#as like waves crashing against shore kinda blocks

[tj-crochets]

Future quilt idea to use up scraps from the quilt I’m currently working on!

Posting it so I don’t forget it, it’s basically a 6x6 grid of 6” finished blocks, a mix of solid squares and four patch blocks. I’m thinking either two colors or two shades of one color, each starting in one corner and overlapping in the middle (possibly with the center row from corner to corner as 9 patch blocks instead and expanding the 4 patches one row towards the corners?)

[neteyamyawne]

I hade an idea for Jake x fem reader x Neytiri. Reader is Lo’ak and Tuk’s mother (Lo’ak still calls her mama) and gets shot instead of Neteyam trying to save spider because she cares for him like a son(she doesn’t die but she gets close to it and is going in and out of consciousness)And you know how Neytiri and Jake reacted to Neteyam getting shot they react the same with Neytiri going on a whole rampage and after they get the gurls back they rush to the rock to get to the reader and get them help.(Lo’ak blames himself and feels guilty because he feels like his mama is the only one that understands him) The reader is in a coma for a little bit but Neytiri never leaves the readers side and Jake only leaves to take care of the kids, until the reader wakes up like kiri did from her seizure crying and Jake and Neytiri are right there to comfort her and Lo’ak and tuk are attached to the reader like a leech when she gets better.

🪷 — Toxn'ong

୭ ˚. Pairing : Jake x fem!Navi!reader x neytiri

୭ ˚. Summary : request

୭ ˚. Warning : war, gunshots, getting hit, mention of blood, blacking out, angst, coma, lo'ak being sad, crying, fluff ending, let me know if more.

୭ ˚. Word count : 2.2k , kinda proof read.

୭ ˚. Note : "word" - dialogue, **word** - flashback

୭ ˚. Extras : finally I'm done with this request, this is my first polygamy fic so please if there are any mistakes let me know, enjoy 😄

୭ ˚. Glossary : [tawtute] - human, [eywa] - Navi deity.

The battle raged around you, Dodging the bullets flying towards your ikran, trying hard to escape the firearms by swiveling around the ship, soldiers swarmed around the waters, losing the ones behind you but now even more were standing in front of your face, quickly dropping down and shooting most of them out, you hide yourself behind a metal wall, you peaked, seeing them come forward you pounce at them, hitting them right on their faces with your bow, turning around and knocking the others out as well, you walked over to the other side of the deck cautiously to see tsireya, lo'ak and tuk strapped to the railing,your heart racing, running forward you pulled out your knife but stopped as someone shot up from the side of the ship, blocking the way between the three kids to protect them from the oncoming danger but sighed in relief at the sight of neteyam walking towards you.

You cut open lo'ak's handcuffs while neteyam undid tsireya's, the waves were crashing into the ship and sprayed over the deck, drenching you all, tuk was crying when you pulled her to your chest , she should not have been here, she should be at shore at Awa'atlu , far away from all this, shushing her down and kissing her forehead to stop her from crying, when lo'ak said "mama, we have to save spider, we can't leave him here" you looked at neteyam who was a bit hesitant but agreed, spider was like your own, even if neytiri disliked him, he was like your own son, you knew who his father is, the man who's trying to kill your mates right now for eywa's sake but that didn't mean his son would be same.

You got up, ushering tuk to go with tsireya, treading your way towards the hallway of the sinking ship, halting now and then when a guard passed around in your surroundings, after a lot of crawling around you finally got to the lab or work space or whatever those demons called it, dropping down you all knocked out each and every soldier within a few minutes, grabbing spider you ran towards the moon pool but blocked lo'ak's way as few soldiers ran into you, killing them off one by one, you ran out of arrows, bending down to draw one out of the dead tawtute, but gunfire rang through the air and you immediately pulled back against door to block your view, your eyes widen when you saw lo'ak with a gun, quickly pulling it out of his hands, you settled the boys behind you, gunshots where still raining down, looking out from the corner you fired up your gun as well, taking down as many demons as you could.

You yelled at the three of them to jump down in to the pool quickly, when all three of them dived in, you looked out once again, the shoot out stopping for a moment so you took your opportunity and ran towards the pool, hitting the water surface you sank down, gasping for air but only water surrounded you, a white hot searing pain shot through your shoulder, breaking the surface the air felt like needles in your lungs as you grunted in pain, agonizingly you rasped out "I'm shot" but soon you sank down again, lo'ak's face fell when he saw your state and pulled you up neteyam helping him, it was getting hard to breathe, your vision fogging but your heard some specks of words lo'ak said "mama…..eyes open…..keep" the world moved slow and you fought to keep my eyes open, you were being moved , alot faster than you expected, you groaned before you blacked out.

Lo'ak was screaming for everyone to move as he, neteyam and Jake lowered you gently on the rock "watch her head!" Jake's heart was beating a mile per second, his thoughts were jumping to worst possible conclusions, he fell to his knees beside your body, as gently as possible he picked up your side to look at your back to see any possible exist hole, he physically sighed in relief as he found no wound but as soon as he laid you back down, you woke up from your blacked out state screaming at the burning sensation, he pushed you down as you looked up at him gasping to catch up on the depleted air level in your lungs, he cupped your cheek forcing you to take deep breaths even if it burned like hell, neteyam was putting pressure onto the wound but it was no were near sealed from bleeding.

you reached for Jake and sputtered out "ma' ja- Jake, i see you-" but he cut short "No! Everything is fine, we are going to get you out of here, just hold on honey, do not close your eyes please" and you fought your hardest but everything felt week, like you were being lulled to sleep but you held on, a screech bellows through the air as neytiri landed, her eyes widened as the sight and she immediately fell to her knees " No, NO, NO , NO NOOOO! Please great mother, nooooo" she screamed pulling your head against her chest, you coughed out, blood spilling from your mouth, she put your head down as Jake helped to wipe the blood, your head rolled back eyes falling close, it was getting harder to stay awake, so you finally looked at neytiri, squeezing her hand you gasped out "tiri, i see you, Jake i-" but exhaustion took its toll, eyes rolling to the back of your head as you went slump in their arms, neytiri's cries turned to sobs , wrecking her body as she pulled you close, lo'ak stayed near his mother tears streaming down his face, neteyam sobbed for his mom as well , Jake looked around, gears kicking in, he placed a hand on neytiri's shoulder pulling her back, as she just looked at him with sunken eyes, whimpers escaping in agonizing cries, but he grounded her "neytiri, strong heart! Strong heart!" patting her chest , she looked one last time at you and got up aiming for her ikran, Jake saw as she flew up, face stone cold as her heart right now. He prayed for the men she killed to go to hell. Lo'ak got up too behind Jake as he tried to convince him to let him fight as well but he was stopped "you've done enough" with that, Jake walked away to rescue his girls that were stuck with that monster……

»»————-　✼　————-««

(Time skip cuz i don't remember the whole sequene😭)

»»————-　✼　————-««

Neytiri sat with your head in her lap, wiping your face with a wet rag slowly, Ronal sat in a corner working on her pastes and salves while keeping an eye on you, tsireya had called for help and you were immediately taken back to the healers mauri, when you're family came back, Jake quickly called for norm, the humans checked your body and vitals were low but still there ,so all of them got to work straight away, Ronal had to shoo them away as she worked on you, the bullet was extracted and the wound was stitched and bandaged but there was still no sign of you waking up, even after hours of waiting, no inkling of a move from you.

When Ronal was done with her rituals, norm scanned and took some readings for Jake's peace of mind, but when he saw the results he feared the reaction he would get when the news unfolds. Jake and neytiri were stunned with the outcome, her face crumbling but she held back. Due to the shock and extensive exhaustion your body went into lockdown, easily said you were in coma, with no way of knowing when you'll wake up.

The whole family was lament over your state but the ones most hit were lo'ak , tuk and neytiri, the three of them never left your side, lo'ak blamed himself for even requesting to save spider, if he wouldn't have said that then this would not have happened, he silently cried by your side at nights, Begging for you to wake up. Tuk was confused at why her mama wouldn't wake up even when she cried for you, neytiri was holding back tears almost every time she saw them by you, Jake was in a whole another state, his mind a total chaos, he sat by your side every minute he got the chance too but his work came in between, then too he tried, he was never a religious person but he prayed to eywa every single minute for you to wake up, to get up and embrace him , pull him close and tell him that everything was alright and you were fine but that didn't happen…yet.

After three days and three nights ,of both the metkayina family and your family who were taking rigorous care of you, sagged in relief when you finally opened your eyes, neytiri who never left your side instantly held you closer, but moments of the war flooded your mind as you choked back on your tears, your mate immediately pulled you in as you cried in her neck, every horrible death, the lives you took in matter of seconds, all came back in a huge wave, you crumbled in her arms as your whole body violently shook with sobs, two more pair of arms of your children wrapped around you as you cried, Jake , kiri and neteyam followed suit hugging you. All of you sat there in the middle of your mauri, huddled together, no one spoke a word, just comforted in the fact that you had woken up, and everything was going to be fine, everything was going to be okay.

»»————-　✼　————-««

Neytiri, even after you woke up, didn't leave your side while lo'ak and tuk didn't even get up from you body, lo'ak was at your right side hugging you close to him, he had told you everything what he felt.

** "I'm sorry mama, i shouldn't have asked to go save him, I'm really sorry, i didn't mean-" but you cut him off by pulling him close to you, rubbing his back you whispered "it's okay baby, it was not your fault, spider is our family too, and it was our job to save him, you do not have to apologize for this, it was my decision, sweetheart, to come with you, and if it wasn't for me , you or neteyam would have gotten hurt, i wouldn't want my babies to be hurt, would i?" You said laughing but he just cried harder in your neck. Kissing his forehead you pulled both of your kids tightly against you, they were your world and even the thought of them getting hurt made cold shivers run down your spine, your family was safe and that's all you needed even if it meant you had to go through all this you would without hesitation.**

Neytiri made you warm broth, blowing on to the hot liquid she brought the spoon to your lips for you to drink. Why was she feeding you? Obviously lo'ak and tuk haven't left your side plus to add to it, now Jake, kiri and neteyam were attached to you as well, the only time neytiri wasn't beside you was when she got up to make something for you to eat.

Lo'ak made it his life mission to help you with each and every task, even when neteyam and Jake tried to have some time with you, lo'ak was always in between. He was not gonna let his mama get hurt again and this time he will keep his promise at all cost even when you made it clear you can eat your lunch with your own two hands. At night neytiri and Jake fought with their kids on who will sleep besides you, tuk always won while everyone got one chance every night. Jake got a lot more protective but his two sons surpassed him in that as well, neteyam and lo'ak were becoming your two personal bodyguards.

Life was becoming normal again, your family was granted access to stay with the metkayina, you sat near the shore with your mates as you watched tuk search for pretty shells, your other children were swimming with the Olo'eyktan's kids, you sighed placing your head on Jake's shoulder and intertwined you fingers with neytiri, she scooted closer to you and kissed your forehead, you smiled at her touch, turning your head to look at her, her smile melted your heart even now, after years of being together your love for her never faltered, Jake just pulled you both closer, him just happy his life was finally at peace, both his mates happy and contented, all three of them sat on the shore, full to the brim with love for eachother, overlooking their children as the sun casted beautiful shades of pinks, oranges and reds throughout the sky.

A/n : i love Jake and neytiri with my life 🥹 they are my babies, if you wanna be tagged in my fics comment on my pinned post on my blog💚✨

Yawne : @fanboyluvr, @callmeoncette, @lu-the-ghost-reader, @brisbriskett, @saltedcoffeescotch, @ducks118, @itscheybaby, @jackiehollanderr, @zoetrope1997, @yeosxxx, @persefolli, @im-in-a-pansexual-panik.

©Neteyamyawne2023 | All Rights Reserved. Do not repost on other platforms, copy, steal, or translate any of my works!

[gazs-blue-hat]

King!Johnny MacTavish x Siren!Reader (kinda FemOC, but she’s never given a proper name, descriptions, or anything. No Y/N either)

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence, Canon Typical Language, brief descriptions of injury and blood, storms (thunder and lightning), lots of ocean stuff (lmk if I missed any!)

AN- Dedicated to the lovely @sprout-fics who helped me out of my writing slump. Thank you forever friend. Another shout out to @deadbranch who indirectly inspired me to make pretty headings for my stuff! Thank you!

(Also, formatting may be weird due to me being on mobile)

Word Count: 2,802

There was a whisper on the breeze, as if the very sea itself was restless. Thunder cracks in the distance and lightning split the sky like some kind of beast tearing it open. Rain fell in sheets that created waves in the air, splashing against the tower of the castle upon the cliff face, mist settled against the glass paned doors of the royall chambers, creating droplets or condensation that clung to the glass before sliding down like tears on a face.

King John MacTavish pushed said doors open, his rough hands leaving prints in their wake. He should feel bad, but he knew the glass would be cleaned in the morning. Everything in his home was constantly being polished or shined or cleaned in some shape or form. He took a few large steps onto the stone balcony, his furs ruffling about his shoulders from the harsh wind. It was a dreadfully cold night out, his breath puffing before his face like the smoke from mythical dragons his ancestors claimed to have slain. He rested his hands on the salty parapet, scraping against stone that was constantly kissed by the sea. He looked out at the tempest, arms folding and shoulders sagging.

Oh the sea…

He sighed, his head hanging in a moment of pity for himself. He missed his old life. He missed the scent of the open ocean. He missed the feeling of the salt in his hair and the wheel in his hands. A ship captain turned king? Who would have thought? Certainly not him.

He looked down at his hands, rough from years of use on ships. Old calluses from harpoons and ropes slowly fading away from lack of use. His hands had never before been soft. They were a man’s hands, the hands of a warrior and of a worker. Not of…not of a cushy noble who sat in a castle all day.

He looked up, hearing the surf crash against the castle walls and feeling the mist settle on his shoulders. He turned his gaze to the churning depths below. The surf was rather high tonight, seeing as the moon was full and the tide was coming in. A particularly bright crack of lightning blinded him temporarily before the equally loud boom of thunder filled his ears.

The mighty captain turned king ducked and covered his ears, hands firmly protecting the one sense he truly was fearful of losing. His mind was filled with the memories of booming canons, the screams of men being torn apart by sabers and shrapnel from the exploding timbers of a ship. He stood, feeling the icy water spill onto his face as the rain hit the castle. He groaned and ran his hand down his face, feeling quite foolish for being spooked by a thing as simple as thunder. He used to take on giants of the deep without a drop of fear. Now he was simply jumping at shadows…

He scoffed and looked down at the swirling sea, watching as the foam and spray swirled in the wind. The tide rose again and a massive wave crashed against the cliff, momentarily blocking his view of the opposite shore. The water subsided and a low groan filled the air around him, seemingly coming from all directions. John spun, drawing his saber that he kept as his side at all times and pointing it at the space behind him. He checked the corners of his vision before slowly sweeping his attention across the empty balcony.

Nobody. There was nobody there. He sighed softly before sheathing the saber once more, turning to look out at the craggy shore. His eyes widened as he saw a woman, her skin scraped and scratched by the stones she now rested on.

“Steaming bloody Jesus…” the curse slipped from his mouth as he stormed back into his chambers, and hurried down the stairs. A few members of his staff yelped as he hurried down the stone steps, concerned for their king that was now trailing water through the castle. “Someone wake the surgeon! I may need her aid!” His voice boomed through the stone hallways and his Knight Captain nodded, the helmeted man clanking his way to the surgeon’s quarters.

John pushed open doors and hurried through the narrow halls until he made it to the docks behind the castle. Behind him, he could hear the rapid footsteps of the court surgeon following behind him. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Her words fell on deaf ears as he hopped over a low wall and scurried down the rocks to where he saw the woman. The surgeon growled in frustration while lighting a lantern, carrying it with her. “Damn it Johnny! Talk to me!” She ran behind him, ignoring the rain as it soaked her uniform and the utensils she had brought. “I can’t help if you don’t-“ she trailed off as Johnny held his arm up as he skidded to a halt, pointing at the woman who was laying on the stony shore.

Now that he was closer, he could see the jagged cuts and scratches along her body. He could see the blood staining the water red. He couldn’t see her lower half, seeing as the water was still lapping at her waist and the occasional wave rushed over her that would shift her entire form. He came closer, assisting the surgeon over the rocks as they got closer to the woman.

When they reached her, it was very clear she was in serious trouble. Her back was a mess of scars and scrapes, some older and some more recent. There was a series of marks on her back that Johnny identified all too well. She had been whipped, and aggressively too.

“I’m going to get a bed ready. Bring her to me and I’ll get her squared away.” She touched his shoulder and squeezed once. Reassuring him that she would be there if he needed her.

“Cmon lass…let’s get you warm..” his words were soft as he gently placed a hand on the injured woman’s shoulder. She didn’t move and she was freezing to the touch, giving Johnny cause to assume she was dead. He sighed heavily as he closed his eyes, resting more of his hand on her shoulder. His eyes snapped open when he felt her move. That same groan from before filling the air. He turned her over without thinking, ready to administer aid, hands hovering over her torso in the position the surgeon had taught him when he froze. She had…scales

Scales the likes of which he had never seen before. They were iridescent little things, trailing up her hips to her navel before becoming freckles against her skin. His eyes locked on her skin, the soft but cold skin of her torso that was covered in scratches and cuts. As his eyes trailed upwards, he could see that her upper torso was also coated in scales, a lighter shade than that of her hips that decorated her clavicle and upper arms. They were tiny things, glittering in what faint light he could see.

Her breath came shallowly and he placed his hand on her neck, feeling for a pulse. He had no idea if humans had the same anatomy as her kind, but he figured he’d try for a pulse anyway. A weak beat danced under his fingers and he breathed a sigh of relief. She was alive, for now at least. He was itching to learn more about this creature that had washed up on his shore but his thoughts were interrupted when a rather rough wave crashed over the rocks and soaked the king to the bone, or…more soaked than he already was.

“Oh for fuck’s sa-“ his curses died on his tongue as a bright bolt of lightning illuminated the source of the mermaid’s troubles. Her tail, which had been pushed into the shore by the incoming waves, was now visible for him to see. A massive amalgamation of fishing line, netting, and various hooks and harpoon heads had embedded itself deep into the flesh of the appendage and was cutting into her. “Oh lass…no wonder you couldn’t swim. Especially in this tempest…”

He sighed softly and shifted to grab his saber, removing it from the sheath. He shrugged off his coat and draped it across the mermaid’s tail, not resting his weight on her directly. The fur squished uncomfortably under his fingers and it was quickly stained by the blood flowing from the wound on her tail. With expert hands, he worked to slice the mess of string and metal free from the tail of the mermaid, being careful to not cut the injured flesh more. He removed most of the line with little issue, tossing it to the side and out of the water. The hooks were next and as he knelt closer to remove one, he looked back.

Eyes as stormy as the sea were looking back at him and he felt his blood run cold. They were slitted, like the eyes of the great cats from the stories back East and they were filled to the brim with rage. He raised his hands and held them above his head. “Easy…easy. I was just cutting them free. It won’t be pleasant, but you’ll be swimming in no time. Just…hold still.” He spoke softly, like one would to a wounded animal to get it to come closer. The mermaid didn’t move to attack him, instead she closed her eyes and lay back on the rocks, breathing heavily.

Johnny slowly and carefully removed the hooks from her tail, seeing how the fins were tattered and torn. Whatever scuffle this mermaid had gotten into, she had been lucky to escape it. Once the final hook was removed and he had tossed it to the side, he sat up, proud of his work. The tail was still wounded and blood still stained the rocks and water around them, but she wasn’t trapped by them anymore. He smiled and moved to get up when the large muscles of the tail twitched into life, spinning him into the water flat on his back.

He felt the water of the sea surge over his face as he fell back, a rock scraping across his shoulder painfully. He felt firm hands on his chest and when the waves receded, the face of the mermaid was above him.

Her glare was sharper than the rocks they found themselves on and colder than the rain that fell in sheets over the churning sea. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her mouth opened to form a hiss. Her teeth were razors, sharper than a shark’s and probably just as deadly. Johnny couldn't move, his arms pinned by the waves and the sheer strength of the woman pinning him down. He felt her inhale against him, deep and long until she screeched.

The sound was deafening. Johnny covered his ears as the mermaid, no, siren shouted at him. The rocks rumbled under his scrambling grasp and his eyes watered in pain. The siren surged over him, diving into an incoming wave and leaving him with a slap to the face with her powerful tail. Johnny could only watch the lightning lit waves for any sign of the mythical being, but he was met with nothing but churning water and spraying foam.

He wasn’t sure how long he stood on the shore but eventually the surgeon came back, a lantern held tightly in her grip. “Where did the woman go? Don’t tell me she-“ Johnny held up his hand and showed her the collected scales. They had broken off the siren’s tail as he was working on getting the hooks out. The surgeon took the scales and held them to the light, inspecting them.

“Wasnae a woman. It was something else…” His words were soft and his accent thick. The rain had stopped a while ago but he couldn’t remove his gaze from the sea. Something there was calling to him, and it caused an ache in his heart to be away from it. If John MacTavish had longed for the sea before, he was now enraptured by it.

For the entire walk back to the castle, his eyes were locked on those tumbling waves, searching and seeking for a glimpse of a tail, or of skin. A glimpse of her.

“I’ll see you again Bonnie. I swear it.”

[way-of-love]

Oooh can you write a Namor x Reader!waterbender/powers where he meets her and is immediately attracted to her. While she is like I wanna fight this guy because he's such an arrogant douche. And namor is like damn she's hot when she's angry and the fight is basically foreplay for them and they end up being insanely attracted and horny at the end of it.

OOOOOOO Yes I can! This'll be a oneshot, just becuase I have too much on my plate to write. Happy New Years!

Also, forgive me if it seems kinda off been having writers block for the past few weeks!

It was told though mouth-of-mouth that the 'power to manipulate the water was given to everyone, if it were given to everyone it wouldn't be so special anymore.' Your mother once told you that when you first showed signs of the hydrokinetic ability at the ripe age of 4, with no help from the father you inherited it from you had to teach yourself how to control those abilities, how to grow them and how to not use them for you r own gain.

This power could have made you a god or even the next Avengers if you embraced it how your cousin Aspen Matthews did. But, she was the star of the family, there can never be two. If so one will try hard to outshine the other. Hence your mother made you swear you'd keep it a secret from everyone in her family, your friends, your lovers, even your best friend who was as normal as they can get.

'No one will ever understand your hardship! They'll turn you into a lab rat!'

It was hard to ever embrace your power thanks to your mothers harsh words. After discovering your powers, she became very...paranoid about them. Telling you all these things the government would do to you if you ever used them in public, and how you could never be as strong as your cousin Aspen, she was the golden child, you were just the extra.

That can surely crush a child's confidence.

But you grew up hidden. Making sure no one saw you use your abilities, never used them in public only at home in the shower or at a lake. Yet, it called to you. It always beckoned you to the sea.

The inconceivably vast briny deep waters yelled at you with their tides crashing against the sandy shore and the waves waving at you like a temptress beckoning her lover. You've never been to the sea. And the day that you did, you regretted it, dreadfully so.

Another day another boring and very tedious chore of listening to this man yap away about his plans for the future, your future with him to be exact. Honestly, you don't understand why you entertain this dummy! While giving him a good once over you narrowed your eyes and came to a solid conclusion.

You were just lonely.

After living alone for a few months in isolation you met a strange sea man, he wasn't dangerous nor was he a threat. Well, unless you considered annoying a threat.

It was everyday, every single day, he'd come up to shore at the same time and his mouth spewed out these sentences that irked you, it made your blood boil and you had no choice but to retaliate with your own words then it came down to your fists. He discovered your power when you were being careless on his way back from taking down a whole ship that sought out pure vibranium from his waters.

Currently you were in the midst of throwing icy water disks you created from the sea at the flying sea king who finally got you to this point. It was always something with this guy and his,'...let's burn the world together,' that never sat well with you. Hell, if you were any hopeless romantic chick you'd say yes before he finished asking. Because admit it, he was a king, a god, a mutant like you and he looked...good. Some would say you were stupid to deny him anymore than you have but you were going on a solid five months telling him no.

But the stubborn king didn't take no for an answer. Each and every time he came to the surface with a different reason why you should join with him. You heard him out at first and after you got comfortable with him around and understood why he wanted to destroy the surface being all nice and even flirty, he asked to use your power and exploit it. To destroy a nation that was hidden away from the world and for the entire planet to fear you.

Namor knew it wasn't a good idea to use your loneliness or your vulnerability you had to the world but he was desperate. He wanted to use your power, yes, but he wanted your hand along with it. He didn't want the world to know you as 'Y/N, Wakandas Destroyer,' He wanted you to be,'Y/N, The Feathered Serpents Wife' or even 'Y/N Talokans Queen.' Any of that would be acceptable but you cut him off before he could finish explaining.

Hence the physcal fights started. You didn't enjoy them but it sure felt good to kick water boys ass once in a while when you did. He on the other hand loved watching your both twist and turn, hands moving majestically through the air and summoning the waters he cherrished so much being loved by your fingertips.

Even if he was on the deadly side of those attacks he loved every minute of it. He made it clear that he loved it, getting hit, getting cut, bruised, he took it all because that was the only caresses he would get from you and he would smirk everytime he got hit.

It infurriated you. Why would he keep coming back if he got hurt all the time? Once, you beat him so bad he didn't get up. Attuma had to drag him back while shaking his head at his king. And his king being dragged back into the sea with a phantom of a smile on his bleeding lip. Namora knew Namor was holding back because of how he felt though he never said anything it was as clear as day that the king fancied you.

Panting you raised your hands in a defensive position. Your legs felt like jelly and your arms trembled. He looked ever the more dangerous right now and you weren't sure why, even Attuma and Namora who stood by the waters edge watched him come at you with all that he had and you barely dodged his attacks. It was like he was a whole different person, no more playful Namor, now stood before you was a hardened seasoned warrior of old and he was wounded.

What happened to him after those two weeks? He didn't visit you but Namora and Attuma did but barely. They were very vague about details and said Namor would explain when he came to see you again but there were no words spoken between the two except the one warning he gave you before locking fists together.

"Prepare."

You were just about to give up but you knew better than to do so. "You're so annoying and its fucking frustrating! Why did you even show up here in the first place if all you wanted from me was my power. You'll never get-"

A tanned fist came at you at lighting speed, you had your hands raised but when you were talking you left yourself open. He was going to kill you.

When that fist came it didn't connect with any part of your face or shoulders, instead you were lucky enough to be standing by a palm tree. It connected with that but you got the wind of it, with such force your bangs and loose pieces of hair went everywhere. First, a loud groan from the tree echoed through the small area around you then snapping, crackling and popping, the fibers of the wood breaking apart before finally a loud thud. But you didn't move, instead you stared wide eyed into the molten chocolate passionate eyes of the god king who was breathing heavily in front of you.

You always admired how he talked about his people, his land from before, his family, his time roaming the seas. You even enjoyed the looks he gave you when the both of you sparred just for fun but that was before he decided to go to war with Wakanda. After that it annoyed you.

Now, starring at how he looked at you with those lovely eyes made you yearn for 'what could have been'.

Dropping your arms and your stance you stood straight and proud. " I accept my defeat. As promised you can ask something of me,"

There was a set of rules the two for you followed when one lost or yielded:

Leave ego at the door.

Respect each others boundaries.

Whomever is knocked down or yields must do one thing the victor says.

The rules were easy and simple but you always won, he always told you he'd want to see you often and you banishing him from seeing you was definitely out of the question. So, you always asked for little things, trinkets from Talokan, foods from his city, and a chance to see the exotic fish humans would only dream of seeing but unfortunately some species would not survive up near the surface so you put a pin in that request.

Now, he was the victor. Dropping his tanned arm he moved closer to you placing his large warm hands on each of your upper arms gently squeezing. His eyes never leaving yours.

"You. Y/N, I want you,"

Your eyes widened a tad at his wish, a victor always got what they wanted if it didn't push the boundaries and that was one of the things you said he can never have. You.

You began to shake your head prepared to tell him that was her rule, she could never be his, your power could never be his but he shut you up by covering your mouth with his warm hand.

How rude! You narrowed your eyes at him hoping he had a good reason to be touching you in such a way.

" I know I can not have your power or whatever, but I don't want that. I want you, your body, I want to ruin you Y/N in every physical way possible until all your can think about is me," His voice was low and he leaned in close until his forehead rested upon your own hot one. Your face was red. Did his war leave him mental? Or was it the heat of this battle? Slowly he removed is hand from over your mouth.

Whichever it was it suddenly made your core tighten with a familiar squeeze you haven't felt in a while. Were you aroused by this? Yes, your sparring sometimes left you a bit flustered thanks to the words that were exchanged between the two of you but that couldn't lead to this. You were denying him what he wanted and he was unyielding of his decision, his request. Nevertheless, what he said plainly made you view him a little differently.

His arm retracted but before he took it back his warm fingers brushed against your red cheek followed by his palm, now he cradled your cheek in his hand. Namor made sure your eyes never left his praying that the emotions that played in his eyes were enough to confirm what he said. That's when you knew that he wasn't the only one who felt that same feeling.

Attuma and Namora looked at the scene and quickly scurried, well Namora forced Attuma to leave because he was ready to sit down and watch the show.

Soon the both of you were the only ones at the beach hidden by thick trees and rocks.

"Namor...Ku'kul'kan, I might be falling deep," Your voice trembled and it was quiet. There was a heat bubbling in the air between the two of you the more you realized that his words weren't just for show. they weren't painted sweet. He meant them.

With eyes casted down afraid if you looked at him further you'd loose yourself to t his sweet feeling that you just couldn't handle. Even feeling how awkward you felt Namor, without a word took your other cheek in his free palm and forced you to lift your head so you starred directly into his eyes. He was closer to you now both of your noses barley touching one another, both lips parted so your soft breathless pants mixed with his own.

"I've already fallen Y/N, I'll catch here at the bottom," With his breathless voice and your hesitancy to stop him he pushed his lips onto yours. It may have been brief but you were shocked but soon you closed your eyes and wrapped your arms around his shoulders touching his bare tanned skin feeling the flesh that you wanted to so badly bruise, tear apart and scar. Now you wanted to caress it and hold it.

He seemed to have the same thoughts because he tilted his head to the side forcing his hot tongue past your parted lips and dropped his large hands to your sides pulling at your flimsy shirt. He was already half naked while you still wore fabrics, it wasn't fair.

With tongue clashing against tongue you were surprised you were keeping up with the king of the deep with how thick and skilled his tongue was. Not even men you had fling with kissed this...this romantically. Your heart was beating so quickly in your chest you could hear it pounding in your ears!

Was this what it felt like to have your feelings returned? Was this what it meant to lust, to like, to...possibly love someone?

Breaking the kiss you had to pushed against his shoulders to give yourself some space, your lips were red swollen and wet, "Wait- wait we need-"

Again, you were cut off by yet another kiss you couldn't help but succumb to. Knees buckled and legs turned to jelly causing you to lose your balance and slip onto your knees , he feel to his knees with you breaking the kiss and next his lips your on your neck licking and kissing what he could of your sweaty flesh making you moan and shove at his shoulders. But it was like pushing a freaking wall of muscle! He wouldn't budge.

"N-Namor please," Your voice pleaded, whiney, to have him release you but alas he pretended not to hear your voice and pushing the sleeve of your top off your shoulder revealing your true flesh where the sea king greedily kissed, nipped and licked.

"I'm trying to catch you, I don't want you to hurt when you get down here mi reina," Deep, accented, rich and low.

Honestly, you didn't expect this outcome whatsoever. This was just sudden, and very surprising. A surprise that had your core tighten and caused a pool of heat to make itself known between your squeezing thighs, you were.. aroused.

A man of his caliber, a man who you avoided feelings for and masked it as annoying, a man who thought war was his only means of protecting his people, a man who almost killed you, made you feel as aroused as a whore in Babylon who hasn't had sex in weeks.

Well, not the best analogy but the idea was still there.

Before you knew it you let him push you onto your back into the sand, he slid between your legs and one hand was gripping the sand by the side of your head as the other reached for under your shirt. While caressing the flesh at your tummy he raised your shirt.

"Now you're docile, its cute to see you this way mi reina." He smirked while his hand fully slipped under your shirt and his fingers brushed against the underside of your breast. Why you didn't wear a bra today? Because you truly didn't expect t have company over like this.

Your cheeks redden and you quickly took hold of his hand stopping him from fully grasping your bare tit.

"I...this is embarrassing Namor," You cleared your throat," We were literally just fighting and now we're, what are we doing?"

Namore smiled, not his cheeky cocky smile but a genuine smile," We are just two people enjoying some time at a beach, two natural bodies who just so happen to be compatible enough to enjoy a dance that many before us enjoyed between man and woman,"

He scooted further forcing your legs to spread and hang around his thighs lazily, and you felt him. Hidden beneath those dark green trunks of his was a long hard slab of flesh already threatening to rip through the marital and it was pressing against your loose short shorts. Unfortunately, they were so loose they didn't bother to cover your snatch. Your trimmed bare snatch.

When you said you weren't prepared for anything you sure weren't, it was a laundry day so everything was being washed and or dried. Meaning panties, bras and even the good clothes you'd fight the sea king with.

He noticed in your fight a small glimpse of what you hid beneath thanks to your loose fitting clothes so it certainly helped him get riled up while he riled you up. A win was a win regardless of its means.

Namor had you beneath him almost as bare as he, if not more so, ready to receive because he already felt the slick wetness of your arousal against his trunk covered shaft.

"So, that means the sooner we couple the more we can realize just how badly we truly needed each other," Sliding one hand down to his golden belt he undid it carefully making sure to press that hard print against your cunt, squishing both sexes together while the claps were undone. He pulled the golden belt away from his waist and dropped it somewhere in the sand.

Did your bodies need each other? By the way your slick juice was leaving a slight damp mark on his trousers you'd say yes.

"We do fight each other very well, so maybe we do fuck well too," It embarrassed you to even say such a sentence. Especially when all you've been spewing from your mouth were insults and threats all directed towards him.

On the other hand he enjoyed seeing you struggle talking dirty to him. All those threats and insults fueled him and made him harder than he ever was and it was all thanks to you. While watching you he hooked his thumb on the waistband of his trunks and pulled them down, with urgency and you lifted your hips just as eager to finally catch that large slab of meat with your awaiting cunt with a loud wet slap.

You didn't bother to look at the dark tanned throbbing erection of his that was already beading at the tip. Okay, maybe you did but the slap to your cunt made your eyes to flutter closed briefly while a deep sigh of satisfaction left your lips.

Namor groaned under his breath as he prepared standing straighter and laying his cock over your mound and tummy. And with a thick warm finger he guided it over the length of himself before finally reaching to an area above your belly button, right where he measured the tip of his bulbous cock.

"This...this is where my cock is going to reach deep inside you,"

Your hand gripped his forearm that rested in the sand next to your hip,"You'll-tear me apart Namor," You whined squirming already.

He reared his hips back and made sure to position his tip between your puffy folds, you were already oozing with anticipation ready to start yet another fight with him, but this time with your full body.

The sea god hissed softly running his length up and down between your folds hearing how slick you were, it was a sound not even the sea can mimic. A real woman wet and ready was a gift man should always cherish.

And now a man of the water was going to drown in it.

"Then mi reina, lets count this as a win for me."

Without warning he found your entrance and pierced you, you welcomed him with a tight hot embrace of an eager cunt. A cunt he was already losing to. He was met with little resistance but there was some when he went further than any pervious man has ever gone.

It made you almost shriek! You grabbed his arm and placed a hand on hos abdomen making him stop. You were panting starring up at him with wide eyes, "Wait! Wait please-"

Taking your hands he held each one by the wrist and made sure you wouldn't escape from his grasp. God, you already knew what he was going to do.

The sea king looked down at you with a burning desire to ravish all that you were and to bring forth a destruction that lead to your end, an end that left you limp and drooling no doubt.

"And this, is where I catch you."

Using your hands as anchors to reel you back into his thrusts. And fit finally, he did. You were speechless when his hips connected with your ass making you bonce with each thrust, the claps, the plaps echoed along the beach and thankfully not a soul was in sight.

Finally you let out a sob like cry of pleasure when his finally let go of your hands just to grab your hips and lift them up a bit so his cock hit that one spot that made your toes curl. How did he know that was the spot?

With your back arched and head rolled back into the sand your only view was the sky and the ocean, waves of calm brushing against the shore one after the other almost mimicking Namors thrusts. It was driving you crazy.

"I-It feels so-" You gasped and your eyes crossed a bit as your body jiggled and bounced." So, so good!"

The poor sea king was groaning above you gripping your hips and concentrating on hitting the spots he guessed felt good to you, of course, it was purely guessing. Maybe the two of you were meant for each other. The soft caresses of your hands reached for each of his forearms and held them, anchoring to them.

He leaned forward over your body while animalistically gripping those hips of yours like a mad dog and placed open mouthed kisses along your tensed jaw and parted lips.

"Mine, mi reina magnifica," A groan was ripped from his throat and filtered through your hungry mouth, your hands no longer by his forearms but slid up to his cradle his cheeks in each palm. You were close to that sudden release but yet you didn't want it to end here. Your body hummed with the nickname and brought forth a shiver throughout your body.

With a few more powerful thrusts he suddenly

stopped with eyes closed and lips parted panting.

Was he...was he done already?

Panting yourself you placed kisses around his lips, his nose and forehead while wrapping your legs tighter around his waist.

"P-please you can't stop now, not when I'm so close you jerk,"

The words left you in a breathless annoyed huff. How dare he stop in the middle of pounding your insides. Opening his eyes once again he smirked and removed his hands from your hips, he moved them up and around you sliding an arm under and around your bare waist as the other wrapped under and around your shoulders securing himself down to you. You were forced to wrap your arms around his neck.

His face was buried into the crook of your neck," Forgive me my love, you're just so tight," Without further delay he began and this time he gave you no mercy. You could hear his teeth grind by your ear while he concentrated on controlling his hips to give you that mind blowing orgasm you've been needing.

It didn't take long before you came with a sob, digging your nails into his fleshy back and toes curling from the intensity of it. Fucking out in a public space and with the man you thought was the most annoying thing on this planet who was actually very into you, made this even more mind blowing than it was.

Soon, Namor the sea king quickly whipped his cock right out of that tight embrace of your walls and spent himself on your tummy. His load shot out so far it caught your parted lips and cheek, he panted heavily by your ear trying to catch his breath.

He shuddered and slowly straightened up he ran a sandy hand through his dark locks and smirked down at you.

"I told you I'd catch you."

[writertothemaximum]

Summary: Fem!Niki fucks the shit out of Rinne at the beach.

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings/Content: nsfw/18+, Niki x Rinne, Female Niki, Face-Sitting, Cunnilingus, Anal fingering, femdom

Notes: Normally I don't post character x character stuff on this blog, but as this is femdom, this is the one exception. I hope you guys enjoy!

Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33432565

Inspired by this pic [Please click!]

With a groan, Rinne drove the van down the sandy road, trying his best not to hit the small child that decided to walk in the middle of the road last second. It was going to be one of these days, wasn’t it?

First, Niki begs him to lunch, it’s the middle of summer and 400 degrees outside, and now she’s proceeded to drag him to the beach so she can ‘eat ice cream on the sand’ or whatever. And here Rinne thought he was the annoying one. She should get her license, it’s bad enough she didn’t graduate high school.

Well, at least she made sure he was well fed and…Well, well-fed.

In the other way.

She was always really forward about that. Or maybe it was him and his sluttiness spilled off onto her.

Yeah, it was probably his fault. He should stop getting stoned with strangers in the living room.

Although Rinne wasn’t like that. Like, aggressive like that.

Neither were any of the men he slept with.

It was scary, almost.

No, it was just scary. She was scary when she got horny.

She always got him so embarrassed, why did she have to take her sweet time with him? Well, it’s not like she could just fuck-and-dump, but still. He always busted it too quickly, far too fast for his liking. Maybe he should go back to just being gay.

Niki thought Rinne looked super sexy today. She supposed he always did, almost to an annoying degree. To the point where men would hit on him in the street and he’d take them home and Niki would be witness to some random dude fucking him on the couch. It was almost never girls for some reason.

Was he gay?

No, she and him fucked all the time, Niki was a girl, that wouldn’t make sense. Rinne was definitely bi, like 100% bisexual.

Ah, he was 100% a bottom, that was all.

Can’t get off without his ass—The absolute whore.

He liked getting called a whore, too, maybe he was also 100% masochist, too. That would make a lot of sense, actually, now that she thought about it some. The way he groaned when she slapped his ass, when she bit his nipple, when she chomped on his neck, nibbled on the tip of his dick—yeah she liked biting him a bit too much.

Well, it was a hot day and it was time for ice cream and sausages on the beach. A nice tan would be cool, too, she was getting a little too pale for her tastes.

He didn’t really ever hit on her, he just kinda let her fuck him. He never got that embarrassed when he was with his male partners. It was like Niki was different to him, somehow. Like he wanted to get teased. Like he was annoyed by it, but secretly, he begged for it.

He always ended up begging for it.

Parking in a non-parking spot, Rinne popped out of the van and opened the side door in the back, grabbing a yellow floatie, a big towel to lie down on, and some sunscreen for good measure.

“Rinne-kun! Did you get the picnic box?” she shouted, running to the back.

“No, because you’d fucking grab it out of my hands, anyways, dick,” he said, sniping back.

Niki held her hand up to punch him in the gut, when she realized.

“Yeah, I would do that,” she said, chuckling out a snort.

Niki climbed around the back of the van, not really caring that her ass was in view for everyone who walked by. Rinne, feeling slightly embarrassed for her, walked in front of the door to block the view.

“What?” she asked.

“I well your, uh,” he said, stumbling. “Your fat ass was falling out of the fucking car!”

She poked a finger out, booping him right in the nose.

“Lmao someone’s embarrassed,” she said, chuckling.

“Oh god, stop using texting lingo in public again,” Rinne said, walking off to the shore, giving up.

“Wait, wait, I know a good spot!” she said, shouting at him.

Niki’s ‘good spot’ was actually a very nice, secluded section of the beach. It took them about ten minutes to find, and they had to climb over a dozen or so rocks, but it ended up giving them some nice shade, and Rinne was never opposed to a good workout.

Rinne spread his arms out to the nice summer wind and took in the world around him, finally allowing the toxic fumes of arrogance and annoyance to leave his body, and breathe in the fresh air of confidence and being a massive dick again.

Niki poked him in the ass.

“Bitch!?” he shouted.

“Are you going to set up the towel or what?” she asked. “I have lunch to eat.”

That’s right, she had carried four lunchboxes over the rocks.

Four. Plus a full tub of Ben and Jerry’s.

“Do I get any this time?” Rinne asked, leaning in. He was a bit hungry, now that he mentioned it.

Niki put a finger to her mouth, the fabric handles of the bags falling down to her elbows.

“Hm,” she said, earnestly considering it. “Maybe if you suck me off.”

“Jesus fuck Niki. You’re horny too?” he said.

She pointed at him, accusatory.

“And you’re not? Who the fuck isn’t horny!?” she shouted.

Rinne sighed and rolled the towel out. He sat down, crossing his legs. He should have invited HiMERU or Eichi or Ibara, or really anyone he could irritate into fucking him. This was wrong, Rinne was supposed to be the tyrannical crazy one, why was Niki walking all over him? It was unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable.

The crashing waves really were relaxing. It was a good thing he had come in his bathing suit.

“Fine,” he said, crawling down on his hands and knees. Niki didn’t seem to hear him, taking a big scoop of sweet chocolate ice cream and dumping the thing directly into her mouth.

His nose pushed into the bottoms of her swimsuit, far too skimpy for any good-natured girl to wear. Tufts of her hair pushed against him, and Rinne wondered why she didn’t shave down there. Whatever, it was just a little hairy and it was about to get a lot wetter.

Niki recoiled in the softness of the towel when she felt shivers ride down her thighs. Rinne flicked his tongue across her clit, stirring up a small sound of approval. He had always been so good at this. Niki wondered if he was just as good at sucking cock. The whole thing felt so relaxing under the heat of the summer sun, she was melting, just absolutely melting.

“Fuck, Niki!” Rinne shouted, jumping up and wiping the glob of ice cream off his back. “Why’d you spill the shit on me?”

“Dunno,” she said, the spoon sticking out of her mouth. She grabbed his head by the puff of his hair and shoved him back into her crotch. “I didn’t tell you to stop. Don’t you want some ice cream?”

“Hanernangh,” was Rinne’s response, his nose suffocating in vaginal secretions.

Leaning back, she squashed Rinne’s head in her thighs, small tufts of red poking out from the little sandwich. Ooh, a sandwich, she should have taken one out of the picnic box, that would have tasted really good right about now.

The wet rubbing felt so good, so good to just squash him right there, struggle around for air, struggle around, knowing that he’d get something out of this, knowing that he’d get rewarded for all his hard work. It god Niki madly turned on knowing that Rinne was getting off to this. Knowing that he liked to get scrunched, to get manhandled.

Niki sat up.

“Hey, Rinne-kun, flip over,” she said.

“Hah? Do I get some now?” he said, snarling. “I wanna get some before you spill it all over me.”

“Turn the fuck over, idiot,” Niki snapped back.

“Fine,” Rinne sputtered out, flipping over to his back.

Niki immediately decided to sit down.

“Hanaefng!?” Rinne shouted, obviously surprised.

“Keep going and you’ll get some ice cream, sheesh,” she said.

Niki began to pat down Rinne’s body, feeling a bit of sand, and a really nice tan beginning to form. And wow, really nice abs, really nice, firm, strong abs. But that wasn’t what she was looking for.

“Aha!” she said, pulling the bottle out of his pocket and slightly raising her ass off his face. “So you did bring lube you fucking whore.”

Rinne took a huge gasp of air, finally able to breathe.

“Jesus fuck, and just what are you going to do with that? It’s not like I can suck you off and fuck you at the same time,” he said, crassly.

Niki, annoyed, sat back down.

“Who said you were going to be the one doing the fucking?” she said, irritated.

Rinne struggled a bit before shuffling his ass out for better access. She had fingered him before, maybe she should invest in a strap-on. Then he wouldn’t have any need to do all of those one-night stands. She could just fuck him on her cock.

“Ooh, someone’s hungry for fingers,” she said, mocking. “Wanna come here for a smoochy-smoochy? I think you deserve it, Rinne-kun!”

Rinne, not being able to speak due to still having pussy in his face, responded with a large groan.

“Or do you prefer these lips?” she asked, rubbing all of her secretions in his face. She wondered how it tasted. Salty, for sure.

Niki leaned forward, taking one last scoop of partially melted ice cream before setting it to the side on the towel. Wow, the heat felt great. The sun, the way the waves lined up, it all just filled her with elation.

So when she leaned her face down to his groin, it made her all the happier to see that Rinne was hard. He liked getting humiliated like this, didn’t he? Wow, what a masochist. When Niki tugged at the hem of his swim trunks, Rinne lifted his hips, allowing her to get them off quicker. Someone was excited. Well, a large glob of lube, a finger made its way to the entrance of his hole. She felt Rinne hesitate on her clit as she pushed in, a loud groan echoing through the rock cliffs.

He was so soft inside. He always was. It was like his ass was made for pleasure, made for this lovely squeeze, caressing her fingers in an absolutely perfect massage. He was always so loose, too, she supposed that’s what being a cock-whore did to someone.

Hm, well, speaking of cock, his dick was right there. He was pretty hard. Would be a shame if someone were to maybe…suck it?

In a moment, her lips were around the tip.

“Haarhrhah! Nik—Niki!” she heard, Rinne tilting his head off her ass.

Retaliating, she sat back down, crushing his head hard into the towel.

God, it was too much at once. With the two fingers pounding his ass, the suffocating aroma on his face, and now the condensing suction on his tip. He was going to cum, he was going to cum—

Niki gripped the bottom of his shaft hard, not letting a drop out.

“You’re supposed to get me off, first, asshole,” she said, her glare enough to kill a man.

Fuck, fuck, thoughts poured through Rinne’s mind as he licked her clit as fast as he could, desperately trying to get her off, trying to get himself off, he was too hard, too overwhelmed.

Rinne felt Niki convulse above him, her hole tightening up, clenching around pure nothing as she came on his face. Noises spewed out of her mouth as she couldn’t control herself, everything coming all at once.

And that’s when Niki finally let go of his dick.

Like the grossest milkshake in the world, Niki kept sucking.

Popping her head off in a moment, she gave off a sigh of relief, as if she had a nice big sip of coffee, drinking all the semen up like a fat noodle.

Niki unplugged her fingers from his ass and Rinne shoved her off, letting her laugh as she rolled off the towel and into the sand.

“That was fun,” she said, still unable to hold her laugh.

“Bitch! You got sand up my ass!” Rinne shouted, making a motion in the air to slap her, obviously missing.

“Your fault for being such an anal fiend,” she said, the heat of the sand proving to be very relaxing. Ooh, she was right next to the lunch box. Time for a sandwich.

“Can I get my ice cream now?” Rinne asked, like a petulant child.

“Yeah, go ahead,” she said, diving right into the lunch box.

Rinne picked up the abandoned tub of Ben & Jerry’s only to realize.

“It’s fucking melted!” Rinne shouted.

“Well, suck faster next time,” Niki said, taking a big bite of her sandwich.

“Well, maybe if someone ate better, her fucking cunt wouldn’t taste like that fucking sourdough starter you keep around the apartment,” Rinne said, snapping.

“Hey, you love my pussy, don’t joke with me,” she said, right back.

Rinne grimaced, embarrassed, knowing she was right.

Pouting, Rinne forced the spoon into the chocolate wonder, scooping it up and landing it right in his mouth. It wasn’t all melted.

Yup, ice cream was good. Ice cream was always good.

[karasuno-volley]

anon request : okay but! HOW ABOUTTTTTTTT OIKAWA PROPOSING TO YOUU I LOVE YOUR WRITING SM!

OIKAWA TOORU + PROPOSING TO YOU 

pairing : oikawa + gn!reader

warnings : just post-timeskip spoilers !!

a/n : this is great because you know I'm always down for writing oikawa !! he’s actually my favorite character ( but i have a new one like every week so ). idk how i feel about this one bc i was hit with major writer’s block ( & nervous oikawa is so hard to write ) but i figured that it’s been 3 days so i should just write it lol. i hope you like it !! likes & reblogs appreciated, no reposting please !! love, volley. 

     He swears the stars in Argentina are brighter than the ones in Japan, especially where he lingers by the beach, breathing in and out slowly to calm his nerves. He can’t remember the last time he’s been this nervous. The party behind him pulses, loud laughing and talking floating from the tent’s entrance. The Argentinian team’s annual party had never quite been his scene, no matter how smooth and relaxed he’d pretended to be. Now, the cool exterior of the small box rubs against his palm, and the ocean waves flow in and out to the rhythm of his breathing.

     Oikawa was so distracted that he didn’t hear you sneak behind him. “Tooru?” You hum, and he almost physically jumps, turning quickly to hide the outline in his back pocket.

     “Y/N!” He’s smiling again, cheery and energetic, but almost too much. You cross your arms, attempting to shield yourself from the breeze. “Are you coming back in? People are starting to recognize you’re gone.”

You watch as the setter shifts his weight awkwardly. “Uh, sure. Just… Give me a second.” Tooru looks back out towards the horizon, cautiously sliding a hand into his back pocket. You move beside him, leaning a bit on his shoulder. “Are you okay?” You whisper, the question muffled by the waves hitting the shore. “Of course I am.” He turns to you, smiling. This time it was softer, gentler, an odd spark in his eyes. “You’re here, so how could I not be?”  

     “Well, sure.” You laugh, ignoring a blush that flashes across your features. “But really, Tooru,” You pull away a bit to see him clearer, a hand going to run through his hair. “You’ve been kind of distant recently.”

     “Have I?” Tooru places a soft kiss on your cheek as a soft apology. “Well, we should be getting back to the party before people wonder where we are.”

     You nod, giving Tooru one last smile before turning to head back to the open tent, towards the laughter and lights and people. “Uh, actually, Y/N… I want this moment to be between us.” His voice is quiet, a little distant. You turn around.

     “This moment?” You repeat, and then you see him, in the moonlight, down on one knee. Realization starts to sink in as you slowly make your way back to your boyfriend, who’s holding a tiny black box, a ring gleaming.

     “The party. It’s not just our start of the season party, but it was kinda supposed to be… our engagement party?” Tooru blushes a little, and before you could react to anything, he’s ranting. “It was the team’s idea and I was okay with it and I actually came out here to… I don’t know, prepare, I guess? I was supposed to propose inside with all these flowers and lights and things, but I…”

     You’re finally close enough to see him properly, to see the way he’s staring at you-- lovingly, nervously. “I figured you might like this better.” Oikawa finally finishes, and there’s a brief second of silence before his eyes widen a little. “Oh, right.” He straightens up on his knee to gain better balance.

     “Y/N, will you marry me?”

     The tears that fall down your face so easily are what bring you out of your shocked state, and for a moment, Oikawa fears he’s made a terrible mistake. Maybe you didn’t want to marry him. Maybe the distance was too hard, and you were going to break up with him? He tries to say something, but is cut off by your lips crashing with his own.

     “Of course I will, Tooru. Of course I’ll marry you.” You’re laughing, smiling, but now there are tears in both of your eyes as he fumbles with the ring and slides it onto your finger. The moon is a silent witness for this one moment, this one space in time that will forever be in your hearts. Your kiss tastes like tears, like heat, like ocean waves and moonlight and stars.

master taglist : @beanst0ck, @owlnymph​ ( send a message or ask to be added ! ) 

[jungkookiebus]

Stargazing | kth

Genre: fluff x nonidol!au x established relationship x professor!taehyung Pairing: astrophysicist!taehyung x reader Rating: E for everyone! Word Count: 1.8k Summary: High up in the mountains, in a small village, there lives two young lovers; one is an astrophysicist, the other a dutiful plant mom and writer. On a special night, with a special supermoon, Taehyung, wants to picnic and watch it travel across the sky. With fireflies lighting the waves of grass, you settle among its drifting blades as Taehyung shares his passion of space and the wonder it holds.  Author’s note: This is a sensory drabble with a little more dialogue, but I don’t think it takes away from the comfort it’s supposed to portray. Plus, I fucking love space. 

“I’ll take you there one day.”

Taehyung’s slim finger partially covered your view of the moon for a moment. Tonight, there was a supermoon and he was adamant on taking you out for a night picnic. With a basket slung under his arm (you may have teased him a little for it) and his other arm intertwined with yours, he led you up the path shortly before moonrise. Your small village was nestled in the mountains, away from the busy life of the city the both of you had been used to up until a year ago. The both of you decided your lives weren’t fulfilled enough, sold most of your belongings, and moved to the mountains and you hadn’t looked back since. Fireflies danced among the trees and the ferns that grew beneath them. The sound of soft dirt beneath your feet sounded softly in the night, as if you walked on air. A cool breeze blew through the trees and it almost sounded as if waves were crashing on a shore. The night was filled with the sounds of crickets, cicadas, predatory night birds, and the winds coming down from the mountains. Sticks snapped beneath your feet every now and again. The clearing was one you visited often. The tall grass swayed gently in the breeze and the moon cresting over the trees cast it in a muted blue that made it seem like waves at dawn.

Now, the both of you were laid on the blanket on your backs, watching as the moon traveled slowly across the sky. The sky was dotted with thousands of stars that only highlighted the moon even more.

“To the moon?”

“Mhmm.”

You looked at him out of the corner of your eye. His hands rested on his stomach and you looked at his profile. From here, you could see the reflection of the stars in his eyes and you wished you could look at them head on without blocking the view. But for now, you were satisfied with seeing them as if standing at the edge of a clear pool. His eyes shone in the night. He never liked his brown eyes, but you thought they were the brightest eyes you had ever seen. Even his eyelashes cast shadows on his cheeks as he slowly blinked. His soft, dark hair haloed his head and soft curls fell across his forehead. You looked back towards the sky. The moon was almost too bright to look at for very long, but you were fascinated by the amount of detail you could see. Craters stood out in stark contrast from the white ashy surface, streaks of darker gray the only other proof that something had hit it.

“That’d be nice.”

He hummed as the wind pick up again. You laid in the middle of the field, blanket tamping down the grass where you sat, but the rest still stood tall around you as if you laid in an enchanted pool. It dipped down low, tickling at your legs so you scooted a little closer to Taehyung. He instinctively moved his arm so that you could tuck under, head resting on his shoulder. Fireflies were continuing to come out by the hundreds, dancing among the grass and the trees further beyond the field. An owl flew overhead once and a bat or two would skitter across your vision jauntily.

“What constellations are out tonight?”

In all honesty, you just wanted to hear him talk. You weren’t sure what it was. Maybe his voice was at just the right decibel. You were positive his voice could be taken and made into a binaural beat that would put the listener to sleep instantly or relax their tired soul. Whatever ailed you, his voice soothed the ache.

“Well, I see Capricorn and Aquarius. Oh, and Pavo is right over the trees…”

He trailed off, knowing he tended to get carried away. After all, the other reason you had moved here was for the observatory. Taehyung was a professor of astrophysics and when he decided to move, still made a living doing research for the university and published regularly.

“Tell me more about stars,” you said almost dreamily. You really did just want to watch the sky while he talked.

And talk he did. As you gazed out into the starry night you tried to imagine what he was describing. He was always so good at turning space into a story that you weren’t surprised he was the most popular professor at University. You tried to imagine that you had vision that could see beyond this earth and into the heavens above as he spoke. You traveled through various clouds of dust as his voice rumbled beneath you, guiding you through the galaxy. Then there was almost a storm, a turbulence within the cloud as the gas and dust began to collapse in on itself. You imagined the warmth on your face, contrasted sharply with the freezing temperatures of space, as the core heated. Taehyung waved his hand towards the sky as he spoke, gesturing to it in general as he continued his description.

“…protostars. It’s at the heart of these cores that someday become the star…”

You could practically see the brightness behind your eyelids as you closed your eyes, using the light of the moon to further your daydream.

“It kind of just gathers dust, but not all of it becomes a star. They could become asteroids or even planets.”

You loved his passion and it warmed you against the cold around you. You held onto him a little tighter as the temperature dropped. The moon was beginning to dip behind you, almost directly overhead now. The soft skin of his jaw was pressed to your forehead and when he talked it moved gently against your skin. The crickets were still just as loud, and the fireflies were having a dance all their own in the moonlight; they were the bioluminescence to this grassy ocean. An owl hooted behind you, nestled amongst the dark branches of the trees at the edge of the clearing.

“And when they die, they leave so many beautiful things behind.”

You let your fingers brush gently along his sweater as you nestled a little closer, sighing deeply as he continued to speak in his soft baritone.

“Their death are sad fates, but it’s amazing how long they get to live. They can be one of the oldest things in the universe, having lived for billions of years and we’re just here in the blink of an eye.”

He was always fascinated with life and life outside of himself. His fascination with the stars had started in an early age and traveled with him for the rest of his life. He reached for the old Tecsun hand crank radio he always kept by his side “just in case”. Taehyung without the radio wasn’t Taehyung. He had set it perfectly, just by memory, to the perfect station at peak clarity. Miles away, and up in the mountains a little higher than you were now sat a large radio tower with a small, white building at its base. On this night it was playing Ella Fitzgerald and The Andrews Sisters. The music floated softly on the air and the fireflies seemed to sway in time to the lilting beat.

“In a supernova the core collapses and explodes. These insane nuclear reactions happen, and the core literally creates iron, ____, now the star has taken all the nuclear energy it can and the star can no longer support its own mass and the iron core collapses.”

Taehyung is animated now, body shifting a little beneath you, but not enough to make you uncomfortable. You still fit comfortably under his arm and his warm hand never left the outside of your elbow. He was using his other hand to explain what he was saying, even though you weren’t looking. Every now and again, you’d open your eyes to see what shadows the moon was casting on his face now. Now that it was dropping behind you, his soft cheekbones were highlighted, and they cast shadows down his cheeks. The dip beneath his bottom lip was dark as night. His eyes, however, still reflected the stars. From this angle, you could watch both as his eyes searched the stars with rapt fascination. He seemed to always be looking for something different, something new. They moved from side to side and sometimes more upwards, exposing only the whites and they shined brilliantly, making you think of his dying stars and how you were made of them.

“In seconds, and imagine this please,” he didn’t need to ask you twice, you were too enraptured in his voice to ignore the words, “the core goes from roughly 5,000 miles across to just about a dozen.”

You inhaled in fascination at the fact. You truly were surprised because Taehyung seemed to always have something new for you to learn, even after all these years.

“It’s almost like one of those strange time travel objects villains always seem to get in superhero movies. Things backfire and then suddenly everything is collapsing in on itself and the whole world is out of control. It’s kinda like that. The outer layers collapse, along with the core. They rebound with the release of energy and literally explode outwards. The amount of energy they release is beyond imagination.”

He spread all his fingers across the sky, palm to the stars he talked so lovingly about. The stars still shined by the hundreds, some brighter than others, and some you had to squint to see. His hand moved like a strange black creature moving across the sky, but you watched his graceful fingers move, pointing out things he was talking about and what it would look like there.

“From days to weeks, a supernova can outshine a galaxy. The subatomic particles are the array of colors you see, but they occur once every hundred years. About 25 or so are discovered a year in other galaxies, but they can’t be seen without a telescope.”

Glenn Miller’s ‘Moonlight Cocktail’ played quietly next to him on the blanket, making the moment that much more surreal. You wanted to create a bubble around this moment and stay in it, or revisit whenever you wanted. His hand, gentle on your arm and, despite your sweater, made your heart flutter a little every time he tightened his grip after being relaxed for a while. In turn, your grip on his sweater would tighten the slightest. He sighed now, resting in his explanation, as his hand settled on your hand. He held your fingers gently under his and his warmth was welcome.

“Thank you for doing this with me,” he whispered.

“I could do this forever.” You sighed contentedly; eyes closed as you listened to the music.

“I want that with you. Two lovers side by side together, two stars in the sky, dying out brilliantly in the end. Stargazing.”

And with the whisper of a kiss to your forehead, curls spilling across your skin, the two of you connected like twin stars, did just that.

Stargazed.

[aellynera]

Mors Non Est (Nathan Bateman x Reader)

MORS NON EST (Nathan Bateman x Reader)

(so. um. this was inspired by a dream i had? because my brain does weird things at night and then sometimes i write them.)

Word Count: almost 4k oops

Summary: “Of course, you don’t die. Nobody dies. Death doesn’t exist. You only reach a new level of vision, a new realm of consciousness, a new unknown world.” — Henry Miller, author

Or, what my brain offers as alternate theory on why Nathan made AIs.

Warnings: Leaving this mortal coil (sort of), angsty musings, maybe a swear or two. Okay there’s definitely a swear or...several. (also a disclaimer that I finished this at like 3am and there was a bunch of stuff out of order but I think I got it all worked out now and proofread and all that, but apologies if anything is still wonky)

The rain fell steadily against the wall of glass that faced towards the forest. Sometimes it was soft, like the tickle of a feather, the softest caress of a kiss on your hair, the skim of fingertips against the velvet red petals of a flower. Other times it was harsh, a violently crashing wave on the rocky shore, electricity ripping the sky asunder, an unbridled fierceness like a wild animal frightened and possessed.

It changed without warning.

Soft, hard. Quiet, loud. Calm, violent. Back and forth and back again.

How long had it been raining?

He turned as he heard your footsteps fall on the wooden patio planks behind him. You watched in slight fascination as he unwrapped his hands, used the cloth to dry them, and stuck a hand out to you, your attention half on him and half on the pure beauty of the surrounding scenery.

“You must be the new assistant,” he said, sounding friendly enough although his smile stayed a bit reserved.

He wasn’t expecting you to just show up on his deck. Yes, he was expecting you to be dropped off by the helicopter, that had all been arranged, but for some reason he had...he realized he wasn’t even sure what he was expecting. But you had clearly followed the pilot’s (and soon after, the house’s - that the house told you what to do amused him in the strangest way) instructions and here you were.

He knew his new assistant was more than capable (he had seen your resume, reviewed your coding and debugging history, had meticulously poured over every single little detail of work you had done for his company for the past three years not that he was obsessive about it or anything) but he wasn’t prepared for the person that now stood before him, an intriguing combination of impressed, unsure, interested, and underwhelmed.

You were fucking beautiful.

You nodded. “That’s what they tell me,” you replied, shaking his hand and supplying your name, even though you knew he already knew it. You knew enough about Nathan Bateman to know he knew everything about you before you even heard the head of HR back in the corporate office announce that you got the job.

You later admitted you didn’t know what to think about him either, and you hadn’t really expected anything, since you didn’t know much about him. He was a genius, everyone knew that, and he lived all the way out here by himself. And...that was about it. That’s what you knew.

And you thought he was...kinda hot.

And also an asshole, you liked to point out as the days went on. Nathan didn’t really mind.

*

It was an odd feeling, this feeling of dissonance and uncertainty.

There was so much that needed to be done. There was so much that he didn’t feel like doing.

He came to the door and paused. He spent most of his waking hours in this room - and to be honest, most of his hours were waking at this point, he rarely slept anyway and for as long as he could remember now he had barely slept, except when all that whiskey and vodka kicked in - and yet there was always a moment, the briefest flash of time, where forward momentum paused and he wondered if non-linear time was reality and he would find something different when he opened the door.

It wasn’t, and he never did.

He wandered into the lab and over to the table at the farthest end. Components were spread out before him and he idly reached over to the single chip laying in the center of the mess. It was the last piece of this particular puzzle, the last bit that had to be installed and configured and then…

Then suddenly it became too quiet and too loud all at once. Thoughts were screaming through his brain and he just wanted it to be quiet for a moment.

Quiet so he could go over his calculations in his head. Quiet so he could double check his math. Quiet so he could concentrate on his theories and his expected outcomes. Quiet so he could revel, just for a moment, in his monumental achievement.

There was a sweater hanging on the back of the door. He’d forgotten it was there, even though he had just seen it mere hours before. No, not forgotten, he realized. Blocked. He didn’t forget, he just purposely didn’t remember.

The silent noise became a full-blown cacophony.

Was it still raining?

*

“So how exactly are you going to solve it?” you asked one afternoon, idly twirling your pen in your hand.

“How would you do it?” he bounced back.

You sighed. His behavior was so typical. The man was a certifiable genius but that was usually the problem and not the solution. It was never straightforward. “The AI. How are you going to solve the issue of making it able to have an actual conversation with you?”

“How would you do it?” he asked again.

Shrugging your shoulders, you kept twirling the pen. “I dunno. I guess you’d have to have some way to...maybe cross-reference a database of expressions and emotions and an actual dictionary.”

Nathan paused and considered you, deep in his own forest of thought. He wheeled his chair over to his computer desk and started rapidly tapping keys. “How do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” you huffed. “Like...like some kind of mass well of every available, possible interaction. Honestly I would try to figure out the mechanics of everything else first, like motion and movement, You know, walking and running and sitting and standing.”

“Hmmm.”

“But since there are literally infinite combinations, I don’t even know how you would go about even attempting that kind of data pool.”

 “I did actually have an idea about that,” he muttered. Nathan didn’t even turn from his multiple computer monitors and his fingers never stopped clacking away at his keyboard. “But you’re not going to like it.”

This time you groaned instead of sighing. He knew you could feel it coming before he asked - he always told you that you weren’t going to like it before he asked you to do something incredibly stupid that in any other circumstance would get you arrested and you’d never see daylight again.

But this was Nathan Bateman, and of course he was going to ask anyway. And of course you would say yes. You always said yes, it was one of the things he enjoyed most about your company, and even when you did say no, it gave way to a lively debate and a genuine argument over facts and merits, downsides and advantages, and it was fucking amazing.

It had been that way from the start, grown steadily over the weeks and months, and neither of you could really complain. Nathan quickly found that you could keep up with his train of thought even when the track switched abruptly and it was so engaging. Captivating. Enticing.

But this man. This amazingly intelligent (if almost insufferably arrogant) man was going to be the death of you. You told him that at least once a day. He took it as a personal challenge to give you a reason to keep living.

“What did you have in mind?” You doubted you wanted to know.

“What if…” he replied, clicking away, not looking up from the screen as he spoke, “we used the video and audio coding in Bluebook, and patched it through all the cell phone carriers, and rerouted all the satellite signals back here into the lab.”

Before you knew what was happening, your pen flew across the room and connected with his shoulder with a small *thwap*.

“What?” he finally looked up, mock annoyance in his voice.

“Are you absolutely fucking insane, or is this just an extra special occasion?”

*

He left the lab with no real idea of where he was going.

Okay, that was a lie. It was his house. He knew his way around and he knew where he needed to be next. There was an actual agenda but his focus was off.

He walked past the living room and noticed the chess set was still set out on the coffee table. The pieces were still fairly evenly matched, his green dragons maybe just slightly at a disadvantage to your purple ones (because, as you had mentioned at one point, why have a standard chess set when you could have a fun one? And Nathan knew you were anything but standard.)

He knew it was his turn and contemplated the board for a few minutes. No matter how he strategized it, how he worked it out, how he tried to plan it, you had forced him into a checkmate. Again. For at least the sixth time in a row, and probably at least the eight-seventh time out of the last hundredth you had played. He chuckled, softly, briefly. He could do anything with technology and science, but he rarely could beat you at a centuries-old board game.

He made his final move for this round, sacrificing his king to your queen. 

He grabbed the notepad setting next to the chess board, and your pen that lay nearby on the table. He scrawled a quick note to you - checkmate - and placed it on your side of the board, next to your fairly gained draconian horde, even though he was certain you were never going to read it.

He went to the kitchen and poured himself a drink.

He stared out the window wall, out past the deck, to the running river and the dense groves of trees, off into the distance towards the waterfall.

He should be heading to the room. He should be taking care of the final chip install and making sure everything was online. Instead he simply stood in the kitchen and stared out into the rain.

It occurred to him that the agenda was more of a guideline and his knowledge of his surroundings was merely functional.

*

Nathan briefly considered that standing at the doorway to your bedroom was the last place he should be, but then decided he didn’t care. But that wasn’t true either.

He could just walk in, it wouldn’t be the first time - once you had been wearing only a towel, having just gotten out of the shower and that hadn’t been awkward at all - but that small bit of his conscience that he usually tried to ignore, told him to be polite. 

He knocked.

“What do you want, Nathan?” You sounded muffled, like you had your face partly covered by a pillow. You were probably in bed. He shouldn’t be bothering you. 

He had to bother you, just this once. “Can I come in?”

He could picture your face on the other side, eyes rolling and the sigh as it left your lips, and even though he heard the door hiss quietly as the latch released, his feet suddenly stuck to floor outside your door and his body made no further move.

“I did open the door, so if you’re going to, do it before I change my mind,” you called after a few minutes.

Nathan got his feet to cooperate and entered your room. You were in bed, face half-behind a pillow, your visible eye glaring at him. He stopped at the edge of your bed. His brain started calculating risk factors for the current situation, gains, deficits, advantages - anything it could think of, there were always factors involved, no matter what the situation was, it was just that some factors were more complicated than others. Some required more delicate, cautious manipulation to solve the equation and…

“Are you just going to stand there all night and look at me? Because I swear I really will kick you out, and then change all your passcodes.”

Of course, you teased him later about how much fun it would have been to watch him try to get back in. You swore you were going to do it one day, just for the hell of it. He didn’t mind.

“Do you regret what happened after dinner?” he finally asked.

Your glare softened and you moved the pillow away from your face. Dinner was fine. The company was pleasant as usual, the wine was frequent and flowing. The two of you had started a very animated debate about gender and sexuality as it pertained to artificial intelligence and if any of it were a necessary component or if it was just something you would prefer (he would later tell you how wonderful the expression on your face was when he told you he would be ready to start building a prototype in the next few weeks) and then.

“I don’t regret it at all. Do you?” you arched an eyebrow at him.

Nathan blew a long breath out from his nose. Did he regret kissing you? Nope. Not in the slightest. Did he regret that you might regret it (he was slightly relieved that you said you didn’t) and that nothing would come of it? Yes. And he couldn’t calculate the actual result, just potential outcomes with no concrete denouement, and that made him extremely uncomfortable. He didn’t want this to be an experiment. He wanted an absolute, not a thicket of random. Not in this case.

“No.” He still didn’t move.

“Frankly we should have done it months ago.”

He shook his head and turned just the slightest bit before your reply registered and he processed it. “Wait. You...what?”

You exhaled and sighed as you rolled over, facing away from him and trying to get comfortable in the bed again. “You know, Nathan Bateman, for being the smartest man in the universe, sometimes you are a complete idiot.”

“I’m not going to argue that. This time, anyway.”

“Thank you, because it’s nearly three in morning,” you replied. He could hear the smile in your voice. “Can we talk about this in the morning? Like, later in the morning. I’ll see you for breakfast.”

He nodded and really did turn to leave this time. He was still trying to process. “Okay. Yeah, sure. I, uh...I’ll see you then.”

“Good night, Nathan.”

*

The rain had finally stopped.

He looked out over the landscape, now reflecting and refracting tiny bursts of sunlight in the lingering blanket of droplets.

Trees crowded both sides of the rushing river, leading towards the top of the waterfall. There was a small clearing there, one that almost wouldn’t be found if someone wasn’t looking for it. It was one of your favorite spots.

Nathan found you there fairly often, after he had shown you where it was. If the weather was cooperating, and you weren’t in the house, then nine times out of ten, that’s where Nathan would find you. Sometimes you were reading a book, sometimes you were just stretched out in the grass, looking up at the tips of the timbers as they reached to the sky.

Sometimes he would join you. Those were times that deep conversations would happen, about the projects back at the house and technology and your odd fascination with disco music, which Nathan truly did not understand but tried to humor.

Sometimes he would just smile and let you have your peace. Those were times he would go back to the house and quietly await your return.

He knew that’s where he would find you now.

*

“I’m back from Anchorage,” you called as you came in the front door.

Nathan was in the kitchen and poked his head around the doorway. “Hey. Perfect timing,” he said, brushing his hands off on his pants and flipping a dish towel over his shoulder. “Dinner is almost ready.”

A tired sign escaped your lips as you flopped down on the couch, taking one of the throw pillows and covering your chest and half your face with it. “Thanks. Not hungry.”

“How was the trip?”

You snorted softly. “Wet. Raining. Absolutely miserable.”

It wasn’t what you said that made Nathan stop. It was the way you said it. Your voice sounded so tired, so empty. It didn’t really sound like you, not the voice he’d come to expect to hear every day. It was not the voice that engaged him in conversation, that drew him into theories and concepts and philosophies. It was not the voice that argued about codes and programs and why that would not work no matter how much he insisted it would (to be fair, you were usually right, but he wasn’t going down without a good fight, and neither of you would have it any other way.) The voice that was leaving your body through your mouth wasn’t you.

It sounded hollow.

He leaned against the doorway. The air in the room suddenly felt heavier and he couldn’t quite get his feet to move forward to the couch where you sat. “What did they say?”

Nathan noted that you didn’t look at him. You looked everywhere but him. Like you were trying to keep everything from falling to pieces, maybe? You were definitely not acting yourself either. Suddenly he wanted to take himself outside and kick his own ass. He should have gone with you. You’d been talking about it, for weeks now, he realized.

How tired you were. How you were never really hungry. How things felt like they were getting harder when they shouldn’t have been. How you couldn’t go quite as far on the hikes you loved taking so much, together.

He should have gone with you.

Your face did not move from its half-protected shield behind that tasteful throw pillow.

He doesn’t register most of what you said. He remembers the words “bad” and “already done everything” and “months, maybe”. Maybe. No definite conclusion.

He finally managed to take a few steps towards you.

His brain was kicking into overdrive but not a single one of that rush of thoughts would make an appearance on his tongue. There had to be another answer. Another answer that wasn’t the one he could already see in your eyes.

Your eyes. His favorite feature (at least from the neck up), the ones that showed how much life you had, your spark, your fire.

And he realized the hollowness of your voice had traveled up into those beautiful eyes.

Words stopped making sense in an instant. Everything around him got fuzzy, jagged at the edges, but also intensely focused at the same time.

He finally crossed the room and sat down carefully, warily, on the couch.

Neither of you said another word. His arms slipped around you and you curled into his chest, pulling your knees up to your own. No tears from either of you. No sounds. No words.

He didn’t know how long you stayed on that couch.

The next thing you knew you were in bed, Nathan’s arms still wrapped around you. He must have carried you to the bedroom at some point. You felt the coolness of the sheets contrast with the warmth of his body; you mustn’t have been out for long. You were about to drift off again when Nathan finally broke the silence.

“We’ll figure out a way.”

A sigh escaped your lips, half drenched in sleep.

*

It was the last place he wanted to be. It was the only place he wanted to go.

He slipped into a hoodie and pulled on a pair of shoes and stepped out onto the deck. The air was still somewhat saturated, humid, but the rain was holding off for now. It was warm but he wasn’t, so the hoodie stayed on.

His feet took him down the deck stairs and onto the path paralleling the river. He followed it slowly, breathing in the summer air but not really seeing his surroundings. Like in his house, he knew where he was heading, and this was just the agenda.

At some point (minutes, hours, he really didn’t know how much time had passed) he came to that small clearing of trees.

And there you were.

Nathan took a jagged breath and sat down next to you. His pants were soaked in an instant, but he didn’t care. He was more annoyed that you were cold and wet (he briefly considered how funny you would find the double entendre, and probably tell him that you were definitely wet but he never made you feel cold) and chuckled again when he could hear your scoffing insistence that you were fine here in your special spot.

You weren’t fine. He knew this and wished desperately that you could tell him, tell him anything, say something.

He wasn’t fine. And he definitely did mind.

Nathan didn’t know what else to do, so he just started talking.

“So, uh...I know it’s been a while. I’ve just been really busy, trying to get the AI just right, and...I’m sorry I’ve been away. That’s not what I meant to happen. I’ve been working pretty much non-stop, I know you would be nagging me to get some sleep and eat better and all that shit. And...I wish you would. I would listen to you, for once.”

Silence and the far-off chirp of a bird were his only reply, so he continued.

“I know I shouldn’t be working so much, but I kinda have to. It’s the only way I feel close enough to…”

His throat was acutely, suddenly dry. He did his best to clear it. He was only marginally successful.

“So anyway, that idea I told you about, with all the cell phone data rerouting it here? It worked. Please don’t be mad at me, I know it wasn’t your favorite idea, but I’m pretty sure that’s what finally broke this open. Well, that and all the ideas we worked out together. I can’t thank you enough for what you did for me, and I know I never really did, and I probably never will…”

He had remembered to grab one thing before he left the house, stashing it in the pocket of the hoodie. He pulled it out now, a single red rose. Cliche, maybe, but they were your favorite flower.

Nathan placed it gently against the stone on the edge of the clearing. The stone with your name. It only had your first name, no dates. He could never bear to put any indicator of time on it; it was too final. Conclusive. Terminal.

He stood and started walking back. He never could stay here very long. It was absolutely ridiculous, but he usually had the feeling you would pop out from behind a tree and tease him about how impressive your joke was and he would never top it.

It wasn’t a joke, it wasn’t funny, and he wished he could prove you wrong.

But there was still something he might be able to prove. To make a few things right.

He stopped at the edge of the clearing.

“I have someone else coming to the house this week. He works for the company, he’s a coder...he looks like a good kid. I’m gonna use him to test this model. This really could be the breakthrough we’ve...I’ve...been looking for.”

Nathan turned his head back briefly, to say one last thing before he headed back to the house, before he had to get back to his work.

“I promise I’ll come back soon and tell you all about it.”

The rain started softly coming down again.

~end~

tag list: @anetteaneta​ @darksideofclarke​ @girlwiththemostcake​ @rosemarysbaby13​ @spider-starry​ @writefightandflightclub​ (tags are always open if you want in just give me a holler and say so)

[mythrilhusk]

Our World - Chapter One

Technoblade-centric; obligatory Greek Pantheon/The Office AU, No shipping, Not RPF

2.4k words, slightly funny (maybe?), AO3 Link, 

Features ND/Schizophrenic!Technoblade  - (Written by myself, an actually schizophrenic/neurodivergent person... Neurotypicals/Non-psychotics should not attempt this.) 

CW: Intrusive thoughts/visions/urges, auditory hallucinations

Elysium's smallest company branch rests unobtrusively in the town Oneiros, buried in some backwoods county. Technoblade reads through the list of employees once more as his taxi weaves through a mountain pass. His equipment sits on the seat beside him, while the rest of his luggage bounces in the trunk. 

Elysium's CFO, some guy named Eret, hired Techno on the spot when he came to the interview. Seemed kinda desperate, but eh, so was Technoblade. 

H's not entirely sure why they would only hire one guy to do this job. Eh, work is work, and they sure pay well enough. They're providing an apartment, too. An actual roof over his head will be nice, for however long Techno can keep the job. He bets a week, tops. 

The narrow road crests over the top of the mountain, revealing the town beneath sprawling in the valley. The Elysium office building juts out of the south side of the town, an ugly block of concrete and glass. Technoblade wrinkles his nose in disdain, silently agreeing with chat as they mock the displeasing aesthetics.  

When his taxi pulls up into the parking lot, Technoblade piles his luggage and equipment on the sidewalk before paying the driver. He adds a tip, too, though he can barely afford even that much. The driver's pale cheeks stretch in a nervous smile as he clutches the money; he's too afraid to protest the miniscule tip. Techno doesn't make an effort to smile back, too busy ignoring visions featuring the bloody crunch of the man's neck between his thirsty teeth. 

The taxi peels away, leaving Technoblade alone in the chilly mountain air. With ringing ears and a heavy huff, Techno gathers his stuff and heads into the building. 

The receptionist plays on his phone, ignoring Technoblade even when he raps his knuckles atop the boy's shaggy brown hair. "Tubbo," He grunts, recalling the appearance from the employee list. 

Tubbo starts, staring up at Techno with wary intensity, like a tiger cub encountering a wild boar for the first time. Techno smiles wryly at the boy, who must still be younger than eighteen. Chat clamors for blood, urging him with the weight of his knife, but Technoblade doesn't entertain them. 

"Technoblade." Tubbo regains his composure and holds out a hand. "I'm so glad you're finally here, big man, we've been waiting." 

"Why the rush?" Technoblade snorts, ignoring the proffered handshake. Physical contact irritates him. 

Tubbo drops his hand. "We just really like documentaries about ourselves, yeah?" 

"K." It's not his place to question a gig, although chat goes wild with suspicion. "Where am I staying?" 

"Oh, right, you'll be staying with Philza. Heh, try not to piss him off. Or do, it'll be funny." Tubbo waves to the rest of the wide room. "Phil! Your roommate's here!" 

"Fuck off, mate, I told you bastards, I don't want a fucking roommate." Techno recognizes the man who speaks as the dude in charge of customer relations: Philza. His golden hair glints with hints of fire, setting off his blue eyes, as merciless as the stars. 

Chat froths, raging for blood, blood, blood, but Techno mentally bats them away. "K, welp, I was promised boardin' with this gig. I don't really care where; just get me a place to stay." Technoblade shrugs, baring his teeth in a smile that's just south of friendly. 

Philza smiles too, showing off his fangs. Tubbo holds up his hands, saying, "Woah, woah, here. Phil, it's your turn. It's not gonna last long, anyway." 

"Heh? Turn?" Technoblade chuffs, even as the cacophony that is chat hisses, technodead, technodead, lmao, RIP- Shut up, chat, we are not dead yet. 

Philza's grin widens maliciously. "Oh, did Eret not tell you?" 

"That dude told me the bare minimum, man, I dunno, I dunno what you expected." 

"You're not the first film crew he's hired," Tubbo says with a faux apologetic shrug. Before Technoblade can protest the use of crew to describe one man, Tubbo continues with the barest hint of a smirk. "But the other ones died, just like you will." 

Technodead, technodead, EEEEEE, RIP, RIP, F, EEE, lmaooo, F, rainbowchat- "Get outta here," Techno drawls, narrowing his eyes. Not for the first time, he wishes chat had a physical embodiment he could punt. "Technoblade never dies." 

"We'll see," Philza muses, his eyes twinkling with the apathetic amusement of an ancient god toying with mortals. Hazing, that's all this is. Phil hands Technoblade a business card. "Don't be late." 

Techno scans the card, appreciating the flaming torch insignia etched into the bronze-inked paper. Ares, god of war... Chat hisses the allusion, seeming in awe of this man who has taken a god's symbol. Techno flips it over to find the address, and then raises an eyebrow at Phil. "What time?" 

Philza picks up a stack of papers from the massive copy-printer and strides back to his desk. "Before evenfall." 

Welp, that's that interaction over with. Technoblade notes how all the other office workers are studiously ignoring him. He turns to Tubbo. "Where's the boss?" 

Tubbo puffs out his cheeks and crosses his arms, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Are you, are you going to complain to our manager, mister?" 

"Yeah," Technoblade plays along. "I'm giving you a three star review." 

"Oh, that's not bad." 

"Out of ten." 

Tubbo's visage darkens, and Techno gets an uneasy feeling like a hurricane is about to hit. The feeling passes, though, as Tubbo pouts. "I deserve more than that, man! Give me six stars, at least!" 

"Tell ya what, if you show me where the regional manager's office is, I'll raise my review to seven stars." 

"Done!" Tubbo cries, and points to an inconspicuous pair of doors on the other end of the room. "One leads to Manager Puffy, the other leads to Manager Schlatt. Choose wisely, good sir." 

Techno hums approvingly, then draws out his pad of stickers from his coat pocket. Tubbo's eyes widen and he gasps, bouncing excitedly as Techno sticks a sparkly gold star to his forehead. "Good work, nerd." 

Tubbo just stammers, plopping back into his chair with a blissful expression. Heh. Stickers work every time. Chat begs for stickers of their own, beg to be called nerds, beg for even a little taste of blood, but they don't deserve any rewards after being so bad all day. 

Techno strides over to the managers' office doors. Each has a whiteboard on the front, with various scribbles over them. One has a fluffy sheep, and says in swirly script, //The captain is IN//. The other has various dicks doodled on it, and the only word written is, //Candice//. Chat breaks down in immature giggles. Technoblade opts for the former. 

He knocks politely. A woman's voice replies, "Enter." 

Opening the door, Technoblade scans the room. There's a full bookshelf covering one wall, and a low bureau across the opposite. A bay window sheds light across the manager's desk, tinted by the grey-green curtains. 

A woman rises from her chair, her expression hidden by the sunlight behind her. Her waves of hair-- half brown and half silver-- sparkle with the dewdrop diamonds haphazardly woven in. 

"District Manager Puffy?" Technoblade bobs his head to her. 

"Call me Captain Puffy," Puffy replies, and her teeth glint in a wild smile as she tosses her head. "You're the new film crew Eret hired?" 

"Uhh, apparently." Technoblade appreciates that she doesn't hold out her hand to greet him. "He never specified what kind of film he wanted, though, so-" 

"Don't worry about that," Puffy tuts, "I'll give you instructions when you're settled in." 

"K." Technoblade can respect this kind of person. Chat has been subdued and pouting for the past few minutes by his refusal to give them any sort of attention. He takes mercy on them and stares at the model ships on the bureau, letting them coo over the complexity and aesthetic. 

"Uh, Mister Blade?" Puffy's voice intrudes on his appreciation of the ships. 

"Just Techno is fine." Techno refuses to look away from the ships, since they're keeping chat happy for the moment. 

"You'll be assigned a desk tomorrow, and you'll be given tasks around the office to, to acclimate and get to know your coworkers. Later, you can start filming random candid moments. We want a sort of documentary detailing our office lifestyle." Puffy hands a paper flyer to Techno. 

Glancing through it, Techno frowns. "What exactly does Elysium sell?" 

"We need a better PR team, which is why we've hired you. Elysium strives for the betterment of lives and the strengthening of minds." Puffy completely fails to answer the question. Chat calls her a sussy baahka, and Techno shoots a pointed glare at the bookshelves. He's definitely not giving chat any stickers tonight. 

Puffy seems ready to dismiss him, so Techno bobs his head once more to her and opens the door. A strange noise, like the crashing of waves against a rocky shore, resonates through the air, halting him. Her eyes snap wide, glittering with something cold and unforgiving, yet somehow comforting and protective. "Pray to your god for mercy and it shall be given." 

Technoblade chuckles, smothering the fire lit behind his eyes. "I'm kinda an atheist, Brizo; if there are any gods out there, they'll be begging me for mercy." He realizes too late that his extensive knowledge of the ancient Greek religion has escaped his tongue. Chat screams with excitement as they put together the allusions to the referenced spirit, Brizo, patron of sailors and prophecy. What a bunch of nerds. 

Captain Puffy stares at him, her smile twinkling: sun rays piercing through storm clouds. "Of course, Hades." 

Technoblade smiles back at the retort-- he's always been partial to the god of wealth-- and he bobs his head in deference to her once more. Any fellow partaker of old stories easily gets put in his good book. Puffy bows back, and Technoblade takes that as his cue to leave. He closes the door behind him.  

Spotting the break room, Techno makes his way towards it, weaving through the desks. He pulls out his last, wrinkly dollar and slips it into the vending machine, then selects one of the bags of cookies. Sitting down with it, he inspects the coworker who's followed him in. "Tommy, right?" 

The youth-- the sole employee in HR-- scowls, his ocean-blue eyes narrowing with scorn. "Who the fuck do you think you are, Technoblade??" 

"Heh?" The teen's aggressive tone sets him on edge: hands itching and teeth aching and eyes burning for blood, blood, blood- no. No more of that. "Tommy, I just, I just got here? What are you upset at me for?" 

"I'm just askin', Techno. Who do you think you are?" Tommy juts his chin out challengingly. "There can only be one boss man here." 

"You wanna be the boss?" Technoblade rips open the bag of cookies. 

"Well, obviously." 

"Best me in single combat and we'll see." Technoblade is only jesting, of course. Even if the kid agreed to the fight, it would be unfair. 

"Yes! Meet me in the parking lot in thirty minutes, idiot, and I'll fuckin' wipe the pavement with your ugly face!!" Tommy whoops and skips out of the break room before Techno can explain he was only joking. 

Great. He's going to be fired for challenging a coworker to a fight, now. This will officially become the shortest job he's ever held, beating his last record by three hours. Technoblade munches his cookies and refuses to listen to chat as they bully him for making such a mess of his last chance. 

When he's finished his cookies, Technoblade goes down to the parking lot, figuring that if he's going to be fired, he'd better do it in style. 

Tommy waits for him, the breeze whipping through his blond hair. "No weapons, no magic, just me an' you, Technoblade." 

"K." Technoblade shrugs, not seeing any point to telling the teen that magic doesn't actually exist. It was probably a sort of ironic joke, anyway. 

Tubbo stands on the sidewalk, cheering for Tommy. Another teen leans on the wall behind Tubbo, seeming paler than should really be healthy, with a mop of black hair covering their ears. 

"En garde!" Tommy cries and leaps to punch Techno.

Swaying to avoid the blow, Techno jabs Tommy in the gut with his knuckles. The youth staggers back, face distorted in pain. Technoblade remains relaxed, raising his hands. "Feel free to back out any time." 

"Fuck you!" Tommy roars and charges, fists flailing. The picture of waves recklessly dashing themselves against an implacable cliff comes to mind. 

Technoblade deflects the first fist and takes the wrist of the followup, twisting his arm behind his back. Tommy shrieks in rage and attempts to rip his arm away. Techno releases him and steps forward. "Sorry, but you ain't winnin' this." 

"I will fucking end you!" Tommy once more flies into the fray. 

Technoblade decides to go slightly harder on him. He sends Tommy stumbling with a single smack to his shoulder. When Tommy tries to flail fists at him again, Techno trips the boy. Tommy's back slams into the pavement, air whoofing out of his lungs. 

"Y-you fuckin'-" Tommy wheezes for air. "I will not lose to you-" 

"Looks like it's too late for that," Technoblade chuffs, watching the boy as he struggles to his feet. 

Tommy sneers at him. "I, I'm feeling fuckin' merciful today. I won't kill you this time." 

"I suppose I can return the favor." Technoblade smirks. He turns his back on Tommy to rub in how little of a threat the teen is. Not that Tommy will understand the gesture, but it boosts Techno's ego and makes chat jeer. 

Tubbo and the other youth, a sales rep by the name of Ranboo, stride over. "That was sick!" Ranboo cries, eyes aflame with hero-worship as he stares at Technoblade. 

Tubbo smiles implacably as he pulls Tommy to his feet. "Win next time, big guy. I lost five dollars to Ranboo on that." 

"Fuck you, Ranboo," Tommy snarls, clinging to Tubbo's arm even as he's standing. "Bet on me, next time!" 

"But you lost! I think that's pretty funny." Ranboo glances back up at the windows of the office. Several pairs of eyes seem to be peering down. Great. An audience to Technoblade's last few moments of employment. 

Tommy grumbles as he storms to the doors, "I'll fucking beat you next time, Techno, see if I don't!" 

The phrasing seems odd, in that it implies Technoblade isn't about to be fired for beating up his teenage coworker. 

[inspirationdivine]

The Best First Impressions || Morgan & Lydia

Lydia and Morgan finally meet. It’s a time. 

(drug manipulation tw)

It was a warm spring day. There was no breeze, and the sun shone brightly overhead. Lydia wasn’t the only one headed to the beach, but she’d recently stumbled across a little alcove that was tricky to reach, so few people did. The jagged, uneven boulders that blocked the way in would challenge even those with the best balance. Fortunately, Lydia had a winged advantage that helped her balance, and with no one watching, she was over in no time. Only a small handful of people were here, most lazying in the sun. Setting down her beach towel, Lydia slid off her dress to reveal a yellow bikini, and promptly waded into the water, shivering in delight at the liquid chill. 

Morgan had grown guilty over sinking down in the pool so often and found that a steady walk to the beach offered a different brand of nothing to fill the day with. The ocean had its own movement, it’s own pressure, so fierce it seemed like chaos. She let out the air in her lungs slowly and sank, eyes open, deep into the current as the waters churned and her body was carried back and forth in the saddest lullaby rock. But dead girls didn’t sleep. And sometimes, Morgan thought, they didn’t think much of a little mischief. A woman’s leg passed her as she drifted. She reached up and found she could just graze her skin. With the weight of the ocean pressing around her, the pressure was so faint it was more akin to grazing the idea of skin, the concept of a body. When it passed again. Morgan grabbed her ankle and pulled, just long enough to submerge her hair and bring her face to face with Morgan’s dead eyed stare. She was pretty, she thought distantly. She almost felt bad for ruining her perfect hair. Morgan let go and watched her. 

Of course, at such low tide it wasn’t surprising that the seaweed was thick in the water as she swam along. It brushed along her calf, but Lydia was no spring chicken and knew better than to startle at such a minor thing. The water was so cold it was soothing, refreshing her mind and pulling her away from nicotine stained painting and surly humans. It stopped being soothing, naturally, the moment a claw wrapped around her ankle and dragged her underwater. Her wings plunged underwater as Lydia tried to get her bearings, blinking a few times before seeing the face in the water in front of her, pale and dead in appearance. Lydia shrieked soundlessly, bubbles erupting  in front of her as Lydia writhed to be released. It - whatever the hell it was - let her go and Lydia gasped as she broke the surface, coughing and hacking up water as she struggled straight for the shore, looking frantically behind her at the dangerous depths. Wasn’t anywhere in this town pleasant?

Morgan stayed where she was a moment, watching the woman retreat before the waves pushed her ashore enough to make breaking the surface easy. Somewhere faraway, she imagined she was falling too easily into these petty crimes against social norms and decency. But the look on people’s faces, the wrongness of it all, struck something familiar inside Morgan that she couldn’t get to on her own. It brought her almost up to a real feeling. She lifted her head above the waves and spouted an arc of water from her mouth. “Careful out here, the beach can be a weird place,” she said. She crawled up the sandy floor and lay where the water could leave the faintest of scratches on her skin as it washed over and back, not noticing the clams scuttling up behind her. 

It had followed her up. The woman had followed her up - Lydia realised, not a mindless beast at all but a prankster. Coughing, Lydia rolled her shoulders to dry her elytra and wings, glamoured as they were. “Oh, you’ve had your fun, haven’t you?” As her heart slowed, Lydia became less afraid, and more impressed. It was at the very core of who fae were, after all. Tricksters and mischief. Lydia coughed again, the salt water burning the back of her throat. Perhaps not too impressed. Her eyes slid past Morgan as the sands began to shift. “You should take your own advice. Behind you!”

Morgan shrugged in reply to the woman’s question. She was taking this all very well for someone who had been frightened enough to scream. She wondered if something had happened to her to make her used to this sort of thing. She certainly didn’t look very dead, so it couldn’t be that. “I have a lot of time on my hands,” she deadpanned. And try as she might, no walk or scare was going to change that. There was no running out, no sleep, only another hour to fill and another one after that. So there was no alarm when she turned and saw the giant clams toddling up on strange spindly legs. She inched back on the sand. They looked like some nightmare version of a children’s cartoon. Too big for their feet and too strange and real to be cute. She continued to stare as one of them opened its strange clam mouth and chomped eagerly on her toes. “Shit,” she said. More mystified than anything else. She inched farther away and held up her foot, toe bones already sprouting back, for the woman to see. “Did you know it was gonna do that?” She asked. 

"I can tell, accosting strangers like that," Lydia replied haughtily. "Perhaps you should consider a hobby." She wrung out her hair, watching the other warily. And then watching as the large clans arose, on squishy tendrils that didn't look like any creature she'd ever seen. Lydia didn't feel as alarmed as perhaps she should have. She watched distantly as it descended on the other woman's toes. In fact, Lydia surprised herself with a giggle. Blood oozed out of Morgan's foot, followed by bones. In the background, people were screaming. "Nope! Oh look - it might do it again!" Lydia chuckled as the clam wandered closer, looking to take another bite.

Morgan looked quizzically at her foot, which was already red with muscle and tapering with raw skin. The woman seemed to be okay, to think it was even funny and well, as Morgan lowered her foot to the giant clam and pulled away again, teasing it as she would her cat Anya. The clam snapped and scuttled, agitated, and maybe it was the breath Morgan drew to ask (because, seriously, this had freaked Erin out into logging off on her and she saw dead parts all the time), but it became kind of funny to her too. Elsewhere on the beach, people were falling over as the clams munched on their lively flesh. At least one foot of a sunbeather was not growing back anytime soon. Morgan snorted and continued her tug of war. “Shit you’re right!” She said, as the bone broke clean off and she crab walked back a few feet to show off again. “Come and see!”

Lydia watched with a wide grin on her face as Morgan teased the clam with her foot, swinging it too and fro. It bit her and Lydia gasped “Oh! You’re a zombie! That explains so much! I do not think my limbs would-” Morgan’s leg snapped off. “Oh you naughty little thing. Darling, does that hurt? No- no, don’t bite me!” Lydia giggled as she hopped back, out of the beast’s reach. This was so bizarre. The most bizarre thing was that Lydia aborred gore.. She had absolutely no stomach for it whatsoever. Yet here she was, laughing as veins and flesh stitched themselves together. Something was entirely wrong and Lydia could not find it in herself to care a single iota. 

Morgan gasped with delight. “Oh my god! You know what I am!” She kicked the clam back with her other leg and got to her feet, giggling, beside herself as it bowled into another one and flailed like a turtle on its back. She staggered up to the woman, clumsy on her still-growing feet. “No one in town knows what I am unless I tell them! They’re so dumb!” She stumbled into her, laughing still. When was the last time she’d actually laughed like this? She didn’t even remember anything being this funny when she was alive. “It doesn't hurt like you’d think. I can’t feel anything like you’d think. Not my feet, or my girlfriend, or the ocean. You know it’s just kinda heavy, like melted jello! What are you? You’re too smart to be norma--oh look!” Another beachcomber bit the dust, arms flailing like they were going down a waterslide and not into a fat clammy mouth.

“Your leg is regrowing as we speak! It is completely obvious! However, I bet you don’t grow legs every time you meet someone. Oh!” Lydia gasped, giggling so much she was finding it hard to breath. “Those humans dying bloodily over there don’t bother you too much, do they? Good grief, now that is a sight!” She disgracefully snorted in between her laughter as a human was pulled apart by two clams playing the most darling game of tug of war. “Oh, I feel so many things. All the time! It’s just so much sometimes.” She put her hands on Morgans shoulder as more laughter bubbled out of her belly. “You know I think-  I think-” She booped Morgan on the nose and giggled some more, “I think we’ve been drugged- Oh no!” As the clam surged forward, snapping at Morgan’s ankle, Lydia tried to pull the other woman out of the way, and instead stumbled so that they fell backwards, Morgan landing on top of her. Lydia’s burst out laughing again, like a teenage school girl with far too much soda in her belly. 

They went crashing down together and Morgan barely stopped her nose from cracking against the woman’s, hands bracing herself on either side of her damp head. She burst out laughing in her face and rolled off splashing sand in her hair. “Drugged! That’s--that’s the word! Mmhm, too smart to be normal--oh!” There went another set of toes. Morgan staggered up drunkenly and pulled her new friend with her. “We have to get you out of here before you’re dead like me. I did that, you know? And now look at me!” She bent her head sideways as if she might dislocate her head, then pushed them further up the shore, towards the road, squealing. “Ooh, we names, otherwise, imma call you Sandy, Sandy.” 

Lydia giggled, grabbing her purse as Morgan staggered upright and pulled her with her. “Yes yes I agree! I’m not human so I would just be dead dead which would suck there is so much I still want to do!” She followed Morgan up the shore, shaking sand out of her hair. “This is your fault! First you got me wet -”Lydia giggle snorted at that, clutching at her belly- “Then you threw sand in my hair. Hey!” A car honked them as it buzzed passed, and she pulled Morgan onto the other side of the road. “I’m Lydia. And who are you, trickster drowner zombie… person!” Lydia clearly thought this was the height of wit, snickering again.

Morgan blew a raspberry at the passing car as she flashed it the finger. She turned back to Lydia, grinning, and got up on her toes to help brush out more of the sand. “Morgan,” she replied. “I mean you could call me trickster zombie, but Morgan comes off way easier to say. And I didn’t reeeally drown you. I let you go on purpose, you know. Do I get your other card, Lydia, or is that a secret? I’ll give you a whole finger if you tell me,” she said, waggling her brows with amusement. Just don’t set it on anything pretty, it turns to goop after a while.” She laughed again, but it was more effortful to draw air to make her laughter float float as it had before.

“Morgan! That’s fun.” Lydia rolled her eyes and snorted. “You drowned me a little! Did I mention the hair getting wet?” Tragically, the more she spoke, the more she began to cringe at herself, especially the giggling and childish speaking. “Please, no fingers. I already have a dear friend who gives me bones and dead gifts. Keep your finger. Or donate it to the clams. Up to you. Let’s just say I’m much more upset about getting my wings wet than my hair.” Lydia shivered, still in a bikini, still covered in sand and still completely wet. Looking at the pair of them, Lydia couldn’t help but laugh at the situation, sitting down on a grassy embankment. “Do you think that’s a common occurence?”

“Well my humblest apologies for the fright. I didn’t know you were gonna be so nice,”Morgan said, frothing up with one more giggle as she joined Lydia on the grass. She hadn’t cared about how Lydia had felt at all was the thing. It was one of the strange twists of not being able to feel right. Everything was far away, especially strangers. She worked on squeezing out the water from her own hair and clearing off the sand from her one piece bathing suit and shorts. She had to concentrate, eyes on each gesture so she could tell when she was actually done. “You have a friend like that?” She asked. It sounded like Deirdre’s language, but she was sobering up enough to want to hold her tongue. “Your--oh. I see. Um...yeah, that’s...a good idea. They didn’t get hurt, did they? Or the rest of you? I can’t tell, you know. I try, but it’s only been a little while since I became...this.” She looked over at the bloody beach and back to the road. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “This whole place seems kind of cursed if you ask me. Hopefully not too common. It’d be nice to be able to come back.”

“Indeed. I don’t much share her fondness of death, but she’s one of my favourite people in town,” Lydia mused, settling back to look at the blue sky over had, as goosebumps ran up her body. “No. Although I suspect if we’d stayed giggling much longer I would have ended up like those humans over there. What do you think? Six deaths? It might even make it into the paper.” Sighing, Lydia shook her head, because human death was no longer as amusing as it had been a few minutes ago, and now it was starting to make her feel a little nauseous. At least she had company to distract herself. “So you can pretend to drown more people?” Lydia asked with a wry tongue in cheek smile as she looked the young zombie over. “New to being a zombie, but not new to the supernatural. No wonder you’re filling your time with underwater trickery. The clams weren’t there last time I went to that specific alcove, which is all the more pity. Perhaps now they’ve eaten they’ll return to nests… or whatever it is that clams do.”

“She is, huh?” Morgan said softly, her smile turning lopsided. In the fae world in town, as far as she knew, that could only be Deirdre. She turned her attention back to the sand on her shorts to avoid any telling attention from Lydia. To be with a human was, apparently, unspeakably wrong, but was a zombie much better? She could live as long as they could, and she could...do other things, she supposed, not that she could think of any. “I guess if she’s like you, she’d be pretty tough to beat,” she shrugged. “And I don’t…” she hesitated, trying to be as truthful as possible without embarrassing herself. “It was just kind of an impulse,” she said. “I don’t make it a habit...underwater, at least. I did grab an ankle in a graveyard yesterday, though. They ran away before I could say anything else. Um...I didn’t used to be like this.” Well, she had sold rocks to lonely old ladies in Arizona and hockey moms and desperate teenagers. And she had helped Vera land a monkey’s paw. And Kaden that bowl. But it had seemed different then. No one, at least, had screamed. Or run for the hills. She looked over her shoulder at the carnage, which appeared to be dying down at last. She winced. Those poor people. And those body fragments, split and bleeding into the sand, the muscle still red and-- Morgan looked back to the street, hands over her stomach. “However many it is, it’s not pretty. But maybe the rest of the world will catch a break, yeah. Do you, um, need help getting to your car or anything?” She offered. She didn’t feel any hunger pull from here, not while she was looking away, but she felt better getting on the move sooner.

Lydia’s eyes flicked sideways to Morgan, at that small sweet smile, but didn’t say anything at all about it. Recently dead zombie with a girlfriend? There were probably not that many in town, after all. “You don’t have to defend yourself to me. I’m fae, we’re fans of trickery, however temporarily frightening it may be. I have no doubt you’ve changed plenty, recently, there is not shame in that” She turned her gaze to the beach, the bloodied sand as cars began to slow and take out their phones to document the carnage. She wondered if anyone had called animal control, or an ambulance. It didn’t seem likely. Lydia shrugged, looking back at Morgan as she rose to her feet. “No, I don’t need any help, but if you’d like to walk with me, then I’d certainly like the company.” Lydia replied. “At the very least, I’d like to get to know the woman Deirdre is so fond of a little better in person.”

Morgan’s confidence lasted only until Lydia dropped her girlfriend’s name. She went still, a deer in a trap, and opened her mouth stupidly, saying nothing. “How--how do you--” She was doing a terrible job of discretion. If it had been a gamble before, it was confirmed now. She hadn’t even needed the ability to blush. “You said...she’s one of your favorite people. A-are you..are you the one she told about me?” She was careful online, though she no longer flirted with other women. They had only been out a few times, and Deirdre, in an unwitting twist of luck, had a way of going on things that looked like dates, but that she insisted were nothing of the kind. Maybe it was safe. How else could anyone know? “You should know I’m bound not to say what she is. She offered to release me, but I said no. I want her to be as safe as possible.” She searched Lydia’s face, but her coyness was inscrutable. “Um...anyway...a walk is good.” She looked guiltily back at the beach and lamented not having her new phone with her. Someone else would surely call for help though. “You can lead the way I guess.”

“She told me when you died, although she certainly hadn’t planned to.” No human was worth a rift between them, but that didn’t make Lydia curious. Perhaps it was folly to hope that there would be something special in this one, that continued to shine through now she was a zombie. She had to have been extraordinary. It was the only way Lydia could reconcile it in her mind. “As you should. Promises should be kept regardless of the magical intent holding them. Darling, I have no plans to trick you into revealing something you would rather not.” Not that Lydia would need to plan it, if it came to that. Lydia smiled, holding her handbag close as she began walking to her car, careful not to expose her bare feet to anything dirty in the grass. Ugh, driving would be quite the nightmare. 

“Thank you, for being there for her,” Morgan said. “I mean I know you--it’s nothing to do with me, I know that, but still. Thank you.” She offered a tentative smile. It was too late to wipe the ‘please like me’ look from her face, so Morgan shifted her attention ahead of them and hoped that when the clam juice had altogether worn off, Lydia thought the whole ocean incident was still a harmless, fae-tastic time. “And I agree, about promises. I mean, I’m dead so magic isn’t really…” She couldn’t finish the thought and shrugged it off like a bad chill. “But I never needed the magic before, so it feels the same, so I just pretend that it’s still...yeah. So,” she tried to imitate her brighter, livelier self, “How long have you two known each other? This place is good for making fast friends, I’ve found.”

“Just don’t die again. That would be rather unfortunate,” Lydia replied, looking at Morgan with a raised eyebrow. “Deirdre has kept your confidence, I know very little about you, nor the circumstances of your death. All I know is that Deirdre was so upset that she could barely keep herself standing with the weight of it. I don’t want to see her like that again.” Just as quickly as her sterness had appeared, she smiled again. “I have no doubt she appreciates it. We’ve known each other four months, I think? We met at Al’s diner of all places, but we have a lot in common. Like you say, we clicked fast. So how did you meet her?”

“I don’t want to do that to her either,” Morgan replied firmly. It was true, and all the more difficult for how her presence seemed to carry that kind of grief in her wake no matter what she did. “I didn’t plan on dying. But, I was cursed, and I was looking for a cure, and some ghost--jerk,” Now that they were both more themselves, Lydia seemed too proper to swear in front of. “Wrecked my spell to get answers and loosed the poltergeist I was interrogating on me, and then I died. And then someone tried to help me, and...here we are today.” Not the whole, detailed truth, but the gist. She sighed, helping her to drop the anger hiding below her over her mortal life. Had to work on her first impression. “That’s really nice,” she said, in a way she hoped sounded light and friendly. “We started talking on the social network, every day, without really meaning to. And then I met her at karaoke night, just out of the blue. She has the most incredible--” Everything. “The most beautiful voice, if you haven’t heard her before. And Al’s really does have the best pie. We’ve had some good memories there too.” And some less great. Morgan remembered coloring them fondly because everything had worked out alright in the end, but had it? Had it been worth it to lose her to this? Would it still be worth it if Morgan didn’t know how to come back?

So she’d beat the curse, Lydia thought, but heard enough frustration on Morgan’s voice not to say it. No wonder the woman was angry, though, for someone else to change her life so much, so cruelly. Even if it had turned out for the better. Morgan would at least come close to deserving Deirdre now. But like with Regan, understanding that would take time. “I’ve not heard her sing before, no. It sounds like you’ve had a lovely time together.” Smitten. As she should be, for a woman like Deirdre. Lydia pulled her key from her purse and clicked open her car. “Do you want a ride?”

“We did. Lots of them, really. She’s amazing,” Morgan murmured wistfully. Realizing she was no longer sharing anything useful but staring off into space, remembering shared slices of pie at Al’s, weekends up late with Grey’s, and mornings with lazy breakfasts and braiding her soft hair. The cemetery dates, the dinners, nights talking with nothing but wine sustaining them. They’d been happy, so happy Morgan had gotten reckless with her life. And now they were...here. Like this. She looked back at Lydia. “I’d really appreciate that, actually. I walked, and it is far, even if I don’t get normally tired. If you’re really sure it’s okay?”

“Of course she is.” Lydia replied, eyeing Morgan as the Zombie gazed into the middle distance. Deirdre was wonderful, charming, and at time a little unusual, but it added to her charm. She wasn’t yet convinced by this newly-unhuman person. She certainly couldn’t imagine what Deirdre could have seen in her before. Of course, Lydia had been wrong before. She smiled amicably. “I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t mean it, my dear. You’ll have to tell me your address, though. Or wherever it is you want to go.”

“O-oh. Right.” Morgan sputtered under Lydia’s strange matter-of-course grace and airs. She wanted to know what she really thought about--anything, really. She couldn’t tell if she liked her or was just humoring her, and whether or not this was some kind of weird fae best friend test. She gave Lydia a small, sheepish smile that didn’t sit right with her. She gave it up quickly and said, “Just...home. I mean, Deirdre’s.” She gave the address and folded her hands over themselves as if she might break something. “Thank you, Lydia. Really. We should...I don’t know. Meet properly. Less trickery, maybe some drinks. I was good at cooking, before I died. And I know a lot of fae-friendly recipes now.”

Deirdre liked her secrets, it appeared. As Lydia quickly realised when Morgan gave the address, she actually had no idea where the fae lived. As Lydia settled in to drive, she looked over at Morgan one last time, and offered a genuine smile. “Drinks sometime would be wonderful, darling.” In so many ways, the zombie still behaved so very human. That was okay, though; it was entirely fixable. 

[jooheonspinky]

Enchanted Night

Image Credit: @OfficialMonstaX

Characters: Minhyuk and Female Reader

Word Count: 4.7K

Synopsis: Accepting an invitation to a Halloween beach party, Y/N tags along with her best friend. There, she meets a young man with whom she hits it off with right away. But he is not all that he seems.

   “Your cup’s almost empty!” her friend exclaimed in mock horror as she eyeballed Y/N’s cup. “Lemme get you a refill right quick.”            “No, no. I’m goo-.” Ignoring YN’s protests she snatched the cup and sauntered off, a little bit wobbly on her legs. “Aish, Lucy!” Y/N sighed.            It was Friday night and they were mingling at a beach house party. It was a tradition that had started a few years ago. The weekend nearest Halloween, a group of friends would rent a beach house and any one was welcome to come and party for two nights. Lucy and Y/N had gone each year, though they always rented their own space within walking distance.            She wasn’t much of a drinker and went mostly because Lucy insisted. Lucy was the outgoing, dancing till her feet gave out, and drinking til she puked kinda gal, while Y/N… Well, she preferred staying outside the edge of all the hoopla.            Leaning over to take a peek towards the kitchen, Y/N could see Lucy there pouring (mostly spilling, really) various liquors into her solo cup. Shaking her head, she scurried towards the sliding doors and escaped out into the night.            This was Florida. Though it was fall, it was the perfect time and weather to be there at the beach. October still offered warm days and just slightly cool nights. As she shut the door, muting the music and chatter, she headed down the deck, skirting past several couples making out.            Reaching the end of the plank way, she pulled off her shoes and sighed blissfully as the ocean breeze whispered through her hair and her toes sunk into the sugary soft sand. The roar of the ocean waves crashing on the shore blocked the noise from the party going on a few yards behind her. A fire pit had been lit not too far from the shore and there were a few people there roasting marshmallows and hanging out. Angling away from them, Y/N found an empty lounge chair and sat, dropping her shoes beside her.            Leaning back, she gazed up at the inky blackness above her, awestruck by the vast amount of stars she could see. It was truly amazing how many we really don’t see because of the city lights.            “This seat taken?”            Jumping at the unexpected voice intruding her thoughts, Y/N laughed, a slight tremble audible in the timbre.            Shaking her head, her voice faltered as her gaze drifted up, up, way up into the face of the stranger beside her, “N-No. Take it if you want.”            Lord, he had to be the most gorgeous person she had ever seen. There was an almost androgynous look to his features that made his appearance all the more beautiful.            “Well, actually, I was wondering if I could sit here with you,” he smiled broadly at her.            Eyes widening in surprise, Y/N swallowed hard, trying to moisten her throat that had suddenly gone bone dry.            “Uhm, yeah. Sure. Go ahead.”    Drawing her legs up, she wrapped her arms around them and tried to focus on the waves smashing onto the shore in front of her. The silvery moon’s reflection caused the ocean to glitter like sparkling diamonds...and the view helped calm her nerves. She was not used to talking to anyone as attractive as him and prayed she would not make a fool of herself.    “I’m Minhyuk, by the way.”    Turning to face him, she saw the outstretched hand peeking out of the oversized light brown sweat shirt. The digits were long, thin, and almost delicate looking. She slid her hand into his, watching how his warm fingers wrapped around her own. His grip was firm, telling her he was not a frail, weak man whatsoever.    She swallowed thickly, forcing her eyes from their joined hands and up to his face. A mischievous grin played on his pretty lips yet again. There was something there in those dark sparkling eyes. Like he knew something she didn’t.    “Y/N,” she finally replied.    “Nice to meet you, Y/N.” Gently slipping his hand out of hers, he settled back in his own chair. With his fingers laced behind his head, he crossed his legs at his ankles and turned to look out at the very waters she’d been taking in moments before. “I haven’t seen you here before. Do you live around here?”            With his eyes no longer on her, she could feel herself relax a tiny bit. She sat cross-legged now hands on her knees.            “No, I live about three hours from here. I’m only here for the weekend.”            “I see.”            “What about you?”            He chuckled softly, “I live near the water's edge.”            “That must be nice, living so close to the ocean,” Y/N sighed. “I have to drive a ways to get to any beach.”            “It is magical living near the water,” he smiled over at Y/N. Smile widening, he sat up, “You want to dance?”            Caught off guard, Y/N swiveled and placed her feet on the sand as she repeated, “Dance?”            “Yeah,” he pointed with his chin towards the group that was around the fire pit. She’d been so enthralled by Minhyuk that she hadn’t even noticed that the group had started playing music. Now it was plain as day as the beats and lyrics flowed over on the wind. She instantly felt her cheeks burn.    “Uhm…”    He stood and offered a hand to her. Only hesitating a moment, she let him lift her up from her chair and into his arms. One of his hands slid down to her waist, while the other that held her hand didn’t let go. Instead he held it against his heart.    He began to move to the music. The movements were so sensual that she found it was becoming difficult to breathe. She let him guide her and soon they were moving together. As the music transitioned to something slower, he slid his other hand to her waist and pulled her closer.  He then began to sing along softly and her eyes widened as she leaned her face back to watch his lips follow along with the lyrics. The melodic tone that slid passed his perfect lips had her mesmerized. A gorgeous man that could dance and sing?    “You ok?” he chuckled like he knew exactly how frazzled he had her.    Cheeks flushing with heat again, she ducked her head, shyly replying, “Yes.”    “You’re so beautiful with those rosy cheeks,” he laughed as he lifted her chin with his fingers.            “Stop,” she glared playfully at him.            And those enchanting eyes of his glittered, reflecting the moonlight and the flames of the fire pit and she felt herself falling into their spell. She didn’t resist when he leaned forward. Y/N actually held her breath in anticipation, then released it only slightly disappointed when he bypassed her mouth. His lips pressed a tender kiss to her cheek and her heart danced a rapid beat beneath her ribs.            “I’m glad I met you tonight, Y/N,” Minhyuk whispered.            Y/N opened her mouth to reply, but the sound of her name being called loudly from a bit behind her had her spinning around and out of his hold. There she found Lucy trying to walk through the powdery sand with her heels on.            “There you are!” Lucy huffed in annoyance. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”            Turning back around to apologize, again Y/N found herself shutting her mouth, left without words. Minhyuk was no longer there. Disheartened to see he’d left without even saying good-bye, she returned her attention to her friend.            “I think it’s time to go,” Y/N sighed heavily as she snatched up her shoes and hurried to her friend.            She took one more wistful look behind her, but only found the cresting waves rippling in the distance.

                                             .·:*¨¨*:·.    .·:*¨¨*:·.

Lucy and Y/N stood in their motel room bathroom trying to get ready as quickly as possible. It was Halloween night and they were dressing up in costumes for the party. Lucy had chosen a sexy nurse outfit and had her face in the mirror adding large lashes to accentuate the bright blue glittering eyeshadow she wore.    With emerald green scale-patterned tights and a brown corset style top, Y/N was going for a rebel style mermaid look. She let her hair loose, adding a few thin braids and some shells randomly through her locks. Her makeup was light and natural looking, but she lathered on glittery lotion to any exposed skin and also added glitter hairspray to her hair to give off a magical appearance.    “Ready?” Lucy asked as she smacked her lips then dabbed at the corners of her mouth with her pinky.    “Yep. Let’s go.”    Slipping her feet into a pair of dark brown beach sandals Y/N opened the door, holding it open for Lucy.    Scrunching her nose, Lucy looked down at her best friend’s feet.    “Seriously?”    “What?” Y/N asked innocently. “I’m choosing comfort.”    Lucy sighed heavily, but didn’t say anything else as they walked out into the late evening. Much like the night before there was a soft ocean breeze that carried on it the scent of sea salt and a bit of coolness from the chilled waters. The moon was on its way to reaching its highest peak though it barely provided any brightness to mark their way.    Sliding her phone from her waist band, Y/N brought up the flashlight app and lit the way to the beach house. They could already make out the fairy lights that had been strung around, the lights varying from amber, purple and green to keep with the Halloween theme. The bass could be heard over the crashing waves and Lucy’s steps quickened.    “Come on, Y/N,” she urged. “The party is already well on its way!”    “I’m going, I’m going!” Y/N huffed, but stepped up her pace to match her friend’s.    It wasn’t long before they reached the plank way that led up to the deck. Tonight the outside area was just as filled with people as the inside. Looking around as they meandered through the crowd, Y/N found it difficult to determine who was who as just about everyone was in a costume. The costumes ranged from vampires to dead brides to zombies.    Lucy!” they both turned as a tall male called out her name when they stepped into the kitchen.    It was Frankenstein, green paint and everything. Judging by his height, this was the guy Lucy had been with most of the night, the previous day.    “Jeriko!” she hollered back with a pleased laugh before giving him a brief hug.    She took the drink he offered her.    “Hey, Y/N,” he offered her a nod. “Nice outfits ladies.”    “Thanks,” they replied in unison, then burst into giggles.    “Mind if I steal her for a while?” Jeriko asked, even as he hooked an elbow with Lucy.    “Naw go ahead.” To Lucy, she said, “I’ll be around if you need me. Just text me, ok?”    Lucy nodded as Jeriko began to pull her away. Sighing, Y/N made her way to the dimly lit living room area. The music was still extremely loud in this part of the house, but she was ok with that. Plopping down on the opposite end of the only available spot, she did her best to block out the couple making out just two cushions away.    Y/N glanced around the room, watching couples as they danced and groups of people as they chatted and laughed together. She smiled wistfully, liking being alone, but wishing to have the courage to join in. Her mind wandered towards the guy she’d met the night before and she wonder what Minhyuk was doing. If he were here to talk to, she wouldn’t feel so awkward.    As if her thoughts had summoned him, her eyes darted to the figure walking through the archway that split the kitchen from the living room. A young man with a faded shade of magenta colored hair stepped in. Dressed in black jeans, a black t-shirt and an unbuttoned black blazer, Minhyuk appeared a lot taller than she remembered. She took a moment to admire the sharp line of his jaw and the way his lips quirked to one side in a partial smirk. Minhyuk looked like royalty as he peered casually around the room. When his eyes finally landed on her, his smile widened causing her heart to leap in her chest. Y/N waved him over even though he’d already started walking her way. She stood, greeting him as soon as he was close.    “Minhyuk, you came,” she returned his bright smile.

He leaned forward kissing her cheek, bringing forth a flush of warmth to the area.

“Couldn’t pass up the chance to see you again.” The glint in his eyes was mischievous, his tone flirtatious causing Y/N to giggle. “Want to go outside where it’s a bit easier to hear each other?”

“Sure.”

   He reached out for Y/N’s hand, and with their fingers intertwined, they managed to get outside without being seperated.

   “Much nicer out here, little mermaid,” he commented as they headed off the deck and towards the ocean.

   “I figured that’d be the perfect costume since the party was at the beach,” Y/N shrugged with a laugh.

   Reaching the same chairs they’d sat in the night before, they removed their shoes and sandals and walked hand in hand near the shore line. The water was much too cold to walk in, but the moist beach sand felt nice beneath their bare feet.

   “You definitely had the right idea with that costume,” he complimented.

   “Thanks. So what are you supposed to be?” she queried looking up at Minhyuk briefly before looking ahead again.

   “A human,” he deadpanned.

   Y/N faltered, looking up at Minhyuk. With her forehead drawn tight, she scrutinized his face to gage if he was being serious. She let a nervous laugh leave her lips when he quirked an eyebrow at her. Pursing her lips at him, only slightly amused, she told him, “Just say you didn’t have a costume.” “Ok. Well, how about Enchanted Human?” he countered. “Would that make you feel better?” “Well, that would just make me question how much you’ve had to drink today,” she stated simply as she hugged his arm and continued their walking. Minhyuk chuckled, “Not a drop.” He didn’t resist her closeness and they continued on along the ocean’s edge. They were quiet for a few steps before he stopped and turned to look down at her. Y/N returned his gaze. She smiled reassuringly at his pensive stare. The teasing look that had been twinkling in his eyes was gone and replaced by something she couldn’t quite place. Something was very obviously weighing on his mind. “Are you ok?” she finally broke the quietness. Minhyuk released a sigh before he began to speak. “I know we just met, but I really like you.” Y/N smiled at that. “Me, too,” she assured him. “I feel this connection with you and…I don’t know. I just…,” he paused to smile boyishly and cup her cheek. “I haven’t felt this way before.” She could feel her heart begin to race at the words and the gentleness of his touch. “I haven’t either,” Y/N murmured. “Can I just… Is it ok if I…” His voice floated off in the sea breeze as he leaned down, closing the space between them. Y/N’s eyes shut in anticipation. This time his lips met hers and to Y/N, it was like brushing her lips across a rose petal. His lips were so soft and gentle as they pressed a sweet kiss onto her mouth. Nothing intrusive or forceful, just a pleasant touch of their lips. “That was really nice.” Y/N giggled “Yeah. It was,” he chuckled. Sobering up, he locked eyes with Y/N. “I have to tell you something. Well, I want to tell you something.” “Okayyy,” she dragged out the word nervously. “What I said earlier, about dressing up as an enchanted human… I was being serious.” Y/N frowned, “What do you mean?” “I told you I live by the water’s edge, but that wasn’t entirely true.” Minhyuk bit down roughly on his bottom lip as Y/N took a tentative step back. “Explain,” she demanded, her voice neutral as she crossed her arms under her chest. “I want you to keep an open mind. Know that there are things in this world beyond your imagination.” Pausing, he took a deep breath. “I come from a place deep in the ocean called The Encante. Have you heard of it?” She let out a disbelieving huff of hair. “I mean, it vaguely sounds familiar. A folklore of some sort.” Shaking her head as she wracked her mind for more details. Her eyes brightened as she recalled some information. Something she’d read on line one day when she was reading about various folk tales from around the world. “It’s a place compared to paradise where these creatures live that can shed their animal skin and change into humans. Kind of like a selkie.” Minhyuk smiled, appearing pleased by her response. “Right. My kind are called Encantado and in the water we are dolphins, but we can shed our dolphin form and walk the land as human.” Y/N eyed him silently. Her eyes bore into his as she did her best to decipher if he was telling the truth or teasing. “Are you being serious right now?” she finally asked, dropping her arms. He nodded solemnly. “I don’t know what to say. This all sounds crazy.” “It is all true. I swear,” he insisted. “I told you because I want you to come with me there, to The Encante.” “Minhyuk, we’ve only just met. Even if I believed you…I have friends and family.” Shaking her head and shrugging she added, “I can’t just leave all of them behind.” His face crumbled, panic evident in his eyes as he blinked a few times. Y/N watched his Adam’s apple bob roughly in his throat as he reached out, offering his hand. “Please come with me, Y/N.” Her heart broke to see such a beautiful being so sad, so devastated, but she would not sway. This young man truly believed he was an enchanted creature. What need was there for him to concoct such an elaborate lie to keep her in his life if they had already hit if off so well? Perhaps he he really was just plain crazy. “I can’t do this.” Frustrated and angered she took a step to stomp away. She wasn’t so much as furious with him, but with her own self as she had allowed herself to be captivated by him so quickly. Now he’s speaking of enchanted dolphins and underwater magical cities? “Wait!” he hissed desperately, his hand clasping around her wrist. She yo-yoed back, colliding with his chest. “What the hell?!” “Shhh,” he cooed apologetically. “Just…I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Look. Give me a chance to show you.” Untangling herself from him, she looked down the beach, realizing how far they’d walked from everyone. It was dark, save for the fractured reflection of the smiling moon over the shivering ocean. She returned her gaze to Minhyuk’s pleading one. What harm would it do for him to show her he was lying? “Fine,” she extended an arm dramatically between them. “Go ahead.” His face broke into a thrilled smile as he shrugged out of his blazer. “You’re the first person I’ve shown myself to. I’m actually kinda nervous.”

“Minhyuk,” Y/N sighed impatiently. “Okay okay okay.” He pressed his lips together, taking a deep breath. “Can you hold this for me, please?” She held out her hand, not hiding the agitation. “Thanks.” He then proceeded to tug his t-shirt out of his pants. “Wh-Whoa there!” she sputtered, twirling around. His laugher rung out, mingling with the sounds of the ocean and her heart lurched at the musicality of it. She humphed, hugging his jacket to her chest. There were several splashes that exploded not too far beside her. Y/N quickly turned to face the water in time to see Minhyuk’s naked pale form reach a deep enough part where he could dive underwater. Looking down to the ground she took note of a pile of clothes.

He really was going with this whole shapeshifting thing. The water had to be about 50 degrees or so, pretty cold for any normal person. But Minhyuk cut through the water as if it was bath water. He breached the surface and waved to her. She reluctantly wiggled her fingers back, sure he couldn’t see her clearly in the darkness. “Ready?” he called out and she was surprised to find she could hear him clearly. “Sure,” she replied with an exasperated sigh. Minyuk dove again, but this time what broke the surface was not a human. A swift, strong dolphin shot up into the air in an arc. Y/N staggered back a few paces, momentarily shocked by the sight. The water glistened off the mammals body like luminescent glitter. She swore he winked at her before slicing headfirst back into the water. What had she just witnessed?? Panicking, she bolted down the shoreline the way they’d come. She heard her name on the ocean’s breeze, it’s pitch so much like Minhyuk’s, but she dared not look behind her. Shortly, she reached the area of the bonfire. Music and chatter surrounded her and she was overwhelmed by it all. Eyes wide she scanned the vicinity. Not finding Lucy, she stumbled towards the plank way that lead to the deck of the rental house. There she caught sight of her friend inebriated and grinding against Jeriko. Y/N rushed up to her and yanked at her arm frantically, “I need to go. We need to go!” “Hey, what’s your problem,” Jeriko scowled at Y/N. “Awe, come on, Y/N,” Lucy groaned. “I’m having a good time.” “I have to get outta here,” Y/N insisted. Lucy eyed her, momentary concern flashed in her eyes, but then Jeriko tightened his grip on her waist and annoyance returned. “Fine. I’ll just leave the door unlocked.” Turning to Jeriko, she poked a finger into his chest, demanding, “You. You better get her to our place in one piece. Got that?” “Sure,” he grinned. Looking from one to the other one last time, she spun on her heels and headed back to the small hotel room. Once there, she curled up in the bed without changing. Only then realizing she was still clutching onto Minhyuk’s blazer. Inhaling deeply the scent of Minhyuk mixed with the ocean, she let the tears slip past her lashes unchecked.                                              .·:*¨¨*:·.    .·:*¨¨*:·.

Y/N looked down at her phone as it vibrated for the zillionth time. They were all messages from Lucy.

Lucy (10:34am): you better be outta bed

Lucy (12:17pm): Did you have lunch?

Lucy (12:39pm): Helloooo!

Lucy (1:02 pm): Please love me T_T

Lucy (1:30pm): Meet me at the cafe. No ifs ands or buts. You better be there. Don’t leave me hanging!!

Y/N (1:31pm): Fine. If only to stop your spamming.

Lucy (1:33pm):  xoxo

She rolled slowly out of bed and stomped to the bathroom. She’d refused to step out claiming she was sick. Y/N just couldn’t find the energy to smile, to speak, to dress. She wished things had been different.

With time to think about Minhyuk and all he’d told then showed her, she felt despicable for how she’d reacted. Of course anyone would be shocked, but to just run away when he was trusting her with such a huge secret? That was just wrong.

She’d gone back twice. The drive was long, but she wanted so much to apologize. She’d walked up and down the beach, calling his name, but had no luck finding him. Maybe he’d gone back home to The Encante, the fear of a human telling the world of this discovery eating up his mind.

She let her face fall in her hands while tears filled her eyes. But then she sucked in a deep breath, dabbing at her eyes and nose with a tissue. She had to stop with the tears. She rushed to get ready, a much needed distraction to hold back the waterworks.

                                             .·:*¨¨*:·.    .·:*¨¨*:·.

The bell tinkled gently above her as she stepped into the small cafe, announcing her arrival. The baristas and cashier greeted her. Glancing around the room she found Lucy waving to get her attention. Y/N sent her a small smile before heading her way. When she was not but a few paces away she noticed Lucy was not alone.

Across from her, his back to Y/N, was a guy in a black beanie. She paused a second, her face neutral, as she looked at the back of the intruder. Y/N tried to ignore the agitation that was starting to come forward. She’d thought she’d be here with just Lucy. Why didn’t she say she’d invited Jeriko, too?

Noticing her hesitation, Lucy stood and reached out to take Y/N’s hand.

Urging her forward, she told her quietly, “I ran into this guy and he told me he was trying to find a Y/N. I asked him a few questions and turns out it’s you. That’s why I asked you to come here.”

Y/N frowned at Lucy. What guy would be looking for her? Stepping behind her, Lucy gripped Y/N’s shoulders and gently pushed her forward. Once she reached the table, she turned her to face the stranger. She couldn’t help but gasp, her hand coming up to her mouth a bit too late to cover the sound. She felt her heart kick start, thrumming giddily beneath her breast. “Hello, Y/N.” Even as he smiled at her, there was a tentativeness as he waited for the shock of the moment to wear off. “I’ll leave you two,” Lucy looked from one to the other, concern wrinkling her brow. The bell jingled over the door as Lucy exited, but still Y/N stared on unmoving. So many things she wanted to say, yet emotion knotted it all in her throat. “Maybe this was a mistake,” Minhyuk mumbled as he slid out of the booth taking her silence as rejection. “I’ll just go.” Bowing her head in shame, she allowed him to take one step past her. Mustering her courage, she grabbed his forearm, tugging him back to face her. Y/N wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. “I’m really sorry, Minhyuk.” His shirt muffled her words, but he must have understood. A moment later he was hugging her back and she sighed feeling relief wash over her. He was warm and the scent of the sea lingered on him. As she drew her head back a bit, her eyes flit over his face searching for assurance that he truly had forgiven her. The wide golden smile that greeted her was all the confirmation she needed. “Let’s sit,” he suggested.

Sliding into the seat across from him she looked him over seeing how human he looked. If Minhyuk had not confessed, truthfully, she would have never known.

“I’m really sorry for running away,” she started. “Honestly, it really freaked me out, but once I got home I had time to think about it. That was a really brave thing you did, confiding such a secret. I can’t even imagine how nerve wracking it must have been wondering if I had said anything. I swear I will never tell anyone.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate that.” He leaned forward now, his eyes capturing hers. “Now that all is forgiven...where does that leave us?”

Y/N slid her hands across to take both of his in hers.

“There’s no manual out there that tells us how a human and an Encantado should be together, but I’m willing to find out along the way if you are.”

She watched Minhyuk’s eyes brighten.

“Yeah. I’d like that, too.”

                                             .·:*¨¨*:·.    .·:*¨¨*:·.

Thank you for reading!

[molzies-fanfics]

Sunsets and Snowflakes

Anonymous Requested: ‘Can you do an imagine of me and Mikey secretly dating and the turtles plus April and Casey following us to a building where I show Mikey my ice powers and we kiss and they meet me for the first time. And I’m also a fairy pixie.’

A/N: Your wish is my command anon! *Cape swish* Also I genuinely don’t know which person I wrote this in but I’m sorry s

It had been a while since you had last seen your energetic boyfriend, Michelangelo. You knew you could only see him at night and you happened to be quite busy in the day, often leaving you drained and obviously this meant you couldn’t meet him at your ‘spot’.

The ‘spot’ was an abandoned warehouse rooftop where you would practise your ice powers. Yes…ice powers. You were born with them since you were a fairy on your mother’s side.  Fairies had the ability to grow human size whenever it was deemed truly necessary, that was the case when your mother fell in love with your father anyway. But, being half human, meant you could be human sized all the time!

This also meant that you weren’t very experienced when it came to shrinking down to fairy size.

Anyway, the orange banded turtle was on patrol one evening when he heard this weird whooshing sound, kinda like a mix between sleigh bells and a wave crashing on the shore. When he realised it was coming from a warehouse, ever the curious turtle, he jumped towards the sound. Hiding behind the warehouse’s desolate sign, Mikey peered around the side to see a girl.

Instead of realising she was the cause of the mysterious sound, he saw how cute she was. Sighing dreamily, he didn’t realise she was about to send another round of icicles until one of them hit the sign exactly where his head was. Ninja reflexes kicking in, he rolled out from his hiding place with his head tucked into his shell.

At this point you were a bit startled to see an oversized turtle shell roll into view. “H-hello?” You stammered. “Hi.” Mikey sighed, only just comprehending that he was no longer ‘in the shadows’ and that you had seen him. “Did you see me?” You asked timidly, looking down at your feet. That was when the terrapin recognised your tone of voice, it was the same kind of voice he used whenever he saved another human, preparing for the sting of rejection and well, fear.

That was when he knew you understood what that felt like.

“Yeah…you were amazing! Beautiful even…” He mumbled the last part, turning kind of bashful knowing the girl’s eyes were still on him. “Oh! Thanks…um, what’s your name? I’m Y/N.”

Here it was…moment of truth. Having his limbs pop back out of his shell first, he slowly stood up before revealing his face to her. “I’m Michelangelo…but my friend’s call me Mikey.” He introduced himself quietly, a complete opposite usual bright personality. “Hi…” Y/N looked into his baby blue eyes and that was when he saw that she was blushing AND smiling!

This had to be a dream…

“Hi.”

Fast forward to six months later and here you were, waiting for him on top of the warehouse. Starting to get bored, you began practising. Tilting your head back, you looked to the wisps of dark grey above you, willing small snowflakes to fall from them. You let out a laugh as the tiny clusters of ice spiralled downwards, some landing on your face.

“There’s my angel cakes.” Came a voice from the shadows. “Hi Mikey.” A hint of laughter laced in your voice. “Hello princess!” he bounded out of the darkness, sweeping you up into his arms in an embrace. 

As soon as your feet were back on the ground you wrapped your arms around his neck, leaning your forehead onto his before he brushed his nose against yours. “I missed you.” Was all you got to say before his lips pressed gently against yours. Michelangelo was a force of nature, hyperactive and easily excited but whenever he kissed you it was like the first time all over again, shy yet passionate.

“I missed you too.” He mumbled as you parted, his eyes screwed shut as he held you close, breathing in your scent. Looking to the horizon over his shell, watching hints of a sunset disappear from view, shades of orange that reminded you of your dear terrapin boyfriend. But there was also three shadows jumping onto the warehouse opposite you.

Your arms fell as you made your way to the edge of the roof. “What is it?” Mikey saw that look on your face and knew instantly that something was wrong. “I thought I saw something.” You mumbled attempting to gaze into the ever swirling shadows beneath you.

“It was probably just a-wait…” your boyfriend paused as his face morphed into a serious one, which was rare for him. “I CAN SEE YOU GUYS!” he yelled suddenly, startling you. Wondering what he meant you glanced back over to the rooftop and saw three pairs of eyes staring back at you.

“What the heck?” looking to Mikey you saw him internally screaming as the three figures jumped into your ‘spot’. Only to realise they were also mutant ninja turtles, so these were his brothers.

“Hi, sorry to interrupt but we’ve been concerned about our little brother for the past few weeks.” The blue one stared you down, this must be Leo. “Yeah, he’s been goin’ out early or stayin’ out late and that’s so unlike him.” Raphael, the hothead of the group, flailed about. “Basically, we were just worried about him and we didn’t mean to impose on your little-” Donatello wiggled his fingers about “date.”

“You guys didn’t need to come and yes, Y/N is my super-hot girlfriend and she also has ice powers but they didn’t mean you guys had to come and gawk at her cause you’re all jelly.” You gave Mikey a ‘really?’ look as he tried to make fun of the situation. “Okay fine! I didn’t want to tell you guys because 1: I was worried about how you’d react, 2: getting this relationship out in the open would mean she’d put in danger with our enemies too and 3: that I am really serious about her but you guys need to remember that I love her and that’s the main thing that counts.”

That was when you had to do a double take. “Wait, you love me?” a nervous flurry started to sprout above your head. “Yeah I- wait I haven’t said that before have I?” His happy expression dropped at this realisation.

“No wait its fine because…I love you too.” You admitted, smiling at him shyly. “Oh.” Mikey looked like he had been punched in the gut as he teared up a little. “Maybe we should just leave you guys to it.” Leo chuckled to himself as his brothers bounded off the rooftop leaving their orange banded brother enough room to sweep you off your feet all over again.

(A/N: this was kinda rushed and ngl I think I’m trying to work through writer’s block here but I hope you enjoyed anyway!)

[gumnut-logic]

Beach Symphony

Title: Beach Symphony

Warm Rain Series

Author: Gumnut

13 Mar 2019

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: What can you hear?

Word count: 1467

Spoilers & warnings: Virgil/Kayo, pure fluff

Timeline: Sometime after ‘Love & Sacrifice”

Author’s note: For @scribbles97 though it isn’t really what she was looking for. I hope she enjoys it anyway. Pure fluff, pure indulgence on my part.

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

“Close your eyes.”

She did as he asked.

“Now tell me, what do you hear?”

It took a moment to sort out the sounds. Sitting on the edge of the lagoon, many of the sounds were predictable. In the distance, there was the ever present crash of waves against the cliffs on the far side of the island and on the other side of Mateo. There were birds, largely the only major occupants of the island beyond themselves.

Wind. She could hear wind. Living in the middle of the Pacific made it a familiar presence. It sighed across the sand and tangled in the underbrush, tantalising the palm leaves far above.

The lap of ripples near her feet.

His breathing.

His movement.

His smile.

No, she couldn’t hear him smiling, but she knew he was.

“I hear you.”

He laughed. “One track mind, Kay. Focus, love.”

“Why are we doing this again?”

“Because you asked.”

It was true. She had her own rituals, but they differed greatly from his, and she wanted to understand. He had been patient as she ran him through her meditative exercises. He claimed they helped him a little. This was simply him returning the favour.

“What do you hear?”

“Surf. Wind. The water. Birds.”

“Listen harder.”

Okay, she could do this.

“Your breathing.”

She knew he was smiling again, but she concentrated harder.

Beyond the roar of the surf, there was splashing. For a moment she thought there might be something in the lagoon, but tilting her head she realised it was coming from the wrong direction.

“Gordon, in the pool.” Probably still pissed at Alan. “Someone hammering?” She frowned. Oh, yes, Brains had plans this evening. “And someone singing.”

Who was singing?

“Grandma sings?”

“Oh yes.” His smile was in his voice. “She sings when she thinks no one is listening. She actually doesn’t have that bad a voice either.”

“Where is she?”

“I’m not sure, I can often hear her in the evenings. She goes for a walk after dinner. Sometimes I can hear her if the wind is just right.”

“Okay, so what does all this listening lead to?”

“Keep your eyes closed.” Again with the smile in his voice. “Now feel.”

“Feel?”

“What can you feel?”

The wind caught her attention first. It caressed her skin, fiddled with her hair. The sand beneath her feet, where she sat. She wriggled her toes and the grains danced on her skin.

She reached out and touched the bare skin of his leg, feeling his body hair and the firm muscle beneath.

“You’re getting predictable, Kay.”

“I like what I feel.”

She could not see or hear or feel him roll his eyes, but she knew he did it anyway.

Her hand was captured and kissed softly, his lips gentle against her skin, before he firmly deposited it back in her lap. “Concentrate.”

She sighed, but smiled anyway. “Okay, I feel the wind, I feel the sand.”

“What do you smell?”

“Salty air. Seaweed.” She couldn’t resist. “Your aftershave.”

“You are a lost cause.”

“No, I’m just very focussed.”

“Focus on the exercise.”

“I love you.”

He sighed. “And I love you, too.”

“You’re very distracting.”

“Pot. Kettle. Why do you think I usually stand out here alone?”

Now that was disquieting. “Because you need to be alone.”

“Kay-“

She opened her eyes and turned to him. He was staring out at the water, one leg bent up to lean his elbow on, the other flat against the sand. Reaching out, she touched his arm, wrapping her fingers around his bicep. His t-shirt did little to hide his physique and his shorts even less. “What do you get from doing this?”

He turned to her, his brown eyes a little far off as he thought about it. “I’m part of this.” He gestured around him. “We can’t exist outside of our environment. Being here, being so isolated, it...we are so far away from the noise of civilisation, the impact of humanity...here I can connect to the world around me. In there...” He pointed to the mountains hiding the hangers and the ‘birds. “In there, is a pinnacle of human technology. Out here...is the root.”

“And it’s quiet.”

“And it is quiet.”

It was quiet for the next few moments. She shuffled up next to him and leant her head on his shoulder. He returned to staring out at the water.

She was first to break the silence. “What do you hear?”

His chest drew in a breath and held it.

Exhale.

“Wind on the water. Surf on the rocks. Fish in the lagoon. The creaking of the palm trees. Gordon is out of the pool and yelling at Alan again. Grandma has stopped singing and gone inside. John is talking to Scott. Brains is...” He frowned. “...also talking to Scott.” A sigh. Their evening was likely to be ruined shortly. But he tilted his head. “The sea eagles are feeding their children. The terns are fishing for crabs. We have a visiting albatross again. The tide is turning and there will likely be a storm tomorrow.” He smiled. “And you are wearing the perfume I bought you for your birthday.”

How? But she didn’t ask, just leant in and caught his lips, wrapping her arms around him, pushing him back onto the sand. “You are amazing.”

There was sand in his hair, but he was smiling, his arms enveloping her as he kissed her back. A grin. “Oh, everything feels so much better now.”

She swung a leg over and straddled him. “Now, young man, you should be focussing.”

“I’m distracted.”

“You are distracting.”

“Hmm, let me feel those lips again.”

She couldn’t help but oblige.

A moment later and she sat up, putting her hands on his chest. “You still haven’t told me why?”

He simply looked up at her with a thoughtful expression as his eyes traced her in the evening light. “You said you liked my latest piece of music.”

“Yes, it is one of your best.”

“Think about the beat and listen to the ripples lapping against the shore.”

She did as he asked. Her music memory wasn’t fabulous, but she felt she had it in her mind. She frowned as the beat synced with the water.

He must have seen the connection on her face. “Now, the distant surf.”

She held her breath.

“The wind.”

Just at that moment a bird let out a mournful cry. And she had heard it before in an echoing refrain from Virgil’s piano.

She opened her eyes and stared at him. “You hear music.”

He actually blushed, looking away. “Well, kinda. The environment provides the elements and I interpret what I can.”

“What about your painting?”

He snorted, still not looking at her. “You could say, that is when I see the music.” He began fiddling with the sand beside him, picking it up and letting it drift from his fingers. Nervous fidgeting.

She caught his hand in both of hers, his thickset fingers, calloused from hard work, yet able to create so much beauty.

His eyes latched onto her hands, still not willing to look at her.

“Virgil, you are a beautiful person.”

He blinked. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

That earned him a rib tickle, her fingers dancing under his arms and down his sides. He wriggled, ever ticklish, and retaliated, catching her smaller form and rolling her onto her back, his hand under her head as he playfully wrestled for dominance, her own t-shirt and shorts now covered in sand.

He only won because his weaponry wasn’t tickling, but kissing. She found herself on her back, his body blocking out the setting sun, his lips on hers, his tongue begging entry.

She let him in and for some time there was just him.

They had to break off eventually, but he stopped only to hover above her looking down. A moment, and to her surprise he softly began to hum, then sing a melody.

She stared at him. His voice had always been gorgeous, and always brought a smile to her face, but here, almost whispered and just for her, it was magical.

There were no words, just a tune sketched out by his beautiful baritone. It was spritely, then serious, then fiery, then soft and gentle. It was backed by the sounds of the island she could now not unnotice.

Then he stopped.

Her heart almost missed a beat at the sudden absence of his voice.

“What was that?”

“That, my love, is you.”

A drawn in breath. “It’s not finished.”

His lips curled up in the corners. “It’s a work in progress.”

Reaching up, she pulled him back down and kissed him until she saw stars.

-o-o-o-

FIN.

[croatian-nt]

Play a Part(Part three)

First, second part

Summary: Šime is trying to get over Luka and while he appreciates Dejan’s help, after an incident gone wrong, he is starting to realize things might get a lot more complicated with his best friend

Pairings: Šime Vrsaljko/Dejan Lovren, Daniel Subašić/Domagoj Vida mentioned, Luka Modrić/Mario Mandžukić mentioned

Word Count: 4496

Warnings: crying, mentions of cheating, mentions of hitting(can be read as abuse but not explicit)

Notes: This is so so late I know, I am sorry I had a writer’s block and the school started but here it is. Once again thanks to my wonderful beta @wordpuddle for editing this long ass piece and not hating me because of all the typos and ‘saids’ xD. Happy reading everyone ;)

Šime decided to get the hell away from that woman. His head was still spinning and he considered if she could be telling the truth. If she did, why didn't Dejan tell him he had a wife before this mess started? The bad part was, his mind supplied him with memories of Dejan having a bit of a crush on him from the start. What if he just didn't want Šime to know, so seducing him would be easier?   Šime pushed those thoughts away. At least for now. He wasn't going to fall apart in front of this woman, who seemed to be enjoying his stunned silence.   "He didn't tell you, did he?“ She tilts her head. “I guess it's easier to pick up guys like you if he doesn't say he’s married. But didn't it seem suspicious that he would be with you? Imagine the scandal. A singer having a male lover. Poor you, you must have thought he really loved you." Her cruel words each seemed like a poisoned knife right through his heart. Šime could barely breathe. How could anyone be this cruel? He didn't know. Until today he didn't even kiss Dejan because he wanted to. He had to get away from all this.

"You said your part. Get away from my property," he hissed, turning to unlock his door.

"Enjoy him while you can. It won't last. He always comes back to me," she said, turning a knife in his heart once more. "If you are here when I look out the window, I will call the police. Don't come back." He stared her down and slammed the door behind him. When he heard the clank of her heels as she left, he finally broke down. His legs gave in and he slid down to the floor with his back against the door. A sob escaped him. His head was spinning. He was barely able to catch his breath. Would Dejan really do that? Lie to him for months just to fuck him? Was he some sort of a challenge because he was in love with someone else when they met? Was it- His thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing. Even before he flipped the phone he knew who the person was because of the ringtone. Luka. Šime's hand was shaking as he held the phone but he just didn't have the energy to resist the temptation of hearing Luka's voice. Before Dejan came along he had been his best friend. And he almost lost him because of his feelings that were always directed at the wrong person.   No, Šime didn't have any fight left in him. He swiped to accept the call. "Hello?" he whispered, his voice hoarse from crying. "Šime I know it's late but are you alright? You and Dejan disappeared so suddenly and I was worried," Luka explained, sounding embarrassed. Šime forgot how observant he actually was. Or maybe he just knew him a bit too well. "I am fine Luka. Thank you for calling me," he answered but his voice cracked near the end. Shit. He must have heard that. There was a beat of silence and Šime could hear Luka's breath catch. "Šime, are you crying?" Luka's voice was calm. But it was that calmness filled with tension hidden beneath a façade. Like a wave steadily rolling towards the shore. Always reaching its peak before it comes crashing down. "No I am-" A tear ran down his cheek, interrupting his sentence. Then another one. He tried to put a hand over his mouth to muffle his sobs but he knew Luka still heard it. "Šime? Do you want me to come over?" Luka's voice was much softer now. Šime gave himself a moment to just breathe. Luka didn't say anything else. And then he finally breaks. "Please." He chocked out. "I'll be there in ten," Luka promised before hanging up. Šime tried to calm down with little success. He barely got his breathing under control when he heard a knock on the door. As soon as Luka saw him, his face shifted from mild concern to panicking. Šime's eyes were red and his hair a mess and Luka couldn't remember the last time he saw him this miserable. He opened his arms and Šime practically collapsed on him. Luka was glad that he was strong enough from all the training because it seemed Šime didn't have the energy to hold himself up anymore. He gently guided his friend to the couch in the living room so they sat down. Šime held on to Luka like his life depended on it and Luka's heart broke. He held him until Šime calmed down. " What happened? I have never seen you like this. Please tell me what's wrong." Luka begged. It was like someone cut the brakes and everything that happened just poured out of him, starting from Šime and Dejan breaking into Luka's apartment to Dejan's wife waiting at Šime's door.   Luka listened to him carefully, letting him get it all out of his system without interrupting. After he finished with the story, Šime felt so mentally drained that he was half convinced he was going to fall asleep before Luka managed to say anything. "Okay, so I know you are tired and whatever I say right now will just fly over your head. The one thing that I need to say is that you are sleeping in my guest room because there is no way you’re staying here when that woman knows where you live," Luka explained. And Šime was too tired to put up a fight. So he packed some clothes and got into Luka's car. They drove in silence and Šime let all the memories of him and Dejan slowly replay in his head. It was a sweet torture now, when he added the realization that him falling for Dejan was probably inevitable. Being in love with Luka was like being a kid addicted to candy - it wasn't healthy but with a bit of determination you could stop it. Being in love with Dejan?  It was like clinging to sweets when someone offers you a cigarette. It seems like harmless fun - something different, but before you blink you can't spend a day without smoking. Falling in love with Luka was slow and sweet while falling in love with Dejan was fast and all at once.   When they arrived to Luka's apartment, Mario was waiting in the doorway. Šime couldn't comprehend if he was mad or worried. Then again, Mario always looked mad to Šime unless he was looking at Luka. Šime saw that Luka and Mario did their non-verbal communication again but he was too tired and mentally drained to care. He just went to the direction of the room Luka showed him and quickly changed his clothes. He could hear Luka and Mario arguing but he could only make out few words that didn't make sense to his fuzzy brain. In the end, his tired body gave up and he drifted to sleep. If he dreamed of a singer with dark eyes he wasn't going to say that, at least not out loud.

The next morning he felt a bit better but there was still a weight on his shoulders that he just couldn't shake off. He could hear Luka and Mario quietly talking in the kitchen but as soon as he appeared, they quieted down. Šime felt like he was intruding a private moment. Mario's hand was on top of Luka's and Šime noted with a slight confusion that didn't bother him. If that had happened two months ago, maybe he wouldn't be in this mess. Oh, who was he kidding. The thought of being in love with Luka was the only thing that had stopped him from falling for Dejan earlier.   "Morning," he said after a moment of silence. "Good morning. Are you feeling a bit better?" Luka asked, biting his lip worriedly. Šime shrugged. "As much as I can, yeah. I guess it's not every day that you find out your pretended fake? boyfriend has a wife," Šime joked. What he didn't expect was hearing Mario chuckle. He wasn't aware that man was even able to laugh. Under two stares, one being Šime's confused one and the other Luka's adoration, Mario's smiled faltered. "What? It was funny. I’d say almost as funny and fucked up as meeting my childhood crush and best friend after 7 years, but I think you have it worse," Mario said.

"Well that one was kinda my fault too. Vida and I planned it," Šime blurted out before he could stop himself. There was an awkward silence after that and Šime cursed his inability to keep his mouth shut. Mario and Luka exchanged one more meaningful look before Mario got up. "Well, thank you for that. Good luck with... the whole thing, I guess." Mario replied. He kissed Luka on the cheek and left the room. Šime was suddenly very interested in the design of the counter rather than Luka. "Šime. I know this is not what you want to hear but you should talk to Dejan. I’m saying this to you as a friend," Luka started. "He didn't tell me he has a fucking wife, Luka. What is there even to talk about?" Šime interrupted him, shifting, moving his gaze to his friend. Luka sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. "Don't you think he deserves the benefit of the doubt at least? I’m not saying you have to stay with him if he doesn't have a good explanation, but I think he at least deserves a phone call if you don't want to see him," Luka continued. Šime put his head in his hands, trying to compose himself. His brain kept replaying Anita's words.

Dejan's wife. My husband.

It hurt to think about it. Seeing Dejan would probably hurt even more. "I don't think I can face him, Luka. We’re not together. It was just pretend. I don't know when I stopped acting," Šime whispered. "Šime, open your eyes. It was never a game for him and I am pretty sure that it wasn't for you either. If it was, you wouldn't have kissed him the second time," Luka trailed off, seeming a bit lost in thought before continuing, "Besides you don't develop those feelings that quickly." Šime knew Luka was right. But his stomach still twisted at mere thought of facing Dejan. He wasn't even sure what he was so afraid of. "I don't know...," he muttered. There was another deep sigh from Luka before he put his hands on the counter that separated them. "Listen to me. I’ve known you for six and a half years, and one thing I noticed is being scared of loving someone. You are not even letting yourself acknowledge you like, let alone love someone romantically. I know you will probably remind me of the letter you left me but before that: Tell me, when did you start to like me?" Luka tapped his fingers on the counter. Šime was taken aback. He didn't expect that question and he tried to remember when he started to have feelings for Luka. It felt like the memory was blurry, like looking at an old memory that almost seemed unreal. "I think... three, maybe four months ago?" Šime concluded. There was a small smile on Luka's lips at Šime's answer. "And when did you meet Dejan?" Šime could feel himself freezing up at the second question. The memory of meeting Dejan was very vivid compared to the one he was trying to remember just a moment ago. "Four months ago," Šime recalled. It seemed impossible for those two things to be so close in time and it felt like ages were between them. It didn't make any sense. "I might be wrong, Šime but I find it quite strange that you knew me for six years and never saw me as anything other than a friend, but as soon as Dejan appears you’re suddenly hung up on me." Luka paused peering at Šime over his cup of coffee. "Don't you think so?" Realization of what Luka was implying hit Šime like a train. "You think I never was in love with you," he whispered. Luka looked him in the eyes, trapping him with his gaze. "I think you were scared of how Dejan made you feel from the moment you met him. So you made yourself think you were in love with someone who - you knew - couldn't return your feelings. And it worked well. Until Dejan kissed you," Luka said. Šime just stared at him, trying to make sense of it all.   "And you are still scared - which I get. I was scared of how I felt about Mario too. But you need to stop running away, Šime. Give him a chance to explain. There is always time to walk away. But there isn't always for second chances." He explained.   In that moment Šime's phone rang, as if it was deciding Šime's fate instead of him. The name Dejan was on the screen and Šime looked at Luka for help. Luka only nodded, smiling slightly.

  Šime took a deep breath and accepted the call. "Šime, are you alright? You didn't answer my messages and I was starting to think something happened," Dejan’s voice sounded frantic, a little out of breath and tired, like the thought of something happening to Šime had troubled him for hours now and kept him awake at night. Could someone so expressive in all of his emotions really pretend he doesn't have a wife? "Šime?" Dejan repeated. "I think we need to talk. Could you... meet me at the docks? In like an hour?" Šime stuttered. "Of course. Are you alright? You sound," Dejan trailed off looking for the right word, "tense." "It's- I'll be fine. Just meet me there." He cut himself off, hanging up. It was all or nothing now. And those two were depending solely on Dejan's explanation. He just hoped he wouldn’t end up with a shattered heart.

When Šime arrived, Dejan was already waiting for him. His hair looked like he went through it a hundred times and like he didn't sleep at all. Šime could feel his heart squeezing for a bit at that thought, but he pushed it away. Now wasn't the time to be emotional. Šime stopped when he was standing opposite Dejan, making sure to leave enough space between them. With the secret he carried with him now, they were miles and miles away from each other. As if an entire ocean separated them. They locked eyes and his throat felt constricted. He wanted to ask but at the same time he didn't want an answer. He still needed to ask. "Why didn't you tell me you have a wife?" he croaked out.

 His voice didn't sound like his own. The way Dejan's face twisted after his words was like a punch to the stomach. Šime could easily see shock, followed by guilt. He felt dizzy because Dejan didn't even have to say anything. Šime knew it was true. "Šime, it's not what you think. I can explain." Dejan said hurriedly. Šime had to laugh at that even though it left a bitter taste in his mouth. "Wow. You really do sound like a cliché cheating asshole, don't you?" Šime snapped.

  Dejan's face twisted again in what looked like horrible pain now. Šime looked away as he felt tears gather in his eyes. Dejan didn't deserve to see his tears. He wasn't worth crying over. "Šime, please. I know I should have said this earlier and I understand you’re mad, but if you just let me explain-" Dejan's speech was interrupted by something behind Šime. Or maybe someone. Šime knew before she said a word. The ominous clacking of heels gave her away. "Isn't this adorable? Watch out pretty boy, he’s going to tell you he will leave me for you next. It's like he’s got a script. Adorable but a bit boring, don't you think?" Anita exclaimed. Poison was dripping in his wounded heart again. Šime could feel his vision blur and he felt trapped. It was like Dejan and his wife were tearing him apart by his seams. He was faintly aware of them shouting at each other but his ears were buzzing. He couldn't handle all this. So Šime did the other thing he was good at. He ran. He ran and ran and he stopped only at those stairs where Dejan had left him a few days ago. He was trying to catch his breath and his muscles were burning. He sat down on the cold stairs, putting his head in his hands. His eyes were still burning and soon tears rolled down his cheeks. He bit his lip, trying to contain the sobs that threatened to escape.

He was so concentrated on trying not to cry that he didn't hear the steps approaching until he heard a voice. "Šime?" Dejan's voice was careful, but Šime's head still snapped up.

 [I don’t wanna talk… about things we’ve gone thorugh. Dejan's face looked troubled and his hands were raised up, palm forward as if he was approaching a wounded animal. Šime felt anger light up in him again. "Get the hell away from me. I don't want to see you. Probably ever again," he hissed. He probably should have expected Dejan wouldn’t give up that easily. He came a bit closer and gently put a hand on his shoulder. What he did not expect was his own reaction. Tears started pouring down again and a sob escaped him. Even though he put a hand over his mouth, it was too late. He found himself wrapped in a careful hug. "Is this okay?" Dejan questioned quietly. Šime found himself nodding, not even knowing why. He was telling Dejan to leave just a moment ago.

Dejan wrapped his arms tighter around Šime and he felt the rest of his resolve break. He clung to Dejan but at the same time, between sobs, a few hurtful words escaped him. "God I hate you. I wish I could hate you. Why-" The sob interrupted him again and he gave up, hiding his face in Dejan's shoulder.   Dejan gently caressed his hair. "Shhh, I know. You have every right to hate me. God, Šime I am so sorry. I never wanted this to happen. To hurt you in any way," Dejan whispered. "Then why didn't you tell me?" Šime croaked out. He still wasn't looking at Dejan, his face buried in Dejan's shoulder. He wasn't sure if he could handle looking at him while he got that answer. "Anita and I never had a stable relationship. We always fought over something but I thought I was in love with her. Until six months ago, when we got into a really bad fight and she hit me. It wasn't anything serious but I just couldn't continue living with her." Dejan took a deep breath and Šime could feel him tightening his hold on him.

"We agreed we would get a divorce, but about a month later she started talking about us getting back together. I refused and moved here from Zagreb. She followed but I didn't talk to her in six months. And then I met you." Dejan stopped and Šime could feel how he wasn't sure how to continue. He squeezed Dejan's shoulder, hoping that will help him find the right words. "It was like I finally started smiling and laughing again after long time. I could actually feel the beat of the music I was singing too- it was like I woke up. But I was scared. At the beginning, it wasn't that important but as I started falling for you, I realized more and more that you’re already pushing me away and I- I was scared of giving you a real reason to do so. I am sorry. I was selfish," Dejan finished. There were a few moments of silence while Šime tried to process what Dejan just said. It was a lot, after all. He knew he had to say something though. He looked up at Dejan's eyes full of determination. "I understand why you didn't tell me. I don't think it was okay, but I understand. But Dejan. You’re still married to her and I really need to think about this," Šime said and gently pushed Dejan away. Dejan nodded even though Šime could see him clenching his jaw. "Could you... tell me what you decided? Even if you don't want to see me, well-" Dejan stopped, trying to compose himself. "I would just like to know." Šime swallowed the lump in his throat. "Yes of course. I will let you know. In any case," he managed to voice. As he walked away once again, he came to the realization that he couldn't imagine his life without Dejan in it. It didn't matter if he was his best friend or something more but his life without Dejan seemed so bland. Without color. Ever since that disaster of a man came into his life it bursted into color.   But was that enough of a reason to get hurt if he didn’t leave his wife? Šime wasn't sure. He needed to sleep on it and think about it. He knew who to ask for the advice at least. One way or another it was going to be okay. *a week later* Šime was fiddling with his phone, probably for the hundredth time that day. He could hear Luka's voice in his head clearly by now Just call him already. You are both waiting for that. Šime was always bad at taking the first step and risking it. This was huge. What if he fucked up? What if he ended up with his heart broken? What if-

 No. He had to stop. He had gone through all of this already. There was no point except losing his nerves. He just had to jump right in and hope for the best. He dialed the number and prayed. He wasn't sure if he was asking for Dejan to pick up his phone or not, but his heart felt like it will jump out of his chest. "Hello?" Dejan's voice echoed in his head and suddenly he seemed to have forgotten everything he wanted to say. "Hello, Dejan. It's Šime," he said. He wanted to kick himself immediately. Of course, he knew who it was, he had his number for God's sake! Why was he so nervous? "I wanted to tell you that I decided. To...give this another chance. If you still want to. We can try and see where this goes. If your offer still stands, that is," Šime quickly explained, trying not to stumble over his words. "You... Are you sure Šime? Of course, my offer still stands. I just- I didn't really expect you to say yes," Dejan stuttered out. Šime had to laugh nervously at that. Dejan sounded exactly the way Šime felt. "I didn't either but if I’m being honest for the first time here - I can't imagine you not being in my life. Even if we just stay friends because of..." Šime trailed off, not being able to say ‘your wife’, "everything that happened I- I'd still like you to be here." There was a moment of silence again and to Šime it felt like it lasted for an eternity” to spice things up a bit. "Would you like to come over?" Dejan asked abruptly, ending the silence. "Yes. I can be there in... 15 minutes?" Šime answered without thinking, surprising himself. He knew they had a lot to talk about. All of the problems they had wouldn’t go away that easily. But he wasn't going to run away that easily this time.   He was done with pretending he didn’t want this. That he didn’t want Dejan. With playing a part in a tragedy he helped to make. "I missed you," Dejan breathed out. He supposed that was a start at least. Two people who wanted to be together. They could figure out the rest. "Don't worry I'll be there soon, dragi," Šime teased gently before hanging up. If they began again, maybe it wouldn't be an addiction that killed him this time.

 It might as well just be love.  

  *6 months later* Šime woke up before Dejan, but instead of quietly getting up as usual, he rolled over to Dejan. He smiled at his peaceful face before attacking him with kisses all over his face.

Dejan grumbled and tried to push Šime away but he just giggled, rolling on top of him instead.

Dejan opened his eyes just to glare at him. "What do you want?" he asked sleepily. "How does your first day as a free man feel, dragi?" Šime questioned, smirking.   A smile stretched across Dejan's face at Šime's words. "Well I am not exactly free, am I? I still have a bagudina of a boyfriend," Dejan joked. Šime gently slapped his arm, pretending to be hurt. "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go out for breakfast. To celebrate." Now Dejan was smirking too. "I thought we celebrated last night...for quite a long time too,” he said. "Oh, I am sorry old man, I didn't know I tired you out so much that you can't get up today," Šime smiled, his eyes sparkling with playfulness. "You little shit..." Dejan trailed of flipping them over and pinning Šime to the bed. He kissed him lightly and only deepened the kiss after Šime whined.

They parted and Dejan smiled at Šime's flustered face. "We should get going. We’re not old men after all, and your cooking isn't to be trusted," he concluded, rolling to the edge of the bed. "You are an asshole," Šime whined, "and my cooking isn't that bad!"   Dejan snorted. "If almost burning the house down while making muffins counts as ‘not that bad’, then sure dragi." The continued their back and forth banter on the street too. While walking near the sea Šime spotted Anita walking towards them and he squeezed Dejan's hand in silent reassurance. It was over and she couldn't do anything about it. However, before she reached them, a man on the bicycle crashed into her, making her fall right into the sea. After the initial shock, Šime recognized Mario. "So sorry, Ma’am. Didn't see you there from all that shallow- I mean shadow," Mario apologized in an obviously fake tone. It took Šime one look at Dejan for both of them to burst out laughing. It was freeing to laugh and hold hand so freely. Šime also noted he had to thank Mario later but for now he would just appreciate the moment.

 All was well.

@lovren-la-vida-luka

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 @lovrenfc

@sad-forest

@roseszymczak

@snakesandcherries

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@winters-chiid

[petri808]

Zero Degrees of Separation

AU Story, FT Next Gen.  Jerza kids.  4300 words.  I wrote this story for a school assignment. Pics of the kids are on my side blog @petrischronicles

It is summer break before Identical twins Andesine & Azurite Fernandez will be leaving for college on opposite sides of the country. Their family takes their annual summer vacation to the mountains but both brothers are troubled about breaking their connection.  ​

The breeze coming off the crystalline lake was something Azurite Fernandez always appreciated when they visited the summer cabin.  It had that typical rustic quality of earthy scented pine, mixed with warbling birds and chattering squirrels, a beautiful serenity and today was no exception as the warm kiss of mountain sunlight blanketed the family from powder blue skies. He stood there with his eyes closed letting the calming peace and quiet sweep him away for it might be years before he’d be back again.  This was perfect, he mused to himself.  Someday building a house and raising a family in a place like this appealed to his inner nature.

“Azurite, could you help your sister with her bags?”

He opened his eyes and released the fresh moist air from his lungs, “sure mom,” before turning towards his family’s SUV.  Azi clicked his tongue, chuckling as his sister struggled with her oversized suitcase. Grabbing it from her and setting it on the ground he teases, “did you pack your entire room?”

Amethyst huffs, picking up her smaller carry-on and purse from the ground, “not all of us loves this place as much as you do, I needed things to keep me busy.”  

“I’m with Amy on this,” their brother Andesine, Azi’s twin, throws his arm over his brother’s shoulder. “I’d much rather be hanging out with Sage and the others, considering most of us are going to different parts of the country in a couple months.”

“Tch,” Azurite crosses his arms, “then I would just as much prefer to spend time with my girlfriend then you.”

“Alright, alright boys,” their father Jellal chides them as he walks past into the house, “it’s family time, not friend time so just deal with it and make your mother happy for a couple of weeks.”  With a sigh, Azurite simply grabs his sister’s suitcase and along with his sullen siblings makes their way into the house behind him.

That evening as Andi and Amy hole up in their rooms with their phones or laptops, and their parents enjoy the rest of the night in the den, Azurite ventures out onto the spacious wrap around deck, propping himself atop a railing.  With his long legs easily balancing on the beam and his back against one of the pillars, he had chosen the spot because it was a clear vantage point of the nighttime lake.  Dark and ominous waters like at any moment some creature could walk out of its depths ready to strike at the unaware and yet, with the shimmering moonlit surface, instead of a creature, maybe a beautiful water goddess come to grant you any wish you desire.  A slight uptick around the corners of his mouth are the only indication when a few fond memories begin to flow through.  

Such supernatural creatures were common topics when they were little.  Nights like this one spent on the shore sleeping under the stars, trading story ideas, or dreams of heroes and villains come to life.  Just a lot of imagination packed between the Fernandez twins and the seeming link they shared was evident.  One would start a sentence and the other would finish it, an idea for a character would come to mind and the other would simply nod and agree as if they could see it too.  Like words never spoken aloud but through the spirit became secrets only they could share driving their sister crazy because it left her out of the loop.

They used to love fishing with their father, sometimes competing with each other on who could catch the biggest fish, campfire smores with their mom who made sure they didn’t burn their hands, and tag teaming scares upon their little sister.  On sunny afternoons the boys would swim out to the middle of the lake where a platform had been anchored, jumping off or sun bathing.  Hikes with the family in the surrounding forests were a treat to find bugs and other critters or make forts amongst the trees to search for dragons.  

It was quite an enjoyable childhood, but like many kids, as they got older, and their individual personalities developed, different interests and friendships pulled them in separate directions.  They were still brothers that got along for the most part, but no longer peas in the same pod.  Azurite closes his eyes, ‘and the distance is only gonna grow wider when we leave for college.’  It wasn’t that he wanted to be separated from his brother or family, but when one receives a full-ride scholarship to M.I.T, they’d be a fool to decline. Unfortunately, that meant he’d be attending school in Massachusetts clear across the country from Santa Barbara where Andesine had opted to go.

“Will you cheer up Az?” the warm hand of his brothers upon his shoulder, rouses Azurite from his reflections only to look over and see the smug smirk of his twin staring back. Andesine taps his temple, “is the distance really bothering you that much, cause ya know eventually we had to cut the cord.”

“I wasn’t thinking…” Again, Andi taps the side of his head and cocks an eyebrow.  “Okay, sure, maybe I was but that wasn’t the only thing.”

“A…” searching his pockets, he pulls out the only thing he had and holds it up with a goofy grin, “piece of gum for your thoughts?”

Even Azurite had to laugh at the silly antics of his twin, “It’s nothing,” waving his hand, “maybe I’m just nervous about being so far away from everyone.  I mean, aren’t you?”

“Mmm,” Andi tips his head, “not really, kinda excited to see all them California girls!” singing out part of the Katie Perry song.

Azurite rolls his eyes, “You are so bad!”

“And you are too good!” Andi retorts and laughs out loud, “I feel like I need to balance out this dynamic duo!”  Azurite tries to hide the amusement but fails miserably since his brother can read him. “Come on… grumpy gus,” he playfully punches Azi’s arm, “just get some sleep and maybe you’ll feel better.”

After his bother moves out of the way, Azi slides off the railing and stretches out his stiffened back. “Mom guys crash yet?”

Andesine nods, “fell asleep on the couch.  I think Amy too, cause her light was off.”  He pulls out his phone, “I don’t think you realize but you’ve been out here for several hours, see,” showing his brother the time, “it’s almost 2 am.”

Azi frowns, “I didn’t. But why are you still awake?”

“I wasn’t, just woke up when I felt something bothering you.”

“Sorry.”

“‘so’kay man, I’ll see ya upstairs.”

“Be there in a minute.” Azurite watches his brother walk back into the house and takes one more look at the lake...

To the outside world, Andesine Fernandez was the quintessential jokester who never took life seriously.  He did decently in school, had his own aspirations, tons of friends, and fashioned himself a lady’s man, though this last notion might be more in his head than reality.  But just because he lived in the realm of humor, wasn’t to say he didn’t care or pay attention, he simply preferred to live by the YOLO ‘You Only Live Once’ motto.  This stark contrast in personality from his more reticent and bookish twin, was along with their different colored hair, the most noticeable distinctions.  

A few nights later, the family sits around a small campfire in front of the house, relaxing after a long day of hiking around the forest and lake.  Amy and their mother Erza chatter about a Korean drama they both watch, and Andi is only half listening to Azurite and their dad discuss the latest MMA fight in the UFC.  Maybe Azi had a point about the distance, it wasn’t something he’d really thought about until now, probably because, well, ‘I didn’t want to, I mean, it’s only a physical thing!’  But as the dancing flames of the fire crackle and send wisps of burning embers floating into the air, Andesine’s thoughts go with them. His eyes dilate, focusing on the red-orange glow, mesmerized and sending his mind into a distant timeframe.

‘Don’t even think about it, Andi,’ his brother blocks him, ‘mom already gave you a Hershey.’

‘Ugh!  It’s so irritating that you know what I’m thinking!  When we get older, I hope this stupid twin thing stops too!’

‘I don’t really like it either, cause dealing with you is frustrating.’

But their mother had stepped into the argument, chiding her sons, ‘there will come a day when you’ll regret saying that stuff.’  Pulling them into a hug on each side of her body, ‘that special bond means you’ll always have each other to fall back on, even when you’re far apart.’

‘Why would be far apart?’ Azurite asked their mom.

‘Well…’ squeezing them tighter, ‘one day you’ll grow up, go to college, meet a girl, maybe settle down and have a family.  As much as I’ll miss my boys, I want you to be happy and independent in the future.’

‘Sounds good to me,’ Andi shrugged, ‘I can’t wait to grow up!’

She chuckled, ‘don’t worry, before you know it, you will be…’

Andesine’s brows furrow at the memory, sometimes he hated to admit when their mother was right, but damn was she ever.  A night exactly like this one, settled around a campfire, eating smores, except now they were all ten years older.  Amy only two years away from graduating high school and the boysabout to start their adult lives.  Was he really ready for it like he had bragged about?  Did he want to admit that he’ll miss his twin? He snaps out of the reflection, looking around to see if anyone had noticed it, but everyone was still engrossed in their conversations.

He stands up, dusts off his pants and kisses his mother goodnight.  “Are you okay?” she asks.

“Just tired, think I’ll shower and head to bed.”

“Alright, good night sweetie.”

“Night mom.”

He knew from experience that the best thing to do was let his brother process whatever was bothering him in his own way, so Azurite pretended not to pay attention while Andi zoned out or even when he said he was tired.  But as he watched his twin trudge into the house, he had to wonder what it was about.  A smug tugging on his lips, could Andi be just as nervous as he was about the whole separation?  Now that would be an interesting flip.

Andesine tossed and turned.

“Noooo!!!” he screamed as he raced towards his brother on legs that suddenly seemed uncooperative, reaching out and stumbling along the asphalt. The scene blurred through a tunneled vision while the sounds of screeching tires echoed in his ears.  But no matter how fast he ran, the distance remained the same.  

His brother’s head turns seconds before the impact, a tear trailing down one cheek, “I’m… sorry Andi…”

“Azzziiiiiii!!!!!”

Andesine pops up in his bed screaming out of the dream and frantically looking at the other side of the bedroom for Azurites bed.  “What the fuck?”  Because there was no bed, only an empty space where it should be.  He throws off the blankets and hops off his, wildly circling the barren floorboards.  “What the hell is going on!  Where is Azurite?!”

The door swings open and his parents rush in, “Andi, what’s wrong,” Erza asks, “what are you yelling about?”  As Jellal grabs his son’s shoulders to stop his hysterical flailing, “did you have a bad dream?”

“Where’s my brother Azurite?  Why is his bed gone?”  The poor young man is on the verge of tears.

“Azurite?” Erza questions, looking to her husband with concern, “but honey, you don’t have a brother.”

“What!!  Of course, I do, he’s my identical twin!”

“Son, you need to calm down,” prompting the young man towards his bed and sitting him down, “there’s only you and your sister, remember?”

“No, this doesn’t make any sense,” Andi shakes his head, “it felt so real, He felt so real!  W-we were so close, we could feel each other, read each other’s thoughts, I—I…” cradling his head in his hands, “but our…”

“Sweetheart it was just a dream,” Erza kneels in front of him, “we promise you, you’ve never had a brother…”

“No!” he pushes them away and scrambles to get out of the room. This was all wrong!  Why were they lying to him?  There was no way he’d just make up a brother!  Andi bolts down the hallway, stumbling a few times in an effort to reach the front door while the walls seemed to sway and fold inwards on him. He had to get out there now!

As he turns the knob and flings the front door open, a blinding light stops him in his tracks.

His eyes snap open and he sits up in bed.  ‘What the…’ turning, Andesine looks to his left and notices his brother still asleep in their darkened room.  He checks the alarm clock, 3:30am, it was all just a nightmare?  With a groan, he drops on to his back, ‘it was all just a friggen nightmare!’

The following morning, Andesine is still a bit unnerved from the dream.  It was the first time he’s ever had one so disturbing involving his brother and he couldn’t fathom what it was supposed to mean.  Was it a premonition that his brother would die from a car accident?  He’d never had one of those before, or more than likely a subconscious reaction to the whole idea of separation and distance.  No matter what it all meant, if he didn’t get a handle on these emotions, the rest of this trip would be a miserable one.

Andi finds his parents in the kitchen cleaning up after breakfast, “Is it okay if I take a hike to the bluffs?”

“I don’t see why not,” Jellal puts another dish in the rack before turning to address his son, “is Azurite going with you?”

“Nah, I kinda wanted to go alone.”

Erza frowns, “That’s not really safe honey…” but when he gives her a sad, puppy expression she sighs, “just make sure you take your phone with you.”

“Thanks mom!” he hugs her then his dad and takes off out the door with a small back pack of water and of course his cell phone.  

He waves at his sister and brother who were lounging on patio chairs and heads north of their rental towards the trail leading up to a mountain peak he enjoyed.  Andi takes a deep breath, ‘Im’ma sort out whatever the hell it is that’s bugging me!’ pumping a fist into the air with a grin, ‘It’s time to go zen!’

The trail itself was moderately rated, mostly because of the final leg up a steep incline to the bluff, but it was completely worth the effort.  Twenty-five minutes later, as he broke through the tree line and made his way up the final ascent, Andi knew he had made the right decision to come here. There were a few fluffy white clouds passing by and the heat was mildly tolerable due to the higher elevation. The ground was thankfully dry since it hadn’t rained for at least a couple of weeks and the bugs seemed to be taking a day off, so he finds a flat-topped rock and sits down ready to get this load off his mind.

Why was all of this bothering him so much now when it hadn’t even crossed his mind before this trip? Sure, he had realized that picking a college thousands of miles across the country would probably make his parents sad, but it never donned on him that it would upset his brother, or himself. They would be in different states not different countries and thanks to today’s technology, distance wasn’t such a burden anymore.  Andi had friends all over the world on social media, and he was excited to finally meet a few of them when he got to California.  Besides, it’s not like he was the only one, Azurite chose a college away from their home state, granted it was because of the scholarship, but still, it was a choice that he made.

Andi closes his eyes and tilts his head back knowing he was skirting around the real issue that none of this had to do with a normal leaving the nest syndrome.  He exhales, both brothers were quite ready and capable to venture out on their own because their parents had done a phenomenal job of making sure they would be.  No, this all came down to their twin connection.  Will it feel weird when they are so far apart from each other?  Will there be some strange feeling like a part of him was missing?  It was this uneasiness that was at the heart of it all.  

‘I’m sure we’ll be fine,’ he finally concludes, ‘nothing to worry about.  I bet we’ll be too busy with college and everything to even worry.’ He was sure that he’d simply let his subconscious and imagination run a little too amok this time and it was time to reign it back in.  

“Yosh!” he stands up, stretching out in a full, arms above his head motion, twisting his midsection and legs.  “Bout time for lunch anyways!”

In a better mood now, Andi slings his backpack over one shoulder, shoves in his earbuds and cranks up his music, starting the trek down the steep zig-zag trail of loose stones and dry pine needle covered dirt.  Dense foliage made a few portions along the path harder to make out and unfortunately one of those spots was a narrow, stepped ledge, carved by the elements into a natural staircase.  Andi slowed down because he knew going down was the most dangerous part.  

Suddenly, the flapping of wings and a stirring of feathers from a startled pheasant takes Andi by surprise just as he is about to set foot on the next step.  The bird scuttles off into the forest, its squawking mixing with his scream as he slips, hands flying up, bag along with his legs going airborne like in a slow-motion scene.  His brother’s name is the last thought in his mind as his back hits the ground and head bounces-off the stony surface knocking him out cold…

Down at the lake, the family is relaxing near the water’s edge with Amy and Erza sunbathing on the shore. Azurite and Jellal dangle their legs off the short pier fishing for dinner while discussing last minute things the young man needs to secure before he leaves for college.  All in all, a relaxing sight despite the glaring midday sun. But just as Azi casts his line again, a cold breeze sweeps through, normally welcomed on such a heated day, but for him, the chill it shoots up his spine catches him off-guard and if he didn’t know better, his name had been funneled along with the wind.  

The fishing pole he holds clatters to the ground as Azurite shoots to his feet, “Something’s wrong with Andi!”

Jellal looks up bewildered, but knows not to question it, “we’d better go then!”

The two men race up the forest trail while Amy and Erza wait at the house ready to call emergency if necessary.  They had no idea what they would encounter but if Azurite was right, and Andi was too injured to have used his cell phone to call for help, they needed to be on standby. Azurite tore up the path like a man both panicked yet guided straight to where he just knew his brother would be and his father simply following, trusting his son’s instincts.  It took them 15 agonizing minutes to reach the spot.

“Andi!”  Azurite clambers up the steep grade, crawling the last couple of feet to where his brother lay prone.  Panic sweeps over his whole being, “Aw, Fuck dad there’s blood coming from his head!  Andi!” he’s about to reach out and pull his brother up but Jellal grabs his shoulder.

“Don’t move him yet, we don’t know how badly injured he is.  Check his pulse and breathing while I call your mom… and see if you can wake him up but gently.”

With his father on the phone telling their mother to call 911 and giving them directions to where they were, Azurite is using every ounce of willpower he has not to cradle his brother’s limp body in his arms.  He couldn’t believe this was happening, Andi was usually so careful whenever he went hiking but as he scans the area and notices a few stray feathers and his brothers bag lying above and off to the side, he could surmise what had happened in those last seconds.  But all that didn’t matter, whether or not Andi had been spooked or simply slipped, what was important was getting him medical attention as quickly as possible.

Azurite pats his brother’s cheek, “Andi wake up!  Please,” tapping it a few more times, “wake up Andi!”  Moisture pools and clouds his vision, tears leaking down his face in salty rivers.  “Damn it, Andi wake up!”

After ending his call, Jellal slowly lifts his sons head to check the injury and see’s that despite the blood, the wound doesn’t look very deep.  He pulls off his shirt, folds it, and tucks it under to cushion Andi’s head. “Emergency services are on their way so, all we can do is wait.  I’m going to head back down to meet them at the beginning of the trail, will you be alright here?”  The young man manages a short nod.  Jellal puts his hand on Azi’s shoulder, “It’s going to be okay son,” and with a second half nod, the man starts his descent.

Left alone, Azurite retrieves his brother’s bag, so it didn’t get left behind, sitting back down and checking his brother’s vitals every couple of minutes.  It was so frustrating not being able to do anything more, but his dad and their Eagle Scout training were clear on this, Andi was best left for the professionals to handle.  He hangs his head and while his tears had slowed, they were still like droplets of rain along a window pane, dribbling down in irregular waves.

“I swear you really are an idiot Andi, you know how dangerous it is to hike alone!  I don’t know what it was that was bothering you, but it better be a damn good reason for scaring me half to death!  Do you know how it feels, every time you do these foolish things and I have to worry about you…”  Azi lets out a long exhale, “But maybe you’ll get it now?  I hope you’ll see why I was so worried about the distance, I mean if something happened to you and we’re miles apart, I can’t come running like I did today.”  He lays down on his side next to his brother, just like they would as little kids when they were scared during a storm and takes hold of his brother’s hand, so limp and lifeless, bringing it to his chest.  “It feels like… like a sinking weight on my heart…”

“Could you be…” Andi’s voice is groggy and muffled, “anymore… melodramatic…”  He squeezes Azi’s hand back, “I ain’t dead yet.”

“I ought’a knock you back out for that!” Azi half snorts half laughs, for as frustrated with his brother as he was, it felt amazing to hear Andi’s voice again.

“I love you too bro,” he finally opens his eyes, half lidded because of the pain.  “And to answer your question, I do know how it feels.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had the most screwed up dream last night, that’s why I came out here to think…  I dreamt that I suddenly woke up and you weren’t there, mom and dad told me I had dreamt you up.  It hurt so bad like something had been ripped out of me…”  Azi looks up when he hears the sounds of footsteps approaching but is drawn back as he brother keeps talking.  “I do worry too but today I realized that it’s going to be okay.”  He squeezes his brother’s hand again and closes his eyes, grimacing through the pain, “we’ll always be brothers, and even if we’re far apart nothing will ever change the bonds we share.”  

“Just promise me you won’t do anything crazy out in California, because if I have to fly there, I really will kick your ass.”

Andi tries to chuckle but gives up when another wave of throbbing pain rushes over him, “you could try...”  

On the final night of the family vacation, Amy and their parents lounged on the porch playing a board game while the two brothers settled on a log beside the lake shore. Andesine’s head was still wrapped with gauze to protect the stitches he received, and Azurite was teasing him. “Remember,” Azi turns his gaze over to the lake, “When a full moon casts its luminous glow beckoning to any fools that dared to breach its darkened waters…”

“… a creature may arise to strike you down, or maybe a beautiful goddess will appear to grant you your desires.  Forgive me but I don’t think I qualify as a goddess.”

“You’re right, you’re more like a creature from the abyss.”

A companionable silence falls between them, each lost momentarily as the placid nighttime waters soothes their psyches.  Azurite exhales and holds up his arm in a 90-degree position, Andesine sighs, grabs his brother’s hand, squeezing and nodding his head for their zero degrees of separation.  This trip had been long and fruitful and now they were finally ready to move into the next phase of their lives, together.

[indecent-lemon]

“Can you come out now?”

Featuring Kit and Ty

Based on this post by @themortalfckup

Guess who’s writing again? Thank you to everyone who stuck by me || Sorry if it’s a bit rusty || also this kinda took forever because there was a ton of re-editing

Ty pandered his family asking for Christopher’s whereabouts. The Lost Herondale seemed to disappear from Tiberius’ sight the second he took his slate-gray eyes off of him. And then return hours later, peachy, not mentioning what he did. This was the third time Kit had done this and Ty had to admit—he was pissed.

He pondered whether this was just some social tell he didn’t grasp. He thought of asking Julian for help but What does it mean when a person leaves you for three hours only to come back for Netflix and attention? didn’t sound right.

He came to Dru’s door. The last person he’d ask before retreating to his dull and Kit-less room to mess with a rubik’s cube. Everyone else had given him answers ranging from “No” to “No”. They were already sick of it. But Dru, she still gave replies that were longer than one syllable. He knocked.

“Before you say anything, I haven’t seen where the blonde brat went! But I do know that Kit is a jerk”, she yelled from the other side of the door.

Ty felt a spark of protectiveness in the midst of his irritability. For all Kit had done, he deserved to be called a brat and a jerk but Ty couldn’t help but to feel bad.

He backed away from her room. He thought of getting his throwing arm ready to chuck the Rubik’s cube at Kit’s head when he heard a muffled, whiny noise from downstairs.

“Shut up, Dru. I’m going through some things right now. Let me live.”

Ty couldn’t believe it. It was Kit’s voice.

Ty hopped the stairs, two steps at a time. Then, he crept up to where he believed the boy was hiding. He flung open the cupboard. His nose wrinkled at what he was beholding.

There was Kit Herondale, hair unkempt, eyes puffy and glistening, cookie crumbs across his mouth and shirt. He held a family pack of Chips Ahoy close to his chest.

Ty stared for a a good minute then said, “What the hell?”

Kit turned in shame, “I didn’t want you to see me like this.”

Ty rolled his eyes and gingerly grabbed the cookies from Kit. He held out a hand yet the other boy wasn’t looking.

Ty sighed, “Can you come out now?”

Kit peeked at Ty through his crumby hands. “I’m gay.”

“I meant out of the cupboard. You’ve been in there crying for two days.”

With a mixed expression of shock and disgust, Kit clutched Ty’s hand. Sending electricity through their fingertips as Kit’s feet hit the floor.

Ty went off, “Why would you do something like this? I thought we were friends! Best friends.”

Kit’s eyes were like wet saucers and his his lip quivered frightfully. Suddenly, Kit burst outside, wiping at his eyes, sprinting on the beach.

In that instant, Ty’s anger began to disappitate and what Kit had just said soaked in. A wave of remorse hit him. Kit must’ve thought that Ty hated him! Pressured him to reveal who he was and hated him for being who he was.

He too dashed out. Hoping to catch up with The Lost Herondale before he went too far. Soon Tiberius skid in front of him. Kit tried to escape but he was blocked.

“What do you want? I know you think I’m scum and not just because I’m gay”, he cried. He added in a whisper, “And it’s mostly my fault.”

Ty shook his head vigourosly. “No, no, no. I don’t think you’re scum. I think you’re far from it. Earlier, when I was yelling, I was mad at the fact that you’ve been ignoring me. I didn’t hear the part pertaining to your sexuality. I mean, I heard but I wasn’t listening. I mean, I listened but…”

Kit interrupted and Ty was grateful. “So you don’t hate me. And back in the house, you were talking about something else. I get that but do you accept me?”

There was a longing in his eyes. “Of course I do”, Ty declared without pause.

The boys found themselves strolling along the beach. Gulls screeched to the symphony of waves crashing against shore and the little excited noise Kit made in the back of his throat when salt water sprayed his face.

Ty asked, “Why were you avoiding me?”

Kit pouted, his hands stuffed into his pockets, his gaze at his feet. “A couple days ago, I started to think about Magnus and Alec, Helen and Aline. Gay couples in the shadow world who’ve been through hell at the hands of the Clave. And…I like girls but what if I don’t end up loving one? What if I end up loving a boy? It reminded me of Livvy. We…”

Ty nodded, “I know.”

Frown lines were etched into both of their faces. Kit continued, “And now she’s dead and I couldn’t bring myself to look at you very long.”

Something tugged at Ty’s heart. It pulled so hard as if it wanted his aorta would split like licorice.

Tears built up and choked Christopher. “Because I liked Livvy but I love you. What am I supposed to do with that love? Suffer?”

Ty was aghast. He had just witnessed a boy have a breakdown. Ty was never good at handling emotions, especially his own. He rubbed his own hands for confidence. He used to be able to wind his fingers in sandy blonde hair and gaze into sky-blue irises for reassurance but he wasn’t the one in need at that moment.

Slowly and steadily, he approached Christopher. The Herondale inched away from him with every step as if he were too undignified to be near him. But Ty spoke softly of a one-sided conversation. About everything he admired about the most mundane shadowhunter he’d ever met.

Soon, Kit found himself backed onto the wall of a boulder but there was no self-loathing in his expression. Just want, a tender mellow. Both of them examined the other with clear vision. Sand, grit, and crumbs were in unusual places, Kit had a tiny seashell stuck on his face, Ty had an lash in his eye. They had never been so close.

Ty cupped the sides of Kit’s flushed cheeks and for a moment their gazes met. Then Ty’s lips were pressed to Kit’s. He could feel his breath hitch in the back of his throat as opened his mouth just a bit more. Enough for Ty to taste the salt from his tears, the sugar from his cookies. Enough for Ty to understand how truly soft and pink his lips were. Enough for Ty to understand that his heart was beating the speed of sound, the roar of the heartbeat thrummed in his ears along with the crash of the waves.

When Ty pulled away he realized that Kit was still spilling tears, except a tentative smile accommodated it.

Kit held Ty’s hand like it was the world. He inquired, “That wasn’t a pity kiss, right?”

Ty shook his head. “Kit, to answer your earlier question, you won’t suffer. We won’t suffer if we don’t let them torture us.”

Kit pecked Ty’s hand. “I am ever grateful for your friendship, Sir Blackthorn. I love you.” He bowed.

Ty raised an eyebrow, “You should work on your Middle English”, nonetheless he settled that it was simply a sweet gesture. He replayed the “I love you” in his head, trying hard not to blush or awkwardly throw his arms around Christopher.

Kit announced loudly, “Thou shan’t insult a Herondale! We are known to smite thee.”

Ty snorted. “By eating thou’s entire stash of sweets?”

“Rude. It’s an affliction. My chocoholic nature is kind of hereditary.”

They boys decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach, something Ty had never really done before. Wading in the water, playing tag, Kit getting in an altercation with a crab until the sky set a tangerine tone.

Watching sundown, something tendered in them. Some unstoppable force brought them hand in hand with a mutual understanding that “best friend” was no longer a suitable title.

They came home to Dru was watching a horror movie on the couch. She looked them over once and said, “You’re welcome.”

Ty asked, “For what?“

“I brought you two together.”

Kit added, “By insulting me.”

Dru showed no sign of guilt. She just smirked and Kit felt an entirely new respect for her…and fear. Who knew what she was capable of?

tl;dr — Dru’s awesome, Kit and Ty are in lOvE, Kit’s out of the closet and into the cupboard

I love ma babes but you should read the whole thing ;)