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robcognitivepersonality · 2 years ago

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The Mastermind & the Promoter

How I get along with ESTPs as an INTJ

First, let’s toss all that is Chad about ESTPs and start from zero. Extraverted Sensing is gathering local detailed data at high fidelity and intensity. Like a high resolution camera which you have a long range control of the hue and contrast settings. Introverted Intuition is recalling global holistic data. Working together, Ni/Se users compare the details of reality against their vision. ESTPs take a step further by “painting” their holistic Ni canvas and materializing it onto the Se real world.

You traveled far and studied about everything that could be relevant to your vision. With Introverted Thinking, you’ve built from what you’ve seen as a guide to a utopian dream, a philosophy, or a set of ethos. With Extraverted Feeling, you believe these are the life principles everyone should abide by. Fe/Ti users are students and teachers of ego management. ESTPs take a step further to influence others by becoming the living proof of their own ideas.

You’re constantly picking up micro expressions, reading body language, researching deep convoluted literature, or analyzing theories. You can amplify the details out from both the physical and the conceptual. It’s not uncommon for ESTPs to have many advanced degrees, speak multiple languages fluently, and excel at just about any hobbies they’re passionate about. So instead of being the dumb jock the MBTI community has made you to be, I see ESTPs as the most potentially gifted out of all the types.

"Well, my legs may be too small for my body, but my head is too large, although I prefer to think it is just large enough for my mind. I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind... and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge. That's why I read so much, Jon Snow." - Tyrion Lannister, from A Game of Thrones

That’s the thing about ESTPs — y’all make it look so simple. Your NiTi understands that life can be overwhelmingly complex, yet you see that it works around a few thematic factors. And as long as we respect and make our moves based on those factors, it all becomes easy and intuitive. Let life happen, stay on course and we’ll figure the rest out as we go. Our energy is best spent on the now; focused towards our goals.

Like many ideas though, it’s easier said than done. You look into people’s eyes and you see how it can be complicated for them. People have many reasons why they’re not working on their goals. Of course there are some considerable excuses. But it could be a lack of confidence, fear, confusion, anger, or just plain laziness. Your SeFe sees those emotions and pulls them right out to the surface to deal with them.

Through my SeTe, I see that we live in a cold and over-complicated machine that sucks the souls out of us and programs us into mass manufactured drones. I see that many of us get bogged down spending our lives on unwanted obligations, unhealthy habits, and unfulfilling jobs. I try my best to navigate through it and be free and happy. To stay pure with ourselves and live as sincerely as we can. We both want that.

‘Free and happy.’ I was camping during a summer vacation on one of the tiny islands in the Philippines where I could walk around the perimeter in a half hour. There was one shack where a family lived to upkeep the island. I watched the kids all day playing tag on the beach, swimming as far out as they can, driving dad’s boat, carrying big smiles without a weight of burden. I asked myself — when did I grow up? When did things get so complicated?

"Yeah, fuck politics, man. Yeah, like literally that’s feckless. I’m telling you, I’m on my ‘kindness conspiracy’. As long as I’m kind to people, like if we live by an ethic of kindness, if we foster trust amongst each other, it will matter less what corporations and politicians say, because we’ll be able to trust our society’s cohesiveness." - Dave Chappelle

As a kid I couldn’t wait to be a grown up. I didn’t think too hard about it, I just wanted to be a big grown up like Mom and Dad. I did well in school, got a good job, and made lifelong friends. I’m grateful that I got to pursue my passions and cross a lot of my goals off the bucket list. Yet with all of the money and possessions I have, I really longed for that pure weightless joy these kids had. Don’t get me wrong, I’m living a good life. But I guess it really is just complicated.

I gotta admit. When you try to pull out my Introverted Feeling, I feel manipulated. As an INTJ, I’m possessive about my emotions. Only I can deal and experience them, I don’t outsource the control of them to anybody. I feel very seen when your darty eyes are pointed in my direction. I feel you weeding through my bullshit. I feel you are testing me for who I am as a person.

It can easily be a tug of war, until I take a moment and remind myself it doesn’t have to be. The ESTPs I’m close with are all good natured and genuinely curious. In the back of their minds, they understand we mean nothing in the scale of the universe. And they’ll ask “So what are you gonna do about it?” Without beating around the bush, I’m challenged to answer how I’ll be using my limited time on this Earth.

Having NiFi, I’m constantly contemplating how to attain the most self-realized life possible. I have this sheer curiosity for what I’d find out in being the best Me, the truest Me. But I honestly have no idea what it means to be all that I can be. There’s no standard nor proven roadmap to this. I come up with my own plans, constantly considering the rules of my environment and consulting my feelings. That’s what’s complicated. Without any instructions, I spend so much time in my head trying to figure life out.

"Money is a tool — it’s the means, not the end. Inspiration is the metric that dictates whether or not a project is a success. It’s more realistic than trying to aim for radio play, or trying to satisfy an A&R, or the other gatekeepers on these platforms. I don’t even know how to create with those things in mind. But if you tell me the goal is to inspire? That makes my job a lot easier." - Nipsey Hussle

So when you ask what I want to do in life, I want to look back during my last years saying to myself that I did pretty good. I want to be happy, stay healthy, see my parents enjoy their retirement, help out in the family, grow old with my friends, and do good in society. I’m afraid of how naïvely simple that all sounds. I can’t underestimate how difficult reaching these goals can be. In today’s environment, it seems logistically impossible without an abundance of time, money, and luck. Having only one shot at life, I have to do my due diligence to figure out how to best accumulate these resources.

As you’re focused on me trying to answer, I realize what you’re doing is checking up on my ikigai — a Japanese word which doesn’t exist in other languages that essentially means ‘a reason to get up in the morning’ and ‘a reason to enjoy life’:

The word ‘ikigai’ is usually used to indicate the source of value in one’s life or the things that make one’s life worthwhile (for example, one might say: ‘‘This child is my ikigai’’). Secondly, the word is used to refer to mental and spiritual circumstances under which individuals feel that their lives are valuable. There is a difference between ikigai and the sense of well-being. Ikigai is a more concerned with the future: for example, even when one feels that one’s present life is dark, possessing a desire or goal for the future allows one to feel ikigai.

Ikigai gives individuals a sense of a life worth living. It is not necessarily related to economic status.

Behaviours which make one feel ikigai are not actions which individuals are forced to take, but they are spontaneous activities which people undertake willingly.

Ikigai is personal; it reflects the inner self of an individual and expresses that faithfully.

It establishes a unique mental world in which the individual can feel at ease.

- Noriyuki Nakanishi, Department of Public Health, Osaka University Medical School, “‘Ikigai’ in older Japanese people”

ESTPs have an intuitive sense of this concept. You understand that the sum of small joys in everyday life results in a more fulfilling life as a whole. Ikigai is all we need. As long as we keep it pure and close to us, everything’s gonna be alright. And to do that, we must live in the moment. Having faith for the future means to enjoy the now, to enjoy every little thing and everyone we come in contact with. As someone who’s so future oriented as I am, I appreciate you for reminding me that.

I have no philosophical idea why we try to be happy. Maybe it’s tied to our will to survive. Whatever it is, I just know it feels beautifully good. To feel like those kids in the Philippines, to live each day like that and eventually to fondly look back. We’re given a chance to live, we should see how special that is. For you to teach me that, you’re a gift anybody would be lucky to have.

#intj #estp #mbti intj #intj thoughts #estp personality #mbti estp #carl jung #jungian #personality types #typology #myers briggs #cognitive functions #mbti #16 personality types #16 types

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idabbleincrazy · 1 year ago

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Never a Wish Better Than This (2/?)

Fandom: Smallville

Rating: M (E overall)

Pairing: Clex

Word Count: 2985

Warnings: s4 fix-it, feelings, angst, birthday fic

Summary: Clark turns 18, Lex takes one last chance at making things right between them.

A/N: more of the same. Next chapter should have smut🤞

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Lex's POV:

"Sorry, Lex, didn't catch that?"

God, it's adorable when he blushes.

"Sugar high kicking in already, Clark?" I question him, smirking to show it's only a friendly tease. The blush deepens, and fuck, am I glad I wore the looser slacks tonight. "I was just wishing you a happy birthday."

"Oh! Right. Thanks."

He still hasn't gotten up from his seat, the absence of the gesture only so obviously noticeable in places like the Kent home, where manners are valued more than the size of someone's bank account. Clark fidgets as I draw out the eye contact and, as I turn my gaze away, I catch the way his shoulders slump in relief out of the corner of my eye. Another one of those moments where I long to read too deeply into it. My cock twitches at the possibility that he hasn't stood up to greet me because he's dealing with a bodily betrayal of his own.

"Eighteen's a pretty important milestone, Clark, glad to see you finally decided to have a party."

There's that blush again, but he's saved by the distraction of Martha's perfectly timed arrival back into the kitchen, her arm slinging around me in a comfortable half-hug.

"We weren't going to let him pass this one by. I'm glad you could make it, Lex; we were starting to worry you'd miss the cake."

I let myself relax into her embrace. Why is it that of the few people whose touch doesn't fill me with unease, two-thirds of the Kent family are at the top of that very short list?

"Speaking of which…" And there's the last third of the whole, the man whose approval I'd probably prefer far more than my own father's, striding towards us from the counter he'd been huddled over since I stepped in. Jonathan's carrying a large, homemade cake in both hands, stepping carefully so as not to disrupt the flames of the glowing candles. "Happy birthday to you…"

I turn my gaze back to Clark as we all join in on the singing, the 100-watt smile stretching his lips as he looks around him proving contagious as I feel my own mouth stretch into an open grin. What is my wealth compared to this? I envy this beautiful young man, surrounded by family and friends who care about him, not what he can do for them, or how they can use him to further themselves. I envy him, and am glad for him.

He purses his lips and blows out the candles, one deep breath extinguishing all eighteen flames in one go, his eyes meeting mine for a fraction of a second before flitting away to scan over the rest of those gathered around.

"Come on, you guys, let's cut this baby!"

I chuckle at Pete's honest enthusiasm and must admit I agree. Martha's baking is the best in Smallville, and there's no doubt she'd go all out for Clark.

Clark elbows Pete into sitting back down, and begins cutting the cake and plating it out for everyone as I take the seat Martha offers me directly across from him. As he hands me a plate, his fingers graze the back of my hand, and it's all I can do not to let my face react. So many glancing touches over the years, and still, my body has not become desensitized to the feel of those impossibly soft fingertips. And just how are they not calloused and rough after nearly two decades of farm-living?

Clark gives me a quick wink, which confuses me until I look down at my plate. My piece is nearly as big as his, and quantifiably larger than those he has handed out to everyone else. My heart tugs at the gesture, though my brain is less apt to catch the obvious significance. Chloe gives him a shrewd look as she accepts her plate, her keen reporter's eyes flicking between her plate and mine. Of all his friends, she's the one most likely to have noticed, probably from the start, the difference in my behavior towards Clark in comparison to anyone else. Maybe I should have gone to her for insight on the way he behaves around me? Then, maybe I wouldn't have to dive into this insane plan with my heart pounding in fear of shattering into so many pieces on the pavement.

No one else reacts to the disproportionate size of their slices, and Chloe shrugs off the slight with a tiny shake of her head. Clark remains oblivious.

"There's still plenty of chicken and potato salad left, Lex, if you want. I could fix you a plate." Martha's offer interrupts my musings, and I turn my head to her. She's always prompting me to eat more, like a good mother should. "Sometimes I wonder if they ever even remember to feed you up at the Manor."

"I'm fine, Mrs. Kent, really. I ate a couple hours ago, I promise."

Martha gives a nod and a smile, placated for the moment. Her instinctive mothering warms me and I push back a bittersweet wave of nostalgia, returning the smile.

"Alright, but I'm sending you home with leftovers."

Clark's soft chuckle sounds in my ears, and when I glance back over at him, I can't help but return his smirk. I think he knows how much I secretly enjoy his mother's subtle care.

The cake is delicious, as expected, and there are sounds of appreciation from around the table, Lois' less-than-quiet moan of satisfaction causing Clark's nose to wrinkle in an amused grimace. The room is in high spirits, even Jonathan has been unexpectedly hospitable towards me, offering me a beer. It's domestic, and a brand I admit I always skip over, but I accept with a small smile of thanks. School my face against the grimace fighting to twist my lips as the bitter tang of the first sip catches me by surprise, as always.

I watch them, this table of Clark's nearest and dearest; Lois, if Clark's constant griping is anything to go by, is merely the former of the two. Watch them laugh and chatter, Pete and Chloe catching up on lost time, their heads nearly touching periodically as Chloe's voice lowers to whisper something or other that makes Pete's eyes widen fractionally. Lana chuckling softly at Lois' complaints of putting up with Clark's teenage-boy habits. Martha's warm voice next to me, checking in on everyone in-between cozy conversation with Jonathan, sitting at the end of the table. As a whole, it's a tableau that makes me ache inside, this Rockwellian perfection that was always missing from my life. Hopefully, this won't be the last time I'm included in the experience. Hopefully, this won't be my last time feeling real happiness.

Clark's POV:

I've blown out the candles, unwrapped the gifts, and hugged Lana, Chloe, and Pete good-night, and now there's just the five of us, me, my parents, Lois…and Lex. I'm pleasantly surprised by his decision to stay and help clean up; dad is just plain surprised. He even goes so far as to shoo my mom and dad into the living room, insisting the three of us will take care of the dishes.

"Wow, Lex, didn't think you knew how to wash a dish" Lois quips from the fridge where she's putting away stacks of Tupperware. I grit my teeth and shoot Lex an apologetic look. "Want a pair of Mrs. K's rubber gloves so your delicate hands don't get all pruney?"

"Lois!"

"No, it's alright, Clark. She's right, Luthor's never wash dishes. We dry."

I can't help but roll my eyes at the smirk he flashes me as he grabs the dish towel from the rack above the sink and sets up shop beside me at the counter. I can feel his body heat, he's that close, his bare arm brushing against mine every so often as we fall into a rhythm, me washing a piece of tableware and handing it over to him to dry and stack. It takes most of my control not to break anything as I fight back my resurging hard-on.

He hasn't given me his gift yet. I know it's there in his left pocket, but I forced myself not to look past the elegant silvery wrapping paper. He seems to be waiting to give it to me in private, though I can't imagine what he could possibly want to give me that he thinks would need shielding from the rest of the group. Maybe it's just something on the more extravagant side that he figures my dad would insist I couldn't accept. But that's the upside to birthday presents, it would be rude to refuse them.

Lois makes a noisy exit upstairs as we finish up the last of the silverware, leaving us alone. Lex takes the fork from my hand, his fingers brushing over mine, and we share a smile at the sound of her grumbling.

"Bet she's gotten you over your desire for an older sibling."

"Oh, yeah. She's the sister I never wanted. But, she's not all that bad. Just very talkative."

"Well, we're not all the silent, broody type like you, Clark."

I roll my eyes at his teasing, glad we've fallen back into the easy banter that seems to have been missing from our friendship these past few months. There's a real grin on his face when I turn around from putting away the plates. I missed that grin. The one that actually reaches his eyes.

"So…no gift? I would have thought today would've been full of deliveries of unreturnable trucks and flashy gadgets."

"You jest, but if I thought your dad wouldn't have shut the door in my face, I would have shown up hauling a 30" high-def television." There's an uneasy flicker that ripples over his face as he speaks, but it's gone before I can make anything of it. "I do have something for you though. I was just waiting for the right time to give it to you."

"Well, we're all done here, wanna come up to the loft with me and hang out for a bit?"

"That'd be great, Clark."

I hand Lex his promised plate of leftovers and quickly head out to the living room to thank my parents and say good-night. At least there's one perk to giving Lois my bedroom; once I head over to the barn for the night, I'm usually left alone.

"C'mon, Lex. Mom and dad are heading up to bed in a bit. Oh, and I already thanked them for you."

Lex ducks his head at that, and I see the faintest trace of a blush on his cheeks. I think he secretly likes someone knowing him so well. I just wish I could let him know me, the real me. He almost did, but Lionel erased it. Sometimes, Lex looks at me, and I almost think some part of those days before Belle Reve resurfaced; but then he blinks and the moment is gone.

As I walk with Lex to the barn, I find that old peaceful blanket of silence surrounding us again, and it makes my heart clench, yearning for this moment to never end. I don't want to keep wondering if Lex is up to no good again; if he's still trying to dig up knowledge that isn't his to know. I love his unending sense of curiosity, but it puts so much in danger when he can't rein it in. Him, me, my family, my friends; it's all set upon a precarious edge, and everything could crumble to ruin with one misstep. Lionel can't be trusted with Kryptonian knowledge, and he has so many eyes on Lex. It was easier when the older Luthor was in prison, but that didn't last, and he's more determined than ever to keep us all under his watchful eye.

I'm dragged away from my thoughts by the sound of Lex's voice in my ear, his hand squeezing my arm.

"Huh?"

"You okay, Clark?"

I shake off the wistful feelings and give him a small smile.

"I'm fine. Just thinking."

"I think thoughts that deep are against the rules on your birthday."

How does he always know? I scoff and lead him up the stairs to the loft, clearing my bedding away from the couch for him to sit.

"Thirsty? I keep a little fridge up here so I don't have to go all the way back to the house." I know, I'm rambling, but I just don't know what else to do now that we're up here, alone, and he still hasn't handed over the little box in his pocket that he keeps toying with.

"Water, if you got it. Thanks."

Lex sits as I grab a couple bottles of water from the mini-fridge in the corner.

"Sorry it's not your fancy kind." And, great, now I'm thinking about Lex's lips wrapped around the mouth of one of those blue Ty-Nant bottles. Why are my hormones the one thing about me that are as normal as a human teenager? "I, uh, had to sneak this into the shopping cart. Dad's strictly a tap-water guy."

"I'm sure the water out here is clean enough for it. Wouldn't be very healthy in Metropolis."

I sit down on the other end of the couch, the easy closeness I felt while we were washing up gone, replaced by an awkwardness that isn't the same as the ones we've fallen into this last year, but just as painful. At least it's a distraction from the ever-returning erection that had begun at the image of Lex drinking water. Christ, Kryptonian or not, being a teenager sucks.

"Clark, I'll give you your gift, but you have to promise not to return it. Even if you never use it."

He's holding it in his hand now, a small cube-shaped package, the moonlight from the window glinting off its shiny covering.

"Okay, I promise." The words fall so easily, just as they always do. Promises are easy to make, even if they're not always so easily kept.

He hands me the box, but stops my hand as I go to unwrap it. The awkwardness isn't so much gone, as shifted, the warm night air charged and heavy. Lex keeps hold of my hand, and I look down, uncertain what might be showing on my face.

"Don't open it yet. Wait until I'm gone, please." He shifts closer on the couch, his knee touching mine, and I look up, needing to see his face. "I'm glad you invited me here tonight. I've been waiting for this for a long time."

"Lex-"

"Please, just let me say this." He waits for me to nod my head before continuing. "Clark, this past year…I've missed this, the way we used to be. I miss us. I'm not good at keeping friends, but it's never really bothered me before. This time it does. I know I've screwed up so much between us since Belle Reve, and nearly lost everything important to me in trying to get back the information on my father and Morgan Edge. And, between that and the search for the Stones, I kept putting you and your family in danger, and…I'm sorry, Clark. If you can forgive that, if you're willing for us to make our way back to where we were, I think this can help us get there. If you think so too, try to come by later? I'll be up late."

Before his speech can really sink in, before I can respond, Lex leans in and I feel the press of his lips against my forehead.

"Good night, Clark, and happy birthday."

I stare down at the gift as he leaves, listening as his car door opens and shuts, as the engine revs and gravel crunches under the wheels of his Jaguar, his heartbeat fast as a hummingbird's as he speeds his way back to the mansion. When I hear him finally pass through those iron gates, I finally blink.

I speed through unwrapping the box, but hesitate on opening it, confusion and so much hope coursing through me. It's a little black jewelry box, plain and simple on the outside. But lined with lead, as I discover when I try to scan through it. I suppress the urge to return to the house, have mom or dad open it, just in case…but I want so badly to trust him, to believe his speech wasn't just some trick in his search for answers. And, aren't relationships, friendship or otherwise, supposed to have moments like this? Where you just have to take a leap of faith?

It's a key. A plain, silver key. He bought me another truck? I pick it up, and beneath it, is a small piece of cardstock. In the light of the moon, I read the flowing, easy script of Lex's handwriting.

If you want to know what your gift is, you know which door this opens.

And I do. Immediately, I know exactly which floor of the Luthor mansion, in which wing, the door resides. Third floor, east wing. Again, I falter for a second, thinking of ways he could be leading me into a trap. The last time I saw the room, he had emptied it of everything except for one large square of crushed metal that once was a Porsche.

I take a quick look through the house, making sure even Lois has gone to bed, and slip the key into my pocket. Before speeding off, I spare half a second to the consideration of leaving a note, just in case, but quickly dismiss it. What good is a leap of faith if you set up a failsafe? Tonight is not a night for half-measures. It's an all or nothing kind of moment, and I'm tired of pretending I don't want everything.

****

@leatafandom

#clex fic #smallville fic #lime

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nineteenninety-six · 3 years ago

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A Little Bit of Sunshine

↳ Hector x Reader

↳ Word Count: 3.09k

↳ Requested by @shadechu

A/N: I have never written for Castlevania before but I really enjoyed writing this, it flowed so easily. Hector is probably OOC but who cares lol.

Anyway, enjoy :D

Hector had moved to a small town after everything had gone down with Lenore. After she died he realised how much damage she caused him, the lasting marks of her abuse and manipulation still scarred his body and mind and he could no longer stay in a place where they had lived and she had died.

The fact that he managed to escape the bond she had on him and that he was able to deceive her was only able to sustain him for a short while before everything fell apart and Hector was no longer able to act as if everything was okay, so he left and started anew.

The new town was on the smaller side but not small to the point where he would stand out. He easily blended into bustling crowds in the town centre and the residents treated him like any other local. For the first time in a long time, he felt normal, as working for Dracula was an experience that words couldn't explain.

He had his own little cabin in the woods where he could be at peace and the distance to the town centre was far but long enough for him to enjoy the sights as he walked past. All in all, he liked this new path of his life, it was almost completely different than it used to be and he expected to miss it but he enjoyed the calmness and serenity of this new path of his life.

On his usual weekly trip to town, someone called out to him, trying to catch his attention. it was a young woman, probably the same age as him and she was calling for his attention, waving him over to her stall.

"Sir! Sir!"

Hector looked up in surprise and as soon as the woman realised she had his attention a bright smile overtook over her face before she eagerly began to wave him over, swinging her arms back and forth over her head, gathering the attention of the other people around them.

Hector quickly shuffled over to them not wanting her to cause an even bigger scene and pull more attention their way.

"You're new aren't you?" Was the first thing out of her mouth.

Hector flinched in shock at her words, not expecting them. No one else knew he was new and that put him on edge.

"Oh don't look so surprised, I just know everyone that comes here."

Hector raises a brow at her words, " ... That's weird. You do realise that right?"

The woman shrugs, "Maybe but it makes for good business. People are more likely to buy something if I remember them from just previously meeting."

Hector realises that he's standing in front of a stall filled with baked goods, "You're a baker?"

"Family business," She clarifies, “I mostly do the selling due to my - "

"Charm?" Hector cuts in with a sarcastic tone.

"Actually, I was going to say my good looks but yes charm too." The woman grins.

Hector couldn't help but bark out a laugh, the woman never missed a beat.

"I'm (Y/N) in case you wanted to know" (Y/N) informed him with a wink.

Hector had to twist his lips so that the smile that so desperately wanted to escape, couldn't.

"Hector" He introduced himself.

"Well Hector, what can I get you? " (Y/N) asked, gesturing to the spread of baked goods in front of her.

Oh, she was smart. Catching his attention, making him come over to his stall and

converse with her in front of everyone and now he could surely not been seen walking away with nothing after taking up her time. While he didn't really care about the local’s opinions about him, he didn't want to be outcasted more than he already was.

"I'll have a loaf and a sweet pie please"

(Y/N) shoots him a bright smile and packs up his items, then collects his money.

"Thank you, Hector. I hope to see you again soon"

"I'll see you again" Hector responded

As he began to walk back home, Hector thought back on how easily (Y/N) made him feel at ease, how he brought a smile to his face and drew laughter from and he got scared.

This is how Lenore got her claws in him, she manipulated and lied to him before tricking him into servitude and he never wanted something like that to ever happen again.

He decided for the health of his mind, he would keep his distance from (Y/N). He couldn't find it in himself to completely ghost her and ignore her so he'll keep cordial. He'll be friendly but he couldn't let himself become close to her.

.•° ✿ °•.

His plan worked well, every time he went up to town he stopped by her stall and bought what ended up being his usual order of a loaf and a sweet pie, engaged in small talk with (Y/N) before leaving and it worked well for weeks until he had a dream about Lenore one night.

A mere dream had knocked him off-kilter. He had awoken a mess and fell out of his bed in his confused and frantic attempt to escape his blankets. He only managed to crawl a few paces before collapsing on the cold floor, his remaining energy only enough to let him roll onto his back. Hector blinked lazily up at the ceiling as everything he had locked away came rushing back. He relived the moment when he fell for her, the moment he realised that she had tricked him, the moment when she realised he betrayed her and then when she had died by her own will.

Everything that had occurred over the last few years played in front of his eyes and he hated every part of it. He could never forgive himself for being so naive and trusting yet he missed those traits of his.

When he 'awoke' again, the sun was moving low, signifying sunset wasn't far away. He pulled himself up and washed his face at the basin before he left his cabin, his feet taking him into town. The town centre was still busy despite the late hour and so was she, the woman who he came to see.

Despite the other stall owners who had either left or were in the process of doing so, her stall was still set up with what remaining items she had left. She was sitting on a stall with a book on her lap in a different world and Hector felt bad about disturbing her but he needed her.

He didn't even have to call her name, as soon as he was a few feet away, she looked up at him with a smile and closed her book shut, though when she got a proper look at him, her smile faltered.

"Hector?" She made her way over to him, brow furrowed in concern, "Is everything okay?"

He must look like a mess. He certainly felt it on the inside and he had been in a trance since he woke up, not paying any attention to his looks.

"I... um, I -" Hector stumbled over his words, his tongue suddenly heavy.

"Why don't you take a seat" (Y/N) guided Hector to her stall and offered him some water from the pouch at her side.

Seeing that he was in no position to talk about what happened, (Y/N) changed the topic slightly, "I thought you were not coming today. I got so used to seeing you, it would be a shame if I did not see you."

"But do not fret, I set aside your usual order for you," She said as she showed him a little wrapped up basket.

Hector nodded, the change in conversation took the pressure off his shoulders and he felt more at ease to speak.

"What do you do with the ones you do not sell? "He asked

"Today these are going to the homeless. I usually alternate between them, the orphanage and poor families"

"That is kind of you. Nobody did anything like that when I was young"

"I think the world is horrible enough with the wars and death and it costs nothing to do a little good within your own community" (Y/N) then looked up at the sky and noticed the changing colours, “Do you want to come with me as I give these out?”

Desperate for more of a distraction, Hector agrees and he helps her clear up her stan before they set off to a different part of town, him carrying the basket of baked goods for the homeless.

“Do you have any family, Hector?” (Y/N) asked.

Hector shook his head, his grey hair swishing around his chin as he did so, “Just me”

“Hm, well if you want any annoying younger siblings, I’ll eagerly give you all of mine”

“Surely they’re not that bad-”

(Y/N) lets out a laugh, “One day I’ll take you to meet them. You’ll regret your words!”

As they walked around, handing the food to the less fortunate, Hector noticed the strange way (Y/N) behaved. Her head constantly twitched one way to the other, as if someone was calling for her attention but she stopped herself before fully turning around to see and her eyes were flickering about like seeing things that weren’t there.

“(Y/N)? Is everything okay?” Hector asked

(Y/N) froze when he spoke, looking at him with wide eyes, she twisted her head around to make sure no one was nearby before she grabbed his hand and pulled him into a hidden alcove.

There was fear in her eyes as she gripped his hands tightly, “I am telling you this because I trust you but you cannot tell anyone or they will kill me.”

“(Y/N)...?”

(Y/N) casts one more precautionary look around her before speaking, “I can speak to animals”

Hector blinked in surprise, that was the last thing he expected.

“You...speak to animals?”

“Speak, understand, you know the whole thing”

“...The whole thing?” Hector repeated after her.

(Y/N)’s shoulder slumped in disappointment at his words, “You do not believe me. Of course, you don’t, I sound like a crazy woman.”

“No, no!” Hector was quick to reassure her, “I don’t think you’re crazy, of course not.”

(Y/N) gripped Hector’s hands tighter in relief and he suddenly realised that they had not stopped holding hands since she had dragged him. Her hands were soft but strong and steady and they fit perfectly in his, he never wanted to let go.

“I could do since I was a child and I told my parents but they thought I was a child with a large imagination so they ignored me,” (Y/N) began to elaborate on her talent, “And when I was ten there was a witch-burning in our old town, an older woman was accused of conjuring spirits and setting against the people of the village but in reality, she was just a sick old woman who needed help. After that, I knew I couldn’t let anyone know about you know what”

“Why did you tell me?” Hector asked.

“...I don’t know. There’s something about you, so understanding, empathetic, trustworthy. I know I can trust you.”

(Y/N) had revealed her deepest secret to him, made herself vulnerable yet he could not do the same to her, though the ability to communicate with animals was much different than being a forgemaster.

“You can trust me, I promise I will not tell anyone.”

(Y/N)’s shoulders relaxed and she gave him a brief smile, “Your belief in me means more than you know.”

“Now,” Hector lifted the basket up, “Should we finish what we started?”

It had progressively gotten darker, the sun only moments away from going down completely.

“Of course! We must finish before it gets too dark.” (Y/N) stepped out of the alcove and hurried down the street, dragging Hector behind her, still holding on to his hand.

It was dark by the time they began to walk home, Hector insisting on walking her home so that she wasn’t alone at night. She stopped in front of a little cabin, not unlike his, it also wasn’t that far away from his.

“You don’t live with your family?” Hector asked.

(Y/N) shook her head, “It is better for me this way. I love my family, truly but the chance of them finding out about me is something I can’t risk. I cannot truly say that they wouldn’t expose me… there are some things that are beyond even family ties.”

“Anyway,” (Y/N) spoke with a sigh, “It is late, I need to sleep. Thank you for today, Hector. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Hector waited until (Y/N) had reached her door and spoke again, “Can we...meet again soon?”

(Y/N) gave him a toothy smile, “Of course. In two days by the lake? I can bring a picnic for lunch.”

Hector nodded, “I’ll see you then.”

He waited until her door closed before he made his way home, his heart feeling happy. He had forgotten how he felt earlier that day and (Y/N) had completely turned his day around. He did feel guilt though, he went to for help, a distraction which she provided and then she revealed a deep secret of hers yet he couldn’t even tell her about his nor his past with Lenore or history with Dracula and being a forgemaster. The things he carried were heavy yet (Y/N) had already been so understanding and kink that he didn’t fear telling them to her, he knew she would understand.

In two days at the picnic, he would tell her.

.•° ✿ °•.

(Y/N) was already by the lake by the time he arrived, speaking out loud to someone he couldn’t see but when he heard the responding barks and yelps, he realised that she was talking to a dog. He hurried his pace to catch up to her, excited to see her communicate to animals in person.

“Is that a dog you’re speaking to?” He shouted as he jogged over to her.

(Y/N) spun around with a smile, “Yes! I’ll introduce you to him!”

She crouched down and took the dog into her arms before turning towards him after he finally reached her,

“Hector this is- Cezar”

“-Cezar”

Hector and (Y/N) spoke at the same time. Hector stared at the dog he had not seen since Carmilla had dragged him away after Dracula died and (Y/N) stared at Hector, surprised he knew the little mongrel dog.

Cezar eagerly barked at Hector, his tiny body wriggling in excitement as he tried to escape (Y/N)’s hold, so she let him down and watched as he raced over to Hector barking like mad and when Hector kneeled down, the door jumped into his arms and wiggled some more.

“...So I guess you know each other then?” (Y/N) asked.

“Cezar is my dog,” Hector explained, giving the small dog rubs and pats, “I got separated from him a while ago but how did you meet him?”

“We stumbled across each other last year and then we became close companions...but I’ve always been curious about something about him.”

“Is it that he looks like he should be dead?”

(Y/N) laughed, “Yes, Hector. Don’t get me wrong, I love the little dog but he looks a bit beyond his years.”

Hector put Cezar down and together they began walking towards the lake so they could set up their picnic.

He took a deep breath before he began to explain what he could do, “I’m a forgemaster.”

“Forgemaster? What’s that?”

Of course, she wouldn’t know what that was, her world was not the same as his.

“I can bring back animals and humans from the dead and call demons from hell.”

“Wow...that’s uh...wow”

“I’m sorry for dumping this on you, I know it’s quite heavy stuff.”

“I did not know that was possible”

“Many don’t. It’s beyond comprehension.”

“If I wasn’t looking at proof right now” (Y/N) pointed towards Cezar who was trotting ahead of them, “I wouldn’t believe it either.”

“Is that what caused you such distress the other day?” (Y/N) asked as they found a place to sit down.

“No, no, that was about Lenore.”

(Y/N) kept quiet allowing Hector to speak at his own pace.

“I was taken captive, stuck in a cell and Lenore gained my trust, pretending that she was someone that I could trust only to betray me and me her slave to her and her sisters. I was under their or more specifically her control for over a year until I managed to trick her and end the ‘bond’.”

“Where’s she now?”

“Dead. She was a vampire and decided it was her time to go.”

“Did you love her?” (Y/N) asked

“No, I don’t think I did. After I realised what she had done to me any feelings that I may have had disappeared, they were not formed authentically. I still feel incredibly stupid about the whole thing, I was foolish to believe someone who was involved in sisterhood with the person who captured me would genuinely care for me.”

“You were not foolish, you were human Hector '' (Y/N) comforted him, “You were vulnerable and she took advantage of that, you should not feel ashamed. You are strong that’s why you’re here with me right now and Lenore is no longer alive. You will never be proud of yourself if you keep on diminishing what you’ve achieved so far. You’ll never be happy and I want you to be happy”

Hector takes her hand in his, “I want to be happy.”

(Y/N) smiles at him, “You will be, I know you will.”

“I want to be happy with you”

“Oh-” (Y/N) smile changes into a softer one that tickles Hector’s heart, “I want to be happy with you too.”

“Imagine it,” Hector falls onto his back and tugs (Y/N) down with him, “You, me, Cezar in a cabin in the woods and all the animals you wish to speak to”

(Y/N) laughs, “You wouldn’t believe how chatting animals are, I’m fine with just being me you and Cezar for the moment.”

Cezar jumps up on Hector’s chest with a bark before settling down with a huff.

“Sounds like he agrees”

#Hector #hector castlevania #Castlevania #castlevania imagines #hector x reader #imagines #castlevania imagine #imagine #x reader #castlevania fanfiction

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lepusrufus · 3 years ago

Text

Wrong victim

Pure comedic self indulgence because we all need a funny break before shit starts to really go down in To bargain for immortality. Set quite a few years after the game events, around 2025, and is pure ridiculousness so enjoy.

////

Her response to being unceremoniously shoved in the back seat of a car that looked like it's seen far better days was merely an annoyed grunt. It turned into an eye roll when the man that climbed in after her pulled everything out of her pockets.

"Wouldn't want you calling anyone," he said with a toothy grin while waving her phone in front of her.

"Trust me, that won't be necessary," she replied in a deadpan voice. It's not like she would call the police, she wanted them involved even less than her kidnappers probably did. As for other people she could reach out to, a phone call would be redundant really. "Do be careful with it, I'd hate to lose the photos of Daniela sleeping upside down."

After maybe ten minutes of driving down the barely illuminated outskirts of the city, and having her pockets emptied, dagger included, the burly man driving pulled up inside a parking lot. It was large and overgrown with weeds and vines reclaiming spaces that had been left without human activity for who knows how long. The lamp posts were nothing more than useless concrete pillars as they provided no illumination, resulting in her pitiful captors having to use flashlights as they made their way into the dilapidated factory.

Nicole sneered at the sight of collapsed walls and rusty metal walkways, reminding her of the one particular Lord she couldn't stand the sight of. She decided a distraction was needed from unpleasant memories.

"Abandoned factory?" She whistled. "How many cliche movies have you guys watched?"

She let out a chuckle when the man that had previously taken her phone shoved her ahead. Hopefully they wouldn't tape her mouth shut, there was so much fun to be had by mockery alone.

It didn't take long before all three of them entered a dimly lit room, numerous candles placed all around, either on desks or candle supports nailed to the walls. The three more people inside were wearing long black robes and white masks covering their faces. Nicole had to laugh.

"Oh so you're that kinda crazy."

"Shut the fuck up and stay put," the man holding her hands behind her back said while pushing her into a chair.

He then moved to a table and Nicole couldn't help but scowl at how unceremoniously her beloved dagger had been thrown on the wooden surface. Afterwards, he put on a mask not unlike the others, except with red streaks going down from the eye holes, and started to prepare something in the middle of the room. The others joined in on the task, all but the one man that had been put in charge of making sure Nicole stayed put. Because of course she could easily escape five people much bigger than her at any given moment.

She decided to take a look around, at the various dusty books opened on pages she couldn't quite make out from where she was sitting. A few pages were laying around, either with diagrams or with scribbled notes. Had she really stumbled upon a cult? She couldn't wait to have a laugh about it with her family.

"So," she started, craning her neck a little so she could see her captor's face. "Who you gonna sacrifice me to huh? I wanna know before you slice up my throat or whatever you're planning on."

A confused and suspicious look was thrown her way, surely due to the complete nonchalance she spoke with about what would surely be her untimely death. "The… the devil," was his unsure reply.

Nicole let out a small laugh. "Oh trust me, you do not want to meet her. Though devil is not quite the word," she continued despite a few other pairs of eyes landing on her. "Maybe a pissy fungal overlord with an unhealthy obsession for crows. Yes that's more like it," she finished with another chuckle.

The man with a slightly different mask, who seemed to be their self appointed leader, got up from where he was nailing something to the floor and walked up to her in a few long strides. His eyes were barely visible, but anger was clearly distinguishable.

He pulled out a knife, old, rusty and with a black worn out handle so typical of a kitchen utensil, and so incredibly ugly compared to the beautifully ornate daggers that decorated her home. She had to laugh when the dull blade got pressed to her throat.

"Will you shut up for one minute?!" He raised his voice slightly, as much as someone who was doing something they didn't wish to be caught doing would dare to. It didn't deter her though.

"Oh sweetie this is just what foreplay looks to me," she started with a grin that made her wish she had fangs like the better part of her relatives. "But please do me a favor and stay quiet, there's no fun in hunting if my darling finds you within five seconds due to you screeching like a broken squeaky toy."

The man blinked for a few seconds, taken aback both by the words and by the apparent passivity towards having a knife at her throat. He stayed like that until one person that was working with some ropes behind interjected.

"Of all the people you could've taken, how did you find this unhinged bitch?!"

"I'll take that as a compliment," Nicole said, bending slightly to the side so the person that had spoken up would have a clear view of her sickly sweet smile.

After that exchange, her captors seemed happy to move things along quicker, working in silence and begrudgingly ignoring any remarks she would throw their way, including an observation on the downright dreadful quality of the rope they had. Quality that she regrettably got to experience when her wrist and ankles got tied to the nails in the floor, having her lay down in a starfish position. It kind of reminded her of sprawling on the bed she shared with Cassandra simply to annoy the brunette.

After loudly reciting something in latin, the leader bent down, same rusty knife in hand, and tipped her chin upwards to expose the neck. She did let out a wince when the blade sunk deep in her flesh and got dragged downward, towards her chest, leaving behind a choking sensation and the taste of copper in her mouth. The knife however only made it to the base of her neck, before the sound of metal crashing caught everyone's attention.

"What the fuck," the man whispered, thankfully pulling the blade out so her skin had the time to begin stitching itself back together. She still had to turn her head around and spit some blood that made its way into her mouth.

Before anyone else had a chance to speak up, the door was kicked open, one of the rusty hinges breaking completely, to reveal a rather angry Cassandra with her sickle in hand, ready for bloodshed.

There were a few seconds of stunned silence before the blade was unceremoniously thrown into the first person's skull, spinning through the air for only a few meters before getting embedded into the bone with a sloshing sound. Anyone else trying to escape through the one door was met with a similar fate. One person had their knees kicked inwards before a knife held at the same belt as the sickle came down to slash their throat. Another had their head smashed to bits against the nearest wall in the blink of an eye. And last, the burly man that had driven and kept an eye on Nicole, had his heart ripped through the bottom of his ribcage when Cassandra shoved him against one of the tables, scattering the books and papers that were by then stained crimson.

The remaining man, the leader, got grabbed by the shoulders and forcefully shoved into the same chair she had been sitting in not too long ago.

"Stay put and I'll let you live," Cassandra spoke, all the cruelty polished over decades upon decades of sporting the title of the family's most sadistic coming through those few words.

He gulped and nodded, eyes glossed over by the pure human terror now so unfamiliar to both of them.

She then turned around, expression softening like a switch had been turned behind golden eyes. "Nicole," she started, barely an edge of concern and irritation at the sight of her wife's bloody skin.

"Hi babe." The self satisfied grin almost had the brunette chuckling while she retrieved her sickle and Nicole's things.

The weapon was used to cut her free, a grimace pulling the corners of her black lips downward at the same quality observation her wife had priorly made, no doubt. A hand was offered to Nicole to pull herself up, while the other presented the familiar dagger that was gifted to her so many years ago.

"Will you do the honors love," Cassandra asked, with that beautifully sadistic smile.

"Of course," came Nicole's reply as her hand wrapped around the leather covered handle.

With some of the wretched ropes gathered from the ground, Cassandra made quick work of the man's hands and legs, securely tied to the chair and voice frantic.

"You said you would let me live!"

Cassandra laughed, a low ominous sound, while grabbing the mask and throwing it on the floor. She did love to see the terror in her victims' faces after all.

"Unfortunately my wife made no such promises," she finished with a forceful pull of hair that kept his head in one place as she moved to the back of the chair.

Nicole approached with the dagger already out of its holster and tapped the blade's point against her lips in thought for a few moments. She could simply slice his throat and be done with it, or stab him and leave him to bleed out, choking on his own blood. A hum made its way past her lips. No, no that would not do.

She grabbed a fistful of the man's shirt, pulling it up almost to the neck. After a few mental measurements and approximations were made, the tip of the blade finally found its way into muscle, drawing thin trails of blood and pained screams. It took a good five minutes to carve all the intricate details she wanted to, the swirling patterns cutting cleanly through skin, courtesy of her wife keeping the blade sharp and in top condition.

After she was content with the level of detail, and screams subsided to pathetic sobs, she took a step back and, with a hum, looked at Cassandra for a reaction.

"Oh dearest," the brunette said, looking over the man's shoulder and down at the bloody cuts on his abdomen and chest, forming a crude yet not unfitting replica of the Dimitrescu crest.

At the adoration that made its way past the cruelty in her wife's eyes, Nicole smiled and gingerly took a hold of her unoccupied hand, bringing it close to her lips and leaving a small kiss and a barely visible blood imprint on each knuckle.

"I take it that you approve of my… design choice," she asked with another glance down at the jagged lines that formed their family's symbol.

"It's wonderful," Cassandra replied, fangs shimmering slightly in the low light, exposed from the proud smile that tugged at her lips.

A gorgeous smile, really, that made something swell inside Nicole's chest no matter how many times she saw it. Truth be told, her rendition of the crest was quite lacking, never having had the artistic skills to quite capture the intricate details that formed it. Nevertheless, if it brought a smile to her wife's lips, she was more than content with it. How unfortunate that it had to be ruined.

She let out a sigh, still holding Cassandra's hand. "Too bad those pigs at the BSAA would quite disapprove of us leaving such things behind. Oh well," she shrugged, bringing the hand she was holding over to the man's abdomen. "Better it be ruined at your hands."

The next second, claws dug deep into flesh, slicing the muscle and everything underneath all the way up to the throat. It left five deep gashes over the fine cuts of her dagger, but the satisfaction did not dwindle. On the contrary, when the gurgling sounds finally stopped and the body went limp, her smile was still there, turning into light laughter when Cassandra licked her fingers only to visibly cringe.

"Say what you will about the dungeons, but at least we feed our livestock well," she spat, taking out a napkin from a pocket and wiping her fingers clean. "But with that disgusting thing out of the way, let me help you with that," she continued, grimace morphing into a sly smile when her eyes landed on Nicole's still bloody neck.

She gave her no time to disagree, not that she would, before she pushed her backwards slightly into the edge of a table. Nicole wasted no time in lifting herself up on the wooden surface, bringing their faces just a tad closer to being on the same level.

Cassandra dipped her head down, lips leaving teasing feather-like kisses on her jaw before lowering even further so she could drag her tongue up the length of her neck. It made a shiver run down Nicole's spine, that turned into an impatient tug of her wife's hair when the motion was repeated again and again, until no traces of blood could be seen on her neck, save for the crimson stains that made their way to the hem of her shirt.

Their lips met in a hungry kiss, full of fangs and smeared lipstick and the taste of copper so familiar to the both of them, albeit for different reasons. When Nicole's hands went to the first buttons of Cassandra's blouse, their kiss was broken with a sly smirk.

"This is such a dreadful place for such things, don't you think," the brunette said, all too amused by her wife's exasperated sigh.

"You started it," Nicole complained, but before the words were fully out of her mouth, she was tugged off the table and on the way out, ready to get back home and have a laugh about the irony of her capture. They would have to pick up where they left off at a later time.

#cassandra dimitrescu x maiden #unhinged maiden™ my beloved #tw: gore #cassandra being cassantra and comin to save her wifey #don't take this as a clue to how the mutation sequel may turn out #fanfic

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charlottepuddingsama · 3 years ago

Text

Taste of Her Own Medicine

I wrote a zosan fic; come read it (Ao3 link in the reblog)

Description: Zoro is running late to a meeting with Sanji. When he finally gets there Sanji is swooning over the ex that crushed his heart while she peacocks and shows off her new boyfriend. People like that really pissed Zoro off.

Zoro checked his watch again. God damnit, he was late. Again. Which meant Sanji was going to kill him for it. Again. He couldn’t even pin this on Sanji this time, either, because Zoro was the one to suggest they meet at the fountain. To be fair, when he suggested it he’d been sure that he in-fact knew the way to the fountain. When he reached where it should have been, however, it inexplicably wasn’t there.

Now he’s rushing halfway across town to get to where it apparently actually is, if his phone’s map could be trusted (Zoro did not trust his phone’s map, sure that it was constantly sending him on the slowest, stupidest route possible. He was definitely always better off just going his own way). At least the exercise was warming him up, the sun yet to burn off the late spring morning’s chill.

He was only twenty minutes late, maybe Sanji would let him off easy for once? Zoro sighed inwardly, knowing that would never happen. It was going to be stupid to be yelled at about this, too, since they weren’t even doing anything where timing was all that important. They were just trying to find good birthday presents for Luffy. Zoro was kind of hopeless at presents while Sanji was always amazing at them, always picking out something thoughtful and custom-tailored to the recipient. Zoro most often showed up with an amazon gift card feeling completely stupid about it. Knowing this, Zoro had stealthily suggested they go hunting together so they didn’t, “buy him the same thing.” As if Zoro would ever give as good of a gift as Sanji would. He was actually surprised Sanji hadn’t seen right through him and refused, but the other had actually more-or-less readily accepted the idea. Zoro supposed there was a first time for everything.

The first time for Zoro to not make himself late, however, was not today.

After some wrong turns and two dead ends that might have actually been the same dead end twice, Zoro finally, finally saw the large fountain that marked the beginning of the city park come into view. He slowed his jog to a walk, glad he hadn’t yet broken a sweat. Couldn’t let Sanji think he actually cared about keeping their appointment. Not that it mattered what the cook thought, of course, but if he thought Zoro cared he might somehow get an even bigger head than he already had. Not that Zoro actually cared in the first place, too, of course. He hadn’t been looking forward to spending a whole day shopping with Sanji even a little. Not at all.

Zoro looked around the paved area, searching for Sanji amongst the small crowd mingling by the fountain. The day was still a bit crisp from the morning, but that didn’t seem to dissuade people as they gathered around the mouth of the park. Some were alone, some in groups, and others towed animals on leashes either walking the pets or clearly getting walked by them. Zoro surveyed the whole crowd, looking for Sanji standing off by himself, probably bent agitatedly over his phone with a cigarette in his mouth. None of the loners in the area fit his description though.

Had Zoro somehow actually made it here first after all? That didn’t seem even a little bit likely. He kept looking.

Finally, after a long moment of searching, he managed to spot him. A familiar head of blonde hair, a neat dress shirt, and long legs stood by the side of the fountain striking an impossible-to-mistake silhouette.

He wasn’t alone, though.

In front Sanji was an unfamiliar couple: some brunette girl holding the hand of an average looking boy. Was Sanji hitting on a stranger while her boyfriend was literally right there? Really?

Zoro’s face morphed into an unimpressed look. How classic. He really had no idea what he was expecting, offering to take Sanji around in public where he might run into females in the wild. A strong feeling of annoyance grew in his chest at just imagining the stupid drivel that must be spewing out of that mouth of his.

Zoro began to march over there with intentions to drag Sanji away by the ear when he suddenly stopped himself in his own tracks. His brows furrowed, studying the way Sanji was standing. His entire posture was eerily off. One hand was in his pocket while the other held a lit cigarette. His shoulders were tight and a little high, legs slightly farther apart than normal as if on defense. There was absolutely none of the easy oozing he exuded whenever he normally was chatting up some girl. He wasn’t swooning even a little.

Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

A thrum of worry pulsed through Zoro. It wasn’t that he was worried about Sanji – he could take care of himself, plus, Zoro reminded himself, he didn’t give a fuck about him (how does he keep forgetting that?). Rather, he was worried about what kind of threat these two people could possibly pose to get someone as cool-headed as Sanji so visibly tense.

Looking at the two, he knew he couldn’t place the boy, but the brunette… did he know her? Her face was rather indistinct, no particular piece of it sticking out to him. Her clothes looked well-pressed, and they were probably fashionable, not that Zoro had any real frame of reference for that. Her brown hair was half tied up in two little buns on her head, the rest left to fall down past her shoulders. She just seemed like a completely random, normal person; an auto-generation of any other girl about their age in the city.

Then the girl laughed at something. The sound was shrill and obnoxious in a way that grated on every nerve Zoro had. He wanted to absolutely break something.

Oh. Oh. Ohhhh. Zoro knew exactlywho this girl was. He scowled at the memory.

She was some chick Sanji had dated for a while, maybe a couple months? A name itched at the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t quite grasp it. Two months was considerably longer than most of Sanji’s little trysts. He had even brought her around to meet everyone once; it was kind of a big deal since they’re friends are not only their family, but also extremely likely to scare any normal person away. Sanji had really, really actually liked this girl, Zoro was pretty sure.

And then she dumped him.

She’d reportedly done it unceremoniously one night, completely out of the blue. She simply told Sanji that she was, “done with this relationship now,” and left. Zoro had heard that line a hundred times over in the weeks following as Sanji wallowed pitifully, hit hard by the sudden cold shoulder. It had not been a pretty sight in the slightest. The ever-enamored cook had eventually bounced back, like he always did, but it really had taken longer than usual. Even Zoro had felt sorry for the guy at the time.

And now here she was. A completely random encounter in a city filled with a thousand other people that could be here instead. And she had the nerve to do, what? Strike up a casual conversation with someone she herself had so soundly dumped, some new boy in her tow? Inching closer, Zoro just barely started to be able to hear them. It was clear even just from her tone that the words exchanged were more than awkward hellos. The girl was gushing about her boyfriend the businessman, annunciating the words as if she wanted the whole park to turn and listen. She played with some expensive looking necklace in a way that was definitely supposed to be noticed, certainly some token from her little purse-mule of a boy.

That kind of thing really pissed Zoro off. Dump someone for no reason? Fine, whatever. But then go shoving yourself at him? In public and at random? She had to know how Sanji was physically incapable of being anything but overly polite to women, abusing that to get her kicks. Zoro grit his teeth as he watched Sanji gush at her that she looked as beautiful as always, that he simply adored how her hair grew out since he’d last seen her, that he was so happy she was so well taken care of. Underneath the gushing Zoro could practically feel how upset this whole encounter made Sanji, a self-pitying tone sewn into each sentence. It was like he was a slave to his own actions. The girl clearly let her ego be boosted by his attention and that made Zoro even angrier.

Zoro eyed the boy she had tugged along. He may have been some business guy or whatever, but he certainly didn’t look very impressive. His haircut was basic, his jacket was a bit too big and made him look like he was playing dress up, and his expression seemed far away as if zoned out. Zoro had him beat in muscle and looks easily. Zoro’s shirt was tight against his well-built chest, his jeans were slung low to show just a peak of his boxers, he’d have a healthy little glow from his jogging, and he raked a hand through his hair to give it a little volume. He was fully aware of exactly how good he looked in comparison and just pissed off enough to decide he might as well use it.

He wanted to see if little miss ex could handle a taste of her own medicine.

“Oi, Sanji,” he called, finally making his way to the trio. Sanji’s shoulders jumped to his ears. Zoro thought he looked like an animal frozen in crosshairs, waiting for its instincts to lead it to fight or flee. He turned slowly to look at Zoro, his face in a very un-handsome expression of combined panic and agitation.

Zoro fought his instinct to give just as nasty an expression back knowing he was now being watched by the brunette; his little show had now officially begun. Instead, he gave Sanji an easy smile as he sauntered over to him, eyes only on him, pretending to not even notice the couple right in front of them. This, of course, only lead to Sanji scrunching up his face in incredulous confusion. If this idea was going to work Zoro was going to have to wipe that look right off him.

When he was beside him, Zoro slung an arm around Sanji’s shoulder, letting himself drape over the other. Sanji was only one centimeter shorter than him and just as strong, so it always surprised Zoro just a bit how slight his naturally thin frame felt in his arms. A small, stupid rush of protectiveness briefly filled his chest and for once Zoro indulged it letting himself draw Sanji close to him. Sanji went stiff as a board and his eyes blew open in surprise. Zoro took advantage of his surprise, not letting him even think about getting a kick in as he reached out with his other hand to grab hold of Sanji’s stubbled chin.

He drew the other in for a quick, soft kiss.

The sharp scent of tobacco filled Zoro’s senses, but underneath it lied the familiar aroma of spices that followed Sanji everywhere he went. The scent was familiar, but the feel of Sanji’s lips against his was new. For all the times he’d bitten a mark into Sanji’s pale flesh, nipping along skin usually hidden later by shirts, Zoro couldn’t actually remember them kissing. If they ever had, they certainly would never do it as gently as this. He counted to ten in his head, wanting the kiss to look real while still public-appropriate.

Zoro was perfectly prepared for Sanji to remain like cardboard, perfectly fine carrying the kiss by himself. Suddenly, though, as if some sort of switch had gone off, Sanji softened, easing into Zoro’s hold like butter into warm bread.

All at once Sanji’s plush lips gently pressed back, allowing his weight to fall where Zoro’s arms had guided it. The count in Zoro’s head faltered for a second, mind going dumb from shock. Zoro had kissed plenty of people before, was a damn good kisser himself, but somehow nothing had ever felt like this. There was something in the way Sanji relaxed into him, how perfectly their lips slotted together, and the sensory of the strong scents and rough stubble and pillowy softness of lips. It all made even such a simple kiss simply intoxicating. Had they really never done this before? Why the hell not?

At ten (or was it eleven? Twelve?) Zoro drew his head back, ending their kiss with the soft sound of lips parting. He didn’t go far, though, hand still on the other’s chin, their breath mixing in the space between them. He opened his eyes, not knowing when he’d closed them, to find Sanji staring at him with a dazed expression and a gentle, pink blush spread across his cheeks. Zoro couldn’t help but smile, a strange feeling like fondness welling up in his chest. It was probably just hormones, like always, reminding him of the other times he’d made the typically put-together Sanji blush in more heated circumstances. Yeah, that was it, had to be.

“Thanks for waiting,” Zoro said, for once owning up to being late. Sanji blinked owlishly at him, as if trying to place where they were and what they were supposed to be doing. At that cute look something compelled Zoro and he made no move to stop it, giving a sweet kiss to the bit of forehead poking out from blonde bangs as if in apology.

“Ahem?” an impatient voice said, jarring Zoro back into reality. When had he left? It was like he’d had complete tunnel vision. Now, though, the situation around him came back into sharp focus. The mild chill of the spring air, the bubbling fountain behind him, the obnoxious couple in front of him, the reason why he did what he just did. Yes, right, he’d had a reason for doing that. One, singular, solitary reason and absolutely no other. A mission, even. Right.

Zoro dropped Sanji’s chin, ignoring the tingle in his hand and the definitely non-existent desire to hold him elsewhere. He instead hooked his thumb in one of his belt loops and assumed a pose hanging off of Sanji who was now tucked rather snugly into his side. The girl had her arms crossed and looked huffy. He raised an eyebrow at the two, acting as if they’d been the ones to interrupt him. “Sorry, didn’t see you there,” Zoro said casually, just knowing an egotistical bitch like her would be bothered by that. Sure enough, the girl’s eye twitched just a bit. Zoro held back a smug smile at getting a reaction so easily. “And you would be?”

Indignation flashed in the girl’s eyes. Had Zoro asked that rudely? Oh, pardon him. She stood herself up to look taller, as if looking down on him despite being a few inches shorter. Zoro refused to be phased.

“I’m Alice,” the girl introduced herself, not bothering to introduce the boy with her. It was probably for the best as the boy’s eyes had followed Zoro’s thumb down to where it rested, clearly distracted.

“I’m sure Sanji has told you all about me,” she added with fake sweetness, an almost sadistic smile crawling up her face. Alice, right. Alice was definitely the name Sanji wailed into his empty wine glass when Zoro and the others had tried to take him out on a boys’ night to cheer him up. He actually used to kind of like that name, but now it was forever tainted with the memory of this haughty cunt in front of him.

Instead of admitting to the recollection, though, Zoro looked at her blankly. “Alice…” he said, as if mulling the name over. As if he needed to search long and hard to find any semblance of someone in Sanji’s past named Alice. “Hm,” he said at length, “no… I don’t really remember having heard about someone by that name. Have you ever mentioned an Alice, babe?”

Despite addressing him, Zoro didn’t dare look at Sanji’s face. Even just the hint of doubt or disbelief or anger from Sanji might be enough to shake Zoro off his game and have this all come crashing down more humiliating than when they’d started.

He looked at Alice, instead, who looked at him like he’d grown a second head. The very concept that Sanji might not have cried his heart out about her every day since their parting was clearly a new one. It made Zoro so happy to have so suddenly shut her down with just a few words.

“Hold on! W-we’ve met before!” Alice protested, apparently recognizing him now. Zoro noted that she didn’t wait for Sanji to confirm or deny if he’d ever deigned to mention her once their relationship had ended. Zoro wondered if she was scared to know. Hearing something like that from the man himself might just shake her precious little ego. Zoro would love to see that happen.

“Oh, we have?” Zoro asked mildly, showing a clear disinterest in whether they had or not. He pretended to mull the concept over in his head just as he had her name. He certainly remembered the party Sanji had brought her to. He remembered that it had sucked because her laugh was too annoying to ignore even from across the room and cross-eyed drunk. Finally, he shrugged simply, clearly not caring one way or another. “Guess it just wasn’t very memorable.”

At that Alice looked absolutely stricken, an arrow piercing directly into her pride. Bullseye, Zoro thought to himself, narrowly remembering to keep his face schooled. He so badly wanted to give her the same wolfish grin he reserved for his enemies at tournaments, but his own internal satisfaction would have to suffice.

In his peripheral, Zoro saw Sanji take a long drag off his cigarette. Hopefully that meant he was willing to quietly play along. Possibly it meant he thought Zoro had genuinely forgotten about her and that he was about to get pummeled into a paste in about five seconds.

“S-So then, you two? You’re together then?” Alice asked, clearly affronted and looking for something to refill her sails. Zoro wondered if she was beginning to consider him her replacement. He wondered how he measured up.

Suddenly, though, she seemed then to get herself a second wind, puffing herself up in her coat. Zoro refrained from frowning, if just barely. And here he’d been winning.

“It’s so adorable to see new couples, isn’t it Darek, sweetie?” she said sweetly, grabbing on to her boy’s sleeve. The boy in question nodded absentmindedly, eyes locked on where Zoro was oh-so-incidentally toying at the waistband of his boxers with his thumb. A charming one, wasn’t he? “We’ve been together for four months now. It’s just so hard to find the one you’re truly meant to be with, but so rewarding to know they’re all yours. How long has your cute little thing been going on for?”

So she was considering him to be her replacement. Moreover, it seemed clear that if that were the case, he’d be the winner. This was her alternative hypothesis, the situation that would set the world just a little bit more right than it was right then. If their relationship was new she could brush it all off as certain to be doomed in a week or two, as so many new relationship were. Well, he’d better set her little worries to rest, now shouldn’t he?

“This little love bug,” Zoro said, pressing a sweet kiss to Sanji’s cheek, forcibly holding the other’s shoulder’s down when they jumped, “Has been all mine since August.” Would he most likely be paying for “love bug” with his very life later? Yes, yes he would. But it was so, so very worth it to see Alice’s face as she did the math. Zoro distinctly recalled The Wailing Remembrance of Alice having begun in that hot and muggy summer month. Logically, then, that made Zoro one hell of a rebound, and one that stuck quite nicely, too.

Alice was clearly taken aback, her refilled sails deflating again catastrophically. The cutesie pda, Zoro’s complete disinterest in with her, and the dawning evidence that maybe Sanji hadn’t been so hopelessly lost without her was doing exactly the job Zoro had hoped it would.

“B-but I thought you two hated each other!” She cried, looking between the two and sounding a bit desperate, “That you couldn’t stand in the same room without arguing!”

She, of course, had seen firsthand at the party the animosity between the two. She also had probably had to sit through at least a couple sessions of Sanji bitching about whatever thing Zoro had done to purposefully annoy him. Well, Zoro figured, you know what they say: when in doubt, gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss.

“Oh?” Zoro said, cocking his head to the side, “Why do you say that?” He said it as if she was insane, as if she hadn’t seen their fights herself, as if they weren’t literally known for their arguments with each other. He said it like it was completely and entirely natural for them to be like this now. It helped that Sanji hadn’t moved an inch, hadn’t given a single physical sign that this wasn’t exactly what they usually did. He made it seem like he was perfectly comfortable being held close to Zoro’s chest. That it was where he belonged.

They had even, in fact, gone a whole five minutes without arguing.

Alice’s mouth opened and closed for a minute, her mind clearly trying to calculate and recalculate this encounter, but the numbers just didn’t seem to be adding up in her favor. Zoro almost pitied her, except that she had very much started it and brought all this upon herself.

Finally, she looked to her boy as if for some sort of support. All she found was that his attention was firmly on Zoro’s chest, eating up the eye candy readily. He even went as far as to lick his lips.

“Darek!” Alice scolded under her breath, scandalized, slapping his chest for attention.

“Ow!” Darek said, shocked out of whatever daydream he’d been having.

Zoro finally let himself give a toothy smile. He considered his damage officially done. Alice had clearly been knocked down a peg or two, and her little walking-wallet of a boyfriend had been reduced from oh-so successful businessman to just another ogler looking for the next pretty thing. This was a resounding victory.

Now for a victorious escape out of this situation as fast as possible.

“Come on, babe,” Zoro said, turning his head to nuzzle into Sanji’s hair. How did he always forget just how soft those golden strands were? “I’ve made you wait long enough. I owe you a date.”

Zoro smiled into the last sentence, making it sound like their “date” was the only thing on his mind. Like he’d been thinking all week long about getting to see the other, the thought being his lone reason to keep going day after day. Which couldn’t be farther from the truth, obviously. There had been absolutely zero percent of him that had put any emphasis on this little outing even once this past week. He hadn’t done laundry for the express purpose of having something he liked to wear, he hadn’t trimmed up his sideburns and played with different hair products all week, and he definitely was not currently wearing cologne. The smile was simply an affectation of the truth, just for the sake of the ruse. That’s it.

Before anyone had time to say anything more, Zoro gently ushered Sanji to turn away from the other couple. To his relief, Sanji went willingly.

“W-wha-hey! Wait a minute!” Alice blustered, stomping a foot.

“It was nice meeting you,” Zoro said, not even looking back at her, just waving his free hand slightly.

“I told you, we already met!” she fumed, but Zoro paid it absolutely no mind. He grinned like an absolute shark, amazed he was getting away with this.

“Wait!” She yelled again.

Then, she played dirty.

“Sanji,” she said, a whimper in her voice.

Sanji stopped dead in his tracks. Zoro did too, not wanting to have to actually drag the other. He closed his eyes and cursed in his head. They had been so close.

Sanji took a long drag off his cigarette. As he sucked in, the moment seemed to stretch out, becoming longer than it was before. Finally, he blew a long exhale, smoke leaving his mouth fluidly. He tapped the ash off the end of his cigarette, dropped it to the pavement, and ground it out with his toe.

Zoro didn’t look at his face. He didn’t want to see even an ounce of hurt from such a stupid, shallow, nobody of a girl. It was so ridiculous for someone like that to make someone like Sanji feel anything at all, let alone pain. It made bile rise in Zoro’s throat and blood rush in his ears, but he kept his cool. He’d tried his rescue strategy. This was now nothing but Sanji’s fight.

Sanji turned his head over their shoulders. Zoro expected whimpering or pitiful noises, or maybe simply his standard gushing. Assurances that Alice still lived in his heart, that she always would. He’d tell her that she was the most beautiful girl in the world, that nobody could compare, that he would never want anyone else more than he wanted her. Zoro felt an unusual nausea in his gut.

“It was good to see you, Alice!” Sanji called brightly, his tone clear of any whining or gooeyness, much to Zoro’s surprise. No hurt? No presentation of wounds? No flattery? No begging?

“I’m glad you’re doing well.” Zoro was nearly in shock; Sanji sounded completely genuine. Did he… get over her? Just now? In this moment?

He hazarded a look at Sanji’s face and found a brilliantly beaming smile that reached his clear blue eyes. It was a smile that could put a thousand suns to shame, a smile that could launch a thousand ships, a smile worth the world over in gold and then some. Somehow, Sanji was really, truly happy.

Something inside Zoro absolutely melted and something else bloomed warm in his chest.

Before Zoro could even start to think about processing that, Sanji turned to him, and he was simply lost. For a brief second that stretched into minutes, days, years even, nothing else existed but him and Sanji and Sanji’s blue eyes shining back at him. He wanted nothing more than to kiss the beautiful man in front of him.

Then Sanji spoke, and Zoro forced himself out of that moment. Back to reality. Again, when had he left? He couldn’t recall.

“Come on, then, dearest,” Sanji jeered, his eyes now gleaming mischievously and smile saccharine sweet as he prodded. Zoro cognitively knew that he was always annoyed by that expression yet couldn’t seem to summon up the actual feeling of being annoyed. “I believe you promised me shopping?” Zoro felt a hand slip into the far back pocket of his jeans.

Now they really did look like a disgustingly lovey-dovey honeymoon-stage couple out for a date. Sanji gave his ass a teasing squeeze, snickering as Zoro felt his whole face grow red hot. Who had initiated the touching again? It couldn’t possibly have been him. This was far too intimate for him to have started, surely.

Zoro gulped heavily and remembered that he had a part to play here. He once again ushered them forward down the street. The last thing he heard from the girl – her name already returning to a blank spot in Zoro’s mind – was her yelling at her boyfriend to get his jaw off the ground and stop drooling already.

Zoro let Sanji lead them down a couple blocks, dazed and distracted. During the whole encounter he’d kept himself perfectly calm, but now that it was over his heart was beating hard in his chest. He replayed the whole scene in his head, impossibly surprised that it actually worked. How in the hell had it actually worked? How had they passed so easily for an actual couple?

Zoro was still wondering at how miraculous their success was when Sanji broke his concentration.

“Hey, Zoro,” Sanji said, casually as can be, leading them down some sort of alley between buildings.

“Yeah?” Zoro grunted, freshly shaken from his thoughts.

“Could you do me a favor?”

“What do you want, shit cook?”

“Well, would you mind ever so terribly-“ Suddenly, a foot came flying at his face and Zoro was too startled to block it in time, “-GETTING YOUR BIG, DUMB GORILLA HANDS OFF OF ME!”

Zoro went flying into the wall of the alley, back hitting with a sharp snap of pain. He was fine, though, nothing he couldn’t brush off.

“What the hell was that for?” Zoro scowled. He peaked at the wall behind him; the brick was only cracked a little, just barely resembling the outline of a person. Nothing identifying, so it was fine.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” Sanji sneered, adjusting the collar of his button-up and dusting off his pants as if the mere presence of Zoro in his bubble was sullying.

“Heh, I can think of a few times you’ve liked me touching you just fine,” Zoro retorted, wiggling his brows suggestively.

“You’re such a pervert,” Sanji said with disgust.

“You’re one to talk, love cook, swooning after a girl with her boyfriend literally right next to her.” Zoro swiped his thumb under his nose, checking for blood and finding none. Nothing seemed broken, that was good.

“Hey!” Sanji protested, looking angry. Had Zoro gone to far with bringing it up already? He knew the situation wasn’t exactly typical. Still, the whole thing still kind of pissed him off, so why shouldn’t he talk about it? “I didn’t ask for your help back there!”

“Oh?” Zoro asked, a smirk coming to his face, “So you admit that what I did was helpful?”

Sanji’s face grew red, frustration and agitation clear. “Oh, go die in a hole, you moron.”

“Whatever,” Zoro shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets, and leaning against the cracked brick coolly, “I was just pissed off, that’s all.”

“You?” Sanji asked condescendingly, “What the hell did you have to be pissed off about?”

“Don’t like that girl, is all,” Zoro answered plainly, closing his eyes as he relaxed, his heart rate finally dropping back to normal after all the excitement. The physical distance from Sanji and the sting of pain had broken his strange headspace. He was feeling like his usual self again, now. No weird, overly emotional thoughts swirling around. “Didn’t like her when you talked about her, didn’t like her when you brought her around, and I didn’t like her when I saw her just now, either.”

Zoro could feel Sanji study him for a moment, as if trying to decide if he bought that. “And what exactly has she done to you to make you hate her so much?”

Zoro huffed, rather done with the interrogation despite it hardly having begun. “I just can’t stand her attitude, that’s all. She’s so holier-than-thou, and then goes around parading herself like she’s the best thing since sliced bread.” The nerve of that girl, honestly. Zoro worked up a little mucus in his mouth and spit at the ground. “She thinks she can just waltz around hurting people to make herself feel better. Pisses me off.”

“Hey, you can’t say that about a beautiful lady!”

“Oh, piss off,” Zoro said, rolling his eyes, “First of all as far as I could tell she wasn’t even that good looking, average at best.” He will fully admit to his radar being finely attuned to men only, though, so maybe he’s wrong, but she really didn’t seem like anything special to him. “And secondly you never would have taken that kind of crap from a guy. You would have kicked him to the moon and back the second he tried that shit. But with her, and every other woman ever, you let her walk all over you. Not exactly a good idea when the girl’s a grade-A bitch.”

They stood there in that alley for a long moment, Sanji just watching Zoro and Zoro just watching him back. They both knew he was right.

“Tch,” Sanji spat at length, “I was raised a ladies’ man, and that’s just how it is.” Zoro knew that, too. This wouldn’t change anything. He doesn’t know how it happened, but somehow that behavior just got hard coded into Sanji. It was fine except that it was annoying and opened him up so easily to those who would misuse his kindness. There weren’t many of Sanji’s exes that Zoro didn’t outright hate, now that he thought about it, and certainly none that he properly liked. Maybe that was why.

“And anyway,” Sanji cut in, breaking Zoro’s wandering thoughts, “Why the hell do you care how I’m treated anyway?”

What? Did he say that? No way he’d said that. “I don’t!” He didn’t! Zoro felt his face grow hot, which didn’t make any sense. This was stupid. “I-It’s just the principal of the matter, is all!”

“Oh really?” Sanji asked, clearly unconvinced.

“Shut the hell up, bastard,” Zoro snapped, now really well and truly done with this whole affair. He took a breath, cooling himself down. Sanji always got him so worked up it was stupid. “Whatever, believe whatever the hell you want, I already told you the truth. She was a cunt and that’s all there is to it.”

The words clearly ticked Sanji off, but that was good, got him distracted from whatever bullshit he was spewing about Zoro caring about him or something. Idiot.

“You know, you could really do with learning some good manners towards ladies.” Sanji scowled.

“Yeah, yeah,” Zoro said, waving off the idea for the billionth time. “Last time I treated a girl any differently she caved my head in with a stick. Won’t be making that mistake twice.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sanji asked, making a dumb face as if Zoro had said some sort of convoluted metaphor.

“Forget about it,” Zoro dismissed, having not intended to bring Kuina into this. He shoved off the wall and decided it was time to get out of this alley and back to what they came here for.

“Whatever,” Sanji said, rolling his eyes, apparently too done with Zoro to bother to pry.

Zoro walked until he was passing Sanji by, heading toward the mouth of the alley. Sanji stood silently, looking like he was thinking about something.

Just as he passed, Sanji said something quietly, “She really was a bit mean, wasn’t she?”

Zoro stopped there, just in front of the other. He didn’t get it. He didn’t know why Sanji was like this. Why was it so impossibly hard for him to admit when a woman was bad to him? So inconceivable to fight back? It made Zoro so impossibly upset sometimes. But here he was with this one little admittance. This one time this one woman was a bit mean to him. Zoro shouldn’t shoot this down. He couldn’t bring himself to if he wanted.

“Yeah,” Zoro huffed, a bit of a smile playing on his lips with the magnitude of the understatement. “And stupid too,” he added.

“Stupid?” Sanji asked, hackles raised all over again, “What the hell do you mean by that?”

“Sheesh, isn’t it obvious?” Zoro asked, huffing a short laugh through his nose, “First she dates you, which already brands her as an idiot –“

“Hey!”

“- And then she brings around that chump as if he’s supposed to somehow make you jealous. Seriously, as if he’d ever hold a candle to you.” What a joke.

Sanji didn’t say anything to that, and Zoro looked back curiously.

Sanji was just staring at him, eyes a little wide and face dusted pink. “Hah?” Zoro questioned, one eyebrow quirked. “What, did I say something wrong?”

Sanji looked at him for a moment longer, the silence stretching between them yet carrying surprisingly little tension. Finally, Sanji seemed to shake himself out of it. “It’s nothing, moss-for-brains. And get out of my way,” he said, shoving Zoro by the face.

“Hey! Cut it out!” Zoro yelled, shoving Sanji’s hand off his face.

“Ah, deal with it, grass-head,” Sanji said, pulling out a cigarette and his lighter, “Let’s find whatever the hell kind of present Luffy would want already.”

Zoro grumbled but followed along, ready to get this errand over with and the weird events of ten minutes ago behind him. This event would be receiving absolutely no post-facto analysis. There wasn’t a single thought, feeling, or action that needed a second look at or processing time to rectify with his current world view, and he was eager to put it all out of his head.

“And hey,” Sanji said. Zoro sighed inward, sure this was going to be something weird about the thing that just happened, “Thanks.”

Yup. Weird. Weird, weird, weird. It was so weird for Sanji to thank him, he almost hated it. He did hate it. He absolutely definitely hated it. That must be what the rosy feeling in his chest was: hate for how weird it was.

“Yeah, well, you know,” Zoro said, shrugging the whole ordeal off as they did with almost everything that’s happened between them, “Don’t mention it.”

This, as so much else, would be their little secret.

A comfortable silence rested between them as they each took a moment to breathe.

“By the way, are you wearing cologne?”

“IN YOUR DREAMS!”

#one piece #zosan #sanzo #zoro/sanji #sanji/zoro #zoroxsanji #sanjixzoro #fake dating #my writing #fanfiction

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going-dead · 4 years ago

Text

Lightning Scars and Listening Ears

Phic phight prompt by @datawyrms : Danny Phantom's jumpsuit is hiding a secret he'd rather not reveal to anyone. (feel free to be metaphorical if you want.) l

Team Human: @currentlylurking

Most citizens of Amity Park often forgot that Phantom wasn’t human. Sure he would fly through the skies, turn invisible, and shoot ectoplasm at the ghosts who would attack the city on a daily basis, but the way he acted when not saving the city always seemed so alive. That’s where the problem lied though. The ghost kid wasn’t alive, a fact that Amity Park never actually thought much about.

Phantom was playing around with some kids in the park when it all happened. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence to see the boy play with the younger citizens of the city, under their parents supervision most of the time. Seeing him give them piggyback rides and playing tag was actually a common sight when there were no ghosts to fight. Phantom had six different kids hanging off of his arms and legs, apparently trying to tackle him and get him to fall down. The group of parents laughed at the sight as the teenage hero fell to the ground admitting his defeat in a dramatic flourish. “Ahh you got me! Foul villains, you will regret this!” He laughed as he lunged at the closest kid and launched a tickle attack. Childish squeels rang out as the uncaptured children ran trying to avoid being tickled. The little girl in his arms was finally released from her attacker when she turned on Phantom and started to tickle him back. His laughter attracted the other kids who scattered and they joined the counter attack.

“I yield I yield!” He flailed his arms as a dozen little hands tickled any spot they could reach. The kids slowly let up their assault leaving the teen gasping for breath.

One of the children, the girl who started the attack on Phantom, pulled on his arm. “Mr. Phantom? What’s that did you get a owie?” She asked pointing to his neck where part of his jumpsuit wrinkled down revealing a few red raised streaks maring his skin.

Phantom froze eyes jumping over to the adults just a few feet over who had stopped their conversation to try to see what the young girl was asking about. He quickly pulled the collar of his suit back into place. He gave the girl and the other kids surrounding him a pained smile. “Yeah I did get an owie. Don’t worry though I’m fine, doesn’t even hurt anymore.” Suddenly blue frost escaped his lips, the adults sitting nearby never saw him more relieved to have a ghost show up than in that moment. He gave quick goodbyes to the kids before shooting off to find the day's threat to the city.

All the adults gathered waved over their respective kids. While they trusted Phantom to get rid of the threat it was always smart to stay inside during a ghost attack. A loud boom sounded in the direction where Phantom flew off, shaking the ground. They all gave each other uncertain looks. “My house is closest we can take shelter there.” One of the men said leading everyone away.

After a block of running the group was almost to shelter when the ghost fight moved over their heads. The adults grabbed onto the children doing their best to shield them from the flying debris. They held the kids against their chests as they watched the sky in horror. They didn’t recognize the attacking ghost, but it was certainly doing a number on Phantom. The rest of the battle lasted at most a minute when Phantom managed to suck up the ghost into his thermos before he seemed to wobble in the sky and falling to the ground creating a small crater where he landed.

The man who was leading the group passed off the kid he was holding to the man next to him. “David what are you-?”

“Brian just hold her.” He ran over to the fallen teen and picked him up in a fireman's carry and rushed the rest of the way to his house.

Once he arrived he kicked open the door and placed the teen onto the couch in his living room. He looked down trying to assess the situation. Phantom’s jumpsuit was torn in numerous places exposing spots of his arms, neck, and chest that had splatterings of green ectoplasm across the exposed flesh. He started taking the rest of the jumpsuit off of the teen wanting to make sure there were no hidden injuries underneath. Behind him he could hear his husband and the other parents come through the door. “Get me a wet rag and some warm water!” He yelled behind him.

Once he was handed the items he started working on cleaning up the cuts and wiping off the ectoplasm. He silently thanked any higher being out there that he took a first aid class a few years back. The wounds actually seemed less severe than what David initially thought, that or the kid had some seriously advanced healing. One of the parents led the kids upstairs while the rest of them crowded around David and Phantom.

Once Phantom was as patched up as he could be David finally sat back and actually took a full look at the boy. His breath caught in his throat as he examined the body infront of him. In the end all he could get out was.“Oh my god. He’s- he’s dead.”

“What the hell do you mean? Of course he’s not, I can clearly see him breathing right now.” One of the parents protested.

David shook his head. “No.” He went to run his hands down his face before spotting the blood- no the ectoplasm covering them and settled for grabbing onto his husband for support. “No, I mean he’s a ghost.”

“Well yeah he’s a ghost it’s not like that’s news now is it?” Brian said running his hand up and down his husband's back.

“You guys don’t get it.” David pulled back. “Think! Look!” He ran his hand through his hair, staining it green. “Look at him.” He pointed at the teen’s unconscious body. There were lightning shaped scars running all over the boy’s body, from the base of his neck trailing all the way down to his ankles. Those weren’t the only scars marring his body though, small scars were scattered all over his body, there was a rather large one on his abdomen in the same spot where he was hit the other week fighting off a ghost who was attacking the high school. The gathered adults looked back at Phantom’s face. As he slept he almost looked like a normal teenager, there were small bags under his eyes, his closed eyes hid the toxic green color, and the glow surrounding him was almost nonexistent.

Three things seemed to dawn on the parents all at once.

1: Phantom at some point had died

2: He died young, at most he was just out of middle school when it happened.

3: From the looks of it he didn’t die in his sleep but painfully. They all silently hoped that at least it wasn’t drawn out.

As they all looked at each other they couldn’t help but think of their own children who were just upstairs. Did Phantom have a family? Did his parents miss their little boy? Do they know that Phantom was their son? Even worse, the boy had a jumpsuit on when he died, was his parents the cause of his premature death?

Of course if Phantom was conscious, didn’t have to worry about the whole identity thing, and could read their minds the boy would quickly put their minds to rest responding; yes, no he sees them daily, god no, and sorta it really was more of a case of teenage stupidity than his parents fault though.

Two of those issues though were quickly resolved as two white rings shocked the group out of their grief for a boy they hardly knew. The rings traveled across the boy’s body replacing bare skin with street clothes and white hair with black. Everyone looked at Phantom(?) confused, the boy in front of them was very unghost-like and the scratch on his face that was previously bleeding green now had a red where the scab was forming.

“What the fu- wait isn’t that the Fenton kid, Danny I think?” David asked looking back at the other parents who were in the same amount of shock that he was. Actually he was positive it was him, his older sister Jazz used to babysit their daughter and he would sometimes come along. If someone was going to respond they were cut off as the boy in front of them started to stir and open his eyes. He sat up almost falling off the couch in his panic, thankfully David was quick enough to catch him. “Woah there Danny, be careful you took a pretty bad beating out there. Hell I’m surprised you’re already awake to be honest kid.”

Danny gave him a thankful smile as he steadied himself. He froze once he caught a glimpse of his hair, his eyes shot down to his clothes. He looked back up and noticed the group of adults in front of him. “Now before you jump to any conclusions there’s a very reasonable explanation for this, or there will be just give me a few minutes.” “Wait so does this mean you’re not dead?” Brian asked.

“Brian you can’t just ask that! What if it’s a sensitive subject?” David scolded his husband then looked over at Danny. “Sorry about him.”

Danny looked over to the men who for some reason had hope in their eyes. “What? It’s fine. I mean I guess no- well yes- no- sorta- it’s complicated.”

As Danny looked at the numerous questioning eyes he sighed. It’s not like he could convince them that it was a trick of the light or something. And he did owe them since they patched him up better than he would have been able to at home in his bedroom. But before he could start he turned to David. “I’ll tell you guys everything but first um… is that my ectoplasm in your hair and on your hands? Because if so you probably should wash that off, prolonged exposure isn’t harmful per say but you could start to glow or something if you don’t wash it off soon.”

David looked down to his hands, apparently just now remembering he was still covered in the boy’s ectoplasm and rushed to the bathroom to wash it off. He’d worry about why the sight of his own blood- ectoplasm didn’t phase Danny at all later.

Once David returned, now free of ectoplasm, Danny sat down and started from the beginning. At one point in the story he must have started to cry because he was handed a tissue box, which he accepted with a thanks. By the end he wasn’t the only one with tears in his eyes, one of the adults had to go into the kitchen to compose themselves. Danny didn’t really understand why though, sure he sort of half died, but he didn’t see why it would affect any of them. “Hey! It’s fine, I’m fine it’s not a big deal! I mean it’s not like it only happened to me. Vlad went through it too like 20 years ago.” Danny seized up after he said that. “Don’t tell him you know about him though! Me not telling anyone about him is the only reason he’s not trying to fully kill me when we fight. That and he has a weird obsession with my mom and me.”

David paused at that. “So you’re telling us that not only did you go through a highly traumatic situation at a young age, but the only adult that even knows about it has tried to kill you multiple times?”

“I mean I guess but Jazz, my sister, knows about it too and she’s older than me and my friends.”

“Danny she’s also still a kid, an older one sure, but she is not an adult. Even if you didn’t go to your parents, was there no one else you could have talked to about it with? A therapist maybe?” David asked.

Danny laughed. “Ah no, Jazz tried having me go to the school therapist but she turned out to be a ghost who wanted to try to cause as much pain as possible. She even almost killed Jazz in front of the whole school.”

“Dear god.” David sighed. “All right, we will all keep your secret on one condition.” Danny cringed and looked down at his lap, of course there was a catch. He just hoped it wasn’t anything too bad like letting them run a bunch of experiments on him whenever they wanted to. His ghost injuries were bad enough to hide from others, he didn’t need to have to explain away needle marks or something. “You’ll see Brian once a week for therapy sessions. He’s a licensed psychiatrist.”

“Wait what?” Danny looked up confused.

“Oh don’t worry I won’t charge you of course since we are forcing you to do this, and obviously you can choose the day of the week. I usually don't work fridays or the weekends but if those are the only days that work I’m sure we can rearrange some of our family time to make room for you.” Brian smiled. “Now it’s getting pretty late isn’t it? I’m sure it’s about time everyone here starts to head home now hmm? Of course if you aren’t feeling well enough Danny I can call your parent’s up and just let them know you’ll be staying here. I’ll just tell them you were injured in a ghost fight, not exactly lying now is it?”

“Um no I’m fine enough to walk home thank you though.” Danny said. Everyone started saying their goodbyes and calling the children down to get them ready to leave. Danny was the last one left, he was almost out the door when he was stopped by David handing him a piece of paper.

“Here are our numbers, I also wrote down where Brian’s office is, you can set up your appointment over text. As well as our address, you can stop by or call us for any reason Danny and I mean it okay, any.”

Danny looked down at the paper and pocketed it with a nod. As he left he felt almost lighter for some reason. Maybe having adults who knew and didn’t want to kill him but actually wanted to help him wasn’t so bad after all.

#Danny phantom #phic phight 21 #Phic Phight #dead writes #My fic

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attllhak · 3 years ago

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Adoption AU: Midna

AKA: The one where Twilight got shot.

@tortilla-of-courage @ghostdragonace @sekiumiarashi @anadorablekiwi

Also, mind the tags for this one, since it is the fic where Twi gets shot I did look up the warnings list I gave my best friend when I shared it with them. It shouldn’t be too bad, but better safe than sorry.

----------------

Twilight wasn’t terribly happy about this arrangement. He understood what Keapora was trying to do, he did, but that didn’t mean he was happy about it.

It was a group project for their history class, about the French revolution. Everyone was assigned a historical figure to research, and at the end of two weeks they would need to present an argument on why their figure shouldn’t be executed. The class would vote, and if you lost then a carrot that Keapora’s daughter, Zelda, or Sun as his family called her since they knew so many Zeldas, dressed up to look like the figures would be executed. Twilight’s brother often helped her, and people didn’t usually survive since everyone loved watching Keapora execute carrot nobles with the tiny, functioning guillotine he had.

Twilight was one of the people that was really valuable in group projects because he actually did the work. He was especially sought after because he never made a big deal of it, unless the others did absolutely nothing, and even then he cornered the teacher after class instead of calling anyone out. Dusk, another Zelda, was another of these very valuable group project members. She was a little more vocal about being used, but only because she approached the teacher while class was still in and did so regardless of how little effort was put in. Twilight didn’t know Dusk personally, they didn’t run in the same circles very often, but they got along well enough.

Midna, however, was another story.

Midna was a foreign student, whose parents had immigrated not long after she was born. Her mother’s brother and his family moved with them. Twilight was more familiar with her, but only because they had ended up in the office for fighting once.

Not each other, they had never hit each other. In fact, they had been on the same side. The person they were fighting was Midna’s cousin Zant.

Zant was a grade above them, and a real piece of work. He thought because his family were immigrants that he could claim discrimination any time anyone wasn’t willing to do what he wanted. Plus, if you asked Twilight, he was just a bit loony, and every time he saw the guy he got a worse and worse feeling about him.

They’d met the year before, when Midna and Zant had switched schools. Zant had tried picking on one of Twilight’s little brothers, and Twilight was not having that. Midna had the same thought, apparently, since she was pretty quick to get involved too. Then Zant punched Twilight. Midna punched Zant. One of Zant’s cronies jumped in to defend him. Twilight’s brother Legend saw this going down and decided to lend his fists to the cause when he noticed Twi and Midna were outnumbered. Things devolved from there.

In the end, Zant’s cronies, and Legend, booked it before the teachers got there to break it up. All three of them got dragged into the office and had parents called. Twilight had been miserable until Midna leaned over to compliment him on his form and show him funny videos on her phone. They didn’t talk much, but there was a mutual respect there.

Midna was not like Twilight or Dusk. She was very useful to a group project, but also had a tendency to publicly call out everyone who didn’t help. During the presentation. Twilight had howled the first time she got to the ‘credits’ slide and it was all just her name, and then the other group members listed as ‘standing around looking pretty’. He wasn’t alone.

So he understood what Keapora was doing. By putting all the kids who were invaluable to group projects together it ensured that they wouldn’t get taken advantage of and that they’d all be able to only do their part.

He didn’t have to like it.

It was because he was on the soccer team, he figured. He knew the other sports kids used that as an excuse to get out of projects. And Dusk was on student council and in debate.

That was the only reason he could find that Midna didn’t trust them to do their part. Or maybe she was just jaded. He understood that feeling.

Either way, after the first ‘huddle’ to begin dividing the work where Midna had complained about doing all the work, Dusk pulled Twilight aside and they worked out a plan to get Midna to trust them.

A large part of this plan leveraged the fact Midna already seemed mostly cool with Twilight, so he’d be mostly on the charisma front (which had confused him, since he was far better with animals than he was people), and Dusk would focus more heavily on gathering and sorting research. This, worked less well than Dusk had hoped.

Fortunately, Midna came around the day they got kicked out of the library for getting into a screaming match about a few contradictory facts they dredged up. They left the room still steaming, but Midna was laughing pretty loudly. After that, the three of them got along pretty well.

The project went pretty smoothly after that as well, and they agreed if any more screaming was to happen they’d relocate outside. This worked really well, and soon enough they fell into a system. Dusk even offered them her house to get together after school to work on it. This worked well for Twilight, who had four and a half brothers and counting, and thus didn’t exactly live in a house conducive to group projects. Or any projects.

The three ended up spending a lot of time together working on it, and even managed to get to the point where they were well ahead of the rest of the class. Twilight was even hopeful their carrot might survive (though not so hopeful he thought it would, he knew better than that).

Of course, the universe didn’t seem to think he should be able to take a break. Ignoring that Wild had just gotten another cast off and he’d had to rescue Legend from a few more fist fights, he didn’t think anything big would end up happening. It was just the usual shit where his biggest break was going over to Dusk’s house to work or disappearing on his Epona for a few hours.

But, he wasn’t oblivious. He noticed the warning signs, he just dismissed them.

In hindsight, he shouldn’t have done this.

Zant had always made Twilight uncomfortable. It didn’t help that he seemed to really hate Twilight after the fight they’d gotten into, and made worse by the fact Twilight got along well with Midna. Midna mentioned he was always a little jealous of her for various reasons, and that they’d never been close. So he didn’t think much of it when Zant started acting weirder than usual. He asked when he noticed Midna was getting more fidgety and nervous, but accepted it when she brushed him off. He paid no mind to the fact Zant started skipping school.

He never brushed things off like this again. His therapist said it was paranoia based on trauma, but Dusk agreed with him that it was a reasonable caution. After all, he was the one who got hurt.

They had finished the project early, after spending the entire weekend at Dusk’s place to work on it at Midna’s request. In hindsight, it should have been worrying that Midna was avoiding her home, but no one said anything about it since she just brushed them off.

The three were sitting in the library, sorting through the last few bits of information and the presentation to make sure they had everything. Twilight was sitting closest to the door, which is probably why he was the one who did the stupid thing.

They had been there for maybe ten minutes when an announcement for a lockdown came over the intercom. Lockdown drills had been happening since Twilight’s dad had been in school, after he’d done something really stupid and brave in the face of danger, so no one thought much of it. Mostly, they just moved all the papers and the laptop they were using under the table so they could keep working.

That is, until Twilight noticed how worried the librarians looked.

Suspicious now, Twilight rapped twice on the top of the table and hissed to the girls his concerns. Midna agreed, but looked suddenly really, really pale, and a little scared.

“Midna, are you alright?” Dusk hovered a hand over Midna’s shoulder, and Twilight crouched down next to them to watch as well.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Midna waved them off, but both of them could tell she was lying.

“Midna, do you know what’s going on?” Twilight asked her, glancing back at the librarians every so often.

“No, well, maybe,” she was now wringing her hands in her cloak, chewing on her lip.

“Midna, what’s going on? Is this for real?” Dusk set her hand down and Midna jumped, Dusk retracting her hand as she did.

“Well,” she hesitated, but Twilight offered her a smile and Dusk nodded. “There have been a few, issues, with my cousin. You know, Zant? He uh, he’s not been doing well recently,”

“Not been doing well?” Twilight led, hoping for something more.

“He’s been getting more violent,” Midna admitted quietly. “And, and he’s starting to scare me a little bit,”

Twilight and Dusk shared a look, both coming to the same conclusion.

Before anything more could be said, however, the library door was thrown open, and the librarians screamed and ducked behind the counters. Twilight jerked up to standing, having not slid under the table with the girls.

Sure enough, Zant was standing across the library, panting hard and looking more than a little crazed.

“Call the cops,” Twilight muttered to the girls, frozen where he stood and just waiting for Zant to spot him. “One of you call the police,”

“Link,” Midna hissed at him, probably well aware of what he was planning. “Don’t you even think about it!”

“Just make sure the police are on the way,” Twilight hissed back, ignoring the use of his real name.

“Link!”

“Twilight,”

He ignored both girls when Zant finally spotted him. He knew what people looked like when they were going to shoot. Legend and Wild both learned to shoot for fun a while back and would practice on old milk jugs in the yard. He had more than enough warning before Zant even brought the pistol up to aim.

Twilight took off at him at a dead run, knowing full well he was dead if there was enough distance, ignoring the cursing from the girls.

He shoulder checked Zant hard in the stomach and managed to duck beneath the first shot. Unfortunately, he was very close to the gun and it didn’t have a silencer. He stumbled back and rubbed his ears, trying to dispel the ringing in them. This gave Zant enough time to get back to his feet and regain his breath. Twilight noticed and pushed the ringing to the side and lunged for the gun.

The two tug-of-warred over the weapon for a few beats, Twilight trying to get it away from Zant and Zant trying to get it at an angle so he could shoot Twilight. Twilight kept trying to push the gun pointed down and Zant was desperately pulling on it and trying to shove and hit Twilight.

This went on for several long moments, though Twilight didn’t remember exactly how long. He was way more focussed on the fight than how long it was.

He most certainly remembered his hand slipping and the gun coming up, and the second gunshot was burned in his memory, never to be erased.

The pain didn’t register for a few heartbeats, and shock set in almost immediately. He lost his grip on the gun and stumbled back, eyes wide in shock and horror, mouth open in a silent scream.

Zant stumbled back as well, and both boys seemed frozen. Zant grinned, however, and lifted up the gun again to finish the job.

Twilight had never felt so scared before or after.

And then a loud crack sounded, and standing behind and over Zant’s now crumpled form was Midna, chair held by the legs over her head.

Midna caught sight of Twilight, and dropped the chair, swearing really loudly.

It was at this point Twilight lowered his hands to his stomach, and the hole that now existed there. He didn’t dare look down, instead keeping his eyes on Midna and the look of horror on her face.

“Is, is it bad?” He tried for a joke, but it probably fell flat. It was then that Twilight, a little dizzy, tipped over onto the floor.

He didn’t remember much after that. He remembered Midna screaming his name, his real name, and Dusk dropping into view, phone held up to her ear. He remembered vaguely being moved somewhere else, and then being rolled onto his side and pressure on his back and stomach. He thinks he cried out at that, but his head was already starting to swim a little, and the shock wasn’t helping. His next really clear memory was in the ambulance.

He blinked and groaned, and Dusk popped into view over him.

“Easy, Link,” she reached up and moved some of his hair out of his face, smiling but not able to hide how shaken up she still was. “It’ll be okay, you’re gonna be fine,” she sounded like she was convincing herself.

“Midna?” He asked, then blinked at the muffled sound of his voice.

Dusk held his hand down, chuckling at him. “A mask,” she explained, “to help your breathing. You were gasping. Midna needed to talk to the police, since it was her cousin. She’s going to meet us,”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, she’s okay,” Dusk smiled and rubbed his shoulder. “We’re both okay. You’re the one we’re both worried about,”

Twilight just nodded, and sort of drifted out of focus again. There was a bit of activity when they arrived, but then Twilight was put under and rushed into surgery so he didn’t remember anything that happened afterwards.

He came to a few hours later in a hospital room with stitches in his stomach and back. Dusk had collapsed over his right arm, and Midna leaned on the edge of the bed, careful to avoid the IV in his arm. He couldn’t see any family, so he figured they hadn’t gotten there yet.

Midna looked up after a few beats, and Twilight smiled at her. That had her bolting up.

“Twilight!”

Dusk lifted her head on his other side, her own face breaking into a grin when she saw him too.

“You’re up!”

“Yup, I lived,” he paused. “Actually is my phone here? Can someone take a picture of me to send to my brothers? Wild always does it when he breaks a bone, and I wanna see why he finds it so funny,”

“You’re high on pain meds, aren’t you?” Midna deadpanned at him.

He laughed, until he realized that made his stomach hurt. “Ow,”

“Okay, maybe not,” Midna admitted, then handed him his phone. “What’s your passcode?”

“Midna!” Dusk cried.

“What? He asked!”

Twilight happily opened up his phone, ignoring Dusk.

“Say cheese!” Midna grinned at him, holding up the phone.

Twilight lifted both hands in a peace sign and grinned. Midna took the photo and sent it off into the group chat without another word, even as Dusk made disapproving noises next to them.

Immediately a string of excited and relieved texts started pouring in, and Twilight had to remind himself laughing hurt.

The injury wasn’t bad, he found out. He wasn’t sure how getting shot could be ‘not bad’, but apparently since the bullet went through the damage wasn’t severe. He was expected to be back at full in less than a year, but had to be pulled off the soccer team for the rest of the year, and discouraged from rejoining the next year. That was disappointing, but livable.

About half an hour before his parents arrived, Midna offered to paint his face for him.

This had confused Twilight quite a bit. What did getting paint on his face have to do with what had happened?

Midna explained that for the Twili, her people, facial markings were important parts of identity, and you can earn them for doing certain things or surviving awful events. Twilight argued that he wasn’t Twili, and Midna pointed out she was, and that Zant was as well, and since both of them were involved she got to make the call. At this point Twilight was mostly confused as to how he would have even earned facial markings.

Midna just sputtered. “You got shot! AND you defended me and Dusk from Zant. You fought my cousin for the gun so he wouldn’t shoot anyone else! That, as far as I’m concerned, makes you a hero! And heroes obviously get facial markings. Not to mention I’m pretty damn sure getting shot counts as a ‘pretty damn awful experience’. So yes, you qualify for markings.”

Twilight blinked at that. Well, he couldn’t really argue with that.

So he let Midna paint his face.

When his family, and Midna and Dusk’s parents, arrived Midna was sitting on the bed next to him, a paintbrush in hand and Dusk holding a small pot full of a specific kind of paint Midna had ducked out to get. Twilight had half a diamond shape on his head at this point. The three teenagers all froze to turn to look at the newcomers.

“Hi,” Twilight waved at them.

“What’s going on here?” Time asked, eye roving over the group.

“I’m painting his face,” Midna explained.

“Why?” Time asked, and Midna’s father, who also had an elaborate series of markings on his face, leaned around him.

“Yes, why are you doing that?”

“Because,” Midna explained, “he got shot. And he fought Zant to protect us from him, and as per tradition, that qualifies him for facial markings. So I’m doing them for him,”

“Zant?” Midna’s father asked.

“Yeah, he showed up and tried to shoot up the school,” Midna explained as she went back to applying paint to Twilight’s face. “He busted into the library where we were and Twilight tried to fight him to protect the rest of us. He got shot and I whacked Zant in the head with a chair. Then we huddled off somewhere else to hide until the cops showed up.”

“No, Zant was the shooter?” Her father repeated.

Midna froze and turned around. “Yes. Did you not know?”

Her father shook his head. “They didn’t catch the shooter,”

Midna’s shoulders dropped, and both hylians behind her looked equally horrified.

“What?” Midna asked.

Her father shook his head again. “They didn’t catch him,”

Midna took a deep breath, then shook her head and turned back to Twilight. Her hand was shaking now, so she didn’t go back to painting. Twilight lifted his hand to pat her knee.

“I’m sure they’ll catch him soon,” Malon offered, slipping into the room to take up on the couch against the wall. “He’s pretty easily identified, after all,”

“Right,” Midna nodded, then shook herself once. “Right, it’ll be fine.”

She dipped the brush back into the paint and went about continuing to paint on Twilight’s face.

“What are you doing?” Eyes turned back up to find Zant’s parents in the doorway now, after everyone else wandered into the room to settle down.

“Why is everyone asking me that?” Midna turned to face the ceiling. “I’m painting his face! I can do that! He’s earned the markings, and as the present Twili I can choose to provide them to him, even though he isn’t Twili. Believe me, I’ve considered whether or not this was something I could do, and I can. And besides, I’m already half done,”

“No,” Zant’s mother corrected. “I mean why are you painting his face for assaulting my son?”

“What?!” Midna whipped around, fury on her face.

Zant’s mother nodded. “He attacked Zant, and you rewarding him for it is a betrayal to this family,”

“Zant brought a gun to our school!” Midna burst, apparently pissed off and finally snapping after the stress of the day. “He tried to shoot me, he DID shoot Twilight! Twilight saved our lives by attacking him, and he got injured for it! He more than deserves these markings, and Zant should be in jail!”

Zant’s mother stuttered, then drew herself up. “That boy is a danger to everyone around him,”

“Yes,” Midna agreed and pointedly added a line under Twilight’s eyes. “Zant is unstable and dangerous,”

The woman huffed, and went to start yelling when Malon stood up again and blocked her from the door. “Let’s talk, hm?”

The door shut and Twilight had to put in a lot of effort not to laugh as his mother tore into the woman outside the door. After a few minutes, Midna’s mother joined her, and Dusk’s father followed with a camera in hand.

No one else questioned the paints again.

In the end, Zant’s mother filed for a restraining order against Twilight and Malon, which Malon said she would abide by exclusively because it was one less expense on them. Midna’s parents refused to separate Midna from one of her friends, especially one who put his life at risk to help her, and didn’t sign onto the order the way Zant’s mother wanted them too.

Twilight ended up with a very nice looking set of markings over his forehead that Midna told him symbolized courage and boldness and sacrifice. He was quite proud of them.

He got back to school the same day as the presentation, which he thought was pretty amusingly coincidental. His mother, ever worrying, did insist he use a wheelchair (one they had for Time from a few years before Twilight was born) so he didn’t put undue strain on his injury.

The presentation went well, and things worked out fine. They even managed to keep their carrot alive. Midna’s ‘credits’ of course popped up, but it was much more even than in the past. Of course, there was still the ‘sitting around looking pretty’ category.

Midna was listed. They had taken a vote. Everyone found this hilarious.

There was more laughter when Twilight was listed as having ‘bled for this’. Keapora didn’t find it as amusing as their classmates did.

Midna moved away not long after that, her parents worried about Zant. She explained she wouldn’t be able to talk to them anymore until things calmed down or Zant was caught since her parents were scared.

That was the last time either of them spoke to her.

(---)

The markings Midna painted on stuck around for a very long time. Dusk theorized that the paint was probably some kind of tattoo paint, meant to stain the skin for a long time. Even four and a half years later, the paint was still visible. It was beginning to fade now, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to get it redone. The only Twili in the area was Zant’s family, and no one was asking them. It was quite the conversation starter though.

He hadn’t heard from Midna at all since she moved away, and he really missed her. Turns out when you fight someone’s loony cousin together you bond. Who knew?

The scar on his stomach didn’t bother him much, unless it rained really hard or really suddenly. Overall, despite his continuing visits to a therapist and the occasional nightmare, he had recovered from the entire event mostly unscathed.

Most of the time he didn’t get to think about it, helping out on the ranch and prepping to take over some day, alongside his now seven brothers, meant he didn’t have time too.

His therapist was worried his drag racing was a sign of self-destructive behavior, and a symptom of trauma. He ignored her, even though she may have been right.

And that was life. That was just the way it was.

Eventually Time got a call from the police captain, whom he knew quite well by now, letting him know they apprehended Zant, and charges were pending. Time promised they’d testify.

Twilight finally put in an application to a college, one of the really rural ones that offered classes in the sort of stuff that’d be useful when he took over the ranch from his parents one day. He got accepted.

About two weeks after Zant was convicted and carted off, and Twilight was looking at packing up for his first semester, he got a call from an unknown number.

Curious, but not stupid, he turned on the call recording app he’d gotten after the first few times he’d received a threatening call after the whole Zant thing, and hit answer.

“Hello?”

“Hey wolf boy,”

He nearly dropped his phone.

#linked universe #lu #lu twilight #midna #lu dusk #zant #mind the warnings:#guns #shootings #school shooting #fist fights #twi gets shot #he's fine but he is out of it for a bit #references to trauma #references to self-destructive behaviour via drag racing #hospitals #zant's mother is a bitch #reference to a restraining order #school lockdowns #ask to tag #it's not as bad as the warning list makes it sound #just thought i'd cover all my bases #in honour of twi still being dead in yesterday's update have the adoption au fic where he gets shot!#also kiwi it won't let me tag you for some reason #and keapora here is geapora from sksw #but i used the name of the owl #because easy last name #also no mr. to his name because my highschool just used the teacher's last name only #he's actually based somewhat on my favorite social teacher #who does in fact have a working guillotine we used to behead carrots

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foilfreak · 3 years ago

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Beauty and Her Beast: Summary and Ch.1

A Salvatore Moreau x Female!FishMutant!oc fic based on this idea I had the other day that a very specific subset of the fanfom went absolutely apeshit for, which I'm here for and decided to act on. I can't make any promises for consistent uploading or even a finishes product by the end of this, but so long as im still interested in working on it, I'll keep working on it, and if im not, then I wont, plain and simple. Anyways, here's the summary and chapter 1, please let me know what you think of the story so far, i hope you all enjoy (you'd better all enjoy), and I can't wait to see you all again for chapter 2. Bye! <333 (Link to ao3 posting will be in comments so check there if you want to read it there instead)

Warning: This fic is rated NSFW and contains graphic depictions of things some people may find disturbing or alarming, including, but not limited to: violence, gore, unhealthy family relationships, Oedipus complexes, gratuitous amount of pornographic literature, ableist language, physical, mental, and emotional abuse, etc. If you are someone who does not enjoy fiction with these elements in them, then I suggest you refrain from reading this, because this fic will have all that, and probably a lot more. So, this is your first and final warning to turn around and go somewhere else if stuff like this just isn't your vibe, because from this point forward, your emotional wellbeing is in your own hands, and I will not be accepting blame if you disregarded my warnings and ended up reading something you didn't like. Idk why I feel compelled to write one of these despite this being Resident Evil fanfic, but I figured I'd cover my ass just in case.

Summary:

Now, I’m sure everyone already knows the ancient tales that tell of a beautiful young woman slowly falling in love with a horrific monstrosity of a man. The pure and true love this innocent beauty comes to feel for him, despite his terrifying appearance, is the key that breaks the cruel and twisted curse under which he’d been kept prisoner. This allows the man behind the monster to not only return to his true human form, but then go on to live his Happily Ever After with the beauty who saved him. Everyone already knows of these tales, as well as the messages behind them, however that is not quite the way this particular tale plays out.

The tale I am about to tell bears many similarities to the one above, however there are also quite a few important differences. For while the original detailed a beauty falling for a monster because of the kind and loving man he was behind his hideous exterior, this is a tale of a beauty, with a few monstrous qualities of her own, falling in love with a kind and loving monster, not at all despite his grotesque appearance, but rather, in part, because of it.

This is a tale, where the Beast still falls for his Beauty first, but the Beauty is the one who will be pursuing her Beast.

Chapter 1: Mother's Gift

Few of those who lived isolated from the outer world, high up in the mountains of Romania, would expect anyone of reasonable sanity to be out traveling in this hellish sort of weather. The wind howling a demonic high pitched tune; snow, sleet, and hail pounding into the ground like an endless shower of bullets from the heavens; and hungry lycans still roaming the area, tirelessly looking for their next meal, would be enough to incentivize even the strongest of mortal men to seek shelter away from the deadly conditions of the outside.

A man by the name of Salvatore Moreau however, one of the 4 lords of this mountain region who lived in the reservoir just past the windmills, did not appear terribly concerned with what other people thought of the traveling conditions. Completely unbothered by the horrifying weather and threat of suddenly being ground into doggy food, the hooded man trudged his way through the dark and barely maintained snow paths. Starting at the reservoir and making his way toward the village, Salvatore moved as quickly as his deformed body would permit, an unusually chipper spring added to his lumbering hobble of a walk.

Mother had a gift for him.

Yes, a truly joyous day it was whenever Mother Miranda called upon him to join her and the other lords for a meeting. Miranda was usually so busy with her experiments that she rarely had time to visit her children outside of these ‘family meetings’ they’d been having recently. However, it would appear as though Mother has come up with a solution of some kind to this problem and wishes to share it with them in person. Whatever this solution is, the mutated man has no idea, as Mother Miranda had been quite vague in her message, however the fact that Salvatore was being given the chance to see his radiant mother AND receive a gift from her, all in one day, was more than enough to make up for how agonizingly lonely he’s been these last few months since winter set in, as well as how agonizing it was for him to walk in this weather.

Salvatore arrived at the usual meeting site just as the clock struck 8pm, precisely as Mother had instructed. However, much to the hooded man’s confusion, when he turned the handle on the large wooden door to enter the room, he quickly realized that he was currently the only one present. This was especially strange considering that, usually, at least one of his siblings was always present a little earlier than necessary, usually Alcina or Karl, but occasionally Donna with Angie in tow.

Mother had clearly said in her message that she wanted to start the meeting at 8pm sharply, so where on earth is everyone?

“Moreau” Mother Miranda’s voice called out, immediately pushing all thoughts from Salvatore’s brain as her powerful, yet lucious voice echoed against the halls of the room like a choir of angels.

“Y-yes! W-what… is it… M-mother Miranda? I-i-i came to you… j-just like you asked” Salvatore responds, bowing his head in reverence as he slowly crosses the room and approaches the otherworldly woman.

“So you did, though I suppose you coming exactly when I call makes the most sense. You always were the most obedient of my children” the woman remarks with casual disdain, her voice devoid of any sort of motherly affection or tenderness. Despite the clear disgust and disregard with which Miranda regards the hooded man standing before her, her words light Salvatore’s soul ablaze, filling his mangled body with intense feelings of heat and desire that melt his heart of the cold, icy frost that had frozen it over the course of the long winter.

“Y-y-yes, y-yes of c-course, Mother M-Miranda! I-i would… I would do any-anything... for y-you. A-anything you s-say... anything y-you n-need… I’d d-do it... f-for you. W-without question!” The deformed man says, practically getting on his hands and knees and crawling as he neared closer and closer to Miranda, stopping only when he’d arrived just in front of the steps the raven mother stood upon, his gaze trained at the ground as he knelt at her feet, awaiting his fate at his mother’s hands.

“I know you would, Moreau,” Miranda says cooly, gently brushing the palm of her hand against the black fabric that covers the top of Salvatore’s head, “which is why I’ve called you here today; to reward you for your loyalty and service to me thus far.”

Salvatore sinks sharp and jagged teeth into the flesh of his bottom lip, nearly drawing blood as he desperately tries to silence the needy whine that wanted to tear its way from the back of his throat. His body shivered and twitched in unimaginable delight from the sudden tender caress to his sensitive skin. How long had it been since someone had touched him so gently? How long since someone had spoken to him with such kind and soft words. Took the time to gather presents as a reward for years of faithful servitude? How long since someone had loved him like this?

‘Too long’ the disfigured man sighed to himself, reveling in the soft, gentle contact for as long as he is able.

“Moreau. Look at me” Miranda commanded firmly, and despite not wanting his beloved Mother to be forced to bear witness to his hideous face, he complied, lifting his head up and back to allow his gaze to lift from the floor and up at the glowing figure that was his Mother, his beautiful, incredible, intelligent, majestic mother.

The light shining down from above illuminates Miranda from behind. From Salvatore’s perspective on the floor, the light darkens her face and most of her torso and waist, giving a softened, almost ethereal glow around Miranda’s figure. This, along with the rest of her garb, makes Mother Miranda appear even more like the holy woman that Salvatore naively believes she still is. Despite her less than affectionate treatment of him thus far, Salvatore still stared up at the darkened face of Mother Miranda, his eyes shining with reverence, love, desire, and unending devotion.

“Y-yes... Mother?” Salvatore breathed, barely able to speak above a whisper as Miranda stepped away, gesturing for him to follow.

“Are you ready to collect your gift now?” The raven mother asks, speaking more softly than before and even holding her hand out to Salvatore, her pose and appearance mirroring that of a powerful god taking mercy upon her wretched follower, reaching out to reward the years of faithful servitude and worship.

Salvatore, barely able to keep himself calm as he stumbled to his feet, did not grace Mother Miranda’s question with a proper response, instead practically racing to take the woman’s outstretched hand in his own.

“I’m ready Mother… I-I’m ready for... my g-gift now… can I… c-can I have it n-now… p-please?” Salvatore begs, pulling at Miranda’s hand like an overly excited child, seemingly unaware of the disgusted twist of her face when the hooded man’s cold, slimy fingers firmly latched onto hers.

“Of course, my child” Mother Miranda says, pulling her hand back from Salvatore’s and instead placing it along the man’s hunched back, beginning to guide him to wherever it was the raven mother had hidden his gift.

As Salvatore limped next to Mother Miranda, the deformed man couldn’t help but wonder what exactly it was that Mother had gotten for him. Was it a new cloak, to replace the worn one he was currently wearing? Perhaps a new set of romance films so he didn’t have to rewatch the ones he already owned over and over again anymore? Or maybe it was something to help with his digestion?

It would be nice to get his chronic acid reflux under control again.

Regardless of what the gift actually turned out to be however, Salvatore was merely pleased that he was finally getting a chance to spend time with Mother Miranda all by himself for a change.

Maybe, if he was lucky, she’d even agree to hold him, just like she always did back when he was still undergoing cadou treatment.

Oh how wonderful that would be!

#salvatore moreau #resident evil #resident evil 8 #resident evil 8 village #resident evil 8: village #mother miranda #beauty and her beast #fic #mine #chapter 1 #re8 #re8 village #re village #salvatore moreau x reader #moreau x reader #moreau x oc #salvatore moreau x oc

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boxofbadaddiction · 4 years ago

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The Missing Piece

Fred Weasley x Reader

George Weasley x Reader(Platonic)

All I Wanna Do Continuation

Warnings: Swearing. Angsty.

A/N: I know this was only meant to be a two part series...but I'm hopeless. So I present to you; Part II of (?)

It had been a couple days since y/n ran into George in Diagon Alley, revealing the hardest of truths to her long time friend. That being of her secret child to one Fred Weasley, conceived only the day before his death. The one whom she kept secret from her whole old life in London, after running from it. Marcos was the Weasley no one knew existed.

It had been more than difficult when George discovered the truth, seeing a young Fred with peircing y/e/c eyes barrell towards the two adults during a casual conversation between old friends. It'd hurt George more than he thought it were possible to hurt, no injuries sting ever coming close to the one he felt that day. However, after a night spent bonding with his newly discovered nephew and multiple nights of y/n explaining everything to him. From the night before the battle; which involved a little too much information in Georges opinion, to the day they accidentally crossed paths, he'd found a way to forgive her.

He'd been so angry in the beginning but now that they'd spoke and he saw her side none of that mattered. He couldn't stay mad. Not really.

It turns out though that y/n and Marcos had been staying in a small Muggle Inn as y/n searched for a place to relocate whilst Marcos reddied to begin his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Something which George refused to stand for, and so that's how for the past 4 days the two had been living happily above the store of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, number 93 Diagon Alley.

George hadn't been happier in so long, to have someone else living within the flat with him. To have someone to come home to. A family no less. Y/n felt the same way. But that didn't mean the dread of letting the rest of the Weasley family in on her dirty little secret were any less prominent in her life. Even George had to admit he was nervous as to how they'd react.

Of course since Marcos had learned of the additional family members, he were yet to meet, he'd been pestering the pair as to when he'd finally get to see them. So, often y/n and George found themselves up late planning the right way to go about it.

They'd decided on a meal at the Burrow with the entire clan present. No exceptions - meaning Dragon Boy himself, as well as the Workaholic. They'd worked out all the kinks through countless Owls flown tirelessly back and forth and it was settled.

Tomorrow at 5pm, the three (two as the family expected) were to arrive via the Floo network, in accordance with the fact Marcos had never travelled by Floo before and was eager to experience it. Though if you asked Mr and Mrs Weasley the reasoning, they'd say the pair simply preferred that way.

At 4:52pm, the day of, Marcos could be found waiting eagerly and very impatient by the fireplace of the Twins flat. "Come ooooon, Mum!" He whined staring to his uncle and mother fussing over whatever he-knows-not, whispering seriously to one another by the kitchen counter. "In a moment, bud." George answered, receiving a huff in response.

George had his hands placed firmly on y/ns arms to steady her as he spoke sternly, eyes fixed directly onto hers. "Everything is going to be okay. I'll be with you the whole time. They're going to love him." "It's not him I'm worried about." Y/n croaked, voice thickly laced with emotion, "I know this is what's right and he'll fit in perfectly, that they'll love him unconditionally. But what of me George, I kept him from all of you. How could they ever look at me again. Let me in that house again. I know it sounds selfish but I'm not worried for him at all. Because it's what's right. But just because it's the right thing to do doesn't mean it makes this whole mess any easier. There wouldn't even be a mess if it weren't for me." Y/ns head dropped, picking at her nails in attempt to distract herself from the burning that set in behind her eyes and in her throat.

"Hey." Lifting a delicate finger to the underside of her chin, George pulled y/n's attention back to him, "You did what you thought was best for you at the time. What you did wasn't easy and I understand it now, just like they will. Once you explain and they meet him...there's no way they can stand against you. Okay? It's going to be okay." The whites of y/n's eyes burned red as she held back the tears which were ready to spill. All it took was a nudge, in the form of a tight comforting George Weasley style hug, to knock them over the edge.

"Can't you hug when we get there?" Marcos groaned, rolling his eyes in frustration this causing his Uncle chuckle. Y/n pulled back and looked to the clock on the wall, 4:59pm. Wiping the few stray tears still running down her cheeks she stepped toward her son. "Sorry sweety." She smiled sadly, fixing his hair. "Why are you crying?" her son asked simply. "It's just...it's just been a very long time since I've seen any of these people. It's got me a tad emotional. Don't worry, we can go now." "ALRIGHT!" The boy yelled excitedly, jumping into the large fireplace. George placed a hand to y/ns back, guiding her in next to Marcos as he grabbed a handful of powder and stood to the boys other side.

"Everyone ready?" George spoke with a wide-eyed, unnerved expression to y/n, "ready!" Marcos bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly while his mother, unknownst to him, offered back a grimace and shrug. "Yeah that seems about right" George spoke more to himself. Looking back out over his living room tight-lipped he grasped the boys shoulder, "The Burrow." He dropped the glittering dust in a swift motion and the three were quickly engulfed in vivid green flame. Here goes nothing.

This dinner would be the first time everyone had been together in years. Since the war if you were to include y/n in the family head count, which Molly did. So as you can imagine she had been fussing over every nanodetail to ensure the whole night went perfectly.

"Molly dear, you must try to relax. You've out done yourself, everything looks splendid and they'll love it." Arthur assured his wife, with a light kiss to her cheek. "I just haven't seen her in so long, not since...well-"

Y/n and Molly had shared such a close bond as she grew up alongside the Twins. The sort of connection Mothers dream of having with their daughters. Y/n came to her about absolutely everything; classes, grades, bullies, boys. There was nothing the two couldn't talk about. So when y/n disappeared after the War, well to Molly it were as if she'd lost another part of her family: the pain she felt neared that of losing another child. That day Molly Weasley very well lost a piece of herself.

It was no wonder her emotions were currently running ragged at the thought of finally seeing her again.

"I have so missed her." "As I'm sure she has you but that is no need to overwork yourself dear, come sit in the lounge." Arthur directed his Wife back from the kitchen to where the rest of their family were gathered.

"Jeez mum, wish you loved us that much." Charlie joked over his mother's flustered form. "It's just y/n" Ron groaned. "The house looks lovely, Molly. But Arthur is right. You must relax." Fluer spoke from her place beside Bill. Though she appreciated the sentiment, their words did little to soothe her excitement and nervousness over tonight. "I know, I'm sorry everyone I'm just so excited to have her back. It's been so long after all." Arthur had his arm placed over her shoulders, stoking her arm contently as she stared to the clock on the wall. 4:52pm.

The group fell into comfortable conversation as they awaited the final two guests, all far more excited to see y/n than they'd care to admit aloud. This would be the first time any of them had seen her in over a decade.

A loud crash and a flash of green from the kitchen alerted the family huddled within the lounge just as the clock struck 5:00pm.

"Oh! They're here!" Molly spoke excitedly. George was the first to step out of the fireplace, ruffling his hair to rid the ash which coated it's ends: appearing like smoke from a flame as it hung from the ginger locks. The family moved quickly from the room, essentially jumping from their seats, to come greet them, however they were suddenly halted.

"Before you all swarm us!" George declared with palms raised towards the group, "there's a little uh-...announcement to be shared first. Or rather an introduction. You see we've brought someone with us." He looked back over his shoulder to y/n who was staring up at him with scared eyes as she trembled slightly in fear of what was to come. She glanced back to her son, hidden by the corner of the large stone wall of the fireplace before looking back up to George as if to say 'it's now or never'. "Just...try to have an open mind." His eyes were pleading for his family to understand even if they hadn't the foggiest what was going on. All their faces contorted as they looked between one another in confused anticipation.

George lowered his hands with a nod satisfied no one was going to tackle them in a crushing embrace or otherwise hectic greeting typical to that of the Wealsey family. Turning to the side so he no longer stood infront of y/n and the wall of the fireplace he encouraged his friend to continue. Y/ns eyes barely left George, aside from a quick nervous flick back over the gathered audience.

Turning back determinedly she reached her arms out for Marcos to hold, helping support him as he stepped down from the slightly elevated floor. There's a kind smile on his face as he moves toward the sitting room where the family is waiting. George places an arm on the back of Marcos nudging him forward slightly, with a nod to y/n, who is staring teary-eyed at him, breath hitching as she starts to panic. "Everyone..." he turns back to his family, "this is y/ns Son, Marcos." "Hello" he says simply with a warm smile.

Everyone looks like they've seen a ghost. Staring silently with mouths agape.

Though covered head to toe in soot his firey red hair sticks out like a Dragon in a flower patch. The Weasley hair. Not just that, it's his face. His entire body. His voice. It's everything but his eyes.

Marcos is quickly becoming uncomfortable as everyone just stares at him, this wasn't what he'd expected. He looks back over his shoulder to his mother. She steps forward and grabs his hand, placing her other on his shoulder, looking to George for strength as she speaks quietly, "I know I have a lot of explaining to do" she swallows hard looking back to the pale faced Weasleys, "but this has been too long coming and it couldn't wait any longer. If George's reaction is anything to go by I know you all have quite a few words to say to me. And I'll hear them all. I deserve it for what I've done."

Marcos looks up to his mother confused, what had she done? For all he knew they hadn't met simply because they lived in different countries. That's no reason why she'd be in trouble is it? He looks back around the room then to George who smiles warmly to him in reassurance. "Sorry isn't enough I know, but I am. Truly. It's time though, Marcos needs you. He needs his family."

No one says anything. Though all silent there's a mixture of strained emotions held within the room. Many teary eyes. Some white knuckles and poorly hidden anger. But mostly it's shock.

Bill's looking around his family, worried, someone needs to say something. They can't just stand there any longer gawping. Dropping Fluers hold he walks forward, heads turn at his sudden movement. He squats infront of Marcos smiling as he shakes his nephews hand with both of his "It's nice to meet you Marcos. I'm Bill," he turns slightly on the spot to point towards his partner, "that's Fluer, my wife." She offers a small smile and wave, then Bill turns back to face him "I'm the eldest of your uncles." He states proudly, "And the coolest" he winks speaking the final line in a whisper. Marcos smiles, whispering back "But Uncle George said that he's the coolest" "yeah don't listen to him, or any of the others - there'll be a lot of that going around." Bill chuckles.

Marcos starts to relax at his uncles attempt in conversation. Y/n and George smile sweetly to one another but with nerves still evident in their expressions. "How did you get your scars?" Marcos asks abruptly. "Marc-" y/n warns, "ah, now THAT is a pretty awesome story" Bill grabs both his hands in his once more, bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet etching ever closer to his nephew as he readies to tell the story, "you see there was this fight, at Hogwarts, before the War where I was up against this Werewolf-"

"Alright, alright, Bill, don't hog the boy with your boring old Greyback story." Another redhead interrupted, walking forward from the group to push his brother to the side, Marcs face contorted in confusion, brows furrowing and head falling to the side. Did he just say his story, with a werewolf, was boring!?

"I'm Charlie" the man knelt before the boy smiling widely "and I am by far cooler than these ones don't listen to them." "How are you cooler?" Marc asked "I work with Dragons." He widened his eyes in mock surprise before smiling again. "REALLY!? DRAGONS!?" Marc lit up like a Christmas tree. Charlie turned his head over his shoulder with a smug shit-eating grin on his face as he taunted his siblings for the reaction he'd elicited from such a simple statement. "Yep. Dragons." "Do you have one!? Can I see it!? Are they really as dangerous as everyone says?" Marc was firing questions at him quicker than his breath could carry, his enthusiasm endearing and contagious as the rest of the family made their way to make their introductions.

"Move it Charlie" stated a firey haired young girl "Merlins bollock!" "Marcos, Language!" Y/n warned but her son paid no mind to the woman too engrossed in the individual before him. "I know you! You play for the Hollyhead Harpies!" It was Ginnys turn to grin smugly to her brothers as they were pushed to the side. "It's lovely to meet you Marcos." She hugged him warmly. George and y/n stepped back a couple paces to allow the family more room for introductions.

Y/n was quietly crying as George had his arm placed securely around her back listening along to the excited conversation of everyone present, her son in particular, each time he was met with a new face. Until it seemed to reach a peak.

"YOU'RE HARRY POTTER!" "There it is." George whispered amusedly in y/ns ear. "The one and only." Harry smiled, "I must say, you look so much like your father. Except the eyes of course you've got-" "-my mothers eyes. Yes. So people keep telling me." Marc nodded with thin lips, this being maybe the hundredth time he'd been told so. "Sorry, trust me, I know that line gets a bit old." Harry smiled to himself.

Y/n was wrapped up in the various pieces of conversation that met her ears as more introductions were made. She always felt something had been missing from her life, she assumed it were simply Fred. She was wrong. This is what she was missing. They were missing from her.

They were her missing piece.

"Hello, my boy, I'm Arthur - your grandfather it'd appear" he stated warmly very much liking the sound of that. "What do you do?" His grandson asked curiously. "I work with the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts in the Ministry. Tell me..." Arthur began in a firm murmur, "do you know how exactly a 'microwave' works? I've been told it is a box which produces heat a-" "Daaaad not now!" Ron had grumbled. "I'm Ron. I'm an Auror with the Ministry" "like Mr Potter?" "Exactly." "Wicked".

"Greetings, Marcos. I'm Percy" came the next, posh, voice. "Hello, what do you do?" "I work within the Ministry-" Percy began before being interrupted by a sarcastic voice, "yeah don't worry about that one, Mate. Percy is in no running for the favourite uncle." George had spoke loudly causing a wave of chuckles to issue through the room.

Everyone was so warm and inviting and excited, it made y/ns heart swell. Hand placed to her chest as the other muffled her quiet gasps as joyful tears fell from her eyes. It was perfect, until she noticed something.

Where was Molly? Her eyes scanned the room, she was here not a moment ago where had she...

George noticed her shifting gaze and tensed posture. "Something the matter?" He whispered before his own eyes scanned the crowd of people. She needn't say a word as realisation struck swiftly, causing him to straighten himself. Dread flooded his body. "Don't fret, love" he whispered once again, gently rubbing her shoulder blades before taking a step towards Charlie - the closest member of his family - tugging on his shirt sleeve. Charlie leaned himself back towards his brother, eyes not leaving Marcos, nor the smile leaving his face. "Where's mum?" George asked. Charlie shrugged in response with a slight shake of his head "no idea".

Worry set in across Georges face, caught by Ginny across the room, whose head fell to the side as she silently asked the question, mouthing a simple "what?" To this George mouthed back "Mum?"

Her gaze quickly fixed to the room, brows furrowing as she noticed her mother's absence. Ginny looked back to George, shrugging she mouthed "up stairs?" George grimaced. It wasn't like his Mother simply to disappear. He certainly hadn't expected such a reaction. Given the circumstances, she should have been the first greeting him. With a suffocating hug and some offer of food.

"One sec" Ginny mouthed, holding up a finger while she quietly ascended the Burrows staircase in search of Molly.

George placed a firm hold around y/n again as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Ginny returned a few minutes later, arms wide with a shake of her head to let him know her search came up empty. George nodded a thank you, turning his head over his shoulder toward the kitchen. Empty. But the door...the door wasn't latched.

With a final squeeze to y/ns shoulder and a light comforting kiss to the top of her hair line he left her side for the first time since they'd arrived.

Y/ns arms wrapped around her body feeling far too vulnerable in the moment without George by her side. But she knew he had to be the one to find her.

Charlie's attention had been turned to the pair as he noticed Ginnys shrug in their direction. Looking just in time to see George walk towards the door as y/n tensed, insecurities and anxiety setting in.

He was unsure how to react. On the one hand he was ecstatic to discover he had a Nephew, one which oozed confidence and joy. One exactly like the Brother he'd lost. He fit like a puzzle piece into their lives, filling a hole they thought would never be filled. Though the cracks were still there, and he could never truly replace Fred - not that they'd want or expect him to, Marcos was the missing piece they needed in their lives. More than any of them probably realised.

On the other hand, however, Charlie was angry. Worse than angry. He was full-fledged fucking furious. Not an emotion usually acquainted with Charlie Weasley, the most carefree and open minded Weasley in the clan. To think someone he considered a friend, no. family. For years could just up and disappear from their lives, hiding this boy from them, this part of their family from them for more than a decade...it was a thought that made him sick. Feeling his throat close over and stomach turn at the disgusting lie he'd been unknowingly living. Talk about hard pills to swallow. Could he look past this?

Staring at the girl infront of him he did what he's always done. He began to reason. As painful as this is he knows there's two sides to every story and lashing out in anger is not going to solve anything. So he looks at it from her perspective; she'd just lost the man she loved. Perhaps she didn't know at the time she was pregnant? After that she ran, he remembered the last time he saw her. She'd broke down saying she can't stay in England any more, he'd thought it was just the emotions talking but she was gone days later, once everyone who'd died were buried. So she ran, and found out she was pregnant. She was alone and grieving and terrified. Still he couldn't see why she didn't think she could come to them. That was beyond even his reasoning, he assumed she'd explain all of this in due time. Until then what she really needed was for them to be there for her.

So, swallowing all those festering venomous thoughts he stepped toward her. Placing a tentative hand to her shoulder with a brief half smile. She looked to him defeated, his name falling from her lips in a sigh the beginning of an apology followed as she trembled before him. He silenced her with a shake of his head, wrapping her within his arms in a hug to let her know everything would be okay. "We're here for you" he whispered simply.

As George stepped out of the house in search of his Mother, eyes squinting as they adjusted to the bright unfiltered sunlight beating down overhead, he scanned the hills and the veggie patch - where she wasn't. Walking slowly he headed for the back garden - where she was.

Sitting with her back to him on their concret garden bench, her posture was stiffly straight but her head hung low. The light sniffle of her nose told him everything he needed to know about her current emotional state. He had been fully prepared to find her seething with anger, afterall she had never been afraid to cry infront of the family before but anger was something she rarely liked to broadcast. Unless of course a scolding was in order for her children's bad behaviour. But here she was crying.

He placed a gentle hand to her shoulder unable to think of the words to make his presence known. She jumped at the touch before placing a hand atop his own. "Mum?" He asked hesitantly, she didn't speak, only wiped the fresh tears which had fallen from her eyes with the corner of her appron. George moved to sit next to her, hand not leaving her shoulder. He patiently waited for her to speak knowing it best not to force any conversation.

His eyes travelled over her face; eyes puffy and red, lip trembling slightly. Then down to her hands which both now played tensely with her frayed appron ending. He always hated to see his mother so upset, usually he had a joke to crack making her smile but since Fred he had trouble 'picking up the slack', as it were. Never able to break an awkward silence the way Fred had. He needed that first line from another to prompt any sort of sarcastic or witty remark. Hate to admit it but he were a tad envious of his twin in that respect.

After several long minutes Molly spoke. "Oh, George..." she sobbed defeatedly. His attention was immediately back on her face, waiting for her next strangled set of words. "He-he...he's..." "he's not mine." George nudged playfully in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere but it comes out a tad sad in his opinion.

"He's so much like him. Exactly like him if not for the..." "eyes." George spoke, smiling fondly at the thought, "he has his mother's eyes." Molly faced him finally, "Why'd you leave?" He questioned. Gingerly running a hand through the hair above her sons scar she replied sadly "It was just too hard." And more tears fell.

"It's hard for all of us Mum, I know it's a lot and this would be the last thing you'd ever expect to come from the fireplace but it's what came. And through all the bad and confusing you need to see the good. You have a Grandchild. Your first. What you've always wanted." "But George, it's not-he..." "he looks exactly like Fred, sounds exactly like Fred and acts exactly like Fred. But he's not, I know. He's not Fred. But he's a piece of him. More than what we had." Molly was shaking with tears now as George spoke with her. A similar burning taking root behind his eyes, but he had to hold strong. The family needed that right now. "I know it's hard, believe me when I found out I-well...let's just say some bystanders were scared they were about to witness a murder" he chuckled. "I'd never been so angry. But y/n explained everything. She talked me through it and she'll do that with you. With everyone. You just have to give her the chance."

Molly scoffed slightly as she let out a long breath. Looking up to her son her heart swelled to think she was able to raise such a strong, passionate and caring young man. She'd never been prouder of him. Seeing how, through everything; the war, losing Fred, finding out the truth about Marcos. How he managed to stay that compassionate and loving young man she always knew...it was beyond her how he could do that.

She'd lost so much during the wars. In the first she lost her brothers, and countless friends, then she lost a son to the second. When had she lost herself along the way? It was then she knew she needed to be the mother he deserved. That they all deserved, stronger than she had been before. She had to be with her family now. The family which just grew by a member. "What do you say, Ma, Ready to meet your Grandson? Cause you know I've been telling him all about how his Grandmother is the world's best cook. Don't know how much longer he's going to be able to wait for one of your homemade apple pies I've been telling him so much about."

Molly began to smile through her light tears before her face dropped completely. "Oh no!" She'd near shouted placing hands to her mouth, jumping from her place on the bench and startling George in the process. "I didn't cook any apple pies! I didn't think to! Usually we only eat those on very special occasions and- well, yes of course this is the most special occasion...but I had no idea!" Molly paced back and forth fussing over the fact she had no pies prepared "oh, George, you don't suppose he'll be too disappointed do you? I'm sure I can whip up a batch before dinner. Oohh but I haven't any apples! I'll have to run to the store".

George sat smiling fondly as his mother twidled her fingers together stressfully. It was endearing he thought, how quickly her priorities change. It wasn't till she started running her hands through her hair and down her appron he knew she needed to be calmed down.

He stood, placing both hands to her elbows to stop her pacing, looking down to her with a grin "Mum...relax." "oh George but the pies!" "MUM! How bout, first things first...you meet the boy." Silent laughter radiated through his chest as her eyes flew open "oh of course! How could I be so selfish! Do I look okay? I don't want to come across as some nutter" "doesn't matter how you look, you'll ways be a nutter." Molly smacked her son's arm as he laughed.

Slowly the two made their way back inside, his arm tight around her shoulder. He found it concerning at how slow she were walking but knew this was a difficult situation.

As the kitchen door swung open all eyes fell to the pair. Marcos was sitting on the small coffee table of the sitting area as everyone was gathered around, filling him in on anything and everything he wanted to know. Y/n was tucked closely under Charlie's arm on the sofa. Everyone went quiet once again as the two rejoined. Y/ns eyes flew to George who nodded at her, letting her know everything was okay.

Y/n was the only one to move as George and Molly approached the group. She stood, grabbing Marcos by his hands and moving him towards his Grandmother.

He stood straightly, smiling before her as y/n knelt beside him. "Marcos, this is Molly. Your Grandmother" y/n smiled sweetly but nervous up to Molly who only had eyes for the boy infront of her. She had a hand placed to her mouth as she held back glistening tears. "It's nice to meet you" he held out his hand for her to shake, but she didn't move to take it.

"Wait for it" George smirked knowingly. Marcos dropped his hand slightly, head falling to the side in confusion. Wait for wha-

Molly instantly swooped down, engulfing the young boy in a bone crushing hug as a heavy breath left her throat. "We're so glad to have you here, my boy." She let him go, leaning back to place his face between her palms smiling brightly through joyful, unfallen tears. "Bit peaky, what's say we begin dinner" she asked warmly. "That sounds nice" Marcos mumbled through squished cheeks.

"Come, this way Dear," Molly placed a hand to his back directing him to where they'd be eating, fussing over the boy more with each step.

George and Y/n watched on as her son happily seated himself at the table and Molly began piling various foods onto his plate as the rest of the family did the same from the lounge, basking in the small moment shared between Grandmother and Grandson.

'This is how it should always have been' Y/n thought with a heavy heart. There was a calmness in her mind as she watched on, replaying the way the family had greeted the pair as they entered. Things might just work out better than she had feared. Might.

#harry potter fanfiction #fred weasley x reader #George weasley x reader #fred weasley/reader

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colicotq · 3 years ago

Text

day out with appa | the return of superman au ( 2 )

pairing: lee ho seok x reader

keywords:

camera position

/ camera effects /

( dialogues )

* sound effects *

time

9:04 AM

Entryway

( eomma is leaving )

ho seok stands by the doorway, holding chin hae bouncing him up and down in his arms, watching you gather all your things. chin hae watches with his eyes furrowed together as his little finger points at you, leaning his small body towards you and looking at ho seok with such a confused look on his face.

( it’s as if chin hae knows eomma is leaving )

“i’ll see you later, okay? don’t worry too much! i know you can do really well!” you reassured, as you tip your head back, ho seok leans down and places a quick kiss on your lips * chuu *

“ha yoon, ha eun. come here give eomma a kiss!”

the twins immediately scrambled to the entryway. attacking you with lots and lots of kisses all over your face ( so sweet like candy~ ).

you stood up,

“chin hae, give eomma a kiss.” you present your cheek to your youngest and tapping your finger against it,

( chin hae knows how to give kisses? )

/ slow motion / ( will he be able to do it? )

chin hae leans his whole body and placed a clumsy, sticky kiss to your cheek.

“thank you, chin hae. i’ll see you soon, okay? bye-bye.” you wave shutting the door behind you hurriedly.

( 3... 2... 1... )

( chaos ensues )

not too long after, chin hae broke down into sobs and screams, pointing at the door and tears began to run down his tiny cheeks. babbling some incoherent words that seemed to sound like he was calling out for you.

“it’s okay, it’s okay.” ho seok rushes out of the entryway, “what is that?!”

( startled! )

chin hae stopped crying.

( what could it be? ) ( what kind of special weapon does appa hold? )

Living Room

ho seok points out the large window where it is overlooking the bustling whole city of seoul. endless cars. brilliant skyscraper. chin hae stares in wonder as he tries to fit his tiny fist into his mouth.

ho seok runs his large hand over chin hae’s small back and lightly patting it.

* amazement * ( appa’s distraction technique worked so well! )

“appa, where did eomma go?” asked ha yoon,

“eomma is going to work. appa doesn’t have work today so, i get to spend time with you and do fun stuff!”

“are you not working forever? i want to play with you every day, appa.” ha eun mumbles.

“appa is going to work less from now on. i want to play with ha yoon, ha eun and chin hae too.”

“is that a promise, appa?” ha eun looks up at expectantly, holding out her little pinky finger to ho seok, who wrapped his own much larger pinky.

“yes. stamp.” they press their thumbs together, “and sign. ho seok says, ha eun opens up her palms as ho seok runs his index finger all around in squiggles.

( it is official! appa can’t take it back anymore! )

{ authors note: in Korea, when you do a pinky promise, you curl your pinky together, ‘stamp’ pressing thumbs together and ‘sign’ just signing. which to some kids make it official and can’t take it back type of thing! }

ho seok: it honestly breaks my heart every time they tell me that they want me home more. there are so many things that i have missed out i feel, i want to bond with my kids and make it as memorable as possible. i don’t want them feeling that they are unloved, that i am not putting in the effort or not wanting to be there. this show will help with that.

ho seok: ha yoon, ha eun and chin hae. let’s create lots of memory together from now on. * coo *

11:28 AM

Parent’s Bedroom

“we have to get dressed up, okay?” ho seok says as he flicks through your shared closet that now took the majority of your kid’s clothes. chin hae who now didn’t think about his eomma anymore rolled around happily on your large bed, scratching the bedsheets with his ever-growing nails. ( calm )

( where could the lee family going? )

/ zoom in on chin hae, ha yoon and ha eun’s clothing for the day on the bed as well as a pair diapers. / * awe *

/ a side by side photo of, ha yoon and ha eun similar clothing. / ( they are going to look so pretty and cute dressed alike~ )

“where are we going, appa?” asked ha yoon bounding into the bedroom, plopping herself on the ledge of the bed as she watches her appa with careful eyes.

( looking at appa with lots of adoration~ ) * coo *

“we’re going to a sanctuary today then we’re going to eat lots of food!” ho seok responds, as he undresses chin hae’s pyjamas and taking off his diapers then scurrying off the bathroom.

ha yoon follows.

( trotter, trotter )

Bathroom

“appa, what’s a sancgary?” ha yoon mispronounced, standing by the door way.

“sanctuary.” ho seok corrects, “it’s where they take care of animals.”

ho seok quickly washes up chin hae, the little 6-month-old would occasionally reach out his small for the running water and be splashed on. chin hae throws his head back meeting his appa’s loving gaze and show off his gummy smile when ho seok grins at him. ( i’m having a lot of fun playing with water! ) * coo *

“is it nice there?” ha yoon continues to ask.

“yes! we’re going to meet lots of birds.”

with that ha yoon runs off once again ( sprints! )

“chin hae~” ho seok calls as the baby he had in his grasp swivels around by the sound of his name, “do you like the water? hm?”

chin hae stares then smiles brightly. ( big smiles for appa! ) dipping his hand in the running water before splashing on ho seok.

“i’m soaked now, chin hae~”

( sorry, not sorry appa! )

Living Room

( rush, rush )

“ha eun! ha eun!” ha yoon plops herself on the sofa beside ha eun ( oof ) who is entranced by the cartoons playing on the TV.

( fixated on cartoons. don’t disturb. ) * laughs *

“ha eun, we’re going to meet birds!” this caught ha eun’s attention.

“birds?”

“yes!”

“can we feed the birds?” ha eun ask, making ha yoon ponder before sprinting back to the bedroom.

Parent’s Bedroom

chin hae is wrapped up in a warm, fluffy blanket. ho seok laid out some toys to keep chin hae entertained all in while he gets the little 6-month-old ready for the day out, ho seok slips on his diapers.

warms up the baby lotion on his hand and lathers his hand.

( chin hae is fully bathed now~ )

ho seok in and presses his nose on his cheek and taking a deep breath in.

“chin hae, you smell so good now. eomma is going to be very happy!” ho seok exclaims,

“i wonder why, babies all smell really good and adults smell different.” ho seok mumbles to himself, “chin hae-ah, what’s your secret, hm?”

chin hae smiles cheekily as the sound of his father calling his name.

( it’s called love from eomma, appa and noonas! ) * coo *

“appa! appa!” ha yoon screams who came barrelling into the room, crashing into ho seok’s calves.

“yes? yes?” ho seok says as he slips in chin hae’s shirt and trousers.

“are we going to feed the birds too?” ha yoon asked,

“you have to ask the uncles and aunties who work there politely. you have to say, ‘can i feed the bird, auntie, uncle?’, can you say it after me?”

“can i feed the birds?” ha yoon follows her appa softly.

“good girl.” ho seok praises, “ha yoon-ah, can you call ha eun for me? you two have to take a shower before we go because the birds will smell you. auntie or uncle won’t let you feed the birds.”

“yes, appa.”

( did you start teaching them manner at a young age? )

ho seok: of course, i want them to have great manners and extremely polite. i also want the girls and my son to know that it is extremely important to ask for permission beforehand. it’s not okay to whatever you want because you just want to. teaching them that also makes them think too about what they feel comfortable with. it teaches respect. it starts off at the household, from eomma and appa. * amazement *

( who thought of it? )

ho seok: it was me and my wife’s idea. we first introduced them to it by showing them, my wife would ask me ‘is it okay for me to use your bag?’ then i would say yes or no. vice versa. kids are smart, they were able to pick it up immediately. as i said, it starts off with eomma and appa. * amazement *

( great parenting technique by lee ho seok )

“chin hae, you have wait here and play, okay? your noona’s have to take a quick shower, yes?”

chin hae was preoccupied with the toys around.

( i’m busy, appa. )

just in time, his little girls came through the bedroom door.

“appa, are there cameras in the bathroom too?” ha eun ask glancing all over the room,

“yes, do you want me to turn it off?” ho seok ask,

“yes please. i am a big girl now.”

“okay, okay. appa will turn it off now.”

12:45 PM

Car

with that everyone was out of the house, showered and dressed for the day’s activity. out of the apartment, everyone was now down in the parking garage getting ready to leave.

“is everyone excited?” ho seok asks as he buckles in chin hae into his car seat,

“yes!” the twins exclaimed excitedly as they climb on their own car seat in the minivan.

( they truly are big girls now! they can buckle themselves in without appa’s help~ ) * amazement *

/ zoom in to ho seok smiling at them. / ( proud appa! )

“chin hae, are you excited?”

( yes! )

( chin hae can’t hold his excitement any longer! ) / zoom in to feet kicking back and forth / ( he can’t contain it! he has to kick his legs )

“okay! appa has to check your car seat, okay?”

“yes!”

the twins raise their arms up in the air as ho seok closely inspect and make sure it is secure. ho seok ensured that it was firmly in place.

“good girls. ha yoon, ha eun, you two really big girls now!” ho seok compliments making the twins beam in excitement ( proud big girls! ).

ho seok shuts the van door behind him and got onto the driver’s seat.

“are we all ready?”

“yes!”

/ zoom in on chin hae / ( yes appa! )

“then let’s go!”

1:15

Sanctuary Entrance

ho seok had chin hae strapped against his chest, he also had a dark backpack on which contained all the essentials ho seok needed for his children such as bibs, their training chopsticks, diapers etc. while he adjusts carrier on his chest making sure that chin hae is comfortable.

ha yoon and ha eun stood by their father’s legs waiting patiently. * amazement *

ho seok: my wife drilled onto their heads to never run off especially in public, they always have to hold onto appa, eomma, uncle, auntie, grandma or grandpa's hand. we told them it’s because they can get lost and we would be very sad. it worked pretty well. * oh~ *

ho seok: though they are young still, it doesn’t always work. i may be a little bit cruel too when they let go of me or my wife's hand... i hide on purpose. * laughs *

“alright, can you hold hands with appa?” ho seok held his hand out as the twins reach out.

{ author pop in: imagine a big beefy guy with his tiny cute children😭😭 }

“appa, did uncle camera want to see the birds too?” ha yoon says, pointing at the vj cameraman who is walking ahead of them.

“yes. uncle camera wants to see the birds. do ha eun and ha yoon want to see the birds?”

“yes! uncle camera, you have to ask the aunties or uncles if it’s okay to feed the birds beforehand, okay?” ha yoon repeats her father’s words. * amazement * ( ha yoon took the advice to heart! wow! )

“good girl. you always ask if it’s okay!” ho seok compliments.

Sanctuary Booth

“hello,” ho seok greets the woman, “i booked tickets under the name lee ho seok.”

“yes. please give me a minute as i sort your ticket.”

/ zoom in ha eun goes on her tiptoes, desperately trying to see what the lady was doing behind the low counter. /

“auntie, is it okay for ha yoon, ha eun, chin hae, appa and uncle to feed the birds?” ha eun ask, ( how considerate of ha eun! )

“yes! it’s okay! but, you have to ask the workers for their food. don’t feed them the food you are bought because they can get a stomach ache.” the worker informs as she prints off the ticket.

“yes. i will not feed the birds my sandwich and my juice.” ha eun nods determined.

“okay, here are your tickets.” the woman hands the ticket as ho seok bows politely.

“thank you very much.” ho seok turns to his twin girls, “let’s go!”

“thank you very much auntie.” ha yoon bows politely mimicking her father.

“have a good day! drink plenty of water.” ha eun waves her hand before running to her father’s side and grabbing his hand.

* coo * ( the twins are so bright and polite! ) ( they speak so well too! ) ( they will grow up to be amazing girls ) * cheers *

Parrot Sanctuary

“hello!” ho seok greets the worker who had a colourful parrot resting on his arm, the twins look at the man in such awe ( uncle is so cool ) "say hello to uncle, ha eun, ha yoon."

"hello." the twins bows, ha eun hides behind her appa's leg and clutched onto his jeans ( ha eun is a little bit scared of the bird. ) while ha yoon bravely approaches the man and got on top of the bench. staring at the bird and flapped its large set of wings.

ho seok: you can still clearly tell the difference between them. ha yoon is the twin that always tries everything and is not easily scared. ha eun is a little more cautious when it comes to new things which okay, you just have to encourage her. ha yoon really takes after the unnie role and makes sure that ha eun is comfortable. * awe *

( ha yoon is such a sweet unnie~ )

"ha eun, come here." ha yoon calls for her sister patting the free space beside her on the bench, "it's not scary!"

"is it not scary?" ha eun looks at her twin for comfort who nods in confirmation and slowly ha eun approached ( hesitant ). sitting on the bench, ha yoon presents her hand out to which ha eun quickly accepts * laughs *

/ zoom in on their intertwined small hands / * awe *

"see, it's not scary!"

"i'm not scared because i'm with you and appa." * awe *

"chin hae, do you want to see the parrot too?" ho seok cooed as he carefully shifts chin hae in arms as he unbuckles the carrier so chin hae could a chance to see the parrot. once, chin hae is free from the carrier, he quickly swivelled around to inspect the unfamiliar place.

( freeze )

"dah!" chin hae points at the parrot,

"yes, it's a parrot. doesn't the parrot look pretty?" ho seok approaches the parrot and stood behind the girls, "ask uncle if you can pet the parrot, chin hae."

"app, it's rude to not ask for the parrot's name before petting them." ha yoon lightly scolded ho seok * laughs *.

( nervous )

"sorry, sorry. what is the parrot's name?" ho seok ask the worker slightly embarrassed.

"her name is, jeolla and yes you can pet her but just gently on her head."

"okay, chin hae, we're going to pet jeolla gently, okay?" ho seok held onto chin hae's wrists as he leans onto towards the parrot, he sticks out his index finger, ho seok let his tap the head of the parrot then quickly pulls away.

"wow! chin hae you just pet jeolla!" chin hae stares at his father silently then points his index finger once again.

"oh? do you want to pet jeolla again?"

"uncle, can i pet jeolla too?" ha yoon ask,

"of course!" the worker agrees as he holds the parrot closer to ha yoon and ha eun, unfortunately, ha eun didn't expect the sudden action and flinched. scooting away from the parrot. * laughs *

ha yoon scrambles not missing the opportunity to pet the parrot's wings and head ( ha yoon is so brave ), the parrot preened its feather, ha eun was startled even further when it did this. she grabbed onto ho seok's shirt like some sort protection.

( oh no, appa is the only protection from danger. )

"ha eun, it's okay. the parrot is not scary, can you try for appa? just once? if you don't like it, it's okay."

ho seok: we don't believe in pressuring them into things especially when they're uncomfortable. it just ends up with nowhere, we want them to try it out without force then let them decide for themselves.

( will ha eun bravely pet jeolla or will she stay within her comfort level? ) / slow motion /

ha eun bravely pets the parrot then quickly pulls away.

"good girl! that was really good, ha eun! appa is very proud of ha yoon and ha eun!"

"do you want to hold jeolla too? appa can go first if that is okay so, the kids can be more comfortable."

"yes, yes." ho seok agrees shifting chin hae to rest on his hip so he could have one free hand. the worker quickly help ho seok slip on the protective leather gloves.

"watch appa!" ho seok's children watch him with eager eyes, as the worker place the parrot on his free arm.

( appa looks so cool )

"appa, i want to try!" ha eun exclaims,

"you want to try? if you're okay with it then go for it."

the worker slips on a much smaller leather glove,

( how well will ha eun handle this? )

the worker carefully places the parrot, ha eun watched the bird rest on her arm cautiously.

"ha eun, you look so cool! well done!"

( let's do more cool things in the future appa! )

tags ( that you didn't ask for but wanted to see a part 2 ):

@babybee05 @ugghsthetic

#wonho x reader #mx wonho #wonho #lee wonho #monsta x wonho #wonho x reader domestic au #wonho imagines #lee hoseok #the return of superman wonho

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collecting-stories · 4 years ago

Text

Shit Talk - JJ Maybank

Request: Hi !! can i please get a boyfriend JJ Maybank x kook!reader, she decides its time for JJ to meet her kook friends knowing that they’ll like him but they ended up liking him a little too much because all they did was flirt & compliment him and they also kept embarrassing reader infront of JJ to make them seem better than her? Basically fake friends trying to steal your gorgeous boyfriend out of jealousy and reader starts to cry because of this and JJ gets angry!! 😭❤️❤️

Outer Banks Masterlist

JJ slammed the door on your suv as he got out, eyes already on the large plantation style home you were parked in the horseshoe driveway of. Despite the sunglasses he was wearing he shielded his eyes as he stared at the opposing building. “Can we talk about why you’re forcing me to come to this party if you hate all the people here?”

“Cause they’re my friends from school. Sarah will be there too, I don’t hate Sarah.” You reasoned, grabbing the card for your friend’s birthday and making sure you had everything else on you. Keys tossed to JJ over the hood of the car as you slammed your own door shut. He slipped the lanyard around his neck.

“No, but you constantly bitch about everyone else.”

“It’s cause they’re the worst.” You shrugged. And they were truly the worst people you knew. Like all the mean girls from every teen drama rolled into one ultimate evil entity, these girls were literal demons but you were obligated, through school hierarchy and the desire to not ruin your social standing, to attend social gatherings like birthday parties. And you’d been blowing them off lately to spend all your time with JJ.

“But we’re going?”

“Yes.”

“I’m so confused.” JJ confessed, “you know if you don’t like someone, don’t hang out with them.”

“Says the most likable person I know.” You grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the front door.

“Hey, just cause everyone likes me but that doesn’t mean I hang out with people I don’t like. Except you…but I really needed a new phone so-“

You stopped to turn and smack his arm, a fake gasp leaving your lips as if you were truly offended by his teasing. “JJ! Shut up. You’re such a jerk.”

“And yet you like me.”

“Maybe.” You shrugged, “I’m good at faking it.”

“I’ve seen you with people you don’t like…you’re incapable of fake nice.” He replied.

“Prepare to be amazed.” You leaned up, closing your eyes and pressing your lips to his for a kiss only to be interrupted by the door opening and the distinct squeal of your most hated friend. You pulled away and turned around so fast you practically gave yourself whiplash.

“Oh my god you made it!” Scarlett bounced out of the house, wide smile on her face as crossed the threshold and wrapped you in a tight hug. Despite dry hair and skin that looked like she’d just applied a layer of body shimmer her bikini was slightly damp against your cover-up.

“Hey! So sorry we’re late I was halfway out the door when I saw myself in the bathing suit I was gonna wear and had to change…it was not cute.” You lied, returning the hug. You’d pit stopped first to buy a last-minute card and take money from the atm and then to get coffee. As you had reasoned with JJ, there was no way you were surviving this pool party without caffeine in your system.

“Lies, you look good in everything.” Scarlett insisted though she’d definitely sung a different tune in the past. Her eyes landed on JJ as she stepped back and she smiled, “whose this?”

“Oh, duh, this is my boyfriend JJ, I figured when better to introduce everyone than at Ashley’s party.” You offered, stepping aside so you weren’t blocking him.

“For sure,” She did a once over of him like he was merchandise and JJ only smiled, biting his tongue to stop himself from saying anything you would be pissed at him for. He would save his comments for the sanctity of the car. “Well I’m Scarlett, there’s a lot of people here so if you forget just let me know and I’ll tell you.”

“Awesome.” He replied. Scarlett grabbed his free hand, pulling him away from you and beginning to drag him inside the house as you followed behind. He looked back at you, mouthing an ‘I’m gonna kill you.’

‘Airpods’ You mouthed back, ‘and you love me.”

He shook his head, a grim expression on his face but you knew he was only joking.

Despite the entire crowd being contained to the outside pool deck and yard you lost Scarlett and JJ relatively easily. Or, Scarlett lost you so she could spend quality time cozying up to your boyfriend. While you felt bad leaving him to the wolves while you found the drink table and chatted with Sarah, you weren’t too worried about him otherwise. You had heard all about JJ’s past womanizing from a wealth of jealous pogues but you didn’t have any doubt that he was faithful.

He was a great boyfriend, better than any guy you’d dated before. Too good to be subjected to a round table of Scarlett, Ashley, and their friends. So you grabbed yourself a drink and headed over to save him.

“Oh my god and one time-” Scarlett’s voice died off as she saw you getting closer to them and she smiled at you in faux excitement, “oh hey!”

“Hey,” you nodded at her before turning to look at JJ, “hey there you are.”

“We were just getting to know JJ. You know, vet him and all.” Scarlett replied, leaning over her armrest to grab JJ’s arm. He shrugged her off and shifted in his seat.

“Exciting.”

“You wanna sit?” He asked, tilting his head back to look at you, pleading eyes begging you to sit down.

“Oh I don’t think there’s a chair.” Ashley piped up, looking around the table. Four other girls occupied the chairs around them.

“No problem, I’ll make do.” You tapped on the arm of JJ’s chair, smiling at Ashley when he moved the chair so that you could comfortably sit on his lap. He put and arm around your waist to keep you secured and laid a kiss on the side of your neck.

“Oh, good.” Scarlett forced a smile, jaw tense. “Anyway, I was just telling JJ, do you remember that time in 8th grade when we went on that double date to the ice rink on the mainland.”

You paled almost immediately. She was really going to play that game. “Uh…no.”

“Oh my god!” Scarlett turned more toward JJ, wide smile on her face, “First of all, she was so chubby in 8th grade like thank god for hitting the gym and doing those CrossFit classes cause you looked like a potato. Plus she ate like everything! Do you remember that? You had like a hotdog and fries and ice cream and then we were skating and she said she didn’t feel good and she blew chunks all over the guy! Who was it, I can’t remember his name?”

“I have no idea.” You replied.

“Oh my god I totally remember that!” Ashley laughed. “Someone videoed it and put it up on the school’s insta...it was hilarious.”

“Doesn’t really sound it.” JJ said, grip tightening.

“You’re way cuter than he was anyway,” Ashley mentioned, “I think he was like a family friend or something. And you’ve stuck it out too, how long have you guys been dating?”

“Three months.”

“It’s good it’s the summer. You can get out before you have to experience hibernation weight.” Scarlett added and the other girls around the table laughed at the joke. You smiled nervously, trying to look unbothered by what they were saying. You should have known that the moment you sat down the attack would start, Scarlett had her eye on JJ the minute she walked out of the house.

“What?” JJ was not laughing.

“Oh my god, I don’t know what she does but she always gains like…what is it? Like 15 pounds?”

“Yeah.” You nodded.

“Like 15 pounds in the winter.”

“Yeah get her while she’s still cute cause you are way too hot to spend time stuck with someone who bloats up every winter.” Ashley replied.

“I can’t believe I haven’t seen you around, Ashley’s right you’re super hot.”

Suddenly Ashley smiled, reaching across the table to tap the space in front of you and get your attention. “Oh, oh my god do you remember okay, so this one time-“

“Actually, I gotta go. I got work.” JJ said, cutting her off. He bounced his knee to signal for you to get up, “babe,”

“Yeah, of course, I’ll see you guys later.” You stood, trying to remember if JJ had told you that he had a shift today. You couldn’t think but then your mind was swimming with their insults. You were only vaguely aware of JJ grabbing your hand.

“Seriously? You’re ditching in the middle of the party?” Scarlett asked, offended that he was leaving and even more so that he was leaving with you.

“Yeah well,” JJ shrugged, looking over at her, “if I stay any longer I’ll probably punch one of you in the mouth so, not really in the mood to sit around and listen to you bullshit about my girlfriend.”

“We were just joking!” Ashley insisted, “Weren’t we joking?”

“I wasn’t laughing.” JJ replied. He tugged on your hand when you didn’t move, “come on.”

The two of you excited the backyard and made it all the way to your car, JJ slipping in the driver’s side as you sat in the passenger seat, still trying not to have an absolute meltdown in front of him. And in front of the security cameras they would probably check later just to see if they made you cry.

“Thanks…” You muttered, leaning against the window.

“You weren’t kidding, they are the worst.” JJ replied as he backed down the driveway. In the santity of the car he could say what was actually on his mind and it was extensive.

“I know.” You did know, you’d been dealing with it since you were in kindergarten and Scarlett told you that you had fat thighs. “Scarlett’s known me forever so she has years of embarrassing stories.”

JJ nodded. He took one hand off the wheel and reached over to hold your hand. “You know I think you’re beautiful right?”

“Yes.”

“Yes you know and believe me or yes I don’t want to talk about it anymore so I’m agreeing with you?” He asked, glancing over at you.

You bit your lip to stop from smiling, “if you know which one it is, why are you asking?”

“Cause I want it to be the first one?” He said. “Those girls are seriously the worst.”

“Well I hang out with them less now that Kie goes to school with me but I still have to see them sometimes. I can’t avoid it.”

“Yeah I know.”

“Thanks for coming, and for saying you’d punch them in the mouth.” You said, laughing a little as you recalled the horrified look on Ashley’s face when he said that.

“Them and anyone else who talks shit on you.” He replied.

taglist: @maplelattes22 @poguesrforlife @freckled-and-daydreaming @chasefreakinstokes@millie-753 @fangirlwithme @alex12948 @katherine097 @tangledinsparkles@tragicmisfits @carbonated-beverage @mariofgreengables @damonsalvawhore27@dopedoodes @dolanfivsosxox @belledutchess @poguelifeeee @faded-blue @parkerpetertingle @thebookwormlife @summer-clouds-and-long-days@jellyfishbeansontoast @minigranger @hoewkeye @love-someone-special @tiredfeels @strangerthanfanfiction713 @the-only-nana@tomzfrog @mozz-are-lla @vindictive-hearts @poguestyleskye @ssprayberrythings @jenahbell @beautyandthebleh @lavenderxraindrops @gothackedalready @teenwaywardasgardian @sarahcxmeron @haha-fuck-you-thot @stillbelieve398-5 @rewindlr @queenniccimicci @thedarkqueenofavalon @alytavzla @bqmblebee @linniep @nerdypartytrashpsychic @xxchxrryxx @spencer-reid-is-a-cutie @mirjanak @danielladreaming @obx-saltlife @youngestxhearts @spnobsessedmemes @wowitswondergurl @celestialmaybank @mybnkjj @averagxfangirl@mysterious-adventurer @justawilddreamerchild @rhyetaylor62 @calm-rejects @99sxuxii@oh-annaa @katiaw2 @aiifandomsunite @marteenuhh08 @x-lulu @ceruleanjj @wicked-laugh @obxwriterfan @justkeepdreamingswift @allie-mcginn@pcterparxer @literarycharleton @khiaraaa-in-spacee @crushe-s @teamnick @daydreamlilys @collectiveuniverses @activist-af @mdgrdians @buckys-sunflower @vindictive-hearts @copper-boom @jolomez @timotaychalabae

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musicallibrarian93 · 4 years ago

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Under the stars (Gwynriel Fanfic)

It’s Azriel’s birthday, and Gwyn plans a little something special for him. Warning - Very fluffy :)

One shot from my Fanfic ‘Interruptions’. Read it here on AO3 - https://archiveofourown.org/works/30307776/chapters/74703369#workskin

Word count - 3.5k

It was going to be his birthday soon. And Gwyn wanted to do something special.

Last year it had all been so new, this thing between them. Nonetheless, she had gotten him a gift and gone to their family meal, which Nesta had insisted on throwing for him since it was the first time, she could celebrate with him. He’d graciously accepted even though it wasn’t the kind of thing he’d wanted and had spent the whole night close to Gwyn.

Last year it had been so new, but it had also been kind of a secret. They didn’t go out of their way to hide things and of course her sisters and Cassian knew but they weren’t at the ‘screaming it from rooftops stage’.

This year, Gwyn got Azriel all to herself. Months ago, she’d asked his brothers if she could have him for the night. They’d been reluctant and Cassian had mumbled something along the lines of ‘You get him every night already’. Rhys had finally relented and recognised that it was a special day for the couple.

Gwyn liked to think she knew Azriel well. That maybe she even knew him in a different way to how his brothers knew him, but birthday planning had not been her forte. The only person she’d ever been close enough to want to throw a birthday for had been her sister and they’d shared a birthday, so they’d always planned things together. She knew she wanted to do something lowkey, something for just the two of them but still special enough to mark the day. Cooking for him was also off the table unless she wanted to accept the bond tonight.

Gwyn knew in her heart that they were going to accept the bond one day. Tonight, just wasn’t the night.

Once she’d decided what she was going to do she started to set her plan in motion. It wouldn’t require too much work, but she wanted to make sure it was all perfect.

——

The morning of Azriel’s birthday, she’d woken in his bed like she had for the past few weeks and turned in his arms to face him. She’d woken before him, which was incredibly rare, but she took the opportunity to start peppering his face with gentle kisses. The shadows that had fallen asleep on top of them stirred and danced around the crown of his head as his eyes began to peel open.

“Happy Birthday.” she mumbled onto his lips. His eyes shot open.

“Can we just go back to sleep for the rest of the day and wake up when it’s not my birthday anymore?” He said sleepily,

“But then you won’t get to see what I have planned tonight…” She kissed him again, but he didn’t seem so enthusiastic about what she’d said, “What’s wrong?” she asked,

“Nothing, I’m sure whatever you’ve planned is lovely…”

“But…” she goaded him on,

“But nothing,” a lie.

She raised an eyebrow,

“Fine,” he said, “I’ve just never really enjoyed my birthday.”

“Well, I hope you enjoy today.”

“I will, so long as I get to spend it with you.” He started to kiss her back now. A small kiss to the tip of her nose, then her forehead, and finally her lips.

They stayed in that little bliss, wrapped in each other for a little while, until Azriel’s shadows pulled the curtains apart letting Gwyn know it was time to go.

“I have to get ready for the morning service.” She said placing a kiss to his head. She moved away but he held onto her hand,

“I’ll miss you.” He said, brushing his lips over the back of her hand,

“Don’t let Nesta hear you say things like that, she’d tease you endlessly.”

He only rolled his eyes in response.

——

Azriel wondered what might be in store for him tonight. He felt honoured to have someone care about his birthday at all, but he feared he would be subject to an evening of attention on him. He loved family dinners and their small gatherings but an event where everyone might be staring at him might be too much. However, throughout the day Azriel had become increasingly confused about what Gwyn had planned for his birthday.

At training he’d overheard Nesta pester his mate about what she’d been planning. That had confused him. If Nesta didn’t know, did that mean it was a surprise to everyone? Had Gwyn orchestrated a surprise party so secretive that even the guests hadn’t known it was happening? Or had she kept Nesta out of planning it based on the shambles of last year?

Azriel loved Nesta like a sister but his birthday last year had just been crazy. Nesta had planned a lavish party for him which had been lovely but the combination of Feyre being able to drink again and Cassian with the bottles of wine in the cupboards of the house of wind hadn’t made it a peaceful party. The pair had been causing chaos and around 11pm they were found about to jump from the balcony of the house of wind, their wings already spread wide. Rhys had caught Feyre just as she jumped, and Cassian had fallen on his face before he could take off.

Azriel imagined that keeping anyone out of the party planning would have been a good shout.

Apart from the little Happy Birthdays the Valkyries wished him and the bone crushing hug Cassian had given him before breakfast, everything else seemed to be pretty much normal. Training had been lovely; They’d let him pick the drills they did today, and he delighted in watching Gwyn annihilate everyone in hand-to-hand combat. Gwyn had joined him for a small lunch before going to work in the library and then he’d had the afternoon to himself. He’d decided to go flying and then spent the rest of his time in his bedroom, reading or letting his finger graze over a few notes on the piano that Gwyn had dragged in from another suite in the house.

Gwyn had been cryptic to say the least with the plans she’d made, all he knew was that something was happening tonight. She’d given him no time frame either just told him to be ready for when she finished work in the library.

He tried his hardest to be excited. And he was excited but being so unsure about what was going to happen set him on edge. He was almost sure Gwyn had even asked his shadows to not divulge any extra information as they were strangely quiet around him.

Azriel must admit though for all his nervousness of what might come he had enjoyed the quiet day he’d spent. Had enjoyed just spending some time to himself to read a play piano and the thought of seeing Gwyn soon had his heart erupting into butterflies.

He had fallen hard for her, which was fortunate and almost predictable given they were mates, but he was so grateful that she’d wanted to take this slow. It certainly wasn’t the conventional thing, but it seemed so right for them. To just take the time to be a couple and learn about each other.

Azriel knew in his heart that he was going to spend the rest of his life with her, if she’d let him. Until then he was happy to just be with her.

Around Seven O’clock a soft knock sounded on his bedroom door. It almost made him laugh because Gwyn had been sleeping in his room every night for the past few weeks, she’d even started keeping a few of her essentials in a little draw on, what was becoming, her side of the bed. Yet she still treated it like it was his room and she was just a passing guest.

Nonetheless, he walked to the door and saw his beautiful Gwyn standing on the other side.

“Are you ready?” She asked with a sweet smile,

“Well, considering I don’t know what’s going to happen, I didn’t know what to wear.” He glanced down at his outfit, which had been a pair of comfier trousers paired with a smart black sweater.

“It’s perfect.” She spoke. He looked down to see what she was wearing and was happy to see she’d dressed equally casually with a pair of leggings and a nice chunky cardigan.

Gwyn held up a blindfold, “May I?”. Oh, okay so definitely some kind of surprise party. Why else would she blindfold him? He only turned and ducked so she might be able to reach around his head and tie it over his eyes.

Azriel wasn’t frightened for two reasons. The first was that he was sure he could navigate Velaris in a blindfold and second was because he was with Gwyn. He doubted he would be so calm about someone else trying to blindfold him.

She brushed the back of her hand against his knuckles. They’re slight asking for permission to hold the others hand and he placed his hand in hers in an instant. He felt the shadows dance around him now, they were excited about what was to come.

She silently led him out of his rooms and through the corridor. He knew this house like the back of his hand. And she led him right onto the patio.

She tugged on the tie on the back of his head.

“Surprise.”

——

Once Gwyn had decided what she’d wanted to do it actually hadn’t taken that long to set up. But she’d left Azriel to his own devices today largely for his sake. She guessed that might be part of her surprise, giving him some space today, as well as asking the others to keep the day rather lowkey.

They would have family dinner tomorrow night at the river house, but she knew that on the actual day of his birthday it might be too much to handle.

It didn’t make her any less nervous about what she’d planned though. What if he secretly loved big parties? What if he was getting sick of her? He might at least want his brothers. But Gwyn pushed the thoughts down and prayed he would like it.

“Surprise.” She said pulling the blindfold away.

——

It was beautiful.

Stunning even.

Gwyn had set up the patio into a comfy lounging area with blankets sprawled over the floor, big plush cushions scattered around. A chain of fae orbs lightly glowed along the walls of the patio illuminating the area and a picnic basket sat in the middle of the blanketed floor space.

“It’s not much…”

“Gwyn,” he said stopping her, “Are we going to stargaze?”

“All night if you want to.”

He stood unmoving. Oh no. Maybe he didn’t like it, maybe she should have done more.

“I know it’s a little cheesy to stargaze in the night court, but we’ve never done it before, and I got dinner for us and me…”

He couldn’t stop himself from kissing her. What she’d done. This was perfect. Just to spend the evening alone with her. And the kiss told her as much. She felt every ounce of gratitude; Especially when she felt his rest his forehead against hers.

“Come this way.” She said through the haze of the kiss as she held his hand and led him to the blanket, in the centre of the floor.

“When did you do all of this?” he asked taking in the gorgeous area she’d created,

“Merril let me off work an hour early and it took all my stealth for you to not hear me lugging blankets through the house.”

“It looks like our little stealth lessons are paying off.” He said with nothing but pride in his eyes. Yes, it was worrying Gwyn had gotten past him, but it was delightful all the same.

“I did persuade your shadows to keep it a secret.”

“My own shadows.” He said feigning the look of betrayal.

Gwyn sat down first gesturing for Azriel to sit opposite her. He sat with grace on the floor and his wings spread to one side in order to be comfortable for him while they sat. In his next breath he inhaled the scent of the food that was sitting in the basket.

“I requested a special delivery from your favourite little cafe from along the sidra.”

“Bluebells!” He said with his eyes lighting up,

“Yes,” she smiled as she pointed into the basket, “I got some of those pastries you adore as well as some other little bites and maybe later there will be some lemon cake.”

“Gwyn…” he said tentatively, and she knew why he was hesitant,

“This isn’t me… accepting the bond. Although considering how your face lit up at the thought of Bluebells, it’s certainly given me some ideas.”

He cupped her cheek.

“I haven’t touched any of the food,” She continued, “I don’t quite know how it works or the rules, but I imagine if you help yourself, then I haven’t exactly offered it to you so…”

“It’s perfect,” He replied, “You’re perfect.” She smiled brightly before pressing a kiss to the palm of his hand,

“Eat, or it will get cold.”

Azriel never thought of himself as much of a foodie. He grew up with the idea that just bare scraps were a luxury but when he’d stumbled across Bluebells a few centuries ago it’d been the first time he understood the fascination behind good food. Gwyn had been the first person he’d told about it when he’d taken her round Velaris and he was happy that she’d liked the little macaroons as much as he did.

Their little picnic was beautiful, and Gwyn had gotten him all his favourite items. He’d loved sharing it with her and how her eyes had lit up when he’d fed her his favourite sandwich.

After they’d finished and were completley full Azriel fell back onto the blankets surrounded by the pillows, “I’m impressed by your keen observation skills, Berdara.”

“What do you mean?” She said as she curled into his side. His arms circling her waist as her hand rested over his heart,

“I mean, you got every single thing that I love. We’ve only been to bluebells a handful of times, yet you knew exactly what to get.”

“Well, I’m no Shadowsinger,” she said with a smile, “but I know how to keep my male happy.”

He pressed a kiss to her nose.

“This day has been perfect.”

“I was worried it wouldn’t be enough.”

“You’re joking?”

“Well, I know you don’t love big crowds, but I thought you might miss being around your family.”

“We have family dinner tomorrow; I’ll see them then.”

“In addition, to selfishly wanting you to myself, I don’t have Nesta’s natural aptitude to plan parties either.” She said with a smirk that had him huffing a laugh,

“Sometimes our greatest weaknesses turn out to be our greatest strengths.” He said placing a kiss on her forehead,

“The Nephelle Philosophy.” Gwyn smiled,

“How do- You know about Nephelle?”

This had Gwyn rising from her position and grabbing a little package that he’d completley glossed over. She handed him the present wrapped in brown paper. Azriel sitting once more. It was just a touch larger than the size of a book, but delicate beneath his fingers.

“Happy Birthday.” She said as he looked at it with confusion,

“This wasn’t my present?” He said gesturing to the outdoor patio area and the picnic basket. She shook her head.

“Open it.”

Azriel couldn’t breathe. This was too much.

“Is this…” he started

“Nephelle’s own diary entry of rescuing Miryam.” For now, Azriel held a framed piece of parchment that had words written in Nephelle’s own hand the account of that day.

“How did you know?”

“Feyre may have mentioned that you loved her story.”

“I- How did you get this?” Azriel could barely get the words out.

“I wrote to her,” Gwyn said, “I told her that my mate admired her story and she responded with this. Along with a beautiful letter in which she spoke of how you inspire others too.”

“Gwyn…”

“I hope you like it.”

“Gwyn, this is perfect.” He smiled, silver lining his eyes, “You’re perfect.”

That had Gwyn crying too. She shuffled closer to him and his lips brushed against hers. Her hand resting on the back of his neck.

“I thought you could put it in your room, on top of the dresser maybe?” She said only a breath away from him,

“Our room,” He said suddenly, “Gwyn, will you move in with me?”

“To the house?”

“You don’t have to say Yes, or if you don’t like my room, we can find another one in the house that we like, but I would be honoured beyond reason to know I get to wake up next to you every day.”

She considered it for a second, “I guess it would make things easier,” Azriel hummed, “Nesta might like to live with another female,” she sighed, “And I sleep there every night already.”

“What do you say?” He asked again, his forehead meeting hers,

“Yes,” she whispered, “Yes. Yes. Of course!” She said getting louder. She peppered kisses all over his face before her lips connected with his once more.

It didn’t take long for their kiss to turn heated. Azriel’s hands trailing down her back before lowering her to the blankets and cushion on the floor. Their kiss was exploring and unhurried and driving Gwyn completley out of her mind. She wasn’t in control of her hands as they found there was to his hair that had slightly curled and pulled very gently. He moaned into her mouth and Gwyn forgot where she was only that it was her and Azriel. Her and Azriel forever. This was just the start.

“I love you so much.” She said, utterly breathless,

“I love you too.” He replied.

He lent in once more to kiss her again but stopped a breath away from her. She raised a brow, knowing the look in his eyes. His shadows were talking to him.

“Nesta and Cassian are coming.” He told her. And indeed, when Gwyn turned her head, she saw the mated couple walking onto the balcony with their own blankets and pillows bundled in their arms.

“I can see why you didn’t tell anyone your plans, Gwyn,” Nesta said with a smile, looking at the couple who had been caught in quite a comprising position,

“Hello, Nesta.” Gwyn said with a smile, while also raising her eyebrows as if trying to signal something to her sister,

“Happy Birthday, Az.” Nesta said with a bright smile,

“I tried to stop her.” Cassian said from behind his mate,

“Yeah, we were kind of…” Gwyn started, but didn’t know how to finish,

“You’re welcome to join us,” Azriel said, a bright smile on his face as he rolled off of Gwyn, she sat up to make room for his wings, “If that’s okay with you.” He said to Gwyn,

“It’s your birthday,” Gwyn said. And that was all Nesta needed to hear before setting up their own little blanket area on the patio. Cassian kept looking over trying to seem apologetic for the night they’d interrupted. Gwyn couldn’t hide she was slightly upset for him.

“It’s okay, my love.” Azriel whispered, sitting up, quiet enough that only she could hear,

“Yeah?” She breathed back,

“Well, I was immensely enjoying our evening so far,” he smiled, kissing her nose, “but, I guess we’ll just have to continue where we left off when we get back to our room.”

Those words alone had Gwyn forgetting the couple who had joined them as she took his face in her hands and kissed him like no one was there.

They were shortly interrupted by Nesta saying, “Get a room, you two.” But when Gwyn turned around, she saw the light dancing in Nesta and Cassian’s eyes, they were truly happy for them.

Gwyn still flipped them off.

Cassian let out a loud laugh at that. Surprised to see the priestess act so crudely, perhaps she’d spent too much time around them.

After that they settled into light conversation, Azriel pointing out constellations in the sky while Nesta nuzzled into Cassian’s side. It turned out to be quite lovely. Nesta and Cassian squirreled into the basket to find some of the left-over lemon cake, and Gwyn smiled when Nesta fed it to Cassian. So simple and casual but Gwyn was excited for the day she’d be able to do that with Azriel.

At some point she drifted off, the vibrations of Azriel’s low voice, singing her to sleep. But when she awoke the next morning she was in a large comfy bed. Her bed, she now realised. With her mate’s arms and wings wrapped around her.

#acotar fanfiction #gwynriel #Gwynriel fanfiction #Gwyneth berdara #azriel #Azriel berdara #shadowsinger #fanfiction #fluff #lots of fluff #Gwyn and Azriel #Gwyn and Az make my heart so soft #acotar #sjm #acomaf #acosf #silver flames #valkyrie

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redpandaramblings · 4 years ago

Text

Sweet Treats Sero Hanta x F!Reader Birthday fic.

Happy birthday, @reinawritesbnha!!! Wanted to write you a silly little fic that I hope you enjoy.

Content Warnings:- Not SFW situations, cake destruction, nudity, crude humor, Mineta mention, awkward situations, mentions of food, mentions of drinking, probably incorrect Spanish, aged up characters.

Spanish translations are provided at the very bottom of the fic. I suggest waiting to look them up to avoid spoilers.

Y/n protested playfully as her friend dragged her towards the well known restaurant. “Come on, this place is too fancy. Pro heroes eat here! There’s no way we’re getting in without a reservation.”

Her friend laughed, continuing to lead her towards the door. “One, it’s not too fancy for your birthday. Two, we do have a reservation! It’s a weekday, so it actually wasn’t too difficult to get in. Sucks a little that we can’t party as hard, but we get to celebrate on your actual birthday, so it all works out! Now come on! Everyone else is inside already getting everything set up.”

Y/n rolled her eyes, but followed along without further protest. She really had wanted to go here. They served some of her favorite foods, and had fabulous service by all reports. The place was really popular with the pro hero set because of their discretion and their private rooms. Y/n hoped to maybe catch a glimpse of one of her favorites, but honestly, chances were slim.

Without any fuss, a waiter took their names and escorted them to their reserved private room. A cheer greeted them as they walked in.

“Happy Birthday, Y/N!!!!”

“Let’s get this party started!”

And get started they did. Drinks were served and food orders were placed. Laughter and conversation bubbled around. Someone pulled out Cards Against Humanity and everyone was cackling and cracking jokes, trying to find the most inappropriate answers to all the prompts. The fun is briefly interrupted as someone knocks on the door. A few waitstaff wheel in a covered table holding a rather large cake. They place it in a good position before bowing and hurrying out.

One of y/n’s friends stands and walks over to it, brows furrowed in confusion. “This doesn’t look like what we ordered… It’s way too big.” They murmured. “What we wanted shouldn’t need it’s own table…” They rapped their knuckles on the table a few times to emphasize their point.

Suddenly it was like the cake exploded upward. Flecks of frosting scattered about the room as first a brunet head, then a muscular torso came into view. Shapely arms pose into a flexing position. A masculine voice booms “Congrats on making the top… fifty….” His voice trailed off as he took in the shocked expressions of everyone in the room. “Youuuu are not Denki.”

Y/n shook her head as she tried very hard to keep her gaze above his waist level. A man had just jumped out of her cake. A naked man had just jumped out of her cake. A naked pro hero that she happened to have a massive crush on had just jumped out of her cake. Y/n discretely pinched herself on the thigh. Yep, it hurt. Which means Sero Hanta was currently naked in the same room as her, his very nice looking cock covered in cake and cream. She snapped her gaze back upward as the blushing hero began muttering to himself, clearly on the verge of a panic attack.

“That was… The knocks were the cue… I mean…”

The hero sank to his knees, the messy remains of the box and cake giving him a little bit of privacy.

“Mi vida se acabó. Me acurrucaré en este pastel y moriré ahora. Puedo ver los titulares. El héroe profesional Cellophane encontrado desnudo y muerto en un pastel.”

Y/n quickly stood up, hurrying over to where the leftover party supplies were. Luckily, there was a leftover tablecloth, since the restaurant had supplied their own. She cautiously walked back over to Sero, holding out the tablecloth.

“Hey, it’s alright. Promise. Want to cover up with this?”

Sero blinked a few times, taking several deep breaths before he nodded, reaching out and taking the tablecloth. He hurriedly wrapped it around himself, recovering some of his modesty. “Gracias. Lo siento. I must have been wheeled into the wrong room.”

Y/n nodded as one of her friends brought Sero a drink to help calm him down. “Want us to get some staff or find your friends? I don’t think you want to wear a tablecloth the rest of the night, though it is a rather bold fashion statement.”

Sero closed his eyes, taking a gulp of his drink as he thought for a moment. “Flag down some staff, but ask them to bring Kirishima here? He should have my clothes.”

“No need to get dressed on our account!” One of y/n’s friends chirped.

“In fact we could strip if you want. Make it all an equal playing field.” Another friend said as they headed out the door in search of someone to help them.

Y/n buried her face in her hands and groaned. “I’m going to murder you all. No court would convict me. Murder is legal on your birthday, right?”

“Wait, it’s your birthday?” For the first time since he popped out of the cake, Hanta took his time to actually look around the room. Black, white, and yellow balloons hung in the corners. Crepe paper twisted around the edges of the room. Some presents were piled in one corner. “Oh Dios Mio, it’s your birthday. My naked ass ruined your birthday.”

“Not ruined.” Y/n chuckled, dropping her hands so she could look Sero in the eyes. “Unexpected for sure. You’ve definitely made this the most exciting birthday I’ve had. Will be telling the story for years. The time I accidentally got a naked man for my birthday.”

Sero raised his eyebrows. “Not gonna mention the pro hero part? Some people would pay good money for that, I’m sure.”

Y/n vigorously shook her head. “No way! I wouldn’t want to hurt your career like that! You’ve got lots more important stuff to do than to do damage control on your public image. I promise it doesn’t leave this room.”

The others in the room nodded and spoke up in agreement. “Yeah dude. Honest mistake. We’ll laugh about it amongst ourselves, then forget about it.”

About this time, the door burst open.

“Dude!”

A blond rushed into the room. Denki, took a moment to take in the scene in front of him before he doubled over, howling with laughter. Kirishima, Bakugou, and Mina followed shortly behind.

“Sorry,” Kirishima rubbed his head, slightly embarrassed. “Once Denks figured out what was going on, we couldn’t stop him.”

“This is better than if it had gone right!” Denki wheezed, flopping over onto the floor. “Happy birthday, nice to meet you! Here’s my dick, give it a lick, it tastes like vanilla!” Kaminari dissolved into nearly hysterical laughter as both Sero and y/n flushed scarlet. Bakugou gave Denki a less than gentle boot to the ribs. “It’s not that funny you fucking overgrown phone charger. You really need to quit hanging out with Mineta.”

“I don’t know, guys, I think it’s pretty funny.” Mina grinned as leaned against the doorframe. “And I must say, the tablecloth toga is on point. Should consider it for your next costume redesign.”

“Hardy har. Didn’t realize this was comedy hour. Now, did any of you payasos bring me my clothing?”

Kirishima held up a bag and gave it a shake. “Clothes and wipes to get the gunk off ya.”

“Gracias, Eijiro. You’re the only good man here.”

“Hey!” Bakugou objected.

“You’ll make the buen amigo list again if you manage to get services comped for these lovely folks.”

“Already did that as soon as we figured out what happened, soy sauce face.”

“Excellent. Thank you.” Sero sighed. “Now can you please help me out of this table so that I can get dressed and quit intruding on the party of this encantadora dama?”

“Nope!” Mina laughed. “Or at least not right away. First, pictures!”

“¿Imágenes? ¿Seriamente?” Sero groaned.

“Absolutely! We need to capture this moment forever!”

“Agreed! I’ll take the pics so everyone else can crowd in and hand me your cameras if you want!” y/n’s friend piped up.

“If any of these pictures get out…” Bakugou growled.

“We’ve already been over that. Personal mementos only! Scout’s honour!” y/n’s friend placed a hand over their heart and tried to tame their grin into something more serious.

And so that’s how y/n found herself perched next to her favorite hero, as flash after flash went off, taking group shots. And it seemed that also just as quickly, Kirishima was helping to haul his friend out of the cake and cardboard remains. They took over a corner, Denki and Kirishima holding up the tablecloth like a privacy curtain while Sero got himself cleaned up and dressed. It was around this time that a very apologetic staff member showed up with a large angel food cake, placing it on the table while assuring everyone that their bills had been taken care of. They wheeled out the other cake as they left. After Sero was fully dressed, y/n cleared her throat and said, “Would you like to stay for cake since yours is gone now? Or have you had enough cake for the night?”

“Well,” Sero drawled, a mischievous grin on his face. “I’m not rude enough to refuse a lady her wish on her birthday.”

“You had me at cake!” Denki exclaimed, already sliding into a chair.

Everyone gathered around the table. Happy Birthday was sung, candles were blown out, cake was cut and distributed. Conversation flowed surprisingly easy, talking about jobs, and pets, and birthdays past. Y/n shared about the birthday they’d almost accidentally set their nan on fire due to an unfortunate silly string incident. Sero told about the birthday that was the day his quirk fully activated and he had accidentally taped himself to the ceiling. It had taken his family half an hour to find him. Bakugou claimed to have never had an embarrassing birthday, and threatened to explode his friends' faces when the rest of the Bakusquad started listing one thing after another. And so several hours flew by with everyone enjoying themselves. Bakugou finally looked at the clock and stretched, standing up.

“Hey nerds, place if going to close soon. We need to go grab our shit.”

The others glanced at the clock before also scrambling up. “Shit, yeah, completely lost track of time!” Denki headed to the door. “Later, gators! Had an awesome night! Should do it again sometime. And happy birthday, Y/n!”

“Thanks, was a great night! And congrats on cracking the top fifty!” Y/n called.

Denki waved as he walked out the door. Mina, Kirishima, and Bakugou also said their goodbyes and headed out. Sero, however, lingered for a bit.

“It did turn out to be a good night. But I am still sorry for interrupting your party like that.”

“For the last time, it’s fine” Y/n laughed.

Sero cast his eyes down, bashfully, mumbling protests. But then, he noticed something attached to your bag. He interrupted his own rambling apology to ask “Is that a Cellophane tape dispenser key chain?”

Really, he didn’t have to ask. He knew all his own merch. That particular key chain was one of his first products. It hadn’t sold very well, and had only lasted one small run. They were really hard to find anymore.

Before y/n had a chance to reply, her friend clapped her on the shoulder and said “Yep! She has three of them. One on her purse, a spare in case this one breaks, and one to keep in pristine condition.”

“Shut! Up!” Y/n hissed.

Grinning, her friend continued. “Pretty sure she has at least one of everything of the official merch. She’s been a mega fan for years. Total simp. That’s why the party colors were black, white, and yellow. Low key Cellophane themed.”

Y/n closed her eyes, resigned. “If the floor doesn’t swallow me up right now, I’m burning your Dynamite body pillow next chance I get.”

Sero blushed as he grinned, one long arm raising to scratch the back of his head. “Well now I don’t feel quite so bad about what happened. One of a kind birthday show for my partidaria número uno.”

Y/n could feel their blush creeping down their neck. “Really, it was just an honest mistake! No big deal!” She squeaked.

“Regardless, I do want to make it up to you, hermosa. So, how about we exchange numbers?”

“What?!” Y/n’s squeak reached an abnormally high pitch.

“Well this way we can get in touch, and I can make it up to you somehow. Some exclusive merch. Tickets to an event… A date perhaps?” Hanta’s grin spread wider.

Y/n’s brain stalled. Her friends were quick to jump in. “Yes!”

“She’d love to.”

“She’s free next Friday and Sunday!”

Y/n’s brain started to kick back in “Guys, what? No!”

“So you wouldn’t like to go out with me next Sunday?” Hanta whined with an exaggerated pout.

“No! I mean…” Y/n drew a deep shaking breath. “I’d… I’d like that. If you actually mean it, that is.”

Hanta pulled out his phone and handed it to y/n. ��Absolutely. Just put in your number and I’ll text you. No voy a dejar pasar esta oportunidad. Tendríamos la mejor historia para contarles a nuestros hijos cómo nos conocimos.”

Y/n furrowed their eyebrows, only managing to catch a few words of the Spanish as they entered their number in. “I didn’t quite catch all that…”

One of y/n’s friends called from across the room. “Hey slick! Es mejor que al menos haya una propuesta antes de planificar los hijos.”

Hanta blushed bright red while laughing. “Noted.”

Y/n handed Sero his phone back. “Neither of you are going to tell me what you said, are you?”

“Nope! I’ll be texting you soon, hermosa. But for now, hasta luego.” Sero waved before jogging out the door and down the hallway, heading back to his friends. Y/n waved, before going to help clean up, ignoring the giggles and teasing of her friends. Soon enough, everything was taken care of. Y/n said her goodbyes and headed out. She hadn’t even made it to the car before her phone buzzed in her pocket. When she pulled it out, there was a text from an unknown number that read “I can’t wait to see what the future brings. Happy Birthday, Princesa.”

My life is over.

I'll curl up in this cake and die now.

I can see the headlines. Professional hero Cellophane found naked and dead in a cake.

Thank you. I’m sorry.

My God.

Clowns

Thanks

Good friend.

Lovely lady.

Pictures? Seriously?”

Number one fan.

Beautiful.

I will not miss this opportunity. We would have the best story to tell our children how we met.

There better at least be a proposal before you plan of children.

Princess

Taglist- @kat-unzel

#reinawritesbnha #happy birthday #i'm blessed to have you as a friend #birthday fic #sero x reader #hanta x reader #sero hanta x reader #hanta sero x reader #cellophane x reader #sero reader insert #hanta reader insert #reader insert #bnha reader insert #misuse of cake #aged up characters

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minghaocouture · 4 years ago

Text

Pairing: Jeon Wonwoo x Gender Neutral Reader Genre: Fake Dating AU, Fluff, the tiniest of angst Warning: N/A WC: 3k+

A/N @babiemingoo THIS IS FOR YOU SWEETIE! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND I WUB UUUUUU! <33333 I hope this is okay lol. I have NEVER written a fake dating au before so it might be trash T^T but i hope you like it anyway!

Weddings, most everyone loves them. They’re a time of love and happiness. So when your brother called to tell you that he was finally getting married to his high school sweetheart, you were overjoyed!

“So do I need to mark down a plus one for you? Or are you still single?” You knew in your heart that he was just being an older brother and teasing you, but that didn’t mean it stung any less. So before you could stop yourself you lied.

“Hey, don’t jump to conclusions. I’ve got a...boyfriend.”

“You hesitated. I honestly don’t believe it.” He retorted, chuckling a bit.

“Dude, I said I have a boyfriend so you better put down that I have a plus one.” You ordered, crossing your free arm over your chest as you continued to hold your phone with the opposite one.

That conversation was a week ago, and you had yet to find anyone willing to pretend to be your boyfriend. You’d even asked your lab partner Chan! The boy looked so apologetic when you asked, telling you that his girlfriend would have his head if she found out.

Now here you were, standing outside of your roommate’s door. Hand hesitantly lifted in preparation to knock on the hard word, but you were unable to follow through with the action. You had avoided asking your roommate, Wonwoo, to be your date. After all, it might be awkward and make him uncomfortable and then you might have to find another roommate. You honestly didn’t want that, but at this point he was your only hope.

So swallowing your fear and what little pride you had left, you quickly knocked on his door. It was silent for a moment before you heard his deep voice calling out, giving you permission to enter.

Pushing open the door you leaned against the door frame, eyes glancing over the relatively clean room until they landed on the brunette as he sat at his computer desk. Dressed in a simple pair of sweatpants and a tank top that hung loose on his rather slender frame, his thick brown hair was pushed up out of his face and it definitely looked like he hadn’t brushed it today, while his thick rimmed glasses sat snugly on his nose.

“What’s up?” He questioned, eyeing you in confusion. Usually you did your best to not bother him when he’s in his room, knowing that he was usually either studying or gaming in some form and that if you needed him you should just message him unless it’s an emergency. You weren’t sure if it counted as an emergency but it sure felt like it.

“Hey sorry, but I have a huge favor to ask.”

“No.” The words left his lips before you could even utter your request. Without any care he turned his chair back around to face the computer in front of him, leaving you to stare open mouthed and wide eyed at the black leather of his computer chair.

“I didn’t even get to ask yet!” You exclaimed, taking a few steps into the room and ending up right behind his chair. “You at least have to hear me out!”

“I mean I don’t.” his deep voice muttered as his fingers clacked away on the keyboard, showing that he was fully intent on ignoring you.

“Nunu please! I’ll pay for your half of groceries of a month!”

The clacking stopped and slowly he turned in his chair to fix his gaze upon you.

“Make it two month and I’ll hear you out.”

Two months of groceries just for him to listen to the request, that didn’t even mean he would go through with it. You felt your bank account weep as you let out a deep sigh.

“Fine, two months. So will you listen to me?” His gaze didn’t leave you as he nodded, urging you to continue. “Okay so you know my brother right? Mingyu? Well...he’s getting married in like a week or so and he wants me to go and I-”

“If i have to be your fake boyfriend you better be prepared to do my house chores for at least a month, on top of the groceries.” You knew this wouldn’t be easy but at this point you were desperate.

“Fine! Two months of groceries, a month of your chores. Just please please be my fake boyfriend for my brother’s wedding!”

***

“If we’re late it’s going to be your fault!” You heard Wonwoo call from your shared living room. You were putting the finishing touches on your outfit for the wedding, having gotten out the best outfit for the event. You wanted to make sure you looked fantastic for this. You were also admittedly a bit anxious that either you or Wonwoo would slip up.

Sure you guys had gone through your ‘love story’, about how the two of you moved in together when your mutual friend Seungcheol had suggested it, since he knew you both needed roommates, and how the two of you ended up slowly falling in love over the course of the year. It was basically a fool proof story, basically.

“If you take any longer I’ll just go on my own and enjoy the free food.”

With a groan you made your final adjustments to your attire before rushing out of the room. You weren’t sure that Wonwoo would actually leave you but you weren’t going to take the chance that he would.

Though the sight that met you in the living room was not one you had expected.

Normally when you thought of Wonwoo, you imagined your frumy roommate probably in some kind of oversized sweater, his hair a bit messy and his glasses firmly on display. He wasn’t ugly or anything, but you had never been put into a situation where his attractiveness was fully on display.

Today though, his hair was actually brushed and styled to where the dark brown locks covered just a bit of his forehead. His suit jacket and matching trousers were a rich brown that reminded you of the color of dark chocolate, just a few shades darker than his hair. His pure white shirt was buttoned all the way to his neck and a cross-over tie fit perfectly the finish off his outfit. To your surprised, his glasses were nowhere to be seen and you were fairly sure that this was the first time you had ever seen him with contacts in. Needless to say, you were a bit stunned. This also gave Wonwoo a bit of time to examine you.

“You clean up nice.” He muttered turning away from you so that he could grab your keys out of the bowl next to the door where they were kept. Turning back to you, he tossed them and by some miracle you did in fact catch them.

“Uh...yeah, you do too.” You said, finally catching yourself starting. Quickly you tried to stop the rapid throbbing of your heart but it definitely didn’t want to listen to you. Probably the nerves. “I’m surprised you actually brushed your hair.”

Your words brought a deep chuckle from the man as he followed you out the door, making sure to lock it behind him.

“Well, I’m meeting my significant other’s family for the first time. Gotta make a good impression.”

His words caused a series of butterflies to erupt into your stomach. This was going to be a long day.

***

The ceremony went about as good as expected, your mother basically sobbing out of happiness during the entire ceremony. To keep up appearances, Wonwoo kept your hand laced with his own and to your surprise that was all you could think about. His skin on yours, it was ridiculous how fixated you seemed to be on it.

As the reception began and your brother and his new wife started making the rounds, receiving congratulations and large hugs. As he saw your table, he made a beeline straight for you, pulling you into a tight hug and lifting your feet off of the ground in the process. Either you were hearing things or that for some reason caused Wonwoo to laugh ever so slightly.

“Okay okay you got your hug Gyu, put me down.” Your elder brother cackled before planting your feet firmly back onto the floor. As soon as he let go, his eyes were on your ‘boyfriend’. He gave Wonwoo a good once over, obviously sizing him up.

“You know, when they told me they had a boyfriend I thought they had made you up.” He declared with a hearty laugh before extending his hand and introducing himself. “I’m Mingyu, it’s nice to meet you. Wish that one had mentioned you sooner.”

Wonwoo took his hand and firmly shook it, a soft smile on his face.

“Well, they told me all about you. I’m Wonwoo, by the way.” This part was surprisingly truthful. You had given him a run down of your family so that he wouldn’t be caught off guard by anyone coming up to meet him. It was better than letting him go in blind.

“Well, you better take care of them or I’ll be on your ass. I’m the only one that gets to mess with my sibling? Got that?”

“Mingyu, are you seriously giving him the shovel talk...at your own wedding?”

Mingyu looked over at you, almost appalled that you would think any less of him.

“Of course! I’m still your big brother, I’m not on vacation just because I’m at my wedding. Besides, my darling will understand.” The mention of his beloved wife seemed to change his whole demeanor. You of course knew his wife, they had been dating for quite a few years and she had been to so many family gatherings it was almost like they had been married before this.

With a laugh, you gave him a quick shove.

“Well you better hurry back, or she’ll get bored without you.” Rushing him away was mostly so that he would lay off his whole big brother routine. Glancing over at Wonwoo though, he didn’t seem to mind. In fact you could almost describe the smile on his face as a fond one. It was...nice.

As your brother left, you caught Wonwoo’s gaze flickering towards the dance floor. He didn’t say anything though and a silence fell over the two of you. It was strange, back at home you never had any problems talking to him. Yet here it seemed like your throat had completely closed up, no words able to leave it.

“He seemed nice.”

“Oh, Mingyu? He’s an ass, but he’s honestly the best brother I could ask for. Honestly, you two would probably get along pretty well.” You explained, thinking about how their personalities would probably compliment each other pretty well. This led to...other thoughts, thoughts of Wonwoo coming to family gatherings as if he were actually your boyfriend. It wasn’t a bad thought in the slightest, but...it was a thought you were hoping to avoid.

He hummed softly in agreement, his eyes once again gazing back over at the dance floor. This time, swallowing your anxiety and uncertainty you spoke up again.

“Did you...want to dance?” Instantly his eyes were on you and you quickly covered for yourself, voice quieting down to a whisper so that the only one who would hear you would be him. “I mean...it would probably be good at making this more believable. I also think I see my mom coming over.” You muttered. Meeting your mother wouldn’t be a bad thing, but it was definitely something you wanted to put off.

Not answering your invitation, Wonwoo stood and extended his hand out to you. His dark brown eyes bore into yours. Glancing over at your advancing mother, you quickly took his hand and he led you out onto the dance floor. The slow melody playing through the speakers surprisingly had your heart racing, or was that caused by the hand that now gently gripped your waist? For your sanity and the sake of your home situation, you decided to say it was the music.

The music seemed to flow through the two of you as your bodies slowly grew closer and closer until you were chest to chest. It felt like time had all but stopped around the two of you, all you could see was Jeon Wonwoo, your nerdy roommate and the man who was somehow sweeping you off your feet (metaphorically, of course). It was right there, in his arms, that you realized what a bad idea this was. Yet that realization didn’t stop you from resting your head against Wonwoo’s shoulder, eyes drifting closed as the two of you swayed to the melody.

“Can I kiss you?”

All at once things seemed to snap back into place as you heard his voice. It was a simple question, but it still had your heart racing. You lifted your head so that you were able to stare into his eyes, questioning his intentions.

“Your mom has been staring at us, I think she’s expecting it.” He muttered, his voice low so that you were the only one who could hear him. It was for the lie...he didn’t actually want to kiss you, you were foolish for getting your hope up. You couldn’t find you voice to respond so you simply nodded your head.

Taking this affirmation, he removed one of his hands from your waist and hesitantly cupped your cheek. You felt heat rush to your face as he inched forwards, almost as if someone had put him into slow motion. Then all at once his slightly chapped lips were on yours and it felt like your heart had stopped. For a second you even forgot to kiss back, but it only lasted a moment. Your arms wrapping tighter around his neck to pull him a bit closer, deepening the kiss.

Then all too quickly, he pulled back and you didn’t stop him. After all, this was just for show it wasn’t like he was kissing you because he wanted to. The thought caused your heart to clench inside your chest.

“I’ll be right back.” Without giving him a chance to respond, you slipped from his arms and power walked out of the reception hall to the bathroom. Maybe there you could get a clear head and remember your place.

You weren’t sure how long you were in the bathroom, but by the time you returned to the reception hall Wonwoo had returned to your previous seats. This time though, he was accompanied by your mother, and they seemed to be laughing and having a chat. As you approached you heard your mother speaking.

“Now Wonwoo dear, I’m surprised that my child hasn’t mentioned you before! The two of you seem so in love that I’m just shocked!” She exclaimed, obviously amping the drama. She was your mother after all. Wonwoo let out a small chuckle, his deep voice filling your ears despite it being soft.

“I asked them not to. I wasn’t sure that you would approve of me, so we decided to take things slowly. I realize that’s probably a pretty crappy excuse but, I really love them. So I just wanted to make sure I did things right.”

That...was not the reasoning you guys had decided upon. He was supposed to say that you were nervous or something like that, put the blame on you. You felt conflicted hearing his answer, but you weren’t really given time to think about it when your mother noticed you closing in.

“Oh darling! I’m so glad you decided to bring Wonwoo tonight. He is such a doll, and you better be bringing him to our family Christmas!” She declared, standing to pull you into a tight hug before turning her attention back to Wonwoo. “And you don’t have to worry about missing out with your family. We celebrate on the 24th so people can visit other families on Christmas day.”

“I’ll be sure to be there ma’am.”

“Well I’ll leave you two love birds alone. No helicopter moming for me tonight.” With a quick kiss on your cheek and a small “love you” your mother was gone.

Taking a seat back down at your table, you stared at the decor. A small candle inside of a little glass orb with a circular opening on the top. The way the light flickered kept your mind focused.

“How much did you hear?” He questioned, you couldn’t bring yourself to look over at him, your heart was pounding far too quickly and you were almost certain he could hear it.

“Uhh, the whole part where you ‘wanted to do things right’.”

You heard a small sigh escaping from him and your eyes left the candle, watching as he ran a hand through his hair before looking back over at you.

“I guess this is a pretty lousy way to tell you that I do actually have feelings for you. Isn’t it?”

“I mean, kind of? But it’s cool, I did a pretty bad job of expressing my feelings too.” with a small laugh, you reached over and took his hand and laced his fingers with yours. Your eyes met and you saw the sweetest smile erupt onto his face.

“Can I kiss you again?” His words came out soft, barely audible over the music in the room.

“Only if I get to call you my boyfriend for real.”

“I think I can make that deal.”

#caratwritersclub #kdiarynet #kdiner #seventeen x reader #seventeen imagine #seventeen scenario #svt x reader #svt imagine #svt scenario #wonwoo x reader #wonwoo imagine #wonwoo scenario

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