#anyway. now I will hopefully be able to focus tomorrow

[sm-entertain-me]

Midnight Snack (M)

Contains: Lee Felix x (f) reader, vampire!Stray Kids, adult language, smut, explicit depictions of unprotected sex, biting kink, praising/pet names, oral sex (female receiving), fingering, creampie, strangers to lovers!au, featuring Chan.

Synopsis: Four rambunctious young vampires had taken to the streets for their weekly hunt, prowling for their victims which usually contained the elderly or those who were already knocking on death’s door. But when one of the vampires gets a look at you through your open window, he simply had to taste. (Inspired by the “Up All Night” music video with Chan, Changbin, Felix, and Seungmin.)

“Feeding off of old folks’ blood is boring,” Felix complained as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, not getting as full from the meal as he would’ve if Chan would just listen to him and let them feed on a young person. Just for tonight. Felix knew that the Strays had a pact with the living that they would essentially be “gatekeepers”, feeding off of those who were pretty much already dead and sending them on their way down the Styx. But the slightly sour taste of diseased or elderly blood was getting old. “Why can’t we just feed on healthy prey just this once?”

The soft slurping sound emanating from the male partner of the elderly woman suddenly stopped as Felix’s leader removed his fangs from his sleeping prey, glaring at the younger vampire, “Felix, how many times do I have to tell you? We have rules to follow. If you keep trying to persuade me to feed on someone healthy again, you’re staying home while we hunt like the rest of the guys. Now, hurry up and bottle some for the guys back at the lair. Jisung has been especially thirsty this time around.”

Realizing he wouldn’t be able to convince Chan in anyway, Felix groaned as he followed his leader’s orders, draining his prey of her remaining blood to be shared amongst the rest of the clan at home. Felix didn’t understand what was so bad about having a nice treat for the guys, only having to dispose of one person instead of the average three elderly couples that had to perish each night. But rules are rules.

When everyone was somewhat satisfied with the amount of blood they were able to drain from their second to last house of the night, the four young vampires took to the streets in order to seek out their next victims. Just as Felix was hanging towards the back of the group to keep watch and maintain cover for the rest of them, he just so happened to peer into a house that had an open window with a single candle lit on the dresser. Curious, Felix decided to focus on any movement in the room, just in case it was a good house hunt for the guys to enjoy. That’s when he saw the most insatiable looking creature of the night: you.

The slight breeze flowing in from your open window felt pleasant against your slightly warmer skin, cooling you down from the steamy shower you had just taken. It was getting pretty late at night and you had spent all night working out the details of your group project you had to present tomorrow in class. You don’t know how you got suckered in to being the “group leader”, which really meant you were the one doing all the work and the other members just take credit for your hard work, but somehow that became your role after two weeks of pathetic attempts to work together. You had given up after three out of four of your group members ghosted you for a frat party when you guys were supposed to be working on the project. Oh well.

Refusing to dwell on the negatives, you focused on continuing your nightly routine to get yourself ready for bed. Hopefully a good night’s sleep would get you in the type of mindset required of you to get a good grade on this ridiculous project. But as you were hovering over your dresser to pick out which fluffy pair of pajamas you wanted to wear tonight, you felt a particularly cold rush of air occupy your room. As if the frigid air wasn’t enough to make your hair stand up on end, you swear you could hear something call out for you.

Although your head was definitely telling you to keep your eyes forward and to potentially grab a baseball bat from your closet, your body acted on its own accord by turning you halfway around so that you now face your window. Not only were you facing your window, but you were now facing the dashing young man that was now leaning on your windowsill, smirking at you as he rested his chin on his hand and waved his fingers with his other. 

“Woah,” You said audibly, immediately covering your mouth with your hand upon realizing the man at your window most definitely heard you. This was apparent due to the man chuckling at you, taking the hand that was previously waving at you and running it through his silvery hair slowly. The man knew you were staring at him, considering he was the one that set a trance on you in the first place. But given that the man is already drop dead gorgeous on his own, he didn’t have to waste too much of his energy casting it on you.

“Well hello there darling,” The man spoke with a sultry tone, knowing you were staring at his chiseled jawline and soft lips with a twinkle of lust. Not knowing any better, you allowed your feet to take you closer to the intoxicating stranger. You finally stood in front of the man, only separated by the thin space of the windowsill. He was even more handsome up close.

The man had shaggy silvery hair that tucked nicely behind his ears and cascaded along the back of his neck, dark and smoky eyes that captivated you the longer you looked into them, and he had a smirk that made you week in the knees. The man could sense your heartrate increasing as he watched your eyes traverse over what skin was exposed, simply watching you in amusement. You were absolutely perfect for him tonight.

“So, are you just going to ogle at me all night or are you going to invite me in, sweetie?” The young man asked as he ran his hand absentmindedly through his slicked back hair, knowing he was going to show off more of his jawline that you had taken such an interest in. Something deep inside of your heart told you that inviting a complete stranger into your house in the middle of the night wasn’t exactly the best idea, but you were too busy nodding your head and holding out your hand to help the stranger in your house.

As the stranger gained access to your abode, you noticed he kept his hand within your grip a little longer than needed. Noticing that his hands were a little colder than normal, probably due to him standing outside for all that time, you wanted to pull your hand away but were distracted by the man taking his other hand and boldly caressing your face.

You could feel your face relax into the stranger’s hand, sighing out in relief as the stranger stroked his thumb along the skin of your jaw. You didn’t even know this man so you had no idea why you reacted the way you did. And you certainly didn’t understand why you were allowing him to pin you flush against your dresser, the space that was between you currently being nonexistent as he stared longingly into your eyes

“My, my you are perfect,” The man praised as his hand traced down from your jawline all the way to your neck, moving the loose strands of hair to expose your tantalizing column to the young man. The skin was nice and bare, ready for the taking. But he didn’t want to get down to business just yet. He wanted to play around with his prey first. With that, he decided to turn to you for a brief moment of contemplation before wrapping his arm firmly around your waist to pull you in for a kiss.

The second the man’s lips were on yours, you could feel all the previous apprehension of inviting this stranger into your home melt away, moaning softly from the sensation of his lips dancing on yours. It only took seconds for the stranger to swipe his tongue along your bottom lip, asking yet again for permission to enter. You kindly obliged by parting your lips lightly, immediately feeling the stranger slip his tongue into your mouth to taste you completely.

Teeth began to nibble at your bottom lip as you became lightheaded from how well this man was kissing you, you allowing him to do whatever he needed with you as you were simply burning for his touch. You didn’t even know his name but that didn’t seem to matter to you as your hands began to tangle in his hair, him groaning softly against your lips in approval. Just as the kiss was heating up to immeasurable temperatures, the man pulled his lips from yours only to be met with a moan of protest from you.

Chuckling softly at the amount of your neediness for his touch, the man sighed as he caressed your face softly and smirked as you shuddered against him, “Oh don’t worry, I don’t plan on leaving you unsatisfied tonight lovely. But you have to promise to be a good little pet for me and give everything you have to me, understand?” When the stranger saw you nodded vigorously out of desperation, he leaned in to kiss along your neck before he muttered into the currently unmarked skin, “My name is Felix, just so you know what name to scream tonight.”

You can’t exactly pinpoint the moment you jumped into Felix’s arms to have him carry you over to your bed, but it wasn’t really that important to you as you were now pinned to the mattress below you while Felix was busy stealing your breath away with his kisses. You could feel Felix smirk against your lips as he took both of your hands and pinned them high above your head, keeping you in place so he could abuse the pristine skin of your neck that was begging to be marked with Felix’s love bites.

“Oh god, Felix,” You breathed out as you felt soft lips pepper along your jawline before kissing down your neck. Felix would determine which area to mark depending on how your breathing would hitch in your throat, smirking against the skin as he sucked the skin into his mouth lightly. You would moan louder and louder depending on how hard Felix sucked on the skin, loving the way goosebumps would rush all over your body in response to leaving pink blossoms on the skin. The longer Felix marked your neck, the more you could feel your resolve crumbling away.

In addition to Felix sucking on the skin of your neck, you could feel him sink his teeth into your neck momentarily but didn’t think much of it as Felix quickly licked the skin on the area he bit. You thought you could feel a rush of heat pulse through you from the area Felix bit at, but you couldn’t really allow it to register as Felix pulled his lips from the skin to look deep into your eyes. It was as if he was looking for something in particular in your eyes due to how intensely he stared into them, Felix smiling devilishly shortly after. Maybe he saw what he was looking for?

Without another word, you felt Felix’s slender fingers fumbling with tie of your pajama shorts until the tie was finally broken and your shorts were being pulled down your legs at a tantalizing pace. The cold air hitting your aching clit caused you to hiss out from the sensation, throwing your head back into the pillow below you. Felix on the other hand was licking his lips wolfishly, audibly growling at the sight of your pussy that was begging to be filled with something that belonged to Felix. 

Always wanting to please, Felix made sure to hold intense eye contact as he licked his fingers slowly to earn a breathy moan from you, anchoring himself in between your hips as he prepared to plunge his fingers inside of you. The feeling of Felix’s fingers parting your walls had you reaching up to find purchase on Felix’s broad shoulders, your eyebrows knitting together from the pleasure of finally being filled even if it was just Felix’s fingers for now.

Felix licked his lips from the way your walls clenched around his fingers, his eyes fixated on the sensual sight going on between your legs. While you were helplessly thrashing your wrists in Felix’s tight grip, he was busy shoving his fingers all the way to the knuckle, causing you to choke out moans you weren’t sure were there in the first place. Then you felt Felix’s fingers curl up and skim along your walls in a come hither motion, watching the way your eyes would roll in the back of your head from the sensation. 

���Hold on baby, I don’t want you cumming like this,” Felix admitted as he finally was able to remove his eyes from the sight of his fingers being buried in your slit, a feeling of emptiness soon replacing the space Felix’s fingers were occupying. This allowed you to take a deep breath and regain your composure, feeling a bead of sweat rolling down your temple from the heat that was surging through you. However, Felix didn’t let you rest for long as he moved down your torso until his lips were mere centimeters from your swollen bundle of nerves.

Hovering over your dripping core, Felix breathed in deeply and shuddered over your scent. Everything about you was perfect and he simply couldn’t wait to taste you, plunging his lips around your clit and sucking forcefully. Since Felix had neglected to hold your hands together for this round, your hands immediately flew into Felix’s locks, wrapping around the soft tresses before pulling softly in approval of his ministrations. You could feel Felix smirk against your clit as he decided to take his arms and wrap them around your thighs to keep them firmly in place, forbidding you from trying to close your legs and interrupting his meal.

“F-Felix... Gonna ah, gonna cum,” You managed to choke out, hiccupping with every swipe of Felix’s tongue along your folds while still suckling on your clit. He was eating you out like a man starved, slurping here and sucking here while your legs trembled mercilessly around his face. This only edged him on as you felt him slide his hand from the outside of your thigh to the skin on the inside, slowly making his way north until one of his fingers teased your folds. When he heard you keen for him upon realizing where his finger was, he delved deep inside of you yet again, immediately curling his fingers to find that sweet spot of yours.

White heat spread through your appendages at the speed of light as you cried out for Felix, him lapping up at your folds to help you chase your high. His fingers began to slow down inside of you, trying to bring you into reality slowly and not really wanting to overstimulate you before he was able to rearrange your guts tonight. Although Felix was getting drunk off of  the way you tasted, he knew he had to pull his lips away from you, but not before he gave one last suck to your clit that had you hissing half in pain half in pleasure. He just simply couldn’t resist.

“You did so well, my sweet,” Felix praised as he propped himself up on his elbows to make eye contact with you, making sure you were watching as he licked your essence off of his slender feelings. That alone caused your core to clench in wanton desire, something that Felix picked up on with the way that your pupils dilated at the sight of him. Soon after licking his digits clean of your sweet taste, Felix focused on stripping himself of his clothes while also ordering you to do the same, “The sooner you take your clothes off for me, the sooner I get to fuck you senseless.”

Loving the sound of Felix’s promise, you eagerly removed the top part of your pajama set to join the pair of shorts that Felix had ripped off of your body in a fit of raw desire. As your top hit the ground, you could hear Felix groan deeply from the sight of your breasts finally coming free, causing you to turn to look in his direction to see the most alluring specimen you had ever laid eyes on.

There Felix was, standing in the nude and looking godlike as ever. His body was toned and muscular in his deltoid area, his abs were very prominent from whatever workout routine he swore by, and his length was definitely something to write home about. His length looked as if it was pleasantly thick with enough length to reach all your favorite spots, and he just so happened to have thick veins in the most attractive spots for the extra pleasurable feeling. Everything about Felix was mesmerizing.

Once you were done ogling at Felix for the third time tonight, Felix decided to join you on the bed and hunker down in between your thighs again, stroking himself to his full length and making sure to spread precum all around the shaft. But you and him both knew that you were more than ready to take all of him, so Felix wasted no more time as he gripped your hips in his hands and sheathed his leaking cock deep inside your walls.

“Oh fuuuuck,” Felix groaned as he slumped forward slightly, pushing himself all the way to the hilt inside of you while you were trying your hardest not to scream out from the delicious stretch inside of you. Felix had to stop himself for a second since he nearly came from entering you, cursing to himself as he struggled to control the throbbing of his cock inside of you. It also didn’t help that you were moaning out for him in the sexiest way possible. 

After a short episode of cockwarming, Felix finally found the strength in him to begin moving his hips, keeping his eyes trained on your face just in case he was accidentally hurting you. But the look on your face hinted nothing at pain: eyebrows furrowed together, eyes closed in pure bliss, and mouth hanging open to whisper nothing but praises and moan out for the man currently going to town on you. Everything that Felix was doing to you was driving you absolutely insane.

You had never felt pleasure in the way that Felix was pleasuring you. He made sure his strokes had meaning every time he snapped his hips into you, while also caressing your face in his hand as he found his way back to your neck. His lips never left your neck as he painted the skin with hickies while also making sure to give you a couple bites here and there. These bites of his would send goosebumps down your whole body, begging for more of the sensation to be felt.

Felix had grown tired of this angle as he decided to keep a firm grip on your hips while he leaned back to rest on his knees, pistoning in and out of you at a much rapid pace as he was able to achieve new depths. This new angle had you struggling to grip the sheets below you, crying out for Felix to go faster so that you could give into your orgasmic desires that were building up at a fast rate. Felix didn’t need to be told twice as his fingers dug deeper into your skin to secure his grip, throwing himself completely into you to the point that the top of your head was now smacking against the headboard from the force Felix unleashed on you.

You didn’t even have time to let Felix know you were on the edge before you were thrown into your orgasm, arching your back so far off of your mattress that you were certain you were going to break your back at that angle. Moans came tumbling from your lips as you managed to reach out and grab Felix for support, unintentionally raking your nails down his back in pleasure. The way your walls pulsed wildly around Felix’s talented member had Felix struggling to keep himself together, trying his best to hang on for a little longer.

But with the faces you were making underneath Felix and the lewd squelching sounds coming from you left Felix powerless against his desires as his eyebrows knitted together, his hips finally stalling against yours as you felt the warm liquid of Felix’s cum fill you up to the brim. His mouth was hanging open in pure ecstasy as he thrusted his hips two more times for good measure, immediately falling forward into the crook of your neck. Felix was soon passed out in no time and you followed shortly after him, succumbing to the darkness around you.

Minutes later you awoke from your slumber, laying in the arms of Felix as he was lying awake and staring out of your window. When Felix felt you move slightly in his arms, he pulled away to look into your eyes and smiled softly at you, “Did you have a nice nap, Sleeping Beauty?” You would’ve answered Felix until you felt a familiar rush of cold air occupy your room again, noticing Felix’s grip tighten around you as he was now glaring over at the window.

Still in Felix’s arms since he was the one protecting your modesty with the blanket, you turned around slowly and were met with another man in black clothing, his eyes glowing red as he glared down at the male holding you. “Felix, what did I say about healthy prey?” The man growled, angry with his fledgling for disobeying his clear orders for the night. “Did you honestly think I wouldn’t find you? I heard the poor girl moaning three blocks away.”

A tinge of red fell across your cheeks as you realized that your moans could be heard that far, but you weren’t exactly sorry about it as you had the best sexual experience of your life. In the midst of your thoughts, you hadn’t even remembered that the man referred to you as “prey” and that now Felix was moving your hair away from your neck to show his leader proof, “I didn’t drain her yet Chan, see for yourself.”

“Well don’t drain her just yet, I want to play with her too.”

[laurenairay]

Day 28 – Nathan MacKinnon

Trope: Renting a winter cabin

Word Count: 934 words

A/N: I would definitely have a hard time saying no to a secluded break away with Nate, that’s all I’m saying…

*

“Baby, I think we need a break,”

Your whole body froze at Nate’s unexpected words, your heart aching in the worst way, but you steeled yourself and turned to face him properly.

“What?” you whispered.

The moment his words registered, Nate quickly shook his head, hands wide and placating.

“Oh god, no, I didn’t mean…I mean…” he spluttered.

“Nate?” you whimpered, interrupting his rambling.

“I meant we need a break away. Just the two of us,” Nate groaned.

Fuck. Fuck. Why couldn’t he have just said that?

“You were on the verge of breaking my heart, Nathan MacKinnon,” you said, trying to laugh, although it came out weak.

“I was trying to be romantic,” Nate said miserably, “Everyone rags on me for being the least romantic person ever but I really wanted to try, and I fucked it up anyway,”

The way he ran a shaky hand through his hair let you know he was being serious, and you couldn’t help but feel bad. It was true, he wasn’t the most romantic guy in the world – but this would have been incredibly dreamy, if he hadn’t fucked up the delivery of it.

“I’d love to,” you said with a soft smile.

“I’m so sorry, I…what?” he frowned.

You laughed, shaking your head fondly. “Let’s get away for a few days, just the two of us. It’ll be very romantic,”

“Yeah?” he asked, smiling hopefully.

“Yeah, let’s do it,” you nodded, “you can make up for giving me a mild heart attack when we’re though,”

“Oh fuck please don’t tell EJ,” he groaned.

*

That had been a week ago. That terrible moment where you thought your world was ending. Nate had obviously apologised profusely, and the guys had ripped him to shreds for it – you hadn’t told EJ…but you might have mentioned it to Mel, who naturally told Gabe, who told everyone – but to be honest you really were looking forward to getting away with him for a few days.

It was hard sometimes, dating a guy who was so focused on his career. It was admirable, and inspiring, and sexy, to share a life with a man who loved what he did so much, but it didn’t leave much room for coupley things, especially since Nate wasn’t exactly romantic in the first place. But he did try, god knows he tried, and his single-minded focus really could come in handy sometimes. But hockey came first – you knew that the moment you’d met him – but this time away was exactly what you needed.

In typical Nate style, he stuck to what he knew and felt comfortable with, so the two of you drove up to Vail. Although in a change of pace, Nate had chosen a luxury cabin, complete with a hot tub on the master bedroom balcony, giving an incredible view of the resort. It was so beautiful, especially now night had fallen and the twinkling lights filled up the landscape. It kind of took your breath away, if you were being honest.

“So what do you think?” Nate asked.

You could hear the hesitance in his voice, and you knew you had to stamp that out immediately. So you turned your back on the balcony view to face him properly, smiling as genuinely as you were able to without looking crazy.

“I think that you’re spoiling me,” you said honestly, earning a soft blush from your boyfriend, “I’ve never seen anything like this with my own eyes before, Nate,”

“You deserve to be spoiled,” he said simply, although the blush stayed on his cheeks.

He really could be so sweet.

“Any more surprises up your sleeve?” you teased.

“Only one thing planned properly?” he admitted.

“Oh?” you asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I might have booked us a sleigh ride through the mountains tomorrow? It’s meant to be…”

Nate hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, before he huffed out a laugh.

“It’s meant to be super romantic,” he mumbled.

Oh, that sweetheart.

“Nate,” you murmured, your heart too full to say anything else.

“I’m trying to make it up to you,” he said softly, taking your hands in his.

“You made it up to me with the takeaway coffee you gave me when you picked me up this morning,” you mused, “this is…above and beyond,”

“I just wanted to show you how much you mean to me,” he shrugged, although you could see a pleased smile tugging at his lips.

“You always do. I don’t need anything fancy, I never have,” you reminded him, a teasing glint in your eyes as you squeezed his hands, “But a sleigh ride through the mountains sounds amazing,”

Nate just grinned. “So I did good?”

You just laughed, letting go of his hands to slide your arms around his neck.

“Yes, you did good. So good that I’m going to brag to Mel the moment we get back and Gabe isn’t going to hear the end of it. Same with Jackie and EJ,” you grinned back.

Nate’s pleased smile came out in full force, verging on smug, but it only made your heart warmer. Good, he deserved to get the praise he deserved for all the effort he’d put into this holiday break.

“Now, why don’t you find that champagne I know you stashed in the car while I start up the hot tub?” you suggested.

Nate’s blue eyes darkened a little, and his tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip. Hmm, you knew he’d like that.

“I don’t need to grab our swimsuits, right?”

“No, no need for those,” you grinned.

Nate pressed a hot fast kiss to your lips before tearing himself out of the room, your laughter following him as he went.

[kaunis-sielu]

Fire Dogs

The fires had been blazing for weeks now, inching closer and closer to your home and firefighters were pouring in. You’d decided to stay, the fire was mostly moving away from town, thank god. The mayor had said that people who were willing to stay and help care for the hordes of firefighters pouring into town were appreciated. So even though you were a single Omega, you’d signed up. You could take in 2-6 firefighters depending on if they were willing to share a bed with one another and if you needed to sleep on the couch. You’d been assigned 3 men, all from New York City, one a Captain and all of them Alphas.

When you open the door as they walk up your sidewalk the first, a man with light hair and blue eyes, gives you a tight smile.

“Hi, welcome. I have a dog, is that okay?” The three men don’t even have to look at one another before all nodding yes. “Great, come on in.” You move out of the doorway and the three men come into the house.

“Thank you so much for opening your home to us.” The first man says, god he smells good, like sandalwood and lavender.

“It’s the least I could do.” You introduce yourself as your dog comes trotting into the room, Cooper’s tail wagging wildly. “But you can call me Fawn, and this is Cooper.”

“Sorry, I’m Steve Rogers, this is Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson.” The first man says introducing himself and the two men with him.

“It’s a pleasure. I’ll show you guys to your rooms.” You lead them upstairs and show them each to a room. Bucky takes your first spare room, Sam the second and Steve is in the master.

“Buck, you’ve got third shift, Sam you’re on first and I’m on second.”

“Do we start today?” Bucky asks as you make your way downstairs, you were given a small packet for the guys, things you would need to know like allergies, presentation, emergency contacts and dietary restrictions. All three are simple, no dietary issues, no allergies, Alphas, Sam has his wife Carol as his emergency contact but Steve and Bucky, or James as he’s listed, both have Rebecca Barnes, Bucky’s sister.

You get started on dinner and Sam wanders down into the kitchen bringing his

“So, why didn’t you leave town?”

“Nowhere to go. And the fire is heading away from here so hopefully everything will stay away from town.”

“The smoke doesn’t bother you?”

“I mean it’s not great but as long as Coop and I are okay I plan on staying. I’ve got some stuff packed up in my car and ready to go but I just haven’t pulled the trigger yet.”

“That’s fair. We do really appreciate you doing this. Letting us stay here.” He’s got such a soothing presence about him that you forget he’s an Alpha until his scent washes over you.

“It’s the least I can do,” you tell him with a smile, “so what does first shift mean?”

“Oh, it’s the really early shift, like 4am. Steve will be out running a crew since he’s a Captain back home and he’s around 10am then Bucky is 4pm.”

“What will I need for you in the morning? Breakfast? Coffee? Energy bars?”

“Coffee would be great. I usually take it with milk.” You jot down coffee and milk on a sheet of paper.

“How do the other two take their coffee?”

“Barnes likes it black, like a psychopath and Steve likes it with cream and sugar so he can’t taste the coffee.” You laugh and jot down creamer.

“Any chance you know what kind of creamer he likes?”

“Caramel I think.”

“I can always ask him too. I’ll set the coffee to go off at 3:15 for you.”

“Thank you.” Sam says as he sits down at the island. “What are you making for dinner?”

“Spaghetti. I make the sauce from scratch, from the garden.”

“It smells great.”

“Thanks, should be about a half hour. I’ve got meatballs in the oven and will have some garlic bread and green beans from my garden too.”

“You’re going to spoil us huh?” He says with a grin and you laugh, hoping that your suppressants work like they’re supposed to and keep you presenting as a Beta.

“I don’t get to cook for others often so I’m being a little selfish. Let me know if you need anything from town or want me to get anything. I’ll go shopping for the week tomorrow.”

“Are they paying you to host us?”

“No, but I don’t mind getting you guys stuff.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely, I wouldn’t offer if it was a problem.” You assure him and after studying you he nods.

“I’ll be sure to let the guys know.” You chat with Sam while you cook. You learn that his wife Carol is an Alpha and a doctor. The Alpha/Alpha pair is uncommon but if it works for them that’s wonderful. You also learn that he, Bucky and Steve served together and that Carol had outranked all three.

It seems that Steve has always been the one to lead their little trio, and when the smell of dinner lures him and Bucky down you include them in the conversation. Bucky, whose scent is oranges and cedar wood, is more chatty and flirty than Steve is but there’s this quiet strength about Steve that’s impossible not to notice.

Sam goes to bed immediately after dinner but Steve and Bucky stay up and watch the news with you. You set the coffee machine for Sam and leave him a note to help himself to anything he wants to eat. Then you bring Cooper outside, he wanders your wildfire lit backyard, the orange glow is spooky and the smell of smoke is thick in the air.

“Come on Coop, it’s bedtime.” You tell him leading him to the living room. Both Steve and Bucky are gone so you change into your pajamas and get ready for bed in the bathroom then head back to the couch where Cooper is laying dead center. “Move it Coop.” He grumbles but gets down, once you’re settled you let him back up on the couch between your feet.

You wake up as Sam closes the fridge.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” He says softly. When he turns and sees you sitting up on the couch.

“No it’s okay.” You tell him as Cooper hops off of the couch. You follow him to the back door and let him out.

“Why are you sleeping on the couch?”

“They needed three more beds so I gave them three more beds.”

“We put you out of your room?” He asks with a small frown.

“I sleep more on the couch anyway, I usually fall asleep to one baking show or another.” You tell him with a sleepy smile, you hadn’t meant to tell them they’d taken all your beds but it was too late now.

“This is your home.”

“Seriously Sam don’t worry about it.” You say letting Cooper back into the house. “Be safe.”

“Thanks.” He says and you go back to bed on the couch.

The next time you wake it’s 9:00 and you want to make sure that you’ve got something ready for Bucky and Steve for breakfast so you get up. You feed Cooper then let him out again, if there wasn’t the fire you’d let him stay outside as long as he wanted. You sit down on the couch and pull your tablet into your lap. Cooper joins you on the couch as you start to draw your characters.

“Morning.” Steve’s voice is low and soft when he greets you.

“Good morning. There are pancakes, scrambled eggs, hash browns and bacon in the oven. The pans will be warm.”

“Thanks,” you hear him help himself to food and coffee then he comes out into the living room. “Do you mind if I join you?”

“Not at all. Don’t let Coop fool you into any food though.”

“No people food for him?”

“Just some fruit and veggies.” You tell him glancing up at the fire captain. “So Sam said you guys were on a 4-10-4 start time but what time are you all home?”

“We’re doing 12 hour shifts, so Sam and Buck don’t overlap but I will with both.”

“Okay, I’ll have dinner ready when you get back. Is there anything that I don’t have that you need? Sam said you liked a certain flavor of creamer.”

“The French vanilla is fine.”

“He said caramel?” You glance over at him again and he has this little shy smile on his face. “I don’t mind, I need to go get groceries anyway.”

“Caramel is my favorite.” He admits and you nod then get back to your drawing. He finishes his breakfast in silence then puts his dishes into the dishwasher, Steve heads back upstairs and you hear him finish getting ready before he comes back down.

“Be safe.”

“Thanks.” He says before closing the door softly behind him.

Bucky sleeps until almost noon, you’ve taken breakfast out of the oven and put it in the fridge. He somehow looks groggy still and you’re worried he didn’t sleep well.

“Good morning.”

“Morning. How are you?” His voice is low and husky.

“Good. Did you sleep okay?”

“Yea I slept great. I could still be asleep to be honest but I might get called in early.”

“Why?”

“There are less guys at base camp right now. Apparently a group of them had some trouble on the way? I don’t know but Steve called.”

“Breakfast is in the fridge if you wanna heat it otherwise I have lunch meat and stuff for sandwiches.”

“I love breakfast food.” He says making his way to the fridge. He starts a cup of coffee then opens the fridge.

You find out that Bucky is a chatter. Which is fine but you’re glad that you’re illustrating today rather than writing because there’s no way you’d be able to focus on writing. He asks you about living in the small town, how you ended up here, about your job, when he finds out you’re an author and illustrator of children’s books he promises to buy his niece a couple books. You tell him to leave his address and you’ll send him a signed copy of the one you’re working on, he excitedly does.

When he leaves at 3:30, not being called in early, you take a break and start on dinner. You want to make sure you’ve got food ready for Sam when he gets back.

Sam comes in at 4:45, Cooper barks excitedly and Sam sinks to the ground and Cooper immediately calms allowing Sam to wrap his arms around him. You don’t say anything, just continue to cook while Sam hugs Cooper to him. You hear him talking softly but you ignore him, whatever he’s saying to Coop is none of your business.

“I’m gonna go take a shower before I eat.” Sam says at full volume, the side of his face still pressed to Cooper’s side.

“That’s fine,” you assure him, “I’ve got about twenty minutes before the rice is done.”

“Okay.” He disappears then Cooper comes wandering into the kitchen. You give him a couple of treats and tell him what a good boy he is.

Sam eats in silence then goes up to his room, you’re pretty sure he goes to bed by 7 but after the day he’s had you can’t blame him.

At 10 you start reheating food for when Steve comes in. Sure enough, 10:30 rolls in and so does Steve. Cooper greets Steve with a wagging tail, Steve gives him a little pat and heads upstairs. You hear the shower turn on and after around 10 minutes Steve is back dropping down on the couch as Cooper puts a head in his lap. Steve absently pets Cooper and you place a plate of food in front of him.

“Thank you.” His tired eyes meet yours and he gives you a little half smile.

“It’s the least I can do.” You tell him sincerely. Cooper stays with his head in Steve’s lap until Steve goes upstairs to bed. You set up your bed on the couch and set your alarm for 3:30 in the morning so you can get food heated for Bucky and coffee and food started for Sam.

You fall asleep still smelling Steve on your couch.

Tag list:

@memyselfandmaddox @thefanficfaerie @patzammit @dsakita @dramadreamer14 @killcomet @thesassmisstress @andahugaroundtheneck @loving-life-my-way @thefridgeismybestie @dumblani @im-just-another-monster @mywinterwolf @giggleberts @biskwitmamaw @geeksareunique @paintballkid711 @lumar014 @also-fangirlinsweden @connie326 @inkedaztec @eralen @valsworldofcreativity @strangersstranger

[hockey-lover-22]

Brendan Brisson Housemates, Friends, to Lovers Part Two

“GIRL, he would love it if you surprised him at one of his games!” Victoria exclaims.

“Okay, although I’m not really sure if he will be happy…” Y/n said.

Her summer was fairly plain and simple, with a lot of training camps for volleyball. Keep in contact with your friends, and just try not to freak out at the fact that you’re going to be Brendan at one of his games this year. From what Victoria told you, it is going to be an earlier game in the season.

Summer passes and y/n is back at school for her sophomore year. She still hasn’t talked or reached out to Brendan about meeting up because Victoria thinks it will be a good idea to surprise him at his game; she’s still not sure what game she will be going to. Y/n is just sitting in her room doing some homework for her anatomy class when she gets a facetime call from Victoria, “Hey girl what are you up to?” Vic asks.

“Oh not too much, just doing some homework, why?” Y/n asks

“Well, Owen got me two tickets to the game tomorrow if you’re still up to the idea of surprising Brendan at one of his games?” She asks.

“Oh my god! Yeah for sure. When will you get into Michigan? Do you want to meet at my house so we can go together, instead of meeting there?” Y/n says to Victoria.

“Yeah for sure girl! And I should get there about an hour before the game. Kind of upset I won't see O before the game but we can hang out after haha,” Victoria says.

“Perfect,” y/n replies.

Y/n conversation with Victoria ends quickly after that conversation because she had to get back to doing homework. Just as she was about to start her homework again she get a text from Owen saying, hey I’m not going to say anything to Brendan about you coming to the game tomorrow, Vic said something about how you wanted it to be a surprise! He’ll be so excited to see you. The only other person that knows about this is Mackie, but you don’t have to worry about him, he won’t say anything to Briss.

Y/n replies with, hey O, thanks for not telling him. And I hope he’s excited to see me. I’m so nervous lol. And yeah no worries I love Mackie so it’s all good. I gotta get back to my homework ttyl.

Y/n and Owen had gotten close this summer because she is childhood best friends with Vic. She continues to finish her homework before Friday so she doesn’t have to worry about it before the game. Not that she would be able to focus on it anyways, she would be way too nervous.

It’s now Friday evening and you get a text from Vitoria saying she’s about to pull into y/n’s driveway to pick her up to go to the game. Y/n is so nervous she thought at one point she might puke. She hears a knock on her door, she heads to the door to open it and it’s Vic, “hey girl how are you?” She asks.

“I am so nervous Vic, what if he gets mad because I’m there? What if he’s not happy to see me? What if–” She was going to finish but Victoria cut her off.

“Girl it’ll be fine. He’ll be happy you’re there, and can I say DAMN girl you clean up nice. You will have Briss on his knees as soon as he sees you in that outfit,” Victoria says to you, smiling like crazy. Y/n dressed up a little, put some makeup on, she’s wearing black leather pants and a cropped University of Michigan t-shirt.

Y/n smile and thank her, and head out the door to go to the game so you can get there a little early. On the way to the arena she couldn't help but bounce her knee the whole time, “girl take a deep breath it’ll be fine.”

When y/n and Victoria get to Yost she starts to get even more nervous about seeing Brendan for the first time in over a year. You get into the building and quickly find your seats since there are still covid protocols y/n is wearing a mask so hopefully, Brendan won’t be able to recognize her right away. “You know you don’t have to wear that right?” Vic says.

“Yeah I know, but I don’t want Bren to see me during warm-ups,” she replies.

Victoria just nods her head going along with the flow. The boys come onto the ice for warm-up and Brendan notices someone sitting beside Victoria, “hey who’s that beside Vic?” He asks Owen. Owen just shrugs playing it cool. The horn goes off signaling that the game is about to begin. The is underway now almost the end of the second period and y/n has taken off her mask, but Brendan hasn’t noticed her yet. She just keeps watching the game and you see a play happen at the other end of the rink, “oh my god y/n Briss is on a breakaway,” Vic says standing up.

Y/n starts to stand up with her Brendan moves gracefully from inside to outside edges and slides the puck into the net. He can’t help but look back up to where Victoria and y/n are sitting and sees her with the biggest smile on her face. He points right at her and winks, which makes her smile back at him and cheer even louder. The game winds down and the boys end up winning 5-1, y/n was so proud of Bren, she couldn’t even describe it.

“Hey, I just got a text from O he wants us to come down and wait for him,” Victoria says to y/n.

“Yeah sure!” y/n replies

They start to make their way to where they’ll meet the boys. Y/n can’t help but get nervous again, Victoria picks up on this and just holds your hand and squeezes it in reassurance that it’ll be alright. Owen comes out first, “Briss will be out in a few seconds y/n.” He says to you.

“Okay,” she replies.

She’s turned away from the locker room doors and then she sees Owen and Victoria smiling so she turns around and sees him. He’s wearing his suit tie loose, hair wet from just getting out of the shower, but it still looks so good. He smiles brightly at y/n and runs towards her and picks her up, spinning her around in a hug, “I can’t believe you’re here right now,” he says. “God I missed you so much you have no idea.” He puts her back down onto the ground.

She smiles at him and replies, “Bren I have missed you so much as well. You played so well tonight!”

“I wish you had told me you were coming. I would've given you one of my jerseys to wear,” he says to y/n.

“It was all Owen, Mackie, and Vic’s idea to surprise you.”

“There’s a party at Nick’s house tonight if you want to come? Owen and Vic will be there” He asks.

Y/n nods her head, smiling at him. She can’t help but stare at him and then it hits her like a brick wall… all of those feelings that she had for over a year. The love and passion that she has for Brendan, they never went away even though they almost never talked. “Hey, do you want to come with me back to my house to get ready for the party?” Brendan asks,

“Yeah, of course,” she replies, smiling up at him.

The two make their way to Brendan’s car, and being the gentleman he is, he opens the door for her, but he grabs a hold of her and hugs her before she can get into the front seat. “I missed you so much y/n you have no idea how hard it's been with you ghosting me.”

“I never ghosted you, Bren I dropped my phone in the lake and lost all my contacts. I’m sorry…” Y/n tells him.

“Thank god, I was so worried I did something wrong to offend you.”

“You could never do that B,” she says to him.

He lets go of her and allows her to get into his car. They make their way to his house and he leads her upstairs to his room. He notices that there are goosebumps forming on her arms and says, “are you cold? Do you want to borrow a sweater?”

Y/n just nods, he passes her a Michigan sweater with his name on the back of it. She smiles at him and thanks him for it. He watches her as she takes her shirt off and pulls on the hoodie. He slowly makes his way to her, grabs her by the waist with one hand, and cupping her cheek with the other making y/n look up to him, even though there isn’t a huge height difference. “Can I try something?” He asks.

“Yeah of course B, you don’t have to ask,” she replies.

The next thing she knows his lips are on hers, this kiss is very different from the first one the two shared back in Chicago, it’s full of passion and love. It’s almost like Brendan is trying to tell her how much he loves her through the kiss. He pulls her closer and his hand that was on her hip is now on her ass. She moans in response, pulling him closer if possible, threading her hands through his hair pulling on it. Before things can get too heated y/n pulls away smiling at him, “another one of your theories?” She asks.

“Yeah, and it was proven again, but you get bonus points this time.” He replies.

“Bonus points?” She asks, confused.

“Y/n I have something to confess,” he says.

“Okay, and what would that be?” She asks.

“I- I,” he stutters, “I love you.”

Y/n just stares up at him in shock… Not sure how to reply and taking too long to reply in Brendan’s opinion he pulls away from y/n. “It’s fine if you don’t feel the same-”

“NO!” She exclaims, “that’s not it B, I just thought you would’ve moved on from me at this point.” She replies, “but if we’re confessing how we feel right now then… I have been in love with you since you kissed me back in Chicago.” She says to him walking closer to him again with a smile on her face.

“Oh thank god you had me worried for a second,” he replied, chuckling. “We should probably head to the party before Owen and Vic send a search party for us,” he says laughing.

“Yeah we should,” she replies to him.

The two head down the street to Nick’s house where the team and their girlfriends are. Brendan grabs a hold of her hand and just smiles at him because he can’t believe that she’s here with him in Michigan. Then he comes to halt thinking about where she goes to school… “Hey, you never told me, but where do you go to school?” He asks y/n.

“Funny story actually. I go to the University of Michigan, same as you.” She replies.

“And we never put that together?” He asks, laughing.

“I guess not,” she says laughing as well, “Vic actually told me this summer, but I kept it a secret because I wanted to surprise you at one of your games this year.” She says, smiling up at him.

He just laughs and continues into the house, “hey guys, I want to introduce you to y/n, she lived with me in Chicago and plays on the volleyball team here. She’s one of my best friends.” He tells the boys. They all introduce themselves to y/n, she tries to be happy and polite but can’t help but feel disappointed that he didn’t introduce her as a girlfriend, but as a best friend. She shakes it off and starts to socialize with the team and their girlfriends. Brendan is across the house and notices Thomas Bordeleau getting all touchy-feely with y/n and he can’t help but be super pissed and jealous. “Are you going to let Bords flirt with your girl like that?” Mackie asks Brendan.

Brendan just rolls his eyes saying, “she’s not my girlfriend, she can talk to whoever she wants to.”

“Briss, you look like you’re going to kill him just go and interrupt the conversation if it bothers you that much,” Owen states to Brendan.

“Yeah, okay,” Brendan says.

Brendan walks up to y/n and Bords and hugs y/n from behind resting his head on her shoulder. “Hey,” he whispers in her ear. She just turns her head and smiles at him.

“So are you two dating?” Bords asks.

Y/n looks at Brendan unsure of how to answer that question and then looks at Bords and says, “I’m not sure actually.”

Bords gets the hint and leaves the two alone. Brendan and y/n just sit like that, him hugging you from behind hugging her, and then her favourite song comes on Happier by Ed Sheeran. Y/n was a little drunk at this point and Brendan hadn’t had a sip of anything so he could keep an eye on her. “Oh my dog B dance with me please!” She exclaims.

He just smiles at you nodding and the pair starts to slow dance with one another, all of the other guys notice how happy Briss looks while holding her. They’re all slightly confused as to why the pair were so close and the Owen and Mackie say to them, “they’re basically dating but neither will ask the other one out.” The boys all nod their heads and some of the other girlfriends beg their boyfriends to dance with them as well. Owen and Victoria start dancing beside Brendan and y/n. Victoria looks at y/n smiling at the two of you, “I’m happy they got reunited O, she was so sad when they weren’t talking to one another,.”

Owen smiles at his girlfriend and says, “you did that baby.”

It was getting late and y/n was getting tired so Brendan offers to walk y/n home, claiming that walking alone on campus was too dangerous for her. As the two reach y/n’s house she asks Brendan if he wants to come inside. “Yeah, sure.” He replies. She leads him up to her room and she puts on a movie, “I’m pretty sure I have pair of your sweatpants in my drawer if you want to change out of your pants,” she says.

Brendan goes looking for them and changes into them, and takes off his shirt in the process explaining that it was too hot in her room. He lays down on his back and pulls her onto his chest, he threads his hand in her hair and starts to play with it. “This reminds me of when I used to sneak into your room in Chicago,” she says to him. Brendan just smiles at her as the movie ends and he notices that she’s asleep and pulls her closer and falls asleep beside her.

The days pass and y/n continues to hang out with Brendan and watch every home game. Their relationship had never been closer but she still didn’t know what they were. They kissed, held hands, slept at each other's houses, went out for meals together, but she couldn’t help but feel like Brendan wasn’t interested in dating her or at least put a label on it. The two were hanging out and Brendan couldn’t help but notice the frown on y/n’s face. “Hey, I have a question.” He says.

“Yeah, what’s up?” She replies.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner with me tonight? Like as in a date date?” He asks.

Y/n smiles at him and says, “of course, I would love to Bren.” She says to him.

He gets up to leave, “okay, I’ll be here to pick you up at 6:30, okay?”

“Sounds go B.”

Y/n does a whole lot of nothing all day and then notices the time and decides to start getting ready for her date with Brendan. You decide on leather pants, a black crop top, and one of his flannels, with some black leather booties. She hears a knock on the door and it’s Brendan with a bouquet of flowers, “awe B you didn’t have to do that!”

“Of course I did, this is technically our first date.” He says back to her.

The two league y/n’s house and head to the restaurant. While eating dinner the two make small conversation about school, their sports seasons, etc. When dinner came to an end Brendan asks y/n if she wants to go for a walk around campus, “yea sure, that sounds nice right now.”

The two slowly start to walk around campus holding hands and talking, Brendan pulls y/n to a stop and says, “I know this has been bothering you, and don’t deny it, it’s written all over your face. Do you want to be my girlfriend?” He asks.

“Oh my god, yes B I would love to be your girlfriend,” she answers.

He smiles at her then asks her if she wants to come back to his place. She says yes and they make their way to Brendan’s house. All of the guys were out doing god knows what, so they had the house to themselves. You get to his house and Brendan shuts the door (warning spicy scene coming up 18+) and pushes her up against the door kissing her. His hand grabs her ass pushing her even harder into the door, y/n moans in pleasure-loving the feeling of his lips on hers. His hands then begin to wander to the flannel of her shirt, “you look so good in my clothes, but I think you would be better with this off.”

“Then what’s taking you so long,” she says.

He takes off the flannel and her crop top off, he tails kisses her neck and kissing behind her ear. Y/n is a panting mess loving the way his lips feel on her body. He unclasps her bras and then continues kissing between her breasts getting onto his knees, he starts to unbutton her pants, sliding them off along with her panties. She’s standing there completely naked in front of him. “You should probably start taking your clothes off if we want this to continue,” she said to him quietly.

He doesn’t waste another minute taking all of his clothes off, while he’s doing that y/n makes her way to his bed laying down on it, waiting for him to join her. He makes his way towards his bed and lays on top of her putting his weight on his arms. He then starts to kiss y/n again so hard she thought her lips might bruise. He once again trails kisses down her neck, but leaving hickies this time, she can't help but moan when he adds a little bit of teeth to the kissing, the pain and pleasure was turning her on to the max. He then slowly, almost torturously makes his way down her heat and looks up at her, “is this okay?” He asks.

She can’t speak so she just nods, “no baby I need words, use your words, baby,” he coaxes.

“God, please Bren.” She moans out.

He then begins to eat her out, his tongue sliding up and down between her fold, causing y/n to grab his hair and pull on it hard. He then begins to add two fingers to her hole, sliding them in and out at a fast pace. She clenched around his fingers and moans out, “Bren I’m gonna cum.”

“Please do baby I was to taste you,” he replies huskily.

She squeezes her eyes shut as she clenches around his fingers orgasming all over them… Brendan just licks up all of her juices and then comes back up to her mouth kissing her again so she can taste herself on his lips. He then reaches for a condom looking at her again, asking for permission, “Bren, please,” she begs him.

He slides the condom onto his shaft and pushes into her, feeling her tightness almost made him cum on the spot but he had to hold off until she finished for a second time. He waits a few seconds letting y/n adjust to his size, she was so tight it almost hurt. He knew she wasn’t a virgin, but he didn’t know that she hadn’t had sex in over a year. “Oh my god Bren, please move,” she means out in pleasure.

Brendan beings the thrust in and out of heat-loving the noises she was making in his ear, he felt her start to clench around the shaft, so he reaches down and starts to rub her clit, making her scream out in pleasure. “B, I’m so close baby,” she says.

“Cum for me baby I wanna feel you sum around me so bad baby,” he whispers huskily.

He keeps thrusting into her and then he reaches for her hands, interlacing their fingers together right before y/n cums, and hard. She’s in tears from the pleasure, Brendan doesn’t last much longer after the sounds of your orgasmic moan comes out of her lips. He comes into the condom and waits a couple seconds before pulling out, taking the condom off, and collapsing on top of y/n. “Why didn’t we do this sooner?” He asks with a smile on his face, slightly out of breath.

“I have no idea, but now we can do it all the time,” she says with a smile.

He gets up off of her and finds a shirt and boxer for her to wear to bed while he pulls on a pair of boxers for himself. She gets up to go to the bathroom to change and pee, “baby you don't have to hide from me, I’ve seen it all already.”

“Bren, girls have to pee after sex,” she laughs at him.

“Right,” he says.

Y/n comes out of the bathroom in his shirt and boxers, looking so sexy and beautiful in Brendan’s eyes. She makes her way to his bed and lays her head on top of his chest and just listens to the sound of his heartbeat, “Y/n, I love you so much,” he says.

“Brendan, I love you so much too,” she says, smiling at him.

He places a soft but passionate kiss on her lips and then they start to fade off into a comfortable sleep.

@owenpwr @owenpowpow @1-800-iluvhockey

[ecliptsukki]

his delinquent phase ❧ kaoru sakurayashiki // cherry blossom

navigation | music

➣ genre: fluff

➣ warnings: adam’s existence 

➣ request: can i request a one shot where you’re cherrys s/o and like childhood best friends with joe and cherry and adam and you’re gushing over cherrys old bad boy look with piercings and everuthing and cherry one day goes to S with his piercings and hair the same way as before just to see you fawn over him skjfks

➣ a/n: this took me three times to type up because the first two times i did it, tumblr thought it would be funny to delete it. i’m not sure if i love how this came out, but it’s still better than my original plan. hopefully this was correct to what the anon requested. enjoy!

ps: i’m also going to be going on a trip for four days tomorrow, so i’m not sure if i’ll be able to post. i’ll definitely try to start working on my other requests!

You had known Joe, Cherry, and Adam ever since the four of you were in high school. Out of the three, you had met Joe, first, not soon before you met Cherry.

You were walking down the eventful streets of Okinawa, admiring the sights and getting accustomed with the area. You had moved to the city not too long ago and already were growing attached to the place. In your defense, the city was your perfect and desired location to live in. 

A gentle breeze blew through your hair, rustling the leaves of the green trees. You sighed at the feeling of the cool breeze tickling your warm skin. Not long after that breeze had gone, another, harsher breeze blew past you. You flinched at the abnormally sharp wind, snapping your head to the side, in its direction. You were met with honey red eyes and short, green locks, swaying. 

The male slips past you, stopping abruptly.

“Sorry about that,” he smiled, embarrassed, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

You were in awe, seeing what the boy was standing on, and on alert because you had always been taught to be cautious around strangers, especially when you were walking alone. 

“Um, no. I’m alright, just shocked,” you shrugged, replying quietly.

Another harsh, but gentler than before, wind blows past you, revealing a pink-haired male. He had three piercings on his ear and one on his lip. Half of the boy’s face was hidden by his long bangs, allowing your focus to lock on his golden eye.

“Watch where you’re going,” he snaps at his green-haired friend. “Sorry about him,” he apologizes, giving you a polite smile.

All the sirens were going off in your head.

He has so many piercings! Is he a delinquent? Are both of them delinquents? If they are, I can’t fight them off on my own. What do I do?

“I’m Kaoru,” the bubblegum-haired male suddenly said, “This is Kojiro.”

Kojiro nodded at you, an embarrassed blush still grazing his cheeks. 

“Hey, aren’t you the new kid?” Kaoru asked, finding your puzzlingly familiar.

“Oh, that’s why I felt like I’ve met you before,” Kojiro spoke up, nodding his head when he realized who you were.

Awkwardly, you shyly respond, “Sorry, I can’t seem to remember seeing you guys at school. Are you in my class?”

Until dusk, the three of you talked, getting to know the each of you better. You were also able to befriend the boys you were so afraid of, becoming your first two friends in the city.

You met Adam in the dark of night, beside Cherry and Joe.

They had brought you along, one night, wanting to skate with you. You already knew the basics of skating, nothing more, nothing less. Therefore, as your closest, and only, friends, they wanted to get further acquainted with you in something they loved. 

“Who’s the sweet cheeks?” His hoodie-covered eyes left an eerie pressure on you, causing goosebumps to emerge from your skin.

“This is our close friend, Y/N L/N,” Cherry spoke up.

“She goes to school with us, and we wanted to bring her skating. Mind her tagging along?” Joe asks his hooded friend.

“Not at all, just as long as she can keep up,” he spoke in a cocky tone.

The pretentious attitude the unnamed face had was irking you in the wrong way. He seemed too mysterious for your liking. A third of the boy’s face was hidden in the shadow of his hoodie, leaving you only able to see the blue tips of his hair and his structured nose. 

He must’ve noticed your timid stare because he looks at you, under his hood, “Call me Adam.”

 Cherry and Joe look at you expectingly.

“Just call me sweet cheeks, for now,” you reply, distantly, not ready to let your guard down just yet.

You hear your two friends sigh, chuckling to each other.

“Don’t worry, she’ll warm up to you, soon,” Cherry told Adam, “We know firsthand how she is with meeting new people.”

You blush, remembering your first encounter with the pair.

Thinking back, you still regret letting your walls down and accepting Adam as a friend. Not a day goes by that Adam doesn’t linger in your mind, as much as you’d hate to admit. 

You despise that man with a passion. From your first interaction, you should’ve known that there was something off about the blue-haired male, but pondering on these frustrations now wouldn’t change anything. As much as you’d like to curse the man for hurting your friends’ and your feelings, you knew you had to move on.

You sat on the soft mattress of your shared bed, scrolling through old pictures stored on your phone. You saw pictures taken by Kaoru when you guys went on dates. Majority of the photos were candid, seeing as he always had told you that you were the “most photogenic woman” he had ever met.

You remember the day he had told you that. You also remember your laughed reply.

“Then you’ve got the whole world to explore, my love.”

Although, honestly, you thought Kaoru was quite the photogenic one himself. His gorgeous, sorted, pink hair matched with his golden eyes and perfect face never looked bad, not even at the crack of dawn or in the late of night. 

Speaking of which, you scrolled upon a photograph of Kaoru sitting all pretty with his piercings on display. Those piercings brought back many memories, humorous and lustful.

Ironically, the thing that brought you fear before now brings you yearning.

Honestly, once you had befriended Kaoru and came to trust him, the piercings no longer frightened you but instead, fascinated you. Those metal hoops further increased your attraction to the ponytailed man, leading you to the relationship you were in now.

Obviously, Kojiro played a big role in setting the two of you up together because both of you were completely oblivious to the other’s feelings. It got to the point that Adam almost had to step in and wack some sense into the both of you.

Anyways, ever since Kaoru had started working in the calligraphy business, he removed his piercings to maintain a professional image. You detested the idea, but you also knew that it was the best for his business. 

Now that you were looking back at photos of Kaoru as a teenager, you began to crave seeing him in those metal rings once more. You missed the “bad boy” look your boyfriend used to have, not that you didn’t appreciate how he looked now. It’s just that there’s a different vibe to his current and past aesthetics.

As you stalked through more pictures of teenage Kaoru, you were unaware of the very man you were thinking about watching you. He noticed the longing and craving in your gaze. Then, he caught a glimpse of what was being projected on your screen: it was him but in his teenage years. 

Suddenly, everything clicked for Kaoru, and he had the perfect plan in mind.

Something was off. Usually your boyfriend would insist on bringing you to “S” himself but not today. If anything, he was urging you to go with Kojiro.

“He’s been your friend for the same amount of time as I. You should take this time to your advantage and catch up,” was Kaoru’s excuse.

First of all, catch up on what? It’s not like you haven’t talked to Kojiro in months. Actually, you talked to him a day ago, at “S.” Secondly, what’s up with the sudden lenience and weak excuses?

Joe, who was also in on the plan, tried to help his friend out, making a feeble attempt to lure you with free food.

“I can get free food from you whenever I want,” you replied, squinting suspiciously at your friend.

“Not with that attitude, you can’t.” That pulled a raised brow from you and a regret-filled face from the muscular man.

Though you weren’t fully convinced that nothing was off, you still left with Joe, caving into their terrible attempts of covering up whatever they were hiding from you.

You had arrived at “S” with Joe for about ten minutes now, but there was still no sightings of your beloved, Cherry. Joe caught glimpse of your searching eyes and reassured you that he would be coming, be it later than usual.

Reki, Langa, and Miya had made their way over to you, sparking up a conversation with you, making you forget about the missing presence of a specific male. 

Miya was explaining the new training regiment and diet he was to use in order to advance his strength, leading you to worry for the small teenager. If he didn’t eat enough, it could become fatal to him. You didn’t understand why a child was being treated so harshly by his managers, forcing him to eat barely anything and train long hours of the day. 

You were concernedly asking Miya if he was feeling alright and offered him an energy bar you carried around in case of emergencies, which he gratefully accepted, when you heard the cheers of fangirls behind you. Knowing they weren’t meant for Joe, you turned around to meet the golden eyes you’d fallen in love with.

This time, there was something different. His face wasn’t hidden by his mask. You could see the pale skin of his cheeks and the pink of his lips. Besides the absence of the black cloth, you noticed metallic rings decorating your boyfriend’s lip and ears. Also, his hair wasn’t whipping behind him, as per usual, but laid low, drifting in the wind.

For a hot moment, you had thought you had finally lost it, but when you blinked your eyes, looking at Miya then back to Cherry, you realized you were still sane and your boyfriend still looked like he aged back into his high school days.

“Is that Cherry?” Miya asked from beside you.

You nodded, speechless.

You heard someone let out a loud laugh beside you, “Since when did he have piercings?”

Ignoring the redhead’s outburst, you were mesmerized by the Cherry you had been obsessing over a couple days ago. It felt like one extravagant dream that you didn’t want to wake up from. In your defense, as he stepped of his skateboard, coming to embrace you, he looked straight out of a fantasy. His skin was practically glowing, and his hair gently floated perfectly onto his shoulders.

“Hello, darling,” he spoke in a sultry voice, placing a soft kiss to your forehead as he held you in his muscular arms.

“K-Kao—” you quickly realize your soon-to-be mistake and fix it, “Cherry.”

His eyes shrink as he laughs, endearingly, admiring the flustered and confused look you were portraying.

“Is this why you and Joe were being so weird earlier today?” You asked, cheek pressed against his slim, toned chest.

“Indeed, my love. What do you think? Definitely brings back some memories of the old days,” he lifts your chin, forcing you to look him in the eyes.

“I love it. It’s perfect. You’re perfect,” you smile brightly, eyes lustrous. Pushing yourself up on your toes, you whisper into his ear, “You also look really hot.” You quickly pull away, turning a vibrant red.

“I think you broke her,” Joe told his friend, placing a heavy hand on the pink-nette’s shoulder.

After the supposed one occurrence surprise, you began to avidly ask him to wear his piercings, loving how attractive and domineering he looked in them. If he denied, you would ask him to, at least, tie his hair in the relaxed half up half down hairdo. He didn’t mind the different hairstyle as much as he did the piercings so it became a normal look for him. The only times he would willingly put on his piercings were when he was going to “S” or when the two of you were safe in the comfort of your own home, for research purposes.

[chasingpj]

𝐔𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐳𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬

"I might spread a rumor about you and Percy rendezvousing at midnight. The Aphrodite cabin will have a hoot with that one."

pairing: percy jackson x child of hecate!reader

words: 4,931

warnings: none

timeline: post sea of monsters

if you want to be tagged every time I update this story, click here

a/n: hi hi! this is part one of a self-insert series I'm working on. in this story, y/n is a child of hecate, and this storyline follows the books. the current timeline here is post sea of monsters and will continue through the Heroes of Olympus books. though it follows the original plot, y/n has her own storyline and quests. i tried to make y/n gender-neutral but as I continued to work on the timeline for this project, i had decided that this fic is for a fem reader. guys, this is really just me projecting my fantasy into fanfiction lol. i feel like this is a slow start?? and there is a lot of info dumped in this so bear with me. it'll get better and I'll be working to improve my writing as the series continues. I was on a writing hiatus for a really long time and I'm out of practice so this is my way to get back and hopefully, exceed the skills I had when I was a consistent writer. anyways, if you have any feedback, let me know! I'd love to hear what you think. as i get deeper into the series, i might ask for some suggestions on what to do with the fic. anyways, i'll stop rambling and i hope you like it!

Part One Part Two

You ignore the aching in your neck as your focus is fixed on the herbology book in front of you. You’ve been seated at your desk for Zeus knows how long reading and taking notes in your Book of Shadows, determined to finish reading it as fast as possible. Your half-brother, Alabaster, insisted that you need to memorize all the herbs and their properties before he can properly teach you how to use them in potions. Even though you understand its importance, you hated introductory work. You are itching to get to the real stuff, resulting in you glued to your chair, studying through the night as your cabin mates were fast asleep in their beds. But as determined as you are, Ambrose, your familiar, wasn’t much help. Ambrose whines as he rubs his head against your legs like a needy kitten, making it difficult to ignore him.

“What is it, Ambrose?” You whisper, sitting back in your chair in defeat. You take a second to massage the back of your sore neck before turning to face the translucent hound sitting attentively at your side. His tail sweeps the floor as it wags excitedly, and a short huff leaves his snout as if he was proud to have finally gotten your attention.

Your eyes meet his, racking your mind to figure out what Ambrose needs to tell you. At first, you thought he wanted to play, but you didn’t have time for that, so you decided to ignore him. Usually, after being ignored for a while, Ambrose will give up, finding something else to occupy him. But tonight, he was particularly persistent, and he’s only like this when he needs to tell you something.

Before you can ask what he wanted again, Ambrose gets up from his seated position, running over to the small table that stands beside your bed. You furrow your eyebrows, the first thing you notice when you walk over are your crystals neatly placed in front of your spell books as usual. Seeing them made you suddenly remember what you had planned to do.

You had told Ambrose to remind you to charge your crystals and collect water from the lake since there is a full moon tonight and of course, Ambrose being your loyal companion, did exactly that. Before looking down at the hound, who now is breathing heavily, his tail somehow wagging faster than before, you smile to yourself.

“I told you to remind me earlier, didn’t I?” Ambrose snorts and runs around your feet enthusiastically. You couldn’t help but giggle at his excitement as you reached down to pat his head. “Good boy. What would I do without you?” You continue to praise him, grabbing a black pouch and carefully placing the crystals in it. You put your index finger to your lips, signaling Ambrose to be a little quieter despite his excitement. If he accidentally wakes anyone up, then you definitely weren’t going to be able to fulfill your plans.

You bite your bottom lip as you tiptoe out of the aisle between the bunks. You look around the notoriously cramped Hermes Cabin to make sure your assumption that everyone was asleep by now was correct. It wasn’t hard to make out the faces of your cabin mates since seeing clearly in the dark was one of your many gifts, so you carefully walked along the bunks, being as quiet as you could. You are especially cautious as you approach the front where your cabin leaders, the Stoll brothers, slept. You study them for a second, knowing for sure Travis was asleep since he was snoring and loudly at that. Before you can check if Connor is asleep, you hear him shifting in his bed. You stand frozen in your spot, hesitantly looking over and you were expecting to be met with the usual mischievous grin. Instead, his back was towards you now. You have a feeling in your gut that he wasn't asleep, the timing of his moving was much too convenient. You really didn't want to wait any longer though so you decide that you might as well leave before he could stop you.

You turn on your heels, walking over to the window before you push it open. You cringe softly as the hinges creak, and you look back at the cabin to double-check if anyone has woken up from the sound. You sigh in relief when you see no one has moved, and you turn back to the window, carefully crawling out of it. This wasn’t unusual for you. You’ve done this so many times that using windows as a mode of exiting and entering a room was as natural to you as walking in and out of a door, and soon you were hopping down onto the grass. Your back is pressed against the cabin as you walk the side of it. You look up at the trees and the sky, eyes scoping around for any harpies hanging around. After deeming that you were alone, you begin making your way to the lake, Ambrose walking by your side attentively and cautiously to make sure you are safe.

The night was clear; the stars and especially the moon shone brightly in the sky. You sigh softly, taking in the stillness of the night, admiring the glistening lake reflecting the full moon placed above it. You’ve always enjoyed how quiet and cool the nights were, preferring it more than the daytime.

Unfortunately, you couldn’t avoid it as much as you wish to. Most of your siblings can agree with you that they’d prefer to sleep in most days so that they can study and practice their magic at night. However, that wasn’t the schedule of the Hermes Cabin. It was pretty impossible to sleep in since the mornings were always hectic. In fact, the cabin was just hectic, period. There was always something going on, whether it was an elaborate prank or the guys arguing over who gets to shower first after coming back from training which usually resulted in an intense game of rock, paper, scissors. You can’t say that you didn’t like it; at least you were entertained.

You also always had someone to talk to, and because there were often new campers coming in and out of there, you have easily familiarized yourself with a lot of the kids at camp. However, like your mother, you did enjoy and yearn for the occasional periods of solitude. As fun as living with the Hermes kids was, you and your siblings did find yourselves getting a little irritable at their shenanigans. It was at those times, you did wish that your mother, Hecate, had a designated cabin.

You and your siblings had always said if they ever got a cabin of their own, they would make sure everyone had separate rooms and would have designated spaces to socialize and practice their magic so that it was quiet for the most part. Alabaster, especially, was really passionate about this topic. He complained how it didn’t make sense that your mother wasn't recognized since you and your siblings were a powerful little bunch. You all needed a space to practice your magic and practice preferably at night since you were the most powerful at that time of day; you were also less prone to making mistakes in your spell casting at night. You agreed with him and would get upset about it sometimes, but the Hermes Cabin was a place you considered to be a second home. The communal feel of the space was something you enjoyed, it was one of the few places where you felt fully accepted which was rare to find being a demi-god with abilities like yours. In return to the Hermes Cabin welcoming you with open arms, you accept the inconveniently loud environment as an admirable quirk and went on with your days.

Then to compensate for the lack of silence and solitude, you would often stay up late, taking advantage of the quiet to focus on your studies. Even if you had to sacrifice the amount of sleep you got, you felt like it was worth it.

It doesn’t take you long to arrive at the dock, sitting down close to the end with your legs folded under you. You first collect lake water in a jar before carefully taking out the pouch's crystals. Assuming you had only a few left in the pouch after laying most of them on the dock, you tilt it with your hand under it, only for the crystals to come out all at once. You fumble, hands trying to bring them to your chest, but with your luck, one of your crystals falls right into the water with a plop.

“Dammit!” You peer over the edge and groan, Ambrose whining at your misfortune as he stands beside you. You look down at the water, noticing Ambrose’s and your dim reflection in it. There was no way you could get that crystal now because you didn't know how to swim, and you consider that maybe tomorrow you can convince your twin brother, Atticus, to look for it or Alabaster if Atticus refused, which you were expecting him to.

Your breath hitches at the back of your throat, jumping back as a head of dark hair abruptly pops up from right where you were staring. Ambrose barks loudly next to you, equally as startled, and your eyes widen. You stand up hastily at the realization that Ambrose's loud barks in the dead of night will catch the attention of the harpies, and right now, that was more important to you than the mysterious person that just sprouted up in the water like a zombie coming out of a grave.

“Shush! Ambrose, quiet!” Your frantic command was enough to make him stop with a whine, and you sigh shakily, turning towards the camp to check if there were any harpies.

“I think you dropped something.” Ambrose moves in front of you protectively, a low growl coming from his chest as he cautiously studies the person. You look back where the voice came from and to your surprise and your relief, you find that the mysterious person in the lake was no other than Percy Jackson. You never had a conversation with him before, but you definitely knew about him. It was kind of hard not to know who he is since he’s been the talk of the camp since he’s arrived. Your thoughts about him weren’t any different from most of the camp. You’ve seen him fight and use his powers during capture the flag, and you were just as impressed as everyone else. You did have to admit that you found him to be pretty cute too. His eyes were gorgeous, clear, and bright like a shallow, cyanic sea. You also found it adorable how his hair always looked a little disheveled.

Your (e/c) eyes met Percy’s green ones before looking at your rose quartz in his hand. You smile sheepishly, noticing the amused look on his face.

“Ah, yeah, that’s mine.” You walk over to him, but as you get closer, so does Ambrose, and his growls get louder. "Ambrose, heel. It's okay," you say softly, and he stops in his place, but his stance is still at alert, his eyes watching Percy cautiously. You pat Ambrose's head before walking past him and over to Percy. "Thanks," you smile, taking your rose quartz from his hand.

"No problem… I don't think your ghost dog likes me," Percy jokes, moving to look past your legs at Ambrose, who’s standing tall on your left side.

"Yeah, well, you kinda scared the crap out of us," you point out, amused. You take in Percy's goofy smile as he pulls himself up from the water, and you notice that he’s completely dry as he settles on the edge before turning his body to look at you.

“It’s y/n, right?” He asks, and you nod, figuring he’s probably heard about you in passing from Connor and Travis since he was friends with them too. “What are you doing out here so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing," you retort playfully, making him smile. You move to sit down where you were standing. You spread the crystals neatly on the wood, making a mental note to get them before you go to bed.

"I couldn't sleep, so I came out here to hang out, but then a hippocampus swam up. One of its friends got stuck in a fisher's net not too far from here, so I went to help," he explains, and you nod. "I told you my excuse, so what's yours?"

You hum, "It's a full moon out tonight, so I thought I should take my crystals out. I also needed moon water for a potion, so I collected some for that," you point over at the big mason jar full of lake water. "It’s not as cool as your excuse,” you say playfully.

A short laugh comes from Percy, and when you look up from your crystals, you notice he was looking at Ambrose again, who was still in his tense stance. Ambrose was especially protective of you and Atticus, and it wasn’t unusual for him to be cautious of the new people you come across. You assumed that Ambrose was particularly tense with Percy since he had successfully caught you both by surprise.

"Ambrose, relax.” You pat the top of his head to soothe him. "Lay down." Ambrose whines, licking your hand affectionately for a little, and you can tell he was still uneasy about the other. He was hesitant, but he follows your command anyway, laying down with his head on your lap.

"You can touch him?" Percy asks, his eyes wide and curious as he watches you pet Ambrose.

"Yeah, I can touch ghosts in general. My mother is Hecate, goddess of necromancy, along with magic, the night and the moon," you tell him. "This is Ambrose. My mother gifted him to me to be my familiar, kinda like a guardian." You look down at the hound, smiling softly as you scratch behind his ear softly.

Ambrose is a burly Molossian Hound who lived in the time of Alexander The Great. From what your father told you, his breed was well valued in Ancient Greek and Roman times and was often used in war. It is easy to understand why the breed was used in war. Ambrose is huge and muscular, about 6 feet tall when he stands on his hind legs, and he weighs around 200 pounds. At first, Ambrose can come off as a little intimidating. You remember how your siblings had avoided him when you first arrived at camp before they realized that he was the clearest definition of a gentle giant. Even though he was trained to fight when he was alive, he was still as gentle as a well-trained house dog unless he was given a reason not to be.

"When did you get him?" Percy asks, his eyes focusing on Ambrose’s translucent body that looked like it is made up of this gray swirling vapor. He couldn’t exactly wrap his head around how Ambrose’s head was comfortably propped up on your thigh.

"We met on the night I was on my way to Camp so about 2 years ago. Without him, my brother and I probably would have never made it to the borders.” You look up at Percy, meeting his eyes again; you watch as his face softens as he shifts to lean back on his hand.

"Really?" You hum and nod, ready to drop the conversation there, thinking you shouldn’t bore him with the details. You didn’t really like talking about it much, but the way he was looking at you made you feel like he was inviting you to continue talking.

"We got separated from our father at the gas station a couple of miles away from here. He went inside the convenience store to get us snacks, and while he was in there, a cyclops had found us, tried to grab us out of his car. We jumped out and ran into the woods nearby," you explain as you look out at the dark horizon.

You remember the sound of your father yelling after you and Atticus and how it broke your heart hearing, for the first time, such despair in his voice. You knew your dad didn’t want to bring you guys to camp, but he knew it was in Atticus’s and your best interest to come here and be with other people like you guys.

When you and Atticus started developing your powers, your father had simply told you guys that you were special and to refrain from using your telekinesis anywhere else but home. He didn’t say anything more until one night, you and Atticus had gotten in a screaming match about a reason you don’t even remember. However, in your screaming match, the both of you were so angry that a green aura had formed around you both, and books, magazines, even cutlery were being flown across the room because of the sheer energy you were admitting as a unit. It was then your father had decided to take you and Atticus to the camp to control and learn about your powers before you guys destroyed the house over a dumb argument like who’s turn is it to have the TV remote.

"We were more concerned about the monster hurting our dad, so we decided on a whim to run in the forest. My brother and I have telekinesis powers, and I aimed well enough to send a rock right at the cyclops eye. We lost him a little after that, but we didn't know where we were. We made too many twists and turns; we had no idea what direction we came from. And then, this buddy appeared out of nowhere from a distance. I saw him glowing from far away and couldn’t make out what he was, but I felt that I had to follow him. So we did, and he got us to camp with no detours for any other monsters. He's been with me ever since," you say, and a low whine comes from Ambrose’s mouth as he nuzzles the side of his face on your thigh contentedly.

Percy nods, and he huffs softly, "You guys got lucky. How old were you and your brother when you got to camp?"

"12, we're twins. We actually got here a couple of weeks after you did,” you mention. You watch Percy’s mouth curve into a half-smirk.

“Wow," he says, amused, and shakes his head. “So you have a twin and a dead dog, no fair," he jokes. You giggle, rolling your eyes playfully,

"Oh please, and you have crazy water powers. You’re completely dry after swimming! I think that's pretty envy-worthy."

"Hey-,” he shrugs, taking a second as if to form a protest. “I guess you're right,” he admits and laughs. You laugh with him, opening your mouth to say something else but unfortunately, you were interrupted by a screech echoing in the distance.

Both you and Percy stand up quickly, trying to figure out which direction it came from. “The harpies,” you both mutter in unison. You bend down to grab your things, and you look at Ambrose.

"Go distract them, bud," you tell him, and Ambrose jumps up to his feet, and you watch as he runs away, barking to get their attention. Just then, you see the wings of the Harpies coming up from the trees of the forest. You turn to Percy, grabbing his hand quick,

“Incantare: Transpectus!" You exclaim confidently, closing your eyes to envision you and Percy becoming transparent on the dock. You've never tried doing this spell before, but you've gotten better at visualizing and setting intentions, so you had some hope in yourself. You open your eyes, not feeling any different, and you hoped that you just didn't make a fool of yourself in front of Percy. But when you look down at your hand hesitantly and notice it was hard to make out since you were see-through like glass, you sigh in relief. You smile to yourself, more than satisfied that you were able to pull that off.

"Woah, are we invisible?" You look over at Percy, able to see him just fine since he was under the spell with you. Percy looks down at himself, eyes widened as he processes he can’t see his body anymore. You observe him for a second, finding it cute how he looked surprised and obviously entertained at the fact that he was completely see-through. You feel yourself growing a little flustered, trying not to focus too much on the fact that you were holding hands with him.

"Something like that. C'mon, it won’t last too long," you whisper, and your grip around his hand tightens as you guys begin running to his cabin. You hear the harpies screeching in frustration as they swoop down to try and grab Ambrose, only for their claws to go right through him. While the harpies were growing more annoyed, Ambrose, on the other hand, was having way too much fun, running in circles and barking at them as if he’s teasing.

"Man, I wish I had a ghost dog," you hear Percy mutter behind you as you arrive at the steps of his cabin.

"Yeah, Ambrose is pretty great," you admit, watching him play with the harpies before shifting your gaze over to Percy. "Thanks for getting the crystal for me." As much as you wanted to stay talking to him, you knew you couldn't stay too long. You were still eager to finish studying, and Ambrose can only hold off the harpies for so long.

"It was no problem. It was on my way up anyways," he shrugs, and you smile, trying to ignore the fluttering feeling in your stomach. You look down, the two of you still holding hands even though the spell wore off already. You awkwardly let go of his hand, shifting on your feet.

"Well, I'll see you around," you say sheepishly, fiddling with your fingers.

"Yeah, I'll see you.” His hand comes up in an awkward wave. You nod, returning the wave. Your eyes meet Percy’s green ones one more time before turning on your heels and walking down the steps of his cabin. You notice that Ambrose is now long gone into the forest, taking the harpies with him to give you time to rush to the other side where your cabin is.

As you hurry back to your cabin, you couldn’t help but smile to yourself as you replayed the interaction you just had with Percy, and you couldn't help but wonder when would be the next time you could talk to him.

You carefully hoist yourself up, climb back into the cabin through the window, sighing softly once you get in. You slowly close the window, your face scrunching at the creaking sound, but you successfully get it closed before turning around, only to be faced with Connor Stoll standing a few feet away with his arms crossed over his chest. You gasp loudly, almost dropping the mason jar in your hand, being startled for the second time tonight.

“Oh, look who’s back,” he says, his lips pulled in his usual mischievous smirk, his right eyebrow raised as if he's suspicious of you. You shift, giggling nervously under his graze,

"Hey, Con.” Shit. You knew he wasn’t asleep, and a part of you wasn’t surprised that he had caught you sneaking out again. You weren’t too worried since Connor wasn’t one to be strict or easily angered, neither was Travis, but you can understand if he did get a little upset with you since the cabin could also get in trouble, and he worried about you getting hurt.

"You leave so often, I'm starting to think you're seeing someone," he teases, and you furrow your eyebrows, not really sure what he was trying to get at.

"I'm not seeing anyone. You know what I do when I sneak out," you tell him, putting your hand out to show him the jar full of water. After being caught the first couple of times, you had explained to Connor why you occasionally needed to head out at night. He was understanding of your reasons, telling you to try and not sneak out as often. When he did catch you, he always kept your outings secret. It came with a price, though. You were sometimes stuck doing extra chores, especially anything that had to do with cleaning, since he hated doing anything that had to do with mopping or sweeping.

"So that wasn't you and Percy on the dock?" Your eyes widen, and you feel your face get hot again. You shake your head, stumbling over your words for a second.

"Uh… n- that was a coincidence!" You hear him snort, laughing quietly as if he didn't believe you. Even though he couldn't see your facial expression very well in this lighting, he can still tell how flustered you were at his sudden question.

"Yeah, sure," he says sarcastically, and he hums, "Anyways, what are you going to do for me so that I don't tell on you?" He asks, and your mouth drops open. Usually, he wasn't so forward, and he never threatened to tell on you. "I might spread a rumor about you and Percy rendezvousing at midnight. The Aphrodite cabin will have a hoot with that one."

You gasp, "Connor, are you blackmailing me right now?" You narrow your eyes at him, and he shrugs,

"I guess you can say I am." You shake your head, walking over to your desk to put down your moon water before turning toward him and crossing your arms in front of your chest.

"... what do you want?" You ask, expecting him to make you take up one of his chores. But from the way he was smiling at you, you can tell that there was something more he wanted, and you were beginning to worry.

"Help me turn the Ares Cabin into bunnies," he says, and you shake your head frantically,

"No way! Clarisse will kill me," you whisper. Connor smiles,

"No, she won't. She can't kill you if she's a bunny," he points out, and your face falls flat,

"They're not gonna stay bunnies forever," you say, and you fiddle with your fingers nervously at the idea of the outrage you'd get from the Ares Cabin after shifting back from being bunnies. "I don't know, Con. I don't even know if I can turn all of them into bunnies at once."

Connor waves his hand at you, dismissing your concern. "I don't care for the logistics now. We can work on that later, but you have to agree to at least help me," he says. "Or I'm telling everyone I saw you smooching Percy on the dock."

"What!? We didn't even kiss. We talked for like 5 minutes!" You whisper-yell, your reactions much too entertaining for him, and he was having a hard time holding in his laugh.

"Your decision, y/n."

You sigh, throwing your head back. You look at the ceiling for a second as you consider your two choices. And you decide that getting your head potentially put on a stick by Clarisse was better than the burning embarrassment of Percy thinking you're spreading rumors about kissing him. "Fine, whatever. I'll help you do the bunny thing," you mumble, your shoulders slouched.

Connor nods with a proud smile on his face for trapping you into helping him. "Good choice. I will be going back to sleep now. Good night… again," he announces, turning on his heels and walking over to his bed. You frown a little as you walk back to your desk to study. Plopping down onto your chair, you decide that you’ll worry about Connor’s little plan later so you can focus on your studying. After a while, Ambrose comes trotting in, joining you by the desk as usual. You smile at him, praising the other for distracting the harpies for you before he lays down, his head laying on your foot.

As you study, you find that you couldn’t help your mind drifting back to Percy once and a while. You deem that there was no way that you could have a crush on him since you guys have only spoken once. In the midst of your internal debate to decide what you felt for him, you suddenly remember the crystal that was retrieved for you. You remember how Percy presented it to you, holding it out for you with his fingertips. It was your rose quartz. What a coincidence. You smile, rolling your eyes as you tell yourself that you’re thinking too much into it. You look over, noticing the dim illuminating light of the beginning sunrise shining through the curtains. You sigh, deciding that you should probably get to sleep and take advantage of the maybe, four hours of sleep you’ll get tonight. You close your herbology book before making your way to your bed, and with a soft sigh, you retreat under the covers, and finally, you surrender to your drowsiness.

masterlist

[rigelmejo]

Language Updates! May 25, 2022

My health is still being mean but hopefully it'll turn. As expected, I'm not studying much.

But I did get the urge to study again. So I did. And it went in an odd direction (for me) so I feel like documenting it.

First the Japanese stuff - I got into playing Final Fantasy 7 again, and video games always remind me how much I want to learn Japanese, so the urge to study kicked in gear lol. As of now I'm not doing anything big, I'm too tired lately for big goals. I am playing Yakuza 0 now and having fun picking up the words I do know. And learning some words, mainly though just refreshing my memory on things I already knew like 少し,あるんだ, zenbun matte etc. Some sentences I fully understand! Most I know a couple words, some I only hear omae lol. As one would expect.

I'm also listening to Glossika Japanese again (as review so the old files I've heard already). So not much listening, at the beginning again lol, but everything is coming back fast. So that's good.

I also bought Koisenu Futari today and started reading it on Kindle. It's like 249 pages and my reading speed says I'll finish in 8 hours, which honestly is amazing to me since usually I read too slow to Ever finish a novel ToT in a foreign language (unless it's french). I read 7 pages and it's clear to me on some level I remember the grammar i learned i jusr don't explicitly remember it if it makes sense. Like I know what's a noun or verb or how the verbs conjugation affects meaning but I'm not able to say exactly whats going on. Basically it's readable, thankfully, cause my brain still remembers how to interpret the grammar. I still credit forcing myself to do 600 Clozemaster Japanese sentences last summer for all the grammar comprehension improvements tbh, it really truly helped me get used to real world sentences and the variety in them (versus textbook sentences). Anyway so far its nice! It's to my happiness an easier read (difficulty wise) with a lot of Kanji I know so I also can kind of cheat and guess the meaning on a lot (I'm mainly looking up Kanji pronunciations/confirmations of definition and hiragana words). But I will say :c kindles Japanese to English dictionary sucks So I'm glad i recognize the Kanji a bit.

Basically, I'm back into Japanese a bit. I also found some audio dramas with eng subs I'd like to listen to that I was going to months ago, maybe yest Listening Reading Method with. But tbh my attention span is short and I don't think I can focus for 1.5 hours to get through them (though Nier Replicant Audio drama AND mdzs Japanese audio drama are on youtube which are both very cool and i do eventually wanna get to ToT)

Now for the out of character portion. So ive been watching kdramas. Live Up to Your Name, Mr Sunshine, Tomorrow, My Country the New Age, etc. As you do. And it turns out... when I listen to something long enough I really want to learn something. So I looked into learning Korean a bit.

I want to preface with!!! If YOU are brand new to learning Korean, like comprehensible input/nature method learning methods, I highly recommend going to Learn Korean in Korean YouTube channel and just Devouring all the videos made by that guy. THAT is a well made course where you can genuinely learn through comprehensible input for the basics and some surface conversational stuff (possibly more). I watched 1 of his videos once knowing zero Hangul and not caring if i learned and learned how to introduce myself. His videos are GOOD.

That said... mejo is a messy person who doesn't follow their own advice, and despite me KNOWING I love that specific learning material... I'm not using it. Why? Because watching YouTube videos requires consistent focus and i just cannot reliably focus on something for several minutes right now. I can't do long periods of focused study at the moment. Even though I know if I binged his channel I'd learn a lot.

So what is mejos plan to learn korean?

Well studying Hangul is step 1, which I've done before and have done the past few days again. Now I'm practicing just kind of seeing it in practice (like in textbooks etc) to get used to properly reading it and remembering. As my motivations for wanting to learn korean are Extremely Shallow right now - I'd just like to know some lines in kdramas when I watch, maybe absolute MOST I'd like to have a convo in korean like hi how are you do you draw (and in a world I'll never live in... enough to read Korean guardian translation but let's be real its not gonna happen.. probably). I have no intense need to learn to read Hangul. I'm gonna pick it up anyway, since it's everywhere and reading it is ultimately critical. But books with romanization are my friends right now so I can compare romanization to the Hangul to test my reading of the Hangul, and to learn words with an approximate pronunciation instead of absolutely no idea if i picked a moderately close pronunciation up (if theres only Hangul and I read a,syllable wrong I'm gonna learn words wrong lol).

So I found Teach Yourself Korean (or some equivalent type book) on archive.org for free. And am reading it. It covers Hangul, and then simple surface level conversations like your typical beginner textbook (hi, how are you, my name is, i work at, I study, I want to eat x etc). It works fine for some Hangul reading practice and getting a chance to look at sentence structure. Realistically I know korean is SOV and a really Great help would be a textbook that does literal word by word translations cause my brain likes seeing that but I'm not putting tons of time into this. (Also sadly? I KNOW there's a cool korean textbook out there whixh starts with english but in korean sentence structure then adds more korean words, like comprehensible input for korean but also intuitive grammar instruction. And i DONT know the name so I canr find it ;-; if you know the name of the textbook I'm mentioning please message me).

For words, i was going to just be brutal to myself and hop right into Clozemaster Korean. That was utterly impossible lol! With very poor Hangul reading skills you are screwed in clozemaster, there's no romanization to help you sound anything out. Also you don't hear audio until after you answer, also the diffetent grammar structure is not explained even minimally in Clozemaster. So I have realized. Yes, yes you really do need to be upper beginner or above to use Clozemaster reasonably comfortably. Unless you're learning a language with similar grammar and a similar alphabet like French or Spanish then maybe you could jump right in as a complete novice if you were up for the challenge (I can read some Spanish, I could probably push through clozemaster Spanish to study and learn more vocab even though it would be brutal). I realized clozemaster is just NOT helpful as a complete beginner in korean with zero grammar knowledge. Now normally, I'd dive right in and spend 1 week to 1 month reading a grammar guide summary of the language so I have a vague idea of what I'm looking at verb noun adjective subject object particle wise etc at all times. But as I mentioned, im exhausted lately, i cant do intensive focused reading for hours which a grammar guide would require of me. Also... to be honest, I find it an interesting experiment to go into a language totally unprepared. I was prepared for all the other languages I studied to some (minimal) degree since i studied literally all of them as a teen at least a little (japanese, Spanish, French, German, mandarin). While it's not much, it does mean if there were ever 6 months of struggling with sound or writing system or what the heck does a verb look like in z language, i got a little practice prior to diving in more as an adult.

So. What to do. Well I know for me, comparing sentence structure truly helps me grasp grammar the best. It's why clozemasrer Japanese helped me SO much with grammar, it's why one of my fave japanese textbooks is Japanese Sentence Patterns, it's why Spoonfed Chinese anki deck ans audio files help me so much. Seeing and hearing a sentence in both languages helps me figure out where words go in each, how they conjugate, what phrases are different completely etc. Unfortunately anki and memrise sentence decks in korean would make me exhausted, as i can't do the hours long intensive focus I need for flashcards personally at the moment. Clozemaster has a radio mode (to help make it easier on me) but clozemaster sentences start TOO hard compared to educational made sentences which tend to start artificially simple but help clarify the sentence structures before adding complexity gradually. Well i was like... glossika Korean might work. Turns out I'd downloaded the old glossika korean audio files a year ago so I put them in a place I could listen to. And that's going to be my primary setup for study probably. I doubt I'm going to pick up much, certainly not at the slow rate I've got to study right now. But if I DO learn anything then I'm putting in a good word for comparative 2 language audio flashcard type study materials. They worked EXCELLENTLY for me for chinese listening comprehension, increasing vocabulary, grammar patterns, but i used them as an upper beginner who could read some stuff already. Korean would be my first time trying to use glossika with a language I can't already read some things in (aka comprehend basic stuff to a decent level when reading already). We will see if i pick up much. But I can already tell it's easier for me to figure out new words than clozemaster korean, so glossika is easier for a beginner to use for sure. (Personally I do Not recommend modern glossikas subscription model I hate the flashcards but tbh i canr do flashcards often, I prefer the old glossika audio lessons they used to make so that's what I use whenever i say glossika).

So yeah, my plan for korean right now is: glossika korean audio files (dual language audio of sentences starting simple then progressing), and Teach Yourself Korean book read through. Maybe some other stuff, but this is easiest.

A side note: I am sad to report the FSI korean course audio files on archive.org are Only korean. I say thus because FsiS chinese course audios read the English aloud, then rhe chinese, then the drill directions then the drill answers. So you can basically do the entire course entirely through audio (which is great if visuals are an issue for you, or so it can be done without needing to look if say you're walking or working, and the book is mainly pinyin so it's not a huge loss to just use the audio files). So I was expecting the korean FSI course audio to also have all that - which would have made it serve the "simple sentences with dual audio to compare and pick up words and grammar" function. But there's no English in the audio, so i found the korean glossika audios instead. (In a pinch FSI courses are yes dry, but very good introductions to several languages. I like their tone drills a lot for chinese.)

Another side note: sad to report that unlike Japanese and Chinese I am not aware of the really cool niche textbooks yet. Like in Japanese, I have textbooks specifically suited to me - ones that focus on sentence patterns, 2 that teach through reading and progressive difficulty, Kanji mnemonic books. Same for chinese - I have an old grammar book that writes a way I understand, 3 comprehensible input massive graded readers that increase in difficulty, some more graded readers by difficulty, a 500 most common hanzi book with a bunch of words that use them underneath, parallel texts, a wonderful hanzi mnemonics book, a wonderful chinese intro book that covers 1000 words (which isn't ideal but i appreciate the author and irs better than one textbook I found which only teaches 200 words total yikes). I learn well with comprehensible input books like graded readers/stuff that makes you learn by trying to understand, and with comparisons of sentence structure with a LOT of common words so I pick them up. Like I mentioned above... I know a korean textbook exists that writes the English in korean word order then gradually adds in more korean words too, I am very interested in finding it if anyone knows the name or has heard of it before.

[lemonjoonah]

Blood Bounty - Part 1 (M)

Pairings: Yoongi x Reader, Taehyung x Reader Word Count: 10K Rating: M Genre: Historical fantasy AU, Vampire AU, Thriller, Drama, Smut Warnings: Non-consensual vampire feeding (graphic, provocative, sexual, blood play, and twisted as fuck), captivation/enslavement, blood, drugging (force feeding vampire blood), obsession, violence, PTSD, at one point the OC pleads for death, it’s dark guys you’ve been warned. While the vampire feeding in this part is highly sexualized, I do have somewhat more “traditional” smut scenes planned for part 2 and 3.

| Series Masterlist |

Summary: He’s taken everything from you, your blood, your memories, your life, and after months spent as Taehyung’s own personal feast, you eagerly take your chance to flee. Unfortunately your escape doesn’t go as well as you had hoped, as you are soon caught by another blood thirsty beast. The vampire Yoongi claims to know you, and that he wishes to return you home. But when you can only remember the pain caused by his kind, you find it difficult to trust him, since he too could just be another monster waiting to feed.

A/N: This mini-series is a loose retelling of Anastasia, you’ll find it to be very different from the animated film. I attempted to blend both the history and the story together in a new historical fantasy world that is not our own. Anyway I hope you enjoy the start to my three part twisted tale, and if you have any questions at the end please feel free to send them my way! Also a big thank you to my beta readers @m00nchild-shi​ and @ladyartemesia​. This story wouldn’t have made it this far without you!

This story is dedicated to all of those who have lost themselves to a monster (of any form) at some point in their life. I know the journey back to yourself can be hard, but trust me, you are worth every effort. 

...  

From the break of dawn you’ve crossed miles of ground, traversing through grassy fields and deep rivers. Accompanied only by the clothes on your back, a stake in your hand, and a pair of boots far too big for your feet, all stolen during your hastened departure. 

You consider yourself lucky after making it out unseen. Lucky that Taehyung had left his fortress of a castle, lucky that he took most of his capable progenies with him, lucky that the underling who tended to your room left the fire iron within your reach, and lucky that it was able to break the chain of the shackle fastened around your wrist. You left as soon as daylight broke. With everything working in your favour for your escape, even acquiring your captor’s clothes and cap to pass off as a young man. For sightings of a woman travelling alone might tip off those you would rather avoid.  

But now, with your heels raw and bloody, it would seem that your good fortune has finally run out, as the smell will no doubt attract his hunters. You curse your carelessness, for the number of times Taehyung has complimented you for your most potent scent. You’ve witnessed it yourself, a single whiff of your blood during his feedings having sent several of his men into a frenzy. This unfortunate blessing left you to be seen as a bounty, condemning you to his captivity, and now the struggle as you flee for your life. 

You attempt to clean the broken skin and stem the flow with strips torn from your tunic. The fine piece of clothing is barely recognizable after the paces you’ve put it through today. With the extra fabric now wedged into your boots you can only hope that it’ll make your journey tomorrow easier, and detain much of the scent that would allow them to track you. 

You wish that you could continue on tonight, but the darkness of the wood, your sores, and your fatigue impede your plans. You’ve gained ground but the lack of settlements must mean that you still lie within his realm. With your memories stolen in an effort to keep you at his side you have little to go on but a tapestry that hung in his den. It showed a city to the east, beyond the boundary of his land, and what is hopefully your home. But with the woven display having no proper scale you have no idea how long it will take to actually leave his territory. Freedom could be hours or days away.  You can only hope that the rivers you’ve traversed will keep them at bay until you can find a safer place to stay. Their weaknesses are all you have to lean on to prevent recapture, but will it be enough?

After tending to your feet you settle in the nook of a tree, leaning your head against the mossy trunk. Your stomach growls but you have no food to feed it, nor a blanket to dismiss the chilling wind which forces a shiver from you. Your deflated spirit is made even worse when a raven takes notice of your poor state. It circles overhead, undoubtedly looming with the hopes that you have given in, and that he too can feast on you. 

Ignoring the omen, you close your eyes, directing your focus instead on the surrounding sounds of the forest, listening for anything that might be a predator making an approach. Despite an exhausting day you still are wary of sleep, knowing what will greet you as you drift off, and concern of someone, or something catching up to you once you do. You rest there for what must be an hour, debating with yourself the advantages slumber, before you hear the snap of a nearby twig. Your fingers drift to the wooden stake on the ground next to you, your movement is slow hoping to escape the notice of whatever might be drawing closer. The footsteps which crunch on the leaves continue to advance on your position. There’s no running now, all you can do is play ignorance until they are in range for you to act.

When a hand reaches down and tilts the brim of your hat, you open your eyes, driving your weapon up in an aim to strike, but your assailant is too quick for you. He catches your arm in an iron grip, much like the remains of the manacle that still holds your other wrist. Though his face is hidden by the dark of night and his frame draped in a long coat, there is no doubt about what he is, and what he’s come for, his speed in stopping you was far too fast to be human.

“Be still,” the monster growls. “It’s me, Yoongi. Are you hurt?”

His concern is almost laughable. His implication of a connection likely a trap, one intent on luring you in, with a motive to end the hunt. “Not if you leave me be.” You attempt to press the stake towards him still, but he barely even registers your efforts. 

“Have you forgotten me?” The beast’s grip tightens on your arm as he dismisses your threat, taking the stake in his own hand before he pulls you up while he continues his deception, “I know that to be what I asked for, but I didn’t think... no, it matters not. ” He shakes his head as his words trail off. His voice then returns resolute and firm once he changes thoughts. “Come, we must get you somewhere safe.”

You dig your heels into the ground as he attempts to pull you along, clawing at his fingers until they release you. “I’m not going anywhere with you vampire. You will not take me back to him, anywhere is safer than there.”

“I am not taking you back, but we must leave. They’ve already placed a large bounty on you and these parts will be flooded with hunters soon.” 

“How can I be sure you’re not one of those hunters?” You make an attempt to retake the stake, showing you have no intention of complying with him. But he pulls it back, holding it just out of your grasp.

“You will have to take me at my word, I am not of Taehyung’s kin and I have no plans on handing you back over to him. Now if you please, I can either escort you to safety, or take you there by force.”

“I don’t trust you.” You glare back at him.

“Very well,” the vampire sighs, tossing your wooden weapon aside, putting it far beyond your reach. He then bends down, throwing you easily over his shoulder, and thereby ending the argument over your fate. Your fists collide with his back several times in an effort to make him release you, but he doesn’t appear bothered by the attack. You draw breath ready to call out when he stops you with a quick jostle. His shoulder lays into your abdomen knocking the wind from your lungs. “You may hit me all you want, but do not scream. I would rather not alert others to our location.”

Could he really not be someone sent by Taehyung’s underlings? Regardless, even if he is, you don’t have the strength to over power him. There’s little you can do but lay like a rag doll propped over his shoulder, with his arm hooked on the back of your knees. 

He hauls you over to a break in the trees, one which leads out to the road where a horse waits patiently for him. You’re thankful when he seats you on the saddle rather than throwing you on your stomach once again. With the full light of the moon on the open dirt road, you’re finally able to see his face properly. His soft and sombre expression is a drastic difference compared to Taehyung’s sharp features and cruel grin.

“Are you going to behave now princess?”

Your eyes widen with terror in response to his last word uttered. You immediately try to pull away to put as much distance as you can between you and him, but he holds you firm in the saddle. The confining grip matching the memories of the name he has just called you all too well. Your breathing comes in short panicked waves as your hand moves to conceal the scar on your neck. You can’t go back, you won’t go back, you refuse to endure that supposed term of endearment anymore. 

“Prin-” The vampire tries again to elicit a response from you, only this time you cut him off. Your fear turning to anger unwilling to tolerate another lie from his lips. 

“If you are not one of Taehyung’s clan then tell me, why do you address me in that manner?”

“You don’t know why I call you princess?” He gazes upon you, his eyes narrowed in confusion as you recoil once again. This time he takes your hand, which bears the weight of both the iron shackle and bitten brand, to hold you still. When you wince from the pressure of his touch, he looks down to examine the sensitive spot. His jaw stiffens as he finds the source of the pain. “What has he done to you?” He whispers softly as his fingers trail over the wound on your palm. 

...

“Open up princess, I have a gift for you,” Taehyung orders, standing over you as you sit on his desk. Gripping your jaw, while your lips remain sealed in defiance. “I said open.” His hand tightens, forcing your mouth to unfasten and expel a cry of pain. He presses the bloody tip of his finger to your tongue, dragging his index from the back to the front coating it with the thick fluid. “Now swallow.”

Your mouth begins to salivate with the intrusion of his blood. You know if you take it in you will lose everything once again, you’ll lose the will you’ve been building back up to defy him. He is never truly out of your system, you still have gaps in yourself, but the need to disobey always has its way of creeping back to you first. To be forced back into obedience within your own body and mind is nothing short of torture. 

You refuse to allow him to drag you back to the dark willingly, spitting your saliva along with his blood into his smug expression.

Taehyung chuckles darkly as he wipes his face with the back of his hand. “You’re right my princess. How could I think that only a drop would be enough to dispel your greed? You deserve more.” 

This time he bites into his hand allowing the blood to pool, while the other takes hold of your neck. The dripping flesh of his palm covers your gasping mouth. Your head is tilted back by his grasp as the blood drains down the back of your throat. 

“You will keep this down. You will accept my control. Every time you look at yourself you will think of me. When you close your eyes you will dream of me, for you can not run away only toward. You will remember nothing before me, and nothing before the night I bestow you with this.” His thumb passes over a three month old scar on your neck, continuing to mark it as the cornerstone of the earliest memory you possess.

Every week without fail he reweaves his bonds inside you, tending to them as a doting hunter with a valued prey. He takes his fill of you in between, sometimes it’s only a taste and others a full meal. Treating his desk as a dining table and you the feast, placing you down upon it for his consumption. 

“I will have to leave you weak in the knees today princess if I must go without you for a fortnight.” His finger catches a drop of blood that escapes your mouth running it back along your lips before his hand moves away and down, trailing deep red lines down the skin of your jaw and neck. “I’m sorry to leave, but there are some pressing matters which I must attend to.” He portrays a look of sorrow, but you know better than to believe that he can possess a single human emotion.  “You’ll be good while I’m gone won’t you? Shall I give you something to remember me by? Another mark unhealed for you to see? You can watch as it slowly means, knowing that I’ll be back to tear you open again.” 

He lifts your hand to his face with his own bloody fingers. How you wish you could slap him away, but your body refuses to move on your behalf, after consuming his blood it yields only to him.  

He does not hesitate before sinking his teeth into the base of your palm. Matching his own wound that he inflicted on himself, but as yours grows deeper, his begins to heal. He takes a long draft before releasing in a pant. Your blood acts like a drug to his system, making him as he so often puts it, ‘Feel alive again.’ 

He wipes his palm on yours allowing the breach to clot, he doesn’t mend it completely, instead leaving the painful imprint of his teeth, branding you anew, just as promised. “Appetizer, now entree Princess,” he mutters as he moves on, shifting to cradle your head and neck in his arms. You attempt to pull away, but that only forces him to issue the command, “Stay still.” 

His face hovers over the pulse of your neck, with you now frozen beneath. His fangs are careful not to dive too deep, retracting just as the blood begins to trickle from your throat. It collects in the well of your collar and trails down your chest, seeping beneath the bodice of your dress. The white fabric of your garment starts to bloom with scarlet. He could have chosen a gown of darker cloth for your personal wear, one that would be less prone to display the gruesome patterns of his actions, but he prefers to see the art of your suffering, your clothes and body becoming a canvas for his great masterpiece. He mutters how beautiful it looks while his fingers add to the display, painting a ruby-red choker around your neck using the blood as a stain.

His eyes linger taking in the sight before he moves in again to collect the flow, lapping it off your skin like a beast amidst a drought. You cringe as his tongue crosses your flesh, relentless in its desire to gather every drop it can. And just when you think he’s finished it makes another pass, accompanied by a growl and another sharp nip.

Unlike your hand, he completely remedies the gash on your neck, leaving only the one scar upon your throat from his first feeding. The loss starts to hit you, your skin turning cold like his, your breathing shallow, and your pulse quick. You hope that might be the end, that he has had his fill and needs no more, but his hand then fastens on your leg having pushed up the hem of your skirt and thin petticoat. “Let me in princess, I still have room left for dessert.” His teeth skim across the sensitive flesh of your inner thigh mapping his preferred spot from your pained twitches. 

You whimper as he clamps down for his last bite. The only solace you can take is that he will not be here for two weeks. You have more time without him feeding, time to gain back control, and time to escape. You stare off to the woven tapestry map behind him, not knowing where to go but longing to be anywhere but here.

...

“D-don’t call me that.” Your demand catches and cracks at the back of your throat.

“But it’s what you are-”

“I am not his dinner, I am not his slave, and I am most certainly not his princess! I will not go back. If you have any mercy, please... drain me here. For I am far more willing to meet death, than I am to see him again. ”

To your confusion he looks shocked that you would even suggest such an act. He takes a moment before looking into your eyes with a narrowed gaze, “You don’t remember anything do you? It’s not just me you’ve forgotten.” 

You shake your head, unable to meet his eyes, “I remember nothing before him.” 

The vampire holds what’s left of the iron shackle in his hands, bending it apart with only his grip, freeing you from it’s clutches. 

There's another sigh from him as he takes the space on the saddle behind you. His body is uncomfortably close to yours, with his breath on your neck, and arms wrapped on either side to take the reins. “And I thought he could sink no lower...” He urges the horse forward with a nudge and a few mumbled words far too low for you to hear. “You are right, you are not his meal, nor his property, but it is not simply a given moniker to which I am referring, it’s what you are. You are the only living heir of a human kingdom just east of here.” 

“You lie, there is no way I could be,” This is just another game of his. It has to be. “If I am what you say, how could I have ended up where I was?” 

“You went missing, disappearing from your bed in the night. Your people assume that you were kidnapped, that you were taken by a monster, not knowing what we are. But I assure you, you are the lost pr-” He stops as you stiffen once again. “I can take you home, back to your family, back to your people, if that’s what you wish.” 

“And why would you do that?”

“I broke a promise long ago, I plan to remedy that mistake.” 

“I fail to see how that applies to me.” You mutter as you slump down in the saddle, no longer fighting your current fate. This vampire too can easily overpower you, he can take you wherever he desires to go, but as long as it’s away from Taehyung you have no wishes to slow him down.

He pulls a skin of water from his horse’s pack offering it to you. Your dry mouth wants to empty it in one swig, but the possibility of what else it could contain holds you back. You turn your nose up instead fearing that he’s drugged it with his own blood. 

“I have not tampered with it if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“You keep assuming your words carry weight with me. I will need more than that if I am to drink this.”

“If I intended to manipulate you with blood I would have done so already instead of fighting to get you on the horse.” 

He’s right, it would have been far easier. You take a careful sip rolling over your tongue, trying to detect even the slightest taste of iron before your swallow. 

He holds out food too, in the form of a few pieces of dried meat. Your mouth waters at the sight. The unaltered drink gives you the confidence to abandon your worries and take it, asking more questions while you eat. “You said I forgot you, but how was it that I knew you Yoo-” You pause trying to recall the name he led with when he found you. 

“Yoongi.”

You wait for more but he doesn’t continue, after swallowing your current mouthful you press further. “Are you not going to tell me?”

“It would be better if you remembered.”

“You expect me to trust you, but then you hide truths?” 

“I expect you to trust me because I want you to recall your truth of our encounters, not mine. When you do I will gladly discuss it with you, but not until then.” His tone is stern, boasting an air of finality to his argument.  

You huff back in frustration. “Can you at least tell me how long you’ve known me?”

“More than ten years now, you were a child of fourteen when we first met.”

“So you must know my name? My real name?” You ask with near excitement, hoping it might stir up some of your past within you.

“I do.” But as he recalls it, whispering the name for you to hear, nothing happens. You thought when you heard it again that everything would come back all at once like a spell broken by one magical word. But the name that comes from Yoongi’s lips has no meaning to you, no memory, no warmth. It bestows only a cold emptiness, a fear that you’ll never quite be able to bind yourself together with the person who bore that name before. 

...

Hours later Yoongi pulls his horse off the path and into the woods, trotting down what looks to be an overgrown trail. You finally come to a stop in front of a mound, backed by an elevation of stone and earth, bearing a small cave-like entrance.

“What is this?”  

“An old mining site. We’ll have to stop here for now.” Yoongi helps you down off the horse before removing the tackle and taking the large pack, he ties his steed up with a long lead on a grassy patch. Once finished you follow him through the dark and into the cavern, lagging a few paces behind with your legs stiff and sore from the night’s travel.

“But there’s still another hour or two until the sunrise. Why stop here?”  

“Because this is the last dark space that’s marked for the next fifteen miles.” He opens one of the bags pulling out a lantern, he lights it, dousing the cold and damp walls of the cave in a warm glow. Taking out a thick piece of paper next, he unfolds it with careful precision, laying it gently across a leather pack. He acts as though it’s a precious heirloom passed on to him from a loved one long gone. Your heart starts to race upon realization that it’s a map, and how with it’s aid you’d be able to find your own way home.  

Dark circles on the heavy parchment denote what according to the key is a resting spot. He opens it further pointing to both your current position and destination, your fingers tracing over a kingdom which he says is yours. With still three times the distance you’ve travelled yet to traverse, much of your contentment fades. 

Despite the blow to your morale, you continue your examination of the map, hoping to learn as much from it as you can. It’s beautifully intricate and precisely made, the only flaw is an ink smudge in the lower left hand corner, which appears to be a faint mirror image of the compass rose on the right. Likely the result of the map being folded before the ink had completely dried. You run your index over the blot feeling much the same. A partial imprint of your past life, and a great distance away from what you must have been. 

Yoongi watches you with a keen eye as you attempt to commit your future route to memory. “Does it look at all familiar to you?”

“No, I remember nothing of this land.” Not the names of rivers or cities return to you. How can you call a place home if you know nothing of it? “Thank you for your assistance. I know you have to stop, but after seeing this I feel that I should keep going.” You offer cordially, praying that he’ll agree to parting ways here. 

“Oh no you don’t. You’ll stay here until the sun sets, and we’ll continue together.”

“Why should I? If the sun is out I’m not at risk from vampires.”

“It is still a while before we reach your kingdom. You can see that can’t you? At least two more nights where you would be alone if I let you leave. Not to mention the risk from your own brethren. You haven’t been among other humans enough to know that they can be just as malicious.”

“Then give me your horse and I’ll out ride them.”

“When was the last time you rode a horse on your own?” He asks lowering his brow, scoffing as his tongue pokes at the side of his cheek. 

“I-I...” Naturally you can’t remember, and he knows it. “I’ll be fine.”

“Yes of course you’ll be fine, it’s not like there will be vampires nipping at your heels the whole way home. Do you know I could smell the blood trailing from your feet a mile away? I can’t imagine they are in a good state. If the horse were to unseat you and run off, would you even be able to continue?”

You wince at the thought of treading forward on foot. The blisters are already a source of great agony, it’s painful to think what they would be like after another mile or two. 

Yoongi notices the show of discomfort in your face,  “Looks like you’ll be staying with me then your highness.”

“I’d rather not...” You're grateful he’s stopped calling you by the other title, but that still doesn’t prove his loyalty. “Why are you so insistent on taking me home? What’s in this for you?”

“Your company.”

“I am serious,” you groan, casting a dark glare back at him over the candle light.

“So am I.” He mutters his response, it’s so quiet you almost miss it.

“You are insufferable! I should be taking advantage of the daylight, I should be putting more distance between myself and his prison. You should have left me there in the forest so I wouldn’t have to deal with your so-called assistance.”

“Forgive me for wanting to keep you alive and safe. It must be truly awful to have someone come to your aid.”

“You are not someone, you’re a vampire,” you bite back against his sarcasm. “I take no pleasure in being in the company of your kind.”

Yoongi sighs looking defeated, following it with an odd request. “Give me your hand, the one with the wound.”

“Why?” You clutch your palm to your chest in defence. 

“I’ll mend it properly for you, your heels too if you’d like. I want to help undo the damage that my kind has done to you. He should never have left you scarred like that.”

“He shouldn’t have fed off me in the first place!” You shout back your voice echoing off the walls.

“You’re right,” Yoongi levels with you. “But I can’t imagine you want to keep it.”

“I don’t, but I also don’t want help from you! I would rather carry this than any more of your poison. So you can keep your blood to yourself.”

“As you wish,” Yoongi responds, yet he still shifts towards you, encouraging you to back away and keep the space between you. 

“I’m not going to...” His tone sounds exasperated but soon changes to a softer register as he looks at your terror ladened face. “Just, take this.” Yoongi passes over a bed roll before pulling one out for himself from the woven pack. 

You stare at the bedding, questioning it, the convenience of such an item along with supplies all seem too good to be true. “Why would someone who travels alone have a second? Why would a vampire have a stash of water he can’t drink, and food he can’t eat?” 

“I brought them for you. I knew you would need them on the journey.” His answer comes off as thoughtful, but the explanation still doesn’t sit right with you, surely there can be no rational reason as to why he was so ready for your escape.

“You expect me to swallow your perfect timing? That you just happened to be in the right place at the right time, ready to play the role of saviour-”

“Who said the timing was perfect? It has been anything but ideal,” Yoongi growls cutting you off. “I have been trying to get you back ever since I learned that you were taken. But we have limitations that prevented me from just storming his castle. A vampire can not enter the home of another without permission. I tried to get you, believe me I did. While you were trapped inside for five years, I was kept outside for just as long. But I have always been prepared to leave with you at a moment's notice.” 

You were ready to continue your argument again just as he was to finish, but one of his last reveals disarms you with an all too unpleasant fact. “H-how long did you just say?”

“Five years?”

“No... that’s not possible, I can’t remember more than a few months.”

“Prin- your highness.” Yoongi catches himself as you turn to panic.

“Please don’t tell me that he held me for years.” You panicked whispers become sobbing pleas, you would gladly take the lie now. The thought of more tortures of imprisonment lying just below the surface of your memory is enough to make you want to do away with your entire past. Blindly tossing it all away and building it all anew, if only it worked that way.    

“It’s been years, I’m so sorry, but you’ve been with- you’ve been missing for half a decade.” 

“Why? Why would he take that too?” You whisper stand up clutching the scar on your neck, the mark you thought to be the first was likely a only a sequel to many. How many more lie hidden in your skin, healed and masked his blood?  Feeling a pull to leave, you stumble towards the mining shaft’s entrance, unable to take another minute beside a monster who could do the same. Yoongi grabs you from behind, wrapping his hands around your waist to prevent you from progressing any further outside. You strain against him determined to go back out into the open air.  “No, let me go.”

“I can’t do that, your highness.”  

You turn into him pushing against his chest as you shout. “Let me go Yoongi.” He doesn’t stop you from shoving, or cursing him out. He just stands there holding tight as you take out your loss on him. 

“If I were to do that his hunters would find you,” Yoongi warns. “Is that what you want? Because I’m not ready to lose you to him again...” The last of his sentiment drifts off as if he’s said too much. His grip loosens to the point where you can slip away. As much as you want to turn out and run towards the sun he’s right, you can't risk losing another five years or maybe more. He nods down to the bed roll abandoned on the ground. “You should get some rest, you’ll need it for the journey tomorrow.” 

You obey, taking the bedding and lantern, wandering back farther into the cave and further away from the vampire. Slipping off your boots you find the cloth you had wedged in earlier caked with blood. You glance over to your nocturnal companion seeing if the reveal had any effect on him, but he’s already lying down, his back towards you, paying no attention. Desperate to dispose of the temptation you hold the two strips of fabric above the lantern flame. Fortunately they are dry enough to burn, leaving only ashen traces of the linen scraps. You redress your wounds with more fabric from your garment, but before curling under the blankets for the day you take one last precaution. With numerous broken branches littering the floor of the cave, you take the most jagged and sturdy, tucking in by your side. The sharp twig is not quite a stake, but a better defence than nothing at all.

...

Even after travelling all day and night with little rest it takes an age for you to fall asleep, not because of the hard ground, not due to the pain in your legs, nor the questionable motives of your new guard, but the knowledge of who you’ll see once you do. Although Taehyung’s blood has lost control of your physical movements, his hold on your mind is still tight. You know you’ll see him when you drift off, but your exhaustion is unwavering and your need of rest undeniable.  

It seems like only moments after you close your eyes that you’re reunited. He lies there beside you back in his castle, with his own eyes closed, his face content with a small smile as though he’s just fed. But on this night, something’s different. You finally feel as though you have the power to fight back against him. The stake you had stolen from his collection, and promptly lost to the forest, found again by your side. You’ve always wanted this moment, taking vengeance on the one who put you through hell. Even if it is only a dream you’ll embrace it though reality.

Mere inches away from his chest your hand is stopped by his. His eyes fly open and he tackles you back. “Killing me won’t grant you freedom, it won’t stop others from coming for you.”

“Then let them come,” you sneer back at him. “For any life without you Taehyung will be a vast improvement, no matter how short or perilous.” 

There’s a quizzical look on his face, his thumb pushing into your palm trying to get you to realise the stake, “Wake up your highness, it’s not what you think.” 

You are pulled from the dream to find yourself with your pitiful excuse for a weapon in hand. Pointing it at Yoongi’s heart as he hovers over you. You drop it quickly, and attempt to slide out from beneath him out of fear of retaliation. “I thought you were him.” 

He places a heavy hand on your shoulder preventing any further retreat on your part. “I figured that to be the case. Do you have these dreams often?” His tone is not angry, but concerned.

You relax with his understanding, “Every night, he made sure it was so.”

“I know it won’t mend the past, but I’m sorry... for what he’s done to you.”

“I’m sorry I attacked you...” 

“I can’t blame you for that,” Yoongi admits with a curling smile on his lips. “If I looked at myself and saw Taehyung I would respond in the same manner.”

You let out a small chuckle, leading to a surprised expression on Yoongi’s face. His smirk soon turns into a sad smile. “I want you to know, when you are with me, you are safe. No one will feed from you, no one will touch you, myself included.”

...

You wake to the sound of a raven in the early evening, the deep croaks of the bird carrying through the mine. Keeping your head down you glance with narrowed eyes to spy on the vampire who currently ties a small roll of parchment to the leg of the dark creature. It waits patiently on his knee until the knot is firmly in place, letting out another loud cry once Yoongi’s hand retreats. 

“I suppose you’ll be wanting more then?” Yoongi takes his index, and presses it down onto one of his sharp teeth, allowing a bead of blood to form on the tip. The raven then takes his finger into his beak and tilts his head back as it feeds on the red droplets. You start to gag at the sight, alerting Yoongi to your awakened state. The bird takes flight as your escort gets up to check on you, but as he comes closer you draw back. He pauses after his first couple steps, and asks from a distance instead. “Are you alright?”

“Why did you feed it your blood?” You heave again at the thought, but with little in your stomach there is nothing to come up.

“He’s delivering a letter for me. The blood is his reward; it keeps him healthy, but it also allows me to convey where he needs to go and who he needs to find.” 

“It’s disgusting.”

“The raven is more than happy to take it as payment for his service. But I know of what you mean, when the exchange is done improperly...” Yoongi pauses as another wave of nausea overwhelms you again, “Forgive me, I thought you were asleep, I didn’t know you would be watching.”

“What were you sending?”

“Notice to my clan. I left my surveillance post, they will wish to know why.”

“Will that be a problem?” You hadn’t considered groups other than Taehyung’s, but if you can avoid interaction with them all the better.

“No, returning you home will be a greater blow to Taehyung. He has likely built a dependence on your blood and without you he’ll be left in a far weaker state. We might finally have a chance to diminish his hold on the region.” Yoongi takes a brief glance to the entrance and starts to pack away his supplies. “You should ready yourself to leave. The sun is almost down.”

You climb out from your bed roll to find that in the night the blood had seeped through the new makeshift bandage. Yoongi clenches his teeth, and makes another offer. “Please just let me heal them, you'll only need a drop.”

“That’s one drop too much.” You move back unsure if you should be more worried about Taehyung’s men tracking you down, or the more current and looming threat of the vampire in front of you. “Is this going to be a problem for you?” “No,” he confirms, however there’s a slight hesitation in his answer. “But you should go wash up before you lose all daylight, there’s a river just down hill.” He takes a kerchief from his pocket and places it on a rock between you. “You can have this if you’d like. I don’t have any bandages to offer, other than the treatment you find so distasteful.” 

You reach out and grab it. “You won’t be getting this back.” You eye him darkly. 

“That’s fine, just go clean them off before others who may be nearby take note of your aroma.” You observe him with caution, hesitating to pass by his threatening mouth to get to that of the cave’s. “Unless you want to stay and watch me eat.” He comments as he pulls out another soft flask which he carries in his jacket. You cringe as he holds in what is likely a stolen meal.

“What?” He fires back at your critical glare. 

“Do you drain all your victims into wine skins, or just those you wish to save for later?”

“The one who gave me this was not my victim. They were willing to part with it.”

“Willing?” You scoff. “I find that hard to believe. Are you sure you did not slip them some of your own blood first?”

“No I did not, but if you have a problem with how I conduct my feedings you only have yourself to blame.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means, you shouldn’t be so quick to judge. Now hurry, so we can make use of this night.”

You do just that, darting past him you leave the mine heading down to the river in the fading sunlight.

...

As you return Yoongi is already outside and packing the horse. With his back to you he pulls an apple from the saddle bag, and the horse turns his head towards the treat with it’s mouth open and reaching. He pulls it back and away from the creature, “I know, I know this should have been yours, but you’ve had enough grass and she needs food. Do you mind sharing?” You watch as he rubs his steed behind the ear and it gives up on it’s want for the fruit. “Thanks, next one is yours, I promise.”

“Am I to thank you or the horse for my meal?” You call out to the vampire.

“You may thank him if you like.” Yoongi hands off the apple to you as you approach.

You can’t help smile as you stand in front of the massive and beautiful stallion letting him smell the back of your hand before you reach you pet the star on his forehead. “What is his name?” 

“Horse...” Yoongi admits. 

“Horse? Surely you jest. Why would you not give him a proper name?”

“He went for so long without one it just stuck.” Yoongi responds as he tightens the girth of the saddle. “What would you have named him?” 

“I’m not sure, but certainly not horse. You poor beast, first he deprives you of a suitable name, then an apple.” You take a few bites but with your stomach still queasy and unable to take anymore, you give the rest to the poorly named steed. Once the bridle and tackle are secure you mount up despite the instant outcry from your legs. You find Yoongi watching you, taking notice but remaining silent. You’re grateful for his lack of discourse, not wanting to have to explain the tenderness of your ass and thighs owing to yesterday’s travel. 

Regrettably, the aches become worse, and after only a couple hours of riding you’re barely able to stay upright. If Yoongi’s arms weren’t circling around you to keep hold of the reins you would have slid to the ground long ago. It seems that he’s no longer able to disregard your comfort though.  “Are you well?”

“Relatively speaking, yes.” You whisper holding in a groan.

“Relative to what?”

“Relative to a week ago.” To your time with Taehyung. You grimace further with each mounted stride.

“I think your scale is skewed. We’ll slow for a bit. Though you might think differently, I have no desire to see you in pain.” He slows his steed to a walk and dismounts, letting you lean back as he leads the horse forward. 

“This is nothing I promise. We should keep the pace up.”

“You wish to be rid of me so soon? Even if it causes you agony?”

“Yes.” Your short reply is enough to make him pause for a second, his face splitting into an open smirk before he continues again.  

“Though I appreciate your honesty, the horse could use a break too.” Yoongi chuckles darkly. “You’ll have to learn how to hold that tongue of yours again once you return to court.”

You take in a sharp breath as a chill runs down your spine. You’ve been so focused on what you are running from you haven’t given thought as what you are running too. “Do you know much about my family, about my life back home?”

“Some.”

“You said I was the last remaining heir. There must have been a time when that wasn’t the case.”

“Your brother...” Yoongi explains, his gaze fixed on the road. “He passed away a few weeks ago. He was very ill, had been all his life.”

You take a deep breath as you register the news, but it’s hard to properly grieve when you can’t recall what you lost. “I wish I could remember-” 

Yoongi must be taking pity on you as he delves further without your prompting. “You loved him very much, but you weren’t as close as you would have liked to have been. His ailment was unknown to many and it prevented him from spending much time with you.”

“How do you know that?” 

“Because you told me.” He whispers, finally meeting your eyes again.  

“Wh-what else do you know? Will you tell me?”

Yoongi shakes his head, “Give it time and you’ll remember on your own. His hold won’t last forever.”

“I still don’t understand why you won’t say more.”

“Because I don’t want to give you a false sense of your past, only to find out later that it was different than I thought, than I hoped. Your affection for your brother was obvious, but with other focuses of your adoration I cannot be sure. So please do not ask much of me. You’ve gone through enough, I have no wish to plant false regard for things you did not actually love.” While Yoongi continues to look up to you his expression takes a sudden shift. His nose lifts into the air and takes a deep breath, before his head snaps back at the road ahead. “Humans... four of them.”

Your heart leaps at the prospect, but Yoongi cuts your anticipation short. “Don’t get too hopeful. They are currently trying to conceal themselves on the path ahead. I doubt their motives are well intended.” He reaches up to tuck a lock of hair that had fallen out from your cap. “Stay on the horse and keep quiet. I’ll deal with them.” 

“But-”

“For your own safety, please do what I ask.” 

The trees growing around the road are thick and dense, your eyes dart between the trunks in hopes to catch movement, but with the forest cloaked in darkness you have little ability to find anything. Minutes pass and just as you are about to question Yoongi, you spot a man with tattered clothes lying in the middle of the dirt road ahead. Thinking he might be a victim of the others mentioned, you make an attempt to dismount. But Yoongi holds your hand firmly on the reins, while he calls out to the casualty. “The wounded traveller? Do people still fall for that?”

There’s a moment of silence before a man emerges from the forest to the left. “You’d be surprised,” he responds, while two more appear on the right. 

The destitute wayfarer on the road gets up and dusts himself off. “It’s a shame you didn’t fall for our ploy, it’s much easier both for us and those who do, so much less blood.  You look to be worth the effort though. I’m sure we could fetch a pretty penny for a steed like that.”

The four close in ranks and advance. Yoongi stays by your side, eyeing their approach, he gives a warning. “For your sake, I hope there will be no blood involved.” 

“Is that a threat?” One of the highwaymen asks. “I should like to see how you plan on besting us without a blade. 

The man closest to you, with a dagger drawn, reaches out to grab hold of your leg. “Come down off the horse lad. There's no point in putting off the inevitable, it’s ours now.” In spite of his weapon you ready to kick the man off, but before your foot can lay into him his grip is torn away. In the blink of an eye Yoongi is on the other side of the horse forcing the assailant  to his knees with an arm behind his back. There’s a loud pop from the thief’s shoulder, resulting in a cry of pain. One of the other bandits charges to free his ally, his sword ready. Yoongi succeeds in dodging the initial thrust of the steel, and with one hand takes the saber, turning it instead on it’s owner. Your vampire escort issues another caution with the point at man’s throat. 

“If you would like your friend to keep use of his arm then I suggest you all back away.” While the disarmed thief retreats backward with his hands in the air, the rest are frozen in place refusing to move. “You think I jest?” Yoongi’s grip tightens while his captive lets out a shout. The little effort used on the vampires part to make the man submit finally prompts his fellows to take two steps back. “I swore to my companion that no one would touch them on this journey. You’ve made me break that promise, and I am not pleased.” There’s a deep growl to his voice that sends chills through even you. “I should take this limb in payment, and maybe one from each in your party too.”

“Yoongi....” You whisper in a low tone.

He turns back to you with a slight smirk. “But you are lucky, my friend prefers mercy. It’s far more than you deserve.” Yoongi lowers his head muttering into the bandits ear. “I’ll tell you what. You may keep your arm, but you and your men will abandon your camp, head south and keep walking. You will tell no one of us, and if I ever come across your path again I will not hesitate to act on my threats.”

Yoongi releases the man allowing him to scramble away as he clutches his shoulder. The other three support their injured cohort as they run off. 

Yoongi takes hold of the horse from the ground once again, leading you off the road. “Their camp it’s just this way. They might have had some supplies which will be of use to us.”

You only nod in response unsure of what to say, after what you just witnessed. The first humans you had interacted with in years, and here they intended to rob you. 

The smoke of their smouldering fire draws you in. Yoongi’s hunch was right, they had a good deal of useful items. Rations for you, along with spare changes of clothes. He fills a bag and ties it on the saddle, leaving their stolen riches along with the blade behind for someone else to find. 

He mounts up behind you again, carrying on forward for some time before speaking again. “Are you well your highness? You’ve been very quiet.”

You give him another nod, while chewing on your lip. “Why south?”

“That’s where my own clan’s territory lies. If they try to pull something like that again they’ll regret it.” He shifts in the saddle behind you, “Back there, I-I didn't scare you did I?”

You fall silent again, unable to confess he somewhat had, but also that the terror of your fellow mankind outweighed his by far. You fear the idea of having crossed them alone. They would have taken advantage of your mercy, who knows where you would be now if it weren’t for the self-proclaimed guard at your side. 

Yoongi seems to take your lack of answer as confirmation of his worry. “I needed them to see me as a vicious monster, had they not backed off I would have had to become one. I’m sorry you had to witness the threat but it was necessary. I needed to terrify them for their sake and yours. I promise didn’t intend to frighten you, only to keep you safe. ” 

...

Coming close to the break of day you find rest this time in a small abandoned house. The windows shuttered completely to prevent even the smallest stream of light from entering. Unlike the night before Yoongi doesn’t light the lantern. It’s so dark inside that he has to lead you to an empty space of floor for you to rest on. He takes a couple steps away, giving you some space before settling down himself once again between you and the door.

“I’m not going to run, you’ve made your point, or I should say the thieves did.”

“I don’t rest between you and the exit to keep you here, but to stop others from entering,” Yoongi explains. “These spots I’ve scoped out, I am not alone in using them. They are how my kind travels, some might have found different places to rest away from the sun, but I can tell that others have used this location. Don’t go examining your surroundings too closely, you might not like what you find.”

Now thankful for the darkness, you take your bed roll from Yoongi. “Rest easy,” he mutters as you climb in between in the blankets.

“Not likely,” you whisper back. “But thank you.”

Unfortunately you are correct, your sleep is once again disturbed by Taehyung. You catch a glimpse of his face before you're surrounded by him. The darkness holds you in a suffocating grip, your mouth slowly filling with blood. You struggle trying to breath reaching out to take a hold of anything that would pull you out. 

A hand grabs on to the side of your face, another on to your arm. Finding the shine of Yoongi’s eyes once you're able to open your own, you gasp out to him begging for some sort of relief. “Can’t see... can’t breath...”

He picks you up only to set you back down on the floor a second later. There's a click and the front door opens to reveal a narrow shaft of sunlight. A single beam a couple inches wide, but it’s enough to dispel the darkness inside. Your eyes start to water, blinded by the light, but it’s far too warm and comforting to deny yourself the sight.    

To your disgust there’s a lingering taste of blood in your mouth. Reminding you of the shackles that still bind you to Taehyung as it continues to overwhelm your senses. Yoongi’s voice flows from the darkness just to the side of the door, his eyes glowing like that of a predator’s. “I think you might have bitten your tongue in your sleep, your highness.” 

He’s right, you find a sore spot as you press it to the roof of your mouth. You make an attempt to focus back on the sun. You sit there in silence letting your breath and heart return to a normal rate. All while Yoongi’s eyes continue to watch you, burning in the darkness. He apologizes for his gaze, but does not withdraw his attention, “Sorry but it’s been so long since I’ve seen someone bask in the sun. I’ve forgotten what it feels like myself...”

“How long?”

“I lost count around the century mark, but it’s likely been double that.”

“Do you miss it?”

“Yes, but I understand. Immortality is a large price to pay, and every monster must have an equal weakness.”

“But I suppose, not everything it repels is a monster.”

Yoongi’s eyes narrow as if he’s hiding a small smile in the darkness. “Dare I say, that sounds almost like a compliment?”

“Merely an observation,” you whisper, but your words trigger something inside you, a pain and longing which you can’t explain. “Yoongi, what were we to one another before...” Before Taehyung interrupted your life. “Please I know you don’t wish to speak for me, but I need to know your view of what we were.”

“We were friends, just friends.” He responds but you're not convinced, just friends do not wait outside the home of their enemy for five years. Just friends don’t put their entire life on hold for another. Just friends aren’t overwhelmed with the desires that seem to be returning to you now.

You’ve seen this expression on him before, you know you have. On the edge of your memories lies a dark cavernous stone built hall, one in which only you and him resided. You find him crumbling under the weight of what he is and what he’s lost because of that. Fragments of your words and his surface in your mind.

“You are not a monster Yoongi, I do not need saving from you!”

“If not from me, then at least from my kind. I cannot give you the life nor the safety which lies here... You would be better off if you forgot me entirely.”

You remember your wish to comfort him, to embrace him and prove that he has not lost everything because of what he is. With the recollection fading, falling from your grasp, you panic out of fear of losing the brief moment of memory. Closing the door you move towards Yoongi, the only focus you have of your previous life, hoping the scene in your mind might continue.

“I don’t need saving from you,” you mutter, blinded by the rapid loss of light, reaching out in an attempt to find him again. 

He takes your hand and holds it, his cool fingers trailing soothing lines over the mark on your palm. “If not from me, then at least from my kind,” he responds, following the path of your dialogue from long before. “You remember our last meeting?” 

“Only a fraction of it. I remember wanting to...” To confess to him, to kiss him, that was your past self was leaning towards. You thought well enough of him to desire an intimacy with one who feeds on others... that can’t be right. But even now you can start to see the appeal your younger self cared for. His soft touch on your hand, his calming presence, and protection, those are not qualities of a monster. And in the memory you were worried that he would reject your affection, that he would be the one to pull away, not you. “Did you ever desire to be more than friends?”

His eyes grow wide at your question, but his stance remains the same. “You know I will not answer that.” 

“But this is regarding your feelings, not my own!”

“I will say no more of us. I’ve told you far too much already.” He leaves the topic at that, directing you to your present state instead. ”There’s a few more hours before sunset... do you think you’ll be able to sleep?”

You shake your head and move to sit with your back against the boards of the wall. Your reply is slow to come, and muddled with the first gasp of tears. “I can’t...” The prospect of closing your eyes again is too terrifying.

Yoongi comes to sit beside you, as he continues to hold your hand, his other arm wraps your shoulders as you let out the pain. A couple of hours ago you would have pushed him away out of fear, but with the spark of your past self craving his presence, who are you to deny the support it needs. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I’m sorry I have to keep my view from you. I don’t want to add to the damage that has been done.”

“There is not more damage that could be done. All I have to remember is a few months spent in agony and terror. How can I find comfort or rest when that is all I have? I have no knowledge of who or what made me happy, or of what dreams chased away the nightmares.”

“An adventure,” Yoongi mutters, his head bowed to the floor as he concedes with another part of your past. “You always dreamed of having an adventure.” 

You let out a broken and weeping scoff, crestfallen that your ambitions to learn more only exposed a further divide. “I find that hard to believe.” 

“Your parents were overprotective, because of your brother's condition. You were forced to keep to the castle, you just longed for something different.” His thumb rubs along the back of your hand as he holds it. 

“But I don’t feel like one to see the risk of adventures as desirable.”

“You’ve been through much since then, fear has a way of changing what we want. I will admit I wished for you to be more careful back then, but never at a cost like this.” 

“I don’t know if I will ever be that person again...” You draw your knees to your chest letting your head lull to the side and onto him. 

“That’s okay,” His arm grips you tighter, as his face lowers to the top of your head. His lips briefly brush against your hair, before his cheek comes down to rest, taking their place. “That’s why I’m taking you home.” 

...

[organabanana]

What spring does to cherry trees || Supercorp

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Supergirl (TV 2015)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: None

Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor

Characters: Kara Danvers, Lena Luthor

Additional Tags: mostly fluff, with some porn for flair, pre-canon, but also, post-canon, tooth-rotting fluff.

Summary: I want to do with you what spring does to cherry trees. What does that even mean? It's taking a simple I love you and putting lead-lined glasses on it to keep its power contained. No offense, Mr. Neruda, but that's just weak. Kara doesn't like poetry. Until she does.

Notes: Written for a very patient anon who prompted me with “Seeing the cherry blossoms in Washington DC” but I got sidetracked by Neruda and my favorite of his poems and it turned into This.  It's poem number fourteen, found in "Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada" (Twenty love poems and a song of despair) by Pablo Neruda, which you can read here (Spanish) or here (English). I mostly translated the lines I needed myself, so I can't guarantee they'll match the official translation (I'm also not sure there is such a thing as an official translation, so there's that). With special thanks to the most patient anon in history for the prompt, to @lavenderrry for praising my vibes, and to @emiltons for the gorgeous graphic.

[ao3 link]

The first time Kara encounters Neruda's poetry she's nineteen and bored. In her defense, she thought taking a poetry class would make her feel sophisticated and cultured, but all she feels is annoyed at the insistence of using language to obscure your message rather than share it.

And yes, yes, she gets it. It all sounds very pretty and evocative. It's just Kara has been hiding her true self in plain sight for the last six years, and she can't understand why anyone would willingly and needlessly do that to themselves. To their feelings. She may never have been in love, but Kara is pretty sure if she ever is -- if her heart ever feels full to the brim with the kind of big feelings her professor keeps making them read in metaphors and symbolism -- she'll want to make them clear as day.

I want to do with you what spring does to cherry trees.

What does that even mean?

It's taking a simple I love you and putting lead-lined glasses on it to keep its power contained.

No offense, Mr. Neruda, but that's just weak.

***

Kara doesn't take any more poetry classes, and she doesn't think of Neruda (or any other poet, for that matter) for years. She has so many other things to think about. She moves to National City and starts working for Ms. Grant. She grows into herself, she thinks. She becomes Supergirl and feels more like herself than she has since her pod left Krypton. She dates, a little bit. Dips her toe in the dating pool, if you will. She meets Lena Luthor.

And that's the second time she runs into Neruda. Right there on a shelf in Lena's living room, on a book that looks well loved and well read, spine full of small cracks and lines from being opened over and over again. Kara has always thought you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their shelves.  

"Pablo Neruda," Kara says, one finger tracing a line down the spine of the book like she's trying to read something in the pattern of the cracks, "I didn't know you liked poetry."

"I don't dislike it." Lena's heels click-clack on the hardwood floor before she sets the bottle of wine and two glasses on the coffee table and sits on the couch. "Have you made up your mind on what we're going to watch?"

Kara can hear the faint electrical hum of the TV being turned on, but she's a bit too distracted by the book to focus on deciding whether tonight is a night for a romantic comedy or an epic drama. She couldn't say exactly why this book feels important. It just does. Maybe it's because Lena keeps so much of herself hidden somewhere not even Kara's X-Ray vision can reach, and finding little clues about her thoughts and feelings feels a lot like she's struck gold.

Yeah. Maybe that's why.

Her fascination with the book only grows when she pulls it out of the shelf only to find the title written in Spanish. "Veinte poemas de amor--"

"And a song of despair," Lena finishes in English. "Atonement? I've heard good things about it."

"No way. I said I could be persuaded to watch a tear jerker, but I did not sign up for actual depression." Kara brings the book along when she walks over to sit down next to Lena. She's so focused on the book, still, that she miscalculates her landing just by an inch or so and her thigh bumps against Lena's as she settles on the couch. But Lena doesn't move away, and Kara figures there's no reason why she should. They're friends, after all. Close friends. Figuratively and now very, very literally close.

"I didn't know you spoke Spanish." Kara speaks again, breaking the silence before it solidifies into something potentially awkward.

"I don't. It's a bilingual edition. Can we please pick a movie?"

Kara would love to do exactly what Lena wants. In fact, giving Lena everything she wants has become sort of a constant in this fledgling friendship between them. It just feels nice, you know? Giving her what she wants and making her smile. But this book. It's all so very distracting.

"So. Do you prefer the twenty love poems, or the song of despair?"

Lena rolls her eyes, but she can't quite hide the amused smirk behind the glass when she sips her wine, so Kara knows she's not nearly as annoyed as she's trying to appear.

"What is it with you and Neruda? I didn't know you were a poetry fan."

Kara scoffs. "I'm not." She still remembers the feeling of relief washing over her when she saw her passing grade on that stupid course and realized she'd never have to read another line of poetry in her life. "I don't even like poetry. I'm just curious, that's all."

Lena cocks one eyebrow at her. Studies her, in a way that makes color rise to Kara's cheeks and has her wondering if Lena can see through people, too. 

"Anyway!" Kara shakes her head like she's hoping that'll make the blush fade. "The love poems, or the song of despair?"

"The poems," Lena finally concedes, "and I'm very surprised you don't like poetry. You seem the type."

"What?" Kara is already thumbing through the edge of the book, trying to find the place where it'll open naturally and hopefully show her which of the twenty love poems Lena happens to like the most. "What does that even mean?"

"Well, you have a big heart. Big feelings." Lena looks into Kara's eyes like she's trying to read all those feelings right there in shades of blue, and Kara finds herself looking down at the book just in case. Just in case all those big feelings she can't even name herself are there for Lena to read. "Seems like a recipe for liking poetry."

Kara shakes her head and pushes her glasses up, just in case. Just in case the lead in them can shield more than just her powers. And just as she's about to argue -- just as she's about to tell Lena precisely why she doesn't like poetry -- she opens her book and her gaze lands on a familiar phrase.

"Quiero hacer contigo," she reads out loud from the page on the left, and her fingertip is already finding the next verse on the right when Lena finishes for her.

"What spring does to cherry trees."

If Kara was just Kara Danvers, she'd have missed it all. She'd have just heard her best friend speak a line from a poem that -- much like most poems -- means very little to her. But she's not just Kara Danvers. So Kara hears the way Lena's heart beats just a little bit faster. The way her breath catches just so. The exact fraction of a tone her voice drops when she speaks. The faintest hint of a sigh.

"See? This is why I don't like poetry." Kara chances a look into green eyes, and she's so very grateful Lena has no superhearing to tip her off to the way Kara's heart seems to trip all over itself.  "'I want to do with you what spring does to cherry trees'. What does that mean?"

Kara swears -- she swears -- she catches Lena's pupils dilating just enough to make her think she knows exactly what the poem means. 

"It's not about what it means, Kara. It's about what it makes you feel." Lena lets out a soft chuckle, something light and airy like this is just a silly little conversation with no weight to it at all. Like she can't feel the way the air itself seems to have changed into something new. 

"Is it your favorite line?" Kara pretends she can't hear the way her own voice has changed, too.

Lena shakes her head. "No. My favorite is actually--"

Kara hears the DEO alarm before Lena's fingertip can make contact with the paper, and she almost considers ignoring it. She almost considers letting whatever danger is looming over this whole city have at it because finding out what's Lena's favorite line in her favorite poem seems far more important right now.

But of course, that would be crazy. Crazy! Kara would never.

"I'm so sorry, Lena, I--" Kara stands up, already hearing Alex's voice telling her where she's needed as she pulls her phone out of her pocket and pretends to read a text, "I have to go. I forgot I had this thing with--"

"Go." Lena's smile is just small enough to make Kara's heart twist in an uncomfortable way that's become familiar since she started lying to her friend. "Sounds important. I understand."

Kara nods, just once. "Tomorrow?"

Lena's smile doesn't grow, but it suddenly reaches her eyes, and something settles in Kara's chest. "Of course. Tomorrow."

Five hours later, foe defeated and safely locked away at the DEO, Supergirl touches down on Lena's balcony. There isn't a single light on inside the apartment, and Kara hesitates for a second by the sliding glass door. She shouldn't sneak into Lena's apartment in the middle of the night. That's a little creepy, right? Even if she knows Lena's said over and over again Kara's welcome any time.

It's just.

That book.

Lena's favorite line.

Kara may never be able to sleep again if she doesn't find out what it is.

So with a non-zero amount of shame at her own choice, Kara ends up sliding the door open and slipping into Lena's living space. She listens for Lena's breathing to make sure she's asleep, and once she's satisfied that's the case she makes a beeline for the shelf and the now-familiar book. It doesn't take her long to find the page she'd been reading before, and soon enough she's reading the lines Lena had been pointing to.

How you must have hurt getting used to me, to my savage, solitary soul, to my name that sends everyone running.

The words wrap around Kara's heart like a vice. If she could do it without blowing her cover and putting Lena in danger, she'd go in her room right now just to wake her up and tell her what Kara thinks about her soul. About her name, too, while she's at it. She'd tell her everyone else is free to run if they want, but Kara isn't going anywhere. 

But she can't do any of those things. 

***

The two lines stay with Kara, sort of swirling under the surface of her thoughts. She never actively thinks about them -- about poetry in general, for that matter -- but they're there. 

She remembers them sometimes. When their friendship grows and strengthens and one day Kara realizes Lena may be the person she loves the most in the world (tied with Alex). When the secrets and lies catch up with her and she thinks she may have lost Lena for good. When she finally gets Lena back.

It's been five years since she snuck into Lena's apartment that one night to find out about her favorite line in her favorite poem. Five years since she's actively thought about Neruda and the book and the words inside it. But for some reason, when Kara wakes up a couple hours earlier than she needs to and finds herself unable to sleep, she feels like that's precisely what she needs to read to soothe her brain. Maybe poetry will have the same sedative effect it used to have in college.

Wearing only an old t-shirt, Kara walks out of the bedroom and into the living area, scanning the shelves where she thinks she last saw that book. It's hard to keep track when your book collection has multiplied and turned into more of a home library situation than anything else, but she eventually finds it -- spine still cracked and pages still well-loved and well-read -- and settles down on the couch.

Kara flips from poem to poem, not really paying attention to any of them. A line from the third and then two from the eighteenth and a word or two from the seventh, eyes flicking between the Spanish lines and their English counterparts on the other side of the page. It's soothing, in a strange way. Like white noise, she figures. Nonsensical but calming. Until she lands on the fourteenth. 

"Oh, those cherry trees," Kara half-groans in a whisper. The cherry trees and the spring and the convoluted way to say I love you. And Lena's favorite lines. 

Kara feels it all over again. The pang of pain at the sight of that line.

My name that sends everyone running.

It lands different this time, five years into a friendship that turned out to be so much more and nearly went up in flames at one point. Because of names and lies and... well. Everything else. Lena was right after all, wasn't she? It's not about what the poem means. It's about what it makes you feel. And right now Kara feels a lot more than she'd be able to put in words if she had to.

Maybe Mr. Neruda was on to something after all.

"Hey," Lena's voice is laced with sleep, and Kara smiles as she listens to her footsteps bringing her closer, "what are you doing? It's the middle of the night."

Kara wouldn't call it the middle of the night -- more like a very early morning, really -- but she's not about to argue. "Reading. I couldn't sleep."

"Everything all right?" Lena reaches the back of the couch and makes the most of the rare height advantage over her girlfriend to press a kiss to the top of blond hair. "Why couldn't you sleep?"

Kara opens her arms before Lena can even think about sitting next to her instead, and smiles at the familiar weight of Lena sliding onto her lap. Even as she shrugs off Lena's question, Kara is already burying her face against the soft skin of her girlfriend's neck, breathing her in and letting the familiar scent filling her lungs soothe her like no amount of poetry ever could.

"Kara," Lena's fingers slide into blond hair, blunt fingernails scratching at Kara's scalp and making her hum in delight, "that's not an answer."

"No reason. I'm just not tired anymore I guess." A deep, content sigh. "Baby, you're so good at that."

There's still a slight crease between Lena's eyebrows, but that doesn't stop the smile Kara's praise brings to her face. "You'd tell me if I had to worry?"

Reluctantly, Kara pulls away from the warmth of Lena's neck. Her arms wrap around Lena's waist as she looks into green eyes. "You know I would."

And Kara watches Lena let the words sink in. They've had this conversation before, and Kara knows they'll have it again. They both have sore spots that need special care from time to time. And just to keep Lena's mind from going down any sort of rabbit hole, Kara decides it's time to continue a conversation they left unfinished five years ago.

"It didn't hurt at all, you know. Getting used to you." Kara shows Lena the book she's been holding, and grins when Lena smirks as the reference clicks.

"I thought you didn't like poetry," Lena chides, taking the book and flipping through the pages until she lands -- unsurprisingly, if you ask Kara -- back on poem fourteen.

"I don't. It's like... giving feelings a secret identity."

Lena arches one eyebrow, looking somewhere between amused and curious. "Care to explain?"

"Well, you know," Kara leans in to steal a quick, soft kiss, "say I want to kiss you. I can just say it. That's better than hiding it behind some kind of... flowery metaphor that'll make you wonder if I'm even saying that in the first place. Right?"

There's this look on Lena's face. Kara knows it well. It's like a challenge. Like she's playing chess and she's already thinking six moves ahead and knows you're toast whatever you do from that point on. Kara finds it nothing short of delicious.

"So you're saying," Lena says, and there's victory right there simmering under the surface of her words because she knows -- she knows -- she's won, "you'd rather I say 'this is a lovely sunrise we get to see together'," Lena's gaze drops to the open book in her hand to refresh her memory on the line she's about to quote, but she makes sure she's looking into blue eyes once again when she speaks, "than 'so many times we've watched the morning star burn, kissing our eyes, and over our heads the grey light unwind in turning fans', right?"

Kara swallows, hard. Her cheeks burn with a blush that will simply not be contained, no matter how hard she tries to keep some semblance of dignity. Her mouth feels dry all of a sudden, heart beating just fast enough -- hard enough -- that she's sure even Lena's plain human hearing can pick it up. And the look on her girlfriend's face lets Kara know she knows exactly what's currently happening to her.

"W-- well." Kara blinks, shaking her head like she's trying to physically clear the fog inside. To her credit, she thinks she manages to sound more indignant than turned on. "I mean that's unfair. You made it hot."

Lena lets out a delighted chuckle that hits Kara right in her heart, like a little pinball ball making it ding with the knowledge that Lena Luthor is happy enough to laugh. Really, truly laugh. 

"What?" Lena asks, still grinning, fingertips teasing the soft hairs at the back of Kara's neck like it's nothing -- like she doesn't know what she's doing to her. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Ohh no, ma'am," Kara grins, cheeks still burning with the feeling simmering down low in her belly but too charmed by her girlfriend's teasing smile to stop, "you don't get to pretend you didn't do that on purpose."

"Kara," Lena says, in that way, because she knows, she knows, she knows Kara's weaknesses so perfectly well, and Kara wouldn't have it any other way, "I was just quoting Neruda, I didn't do anything."

"You did the voice thing!" 

"What voice th-- Kara, if you can't just admit plain language and poetic language are simply not on the same level I--"

"You purred the words! How is that fair!?"

Kara presses her lips together like she can retroactively keep the words from exiting her mouth. Too late, though. Lena looks positively delighted.

"I purred the words?" Lena echoes, barely able to keep a straight face. Actually, you know what? Scratch that. She's openly pleased with herself. Smug, even.

"I mean. I mean," Kara says, and she touches the bridge of her nose with one fingertip because for a moment she's forgotten there are no glasses to push up at all, "obviously it's not the same. Poetry and prose, they're inherently--"

"Different, right," Lena finishes Kara's thought, "so you see how you'd use one or the other depending on how emotionally charged--"

Kara shakes her head. "But you don't need flowery metaphors to convey emotion! You can just say what you mean and mean what you say."

"But you just said it yourself. It felt different when I just said it's a sunset, and when I quoted--"

"You purred poetry at me, Lena, of course I'm going to feel a certain kind of way!"

And there it is. Kara feels it in her bones. The checkmate Lena had seen coming a mile away. She sees it right there in the smirk on her girlfriend's face. In the way Lena's pupils dilate just so. The way her tongue peeks out to lick her lips as she looks at Kara like she's lunch.

Or, you know. Breakfast, as the case may be.

"You feel a certain kind of way?" Lena shifts on Kara's lap and they've been together for long enough that Kara absolutely knows there's nothing innocent or coincidental in the way Lena's night shirt (Kara's high school gym t-shirt, mind you) rides up to expose Lena's lace-covered ass. "What kind of way is that, Supergirl?"

Kara perks up at the sound of her name. Her other name. Because maybe it wasn't checkmate after all. Maybe it was just check. Because the thing is, it's not just Lena knowing all of Kara's weaknesses. That knowledge very much goes both ways. And Lena calling her Supergirl? 

Oh, Kara is absolutely not the only one who's feeling a certain way.

"You know." Kara shrugs slightly, pretending to still be the mouse in this little game. She rests one hand on Lena's knee and lets her palm slide up her thigh, slowly, listening to Lena's heartbeat speeding up with each inch of skin Kara explores. "You know the way I mean."

Lena's breath hitches just so when Kara's hand slides further up, and Kara savors the sound of Lena's heart tripping over itself when her fingertips drag along damp lace.

"You're listening, aren't you?" Lena cocks her eyebrow, but her lips stay parted and her breathing comes in short, warm puffs so the whole thing really doesn't come off as stern as Kara is sure Lena would like. 

"Hmm?" Kara knows she's probably pushing her luck, but she bats her eyelashes anyway, her face the very picture of innocence as if her fingertips weren't tracing the very edge of Lena's panties, hinting at what they could (will) do if she just happened to push that fabric aside. "Listening to what, baby?"

Lena tries not to -- Kara can see the struggle right there in her eyes -- but she whimpers anyway, quiet and just barely audible to the human ear. 

"Kara." It tries to sound like a warning, but it falls just this side of pleading instead. Lena blushes so very pretty when she's feeling a certain kind of way.

"Yes, Lena?" 

"You're listening," a breath, slow and measured like she wishes she could take in a deep one but her lungs can't quite cope with that right now, "to me."

"Well, I mean," Kara shrugs slightly, like she can't feel the warmth of Lena's pussy against her fingertips, "I try to. I feel like it's good girlfriend etiquette."

Lena is trying so hard to look at least moderately annoyed. It's not working at all, but Kara can see that's her intent. She also knows exactly what Lena means, too. She means Kara is listening to her. To the beat of her heart and the air in her lungs and all the tiny, inaudible (for everyone else) sounds that tell her exactly how much Lena wants her. 

"You're listening to what you're doing to me." Lena drops the book on the floor to wrap both hands around Kara's neck, hips shifting forward just enough to get more contact with Kara's hand between her legs. Kara knows Lena doesn't need superhearing to notice the way Kara's breath catches in her throat. 

"And what am I doing to you, baby?" Kara won't cross the barrier of Lena's panties just yet, but her fingers becomes more purposeful, less teasing as two fingertips press against Lena's clit through damp lace. Lena's eyes flutter closed and she takes in a sharp breath that sounds almost like a gasp, and Kara rewards such a gorgeous sound with a kiss to Lena's jaw. "What Spring does to cherry trees?"

Lena must feel Kara's teasing grin even if she can't see it, because she lets out a breathless chuckle even as her hips start rocking to meet the movements of Kara's fingers. "Just admit poetry can express richer emotions than prose ever cou--"

Kara's mouth is on Lena's before she can finish her thought, and Kara would maybe feel a bit guilty for interrupting, but Lena's fingers fist in blond hair and pull her close and there's no way someone who's offended would kiss her like that. And Kara isn't even listening anymore, because Lena's tongue is in her mouth and all she can hear is her own heart thumping along anyway.

When she breaks the kiss, Lena keeps Kara close. She's panting slightly, breath hot and wet against Kara's lips and pupils so dilated Kara wonders if she can see her at all. A quiet, hitched moan escapes parted lips, and Kara swears there's nothing in the world -- in the universe, really -- more beautiful than Lena when she's like this. Like putty in her hands. And Kara just can't resist. 

"Admit you purred," she whispers against kiss-swollen lips, knowing if there's one chance for her to win an argument with her girlfriend this must be it. When she has Lena rocking against her fingers, wet and wanting and just the right amount of needy to get her to give in, for once. 

"Kara." It's practically a whine, and Kara swears it sounds like victory. Until she sees the glint in her girlfriend's eyes, and Lena gets her checkmate move after all. "Shut up and fuck me."

Kara feels the words rather than hears them. They hit right between her legs and spread all over her body, and you know what? Kara really is okay with losing under these particular circumstances.

Two fingers hook under the crotch of Lena's panties and Kara tugs lightly, almost like she's testing the strength of the lacy fabric. "Do you really like the..." Kara's voice trails off as Lena pulls the t-shirt up and over her head, blue eyes staring unabashedly at her girlfriends breasts as she struggles to finish her thought, "...these?"

It's just polite to ask before tearing someone's panties to shreds, if you ask her, even if you're currently transfixed at the sight of her breasts.

"I don't care." Lena's voice is doing that thing again, except this time Kara is pretty sure she's not doing it on purpose at all, it's just that's what Lena sounds like when she needs Kara now and isn't that just the best thing ever? "Baby, please, I don't care."

Kara doesn't know if she rips the panties off first and then leans in to catch Lena's left nipple with her mouth or if it happens the other way around, but she honestly doesn't care either, as it turns out. All she knows is two fingers slip inside Lena in one smooth, firm thrust, and her free hand grabs Lena's right breast, and then--

"More," Lena moans, breathy and greedy, but when Kara starts thrusting harder into her Lena shakes her head, "no, no-- more fingers," and Kara lets out a quiet whimper around the stiff nipple between her teeth. 

Kara pulls her fingers out of Lena and stretches her ring finger to join the first two before sliding them back inside. Her movements are slow and careful, all of her senses focused on detecting even the slightest hint of discomfort in her girlfriend until her three fingers are fully inside Lena. 

"Go on, Supergirl." 

Lena's tone is just the right amount of teasing to make Kara chuckle lightly, mouth leaving Lena's breast to trail kisses up her sternum and to the freckles on her neck as her arm starts pumping once again. She's so very close, Kara can tell, and even more so when she turns her wrist just so to press the pad of her thumb against Lena's clit.

Lena's fingers dig into Kara's scalp, into the strong muscle at her shoulder as Lena holds on and rides Kara's hand, hips rocking hard and fast in time with Kara's thrusts. Kara couldn't listen to any one thing if she tried. It's a symphony of sighs and moans, whimpers and ragged breaths and stuttering heartbeats that nearly overwhelms her senses until she feels Lena clench around her fingers, hips losing their rhythm as Lena comes with Kara's name on her lips.

Kara pulls her face away from Lena's neck just so she can look at her. Watch her come around her fingers and then relax, chest heaving with the effort of trying to catch her breath. Kara swears there can't be a more beautiful sight in the universe, especially not now, with the sun rising and bathing Lena's damp skin in early morning light. And as much as Kara tries to suppress it, there's a thought running through her head. A line from that stupid poem with its stupid cherry trees.

A long time I have loved the sunned mother-of-pearl of your body... 

"You're thinking very loudly," Lena whispers, already resting her head on Kara's shoulder as her fingertips play with the hem of Kara's shirt, "what are you thinking?"

For a second, Kara considers telling her, but Neruda's words aren't what comes out when she opens her mouth. "Just how beautiful you look," she says, which is in fact the truth. Kind of. She can't let Lena win every single time, right?

***

"Apparently the first cherry trees got here in 1910, but they had to burn them all because of a bunch of insects." Kara holds the little guide book in her hand as she reads, her other hand safely in Lena's as they walk along the Tidal Basin. "These ones are newer, from 1912."

 "Oh, like the Titanic!" Lena looks delighted with the coincidence, and the bright smile on her face makes Kara lean in to steal a kiss from her lips. Her fiancée is super cute when she lets her inner dork show, if you ask Kara.

"See? I told you buying an actual guide book would be worth it!" Kara holds the small book in her hand with the pride of someone who's just won an argument (for once). "Where else are you going to get that kind of high quality trivia?"

"You do know the prototype L-Corp keychain I gave you last week can access Google, yes?"

"Not the same."

"Not to mention the actual supercomputers we all carry around in our pockets. Or the high-tech communicator in your wat--"

"Lena!" Kara groans. "Look around! The cherry blossoms! The quaintness of springtime! A romantic stroll along the river! Where's your sense of romance?"

Lena chuckles lightly, her free hand sliding up Kara's arm to wrap around her bicep. And Kara would complain about the obvious use of one of her many Lena-related weaknesses, but you know what? It works.

"Kara Danvers," Lena says, voice low and teasing, "that's all very poetic."

Kara rolls her eyes, but she can't quite stop the bright smile that's already appearing on her face. "Don't you start with me," she warns, not very convincingly. 

Lena presses a kiss to Kara's shoulder, and it makes color rise to Kara's cheeks even through the soft fabric of her cardigan. Even after all these years. But she figures if there's one day to be particularly enamored with one's fiancée, that's the day she's scheduled to receive a Presidential Award for her contributions to science and the betterment of humanity.

Not to brag. But Kara is proud.

"I love you," Kara says, because she can't not, "and I'm just so proud, I--"

Lena presses a finger to Kara's lips, stopping what was potentially about to turn into a whole speech about the many ways in which Lena Luthor could not possibly be any more perfect if she tried. 

"Kara," Lena warns, all cocked eyebrow and slightly pursed lips, "you promised. You promised you wouldn't cry before the actual ceremony."

And Kara would argue. She'd argue that she's perfectly capable of going on about Lena's many virtues without actually crying, but you know what? Her eyes are feeling just a tiny bit misty already so she's just gonna go ahead and trust Lena on this one.

"You know what I also love?" Kara presses a kiss to the pad of Lena's finger and obediently changes subjects. "Sushi. Let's go get some." Kara starts walking away from the beautiful soft pink trees and in the general direction of the street festival, tugging Lena along. She's all for the romance of blossom-watching, but she'd be lying if she said hearing about the culinary side of this whole festival hadn't excited her a bit more than that.

It's only when she hears a sigh coming from Lena that Kara's focus shifts from food to the woman next to her. That wasn't a happy sigh. 

"Are you okay, baby?"

Lena smiles. It's not a fake smile, but there's a hint of something in it that isn't fully happy, either. "Yes. Yes, I'm fine. It's just... between the cherry blossoms and all this talk of sushi, I guess it made me a bit nostalgic for Sendai." 

"Sendai?" Kara looks at Lena with curiosity written all over her face. "What's Sendai?"

"Oh, it's a city in Japan. I lived there for a few months for an exchange when I was in college. Did I never tell you?" Kara shakes her head, her face the picture of delight at getting to learn something new about Lena. "There was this little restaurant near Tohokudai, I swear they had the best sushi in the world." Lena hums, letting her eyes flutter closed for a second like she's trying to imagine the taste. "I'd do anything for some negitoro maki from that place right about now."

Kara listens intently to her fiancée's words. She knows it's just a silly little comment. She knows Lena will be perfectly happy eating the undoubtedly delicious sushi currently being sold at the street festival. And yet.

She can't resist a chance to make Lena just that little bit happier, can she? 

So Kara looks around to make sure they're not being watched, and lets go of Lena's hand. "Be right back."

"Where are you--?"

But all Lena gets is a quick kiss and a gust of wind on her face before Kara disappears.

She's only gone for a couple of minutes -- just enough for Lena to wander back towards the cherry trees -- and when she comes back she's holding a small box which she immediately presents to Lena.

"Sushi for my... sushi," Kara lets out a chuckle, her now-free hand coming up to scratch at the back of her head like she's aware she may have gone just a little bit overboard but she's hoping it won't be too much, "Sendai's beautiful, by the way."

Lena's smile is soft, and Kara has a feeling -- not to toot her own horn -- if she'd been listening she would've heard Lena's heart skip a beat. 

"Kara Danvers," Lena sighs, shaking her head like that'll do anything to hide just how charmed she is right now, "you're something el-- what's that?"

"Nothing," Kara shifts slightly and puts her hand -- and the little carton box it's holding -- behind her back, fully intending on letting the focus of this moment be on her romantic gesture, but Lena raises one eyebrow and Kara loses her resolve. "Potstickers." Kara's voice is quiet as she shows Lena the box. "What? I was in the neighborhood!"

"In the neighborhood of," Lena squints slightly as she reads the words on the box, "Shanghai?"

"Well, China is next door to Japan, if you think about it."

Lena chuckles, clearly too charmed by this whole thing to even continue teasing Kara about it. "Thank you. For this. You didn't actually have to fly all the way to Japan to get my favorite sushi, but I appreciate it."

Kara shrugs, chopsticks already grabbing the first potsticker in the box. "I'd go way farther than Japan to make you happy. You know that."

"I do know," Lena nods, looking just a little thoughtful, like she's just now realizing she fully believes Kara would stop at nothing to make her happy, "you even promised when you proposed."

Lena wiggles her finger, flashing the kryptium ring that's been there for a few weeks now along with a teasing smile, and Kara can only shrug. "Well, I meant it," she says, popping the potsticker in her mouth and leaning against the trunk of a nearby cherry tree.

"I know," Lena says again, but this time she's smiling, amusement shining in her eyes, "if only Lex had figured out the one true way to have the world in the palm of your hand is to make a Kryptonian fall in love with you."

"To be fair, I really don't think your brother is Kal's type."

***

Eight hours later, they're seeing the Tidal Basin from above, the cherry blossoms looking nearly white in the moonlight. They could be in National City already, but Kara figures there's no reason why she can't take the scenic route with Lena in her arms and enjoy the view without the crowds and the bustle they experienced earlier today. Perks of being your own private jet.

"Go a bit lower, baby," Lena's voice is soft against Kara's ear, like she's afraid if she speaks too loud she'll break the spell and they won't feel like the only two people in the world anymore, "I want to see the flowers."

Kara doesn't make her wait. Lena's just been awarded an actual medal by the President, and spoiling her a little is the least Kara can do. So she dips until they're hovering just above the soft pink blossoms and then a little lower still, close enough that Lena can smell the sweet, fresh scent of Spring.

The night is clear and quiet, just cool enough for Lena to reach for Kara's cape and pull it forward to wrap it around herself. Kara holds her a little closer, just enough to hopefully provide a bit of extra warmth, and she figures it was the right move when Lena slips one arm from under Kara's cape to reach for the tree and pick a particularly pretty blossom from one of the branches that's closer to them.

Lena looks at it for a moment, twirling the little stem between her fingers like she's pondering what to do with it. And then she turns and tucks Kara's hair behind her ear, sliding the small flower between soft blond strands and smiling when she's satisfied it'll stay exactly where she wants it.

"Happy?" Kara chuckles, something soft and quiet and a little teasing because there's something equal parts amusing and endearing about Lena's perfectionism when it comes to silly little things like putting a flower in Kara's hair.

"Very."

And there's something about the way Lena smiles, more with her eyes than with her mouth, that makes Kara see, clear as day, just how serious Lena is. How sincere, when she says she's very happy. 

Maybe that's why Kara gets a little transfixed just looking at her, suddenly aware of just how different this Lena -- the Lena wrapped in her arms and her cape, wearing her ring and smiling with a smile that's just Kara's -- is from the Lena she first met all those years ago.

"Kara Zor-El," Lena's voice is soft just like the sound of Kara's true name on her lips, "what are you thinking about?"

And Kara wishes she had the words to tell her. But how does she even begin to explain what she's feeling right now? How she's still the same Lena that made Kara's heart trip all over itself the first time she saw her, but she's so very different all the same time. Brighter. Lighter. Loved. God, she's so loved, and Lena knows it, finally, and that's what's different, maybe. Not just Kara's love, because Lena's had that from the very first day, probably, but the fact that Lena can feel it now. 

How do you put that in words? I love you just doesn't feel like enough. 

And then it hits her.

"I'm thinking," Kara smiles, cheeks pink with the knowledge that she's just been proven wrong, "about what Spring does to cherry trees."

[bitsandbobsofwriting]

The Gang FINALLY sees how much of a BAMF Merlin is:

 A smidge of Angst, but only because everyone is stupid :)

Part 4 of Merlin’s angry outburst. The Gang has ridden out (refusing to let Merlin and Arthur go alone) to a battlefield that will only have two bodies on display. One of them is Merlin’s.

This was meant to be the last bit but it was getting so long and I kept thinking of extra shit to put in soooooooo. Hopefully this is the penultimate part? But who knows lol.

TW: Lots of death (the final battle yo)

Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 5

They ride the whole first day in silence. Not even Gwaine has any jokes or stupid stories to tell, and the atmosphere is tense.

The time between Morgana rushing into the council meeting, and the group riding towards what looked to be Merlin's death, had blurred by. No one really had any time to think, but now, riding in silence, all they could focus on was the fact that they were knowingly heading to what could be Merlin’s demise.

No one concentrates on anything but urging their horses to travel as fast as possible, and Arthur shortly telling everyone to stop and make camp were the first words spoken for the whole journey.

No one replies, they just dismount their horses, and wordlessly go about clearing an area for the fire, laying out food, and checking the surrounding area for danger.

Merlin stalks off before anyone can stop him, intent on setting up some wards before anyone settles down. He’s clearly pissed, and Arthur shakes his head when Lancelot gives him a look, “Want me to go with him?” .

Arthur follows instead, trusting the others to set up properly whilst he and Merlin have a much needed private conversation.

It doesn't take too long to find him. He's noticed that, recently. Ever since the link was forged he always seems to be able to find Merlin first try. Before, he had to scour the whole castle to have a chance of finding his wayward manservant (and then his wayward Court Sorcerer), and even then sometimes he couldn't manage it.

It's comforting. In a way. Knowing that they'll always be able to find one another.

Arthur sees him in the trees ahead, facing away from him, his hands up in front of his body. He can hear him muttering something that Arthur doesn’t understand under his breath.

Years ago, Arthur would think that Merlin hadn't noticed him. But Arthur knows him better now. He knows the ever so slight hitch in his Sorcerer’s left shoulder means "I hear you. I see you. I know you're there." .

"You can't know that everything's going to be ok."

Merlin sighs and turns back to look at him, still visibly frustrated with everyone’s obvious fretting. Neither make any moves to walk closer:

"Course I can. I had a chat with Kilgharrah on the way here-"

(He taps his forehead as he says this)

"-no other Emrys-killing weapons have been made, and the only one anywhere near us, is yours. As long as you don’t stab me, I'll be fine."

Arthur huffs and shuffles his feet at this:

"Merlin, the vision. You weren't waking up and you heard what Morgana said. Why are you so intent to ride to what is almost certainly going to be your death, when our armies could win this battle anyway?"

Arthur is trying to sound firm, but his face gives him away. He was never all that good at hiding his true emotions when it was just him and Merlin, and his expression is sad and desperate.

It's only at that, that Merlin walks towards Arthur, putting his hands on his shoulders:

"That vision doesn't show everything. And yes, that may have been the clearest vision Morgana has had during this whole bloody war thing, but the future is still fluid. Nothing is set in stone. Arthur, I'll be fine. And besides, an all out battle means blood spilt, theirs and ours. If I can do anything to prevent that, then there is no choice, not for me."

The King clenches his jaw, before pulling Merlin into a tight hug. The Sorcerer let's out a surprised "oof" but grips back just as tightly, burying a hand in Arthur's hair.

Arthur speaks aloud this time, so quietly Merlin barely hears it even with Arthur's face in his neck. Perhaps thinking this is important enough that it has to be vocalised:

"Why have you got to be so bloody self sacrificial? I couldn't bear to lose you, Merlin. I need you with me, by my side."

Merlin smiles slightly at that, but doesn't let go:

"I'll always be with you. Nothing in this life or the next, could pull me away from you. I...-"

He hesitates here, but Arthur tightens his grip, and he takes a deep breath before continuing:

"-...this is where I belong. Right here, right now. With you."

Arthur squeezes him once again and pulls back, gently laying his forehead against Merlin's, very reminiscent of the spell cast all those weeks ago.

The both of them keep their eyes closed, even as Arthur speaks:

"We're having a conversation about... this, when we get back. We're ALSO having a conversation about your self sacrificial tendencies."

Merlin laughs and pulls back at that:

“Only if we have a conversation about yours first.”

The King rolls his eyes fondly, and turns to walk back, but pauses momentarily, without looking back:

“I may not understand your magical mutterings, but I know that you’ve finished setting the wards up. Are you going to come back? Or are you going to come up with another excuse for you to watch me leave so you can stare at my arse?”

Merlin flushes at that, and lets out a mumbled “Shut up.” before speed walking past a laughing Arthur, towards camp.

The whole group seems to relax once they realise that the tension between Merlin and Arthur had been resolved (or at least... changed. A different type of tension. The type that made Leon want to lay their bedrolls on opposite sides of the camp).

The evening passes quietly, nothing of note happening, and soon enough, everyone is asleep.

The next few days aren’t quite as tense, but they still hurry their horses, taking few breaks. It was wordlessly agreed that they wanted to get there as quickly as possible, so that they might have time to assess the situation properly.

Everyone was still understandably worried, but with Merlin being so relaxed, and Arthur seeming ok (ish) with what was happening, they kept their anxieties to themselves.

It’s the second night they stop to make camp, that Gwaine informs them that if they keep the same pace and get up early, they should be there just before noon the next day. 

Everyone is a little tense at that, but Merlin speaks first:

“I’d say the rain isn’t going to hit until noon. If we move quickly, we should have at least a little time to plan..”

The group once again relaxes at that, grateful that they would at least have time to think things through, and check the surrounding area, before anything happened.

The relaxed atmosphere doesn’t last long, however. When they’d first stopped to make camp (that was around three hours ago now) Morgana had sat straight down, out of the way, and began to meditate. Without warning, she opens her eyes with a flash of gold, and lets a tear slip down her cheek before looking to Merlin.

He furrows his brows, and begins to speak before she can say anything:

“Morgana? What did you see?”

She lets out a humourless laugh, drawing even more worried attention from the group, before she replies:

“I’ve been trying to look past tomorrow. The near future, the far future, anything. Anything that might clue us in to the outcome. You know what I see?-”

Everyone is staring at her, clearly anxious, but she doesn’t take her eyes off Merlin, not even when Gwen places a gentle hand on her shoulder:

“-I see your mother and Gaius, quietly crying. I see Arthur, with a golden crown on his head, and a silver crown in his hands. I see a tombstone, with a name I can’t quite make out. I see your chambers, empty and cold, unlived in and covered in dust. I see... I see us. All nine of us that is, sat around our table. But one of the seats is empty, your seat. And all of us look... blank. That, is what I see, Merlin. And through all of it, I can feel your absence like a flame on my skin. I can see past tomorrow with ease. But I can’t see you.”

Morgana looks devastated. Everyone else in the group looking various mixes of shocked, scared, heartbroken.

Merlin nods slightly, and frowns staring into his lap. He was so certain that... logically, he should be fine. He’s died before and been fine. But Morgana’s visions are rarely that inaccurate, and if she’s stopped seeing his future entirely... well. It wasn’t a good sign.

He hums thoughtfully, before wiping the expression off his face and looking up determinedly:

“That changes nothing. I either do this, and everyone bar me survives, though I still think I’ll be fine, or we ignore your visions entirely, ride back to Camelot, and risk the life of every single one of Camelot’s citizens. And that’s not an option, so we’re just going to have to see what happens.”

Everyone opens their mouth to protest at the same time, but before any of them can make even a sound, Merlin jumps up, and speaks again. His voice is sharp, and invites no argument:

“NO. I said it’s not an option. This is what I do. I always used to hate the idea of a pre-written destiny, but if I’m meant to die tomorrow, then fine. So be it. I will NOT put my own life above anyone else’s. Especially not a whole kingdom’s, and ESPECIALLY not any of yours.”

He breathes deeply, and after giving a short glare to everyone individually, he sits down again. 

He’s seated between Arthur (who had barely left his side) and Percival, who takes the Sorcerer’s hand in his own, holding it in his lap.

Merlin smiles at him as he attempts to pull his hand back:

“I’m fine Perc, I don’t need comforting. I always figured I would end up dying before you lot anyway-”

Everyone shuffles uncomfortably at that. No one likes to think about outliving one of their closest friends:

“-not that I think I’m gonna stay dead anyway. But that’s not the point.”

Percival holds onto Merlin’s hand tightly, but stares into the fire as he replies quietly:

“This isn’t comfort for you, Merlin. It’s comfort for me.”

Merlin seems taken aback at this, like he had only just considered that his friends might need comforting in the first place. He forgets sometimes (read: most of the time) , that he is as important to these people, as they are to him. He can’t imagine willingly going to any of their deaths, not without putting up one hell of a fight.

He nods, after he wipes the shock from his face, and settles his hand in Percival’s, instead of trying to pull away:

“I’m sorry. I know this can’t be easy for any of you-”

(as he speaks, he lets his other hand subtly gather up the fabric of Arthur’s cloak, for his own sake or Arthur’s, he’s not sure)

“-but I need you to trust me. Believe me, I’m not trying to get myself killed permanently... I mean dying even temporarily isn’t exactly fun but... you know. I’ll be fine.”

It’s Gaius that replies first. The others were especially worried about the physician, he was practically Merlin’s father at this point, and none of them thought they could cope with having to comfort the man if they lost Merlin.

“It’s not that we don’t trust you, Merlin. We’re just... worried. And it’s not like you’re well known for considering your own safety when it comes to planning for any sort of conflict.”

Merlin looks as if he’s going to protest, but Gwen beats him to the punch:

“Don’t argue Merlin. You can’t deny that you have a habit of jumping head first into the fray.” She says it with a small smile, but it’s weak, and Merlin suddenly feels guilty for all those times he’s worried his friends. 

He threw himself into situations he was sure he would be able to survive, without considering the fact that none of the people he cared about had the same assurances. 

His reply makes everyone chuckle

“Yeah, well. You know me. I’ve never been much of a planner.-”

The Sorcerer squeezes Percival’s hand once more, before continuing:

“-But it’s late, and if we want to get up early we should head to sleep.”

The group nods in agreement, and all begin to shuffle to their bedrolls, having hushed individual conversations as Arthur declares that he and Merlin would take the first watch.

(No one questions it. They rarely set watches nowadays, Merlin’s wards have become incredibly reliable over the years, but all of them understand that The King and The Sorcerer need this time.)

Other than Merlin and Arthur, Percival was the last to leave his seat, ruffling Merlin’s hair as he gives him a weak smile, before making his way to his roll to undoubtedly toss and turn through the night, like everyone else.

The King and The Sorcerer didn’t move from their spots next to each other, and, at some point during the conversation, Arthur had replaced the clutched fabric of his cloak with his own hand.

They stay silent for a while, not really knowing what to say. Despite everyone’s worries, the rest of the group is asleep after not too long. It had been two days of hard travel and sleeping rough, and no one would admit it but they were all exhausted.

Both of them seem to realise that there was little chance of them getting to have those conversations at a later date. The two of them struggled individually on what would be worse: forcing the conversation now before it was too late but knowing that might be the end of it, or leaving everything unsaid and leaving Arthur with the regret.

Merlin was inclined to leave it unsaid. As far as he was concerned, he would still be fine (though he was now unsure if he was right, or if he was just in denial).

Arthur wanted to get it off his chest. He may be a tad emotionally constipated, but Merlin is... well... Merlin. It took him a while to realise his feelings for Merlin, but once he did, it was like an unending avalanche.

On some level, Arthur knew that Merlin felt the same, but would it be cruel? Or distracting? For him to voice it now, before everything?

He remembers saying weeks ago “We’ve plenty of time before things kick off” . But that time had passed. It had flown by. Arthur thought he would have forever with Merlin, even when the war was declared he wasn’t worried. But suddenly there was no more time. He might lose him tomorrow.

Did he want to taint what few hours they had left with an emotional confession that could wreck them both? Or should he leave it, steadfast in the belief that Merlin knew. Which would be crueller?

In the end, Arthur decided that he wouldn’t be able to live with it: the doubt, the regret, if he never said anything, and... something... happened.

He grips Merlin’s hand tighter in his own, and swallows, but before he could say anything:

“I know.” Merlin doesn’t look at him when he thinks it, but squeezes The King’s hand in return.

“No, I... you have to let me... I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t, so just-”

Merlin does look at him then, and gives him a gentle smile to stop him rambling:

“Ok, Arthur. I’m here, I’m listening, I hear you.”

Arthur meets his gaze, a steady stream of tears down his face that causes Merlin to frown slightly:

“I... Merlin-”

Arthur struggles with the words, thinking back, he can’t remember a time he’s actually said them out loud. Ever.

He clears his throat, straightens his back, and steels his eyes. Merlin deserved the truth. And Merlin felt the same, he had never been more sure of anything:

“Merlin, I love you. And if you don’t come back to me at the end of tomorrow, I will never forgive you.”

His resolve cracks slightly at the end, but Merlin smiles at him fondly, teary eyed himself:

“I love you too. And I already told you, Arthur, I will always come back to you.”

Arthur grips Merlin’s hand tighter, and buries his head in the Sorcerer’s neck. Merlin wrapped his arms around him, and leans back against the log they were sitting against.

They fall asleep like that, the two of them wrapped in Arthur’s cloak. At some point during the night, Arthur’s head had slipped down onto Merlin’s chest, but neither moved. If anything, Arthur found he could sleep easier with Merlin’s steady heartbeat in his ears.

~

The Gang woke when it was still dark, but not in the way they had planned.

They all wake with a start, automatically pulling out swords and summoning weapons, before they realise that the blizzard like wind and deafening roar, was just Kilgharrah, landing on the edge of their camp.

They settle for only a moment, before they realise that Merlin hadn’t summoned him, which meant he turned up of his own volition, and that meant he brought news. And knowing Kilgharrah, it probably wasn’t good news.

Merlin approaches him quickly, a frown on his face and Arthur close behind him:

“What is it Kilgharrah, is Camelot ok?”

The Dragon lowered his head to meet Merlin’s worried stare before replying:

“Yes, the city is safe, young Warlock. I have left Aithusa to watch over it whilst I tracked you here. The army you face is in front of you, not behind you.”

Morgana speaks up quickly after that, a frown on her face:

“What army? I haven’t foreseen any big battles in a while, believe me, I’ve been looking. The only people that should be in that meadow, is us, and whoever... and one other man.”

Kilgharrah looks over the group slowly before looking back at Merlin and replying:

“It appears, Emrys, that you will finally get a chance to show off the extent of your power. An army is waiting for you, in that meadow, and you are the only one with the capacity to defeat them.”

Merlin takes a deep breath, and clenches his hands (one of which is quickly taken by Arthur. Another example of neither of them knowing which of them the action was meant to comfort):

“I don’t know if I’m that powerful Kilgharrah, I’ve never-”

“The only reason you do not know the breadth of your power, is because you’ve never before come even close to your limits.”

“But I-”

“Your magic is tied to nature, Emrys. Use it. Bend it to your will. The entirety of the world will move at your whim, you need only ask-”

Before Merlin can reply, or ask what the hell that means, Kilgharrah lifts his head suddenly, as if hearing something, and looks briefly to Merlin once more as he replies, before flying off:

“Have faith, young Warlock, in yourself and in destiny. I must leave you now.” 

Everyone stands still, not quite in shock, but definitely confused, all bar Merlin, who just looks annoyed:

“Fucking typical. What’s the use of being a Dragon Lord if my giant pet lizard is going to be so bloody cryptic all the time.” is mumbled by the Warlock, as he looks towards the sun, just about rising over the horizon.

He sighs once more, before:

“Come on then. I suppose that was a good a wake up call as any. We should pack up and get going if we want to get a look at this army.-”

The next bit is mumbled to himself as he lets go of Arthur’s hand and wanders off to dismantle the wards:

“-And I suppose I now have half a day’s journey to figure out to beat it. That’s just great.”

It only takes a moment before the group launches into action, now freshly tense at the revelation that there was an army, and there was only ten of them.

They had faith in Merlin, and Morgana was there as well. And if everything really went to shit, there could be two dragons there to lend a helping hand (or claw) as well. But still. An army. That was big.

They’re riding out on the last leg of the journey within an hour, everyone having regained the tenseness that they had on the first day. Though all of them are slightly comforted by the fact that Kilgharrah hadn’t mentioned Merlin dying. He may be a cryptic bastard, but that definitely seemed like something he would bring up.

~

Gwaine’s directions and timings were accurate, they reached the edge of the seemingly empty meadow around half an hour before the sun hit the centre of the sky.

They remain hidden in the trees, Merlin casting a quick enchantment to shield them from being detected, before looking to Morgana and nodding.

The two of them close their eyes and stretch their arms forward, towards the meadow. A few mutterings and tilted heads later, they open their eyes. Merlin looking grim, but determined, and Morgana looking scared.

Lancelot is the first to speak:

“What is it, what’ve they go out there?”

Merlin looks at him briefly, before darkly saying:

“Why don’t I show you?”

With that, he once more raises his arm towards the meadow. His eyes glow brightly and he speaks quietly, other hand clenched at his side.

After a few moments, tendrils of light extend from his fingertips, and snake out around the perimeter of the meadow. Once the meadow is surrounded, Merlin twists his wrist sharply, and the tendrils turn inwards, shooting towards the centre point. After only a few metres they seem to meet an invisible barrier, and explode upwards towards the sky.

The light is blinding enough to force the gang to all shield their eyes, but they quickly open again when they hear an uproarious cacophony of noise.

What they see, is a huge army gathered at the far end of the field, packing up camp and preparing to move off, in the direction of Camelot.

It takes only a moment before a voice rings out above the noise, coming from somewhere around the edges:

“THE BARRIER IS DOWN!! WE CAN BE SEEN!”

A voice answers back, shouting for everyone to be prepared, that they would be noticed soon, and that the fight was coming to them.

Arthur furrowed his brow before quietly:

“That was their King, I recognise his voice. He must have sorcerers with him to keep the barrier going.”

Leon answers first:

“This is why our scouts haven’t seen anything, there’s been nothing to see.”

Merlin once again begins muttering to himself, drawing everyone’s attention to him (and also reminding them that apparently, Merlin had the power to take out the whole army) :

“Well, at least it’s smaller than I was expecting, underestimating us apparently. Sorcerers could be a problem though. Hmm.”

Morgana speaks up:

“I feel three. powerful, but not really fighters. They’re here for the barrier, and they don’t seem particularly happy about it either-”

She looks towards Merlin, face serious:

“-If you make it clear who you are... they might join us.”

Merlin hums thoughtfully, before replying:

“Depends entirely on if their fear of me outweighs their fear of him.”

The Gang looks taken aback at the mention of fearing Merlin. Elyan quietly saying:

“Why would they fear you? I know that you’re Emrys and everything, but I thought it was a Druid peace-keeping sort of thing you had going?”

Merlin looks back at the group, anger on his face, as he responds darkly:

“They’re threatening Camelot, her people, her King. I’m very much pissed off right now, of course they should be scared of me.”

Before he has time to say anything else, they notice that the army is about ready to move out, and Arthur gestures everyone to quickly get back and hide as he rushes towards Merlin:

“Merls! Ok... so, in the vision, the field was already empty when it started raining, and we have maybe 15 minutes at most before then, so what happens? Whatever we do, we need to do it now, they’re about to leave. Or maybe the field was empty because we let them go?”

Merlin responds quickly:

“No, we didn’t see the whole field in the vision remember, and this half is empty-”

He thinks for a moment, and Arthur looks towards the army, before looking back at the others, and then finally settling his eyes on Merlin once more:

“-Put your crown on, you and me are going to march across there, and they need to know who we are. The others will stay here, out of sight.”

Arthur looks worried, and put a hand on Merlin’s shoulder:

“You do know what you’re doing, don’t you?”

Merlin smiles back at him:

“Nah, figured I’d just wing in. Come on, I’m Emrys. I got this in the bag.”

Arthur frowns as Merlin chuckles, before grabbing his crown from his saddlebag. The others looks to him questioningly, but he just shakes his head, and gestures for them to stay hidden. They don’t look too pleased at that, but they follow his orders, and hide themselves and the horses among the bushes.

The King and the Sorcerer take a deep breath, before looking at each other and nodding firmly. They march out from their hiding spot amongst the trees, and make a beeline for the army, walking confidently.

Merlin made sure to walk just a step behind Arthur, and it takes only a few seconds for a lookout to spot them and yell.

The two of them stop in the middle of the empty space as the whole army looks towards them, their King stepping forward:

“Ah! King Arthur-”

The way he says King, like it disgusts him, like Arthur doesn’t deserve the title, has Merlin fuming, but he doesn’t step forward just yet.

“-It would seem that you have bought your druid pet, to beat my army. I WILL SEE YOUR HEADS ON SPIKES!”

Spittle flies from his red face as he screams the last part, and Merlin sees the way Arthur clenches his hand. Before his... friend? (can he say that after last night?) can reply in anger:

“Introduce me, and then go back to the others. I’ll be fine, he’s clearly underestimated me.”

Arthur’s back straightens, and he leaves his face blank as he shouts his reply to the angered King:

“You clearly underestimate us. This-”

(he gestures absentmindedly to Merlin, who steps forward and allows his eyes to begin glowing.)

“-is Emrys. He will make quick work of your... army.” 

Neither of them pay attention to his reply as they look at each other. The glow fades from Merlin’s eyes as he puts a hand on Arthur’s shoulder:

“Trust me, go back to the others and I’ll take care of it. All of nature is at my fingertips, apparently. Go, I love you.”

Arthur clenches his jaw and nods, before turning and walking back to the others, smiling to himself as he notices the almost transparent shield that had formed around him as he walked.

Merlin takes a few steps towards the army (which is getting louder and louder as the King makes his way through the ranks, shouting encouragement and rallying them) before stopping in place and frowning.

Unless he wants to cause issues with time, he should probably keep it as similar to the vision as he can. He looks to the side, the same place he had seen himself look four days ago, and speaks:

“ I’m sorry. But it’s coming. I can’t stop it, I tried. This is the only way. Just... relax... it’ll hurt less. Four days.”

He narrows his eyes and focuses, and he can just about make out a hazy mirror image of himself stood a few feet away:

“Arthur loves you... me..... us. Don’t let him down.”

The image fades as he takes a deep breath, and continues his march towards the army.

There’s a clap of thunder, and suddenly the skies open, Merlin frowns to himself as he mutters:

“Oh for fucks sake, why am I always right?”

The army begins their sprint towards him, and Merlin stops his quick pace, planting his feet, and raising his hands to the sky. The Sorcerer figures that there’s already a storm, and a storm is part of nature, right? He might as well take advantage.

The golden glow from his eyes is almost blinding as his brings his hands down quickly, palms facing the floor. Lightening strikes the ground with a flash and a few hundred of the men at the forefront of the army fall to not rise again.

Merlin grunts as he realises he’s going to have to try a lot harder if he’s to succeed in taking out the 12,000 angry arseholes running at him.

He continues aiming lightening at the fastest knights, nearest the front, taking out groups of them at a time.

He feels another magical presence, and he glances to the side to see a young woman at the edge of the meadow, clothes in tatters and feet bare. She meets his gaze and nods, before looking to the army and shouting a spell. The ground shakes slightly and a large chunk of the army falls into cracks into the ground.

Those his lightening had not touched finally come within reach of Merlin, and he has to jump back as swords reach for his neck. He swings one of his arms in a wide arc, and a burst of blue fire elevates the war cries around him, into screeches of agony.

He has to banish dark thoughts as the stench of burnt flesh reaches his nose, and he swings his arm wide once more, the same again.

Now with a little more space to move, though with little time before he’s crowded again, he kneels, and slams closed fists down into the mud.

The moment his skin touches the ground, the whole meadow shakes, much more than it had previously, and the whole army stumbles and falls.

There is a moment of silence and calm once the shaking stops, everyone trying to regain their bearings, but it doesn’t last long, as the ground opens. Sinkholes and cracks expand all across the meadow, thousands of men screaming as they fall into unknown depths, or drown in mud.

Merlin stares out in wonder as he realises he hasn’t said a word since the battle began. He had used no spells, the world around him simply understood what he wanted, and obeyed his orders. Nature bending to his whim indeed.

His thoughts last only a minute before he forces himself to concentrate once more. He can feel the three other sorcerers trying to protect themselves, and prevent anyone from escaping. Looks like Morgana was right. Though they were exhausted from holding the barrier in place, and even if they hadn’t been, even combined, their power was nothing compared to Merlin’s.

He pulls his arms from the ground, palms facing towards the sky (which is still pouring). As he does, every crater, every pit, closes with a snap, the field seeming suddenly much emptier as half the army, and all the previous bodies, disappear into the mud.

Only a thousand or so men remain, and, ignoring their cowardly King’s shouts (he was hidden somewhere to the right of Merlin, out of his sight. Hmmm. He would have to take care of that later.) they try to scatter into the woods surrounding the meadow.

Merlin closes his hands to fists. Vines and roots burst from the ground, all sharp thorns and gnarled wood as they speed towards the fleeing soldiers.

The screams grow louder once more as all but a few of the knights are pierced, and wrapped, and dragged towards their muddy places of burial.

Merlin stands once more, and tilts his head towards the trees with a silent request.

He smirks as the sounds of wolves reach his ears, howling and growling and rabid through the trees. That’ll do it. No one would be able to outrun them.

The battlefield lay empty. The bodies having been swallowed by the earth, or still running around piss scared in the woods.

Merlin turns towards the sorcerers standing twenty metres away, meaning to promise them safety and amnesty in Camelot, because of their immediate willingness to help, but before he can say anything, he sees their eyes widen as they look behind him in horror.

He gasps in realisation, and goes to turn and defend himself, but before he can, he staggers suddenly forward as he feels a bursting pain in his spine and spread through his chest. He looks down to see the front of a sword poking out from where his heart should be.

With his last few seconds of lucidity he jerkily waves his hand behind him and feels the King (”How could I have fucking forgotten about him? I was thinking about him literally 3 minutes ago??”) stumble back a few steps, leaving the sword behind.

Merlin falls to his knees, still staring at the end of the blade, blood dripping from his mouth as he hears an agonised yell from across the meadow.

He finally falls completely, his face angled towards the floor and his eyes fluttering as he hears a metallic *swoosh* and a *gargle* and a *thump* behind him, before Arthur falls to his knees at his back.

The last thing Merlin remembers, is hearing Arthur muttering something or other as he gets pulled towards him, but by the time his eyes look to the sky, his mind, and face, are blank.

~

THIS IS COMPLETED, PART 5 (link at the top, and in the masterlist) IS THE FINAL PART!

Let me know if y’all want my thoughts on anything in particular :)

[mochegato]

If Love is Pain, Let’s Hurt Tonight

“Here's to the painful, miserable, pointless, painful experience that is love,” Marinette held up her shot glass waiting for Roy to join.  

Roy didn’t keep her waiting long.  He raised his glass to match hers, letting out a grunt of agreement before slamming back the drink.  He set the glass back down and studied her for a moment.  She didn’t seem sad anymore, which was good.  He didn’t want to have to console a sad Marinette, and honestly that guy wasn’t worth her tears.  Instead, she seemed resigned after her break up, more lonely than missing him.

Roy knew what had happened as soon as she showed up at his door with a bottle of liquor and a broken smile.  He let her in so she had a supportive place to get over it, better here with him than alone at a bar somewhere, but he wouldn’t lie and say he wasn’t glad they finally broke up.  That asshole wasn’t good enough for her.  What the hell was a stock broker anyway?  Made up, bullshit job.  He never realized the gift he had in her.

Roy wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.  “You said painful twice.”

“I didn’t say it enough,” she looked at him pointedly and poured another shot for them both.  “Here's to crappy dates and worse relationships.”  She raised her glass again.  He nodded and matched her, raising his shot before drinking.

He filled their glasses again and raised his glass this time.  “Here’s to loveless loved ones that make you feel unworthy and unlovable.”

“Heyyyyyy,” she brightened at his participation and raised her glass in agreement and drank.  She filled their glasses again before raising hers.  “Here’s to looking for love in all the wrong places and not finding it where you want it.”

Roy eyed her wryly and raised his glass to drink. He knew all about not finding love where you wanted to find it.  He looked away from her to fill the glasses again, trying to remember if he had restocked his liquor supply recently because they were going through this bottle awfully quickly.  “Here’s to falling in love with villains,” he offered raising his glass.  He may have gotten Lian out of it, but that was the only good thing about that relationship.

He raised the drink to his lips but stopped, noticing that Marinette didn’t do the same.  He raised an eyebrow at her lack of participation.  She had an adorable pout as she contemplated her drink.  “I can’t drink.  I never dated a villain.”

“Villains and assholes,” he corrected, leaning toward her and holding his drink toward her conspiratorially.

Marinette immediately brightened and raised her glass, clinking it against his.  “That I’ve done.”  She downed the shot quickly and winced at the burn down her throat. “Almost exclusively lately.”

Roy poured another shot for her and turned on the television to hopefully distract her from getting too bad of a hangover tomorrow.  The move had questionable success.  The drinking slowed, but didn’t stop.  Instead the distraction seemed to give her more time to think.  Her previously jovial mood had become much more contemplative and quiet.  Finally, after a few more slow shots she over up at him, an introspective frown pulling the corners of her lips down.  “Is it me?”

Roy whipped his head back to her as though he hadn’t been studying her in his peripheral vision the entire time anyway. “What?”

“Is it me,” she repeated, staring at the coffee table. “Am I the problem?  Is that why I can’t find a good relationship?”  She gasped as a sudden realization hit her and turned to him.  “Am I a bad kisser?”

She looked at him desperately causing him to freeze.  He would give just about anything to be able to answer that question, but their relationship had never been like that, no matter how much he would like it to be. He turned away and focused on his drink instead.  “I wouldn’t know,” he muttered.

“Kiss me!” She sat up straight on the couch and turned so her entire body faced him, an excited look on her face.

“What?”

“Kiss me.  Tell me honestly if I’m a bad kisser.”  Roy stared at her, mouth hanging open for a few seconds. Marinette’s face slowly morphed from excited to horrified to sad.  “Never mind. You don’t want to do that.  That was a stupid id…”

Roy launched at her before she could finish the sentence, crashing his lips into hers.  If this was the only chance he was going to have to kiss her, he was going to make it worth it.  He worked his hand behind her head, pulling her close.  His other hand cupped her face as his lips slid against hers.  She whimpered into his lips and ran her tongue along his lower lip.  He gladly granted her access and moved his head to deepen the kiss.  She melted into him and wound her hands around his shoulders to pull him closer then moved them to cradle his face.

They finally pulled apart after a few minutes, gasping for breath.  When her breath had evened out she looked up at him questioningly.  “Well?” she quietly breathed out.  

He stared at her still too dazed to form words. He blinked a few times still trying to process her words.  “Huh?”

She backed away from him as far as the couch would allow and looked down sadly.  “Was it that bad?”

He blinked a few more times.  The words still weren’t registering.  That was one of, if not the best kiss he’d ever had and his heart still hadn’t returned to its regular rhythm.  He looked away as he remembered.  That’s right. This didn’t mean anything to her. It wasn’t about him.  She didn’t love him.  This was about helping her figure out how to keep someone she did love. He shook his head to try to focus on her question.  “It was…” he turned to his drink and filled it again.  “It’s not your kissing,” he reassured her bitterly.

Marinette sat back proudly and filled her glass for a celebratory drink.  “Thanks. You’re really good too.  I mean you didn’t say I was really good, but you are.”

He flushed red and kept his focus on the drink and the television.  This wasn’t about him.  This was about her, helping her get over her latest loser and ready to find the next one.

Marinette watched the television with him for another little while, her proud smile slowly morphing into a contemplative frown. “So it’s just me then.  My personality that drives them away.”

Roy sighed and cursed his luck to be the one she came to tonight.  Why did it have to be him?  Why did he have to be the one she came to so she could recover and get back out into the field and date yet another asshole who didn’t appreciate her?  “Maybe it’s just like you said.  You’re looking in the wrong places.”

“Where should I look instead?” she asked with such earnestness in her eyes it hurt him not to answer her.

“How about right fucking next to you,” he grumbled under his breath, not trying to be heard.

She looked on either side of her and frowned, her brow creasing in melancholy.  “It’s empty.” She looked up at him with glassy eyes. “You think I should be alone?”

“What?” he exclaimed.  That was most definitely not what he had meant.  How is that even what she got out of that?  “No!  No, I… I meant… never mind.”  He gave an exasperated sigh and took another drink.

She watched him for a few moments like she was contemplating him or his words.  She suddenly gasped again and shot forward, her eyes huge.  “What if I’m bad at sex?”  Roy stopped breathing and kept his eyes decidedly focused on the television.  He clamped his mouth shut to keep himself from repeating the refrain that kept running through his head.  Please ask my opinion.  Please ask my opinion.  Please ask my opinion.

Just as quickly as she shot forward, she slumped back against the cushions.  “No, most of my relationships never got that far.  That couldn’t be it.”

Roy huffed out an annoyed breath.  “Of fucking course we don’t need to test that one. Fucking annoying,” he muttered under his breath, taking another drink and quickly filling his glass for another.

“What?” she cocked her head to the side in confusion.

“I said you’re annoying,” Roy shot back without thinking, downing the other shot.

Marinette looked away and chuckled bitterly. “Well, that answers the personality question, I guess.”  She took another shot and leaned back against the couch to focus on the television. “Don’t annoying people deserve love too? I just want to fall in love and have them love me back.  Is that too much to ask?”

Roy winced at her tone.  He hadn’t meant to say she was annoying.  Not really.  He just needed something to say as cover for what he actually did say.  It was something he would say normally and she’d laugh, tell him to fuck off.  But now, she was not in the mood and he should have known that.  He watched her as she pretended to focus on the television, wanting desperately to be able to run his fingers over the creases in her brow to smooth them out, to ease her pain, make her smile.  “No,” he answered quietly, “it isn’t too much.  You deserve it.”

She looked over at him and quickly looked down shyly.  “Thank you. So do you.”

He scoffed and poured himself another drink. “We both know that’s not true.”

“Hey,” she reached out to stop his arm from lifting his drink to his lips.  “It absolutely is.  You deserve so much and you don’t even see it.”  She lowered her hand and shook her head.  “You’re an idiot.”

He let out a bitter laugh and downed the shot. “Thanks.  I know.”

“Because you don’t realize how amazing you are,” she continued.  “You’re creative and loyal and smart, God so smart, and brave and kind and hot and sweet and…”she stopped herself and suddenly backed away again, pouring herself another shot.  “I hate love.” She downed the shot, refusing to look in his direction.  “It only causes pain.”

He blinked at her a few times.  Had she meant that about him?  And why did she transition from talking about him to taking about love?  “Marinette?”

“Yes?”

She looked at him with her big, beautiful, blue eyes.  He could almost fool himself into believing he saw adoration in her eyes.  “How drunk are you?”

She scoffed at him this time.  “Not enough.  Still capable of rational, lucid decision making.  Clearly, need more liquor so I don’t have to think anymore, can’t remember anymore.”  

He watched her avoid his eyes, pretending like she was okay.  And she was pretending.  He was the world’s foremost expert on pretending.  He knew the signs.  “Mari, those people are idiots to not want to be with you, to not want to spend as much time as possible with you, for not realizing how incredible you are.”

“But… you said I was annoying,” she said quietly. She looked up at him with uncertainty and vulnerability radiating from her.  He couldn’t let that continue.

“Marinette,” he started, taking a deep breath to prepare himself for ruining their friendship.  He moved so he was kneeling on the floor in front of her.  “You are annoying.  Your smile is annoying because it’s so bright and blinding.  Your laugh is annoying because it's light and bright and makes the entire mood lighter.  Your huge heart is annoying because it puts you and your heart in danger ALL the time. Your eyes are annoying because they’re clear and kind and make the people seeing them feel hopeful.  Your lips are annoying because they’re plump and soft looking.  Your kiss is annoying because it was warm and mind-blowing.  It’s all annoying because it isn’t meant for me.  That’s what makes it annoying.”  He cradled her head in his hands and gently ran his thumbs over her cheeks.  He furrowed his brow and gave her a desperate look.  “Can we play pretend for tonight?  Pretend we love each other?  Make each other’s pain go away for a night.”

“I don’t want to pretend,” she whispered, moving closer to him until her breath was fanning out over his face.

He shook his head and angled his head to a better position.  “I don’t have to.”  His voice had turned husky and barely audible.

“Neither do I.”  She pushed the last few centimeters to close the gap between them and capture his lips with her own.

<><><><><> 

Roy moaned as the light hit his eyes.  Usually the light didn’t get him unless he’d slept into the late, late morning. He turned over, trying to find respite from the light.  He moved slowly so he wouldn’t wake up Marinette.  His eyes flew open and he shot up.  Marinette! That’s why he had slept late enough for the light to hit him.  He and Marinette had kept each other awake until the early morning.

He looked over to the other side of the bed to see how she felt now that the alcohol had worn off.  The bed was empty.  They’d fallen asleep with his arms around her and her nuzzling into his chest.  But Marinette was gone.  He groaned and collapsed back onto the bed.  He ran his hand over his face and into his hair. She left.  Shit he ruined everything.  She woke up, realized how much of a fuck up he is, and got the fuck out as quickly as she could.

He never should have let them sleep together last night, let alone repeatedly. She wasn’t in her right mind.  He hadn’t been either, but he should have waited and now he’d ruined their friendship.  He jumped at his phone when it started ringing.  Maybe she was calling.  That was perfect.  They could talk about this and figure out where they were, hopefully, if he begged and promised never to look at her again, they could get back to friends.

He almost threw the phone when he saw it was Jason.  “What do you want?” he demanded rougher than Jason deserved. But then again, he had almost definitely done something at some point to deserve it.

“Where are you?” Jason demanded back, rougher than Roy had been.

“In my apartment.  Where are you?” Roy asked petulantly.

“In the garage where you’re supposed to be, asshole,” Jason answered shortly.

Fuck! Roy looked at the clock.  It was after ten.  He was supposed to meet Jason to work on his bike.  He groaned.  This day just kept getting better and fucking better.  He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, leaning his elbows on his knees to cradle his head.  “Sorry.  I’m not making it today.”

“What the fuck, jackass?  What am I supposed to do about my bike?” Jason yelled.

Roy sighed and ran his hand over his face again.  Jason needed his bike for a job.  He didn’t have time to wait for Roy to get his act together.  “Sorry.  I… yeah, fine.  I’ll get there in a little bit.”

“Hurry the fuck up,” Jason growled at him.

“Yeah, okay,” Roy answered quietly.

The line went silent for a few moments.  Roy almost tossed his phone at the call ending but Jason finally spoke up again.  “What’s with you?”

“Nothing.  I’ll get there when I get there,” Roy promised already starting to get up.

“Bullshit.  You’re acting funny.  What happened?”

Roy fell back to sit on the edge of the bed again.  “I… I fucked up.”

“What’s fucking new?” Jason scoffed.

Roy shook his head and looked longingly at the wall.  If he was closer, he could hit his head into it a few times, really drive the pain home.  “I really fucked up this time.”

“Okay…” Jason prompted him.

“I slept with Marinette last night,” Roy groaned out.

“Fucking finally!” Jason cheered.  “Fine, you two… wait, what do you mean fucked up?  What did you do?”

“I told you I slept with her.  I… we were drunk.  I shouldn’t have slept with her.  Fuck. I ruined everything.  She’s going to hate me.”

“Pixie’s not going to hate you.  What did she say this morning?”

“She left before I woke up.”  He chuckled bitterly.  “She always was the smart one.  Got out as quickly as she could.”

“Okay, grab something to eat, take a shower, get here when you get here.  I’ve got to make a call.”  The line cut off quickly.

Roy pulled on some underwear and pajama bottoms and tucked his phone into the pocket.  He made his way to the kitchen to start coffee.  Today was definitely a multiple cups of coffee day.  He was going to need lots of coffee to deal with this day.  Maybe he could take a few extra thermoses of coffee with him to the garage.  He just got to the kitchen when his phone started ringing again.  His brow furrowed in confusion when he looked at his phone and realized his screen was still black.  He jumped back when he heard a groan from the couch.

“What do you want, Jay?” Marinette croaked out sleepily.  She sat up slowly, rubbing her hand over her face.  “Why do you want to know where…” she paused to let him speak.  Her eyes widened in surprise.  “How did you…”  She looked around her and squeaked when she saw Roy staring at her, frozen in uncertainty. She gave Roy a timid wave and an awkward smile.  “No I’m… I… uh… still here.  I just moved to the couch.”

She turned away quickly and hunched over her phone.  “I will,” she tried to whisper into the phone.  She sighed and rubbed her forehead.  “We both know you’re not going to kick my ass…” she sat straight up suddenly and glanced back at Roy for a second before turning away again.  “Yes, yes.  Fine.  I got it. Just stop threatening him,” she whisper shouted into the phone.  “I’ll tell him…” she paused again.  “I don’t know if there’s anything to congr…” she stopped when he cut her off.  “I’ll try not to.  Thanks, Jay.”  

She ended the call and took a deep breath before standing to face Roy.  “Hi,” she said shyly, waving at him again, slowly making her way around the couch to the same side as him.  “Jay said not to worry about the garage?”

“You’re still here,” he observed breathlessly, ignoring Jason’s message.

“I… You mentioned a while ago that Lian sometimes still crawls into bed with you in the mornings.  We hadn’t discussed what this,” she motioned between them, “meant and I didn’t want her to find me there if this wasn’t going anywhere.”  She looked away and hugged her arms around herself.  “Sorry, I should have left but I didn’t want to call someone to pick me up and have to talk about it with them and I wasn’t in any condition to make it home on my own and cabs in this town, you know, it’s hit or miss.”

“No, I’m glad you stayed.  I thought…” he paused, cutting himself off and felt his lips spread into a goofy smile. “You stayed.”

“I stayed,” she confirmed with a tentative smile.  Her eyes darted behind him and returned to him, her face becoming serious.  “I can go now though, before she wakes up.  I’m sober enough now.”

He shook his head as he walked over to her, stopping just in front of her close enough for him to reach over and touch her, but he restrained himself.  He wasn’t sure how she felt about last night and he didn’t want to presume.  “Lian isn’t here.  Remember? She was with Oliver and Dinah yesterday and I’m picking her up at dinner tonight.”

“Oh… right… that”s… yeah, you told me that.  Drunk me didn’t remember that,” she hit her hand on her head and gave him a sheepish smile.

He chuckled and started to reach out toward her but pulled his hand back just before it touched her as he realized what might be causing her resistance.  “Unless you were looking for an excuse to get away. We can pretend she’ll be coming out any second,” he offered quietly.

Marinette shook her head slowly, keeping her eyes on Roy.  “I’m not.  I just didn’t want to confuse or upset Lian.”

Roy chuckled and leaned against the back of the couch close to Marinette.  “Finding you in our apartment or even in my bed wouldn’t upset Lian.  She loves you.  She asks for you to stay over all the time.  The only thing that might upset her is that you’re sleeping in my bed and not having a sleepover with her.”

Marinette gave him a relieved smile and leaned against the couch too.  “I guess I can schedule some sleepovers with her. We can have some girl time.”

“And what about me?” Roy asked hopefully.

“Do you want me to have sleepovers with you too?” She asked uncertainly, like she was looking for confirmation that it was something he would be okay with, let alone want.  As though he would ever say no to her.  Like he was more worthy than her.  

He mentally scoffed at the very idea.  She was the prize.  She was the amazing one.  She always had been.  She was a goddess and he was just him.  A screw up who tried his hardest and still screwed up everything he touched.  He kept falling, kept failing and Marinette shined. She didn’t even have to work at it but she still did.  God, he loved her.  And she was staring at him like he was deserving and he really wanted to be.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her between his legs.  “God, please yes.”  She let out a shuddering, relieved breath and melted into his embrace, hugging him back tightly.  She pulled away just enough to look up at him with a loving smile.  He cupped her face with his hand and looked over her face studying it in awe until he bent down to kiss her slowly.  He pulled away too soon for Marinette’s liking.  “I just wanted to do that sober.”

“As good as you remember?” she asked with a hopeful smile.

“Better,” he smiled back at her and brushed her bangs away from her face, returning his hand to cup her jaw.  “I’ve wanted to do that since I met you.”

She laid her hand on top of his.  Her eyes shined up at him.  “I’ve been waiting for you to.”  She wound her other hand behind his neck and pulled him down to her lips, capturing them in a passionate, desperate kiss.  His arm tightened against her waist, pulling her closer and holding her flush against him with one hand.  His other hand ghosted over her neck and down her side and back up again, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake.  Her fingers moved to trace the lines of his muscles on his abdomen, chest, and arms.

She whined as he pulled away from her, but squeaked when he picked her up by her thighs to straddle him, walking them back toward the bedroom.  “Let’s start that sleepover now,” he whispered huskily against her lips.  She giggled and pulled herself up to kiss up his neck and nibble on his ear as he struggled to focus on making it to the bed without falling.

 Tags:

@boldlyanxious

[ghostdrew22]

The Cabinet || Blaise Zabini

Requested: No

Pairing: Blaise Zabini x fem!reader

Warnings: some angst, swearing

Summary: Blaise is having a hard time helping Draco fix the Vanishing Cabinet and you’re there to comfort him.

WORDS : 1036

<~>

The Cabinet.

It's all Draco can think about and Blaise knows that.

He blames himself.

For what? You don't really know. But you do know that Blaise has lost countless nights of sleep desperately trying to help Draco find a solution to the looming problem that the cabinet presents.

Blaise has gone to and from the room of requirement with Draco, countless books in hand and heaps of hope in his heart, praying to any deity who'll listen that they'll finally fix the broken transportation device. But to no avail, weeks go by with no end in sight.

Weeks where Blaise provides warm arms to sink into at night, kind words of reassurance, a shoulder that Draco knows he can rely on.

Blaise gives and gives, he just doesn't know how to take, or maybe it's that he doesn't want to take.

The Cabinet.

It haunts both the boy's nightmares. You've slept over enough times to have heard their terrified screams and hushed whimpers, you've cradled them in your own arms and promised them tomorrows, better tomorrows.

You see it in Blaise's eyes that he doesn't believe you, that he thinks it'll only get worse, but Draco does, he has to, and so the two of you let him have hope.

Everyday that the cabinet is not fixed is another nail that is set in their coffins, another day that they immensely regret getting the marks on their arms.

Draco was being punished but Blaise, he was being rewarded. Offered the role of supervising his best friend, promised power when the dust settled after the war. Blaise was gifted the honour of being one of the Dark Lord's favourites, but he didn't want to be.

He didn't want the damn Cabinet.

He didn't want any of it.

He'd tried to get the mark off, attempted to scratch at it until it was marred off his skin, but it was futile, he was branded. Affiliated with a cause he preferred to not be involved in at all, forced to pick a side because his family name held respect and recognition in the wrong circles. Or what he assumed were the wrong circles, he couldn't really tell anymore.

They'd fed their propaganda so often to him that the lines between bad and good had easily become blurred. He couldn't distinguish between what was morally justified and what wasn't, there was no scripture that simply gave him the answer.

He'd always liked reading as a child, had loved how easy it was to make decisions and form opinions when everything was written out in front of you for you to analyse. But then he'd grown up and realized that life wasn't that simple, life couldn't be lived through by flipping a page and just starting a new chapter.

None of it made sense.

Especially the fucking Cabinet.

He'd done as his mother asked his whole life- had gone to Hogwarts, gotten the grades she expected of him, joined the quidditch team, befriended the families she liked- and he just didn't know how he was meant to stop. How he was meant to set the boundary and tell her that he'd no longer be living his life on her terms, so he'd complied when she told him to get the mark.

He'd obliged when he'd been instructed to work alongside Draco on the cabinet, he'd obeyed when Snape had ordered him to begin practicing dark magic, he'd even quit the quidditch team to focus more on his tasks.

Because he listens, Blaise always listens.

But he is starting to reach the end of the line, and you can tell.

"It's my fault."

"Blaise..." You utter out and tilt your head sympathetically, in that way he hates because it's always followed by some kind of lecture.

"It is!" He exclaims in frustration as he sinks into his bed, "If I had just been with him then none of this would've happened-"

"You don't know that,"

"Yes, I do. Harry wouldn't have been able to attack Draco if I'd been there to defend him-"

"And how would you have defended him when Harry used a spell that you've never even heard of?"

"I would've hexed him first."

"And if you hadn't seen him coming?"

"I would've." He mumbles stubbornly and you purse your lips in irritation.  "I'm usually more alert than Draco-"

"This had nothing to do with alertness, Harry just got the jump on Draco and you need to accept that nothing you could've done would change the outcome."

"You don't know that." He spits your words back at you and swallow hard to avoid yelling at him.

"I do actually."

"How?"

"Harry went in there with a mission, you might've got the jump on him but it's more likely that you would've been the victim and not Draco."

"I should've been."

He blames himself.

And now you're beginning to understand that he blames himself for not protecting Draco, then or now, he blames himself for things that are out of his control.

You sigh and make your way over to the bed, sitting beside him and pulling his head into your lap. "Why do you say that lovebug?"

He wraps your arm around himself and settles into your lap, cocooning himself in your embrace and making home in the safety of your presence. He speaks softly, almost as if he's anxious or ashamed, and you listen intently to the barrage of insecurities that escape his lips.

His role as the protector is slipping through his fingers the more that he opens up to you and allows someone else to do the caring, but he's not scared or upset for once, he's comfortable. You are a reprieve from his detrimental thoughts, solace from the chaos of the outside world, and he thinks that he could spend his entire life in the comfort of your arms.

Blaise always listens.

Blaise always comforts.

He always supports, waits, protects, reassures.

But he never receives.

Blaise gives and gives, he just doesn't know how to take, or maybe it's that he doesn't want to take.

<~>

HI!!!

I don't know what this is tbh but I was thinking about the vanishing cabinet the other day and i started writing and idk, blaise just came out. i like it a lot.

my haitus is (hopefully) coming to an end soon and i'll be uploading the requests that have been decaying in my inbox lol,

anyway,

love you all,

jean

[yellowsuitcase]

Cycle Comfort

Request (wattpad): Could you make one where Y/n gets her period in class or something and she’s really embarrassed so Draco, her boyfriend of two years comforts her and looks after her while she’s upset about it? 

A/N: I’m afraid this might not be my best work, but it was a cute idea and I knew exactly what I wanted to write so I just sat down and got to work. I apologize if it’s not the greatest, my brain is fried. Hope you enjoy! (It’s super fluffy)

Summary: Y/N gets her period and Draco comforts her.

Waring(s): Mentions of period/menstrual cycle, cramps

Word Count: 1.7k

Y/N felt a sudden pang in her abdomen. It pulled her focus away from Professor Binns’ lecture. Another twinge of pain, this one stretched longer than the first. She leaned forward in her chair, feeling the desperate need to curl up into the fetal position. The pain in her lower stomach was growing in intensity by the minute.

Her hunched over posture caught the attention of her boyfriend, Draco. He knew something was wrong just by looking at her. Luckily, he was sat next to her and was able to lean over to whisper in her ear. “What’s wrong, love?” he asked softly. Y/N responded with a small groan. This made Draco begin to panic. “Y/N, are you okay?”

She slowly straightened her spine and turned to the concerned blonde boy beside her. “I think I’m onmyperiod,” she mumbled. Draco raised his eyebrow. “Didn’t quite catch that, love,” he said. Y/N shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She glanced around the room before parting her lips to speak again. 

“I think… I’m on my period,” she whispered. “And I don’t have any...products,” she continued, the look of embarrassment beginning to settle on her facial features. Draco grabbed her hand and kissed it comfortingly. “Are you in pain?” he asked. His girlfriend nodded curtly. She was making a diligent effort to look as inconspicuous as possible. 

“Draco, I think I’ve already bled through my skirt,” she whined; her face was now beet red. Draco’s grip on her hand tightened. “Don’t worry,” he whispered, “I have a plan.”

To Y/N’s surprise, Draco’s hand shot into the air, catching Professor Binns off guard; hardly anybody ever had a question in his class. “Yes, Mr. Malfoy?” he asked. Draco cleared his throat and, in a calm and smooth voice, said, “Y/L/N’s stomach hurts. Could I escort her to the Hospital Wing to see Madam Pomfrey? I suspect someone slipped puking pastilles into her drink at lunch. If that’s the case, then at any minute now, she’ll be vomiting everywhere.”

Professor Binns scowled at the mental image of upchuck all over his clean classroom. He nodded his head. “Yes, you may take her,” he said while shooing them with his hand. Draco rose to his feet and helped Y/N to hers. He made sure to stand behind her as they exited the classroom, shielding her behind from their classmates’ gazes. 

Once they’d left the classroom and saw nobody in the corridors, Y/N let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Dray,” she said. 

“Of course. I figured you’d want to go to your dormitory to get whatever you need, but perhaps we should stop by Madam Pomfrey’s afterward? You said you were in pain.”

As if the universe had heard Draco, just then, Y/N’s abdomen clenched with another oncoming cramp. She grimaced and put her hand over her belly. “I’m fine, Draco. I just need to get cleaned up, that’s all,” she replied. Draco’s frown deepened when he saw his girlfriend's obvious discomfort. She looked quite the opposite of fine to him. He pulled her in close for a tight hug and a quick kiss. 

“You’re in pain, darling. You should at least see what Pomfrey can give you. I don’t want you to continue to walk around in pain all day.” 

Y/N opened her mouth to retaliate, but Draco stopped her with a finger to her lips before she could. “Don’t even try to tell me your cramps aren’t that bad because I know for a fact that they are since you told me yourself. Now, go do what you need to do, and I’ll be waiting for you outside the Hospital Wing. Alright?” Draco asked. 

Y/N smiled at him and flung herself into his arms. She snuggled her face into his chest and hummed in content. Draco chuckled lightly and planted a sweet kiss on her head. “Go,” he whispered as he released her from his embrace. But Y/N still hadn’t let go of Draco. He sighed, pretending to be defeated. Little did Y/N know that Draco’s hands were hovering next to her sides, preparing to strike. 

“Draco!” Y/N gasped as her boyfriend began to tickle her, causing her to burst into uncontrollable laughter that echoed throughout the hallway. He didn’t torture her forever though, he knew she was already uncomfortable enough. So he ceased his torment and sent her on her way.

------------

After classes had ended, Y/N found Draco at their usual meet up spot. Usually, he’d be sitting down, quietly surveying the corridor. But today, he was on his feet, his shoulders were tense. He was on high alert. When he caught sight of Y/N, he rushed over to her and put his hands on her shoulders as he looked her up and down. 

“Are you feeling any better? Madam Pomfrey did say that that potion might not last the entire day,” Draco said. He was visibly concerned. Y/N smiled at her boyfriend and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Draco smiled softly, but the look of worry was still stuck on his face. 

“The pain started to return about an hour ago. I’m gonna head up to my dorm for some rest. Thank you for your concern, though, my love. You’re too sweet, sometimes. If only the rest of the school knew what a softie Draco Malfoy really is,” she mused. Draco rolled his eyes and removed his hands from Y/N’s shoulders. 

“What if we went to the library instead?” he asked.

Y/N gave him a look. “I don’t know, I’d really rather take a nap in my bed…”

“I have a feeling you’ll like what I have planned much more than a simple nap,” Draco said hopefully. Y/N looked at him skeptically, doubting his words. “Do you trust me?” Draco asked. 

“Well, of course, I trust you but—”

“Then let’s go, gotta get a good spot!” he said excitedly as he gripped Y/N’s hand and dragged her down the hallway. She yelped in surprise but followed after her boyfriend, wondering what the hell he was planning.

When they reached the library, Y/N noticed that the couches were already taken by some second years. “Draco, let’s just go somewhere else. Since when do you want to go to the library anyway?” she asked. Draco ignored her and walked up to the second years. They looked up when he cleared his throat. Their faces paled when they saw who it was. “Up,” Draco said simply. The children scrambled to their feet and hurried away from the couches. When they passed Y/N, she apologized on behalf of her boyfriend. Draco shook his head at his girlfriend’s actions.

“Such a Hufflepuff you are,” he mused as she walked over to the couches and sat down next to him. Y/N rolled her eyes. “I would hope so as Hufflepuff is my house.”

Draco smiled and put his hands around Y/N’s waist and pulled her close so that she was in between his legs, her back resting against his chest. Y/N resisted his pull and turned around to look at him. “Draco, what are you doing?” she asked. Draco shushed her and rubbed her tense shoulders, gently lowering her back down onto his chest. Y/N gave in and allowed herself to let herself recline onto her blonde boy. When she got settled, Draco’s hands found her abdomen, where they tentatively began to massage it. His apprehension, however, faded once he heard a content sigh from Y/N.

“How did you know to do this?” she asked him softly. Her cramps were dwindling with every gently yet firm push of Draco’s fingers. 

“I overheard some guys talking about how they’d do this for their girlfriends, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Is it helping?” he asked.

Y/N nodded eagerly. “It feels wonderful, thank you.”

“Of course. I’ll do this for you as long as you need tonight, and tomorrow, and until your cycle is over,” Draco declared, making Y/N chuckle. 

“That’s very kind of you, Dray. I appreciate it,” Y/N replied. She felt a kiss on her head, then her ear, then her neck. A smile crept onto her face. She felt so loved, so lucky to have a boyfriend as caring as Draco, even if she was the only one who knew about this side of him. Y/N turned around in his hold. He raised an eyebrow in concern. 

“What’s wrong? Am I pushing too hard?” he asked, panicked. Y/N shook her head and pressed a kiss to his soft lips. He kissed her back tenderly as if he was afraid he’d break her. When she pulled away, she hummed happily. 

“I’m so in love with you, Draco Malfoy.”

Draco’s face turned pink, but that didn’t stop his witty reply. “Is that so, Y/L/N? Well, I hate to inform you, but it just so happens that I love you more.”

“Not true; I definitely love you more.”

“Hmm, pretty sure that’s a lie, love.”

Y/N shook her head adamantly. “It most certainly is not. I love you more; just accept it.”

Just then, Madam Pince walked over to the couple and glared at them. “Shh!” she said. Y/N nodded her head in apology. When Pince left, she delivered a light wack to Draco's chest. “You’re too loud,” she berated. Draco smiled playfully, ignoring the angry look on his girlfriend’s face.

“If I let you win, will you go back to resting?” Draco asked. Y/N pointed her nose to the sky. “Perhaps… but you must admit that you, in fact, do not love me more because it is impossible for anyone to love someone as much as I love you.”

Draco couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him. He did his best to cover it up with a cough and gently urged Y/N to lay back down. “You win, darling. You love me more,” he said. Y/N smirked and snuggled back into his chest, and Draco resumed his massage.

Within a few minutes, Y/N was fast asleep. Draco stroked her face lovingly. At that moment, it was just her and him. He treasured moments like these. The sight of his girl resting peacefully on top of him filled his heart with warmth. He hadn’t felt this cozy and comfortable in a long time. Deciding to give her one last kiss, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to her soft hair. “I love you most,” he whispered.

[shorkbrian]

We’re on mobile again lads, too tired to commit to getting my laptop out. Shoutout to the anon that taught me how to do the readmore thing on mobile ty.

Anyways, Bakugou and Kirishima being professional Creeps

(Warnings - dead dove, do not eat. NSFW, graphic rape. Disassociation. Vomit mention (no actual vomit), one weird, incesty comment made by Bakugou)

You’re walking down the street, groceries in hand. It’s dark out, but you aren’t worried. You’ve taken this way home so many times before that you could walk it with your eyes closed, today you had just gotten sidetracked by a cute dog while getting your groceries, so it was a bit later than you were used to. But you had your mace in your pocket, your phone in your hand - you’d be able to call for help if something were to happen

You’re pumped to get home - you had bought a new flavor of your favorite brand of ice cream. Something new and exciting, you were going to put on a movie, sit on the couch, and do a little taste test.

You’re passing a side street, the one with the tiny sand which shop on the corner, where you sometimes stop for lunch. Maybe you’ll go there tomorrow, it’s been a while since you’ve had a hefty sandwich.

Where they came from, you don’t know. But one moment your walking along, minding your business, and the next moment your being dragged to the side, a hand over your mouth, muffling your yell of suprise.

There isn’t even time to scream. You hear a car door open, and then you’re being manhandled up and into the back of a van. At least, you think it’s a van.

Hands are all over your body, holding you down, pressing over your mouth, wrenching your arms behind your back, shoving your face into the floor of the van. Far too many hands for one person.

“Rope? Give it here.” A rough voice sounds behind you, and everything’s happening so fast, you’re not even sure what’s happening.

Someone’s looping rope around your arms, tying knots, tightening them until yours arms ache at the uncomfortable stretch, and the rope is biting painfully into your skin.

You struggle briefly, trying to push your head up, shake free of the hand over your mouth, tell them to wait, to stop.

The man behind you is hauling you into his lap, kicking your legs apart and keeping them spread with his own. He has a hand over your mouth - he’s the same one who grabbed you - and his other hand is kneading at your breast. He punches it through your shirt, and you shriek.

“Stay still, don’t wanna cut you sweetie.” There’s a flash of something sharp being waved around in the darkness. It’s so dark inside the van, you can hardly see. There’s a man in front of you.

Two men, one behind, one in front.

The man before you is stocky, big - you can feel his size as he moves between your spread legs, as his hands grab at your clothes.

You hear the snip of scissors, everything’s moving too fast, you can’t think, you can’t breathe.

One moment you’re safe, the next moment you aren’t.

Clothes are being cut off, it feels weird being bare like this, and it’s wrong, and you grab onto that thought. As soon as the scissors stop moving, you thrash in the first man’s hold, but a quick slap to your naked thigh has you spooking like a rabbit, going deathly still.

There’s fight, flight, or freeze.

“Ei, grab the vibe.” The first voice, the rough one, grumbles from behind you.

The large man in front of you, Ei, leans to the side, still wedges between your thighs. He roots around for a second, before straightening, holding something.

There’s a click, then a buzzing sound, and then you’re crying.

He’s holding a vibrator against your cunt, rubbing it up towards your clit, and it feels good but it’s so sudden.

It’s overwhelming, and you don’t know how you ended up like this.

You arch, a whine bubbling out of your throat, muffled by the calloused hand clamped tight against your mouth. It hurts, but it feels good, but it’s too much.

The man, Ei keeps moving it, following your body no matter how you try to shrink away, wiggle to the side, try to buck his hand off. There’s no escape.

You don’t know how long it takes you to cum. Have you been in the van long?

“Hah, I think the little whore liked that.” The man behind you taunts as Ei turns the vibratory off, tossing it to the side. You’re boneless in the rough man’s arms, exhausted by your orgasm.

Still, there’s so much adrenaline and fear coursing through your body that you feel keyed up. But the fear is muted, soft, unreachable. There’s only what’s happening, and you can’t do anything about it.

Everything feels so weird.

“Kat, here.” You’re being handed over to the soft man, Ei, and the man behind you, Kat, shuffles around.

“Her mouth looks so fucking soft... can’t wait.” You can hear Kat’s grin as you’re laid flat on your back, arms trapped painfully behind you.

You try to say something, but your throat’s dry, and your head feels fuzzy, and maybe this is just some twisted, sick dream.

Your upper half is wrenched to the side, shoulders pulled onto Kat’s lap. Something soft and fleshy taps your face, and you cringe away.

“Bite me, and I’ll end your shit.”

“Kats, chill.”

“Awh, shut up softie. I know you’re fucking aching to get inside her little cunt. Look at how hard you are, damn Ei.”

Kat snickers, and you finally make the connection that the velvet tapping roughly against your lips is a cock.

“The plush ones always make you cum in like, two fucking seconds. It’s cause you’re a mommas boy, ain’t it?”

The man easing your thighs open shrugs. “Guess so.”

“Your mom was fucking hot though, makes sense.”

Ei huffs out a laugh, and you feel pressure ashe eases into your cunt. But you can’t focus on that, not when Kat is growling at you to open up.

You get the feeling that if you don’t open your mouth, something bad will happen.

You open your mouth.

The next few minutes, you don’t even really know what’s happening. Ei’s fucking your pussy, hands gripping your waist as he uses you like a living fleshlight. Kat is thrusting into your mouth, groaning and hissing when your throat closes up around him.

You feel like you might throw up.

Ei keeping groping your flesh, slapping at your tits, pinching and stroking and his hands feel so gross. Your skin is tingling, but yet it somehow feels numb. Kat keeps slapping your face around, and you’re choking on his cock, and this all feels too weird to actually be happening.

You can’t stop thinking about your ice cream. Had you dropped the groceries when Kat grabbed you? Hopefully the ice cream hadn’t opened up.

It feels like they take forever, but at the same time, you don’t think any time has really passed. You were outside carrying groceries just a few seconds ago.

Then Kat is pulling out of your mouth, shoving you fully onto your back so he can jack off onto your tits. You don’t feel his cum splatter across your chest, but you feel the wetness as he rubs it into your skin, chuckling darkly.

Ei is still going, and it hurts. He’s big - if you weren’t loose from the orgasm pulled out of you by the vibe, you think he probably would’ve torn you open.

He pulls out, and then there’s warmth striping over your stomach, and Kat’s rubbing that in too.

Both men are a little breathless, and so are you, but you think you actually might be hyperventilating.

“Where’s the wipes?”

A package thumps next to your head, and Kat grabs it, muttering our a “thanks” to his partner-in-crime.

Cool, wet baby wipes swipe over your skin, cleaning up the mess. Your arms are still tied behind your back.

“Kat, where’re the clothes?”

“Underneath the passenger seat, where I always put the damn clothes.”

There’s shuffling, and then the sound of a ziplock bag being undone.

A baby wipe swipes over your pussy, scrubbing. You’re sensitive, and when two fingers enter you, stuffing a wipe against your walls, you whimper.

“Stop being so rough, you aren’t an animal.”

“Shut the hell up, I’m the one making sure we don’t get fuckin’ caught.”

The fingers pull out of your entrance though, taking the wipe with them.

You’re being sat up, a shirt roughly yanked over your head. It’s soft, smells like detergent. Ei’s lifting your legs, tugging sweatpants onto your body. They’re too big, but they’re comfy.

You realize you still have your shoes on.

“All done, let’s get her out.”

“Wait-“ Kat says, and thenyour jaw is being wrenched open, and a hand is shoving a baby wipe into your mouth. You retch, pushing at Kat’s wrist, but the man is stronger than you, holds you still while he rubs at your mouth.

“Kat, she’s gonna throw up.”

“Nah, she’s fine. Besides, even if she does, all the better right? No swab’ll be able to find anything after she blows chunks.”

Ei sighs.

Finally, the hand pulls away, and you cough, doubling over as you splutter. The taste lingers, and you want to throw up.

“All done. Let’s go.”

A hand pats your cheek “Bye bitch, it was fun.” Kat laughs, before climbing towards the front of the van.

Ei pushes you towards the back doors, opens them, helps you get your feet under you.

He doesn’t say anything as he pushes you towards your forgotten grocery bags, your dropped phone.

His hands leave your back, and you hear him shut the van doors, hear him walk around to the drivers side.

The van starts, and then it’s driving away, and you’re all by yourself.

All you can think about is the ice cream.

It’s probably melted by now

[hotdamnmadison]

10/20/2022 Update

Hello all! Happy Thursday. Figured I would let you all know what's going on behind the scenes so it doesn't look like I'm spinning my wheels lol.

I am planning on doing a sexy/spooky photo shoot for Halloween. Huge emphasis on planning. It might happen, it might not. How? When? and Where? - All of that has yet to be decided haha. But I think it will mainly be SFW content with a few solo NSFW pics and videos going to Only Fans and Fetlife

I am writing a lengthy fictional piece of smut - and it's taking up a decent chunk of my time right now. I've tried a few different writing "series" on this blog (secrets from beyond the DMs, Monday Stories, etc.) - and I think I've finally decided on the two that I want to go with for a while.

The first will be "Fiction Friday" or something similar to that - this will be hot erotic pieces of writing (varying in length and effort) that I will ATTEMPT to post weekly. The title speaks for itself - these stories will be fabricated and pulled from the corners of my silly little brain. Hopefully I have a piece ready to share with you all tomorrow! We will see haha.

The second series will be more of a brain teaser and exercise to keep me fresh and help me improve as a writer. At some point during the week I will do two "Half Hour Power" stories, threads, or just random thought spews. I plan on setting a timer and diving right into the blank page with little to no prep time - and then just seeing what happens! This kills two birds with one stone - because it creates good content/posts and it also fits perfectly into my crappy busy boy life schedule (which continues to be an obstacle).

I think that my blog will mainly consist of those two things for a little while - and the rest of my time is going to focus on photos, videos, and other content creation for my Only Fans. This is of course subject to change if any commission work comes up (Please? lol 😭)

Anyway I hope you all have a great day and are able to power through another work shift. Almost Friday! :) Hang in there.

[fridayfirefly]

Retirement

Read Retirement on AO3

Masterlist

For Maribat March Day 21 - Domestic Bliss

The first time Marinette and Garfield ever discussed retirement was before they even started dating. For superheroes, retirement was just a fact of life. One day, if you make it long enough, you'll put down the suit and you'll never pick it up again. Maybe someone will take your place. Hopefully, no one will need to. But no matter how strong you are, not even if you're Superman in his prime, the simple fact was that someday you would retire.

"What do you think you'll do after you retire?" Marinette mused to Garfield. Out of all the Titans, Marinette spent the most time around Gar, simply because the two of them spent a lot of time in the living room. Marinette liked the ambient noise that his video games provided when she worked on her projects, and Gar liked to have someone to talk to while he played. Most of Marinette's current focus was on the embroidery in her hands, as she stitched vines running down the sleeves of her shirt, but she still took the time to start a conversation with Gar.

"I dunno..." Gar glanced up from the game he was playing. "What'll you do once you give up being Ladybug."

"That's a tough question. I used to think that I wanted to run a big fashion company, like Agreste Fashion, but now I think I want something a little more low-key. In my ideal future, I own a little boutique where I make custom clothing. There would be a fabric store and a café on the same block as me, and I would never have to leave the neighborhood."

"That sounds nice. I think I might try going to college and see where that takes me. I applied to Jump City University right before Christmas, and they accepted me. If I went, I would start classes in the fall.”

Marinette’s head jerked up as she gave Gar her full, undivided attention. “I’m going to JCU next fall!” she exclaimed excitedly. “We might have classes together. What are you planning on majoring in?”

Gar shrugged, “JCU has a veterinary program that I'm interested in. I'd be taking animal behavior, biology, chemistry, and a whole bunch of other science classes.”

“That’s so cool!”

“It’s nothing much. I didn’t expect them to accept me, anyway.”

Gar seemed oddly subdued about the idea of going to college. He was a naturally enthusiastic person, which made it very out of character for him to be so dismissive. It worried Marinette. “No, you deserve praise for your accomplishment. Jump City University is a very selective school.”

“I’m not a genius. I’m just me.”

“You’re smart, Gar, I know you are. Getting accepted to JCU is just one of the many reasons why you are brilliant.”

“Are you gonna name them all for me?” joked Gar.

His question was rhetorical, just a joke, but Marinette wasn't finished convincing Gar that he deserved all the praise in the world. “For starters, you can finish any video game in less than a day. Even the ones where you need logic and strategy, you fly right through them. Secondly, you’re a genius when it comes to animals. And it’s not just because of your superpower. You taught yourself animal behavior so that you could blend in with the animals you’re imitating. Thirdly, you pretend not to be invested in politics, but I’ve seen how you keep yourself informed about environmental policies and activism. You really care about the planet. Fourthly-“

"Alright, Buginette,” laughed Gar, a slight blush on his cheeks. “You’ve proven your point.”

Marinette set her embroidery down on the coffee table and moved to Gar's couch. "Is this game multiplayer?"

"Yep. Do you want to play a few rounds?"

"Hmm... I think I could spare a few minutes to kick your butt."

"Please. I'm going to squash you like the little bug you are."

"You wish!"

----------

The next time Marinette and Gar discussed retirement was well after they started dating. They got together in their Junior year at JCU after spending two years in relationship limbo, with both too nervous to make the first move. They finally confessed their feelings for each other after Dick and Starfire locked them in a closet together until they admitted that they liked each other. They graduated college as a couple, with Gar planning on attending veterinary school and Marinette planning on starting up her fashion business. That summer they spent a lot of time talking about the future.

"I've been thinking of recruiting someone to take over as Ladybug," remarked Marinette as she cuddled up next to Gar on the couch.

"Really? Who do you have your eye on?" asked Gar.

"Wonder Woman recently took on a new protege, Cassie Sandsmark. The Ladybug Miraculous already has some connections to Wonder Woman and her home of Themyscira. Her mother, Queen Hippolyta, was a wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous for quite some time."

"If you gave up the Miraculous would you still fight crime?"

Marinette shook her head. "I think it might be time to give up crimefighting. It's been ten years since I took up the Ladybug Miraculous to fight Hawkmoth, and six years since Hawkmoth was defeated. I wasn't ready to give up that responsibility then, but I think I'm ready now."

"When would you give up the Miraculous?"

"Soon. I talked to Wonder Woman about it last week and she's enthusiastic about the idea. I would need to spend some time getting to know Cassie, just to make sure she's a good fit, and Tikki would need to vet her as well, but I have a good feeling that she'll pass any tests of character we put her through." Marinette turned to face Gar. "I didn't want to make any concrete decisions before I talked to you. I know that we've always fought crime together, but I'm ready to move on with my life. I'm ready to retire."

Gar nodded. "I understand and I fully support your decision. I've been considering leaving the Titans as well. I know I could continue living in the Tower and attend veterinary school at JCU, but last week I got an acceptance letter from UC Davis for their School of Veterinary Medicine."

Marinette's eyes widened. "Gar, that's amazing! I remember looking into UC Davis when you were applying, and their program is nationally ranked."

Gar grinned. "The best in the country. It's too good to pass up."

"You have to go!" exclaimed Marinette. "This is your dream!"

"I think I'll send in my acceptance tomorrow," decided Gar. "Maybe we can go to Davis this weekend and scout out an apartment."

"And fabric stores," chimed in Marinette.

Gar laughed. "Anything for you, Buginette."

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The final time Marinette and Gar discussed retirement was years later. Marinette and Gar had gotten married and had moved back to Jump City. Marinette opened her fashion boutique, which had very quickly exploded in popularity. Gar started working for a non-profit veterinary clinic, which provided free veterinary services to lower-income neighborhoods. They had both achieved their dreams, and yet neither seemed content with their lives.

"Maybe we just need a change of scenery," suggested Marinette, leaning her head against Gar as they both sat on the beach watching the sunset. "I'm so tired of the city."

"Maybe," said Gar. "It would be nice to have a house with a backyard, rather than just an apartment."

Marinette sighed. "I know that I always said that I wanted to be the owner of a successful boutique, but this wasn't really what I had in mind. I'm so busy that I feel like I never get to spend any time with you anymore. Every day my inbox is filled with emails asking me to sell my company or expand to more locations. I'm tired of it. My passion is for making clothes, not running a business."

"I know how you feel. Every day I encounter another neglectful pet owner who brings their animal to the clinic for help but refuses to listen to me when I tell them that they need to change the way they treat their animal. It's exhausting."

"We could both just quit our jobs and move into the woods," joked Marinette.

Gar nodded, but he wasn't joking. "I've actually been thinking about that. There are a lot of remote regions with a real need for veterinary practices to provide medical assistance for the farm animals out there. I would feel a lot more useful taking care of animals that don't have anyone else."

Marinette turned to face Gar. "I wouldn't mind moving. I've been sending all of the offers to buy my boutique straight to my email archive, but I'm sure if I looked through them all I could find someone who would be able to take care of the business aspect of Ladybug Designs. I could retire from the business and design on my own time, when the inspiration strikes, instead of forcing myself to churn out design after design."

"You really wouldn't mind?" asked Gar, a hopeful look on his face.

Marinette shook her head. "I was serious about moving out of the city. There's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while, but I've been waiting for the right moment. I think that moment is now. Gar, I'm pregnant."

The deer-in-the-headlights look on Gar's face was comical, to say the least. Marinette giggled, "Well?"

Gar snapped back to reality, transforming into an elephant, trumpeting his joy. He turned back into himself and wrapped his arms around Marinette. "I'm so happy! This is the best news I could have ever heard, Buginette. Now we have to move. I want our kid to have a backyard and a dog and a big driveway where I can teach them how to ride a bike and a pond where they can swim in the summer-"

Marinette cut Gar off with a kiss. "One thing at a time," she giggled.

"I think this will be the best decision we have ever made," declared Gar.

Marinette agreed. "I think that partial retirement will be good for us."

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This was bliss. The feeling of grass under Marinette’s bare feet as she walked back to the house from the lake, hand in hand with Gar. The sound of their daughter's laughter as she danced around them, catching fireflies. The taste of homemade apple pie and vanilla ice cream, eaten rebelliously early as Gar proclaimed, "Dessert before dinner!" The sight of the stars up above them, no light pollution to mask the beauty of the heavens. The sound of Gar's voice, whispering, "I love you, Buginette," into Marinette's ear. And as Marinette settled into her husband's arms, she knew for certain that retirement was the best decision she had ever made.

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