cause it’s got this already calculated and wonderful plan for you, and where you’re supposed to end up?”

Y/N thought about that for a second. “I’m more of a believer of energy and balance. If you give the universe goodness, it will return that goodness back to you. So, if you’ve given negative energy out into the universe and the people around you, you’ll get negativity thrown back to you. You won’t get that job offer, or you’ll have relationship problems, or your house might burn down.”

“Oi!” Harry laughed. “From 0 to 100 real quick.”

Y/N giggled. “But you know what I mean, yeah? You decide your own destiny, but opportunities will present themselves to you according to how you treat the universe.”

“Yeah, I can see where you’re coming from.”

She smiled, looking down at her feet as another wave ran lazily over them. “How do you like being a lightkeeper?”

“I love it,” he answered honestly. “I didn’t want to become one at first, but… but then my Dad died, you know. It kind of forced me to take over after him ‘cause I was the next one in line. Before he died, when I was 18, I moved into the lighthouse keeper residence. It was empty, Dad continued to live with Jessa until he died two years ago, I don’t blame him for it, to be fair. It’s very lonely living out here and Jessa loves people, but you know this.”

Y/N smiled.

“I was already living at the lighthouse, already kind of looking after it when my Dad wasn’t there, so it made sense for me to do it. And, after like a month and some of doing it alone, I found out that I didn’t mind at all.” He shrugged. “Not that I had to ‘settle for being a lightkeeper’ or that I felt ‘forced’ to do it, I wanted to. I realised that it was something that suited me well.”

“You don’t need to be there all the time?”

Harry beamed. “Well, I’m here now, aren’t I?”

She chuckled.

“No, I don’t. I just need to make sure it’s in good condition.”

“What do you do then? You got any hobbies?”

Harry scrunched up his nose.

“What?!”

“You think I’m this boring bloke that just stares off into space when I’m not around people?”

Laughing, Y/N shook her head, making Harry chuckle some in response. “No, of course not! But surely you have hobbies, yeah?”

“Yeah, I play a bit of volleyball with some mates every once in a while, also really like watching volleyball matches on the telly. And I play the piano. I actually wanted to study music at uni before I decided I’d become a lightkeeper, I applied and everything.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, when we were teenagers, Dax, Jo, Amir and I made a band. Dax knows the guitar, and Jo wanted to sing, so Amir said he’d do drums, and I didn’t know what instrument I’d do, so I just chose the keyboard. My Dad had a piano as decoration at home, so I started just playing it, and I didn’t realise how much I enjoyed it till I was in a bookstore looking for piano books with my Dad.”

She smiled. “Do you still have the same piano at your house, or did you buy a new one?”

“My Dad got me a new one when I moved out. The old one’s at the farm.”

“Harry!”

The two of them turned around to see Grace running toward them, waving her arms and jumping up and down. She gestured behind her at their family packing up and Harry turned around, motioning for Y/N to follow him.

“Guess we’re leaving?” Y/N asked, though the sun setting and some of Harry’s younger cousins were asleep, so the family departing made sense.

“Yeah, it’s been a long day, hasn’t it?”

Y/N smiled. “A good one.”

Thursday, 25 June

The Kettle and Wink was a three-minute walk from the Inn. With the help of Google Maps on her phone, Y/N found the way very easily. With her green floral wrap dress and a pair of white Vans and some white socks, Y/N thought she looked pretty casual. The frill edge of her dress blew against her thigh as she walked down the Terrace. She hadn’t brought a cardigan as she didn’t think she’d need one, but now she hoped they’d be sitting inside seeing as the dark mixed with the ocean breeze would get a bit chilly as night wore on. She hadn’t expected it to be this nippy, so she’d just have to bite her teeth together and survive tonight.

Y/N wasn’t really sure what to expect from meeting Harry’s mates. She was sure there would be an abnormal amount of questions, both about her and their relationship. She didn’t know how much detail Harry was used to giving his friends and if they expected juicy gossip neither she nor Harry would be able to provide. Judging by the way Harry acted around her, she’d say he most likely didn’t like giving up every single little detail of his life. Some things he seemed to like being hidden, he wasn’t likely to open up about everything and that was okay.

The man himself stood by the entrance to Gabriel Street, his phone in his hand and a concentrated look on his face. He was wearing a pair of tall black Converse with white socks just visible under the cuffs of his light-washed loose denim trousers. He was wearing a wool-knitted carmine jumper, it wasn’t the thickest wool jumper Y/N had seen, but it looked light and perfect for the weather and temperature that day. A white tee shirt was visible under it, probably there in case he got cold later on.

“Hi,” Y/N greeted, smiling at Harry who jumped a little at the sound of her voice.

“Hi,” he said back, putting his phone in his pocket. His eyes travelled down her body automatically, taking in her summer dress and probably thinking to himself how stupid she’d been for wearing something that would undoubtedly have her freezing by the end of the night. “Ready?” He nodded his head up the street, probably in the direction of where the pub was.

“Yeah.”

The two of them started walking up, Harry opening the door for her when they reached The Kettle and Wink. It was fairly busy, but Y/N remembered how her father often went out for drinks with his friends on Thursdays and Fridays. Maybe that was something people did.

Upon entering, the bar was straight ahead, groups of people standing by the counter to order. Tables and booths were littered about the place, dim lighting making it so the dark wooden interior was hard to differentiate between the tables and the floor. There was a pool table that a group stood around, laughing loudly and each a pint in their hands.

“Harry!”

It came from the left side of the room, a table in the middle of a couple of others, a group of five sat there waving their hands and beaming from ear to ear. Harry turned to Y/N, giving her an apologetic smile.

“Listen, I know I keep saying this, but they’re a bit intense. I dunno why I keep befriending people that are,” Harry said, walking in front of Y/N to shield her from the worst of the comments and exclamations from his mates.

“I can’t wait to meet them.”

“Don’t tell them that, they’ll-“

“-Come here, you bugger!” A blonde bloke came into view, throwing himself at Harry and hugging him. Y/N quickly realised she’d seen him before. “You’re late.”

“It’s called taking our time.”

The blonde pushed away from Harry and turned his attention to Y/N, his brown eyes lighting up. “Good to see you again. Didn’t catch your name the time before.”

Harry’s head whipped around in Y/N’s direction, then back at the blonde, a furrow appearing between his brows. “What’s this?”

“Jo and I watched her stuff when she went for a swim, few weeks back, that,” he explained, smiling at Y/N. “No idea you would be Harry’s new beau.”

“Nice to see you again,” Y/N smiled.

“And you.” He brought his hand out, smiling at her. “I’m Dax.”

She took his hand. “Y/N.”

“Let’s see then, Haz! Move!” someone else shouted and Harry sighed, sitting down in one of the free seats, dragging the other free one closer to him to reserve it for Y/N. Dax motioned for Y/N to sit down and she did, giving him a smile as he took the seat beside her. Taking the purse off her shoulder, she placed it in her lap and looked around the table at Harry’s friends.

“Y/N, these are my friends. Gang, be nice. This is Y/N.”

“What do you mean ‘be nice’?” Dax asked, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, Y/N, you’re very much welcome here and we want you to feel like one of us, alright?”

“Sounds lush,” she smiled.

“So, what pronouns do you use?”

The question was so unexpected and thoughtful that Y/N was left gaping at Dax for a bit, a smile spreading out across her lips finally. “She, her.”

“Wonderful. I use he, him.” Dax gestured to the person sitting beside him to say something next. It was the blue-haired person Y/N had seen along with Dax at the beach. Both were pale, Dax a little broader and taller than his companion beside him, but they were seated close enough to each other so that Y/N knew they must be amazing friends.

“I’m Jordan, but you can call me Jo, I go by they, them.”

“I’m Amir! He, him, please,” the brown bloke beside Jo said, giving Y/N a little wave. He had his curly dark hair in a bun at the top of his head and a pair of round glasses on his nose, looking like the relaxed hipster type.

“I’m Ellie, I go by she, her, as well.” Short blonde hair tucked away behind pale ears, some of it coming loose when she grinned at Y/N. She reminded Y/N of a fairy.

“And I’m Fatima, she, her.” Harry sat back in his seat, revealing a brown-skinned golden princess, giving Y/N a small wink before she sipped her drink. “It’s so nice to meet you. H has kept you a secret.”

“I have not-“

Fatima nudged his leg with her knee under the table, raising her eyebrows at him. “Yes, you have. Dax hasn’t been talking about much else since.”

“What do you do when your best mate lies to ya?” Dax said, sounding very dramatic. “You wallow in sadness and cry yourself to sleep, that’s what you do.”

“Oh, come off it, Dax.”

“What were you doing hiding her from us anyway?” Jordan asked, picking up their pint and taking a sip. “Lovely to see you again, by the way, Y/N.”

“And you, Jo.”

“Right, I’m getting us something to drink.” Harry glanced over at Y/N. “Beer?”

“Yes, please.”

Harry gave her a small smile, and in it she could see a slight apology mixed with a short ‘good luck.’ She assumed he was afraid his friends would tear into her once he was gone, and though she was sure they were only eager to get to know her, she was kind of afraid of the same thing. They all seemed so lovely, but she was terrified she’d answer a question and contradict something Harry had told them or make it hard for them to believe her and Harry were a thing. These were such important people in Harry’s life, she didn’t want to disappoint them or Harry.

“So,” Ellie said, leaning her elbows on the table. “Why aren’t you living with Harry in the lighthouse? Judging by it, he still needs to blow some steam off.”

“El!” Fatima hissed, shaking her head at her in disbelief. “You’ve just met this person.”

“I’m curious!” Ellie turned her attention back on Y/N. “He’s so uptight sometimes, I just think he needs to relax for a bit. Blow a load.”

“Oh, my days.” Amir took his glasses off, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Maybe they haven’t had sex yet.” Jo shrugged their shoulders before looking at Y/N. “Sorry ‘bout this.”

Y/N smiled. “Oh, don’t even worry about it. But we live in separate places ‘cause the both of us need our space, it would overwhelm us to be around each other all the time. Especially when we haven’t really done so before.”

“I get it,” Fatima said, nodding her head. “You don’t want it to be too much too fast. You living with him for the summer would be like skipping five major milestones in your relationship, and you’d just jump to moving in with each other.”

“Exactly.”

“Harry’s also very private,” Dax continued. “No offence, Y/N, but he generally just likes being alone. He can play his piano, and write his songs, and work on his car, and be Harry.”

Y/N’s immediate response was to ask Dax if Harry really wrote songs because she hadn’t heard anything about that before. But asking that would be very suspicious and be a major give away. His girlfriend of all people would know if he writes songs, what kind of songs, and if he sings. He’d only ever mentioned that Amir sang in their band when they were teenagers, but he hadn’t told her if he himself sang some as well. She instantly started thinking about how his singing voice would sound.

“Harry told me you lot were in a band at one point,” Y/N said, causing Jo to howl with laughter and Amir to grin from ear to ear. “Care to elaborate, ‘cause he hasn’t.”

“That wanker, he really doesn’t like fun.” Dax leaned forward in his chair. “Right, so we were all big fans of Muse at one point, yeah? Proper wanted to perform at Wembley and be viewed as sex gods by every single person on Earth, that kinda thing.”

“I heard ‘sex gods’,” Harry said, putting a pint down on the table before Y/N. “And now I’m afraid.”

“Just tellin’ Y/N here how we used to be in a band.”

Harry looked from Y/N to Dax. “Then why were you talking about being sex gods?”

“First of all, shut up. Second,” Dax said, bringing his hands out and raising an eyebrow as he met everyone’s eyes one after one. “I’m right. Tell me I’m right.”

“You’re not right,” Ellie said, sipping her water.

“Astronaut Lions would’ve been immense if Jordan hadn’t decided to fuck off to uni,” Dax continued, sitting back in his seat.

“Amir can’t sing, so we were doomed either way,” Jo said.

“If it hadn’t been for our gig at Porthmeor Beach that summer, Harry wouldn’t have met Emilia.” Dax shrugged his shoulders. “That’s all I’m saying. We did work some wonders, did ‘cause some scenes, did make some magic. Cultural reset.”

“Oh, speaking of Emilia,” Fatima said, tapping the spot on the table close to Harry’s pint. “She’s coming back.”

Harry was quiet for a second. “Coming back?”

“Yeah, from her year abroad in Munich.”

Harry fell silent, then slowly started nodding his head, eyes falling to the pint he’d only taken one single sip of. Y/N tried not to frown as she watched Harry for a few seconds, tried not to get offended. Surely Harry would’ve told her who Emilia was if he felt comfortable doing so, but he hadn’t, so she shouldn’t feel like she was entitled to that information. But… she still felt left out. If someone around that table asked her about Emilia right that second, she wouldn’t know how to react or what to say. Glancing away from Harry, she kept her eyes on her pint for a few seconds till Ellie started talking.

“Is Munich big?” Ellie asked. “I imagine every single city in Germany to either be like, big like Berlin or a small village. That being said, it’s the most beautiful country in Europe, hands down.”

“Depends on what kind of big you’re talking about,” Y/N said, Amir making a ‘ooo’ sound under his breath and a cheeky grin on his face that caused Jo to give him a firm slap at the back of his head. “City population, it’s definitely in the top five. If we’re talking about big by area, it’s in the top three.”

“Had no idea,” Ellie said.

“I might be wrong, though, so don’t take my word for it,” Y/N said, quick to wave her hands around to dismiss the knowledge she’d just served.

Harry shook his head. “Don’t take her seriously when she says she might be wrong or when she tries to discredit herself. She wants to become a dentist.”

Y/N didn’t know where the correlation there was, but she was sure the sentiment was lovely.

“Wicked! Would we get a discount?” Amir grinned, bringing his pint up in a cheers before sipping it.

“Oh, my word, Amir,” Fatima sighed, and Y/N chuckled.

The rest of the night went by in a blur. Harry’s friends were so incredibly nice. They asked her questions, but made sure not to be too invasive or make her uncomfortable, something she really liked. They were already pretty tipsy, and as the evening went on, they all got drunk. Y/N and Harry were the only two who couldn’t be arsed to drink that much, so they rather watched over the gang as the volume got louder and the laughter more constant. The focus quickly shifted from Y/N and to everyone in the group, so Y/N sank back in her seat and just watched them interact.

As she zoned in and out of the conversation, she started thinking about Emilia. She hadn’t heard anything about an Emilia before. The thought of Harry maybe having dated before she arrived hadn’t crossed her mind once. She didn’t know if they’d even dated, but by the way Dax and Fatima talked about Emilia in relation to Harry, and the way Harry had reacted, made Y/N immediately draw the conclusion that the two had meant a lot to each other at one point. She tried not to think about it, knowing that it wasn’t really any of her business anyway. If Harry wanted to tell her, he would.

At one point, Dax tapped Y/N on the shoulder and when she looked in his direction, he had a big grin on his face, chin resting in his hand while he leaned his elbow on the table.

“Wonder what an average bloke like Harry did to earn your attention,” Dax said. “Don’t get me wrong, love the bloke, but you’re obviously… way out of anyone from down here’s league.”

She smiled. “In what way?”

“Wealthy.” Dax shrugged, as if it was a given. “Think Harry knows he’s in way over his head.”

Y/N frowned, not able to hold a slight chuckle back. “Pardon?”

“No! Didn’t mean it in a bad way, just that he’s never dated anyone that’s not from Cornwall before. But you probs knew that.”

Y/N hoped Dax didn’t notice the slight pause before she uttered a small, “Yeah.”

“Anyway, don’t wanna talk about that now, I don’t wanna make you feel bad in any way. How are you enjoying Cornwall?”

“It’s nice. Haven’t spent much time here, mostly travelled outside the UK.”

Dax nodded, blinking a few times as if he was confused. “But you… you met Harry in Newquay, yeah? So-“

“-Yes! Yes, I did.” Y/N felt her heart hammering fast in her chest, reaching for her pint and taking a quick sip to calm herself down. She couldn’t reveal actual information about herself, this was not the time. She had to lie. “Met in Newquay last summer.”

Dax nodded again, reaching over and tapping Harry on the arm. “Mate, when did you go to Newquay last summer?”

Harry’s mouth opened, but then quickly closed again. Y/N suddenly realised they’d said Harry’s trip to Newquay was a lads trip. That was the lie they were going with for how they met on the beach there. But Harry’s ‘lads’ were everyone around this table. Again, a spike of hot adrenaline exploded in Y/N’s chest. A sudden sense of horror took over and she racked her brain for what to say.

“Don’t remember you going to Newquay, was it a short trip, then?” Jo joined in, a furrow to their eyebrows.

“Yeah.” Harry cleared his throat. Y/N sensed the panic in Harry’s demeanour and hoped no one else did. “Yeah, Uncle Tim and I went.”

“Uncle Timmy?” Dax frowned as well, pursing his lips as he thought. “Alright. Yeah. Yeah, you were gone for about a week?”

“Five days,” Harry said. Great detail, Y/N thought. If the two of them were specific and detailed then no one could tell them they weren’t being truthful.

“Maybe it’s just cos you don’t leave your bloody house that we don’t remember,” Amir laughed. “Who knew a five-day holiday in sodding Newquay would leave you with a girlfriend?”

Harry looked at Y/N, the two of them sharing a look she wasn’t able to properly decipher. However, looking back, she was sure she could see some sort of gratitude in there somewhere, mixed with relief that they managed to get out of a situation that could’ve been much stickier hadn’t they kept their heads somewhat cold. The conversation quickly shifted to something else, much to both Harry and Y/N’s satisfaction.

Y/N started yawning at one point, both a reaction to the small amount of alcohol in her system and her early start that morning. It didn’t take long for Harry to join in, though it took about 30 minutes for them to actually look at one another and nod towards the door. Harry announced their departure to boos from his friends, but they were quick to wish them both a goodnight. Fatima made Y/N promise she’d hang out with them again soon; the gang had barely gotten to know her, and they were very eager to. Y/N promised, knowing fully well that because of the intoxicated state of which the lot around the table were in, they would most likely have trouble remembering most of the questions they’d asked her and what they’d been talking about anyway.

Harry held the door open for Y/N, giving his friends a wave before the two of them started walking back down the same way they’d come. Y/N wrapped her arms around herself, her shoulders shaking for a second as she realised how cold it was out. She supposed it was both the wind and how tired she was that made her have this reaction to the evening chill. Once again, she cursed herself for not having brought a cardigan. She composed herself, looking at Harry as he came up beside her.

“You cold?”

“The Inn is just a 3-minute walk from here, I won’t die-“

But Harry didn’t seem to bother listening to her. Instead, he reached for the hem of his jumper and brought it over his head in one swift move. He gave it to her, his hair an absolute mess and lips parted in anticipation of her reaching for his item of clothing. Biting her lip, she took his warm jumper and put it over her dress. Upon dragging it over her face and letting it settle on her, she was hit with an overwhelming smell of mixed cardamom, saffron, sandalwood, and vetiver.

“Better?”

“Thank you,” she said, giving him a smile as they took the turn down towards the Terrace. “But you really don’t have to walk me home. The lighthouse is so far off, plus it’s in the opposite direction.”

“I’ll call someone, and they’ll drive me home.” Y/N gave Harry a look at that and Harry only let out a small breathy chuckle, shrugging his shoulders as if the next statement was an obvious indicator enough as to why he was walking her back. “It’s dark out.”

She smiled at that and looked away. They were quiet for a second before the question that had been eating away at Y/N all night finally slipped from between her lips. “Emilia, your ex, right? She’s coming back to stay, then?”

Harry shrugged, a slight redness appearing around his neck and cheeks. “Dunno. Haven’t talked to her since she broke up with me.”

Y/N furrowed her brows. “She broke up with you?”

Harry smiled a little. “You sound shocked.”

“Don’t know… I don’t know how your relationship ended or why, but you seem like a nice lad.”

“Cheers,” Harry chuckled, Y/N couldn’t hold her own back. “Nice lads can be broken up with, though.”

“Yeah, I suppose they can.”

Harry fell quiet, shoving his hands into his jean pockets as he thought for a few seconds. “She… She broke up with me around the time my Dad died.”

That made the frown in between Y/N’s brows deepen. The blush in Harry’s cheeks got redder and Y/N looked away, not wanting to overwhelm him by staring him down while he was talking.

“Said she couldn’t be with someone who was so depressed, it affected her own mental health. Which is all very valid, so I’ve never been mad at her for it. If me being sad and depressed affected her in any way, then she had every right to walk away. Last thing I ever wanted to do was be a negative factor in her life, you know what I mean?”

Y/N nodded, opening the door of the Inn and walking inside, stepping onto the stairs as Harry closed it after himself. “Yeah, I can see that.”

Harry followed her up the stairs as he spoke. “After Emilia and I broke up, that’s when Jessa and Grace started obsessing over me and how I was always alone in the lighthouse.”

Y/N smiled a little at that, getting her keys from her purse. “At least they care about you, right?”

“Yeah,” Harry leaned against the wall beside Y/N’s door, hands still in his pockets. “At least they do.”

She only shook her head some, unlocking her door. “Thanks for following me all the way back.” She gestured at her room. “Literally.”

He let out a breathy chuckle. “No need to thank me, Y/N.”

She bit her bottom lip, stepping into her room as Harry pushed off the wall. “Thanks for tonight.”

“Yeah, it was fun.”

She leaned her head against the door. “Goodnight.”

He nodded in response before turning and walking down the stairs. Y/N closed the door and when she went to take her purse off, she gripped into wool. She was still wearing Harry’s jumper. Standing by the window, she saw Harry on the phone with someone, walking at a nonchalant pace and smiling at something the other person said, his dimples already showing. She turned around, looking at herself in the mirror beside the dresser, an overwhelming scent of cardamom, saffron and sandalwood surrounding her. The carmine was almost completely black in the darkness of her bedroom, the oversized soft jumper hung to just under her bum, nearly covering her entire dress, and for some reason, she liked the sight of the woolen jumper on her better than the green summer dress underneath. It wasn’t knitted and crafted for her, but wearing it felt almost natural.

However, it wasn’t hers. She took it off, folded it, and placed it on her desk. She’d have to pop by Harry’s with it in the morning, but for now, it would have to lay safe and folded neatly in her bedroom.

NEXT UPDATE: Sunday, 30 August, 9PM GMT!

A HUGEE thank you to my amazing and beautiful beta readers! 🌊 @aileenacoustic 🌊 @bopbopstyles 🌊 @fromyourstrulyh 🌊 @harrys-creature 🌊 @honeydearly 🌊 @summerfeelng 🌊 @watermelonsuger 🌊 @withallthelove-a 🌊

#harry styles #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles x you #harry styles x reader #harry styles smut #harry styles fluff #harry styles angst #harry styles fic #1dff #LETS GOOOO ST NATION 🏄✨#PLS DO COME CHAT ONCE YOU'RE DONE READING ILYSM 💖

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blingywitch · 4 years

Text

The First Step - Chapter IV

Omg hi! I am so sorry this took so long to get out. It took me a lot longer than expected to write but anyways, it’s here now!

This chapter is a lot longer than the others I’ve written in this mini series. I had a lot that I wanted to include and didn’t realize how much it was until I re-read this so I hope you like this huge chapter of pure fluff. :)

Finally, this is the last chapter of this story. I had so much fun writing it and it makes me very happy to see that you guys enjoyed it as much as you did. (I may write a mini Sequel with one or two parts. Maybe write the wedding I don’t know yet.) but moving on, as I’ve said before, thank you for all the love, and enjoy. <3

The First Step Masterlist & Full Masterlist

Characters and universe belong to, @lumosinlove

CW: mentions of food.

—

The team had finished practice and were now skating off the ice, tired, sweaty and ready to cool down in the gym and head to the showers. Well, maybe just the Cubs planned on doing that. The rest of the team however, unbeknownst to them, had other things in mind.

Walking into the locker room Finn, Logan and Leo were all grabbed by the shoulders and sat down in whoever’s stall was closest.

“Alright boys, sit the fuck down and tells us how this happened. Details. Go.” James prodded.

“You just sat us down” Logan deadpanned, smirk playing at his lips.

Finn huffed, though he was smiling—still. “Can we at least get out of our gear first? Get a shower-“

“No!” The entire team shouted back.

Finn put his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay we’ll tell you.” He then looked to Logan. “Lo?”

Logan stood up and walked over to join Leo; who had been sat down at the other side of the room— in, from what Logan could see, looked like kuny’s stall— sitting down next to him and intertwining their fingers. Finn wasn’t long joining the two and then Logan took a deep breath, “It wasn’t anything special-“

He was cut off by Leo smacking his arm. Logan rolled his eyes playfully and continued, “Fine. It wasn’t anything big and fancy.”

One week earlier

The sun was streaming trough the blinds of their bedroom window when Logan woke up, sandwiched between his boys. Opening his eyes, squinting slightly from both sleep and the brightness of the room, he looked at Leo and Finn. In the morning sun he could see every little detail of them— every little detail that he loved. Hundreds of freckles adorned Finn’s face, fanning over his cheekbones and nose going all the way down to his shoulders; resembling the thousands of stars in the sky. Careful not to wake him Logan turned over to get a better look at Leo, who had his arm loosely around his waist. He noticed that, in the sun, the younger boy’s hair looked more like the sun than the sun itself. The blonde and white strands glistening and glowing in the light. Logan had to hold himself back from running his fingers through it. He loved these boys so so much and today was the day they would learn just how much.

Today was the day.

Logan peeked over Leo’s shoulder to look at the clock on the nightstand, it read ‘6:15 am’. That was good. Leo and Finn wouldn’t be up for at least another three hours, four if he was lucky— it was Saturday after all and they had nothing they needed to do today. Logan had gotten unbelievably lucky by coach giving them the day off.— he had time.

Sighing to himself he removed Leo’s arm, carefully climbed over Finn and got out off bed. He padded around the house for a little, toothbrush in one hand phone in the other, sending texts and making preparations for the day. After he was finally dressed and ready to go he gave his boys one last kiss on the cheek and he was gone.

—

“Thank you, Celeste, for doing this on such short notice,” Logan said as he sat down at the Dumais’ kitchen island.

“De rien, Logan. You know I don’t mind. But are you going to tell me why I had to cook all this food last night?”

“Well... I can... but you can’t tell anyone, not even Dumo.”

Celeste furrowed her eyebrows but motioned for him to continue.

“...I’m proposing today.” Logan said, his voice barely above a whisper. The rest of the Dumais’ were still asleep but he couldn’t risk anything.

Though his efforts were probably in vain because Celeste let out a very loud gasp at that, quickly covering her mouth and looking towards the stairs, listening for any sign someone had woken up. After the house stayed quiet she looked back at Logan.

“Logan... that’s amazing.” Celeste walked over to Logan and placed a kiss to the top of his head. “I’m so happy to hear that.”

Hearing those words come out of his mouth, Logan couldn’t describe how it made him feel. But he decided on happy for the time being. He was proposing today. “Moi aussi....”

Celeste stepped back and Logan met her eyes, “My lips are sealed.” She said, he just smiled at her.

“Now. You should get going, I don’t know when those boys of yours will be up but I know mine will be soon, so” Celeste pushed the dishes of food towards Logan and poked him in the arm. “Go. Get.”

Logan chuckled. “d'accord, d'accord I’m going.”

—

On second thought maybe Logan had gotten up to early.

He’d wanted to make sure he had enough time to do everything it was he needed get done. And he had gotten everything done, which was good. But it was still only 8:30 am, and Logan was just standing in his kitchen unsure of what to do next. He could wake them up... but he didn’t wanna do that, it was their day off. But at the same time, being here alone and just waiting for them to wake up was driving him crazy.

So Logan decided he wouldn’t wait alone. Taking one last look at the array of food before him, he set off for the bedroom.

Finn and Leo were exactly where they were when Logan left a few hours before, except now Finn was rolled over onto his back and had his arm thrown over his face, Leo laying a bit closer to him than before.

He smiled at how cute they looked and tiptoed over to the bed, dropping himself down beside Leo and waited. Letting his mind run wild with what was about to happen.

—

Leo woke up about an hour later, after rubbing his eyes and stretching he felt a hand on his back and a kiss to his shoulder. Leo smiled softly and turned over. “Hmm, morning.” He said, nuzzling into Logan’s chest.

“Bon matin, mon amour.” Logan greeted him, just as Finn started to stir. He groaned and his eyes meet Logan’s as they opened.

“I’m the sleepyhead s’morning I see.” He said, upon seeing his boyfriends next to him already awake.

Logan huffed out a laugh. “Morning to you too, Harz.”

Finn just smiled and got up on an elbow, leaning over Leo he gave Logan a quick kiss on the lips. “Morning.” He said, pulling away.

He then moved from Logan to Leo, bending down and kissing his jaw, the only part of the boy’s face that was exposed. “Morning Peanut.”

“Hmm.” Was the only response he got.

Finn laughed into Leo’s neck. “You awake yet?”

“Mm’no” Leo replied, word muffled my Logan’s chest.

“Well you can go back to sleep for a little bit, okay?”

“M’kay” Leo mumbled, Finn did not have to tell him twice.

They stayed quiet for another few minutes, enjoying each other’s company before Finn asked, “So what’s on the schedule for today?”

“Nothing.” Leo, who had finally decided to wake up said, rolling onto his back. “I’m staying here. All day.”

“Well as much as I’d love to do that mon chéri, I have something planned.” Logan chimed in.

“And what would that be?” Finn challenged, raising an eyebrow.

“You’ll see.” Logan smirked. “C’mon.” He said, standing up and grabbing one of their hands each.

“Ugh fine.” Leo groaned though he was now curious as to what Logan had in store for them.

“So moody in the morning, Peanut.” Finn said teasingly.

“Oh hush you.” Leo playfully smacked his arm.

That only made Finn smile.

“C’mon,” Logan singsonged, pulling them forward. “you’re so slow.”

Despite all his previous nerves about this day, now that it was here Logan was surprised to find out that those feelings had miraculously disappeared and he felt completely fine. The only emotion flowing through him being pure euphoria. He was everything but nervous and he thanked whatever was responsible for that.

Finn and Leo were finally up and smiling brightly, Logan immediately stared dragging them out of the bedroom, walking backwards so he could catch their reactions.

They had just reached the living room when Leo and Finn froze. From here they could see the arrangement of food that sat in the kitchen. There were trays of cinnamon rolls, fruits and berries and well, anything you could thing of. Logan might have gone overboard, but he really didn’t care at the moment.

“Oh.” Leo broke the silence, staring over Logan’s shoulder.

“What’s the occasion?” Finn asked.

“No occasion.” Logan replied. “I just love you.”

Logan dropped their hands and walked the rest of the way to the kitchen. “Hello? Are you just going to stand there all day or do you want some breakfast?”

The two other boys were moving again and in no time had two plates of food in front of them.

“So, Lo” Leo started, after three had been eating in silence for a while. “Where did all this food come from? Because you certainly didn’t cook it.”

Logan let out a mock gasp at that. “How dare you underestimate my cooking skills!”

“What!? Am I lying?”

“No.” Finn said around a mouthful of eggs.

Logan flicked a blueberry at him.

“Hey!”

Next to them, Leo laughed, “Alright, alright don’t waste the food.”

Finn jerked his head at Leo, “The chef in that one is coming out.” He said to Logan, who laughed.

Finn got another blueberry flicked at him, this time by Leo.

—

Logan had to get the rings.

After the three had eaten breakfast they had all made their way to the couch and were now tangled around each other, relaxing and watching a movie. It was the perfect moment. But of course, Logan didn’t have the rings on him. They were at the end of the hallway, stashed in the back of a closet. The only place Logan could think of where they wouldn’t be found accidentally. He had to get them.

“Finn?” Logan tried to get Finns attention.

Finn hummed showing he was listening, though his eyes were fixed on the tv.

“Can you let me up for a second?” Logan asked. Like always, he was squished between the two of them.

“Mhmm.” Finn replied and stood up to let Logan go.

“Wait!” Leo said Suddenly, arms outstretched. “where are you going? Come back.”

“I’ll be back Knutty, don’t worry.” Logan laughed, walking away. “I’m just getting blankets.”

And in no time Logan was back, with a blanket in one hand and two rings in his back pocket.

“You’re the best.” Finn said as Logan handed him the blanket.

Leo sat up, taking the blanket from Finn and putting his feet in his lap. He motioned for Logan to sit next to him and then put the blanket over them.

“Je t’aime.” Logan whispered pecking Leo on the lips, he reached out and grabbed Finn’s hand. “You too, Fish.”

‘Here goes nothing’ Logan thought. He picked up the remote and turned the tv off.

“Lo, what are you doing?” Confusion laced Finn’s voice

“Do you know how much I love you?Both of you?” Logan was now gripping both of their hands like his life depended on it. The next thing that came out of his mouth even surprised him, “épouse-moi?”

Leo froze.

“W- what?” Finn asked, heart rate picking up.

Logan reached into his back pocket; when his hand reappeared he was holding three identical sliver bands in his palm. “Marry me?” He said again, firmer this time.

When no one said anything Logan continued, “I could get started on all that, ‘oh we’re to young and I don’t know if we’re ready’ shit, but I won’t. If you’re ready I’m ready. And if you’re not, then I’ll be here when you are; Because I love you both so much and I’d wait eternity for you. So... marry me?”

Logan looked back and forth between the two. Leo was first to break the silence, “Yes.” He breathed and Logan finally let his smile show.

He turned to Finn who was still staring at the rings in his hand. “Fish?”

Finn finally tore his eyes away from the rings and when he looked up Logan noticed a tear making it’s way down his face. Logan smiled softly at him.

“Yes. Oh my god, yes!” He beamed and tackled Logan in a hug, only breaking away to pull Leo in as well.

They fell into the couch again, in a puddle of happy tears, kisses and whispered I love you’s. Fully ready to start the next chapter of their lives, being with each other every step of the way.

As Logan placed the rings on their fingers the last thing Finn said before he was tacked by two boys and a bunch of pillows was, “Fuck, I love my life.”

Present day

Logan finished his story and looked around at his teammates, Dumo spoke up first. “Wait. Celeste knew and I didn’t!? Why didn’t you tell me!?”

“Because I wanted it to be a surp- hmff” Logan was hit Square in the stomach by a hockey glove— thrown by Dumo of course.

“Rude.” Logan mumbled.

Leo looked to his left, hoping to find Finn. Instead, something else caught his eye and he burst out laughing, “Potts are you crying?” He asked.

“No!”

#lumosinlove #leo knut #o'knutzy #coast to coast lumosinlove #sweater weather lumosinlove #finn o'hara #logan tremblay #wolfstar

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a-smr-things · 3 years

Text

Underwater (Peter Parker x Reader)

T/w: Suicidal thoughts, trauma

Read at your own discretion.

This is my first time and I am still developing my fanfic style...so please do forgive any stupid errors on my part.

********************************

If there was one person you hated in Midtown, it was him. Perfect hair, perfect grades and your academic rival, Peter Parker.

But like, seriously, even Flash didn't annoy you as much as Peter did.

And he just had to interrupt you while you were explaining your interpretation of the poem.

What the hell did he know about literature anyway? Science nerd.

It didn't help that both of you were the chairs of the student council.

"MJ," you yelled out as you ran after her.

"Y/n," MJ acknowledged you as she turned to face you, the wind blowing her hair all out of place.

"Do you have any idea where Peter is?" The exasperation was evident in your voice.

This would be the third meeting he had missed in a row. You didn't understand how the hell he had managed to disappear off to nowhere just before the meeting.

Either the guy knew apparition or he was in serious need of a smack to the head.

"Well, guess I will be alone this time as well," you mumbled to yourself as you walked towards the meeting room.

***

"Ow," Peter groaned as he walked away from the scene of crime.

Falling face first onto a garbage bin wasn't part of his bucket list but sometimes you get stuff you never asked for.

He swung over to the rooftop where he had left his backpack. His phone was buzzing off when he got to it.

16 missed calls from Y/n

"Why is she calling me?" He mumbled as he grabbed his backpack to go back home.

"Oh shit," he said when he realized, quickly changing lanes and swinging towards the school.

***

After school student council meetings are nothing to be excited about. It was pretty evident that Peter didn't like them. You weren't especially crazy about the meetings either.

After all, why would anyone want to sit in a room with some bored ass kids who just wanna go home?

As much as you hated Peter, having him in the meeting did take off some of the burden from you and you would rather he be present. But, no! The guy was apparently continuing his "Let me ditch on the meeting" ritual again.

"Y/n, did you bring the agenda for the segment about lack of sports equipment?" The representative of the football team asked you as you sat at the desk.

"Ah shit, of course Peter had to be in charge of it. Wait, let me go get it from his shelf." You said hurriedly, walking out of the door.

"Thank God Miss Martins asked us to put the files in her staffroom shelf, else I'd be doomed," you thought as you took the shortcut by the swimming pool to reach the staff room.

"Fuck." The tiles beside the swimming pool were slippery and you weren't being careful when it happened.

It was all so sudden.

Water rushed into your mouth and ears as you sank deeper into the pool.

Panic set in and you knew you had to save yourself but a cold yet somewhat warm and tingly numbness settled in your limbs.

Your heart ached and you felt as if someone was squeezing it. The sudden weightlessness mesmerised you.

Your joints felt like lead and your body felt like paper. Your face and chest hurt as you ran out of oxygen...but somehow, it felt good.

You couldn't feel anything but a sense of relief.

You didn't understand where this feeling of satiation was coming from, but it made you feel at ease.

You knew how to swim, but you didn't feel like saving yourself. As your body became oxygen deprived, your struggle increased as you flayed your arms aimlessly in the water.

But somehow you managed to stop yourself from trying to swim to the surface.

An addicting void filled your head as you slowly fell into unconsciousness.

***

Peter ran through the hallway trying to get to the meeting ASAP, cuz no matter how much he hated working with you, he was responsible.

Sure, he did forget about the previous two meetings but being a superhero was hard.

He ran towards the swimming pool corridor to take the shortcut to the meeting room.

He didn't expect his spidey senses to tingle when he passed the deep end of the pool.

He peered into the pool and saw a girl half-floating haphazardly near the floor of the pool.

Without leaving any time for hesitation, he jumped into the pool swimming in to grab the drowning girl.

It was only when he pulled her out of the pool that he saw her face.

"Y/n? Holy shit, Y/n? " He croaked out, rushing to check your breathing.

You weren't breathing.

Peter panicked and checked your pulse only to not feel one. After a moment of confusion and fear, he came back to his senses as he remembered the emergency drill they'd had the previous month.

"Five breaths, then a round of thirty chest compressions, then two breaths and repeat." Peter recited as he laid you on your back He had 911 on call as he started CPR.

He heard a sickening crack but had no other option but to continue. He alternated between thirty compressions and two oral resuscitations like he was taught.

"Wake up, Y/n. Please don't die," he cried as fear, panic and desperation filled his mind.

Her body was cold and her skin was shrivelled up from the water. She didn't look like the prim and proper Y/n he knew.

She looked dead.

Peter was overcome with incomparable relief when she opened her eyes wheezing for air. She wheezed for a while and stared at Peter, looking confused and disoriented.

"Y/n, are you okay? The ambulance is coming, don't worry. You will be fine," he said as he pushed you into the recovery position.

Your consciousness didn't last long. You were in pain and exhaustion.

Peter was on call with his homeroom teacher as you drifted in an out of consciousness.

The ambulance arrived just as Miss Martins reached Peter. She was horrified to see her model student lie unconscious on the wet tiles of the pool, her skin pale and her lips trembling from the cold.

***

You woke up in the hospital with an IV drip and an oxygen mask over your face.

You tried to get up, but the nurse was quick to stop you from doing so.

Soon, people were rushing into your room.

"Mom," you whispered under the mask.

"Baby," she was crying when she sat beside you.

"Wha-," your mom cut you off when you tried to speak.

"Don't strain yourself, you have pneumonia. Take it easy." Your head hurt and your legs ached.

Your throat felt like parchment paper with jelly on it.

"Phlegm and jelly? What a good comparison, Y/n," you thought to yourself.

Slowly, the gravity of the situation weighed in.

You felt like there was a stone in your chest when you remembered how you had let yourself drown.

You didn't try to swim up and save yourself. You had purposefully let yourself drown.

You didn't even know why.

Tears sprung to your eyes as you realised that you had almost killed yourself.

You remembered exactly how you felt underwater. You'd never had these thoughts before.

Why did you do that all of a sudden? Were you suicidal? How could you be? There was nothing wrong with you, you were perfectly fine...Why would you want to die?

The heart-rate monitor went off as you went into a full blown panic attack.

The nurse rushed in, calling for the on-call doctor as she checked your vitals.

Your eyes widened, tears flowing down your face. You wanted to scream but your throat felt like it was clogged shut.

Your hand clamped onto the doctors hand in panic as you fell onto your pillow in exhaustion.

***

"Run, run, run..." You chanted to yourself as you ran through the forest.

You had no idea how you reached there, but somehow you knew that you had to keep running.

You panted as you reached the edge of the forest only to see a huge expanse of rock and a gigantic rock wall in front of you.

You walked over the rocks, your legs shaking from exhaustion. The sun was shining onto you, some of the rays falling onto your eyes giving you a headache.

You fell onto your knees trying to catch your breath.

Suddenly the stone beneath you started rumbling and a loud sound filled the silent atmosphere.

You stood up, afraid and confused. And then it came.

Water rushed from top of the huge rock wall, falling right onto the stone you wear standing.

Your skin hurt, the force of the water bruising it up instantly. Suddenly, you weren't standing on the rock anymore.

The strong current of water swept you off your feet and pushed you along its course.

You tried your best to stay afloat but the current was too strong.

Water rushed around your ears and entered your nose as you struggled to breath.

The water threw your limp body around.

Crack

You woke up screaming, sweat covering your scrubs.

"Y/n, sweetheart, you okay?" Your mother barged in hearing your screams, followed by Peter and MJ.

Seeing Peter, you composed yourself and leant back against the pillow.

"It's nothing. Just a bad dream," You muttered under your breath.

"Honey, I'll wait outside. I have a phone call to make. Meanwhile, you just chat with Peter and Michelle, okay?" Your mom said as she left.

You took a sip out of your water bottle as MJ and Peter made themselves comfortable in the bystander seats.

Your throat still felt clogged up with phlegm, but at least you did not have a fever anymore.

"So, how are you feeling?" Peter spoke awkwardly, avoiding eye contact.

"You scared us, Y/n. One minute you are going out to take a file and the next minute you are being wheeled into an ambo. " MJ said, trying to make her voice monotonous and nonchalant but failing miserably.

"Peter found you." She said, directing her gaze at Peter who was doing his best at avoiding your eye contact.

"I know," you replied, not bothering to look at Peter anymore.

"How did you fall?" Peter asked, still not making eye contact.

"I slipped. " You replied but your gaze was directed towards MJ.

"Thank God you're safe. You are taking swimming classes after this, when you recover, period." MJ says, concern leaking through her usually stone-cold behaviour.

"Anyways, Ned says he will be here soon, I'll go get him," Peter said looking up from his phone. As he stood up to leave, MJ beat him to it and said,

"You stay here with Y/n, I'll go get Ned."

What her intentions behind this were, you didn't know.

You just stared at your arms covered in the hospital bedsheets. A cough racked through your body as you hunched over.

You were surprised when Peter sat beside you and rubbed your back as your body was racked by the violent coughs.

"Here, drink it," Peter said handing you the water bottle. You leant back against your pillow, feeling weak and tired.

"So, how did you find me?" You whispered, straining your throat.

"I was taking a shortcut to the meeting room," He said, finally looking at you as he spoke.

"The whole school is talking," he states out of the blue.

"It's kind of a given with what happened. I don't care," you rasped out.

"Peter-," you began to speak but he cut you off.

"If you are going to say thank you, don't. It's not a big deal. Just don't run beside the pool in those shoes again."

" Well, I wasn't going to say thank you and yeah, of course I need you to tell me not to run beside the pool when all this shit has already happened." You retorted, annoyed at how Peter interrupted you.

"Wow, typical Y/n behaviour," Peter scoffed.

"Well, if this is how you are gonna behave towards me then you might as well have let me die," you weren't gonna give up either.

"Is that what you wanted to do? Die? Did you want to kill yourself?"

Damn, he really hit the nail on the head with that one. But you weren't gonna admit to it. After all, it was an accident in the first place.

"Yeah, sure. You run around searching for a file your partner was supposed to bring but then he is an asshole who ditched three meetings in a row and then when you slip and drown, which you wouldn't have had he came in the first place and then he has the audacity to act all therapist hero-" Your rant was cut off as you went into another coughing fit.

"Fuck, shit, shit, it hurts." You said, clutching your side, your eyes watering from the pain.

"I'll go call a nurse," Peter stood up, panic evident in his eyes.

Saving random people in the streets and saving someone you know, whether you like them or not, are two completely different things.

***

Water in your ears.

Water in your mouth.

Water all around you.

Crack. ******************************

A/n: Part 2 scheduled for next week.

#hope I don't regret posting this #spiderman #peter parker #peter parker x reader #adding random tags cuz idek what #this fic is boring ik ik #shit I'm having second thoughts #here goes nothing #angst #peter parker angst

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casey-v · 4 years

Text

Valentine

Ethan x Casey

I haven’t written any fics for quite a while, but with OH3 coming soon I’m getting these vibes again….

I always wondered: what would the closing of Edenbrook mean to E x MC’s relationship? Here’s my attempt to this part of the story.

Sorry in advance for any mistakes, English isn’t my first language.

Warnings: none, I guess (maybe a few smutty thoughts)

Words: 3K

Disclaimer: all characters owned by PB

Participating in @choicesfebchallenge Day14: Valentine

“Good morning Dr. Valentine. This is your day today, isn’t it?” The nurse Rose greeted Casey as she entered the free clinic.

“Good morning. Yeah, I get that a lot.” Casey tried a friendly smile. Since she had been a child everyone referred to her last name on Valentine’s Day, making a remark or joking around. As a teenager it had made her feel special, but by now she was tired of hearing it. Especially today.

She had been in a bad mood since she woke up and it had nothing to do with her last name or Rose. But it had everything to do with the man who simply ignored this day today, probably didn’t even know it existed.

It was perfectly clear to Casey, that these kinds of traditions meant nothing to Ethan. Nevertheless, her disappointment was huge because she had had great expectations for today. After a few difficult weeks she had hoped that a romantic dinner could bring them closer together again.

After the gala and their public kiss everything had seemed perfect and she had spent some time on cloud number nine. But then Ethan gradually became distant and a little grumpy again. They both often worked double shifts and meetings outside the hospital became rare. And they never talked about their life after Edenbrook’s closing. Whenever they got close to that topic, Ethan would change the subject. And Casey was also in denial; she hadn’t applied to any jobs outside greater Boston because she didn’t want to lose Ethan. But maybe it was too late now anyway, she didn’t even know what point in their relationship they really were at.

“Has he told you yet?” Sienna interrupted her thoughts.

“Hi Sienna. No, I still have no idea what we’re doing tonight.”

“Oh, that’s so romantic. For sure he has something incredibly special planned for the two of you.”

Casey tried to maintain a cheerful façade even though she actually felt like crying. But Sienna’s enthusiasm was also kind of sweet, so she managed a smile.

“You seem more excited than I am.”

“I’m hosting a lonely-hearts roomie dinner tonight, so at least let me enjoy the romance in your life.”

Casey felt bad that she was being dishonest with her friend. It was silly, but she would rather spend the night at the movies on her own and then sleep in an on-call room than admit to her friend that Ethan wasn’t going to take her out on a date. Besides, talking about it would make it more real: their relationship was probably on the rocks.

A busy morning at the clinic kept Casey occupied and gave her no opportunity to dwell on her misery. As she was preparing an IV for a patient, she suddenly sensed someone right behind her.

“Dr. Valentine, can you please run some tests on this patient and then get back to me as soon as possible?”

Usually her favorite baritone voice quickened her heartbeat, but today it sounded businesslike and not appealing at all. When she turned around Ethan didn't meet her gaze. Instead, he just thrust a patient chart into her hand and was gone before Casey even had the chance to respond.

At first, she stood there with her mouth open, unable to move, a dreadful feeling spreading through her chest. She had barely seen him all week and that was all she got?

When her vision started to get blurred by tears, she quickly ran to a supply closet, locked the door and sank to the floor.

What now? She couldn’t decide whether she was more sad or mad. How could it be, that things went wrong so fast after everything they had been through together? And how dare he talk to her like a random intern, shoving that patient file into her hands so rudely. He wasn't even her boss anymore.

She still held the chart clutched to her chest and now wanted to check what seemed so urgent. But what she saw didn't make any sense. There was only a last name on it and an address, but everything else was blank. As she turned the page her heart took a leap. She wiped away a few tears and stared at the blank piece of paper. Two words stared back at her.

Dinner tonight?

When she finally remembered to breathe again, she flipped back to the first page and now the pieces were falling into place.

Sorellina, Huntington Ave.

She knew the name had sounded familiar. “Sorellina” wasn't a patient's name; it was the name of a fancy Italian restaurant in the Back Bay. To be sure she pulled out her phone and searched the internet. And what she found there brought a bright smile to her face.

…the ultimate destination if you're looking to really impress a date…

.. one of the most romantic spots in the city…

…awesome place for date nights…

So he didn’t forget after all! But why the strange behavior? Some things didn’t add up. You don’t get a reservation like this one day in advance. He must have planned this weeks ago. A lot had changed since and now maybe he just wanted to give them one last shot? He wouldn’t be so heartless to dump her on Valentine’s day, would he?

Casey was totally confused. Was she just misinterpreting the whole situation? But she couldn’t be that paranoid. Something was brewing and she was determined to find out tonight, no matter what. This time she would confront him and for once she wouldn’t let him off the hook so easily.

But first she had to get through the day somehow, and she had to head home during her lunchbreak to choose a breathtaking dress. And pack an overnight bag, just in case. Not to forget the special brand of scotch she had ordered for Ethan. And she had to tell Sienna. And…

Okay! First of all, she had to calm down and concentrate on her work. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she took a pen out of her pocket and wrote below Ethan’s message.

Tell me when and where and I’ll be there 💕

After leaving the supply closet she randomly grabbed two other files, placed hers in between and handed them to an intern. “Please get this to Dr. Ramsey immediately.” Then she went back to her patient, who was still waiting for his IV.

The day seemed to drag on endlessly. In the afternoon she found the piece of paper out of the fake patient file in her coat pocket.

Dinner tonight?

Tell me when and where and I’ll be there 💕

my office, 7 pm 😊

He had even drawn an emoji! Smiling she added one more line.

Dessert at your place?

Then she quickly ran upstairs, sneaked into Ethan’s office, and put the piece of paper onto his desk. Her eyes fell on the big clock on the wall: 4 pm! Three more hours to go.

*******

Ethan sat behind his desk, already dressed in his tux, trying to focus on some files. But instead of working, he kept repeating in his head what he wanted to say tonight.

It was ridiculous. Usually, he gave speeches in front of hundreds of fellow doctors and here he was, being nervous about talking to one single woman. The difference was that he felt very qualified to talk about his profession, but he was totally insecure when it came to talking about his feelings. With Casey, he wasn't Dr. Ramsey, a famous and respected diagnostician; with her, he was simply Ethan, a man struggling with the changes in his life.

The sound of high heels echoed through the hallway and announced Casey's arrival. Trying to calm his nerves Ethan busied himself with his paperwork as she entered the office. He didn't raise his head, instead he just glanced at her over the rims of his glasses. As he did, she put her hands on her hips, pushing the winter coat aside to give him full view of her stunning dress. And it had the desired effect. The small piece of black nothingness took his breath away.

“Dr. Ramsey, don't you think it's inappropriate to look at a colleague that way?”

He swallowed hard, but he wouldn’t let her tease him like that.

“Dr. Valentine, don't you think it's inappropriate to wear something like that in your workplace?”

She smirked at him.

“Not as much as taking it off right here in your office.”

Defeated he shook his head, a smile showing at the corners of his mouth. He had to fight the urge to leap over his desk and take her right there against the office door, but instead he only sighed deeply and reached for his coat. This had to wait.

“We better get going or I don't know what I'll do!”

Together they left the office and walked to his car, holding hands. But despite their little banter just now there was an odd silence between them.

*******

The restaurant really was the perfect setting for a special date. Casey was overwhelmed and also kind of intimidated by the atmosphere. To her, it felt more like a first date with a guy she had a crush on than a dinner with the man she had been dating for month. And Ethan seemed equally self-conscious. But after some champagne, they both loosened up and had a really great time.

Almost.

Casey knew Ethan too well by now not to notice that something was strange about him tonight. She couldn’t shake that nagging feeling in her gut.

Back in his apartment, after she had given him her gift, he sat down on the couch with a serious face and asked her to sit down as well.

“I have something for you, too”

Blushing slightly, he handed her a small box and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I wanted to…, I mean this is… Oh, just open it and then I’ll explain!”

Carefully, she lifted the lid of the box and saw, lying on a tiny silk cushion, a key. From the looks of it, she assumed it was the key to his apartment. Casey gave Ethan a questioning look and waited for the promised explanation. But it didn’t come. Ethan seemed uncomfortable and pinched the bridge of his nose. Finally, he just blurted it out.

“Want to move in with me?”

Of all the things she had expected him to say, this certainly wasn’t on the list. But why now? Hundreds of different thoughts whirled through Casey’s head all at once. At first she just stared at him, then she burst into tears. For a long time Ethan looked at her helplessly, finally he ran a hand through his hair in frustration and murmured: “Obviously not.”

At that, Casey’s head snapped up. “No, no, no! I do, of course I do!” She wiped some tears from her face and explained between occasional sobs.

“The thing is: Whenever I imagined moving in with you, I got sad about not living with my friends anymore. And now I’ve just realized it doesn’t matter because in a couple of weeks they’ll all be gone anyway, scattered across the country. I’m going to miss them so much. And since I don’t know where I am going to be, there’s no point in moving in with you either.”

She shook her head, trying to keep the tears at bay.

“I’m sorry I’m such a mess, it just seems that everything is falling apart. This morning I wasn’t even sure whether you want to break up with me or not and I thought that…”

“Whoa, hold it right there. What on earth are you talking about?”

From Ethan’s shocked expression Casey could tell that it had obviously never occurred to him to break up. Slightly embarrassed she continued in an unsteady voice.

“I mean, the way you’ve been acting lately, especially this morning, you’ve been so rude….”

Ethan gently caressed her cheek with the back of his hand, wiped away her tears, and sighed.

“Oh Casey, I’m so sorry. But you know me; you know that I hate talking in front of patients. And I had a lot on my mind; I’ve been nervous all day about our date.”

He smiled shyly and shook his head. Then his gaze darkened again, guilt clearly written on his face. His brows furrowed, and he backed away a little.

“Although you’re right that I’ve been putting some distance between us lately. But I needed clarity about the whole job situation. And us. All my life I’ve planned everything three steps ahead and then suddenly it felt like I was losing control. I know I can’t ask you to stay because you have to finish your residency at one of the best hospitals in the country. Thus, I have tortured myself to figure out how we can make things work and I’ve been miserable all this time. Until I realized the answer is fairly simple.”

Casey couldn’t believe that they had both been so distraught for weeks, and instead of sharing and confiding in each other, they were just brooding over the challenges ahead, each to their own. Slowly, the uneasy feeling inside her stomach began to dissipate, although she had no idea what he was talking about.

“What answer?”

Ethan took her hand and he gently drew circles on the back of it with his thumb, his eyes following its movement.

“Edenbrook has been my home for almost 12 years now, and if they take it away from me, what else is there? Naveen, of course, and my father nearby, but other than that ….”

All this time Casey held the box with the key in one hand. Now he took it from her and raised the key to eye level. Her gaze wandered back and forth between the key and Ethan. He cleared his throat in search of words, but they didn’t come. Her heart hammered in her chest, the tension almost unbearable. Finally, his blue eyes met hers and he found the courage to speak, his voice husky and low.

“This isn’t just the key to my apartment, Casey. This key means I want to live with you, wherever that may be.”

His last words were only a whisper. “If you’ll have me, that is.”

Casey couldn’t even begin to grasp what it all meant. She would be able to apply to any hospital in the country and Ethan would be with her. Live with her.

An overwhelming feeling of happiness spread through her body.

“You really would do this for me?”

“No, if I’m honest I’m doing this not for you but for myself. I don’t want to go back to being that grumpy cynic I once was before I met you. I’m lost without you.”

The full meaning of his words sent a prickling sensation down her spine, but she was also amused.

“Ethan, you’re one of the most famous and respected physicians, you’ve managed perfectly fine without me for 36 years.”

Ethan put down the key and the box from her hand and took both her hands, his gaze intense.

“But it’s taken me 36 years to find out what it means to be genuinely happy.”

Those last words took all her breath right out of her and her heart was ready to explode. His eyes pierced hers as he waited for a response.

He moved closer und squeezed her hands tightly, his eyes still dark.

“So, what do you say?”

She couldn’t resist the temptation to mess with him.

“Let me get this straight: You’re telling me, if I said no, there would be no one to tell you if you’re acting like a goddam diva again?”

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth realizing what she was getting at. “Probably.”

Grinning she went on. “And who would be there to help you with your social media accounts?”

“Nobody.”

Ethan’s eyes began to light up as she moved onto his lap, mischief in her smile.

“And there would be no one who would dare to tease you?”

“Right.”

Their faces were now only a breath away.

“And nobody there to make you pancakes?”

“Exactly. What would become of me?”

Her mouth moved to the side of his neck. After a line of soft kisses, she started nibbling on his earlobe and whispered. “And no one, who would do this?”

“Oh, I’m sure it’s not hard to find someb…”

She quickly backed away and punched his arm playfully. “Don’t you dare!”

Ethan was now gleaming all over his face. He tucked a finger under her chin and gently nudged her nose with his. “So is that a YES?”

“Do I even have a choice?”

“Not really!”

And then at last his lips found hers, first slowly, barely touching, until they both gave in and melted into each other. All the tension of the day, all the pent-up emotions of the past weeks fell off and there was only him and her. While the kisses grew more and more urgent, his hands started to roam over her body and slowly he unzipped her dress. As his warm hand gently slid down her back, Casey felt his hot breath on her ear.

“If I remember correctly, you promised me dessert.”

“We already had a selection of delicious Italian desserts.”

“But I’m still very hungry. And first of all, this dress has to go. The sight of it has been tormenting me all evening.”

*****

The bedroom was almost dark. Ethan lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. He was unable to put his mind to rest after the events of the day. He turned over to watch the stunning woman sleeping next to him. The moonlight on her face made her even look more beautiful. From now on, he would have the privilege of waking up to this sight every morning. That thought alone made his heart leap.

Gently, he draped the sheets over her shoulder, brushed her hair out of her face and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek; always careful not to wake her.

Smiling down at her he whispered. “I love you, Casey Valentine.”

Never before had these words left his lips. And now didn’t even count either because she couldn’t hear them. He had tried to tell her many times, but the moment never seemed right. Today would have been the perfect occasion, but he had chickened out again.

It was absurd. They had started to plan their future together. Why was it so hard? Three simple words!

Laying back down he whispered, more to himself.

“I’m going to tell you. Soon.

Maybe tomorrow.”

----------------------------------------

Thank you if you have made it so far.

This piece has really been a challenge, it took me forever. I’ve changed it a couple of times and I am still not quite satisfied, but at some point you just have to let go.

Tagging seperately.

#choicesfebruarychallenge2021 #open heart #playchoices #ethan ramsey #ethan x mc #casey valentine #ethan jonah ramsey #my writing #fanfic

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wexhappyxfew · 3 years

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i literally choked on my pizza when i saw your writing and analyzing questions post, I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!! first of all, what sort of process do you go through when creating characters? what kind of things do you take into consideration when creating them? i’m fascinated because creating characters is far from easy, especially when you’re creating someone like agent mortem! i’m always interested to know what the writer’s thought process was when creating a new character!

okay, so secondly, i wouldn’t say i’m having trouble with keeping all my planning organised and ‘precise’ in a way, but it’s really not easy 😅 i was wondering what kind of processes you go through when planning, whether you have like a specific structure or a set of steps to follow, or if you just kind of roll with it? at the moment when i plan it’s okay and it makes sense, but it’s literally just 4 or 5 pages of really chunky paragraphs which makes it really difficult to pick out the events again when i come to needing the plan to help me. i don’t really know if you do anything different, but if there is any way you know of that i could keep it more organised and easy to follow, that would be great :)

i’ll keep the last ones a little shorter because this ask is already looking veryyy long — what have you enjoyed writing about natia, what struggles have you faced and what have you learned? and basically the same with agent mortem if that’s possible :) i have asked a LOT of questions in this, so don’t feel like you have to answer them all because it will probably take quite a while 😅 anyway, thank you for putting up with my endless questions, and i hope you have a good day <33

ROSE AH HELLO MY FRIEND!!!! <333 sorry ive just gotten to this omg! it’s been sitting here for a little while but i’ve just had so much going on right now and wanted to make sure when i answered that my *full attention* was put on this! (because i’ve been very excited to answer this ESPECIALLY as i see agent mortem questions poking up on here and that just makes me even more hype!!! :D enjoy! <3

Ooooo this is a cool question! I’ve been asked it before but I feel with different characters and such, it always seems to fluctuate for me at least? In the sense, it’s almost never the same process for me in the developmental stages of a character haha! Sometimes I get characteristics first hand, or sometimes a certain scene pops up that just makes the character click and I can build from there, or sometimes, it’s just a last name or a first name that I work with and suddenly have an idea for!

For example, since we’re on the general topic of Landslide, I’ll talk about some things I did when creating specifically Natia. The “Natia” who is currently portrayed in the fic, was not always really like that. Natia initially was not a SOE Agent/Polish Resistance Fighter and instead a Dutch Resistance Member who would meet with Easy in Episode 4. I always sort of knew Natia, in whatever form she was, would meet Easy in Episode 4, but I wasn’t sure how, so the building in the first 17 chapters was the toughest part to come.

I did heavily feel the Polish were underrepresented in terms of the situation of the war along with everything that happened in the Warsaw Uprising and so I felt it was important to see if I could do something with that and that’s really where Natia came into play!

Natia means “hope” essentially and something I really like doing with her character is to parallel or juxtapose different ideas together, to continue on this sort of theme of her being a quite ominous and ambiguous character — you get the general sense of what her morals are, but in certain points it’s questionable. Morally-ambiguous characters have always been fascinating to me, especially female morally-ambiguous characters and so creating Natia in that respect I felt would be interesting to see what I could do!

Something major that I’ve slowly began to take into consideration with characters more and more, is the sort of general theme I want to be present with them — what’s that goal i that they are moving towards in the end and what’s the them surrounding it? For Natia it’s a multitude of things; family, revenge, being silenced, numb, grief, mentor vs protégé, lone wolf etc….the list could truly go on! And with these basic sort of ideas and themes, I can then move on from there and expand.

Why did she want REVENGE? Because the enemy killed her FAMILY, which is extremely important to her, and she wants to feel some sort of REDEMPTION for them.

Why was she BEING SILENCED? Because of the *past* conflict of the HARMFUL MENTOR VS SILENCED PROTÉGÉ situation that occurred between Agent Mortem and herself, where she allowed herself to be silenced by someone who abused the SUDDEN POWER he never had before in his life, ultimately leading to her continued issues of TRUST that she would meet throughout.

Why is she NUMB? Because at a fairly young age she experienced heavy and intense GRIEF that struck unforgivably at a time where it seemed things were safe. To rip something from a character, especially the main character, like FAMILY which is extremely important, you pull at the heart strings and it makes that character move forward on a quest for that in a way, ultimately by the end of the fic. (Basically you up they are least get a semblance of that lost thing, found again by the end)

Why is she a LONE WOLF? Because of the MENTOR VS PROTÉGÉ situation yet again, where she was taught to rely strictly on herself and no one else and so when TRUST and COMPANIONSHIP and TEAMWORK were introduced to her character, she didn’t know how to cope because she had been so desensitized to the ways of Agent Mortem that working back in the morals of family and friends was a challenge in its own respect.

It’s sort of a like a ripple effect if you think about it and that’s what helps me eventually move forward and develop the character arc I want to take place. She’s this way because of this — sort of like cause and effect. It’s really helped me out with major scenes or plot holes that have risen throughout the fic!

AGREED! Writing in general is not an easy feat and now including mind you ORIGINAL CHARACTERS, you’re literally, essentially, creating human beings from scratch and giving them characteristics, a backstory, trauma if you wish, friends and family, people they love, people they hate, morals, standards EVERYTHING! ITS INSANE! AH AND AGENT MORTEM! I’m so very glad that you brought him up, because his creation definitely stemmed directly from the want to experiment with the relationship of failed mentor vs protégé, entirely. I wanted a foil to Natia that was not directly with her all the time. Mortem plays such a MASSIVE role in her story and yet any interactions between the two are either from her mind or from memories and that’s just such a fun way to play around with their dynamic! (I just finished the creation of his backstory and character arc I want him to take and it’s only made me even more excited for what’s to ultimately come for him as well as Natia!)

A song that HEAVILY represents their dynamic is Ghost by Marvin Brooks (2WEI) and I’ll explain why. Even though Mortem is not always inherently *with* Natia, he still is a huge factor of her life, and still heavily controlling many aspects of her life such as recurring memories, reactions, and how she is also conditioned to react to certain things as well. He is essentially a “ghost” who is “haunting” Natia and I feel that’s an interesting take on their connection because they’re two people who clearly had a power struggle and a difference of opinions of multiple things and that just makes it so incredibly interesting to write!

song:

OOOOOO good question!!! So many people have such different ways of approaching story writing and planning and drafting and writing and editing and it’s honestly amazing!! I will say, I’m not an excessive planner or even a real great planner with writing, I never really have, and even as I’ve developed my writing and learned that “it’s okay to slow down”, or “it’s okay to take time for different portions to provide a deeper focus”, I still have not been someone to plan out every bit of my writing.

Reason being is I enjoy seeing where I can take the story in that time and place. Maybe if I’m doing a quick little writing segment and suddenly this idea just appears and hits me, I work it into the fic and it takes it a whole new direction and I end up not being super upset about it because it just…it works! And of course, this is not how other people operate and I have every respect for people who plan and have every detail laid out and figured out and just….completely and utterly planned to the dot. Lile kudos to people who genuinely get the planning all cleaned up before even writing, truly.

I just finalized Agent Mortem’s backstory and where I want his character arc to go and I’ve had him as a character since August of last year LOL! But ya know sometimes, I sit and I think back and go, maybe I wasn’t ready at that time to develop him completely yet because I, the writer, didn’t understand him enough to and I had to write more of him to be able to get a grasp of who he was and his character (and just about everything else!) and that’s okay!!! :)

Going with this idea I just stated above — the 4 or 5 pages of info — KEEP IT MY FRIEND!!! I swear, half the reason ideas even come to me is simply because I just write a big info dump that has all my little ideas somewhere inside and will ALWAYS be there. I recommend maybe taking a day though - away from focusing on writing or editing - and just picking that apart. (That’s what I did the other day and it helped me out MAJORLY! and it was worth it in the end!) Maybe keep the original 4-5 pages and then copy and paste the same thing in another doc so you always have the original!

And then just go through and split ideas apart! If you start reading and see it moving into another realm of headspace of ideas, just press enter and separate the two — you didn’t delete it, it’s still there and still intact! It’s just easier to look at now because instead of two, jumbled and completely different ideas, you now have two paragraphs and portions of text that relate to their own respective idea. It definitely makes it an easier pill to swallow when trying to get yourself organized!!

This really helped me when I was in my beginning stages of figuring out Landslide ESPECIALLY the first 17ish chapter where Natia was not in contact with Easy yet. I’ve explained it before but those chapters are there because we are seeing her final days with the resistance in Warsaw and how she ultimately ends up with Easy PLUS we see who she is as a character by herself and how she is not merely an extension off of Easy, but her own character, her own person. She has her own story and her own morals and ways of going about her life that don’t even relate to Easy. Their paths just happened to cross!! :)

By getting those first 17ish chapters planned, not extreme planning though I will admit, half the scenes were very much thought up on the spot for example like Natia driving to Munich in disguise or the introduction of Zdzich — two very important scenes that show us something about Natia. (1) She’s willing to go to extreme lengths for the people she loves to ensure that in the end they are safe, even if it means sacrificing herself and (2) she has trouble realizing that there are people out there that genuinely care for her, a connection to her ultimate, unruly and upsetting past. And the best part about it is THESE WEREN’T EVEN PLANNED! So sometimes, just let the story take the reigns and your mind and just guide you through it. Sometimes it is for the best :)

If you have your basic ideas and concepts and themes for how you want your fic to eventually go, the scenes for me most of the time just appear I guess when they should. Sometimes even in the times I'm not writing, I sit theorizing and questioning and thinking and developing ideas in my mind and it's a real good exercise, so when you get back to writing, you already know where you want the fic leading in the end!

MAN I LOVE THIS QUESTION. Anytime I can provide some meta or give some insight to Natia who is just one of the best characters I’ve gotten the pleasure of working with, I’ll gladly answer!

The thing I enjoy writing about Natia the most I feel, and I’ll probably always say this, is her complexity — as a writer, her character orders a healthy challenge for me that I gladly have accepted! You don’t know everything about her as a reader and as you read each chapter, that’s how you slowly uncover and discover what she hid about herself to protect herself. There’s so many different aspects of her that I could discuss truly!! (There has been so many parts that I’ve scrapped because I read through and just think “Man this doesn’t seem like Natia!”. She’s tricky sometimes to stake down exactly how she would react because of her past and her trauma and how long she’s been in war, but I just LOVE it!)

Many different aspects of her character though, come from her past and that’s what makes her interesting. I’ve really enjoyed working with the ideology of “Chekov’s Gun”, a writing device that can be used, with how I will mentioned something and it almost might seem out of the blue, yet later it all just makes sense?! When the flashback is revealed or a small portion of her past is finally allowing *light* in. It's a device I've used with Natia that has just really helped to develop her story at the pace I want it to be revealed! :D

For example, the OCEAN is mentioned many times. I make constant reference to the WAVES, the RECESSION of them from time to time, the comparison of the OCEAN both ABOVE and BELOW surface — all of that sorta stuff! For her character, it seems a bit out of place. She’s COLD. She’s NUMB. She’s BROKEN. What does an open body of water consuming at least 70% of the Earth have to do with an OC based in Warsaw, Poland?

This is where the importance of her PAST will play it’s role, as it has a major INFLUENCE on her and her CHARACTER and her MORALS. One of the main reasons the OCEAN is inherently connected to Natia is because of her PAST and one of those main reasons is AGENT MORTEM and her TRAINING, especially WATER training. I can’t comment further on this though as readers have only touched the tip of the iceberg for the use of the OCEAN and it’s IMPORTANCE so far in this fic! (Ask me again about it once this fic is finished up for the most part, unless….by Part 4 readers understand why!)

Natia just remains a character who constantly is developing and changing inside my head - where I want her path to ultimately end up leading by the end of the fic, where I want both her mental head space vs emotional head space should be and etc. So many portions of this fic are dealt specifically on her internal monologue and how she calculates and problem solves from that portion of her sort of *engagement* within the conflict. There never seems to be a dull moment when writing her!

Another thing I really have enjoyed about writing Natia is her clashing personality traits that make her interesting to write in both different scenarios and reactions. She's stubborn yet humble. She's numb and cold but internally extremely caring and giving and filled with these bottled up emotions. She's mentally strong yet she's been through so much and let the war take so much. She never complains about what she's doing, but she's lost nearly everyone she loves. She's a fighter in this war and refuses to back down from a battle she know she can wage, but the second she is pulled from the aspect of war, things crash and burn around her. Just even these few combating sort of things, really show her character and what, through writing, has slowly developed! They always lay around in the back of my mind and it's one of the main things I remind myself when I write Natia all the tme.

I think one of the most important things I've learned from both writing and creating a character like Natia is that (1) it's okay to ask for help, about anything, literally anything. You don't have to confine everything to yourself and build up this immense pressure to do what you must to continue moving forward. It's okay to have people there to help you and support you. (2) It's okay to be strong alone and even if you seem to be the only one on the current path you're are on, it does not mean you are wrong. it can still lead to the right destination in the end!

Oooo okay! AGENT MORTEM!! I am totally down to chat about some things I've loved to write with him with and some challenges I've discovered, but as far as what I've learned from him, I will be holding off and could answer that when the entire fic is both completed and then updated on platforms....just because ;) don't want to give away any spoilers haha! <3

Something I've enjoyed about writing and crafting Agent Mortem is letting him remain as mysterious and secretive as he is for so long. Initially, I can't even begin to recall what his character would be like even a year ago, but seeing where he has developed now, I'm really happy with where he is. He's mysterious, he's shadowed, he seems like a figure in the background, a past mentor who is half deranged and lost his mind with a background with so substance. It makes for such a fascinating way to begin to reveal his past! (something I've began to insert into part 4 of Landslide and man I'm just so HYPE!)

I feel I'm excited simply because he's finally getting the time and moment he deserves to finally explain and show himself as to what has occurred. There's so many fractured and disconnected parts of what is currently going on with Natia and her connection to both Agent Mortem and then Death is tossed in the mix and it seems this big complicated mess of 'how' Agent Mortem got to be this way, 'why' he does a thing such as this, just different and varying aspects such as that. it makes for those big final reveals to all be even more worth it!

He has been quite the challenge though I will admit. There's so many perspectives he could quite possibly be viewed from and his *character* + morals/values could be pulled in a various amount of ways as well. Making sure he accurately comes across the way I want him to both appear and come across to the reader and to myself has definitely been tricky. He's not as easy as suspected, you know, not just a 'dude who had a bad day and went insane in the end', there's a whole multitude of levels and reasons and a deep, heavy and traumatizing background starting from his birth really (which is a whole other story). Managing and balancing that all in one has definitely been something I've had to keep on top of and monitor but I feel has really been worth the challenge in the end. Because at the end of the day, I'm someone looking to constantly challenge myself.

And a good challenge, whether it be writing or academics or a workout, is healthy and GOOD! That's what Landslide in a whole has really shown me, to challenge yourself daily to see where you can push yourself and your imagination and creativity, just to see where you can even go!! it's exciting and refreshing!

Thank you so much for this wonderful ask Rose! I appreciate it more than ANYTHING as you well know, and I know it's taken me *quite* some time to answer, but I've been working on it for weeks now and finally got it out because it was ready! I really wanted to take my time with it and develop it to its full potential in the end and I feel I have (without giving away any spoilers haha!) As always, please know if you have any further questions regarding Natia Filipska, Agent Mortem, Death (along with other characters of Landslide), writing, the process (my own included), tips for writing/planning, or just anything else in general, I will always be happy to help in anyway I can! You're always welcome, anyone always is!!! <3333 Thank you again, I had so much fun doing this more than anything! :D

#writing #writing tips #band of brothers #bob fic #band of brothers fic #also hello landslide day tmr and it’s a good one hehe :d #natia filipska #agent mortem #death (character)#basic aid on characters + writing/planning #plus gathering thoughts #thank you again for this rose! i had so much fun! <3333

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mc-critical · 4 years

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Hello! Hope you're having a good day

I have a question about mck. I haven't watched it but I've seen a lot of cuts from episodes on youtube and fan's discussions so I hoped you might explain something to me.

Everybody says that Kosem killed her sons only for power and it wasn't for the good of the country. Is that true? Was Murad a good ruler in the show? All I know is that he was harsh and in the end wanted to kill his brothers. What Ibrahim? In history he clearly made a very poor ruler. What about the show?

Hi!

Fans often have different interpretations of the subject matter and what is perceived on-screen, so some of them might say that Murat IV was a good ruler in the show and some might say that he isn't. Really depends on what you consider a good ruler - is it someone who goes on campaigns and wins wars for his country, is it someone who cares about the people, the janissary and their opinions above all else or is it someone who considers himself unquestionable authority and refuses to take any advice, even if they took the wrongest, most problematic decision ever?

To me, show!Murat is anything but a good ruler. He ascends the throne as a kid, with Kösem as a regent, and I feel that he never actually gained any experience in how to truly rule the state. And yet, when the time comes for him to actually take matters into his own hands, he is ecstatic to finally assert his will and dominance for everyone to see and learn. One of the key problems with him are that he not only wants his decisions to be completely unparalleled and undebated, he considers everything he does as right out of principle. He has the mindset that every single decision he takes is absolutely correct and is beneficial for the state, but not because it's actually correct or beneficial, but only because he's the padişah and "the shadow of God on Earth". And there are quite a lot of decisions that are problematic at best (forbidding alchohol and then you yourself drink it) and outright destructive and dangerous at worst. (leaving just like that, even it's after a traumatic event for you, caused a huge literal revolt!) And even if he realizes what he's doing isn't right, he ignores every kind of advice when people around him tell him to do the precise opposite. This guy is so drowned in his own ego and authority that he destroys everyone around him.

But then again, there's that side of things where, writing-wise, you understand where all that comes from - most of Murat's flaws as a ruler stem from the massive past trauma of Osman's death, which only caused irreparable damage to the mind of such a small kid. It created such unrelenting paranoia that Murat began to forever believe that he couldn't count to anyone but himself. This is what his "meeting" with Osman in E47 symbolizes, he hears both what he wants to hear and that part of Osman which could never accept Kösem's outside interference. That's also the episode where "one Murat went away, there comes the other" and there he began to go further into the abyss of his own beliefs. Murat has Süleiman's paranoia, but upped to eleven in a more offending form, because while with Süleiman this paranoia grew gradually and he could let it go more easily, because despite of all he knew how to rule a good state, with Murat it was always there from the very start, constantly preventing him from doing the right thing, especially due to the constant fear of being manipulated and deceived by someone else (just like Osman thought he was.) and always thinking he's in his mother's shadow.

Speaking of which, Kösem and Murat's dynamic is the central conflict of season 2 of MCK and that's not only an interpersonal character conflict, as it would seem at first glance to someone who's new to the franchise in example, it's a conflict of one newly established and another already established powers in the palace that would never back down and fight for what they think is right. Kösem and Murat have a different relationship with the state. The state for Kösem has a dynamic role - firstly, it was a role she had to accept for the greater good (her standing in front of the people in Ahmet's name in E07 of season 1.), then she saw herself engrained in it due to her strong sense of justice. (getting revenge for her father, trying to expose Fahrye, then Handan and Derviş and lastly, ''protecting the country" from Iskender.) By season 2 country and power are already synonymous to her due to her fully taking the responsibility of a regent and taking the country in her wing of protection, always keeping an eye on it and consistently representing it without a second thought. The state for Murat, however, is static - it is something given to him by God himself, it is something he takes for granted, without truly trying to improve it. The first steps he takes as a ruler is to seemingly "clear" his own path, to remove the traitors around him. And while that seems correct and valid at first glance, he never sees the bigger scheme of things, due to his paranoia. He doesn't see the people who actually conspire to remove him (which is why he never found out the true traitor in his palace and died, thinking this person was the most loyal man ever.), but sees what he wants to see, this shadow who is looming in for years. Murat thinks his mother is a problem, which is why the first step he takes, is to immediately remove her regency and then send Kemankeş to follow her around. These two forces clash with each other incessantly, with their opinion of a state at constant odds. There have been many times throughout the show where Murat does a problematic thing, Kösem tries to snap him out of it and fails, because he doesn't want to listen to her no longer. He's always felt that she overshadowed his own reign, even in her regency years (see the flashbacks in E56.) and he wants to believe that he's already a big man, a person who can do anything, even with a big lack of experience. So whoever tries to give him decent advice is immediately washed off and out of the question, because who are they, they don't know better, he's the only one who does. This mindset is reflected as totally wrong in the show with the people and the janissary despising him, with the numerous revolts (the season literally began with a revolt.), with the multiple traitors around him, with everyone (Atike and Farya aside) turning against him sooner or later. That of course isn't appreciated by Kösem, and she, being the self-and not-so- self- proclaimed representative of the state, tries to fix this all, even if it means acting behind Murat's back. She doesn't really wish her son harm only due to him eclipsing her own power, she just sees the genuine flaws of his rule and is willing to achieve everything to fix it. Later on she began to indeed consider him as unworthy due to all the mistakes he made, claiming that the country is able to defend itself and listing qualities that all padişahs should possess like virtue and justice. She saw how messy all of it became and instinctively began to search for solutions that even came to ending him. (her ordering the doctor to cease healing his illness.) The narrative doesn't actually condemn this choice, highlighted by Murat's last flashback with him reuniting with his mother.

Murat is the one that killed Kasım and Bayezid in show, because he considers them a threat to his own power, first and foremost. Bayezid's the primary one, him being the eldest heir, with people wanting him on the throne from the get-go, when Murat was alive. Murat doesn't accept threat to his own power, and his brothers aren't exceptions, even though he told them certain times that he wouldn't put them in the kafes or take their life. Even though Bayezid became so much like his toxic mother (Gülby, I love you, but sorry.), prone to revenge, harsh actions and gaining questionable one-sided morality, his death was heartbreaking. As for Kasım, Murat took drastic measures, because Kösem thought Murat was dead and tried to calm down the people by bringing to them Kasım exactly as the next sultan. This was extremely harsh, because after all Kösem used it only as a desperate measure, to calm the people down and to apply the most optimal solution. Putting Kasım in the cafes when you once said that you wouldn't is honestly chief irony, reaching Süleiman's level, but worse.

Yes, Kösem was the one who ultimately sealed the pact to kill Ibrahim, but this was due to manipulation. Turhan Sultan wanted his death to pave the way for her little son and gain absolute power, so she indeed pushed Kösem's love and dedication to the country against her. She was put in a position where she had no other choice but to accept - we had a mentally ill Sultan as a ruler, one who could be reckless, one who could cause imbalance and instability and one who also doesn't really listen. So she decided his destiny and the theme of the loss of innocence, the core theme of the whole show, came full circle. She killed Ibrahim, but she wasn't happy with it, she was devastated and her conscience spoke so loudly, she couldn't unhear it. And that deed of hers made her give it all up - by the time of her death, she only wanted piece, nothing else, and she wasn't even interested in who gets the ring of power and she wasn't all that focused on her own death, either. Life was over for her.

Anyway, yeah, it all depends on interpretations of the events and characters and where your sympathies extend. MCK has really interesting and complex themes and I wholeheartedly recommend for you to watch it to drive your own conclusions. Thanks for the question and have a nice day!

#magnificent century kösem #murad iv #ask #proudofmyanger #magnificent century kosem #kosem sultan

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ofclaires · 3 years

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IV. CLAIRE WALSH

PAST SELF PARAS: april 2020 / september 2020 / march 2021.

hi, before the read more i just wanted to say THANK YOU. getting to play claire has been absolutely a treat, a challenge, and genuinely, a huge part of my life for the past year and a half or so. it occurred to me when writing this and looking back at other things i’ve written for claire that i didn’t just feel like i was writing this for myself or for claire ; but i was writing it for you guys, too ! that has been one of the most special things about gallagher for me is the writing community that i feel like we built, taking such a huge investment in our characters and everyone else’s writing. i feel like i’m writing with and for some of my best friends. i also feel like i’ve grown so much ( ok, i actually don’t just feel like it, i can look back at those three paras and SEE how my writing has improved. ) i am so blessed to have gotten to write claire with all of you and to share her story, i feel like she has been so fucking beloved & it’s given her so much life. i am so proud of her and it’s really bittersweet that i’m finally saying goodbye to her as well. so, thank you all so, so much, gallagher has been a writing experience like no other for me & i love you all !

trigger warnings : domestic violence & abuse, death

PART ONE: CHILDHOOD.

The trailer that Claire spent the back half of her childhood in never felt like home. Maybe because trailers are made to be temporary, or the fact that if she accepted that this was where she belonged, she’d have to give up hope.

It’s normal Maggie Walsh to be out late, Claire’s usually cleaned up the kitchen and tucked herself into bed by the time her mother comes in the door – but she’s not sleeping. She’s always had trouble with that, brain bouncing around from one thought to the next until eventually she hears the creak of the door.

Her mom’s home.

She hears the usual stumbling, the clatter of dishes falling from where she’d neatly placed them on the drying rack. Maggie’s drunk, Claire’s sure of that. Ten years old and she knows what it means to be so drunk that you can hardly see straight, that the words you say under the influence are a different reflection from the person that you really are. She inhales deeply and crawls out from under the covers to check on her. Ten years old and she knows the steps: Help her take her makeup off, make sure she sleeps on her side, glass of water on the bedside table, trash can on the floor. Maggie is only twenty-six years old herself now, not done with her childhood by the time that Claire was born, not ready to be a mother. Claire’s had to figure it out most of it herself.

“Mom?” Claire knocks on the door lightly, plastic cup full of water already in hand.

“Don’t – don’t come in!” Maggie sputters, and Claire’s confused. She defies her request and opens the bedroom door the rest of the way. When she sees her mom, she drops the cup on the floor, small hands curling into fists.

“What happened? Who did that to you?”

“I told you not to come in here, Claire,” Maggie repeats, but Claire has always been on to disregard commands. She learns at a young age that authority only means older than you or some assigned title, not that they know best.

“Who did that? Why?” She repeats her questions. Despite being mature for her age, it’s hard for Claire to wrap her head around the black eye obscuring Maggie’s face, and the swelling on her cheek.

“It doesn’t matter,” Maggie sighs, dejected as she flops down on the bed. Even in her state, she knows that there’s not much use telling Claire to back off or go away once she’s decided that she’s not going to. Her little girl is a spitfire, strangely enough reminds Maggie a lot of her own mom, like living with a miniature version of her. Maybe that’s why Claire wins most arguments. “Come here.”

Claire walks closer to the bed, kicking the cup aside on her way for no reason other than to kick something. She crawls into bed next to her mom and looks up at her, waiting for more of an explanation or literally anything but silence.

“I don’t know why I keep looking for a happy ending. I leave you home alone, I come home like this...not helping either of us,” Maggie presses a kiss to the top of Claire’s head, runs her fingers through her daughter’s hair. It’s so soft and Claire is so little, she can’t help but look at the spilled cup on the floor with a pang of guilt. “I’m sorry,” she adds, voice choked up and words a little slurred. Tears squeeze out of the corners of her eyes when she closes them, hugging her daughter closer, “I’ve blamed you for my fucked up life for so long...that’s not fair.”

Now, Claire is only ten, but those are the kind of words that you remember forever. Still, she smiles. “It doesn’t have to stay fucked up. It can get better,” a childish spark of optimism in her heart that hasn’t yet been put out. It makes Maggie smile back though, kissing her daughter on the top of her head yet again.

“I like that,” she says, and they fall asleep curled up beside each other. Claire sleeps soundly, thinking that it’s possible. Things really could get better, and for a while, it seems like there really is a sort of shift. Maggie starts cooking, cleaning again, and she doesn’t even stay out so late. That’s when she meets Martin.

He seems better than the rest. Until he isn’t.

But Claire does her job as her mother’s protector, just as she’s been doing all of her life, and it’s that event that jumpstarts the rest of everything that happens next.

PART TWO: GRADUATION.

Claire’s come to the formal conclusion that graduation ceremonies are a waste of time. There’s all this build up, everyone’s so excited, and then you have to sit around and wait for your name to be called so you can spend two seconds walking across a stage while everyone claps. She would have skipped it entirely if her mother hadn’t already come up, and if she knew that people were going to insist. The small talk afterward is even more agonizing than the ceremony itself. It is sort of painful saying goodbye to everyone, and it occurs to Claire that there’s more people that she’s going to miss than she ever expected.

“Callum and his mother are here,” Maggie points out.

“And?” Claire rolls her eyes. Seeing Callum again to begin with had brought up a lot of old feelings, and generally, even though they’d resolved things, she tries to avoid him whenever possible.

“Well, it’s probably weird if we don’t say hello, at least, right? I’m going to say hello,” Maggie interjects, “he’s such a sweet boy.”

Claire’s eyebrows rise on her forehead as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Go ahead then,” she sighs, “I’ll wait right here.”

“Claire,” Maggie draws out her name with a withering stare, but Maggie has never been able to establish that sort of authority with Claire that would prompt any inclination of obedience, so Claire just shrugs her shoulders, unimpressed. She’s not going to budge. “Fine, I’ll be right back.”

Claire’s done her best to put the chapter of their life that includes Martin out of her mind when rekindling things with her mother, and she certainly doesn’t want to stand around making small talk with his other ex-wife, trying not to look at Callum with his matching jawline, trying not to remember everything she hates. It all comes back in a flash. The horrible cracking sound that her mother’s head had made when it connected with the wall, the blood on the marble floor. They say you don’t remember trauma properly, that your memory doesn’t work quite right, but she will never forget the way her fist connected with Martin’s face : like a puzzle piece, like it BELONGED there, and she’d done it over and over again until she heard sirens.

And yet, Claire can’t deny that it’s a part of her life that got her here, where she is today. She thinks life is shitty and random, and that not everything has to happen ‘for a reason.’ Still, she’ll catch Kass’s eye across the room and see her smiling so brightly that it seems impossible not to believe in something. Claire can’t help herself anyway – she smiles back. No one has ever been able to produce Claire’s smile in its truest form the way Kass has, unashamed of being so happy to look at someone. She once thought the idea of looking at a person and seeing your whole future was ridiculous, that you’d have to be stupid to put that much of yourself into someone, but it isn’t like that at all. All of it was unintentional, like by the time she realized it, Kass was already everything. And she feels so safe with that thought that she doesn’t mind at all.

“Am I interrupting something?” A figure steps in front of her, cutting off her line of sight. She’s not really fond of being snuck up on, so she opens her mouth to say something snarky when she’s met with the gaze of Lisanna Harlin, one of last year’s mentors. Her daughter, Elisa, is there, but she’s not graduating, so Claire’s confused by Lisanna’s presence.

“No, Ms. Harlin,” Claire says, though there’s a spark of indignation in her words that practically goes hand in hand whenever an adult commands authority.

“Lisanna is fine,” she says with a light laugh, like she’s amused Claire’s greeted her this way.

“Can I...help you with something?” Claire asks, mostly curious about how long this interaction has gone on. While she’s friendly with Elisa, she was Kass’s roommate last year, they’re not exceedingly close, so she’s not sure what else Lisanna would have to say to her other than maybe a polite hello.

It’s more than a polite hello. Lisanna Harlin works for Lexon Corp in Durham, North Carolina, a private military company that provides armed guards, bodyguards, and guns for hire. They’re the sort of place that would be looking for the best of the best in combat, and they have a bit of a reputation for hiring Gallagher girls. Claire had given up on the job search months ago since the video went out, in fact, she’s had a job lined up for graduation already : at a boxing gym in D.C., where the scene isn’t too bad. It was suited to her, but not exactly the sort of thing that her Gallagher education had prepared her for. Lexon Corp? Everything her rigorous love of January boot camps were tailored to. And they want to interview her.

A month later, Claire’s sitting on the cusp of a completely fresh start. It wasn’t easy to backtrack on the plans that she and Kass had made together, knowing how much was changing for the both of them, it had been nice to have the stable idea of an apartment together on the horizon. Now, she’s a four hour drive away, and she goes home to her one-bedroom studio in Durham after rigorous training throughout the day. But she’s grateful for the chance to work her way back into the field, and she can remember what Lisanna said to her when they gave her the offer.

“We’re aware that with your history that we’re taking a chance on you, Claire,” Lisanna said. “But we think the reasons that made other agencies look past you are exactly what makes you an asset. You care about your jobs, the people that you’re involved in, and you’d have a partner’s back until the bitter end. You listen to your intuition, trust your gut...and above all else, you have follow-through. I’m excited to be able to offer this position. Don’t prove me wrong.”

Claire swears that she won’t.

PART THREE: KIPTYN.

Kiptyn isn’t supposed to be in the left hall closet.

In fact, he’s not supposed to be awake at all. But who can sleep the night before their birthday anyway? Sure, he’ll be thirteen, and that’s probably old enough to have gotten over the magic of it all, but...he’d still been lying awake with excitement, the anticipation keeping his eyes open for hours on end. Well, that and the video game he’d been playing under the covers, but he’d obviously only been playing it because he couldn’t sleep in the first place.

Then he started thinking about the left hall closet and the conversation that they had at dinner the other night. In Kiptyn’s defense, Dahvia – his younger sister – had totally started it and he was an innocent bystander. After all, Kiptyn’s old enough to know that they don’t bring up Claire to mom, because it just puts her in a mood and then you can forget about doing anything else for the rest of the evening. But Dahvia’s ten, practically a baby, and she doesn’t know any better.

“Hey, mom? What sort of accident did Claire die in? Nina asked me at recess and I didn’t know,” Dahvia pipes up, before she’s even properly sat down. Kip visibly cringes. He’s older, wiser, knows this won’t go well. Still, he dares to look at his mom’s face and he notes the faraway look in her eye, like she seems to experience a bunch of things at once. Kip notices how even though her eyes are glassy, she doesn’t cry. Though sometimes, their mom will just cry randomly, like two weeks ago when he asked for help with his Spanish homework and she couldn’t even help him finish the first worksheet.

“It was a car accident,” she says stiffly, “eat your dinner.”

Kiptyn kicks his sister under the table and flashes her a look that says : Great. Look what you did, ruined dinner. Dahvia sticks her tongue out at him.

So, he knows that he’s not supposed to be in the left hall closet because he could ruin many more dinners, but he’s here anyway. He’s been thinking about it ever since they sat in silence for the rest of that half hour, and he’s come to the conclusion – his mother was lying. Because all sorts of things make their mother cry, like a bowl of mac and cheese or Spanish class, or motorcycles, and she won’t let Kiptyn take boxing lessons though his friend Robert is and he thought it sounded really cool, but she doesn’t have any problem with cars or driving, and also, she’s never told them a single thing about Claire except that. They aren’t allowed to know anything about her, especially not anything true, so Kiptyn is pretty sure that’s a lie. There’s just something just weird about it.

So, in the middle of the night before his thirteenth birthday, he looks up a video on how you pick locks and then he figures it out on the door of the left hall closet. He’s there for at least forty-five minutes, practically ready to give it all up when he hears the clicking sound, and then it opens. His first thought is : Woah. This is a load of junk.

And he’s right. There’s boxes upon boxes of paperwork, old clothes. Some things start to click, like when he finds a pair of worn boxing gloves with Claire’s initials embroidered on them. His favorite thing that he finds is the fattest scrapbook he’s ever seen – his mom always makes them, there’s one for every year of his life. Dahvia’s too, they love looking at them. The cover of this one, though, says Italy 2021. It’s all pictures of his mom and Claire, probably in their early twenties. Kiptyn mostly notices his mother’s smile, how he’s only seen her look like that a couple times in his life and yet it looks so EASY here, like she wears it all the time. It’s so strange to him. He sets the scrapbook down and crawls toward the back of the closet. His eyes land on two leather folders with gold embroidery, and he opens up the first one. In big letters at the top : GALLAGHER ACADEMY.

It’s a diploma.

This certifies that Kassandra Sutton has satisfactorily completed the…

“What are you doing?”

Kiptyn yells out like a child, not having heard anyone creeping up on him. He claps his hand over his mouth as if to shush himself. “The door was open! I don’t know how, but I just...noticed it was open and wanted to make sure that...no one was stealing your stuff!” he grins sheepishly, hoping that he can ride on the high of his birthday week to get him out of this one.

“It was just...open?” his mother looks down at him with raised eyebrows before brandishing a twisted paper clip between two fingers. The one that had formerly been stuck in the door. His guilty expression widens, he can’t help it.

“Okay, I might know how it opened,” Kiptyn admits. He hesitates for a moment, before he realizes that he’s ALREADY in trouble, he might as well just come out with it and pray to the birthday gods. He holds up the diploma with her name on it : “What’s Gallagher Academy?”

Kass’s sigh is heavy and deep, accompanied by the amount of exhaustion that comes with raising two curious kids by herself. After Claire died, she moved her family to London to be closer to their aunt and away from everything that reminded her of Claire. She never told her children why. From hiding that world from them, the world that took so many people from her : her father, her ex-girlfriend, and the love of her life. She swore that she would never lose her children to it, too. But Kiptyn looks up at her with wide eyes, desperate to know about his mother and his past, and Kass also knows what it’s like to have part of yourself missing due to family secrets that are being kept from you. He is practically a teenager now. So, she relents.

Kass doesn’t go into all of the details, of course. Just that Gallagher Academy was a school for spies, and that’s where it all started. Kiptyn already knew that his moms met in college, so it’s the spy part that’s most interesting to him. She talks about Claire with a light in her eyes he’s unfamiliar with, how she was one of the best fighters in their year, that she grew up with such a talent in the ring that she probably could’ve gone pro if her life had gone in a different direction. She talks about how they had to part ways after graduation, because Claire got a job in North Carolina and she got a job in Washington, DC, but they made it work, and both got very accustomed to the four hour drive – though it was sometimes closer to three for Claire, because she always drove too fast, even on this big, black motorcycle which Kass swears that she hated. She tells Kiptyn about how they got married, the way she’d almost moved to England for a dream job and that long distance threatened to drive them apart again – until Claire chased her down in the airport with a ring and proposal.

She also talks about how Claire really died : the abridged version. It was an overseas mission where they’d been cornered, and Claire risked her life to save the rest of their team. There were no other casualties, and the information they were able to bring back helped stop the terrorist organization they’d been chasing to end them for good. Kass tells the abridged version for her son, gives Claire a hero’s death. In some ways, it was. She doesn’t mention the ways that Claire was consumed by the case, it was an organization hellbent on killing spies and it likely reminded her of the brotherhood. Kass had been worried about the case the whole time, because it felt like Claire was taking it too personally. In the end, she may have been right : because Claire had let it take her life in order to close it. She also doesn’t mention that such a sacrificial death means that her wife died fighting alone, swinging her fists until her very last breath. But still, she was all alone.

She had no choice but to take her kids as far away from that life as possible.

Kiptyn tries, but he doesn’t really remember Claire. He’d only been three years old when she passed away, and before then, she’d been so consumed by her last case that she was barely present. Still, he thinks she sounds badass.

He falls asleep on his mother’s shoulder that night, looking through the scrapbook of pictures from their trip to Italy in 2021. He’s animated for the first part, pointing out buildings and asking questions, wonders if Claire was sweating in all that leather, but he slowly starts to drift off. He wakes up on the couch the next morning, no trace of the book or any of the other papers he’d hauled out of the closet the night before. He looks at the closet and there’s an extra padlock. Figures.

It comes up in little ways, like a private joke that he has with his mother, like she’ll say something and flash him a secretive smile. He likes that, and he understands that this is a big secret that he has to keep. It doesn’t come up again until his fourteenth birthday the next year, the summer before high school. It’s a strange letter in a manila envelope, sealed with some expensive red wax, his name written in fancy calligraphy. The most attention-grabbing part, however, is not Kiptyn Sutton-Walsh in big cursive letters. It’s the return address :

GALLAGHER ACADEMY.

learn her skills, honor her sword. keep her secrets.

#*#self para

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octalove · 4 years

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IV: The Dinner

(Batgirl/Red Hood)

Brief note; per demand, this little trilogy will now be an ongoing series🥺thank u all for the support! i was not expecting it at all. ur comments make my day!! i hope u enjoy this chapter bearing in mind that i wasn’t intending on a full length fic, so i hope u can put up with any missteps in the plot or writing. i’m making it up as i go. kiss kiss

Description: Reader makes an ally, and attends a tense dinner. part one, two, and three.

A mild blue dawn was just beginning to flit through the blinds, and I sighed heavily, stretching a little, and running a hand across my face. My skin was cold to the touch. Rolling over stiffly, I glanced at the clock on my nightstand.

5:26a.m.

Nineteen minutes before my alarm. I was too cold to go back to sleep, I knew, as much as Alfred had requested I try and get more of it. Pulling myself up, the sheets slipped off my bare shoulders and folded onto themselves. Once in a blue moon, I would forego making it up again, usually accompanied by an excuse. Today, I didn’t have one. I put my feet on the floor, mind buzzing.

I was done tossing and turning, and decided to get up and shower. Afterward, I threw on my uniform, and got to work on my face. A little bronzy eyeshadow, some mascara and lip balm. I could’ve turned my face into a work of art, but I was tired from my sleepless night and doing much else seemed like a strain.

There was a knock on the door.

“Come in.” I was expecting Bruce or Alfred, but I caught Tim’s reflection in my vanity mirror.

“Hey.” He said.

“Good morning.” I replied tensely. He sat on my bed. Okay. Weird. Tim was a year younger than me- but always ordained himself something of an older brother. His brainpower made learned helplessness and easy state to slip into when he was around- always fixing my PS4, or recovering lost files from my laptop. When we first met, I used to use those things as a crutch to interact with him, as neither of us were particularly forthcoming. These days, we were as close as any pair of siblings.

“What’s up?” I asked, tucking away my mascara wand.

“Oh, I just thought I’d… check up on you. Before school started.”

I was the only one of the Waynes attending Gotham Academy at the moment. Damian was still at Gotham Prep, but by the time he would attend next year, I’d be graduated. I wondered if Tim ever missed it. He garnered his fair share of attention; mostly because of his attractive status and predisposition of agreeability. Before he dropped out, I used the be the subject of mediation for every eligible teenage girl that wanted to get to know my brother- no, the other one. With the soft hair. The chem tutor.

I laughed a little. “Do I seem like I need it?” Tim shrugged. I got up and plopped on the duvet beside him. My window was open a crack, filling the room with a chilly breeze and the scent of moisture and petrichor.

“Did Bruce make you get up for this?” I tried again, keeping my playful tone. He sighed and shook his head.

“Bruce isn’t the only one who’s noticed you lately.” He said, with contrasting seriousness that made my smile fall.

“What’s there to notice? Seriously.” I questioned.

He sighed again and twisted his lip. I knew what that meant. He was about to list everything different I’d been doing for the past three weeks, either alphabetically or by severity. “You look tired. You get home and go straight to your room. You keep fidgeting during briefings. You look distracted. You’re avoiding Damian- which, I get it- but like, more than usual. Dick said you haven’t texted him all week. You usually have something to say about your day at dinner, but-“

“Okay. I get it.”

A brief moment passed, where I watched him pull a looser string from the duvet.

“I know you went somewhere. On the 21st, when we were patrolling in Otisburg. You went somewhere for forty-two minutes.”

I blinked. “Oh.”

“I’m not accusing you of anything-“ He added quickly, looking at me. “Really, I have know idea why you left. I’m sure it was nothing, I just… you’ve been acting weird ever since. Where did you go?”

I swallowed, and my intestines felt like lead. Really, I was relieved. Here I was, in my room I’d decorated with Wayne money, with my brother who evidently cared enough about me to notice my typical word count at dinner, asking me what was wrong. And a lot was wrong.

So, I smoothed my plaid skirt and told him about the night of the 21st- and only that. From Red Hood, to Hoffman, to the warehouse. Every vivid detail I could remember. I decided to leave out my little truancy adventure, along with meeting him in the alley. Lifting up his mask. Having his exposed skin close enough to touch. His gunpowder smell. By the end, Tim was frowning. The following silence could’ve crushed a coke can.

“Shit.” He muttered.

“Yeah.” I echoed. “Shit.”

He didn’t asked why I didn’t tell Bruce. Or Anyone. He didn’t ask why it was so important to me to do this by myself. All he did was take in the information and start putting it together.

“Jesus- you could’ve died. But all that Hoffman stuff. Why you?”

“Exactly!” I breathed.

Another knock on the door, and Alfred’s voice carried through, telling me it was time to go. I got up. Tim nodded and followed suit, no doubt carrying my every last recounting in his piggy-bank memory.

“Please don’t tell Bruce.” I said, some amount of fear slipping into my voice. “I know it was a stupid thing to do and it was stupid not to tell anyone. But he’ll never trust me again.” Tim hesitated at the door.

“There’s nothing to tell.”

I climbed into the backseat of the car, and stared at the cityscape running past the windows. The anxiety had lifted. One of my growing number of secrets revealed. In its wake, the sudden absence left a sense of clarity. I remembered why I had kept it to begin with.

Dick was gifted. The first. The talented boy who could fly. Babs and Tim were brilliant; genius far beyond the confines of academia. Damian was skilled. Trained from birth, the blood son. It nestled here him neatly, right where he belonged. What was I? I wasn’t born with athletic ability beyond my years, or genius intellect. Without that information- without my secrets- I had nothing else to give.

Thursday night was dinner. The whole family. It was Bruce’s excuse to drag Dick out of his apartment in Blüdhaven, and for Alfred to exercise a new recipe, since everyone was on a strict lean-means and superfoods regimen every other waking day. Babs attended occasionally, when work didn’t keep her busy, and Tim was only allowed to pass if he promised to rest instead.

I met his eyes as everyone was rounded into the dining room by Alfred like a herd of sheep; he gave me some imperceptible knowing look that promised to keep my secret.

We sat down and sipped water from crystal glasses as the table was set with food, muttering amongst ourselves about our days. Dick was given a coffee with the wrong name (‘Nick’), Babs met up with her friend from high school (Olivia something or other), and Damian completed a group project with some incompetent classmates (they all were- even the professors). Vigilante talk wasn’t forbidden, but generally skirted around so as to offer a small reprieve of normalcy during the week.

There was an exception to this unspoken rule when there was a particularly exciting case on the table. Unfortunately for me and my anxiety, the case of the Red Hood was a very exciting one.

“Any new breaks with Red Hood?” Dick asked through miso soup. Bruce sighed.

“He made some movements in Robbinsville. Gone before we could get there. He’s got his men on a tight leash- we couldn’t get any of them to talk.”

“Course not. There’s rumors flying all over the department. One of the Ioveanu family branches payed out a huge security detail for their private mansion.”

“He hasn’t hunted anyone in their home, has he?” I asked. I pictured him standing in front of me- maskless, in my academy uniform.

“No, it’s not his MO.” Barbara answered.

“Not yet. It’s only been six months, and he’s progressing rapidly.” Bruce diagnosed grimly.

“Are you scared he’s gonna join us for dinner?” Dick joked, throwing a wink my way.

“Haha.” I muttered. Actually, I hadn’t slept because of the very idea.

“If you’re nervous, you could always stay home next patrol.” Damian suggested pointedly. To him, existing in the realm of crimefighting was a competition, and he was always looking for others to drop out of the race. I resisted the urge to fling a pea at him.

“I’m not nervous.” I said coolly.

“You’ve been practically trembling since we fought his pathetic lackeys.”

“Damian.” Bruce warned, from the head of the table. I flipped the smallest Wayne the middle finger. He resigned, but I swore I saw amusement on his lips.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Red Hood is very skilled and very prolific. It’s a daunting case.” Bruce continued.

“Thanks, but I’m okay. Really.” I said, trying not to sound annoyed, and feeling like a spotlight was over my head, operated by the ghost of Hoffman. I almost laughed as I pictured it.

“That’s good to hear. We’ve been concerned.” Alfred added.

“Wow. I’m the star of the show around here.” I remarked dryly.

“We can’t help it, Miss Independent.” Dick said teasingly. “You’re just a good mystery.”

“Reminds me of Talia.” Tim said casually. The silverware stopped clanging.

It was a shameless subject change. Damian’s mother was an inflammatory topic for all parties. Bruce’s moral contempt didn’t reach the likes of Talia Al Ghul and Selena Kyle, immoral though they were. Beauty makes anything charming- and when paired with an impeccable taste in dress, even murder and thievery can be minimized into something of a quirk. Bruce thought so, anyway.

As for Damian, he had grappled with his dismissal from Talia’s side for what was now a majority of his life, and still possessed this deep-rooted, inextinguishable attachment to his mother. It was the hollow soreness any young boy would have in his position. Tim called him mama’s boy until he finally displayed a frightening amount of disdain for the title and actually begged him to stop. Tim agreed to, and I agreed to pretend I never heard a thing.

Dick disagreed with both of those sentiments and viewed Talia as someone who wasn’t worth the trouble. His dismissal embarrassed Bruce and offended Damian, so I knew the dinner table had been sufficiently turned into a powder keg. Tim and I shared a look as I expressed silent gratefulness, and he resigned to inspecting a dumpling, while I picked around my haka noodles.

The rest of dinner was quiet. Somehow, somewhere in the silence all had been decidedly forgiven. First by Babs who asked me to pass the pepper. Then by Dick who said the vegetables were good. Thank you, Alfred. Damian still looked pissed, and Bruce kept stealing glances at the clock.

I texted Tim under the table.

Thanks for taking one for the team.

The reply: You owe me one. I think Damian’s gonna poison my food.

We both glanced at the youngest, who was darkly mesmerized by what appeared to be Tim’s soup bowl.

He quickly added, Wait, actually tho? And we both fought laughter like two kids in the back of the class. It felt good to have an ally. Even if he still didn’t know the whole truth.

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anastasiabeaverhousen87 · 4 years

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Halloween gone wrong- Part 2

A beeping sound, it was so annoying. You tried to ask for it to be turned off, but you couldn’t speak. You couldn’t move or couldn’t open your eyes. You could hear the beeping sound and voices. They probably gave you a paralyzing drug, you could feel the breathing tubes they had you in. But you felt so tired your body grew heavy and sleep took over again.

You hear the same beeping sound, this time more clearly and you can feel the stuff they gave to paralyze you was staring to wear off and you were trying to kick off the sheets, you hate having your feet covered. But when you open your eyes and tried to wiggle your feet, you could hear someone calling for a doctor or nurse and ratting you out that you were waking up. Someone gave you something again because after just a couple of minutes you could feel yourself fading out and you were so frustrated at not being able to uncover your feet.

It was Alex who administrated something into your IV. You could barely distinguish her voice, but the medication took over rapidly.

Alex: “we need to have her under sedation a little longer and keep the treatment and oxygen at 100%. Her saturation dropped to critical levels we need her on the ventilator for at least another 24 hours.”

Kara: “I know, but I just want to see her and talk to her. I hate seeing her like this. She was trying to move her feet. I forgot she hates having her feet covered. So, I´ll just moved the sheets now” – The blonde woman moves to uncover y/n feet and sits down next to her baby sister again, grabs her hand and rubs the back of it with her thumb.

Alex: “Oh! I did too. Maybe that’s why she was moving her feet so much. This kid and her damn hot feet. She is always feeling cold, but her feet are always outside the covers”- the red head woman walks to the other side of the bed and runs her fingers on your

The older Danvers looks down at y/n with soft smiles.

You can’t know how long it’s been, but you feel yourself waking up once again. This time you are meet with the sight of both your sisters. Kara’s baby blues filling with tears and Alex smiling fondly.

Kara: “hey sweet girl, welcome back”

Alex: “good morning baby girl, we missed you”

You tried to speak but couldn’t. You felt the tubes

Alex: “hold on baby, I’m going to take out the breathing tube. You’re going to take a deep breath and then cough while I remove the tube, okay?”, on three. One, two ...three. you take a deep breath.

You cough and feel a burning sensation while the tube is being removed and then Alex places an oxygen mask on your face.

Alex: “Easy, Easy. Slow breaths and don’t try to speak just yet”

Kara: “here baby , eat some ice chips. It will help with the sore throat”- you sister hand feeds you a spoonful with ice chips that soothes your throat and you hum in appreciation.

Y/n: “thank you”- your voices sounding very raspy.

You were about to ask how long you’ve been out, but Kara knows that’s what you are about to ask.

Kara: “you’ve been out for 60 hours and this morning we moved you from the intensive care unit. You gave us quite the scare there little one”- Kara says choking a little on her words.

Alex : “We lost you for a little bit , I’ve never been so scared in my life. We are so thankful you’re here with us. But baby, we need to talk. We almost lost you for a very dumb accident. You didn’t have your inhaler or emergency meds”. - Alex gets emotional and also has trouble speaking without her voice breaking.

Y/n: “I’m sorry” - you shed a few tears feeling awful for making your sisters suffer.

Alex; “We know, and we are not mad. We are so happy you came back to us. We can wait until you’re better. Just focus on getting better. I’ll keep monitoring your levels and oxygenation and if its good enough we can take you home later today, Okay?”

You nod and smile at your sister’s eyes growing heavy once again. You reach out with grabby hands trying to get Kara to snuggle with you, to which the blonde woman complies immediately by climbing into the bed next to you and you pretty much crawl you way into her arms to feel her warmth. You were feeling cold and you knew Kara would keep you warm. You lay your head on her chest and she circles your waist and holds you near without disturbing the I.V in your arm. Alex makes sure you are settled down okay and administrates something into your I.V, she then turns to you and caresses your face and temple and leans down to kiss your forehead.

Alex: “you can go to sleep baby”

Kara: “I got you munchkin, you close your eyes and sleep some more if you are tired. We are not going anywhere okay?” – you nod your head against your sister chest and just hum in agreement. Kara begins to hum a song to help you relax and fall asleep. You can hear heels clicking against the floor. Lena, you think.

You are almost asleep when you feel cool fingers and then warms lips placing a kiss to your forehead.

Lena: “hi sweet girl, I missed you. Sleep now”

You just smile at her and you close your eyes.

You feel warm and content. You are resting on something soft and firm, the more aware you become you realized that you are laid with you face on Kara neck and she has her arms around you. You are cozy and snuggled into your blonde sister.

Kara “good morning munchkin, sleep alright?

y/n: “hmmm”-you nod in approval, but you only snuggle more into your sister side.

you hear a chuckle but is not from Kara, you open your eyes and you see sparkling green eyes looking at you from the chair next to the bed.

Lena: “hello sweet girl, nice to see those beautiful eyes once again. How are you feeling darling?” -the green-eyed woman traces her fingers down your temple

y/n: “good, tired though” you give a small yawn and then you smile at Lena. “where’s lexie?”

Alex: “right here, and look who I found?” – your big sister enters the room followed by a smiling Nia carrying a huge teddy bear and then you’re eyes go wide at the sight of someone you haven’t seen in a very long time. Maggie Sawyer, who is carrying a small white box and a baby monkey plushy in her hands.

Nia” Oh my gosh y/n we were so scared, I’m so glad you awake now”- the quirky woman stands next to you and Kara and gives you a hug after Kara helps you into a sitting position. Nia hands you a huge fluffy teddy bear.

y/n: “Hi Nia, thank you he is cute” You give her a hug and smile and then you turn to brunet detective. - “Maggie?”

Maggie: “Hello Baby Danvers. I was in town and heard what happened to my favorite Danvers and I had to come by and see you little bean. Here I brought your favorite cupcakes and a baby monkey. Its so adorable it reminded me of you”

You tear up at seeing the brunette detective; you love Maggie dearly; she is an amazing woman and the two of you were inseparable. After she and Alex broke up you felt very sad but you kept in touch with her. However, its been a very long time since you last saw each other and right now it felt like too much and your emotions where all over the place.

The short brunet noticing your tears leans into you to give a big hug and you cling to her. You really missed her.

y/n: “I missed you so much Maggie. It so good to see you. “

Maggie: “I missed you too kid. I’m so sorry it took me so long to visit. But I’m so glad you’re okay. You gave everyone quite the scare.” -the detective says softly to your ear. Then she kisses your cheek and dries your tears with her thumbs- “No more tears baby D”

y/n: “I can’t help it, I really missed you Maggs”- you sniffle a bit more and take the offered box and monkey

Alex: “wow! I remember the time when I was the favorite Danvers”

Maggie and Kara laugh at that- “yeah sorry Danvers, but you know baby D was always the favorite”

Kara: “yeah I would be offended too if it wasn’t for the fact that y/n is so adorable I can’t really argue with you Maggie. It so good to see you and for you to stop by” – the detective leans into Kara and gives her a hug.

Maggie: “Its good to see you too little Danvers. And of course, I was coming. I was visiting anyways just never expected under such circumstances.”

The group in the med room spend a little while catching up with you and making sure you were doing alright and on the mend. you felt happy at having such amazing people on your corner and wanted to hear everything they have been doing, but you began to tire out and they noticed. Your eyes were droopy and you barely awake.

Maggie and Nia said their goodbyes and promise you to visit once you were back at your home. Maggie did mention she was going to be in National City for a couple of weeks and you tow would definitely be doing some serious catching up.

Once everyone was gone, Alex did a final checkup assisting of Doctor Hamilton to make sure you were good to go.

Dr. Hamilton: “everything looks good. I´ll get your prescription filled. You need follow the instructions I’m giving Alex and I’m also recommending one week of bed rest.” – you were about to argue you felt alright and you had work to do. “And no arguing or I will make it two weeks” – the doctor added in serious tone.

Alex: “Don’t worry I will make sure she follows the instruction to a T, and you young lady are not going anywhere. I already spoke with your boss and she made the proper arrangements during your medical absence.

Kara: “Yeah don’t worry munchkin, you just relax and let us pamper you for a few days okay? we are entitled”

Y/N: “Fine, but I’m getting all the junk food I want, of that I am entitled” – you huff and slump back into your sister front crossing your arms and pouting like a petulant child.

Kara: “of course you are cutie. You look like a chipmunk” – the blonde woman presses her hands on your cheeks laughing at your pouting lips and cheeks puffin like a tiny chipmunk.

Alex: “Alright kiddo, let me get your meds and Kara can you please help her into the clothes on the duffle bag. I’ll be back in a moment”- your big sister leans down and kisses your forehead.

Dr. Hamilton: “Very well, get well y/n. See you soon, but for lunch and no medical assistance”- the doctor says kindly and smiles down at you.

Y/N: “Thank you Doctor Hamilton”

The women leave the room, while Kara helps you into some sweatpants and lose shirt.

Kara: “all done, now lets jus wait for Alex and Lena is already downstairs”

y/n: “come on guys, you don’t need to stop all your activities just to take me back home. I know Lena is a very busy woman and she must be needed back in L-Corp and you also need to be in CatCo. I’ll be okay, just drop me off and I will lay on the couch for the rest of the day”

Lena: “Well sweetheart, first of all the place is called L-Corp for a reason, me being the owner and being the boss so I can do as I please. I am a very organized person and I can multitask very well, so you don’t need to worry about my work schedule. I wanted to be here with you guys because you are my family, and family comes first. Secondly, I’m here to take you back home and make sure you don’t trick your sister into getting you full of junk food, we both know she has no spine when it comes to tell you no”

You smirk at the looks Kara and Lena are giving each other.

Kara: “Hey I resent that! I’m not a push over”- the blonde woman pouts at her girlfriend.

Lena: “Never said you were, you just don’t like saying no to your baby sister and the both of you would end up eating pizza and pot sticker for breakfast lunch and dinner without supervision”

Alex: “That’s so true. Finally, I have someone on my corner when it comes to their bad alimentary habits” -the red -haired woman mentions while walking back into the room carrying a bag with the prescriptions and inhalers.

Lena: “I know, they eat like toddlers. Come one you two pouty faces lets go back to the apartment. I will order from the Italian place you love and get some comfort food I won’t be a total bitch. I will relent in some pasta and pizza, but you will eat some veggies and I will even get desert”

You perk up at the mention of your favorite restaurant and desert as a bonus “I love you Lena, and you are so not a b-word. Don’t say that”

Kara: “Totally babe, you are nothing of the sorts”

The group of four women made their back to the apartment Kara and Y/N shared, the youngest Danvers passed out on her sister’s arms during the car ride. Once inside the apartment Kara lay down y/n on the couch with a soft blanket while the two women went back to the kitchen area to order the food and Alex went through the doctor’s indications and meds, while Lena and Kara paid rapid attention.

After some time, you woke up to a light feather like touch on your cheek and arm, Alex was trying to rouse you from your slumber.

Alex: “wake up peanut, food is here you need to take your meds, come on sleepy head” – your sister softly continues to wake you up completely. You just look up to her with a goofy smile.

y/n: “mornin lexie”. Your voice sounding like a mewl from a kitty cat and you stretch in the touch.

Alex just chuckles at you and leans down to grab your arms so you can sit on the couch. But you grab on her neck and shoulders to bring her down with you and once Alex is on the couch you take the opportunity to climb into her lap and continue your nap.

Alex: “come on silly koala, you need food and meds. Wake up.” – the red-haired woman just rubs at your back making soothing patterns with her hand.

y/n: “No wanna. I’m so comfy right now”

Alex: “But its your favorite. Fettuccini Alfredo and triple cheese pizza. Lena even ordered the mini pies you like so much.”

You look up suspiciously at her:” and….?”

Lena: “And grilled veggies, come on time to eat” – the CEO responds from the dinner table.

Dinner was a quick affair; you stuffed your face on mini pies after getting the approval from eating your grilled veggies. The veggies were also delicious you just liked to give Alex hell about the consumption on healthy food. You and Kara always tended to annoy her by making faces at vegetables she cooked.

After a while all of you ended up in the living room watching a movie. You were slumped on top of Alex while Lena was pretty much like you on top of Kara. You seem more alert, which prompt Alex to pause the movie for a little bit and turn to look at you.

Alex: “We will continue with the movie shortly, I just wanted to talk too you now that you are more comfortable and alert. Don’t look at me like that. I need to know what happened so we can be prepared next time”

y/n: “I know…” you sigh and sit up a bit straighter so you could look at the women in the living room and began telling them how the events unfolded. Every detail, from using Kara’s costume, the angry dude and forgetting your medication in your rush to get to the party.

Alex: “Ok sweet girl. Thanks for letting us know. The drunk guy is the brother of one the involved parties during a bank robbery Supergirl was able to stop last year. The family suffered the consequences. He actually approached Jon after you were rushed to get medical attention. He explained he was stupid and drunk and furious at the wrong person. Took it out on you because you were wearing Supergirl’s costume and all the anger he had bottled up came up. and well even though I don’t condemn what he did, he didn’t expect you were going to panic and get an asthma attack. He felt sorry and he wanted to turn himself in. That’s a different story, but the issue here is that this could have been avoided if you had your emergency meds and inhaler. You had nothing and were on a place you were unfamiliar, without any of us. You are an adult and you can party and hang out with anyone you want, but as a responsible adult you should know by now that you live with a medical condition and it’s your responsibility to always carry your meds with you or to calls us if you forget or even tell your friend so they can be prepare. You scared the living shit out of them and us y/n too”

y/n: “I’m so sorry Alex. I know I was rushing and totally forgot I left them in my other bag. I know it’s not an excuse, but I did forget”

Kara: “You really need to be more careful baby. At least text or call to let us know. You know we can bring you a spare one. Jeez I can be there in seconds If you would just let me know”

Alex: “I’m not trying to be the bad cop here baby girl. But what happened cannot happened again, especially if it can be avoided. You stopped breathing and took several efforts to bring you back, you died on me for a few moments and sweetie that´s one of the worst things I even been through. We love you so much sweetheart and we almost lost you for a very stupid mistake” – at this point Alex was very emotional and choking on some words. You were not any better or any of the ladies in the living room for that matter. It was very traumatic for them, the thought of losing someone they love dearly like that.

Alex: “You also should know by now that after this scare I’m implementing some new rules and I’ll be on you checking on you. You owe me as much after that; I get to be the overbearing sister helicopter mom you and Kara call me behind my back and on my face. I don’t care, that’s my way of coping I’m just giving you a fair warning”.

Kara: “Preach it sister, I will be annoying you too. we love you so very much munchkin we just want you healthy and okay”

y/n: “I know, and I love you for it so very much. I do. I get it. I was scared too, that was one of the worst experiences of my life. It sucked so bad. And trust me, I don’t think I’ll be forgetting this anytime soon. Besides knowing how Lena is, she is probably already working on some sort of device to make sure you can all reach me or I can reach out and pin point my location 24/7”- you laugh a little at that last sentence but then you look into Lena direction who is trying to avoid eye contact with you looking very much suspicious.

y/n: “Oh My God you totally are aren’t you Lee?” – you laugh out loud

Lena: “Can you blame me? You did scare me sweet girl. And well, its no so much as creating a device its basically upgrading your current one, instead of just reaching out or calling for Supergirl, it can also contact Alex, me or Jon. And yes, it’s true; it will also provide live GPS system. Although I’m not sorry, no one bit”.

y/n: “I know. And I’m so thankful to have you, all of you in my life and on my corner. I feel so safe with you guys. I do promise be more careful or at least call whenever I forget bringing any of my meds along with me. pinky promise”

You feel arms engulf you from one side, Alex is bringing you into a strong and warm embrace while Kara leans down and kisses your temple and hugs the two of you. Making you practically be sandwiched in between your big sisters. Lena giving you all a huge smile, happy to be near all of you and knowing all of you are content and okay.

Y/n: “Come on Lee, you’re missing out on the love, bring it” – The dark-haired woman leans down next to Kara and also joins into the sisterly group hug.

You do have a lot of people on your corner, and it’s a great feeling knowing you have the most amazing sisters and friends with you, you are so very thankful for getting another chance at life and continue to walk this earth with them along the ride.

NOTE: I’m back, hopefully you’ll enjoy the second and last part of Halloween gone wrong. I’m still working on my other stories but for now here’s a little something to get by. thanks for all your comments or question in regard my stories or certain request you have, not saying I will make them immediately but I will try my very best. I do appreciate your words and likes to my post, I truly do.

xoxo Anastasia

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