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milliesfishes · 7 months ago

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[fem reader] contains: bullying, angst pairing: coriolanus snow x fem reader summary: Coriolanus met you during his time as a peacekeeper, and he resolves to bring you back to the Capitol with him. author’s note: Hey hey! First Coryo fic in awhile, I'm excited about this one!! Please enjoy! Pinterest Board Spotify Playlist

You were lying between his legs, hidden in the trees away from the world when he told you he was leaving. It was a sunny day, and the shadows of the leaves were dancing over your faces.

Sitting up from his arms, you turned around, looking at him with your brow furrowed. "What?" You knew a peacekeeper's service spanned twenty years, and Coriolanus had hardly been here seven months.

"I passed the advancement test," he said, looking down at you, his blue eyes solemn. "They're sending me to Two."

"Oh." It was all you could say, and you pursed your lips, turning back around and leaning against his chest. You were quiet.

Coriolanus brought his fingers to your chin, turning your chin to face him again. "Sweetheart."

You looked into his eyes, brow furrowing. "So, you'll still be a peacekeeper? Just...not here?"

He nodded, studying your expression in his way. Coriolanus, you had learned, was always watching you, always inspecting you in some way. You'd grown to find it comforting, though now you didn't know how long that comfort would remain in your vicinity.

Biting your lip, you looked down, the reality of him leaving setting in. You'd fallen in love with him so quickly, and you now couldn't imagine your life without him.

Coriolanus couldn't either.

He'd been disappointed, at first, when he'd been assigned to this city. Bribing the official had been a last-ditch attempt to get to Lucy Gray. The chances had been small, he had known, but still he'd moped during his first week here. Not only was he in District Twelve of all places, but the person he'd spent the last of his money to get to wasn't even here.

But, knowing he wouldn't last twenty years pining over her, he'd pulled himself together and thrown himself into his work. Coriolanus was a hard worker, and he put his skill to good use, focusing solely on his duties.

That mindset had lasted all but a week.

One day he'd been in a bad mood. There were some unusually rowdy citizens that he'd had to round up, and the clouds were getting dark. On top of that, he'd had Lucy Gray on his mind more than usual, wondering (stupidly in his opinion) if she missed him, what she was doing. He'd been patrolling along the street, breathing in coal dust and holding his gun tightly.

There had been a rumble of thunder, and then it began to rain. Quickly, passerby had begun to scramble inside, and he'd cursed his shift, longing to go back to base and have a hot shower. Of course it'd rain today of all days.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone walking in the downpour. When he turned to get a better look, he'd seen you, carrying a bag on your shoulder.

Although you were strikingly pretty, that wasn't what caught his attention at first. It was the fact that you, in a now soaked through blue dress, weren't hurrying along at all, not eager to get inside like everyone else. No, you were meandering along, smiling as if there was nowhere you'd rather be.

He'd approached you, unable to help it. "Miss," he greeted. "You shouldn't be out in the rain. You'll catch a chill."

You'd smiled so sweetly it made his head spin. "I don't mind a little water, officer. It's a lovely change from the heat we've been having."

"Still," he nodded, trying to quell his thoughts. "You shouldn't be walking."

"I don't know any other way to get home from the market," you raised your eyebrows, teasing a bit.

Coriolanus paused for a moment, realizing you were right. He straightened, nodding. "Allow me to accompany you home, then. At least I'll know you're safe."

You'd smiled coyly, tilting your head. He remembered thinking how pretty you'd looked, with your wet hair sticking to your cheeks, rain sliding down your face like tears, contrasting your happy smile beautifully. "Do you do this with all the girls, officer?"

He'd been unable to help the slight lift of the corners of his mouth. "No miss. Just you."

That had only made your smile wider, and you'd let him escort you home. He carried the bag of fruit and vegetables for you, telling himself it was simply the gentlemanly thing to do. But as you'd chatted with him kindly all the way to where you lived, he'd found himself drawn to you, to your sweet nature, your beauty, you.

He'd never before understood how Romeo fell in love with Juliet so soon after Rosaline.

From that point on, your relationship had bloomed quickly. He began to let his guard down around you, surrendering to the pure goodness of you. He was wholly enamored by your being, by your existence. Coriolanus had thought coming to District Twelve would mean Lucy Gray at best, lung cancer at worst, but he hadn't at all expected to find a treasure like you amidst the dust and grime. The two of you cut a striking picture at first- the peacekeeper in his sharp uniform and the sweetest girl in town with a gentle demeanor.

You pried him open, softened his heart. And he made you feel loved, made you feel special. You cherished him for this reason, which was why this news of him leaving hit you so hard.

Back in the forest, Coriolanus propped his chin up on your shoulder. One of his hands was resting on your tummy, soothing back and forth. "What do you think sweetheart?"

"Of the promotion?" you questioned, leaning back against him. You didn't want to tell him how saddened you were by his leaving. So you, true to yourself, took the positive route. "You'll be happy there. You've worked so hard and I'm proud of you." You knew how he dreamed of escaping the lower districts, how much he missed his home. Transferring to Two was a step closer to getting back. "You deserve to go."

He nodded, kissing your temple. "Thank you, sweetheart." Then he rubbed his hand over your tummy again, the side of his head leaning against yours. "Are you upset with me?"

You shook your head, biting your bottom lip in contemplation. He studied you. "What's the matter then, darling?"

"I just..." you hesitated. It felt so insignificant. In your eyes, Coriolanus had a bright future, and you didn't want to weigh him down. "I'll miss you."

You were afraid he'd think it silly, but instead he cooed, pulling you more snugly into his arms. He pressed his lips to the top of your head. "I'd miss you too." He rested his chin on your head for a moment, thinking. Then, in smooth tones, he asked, "Would you come with me?"

Once again, his words made you turn around. You read his face, trying to determine if he was serious. When you found no trace of humor, you asked, "You want me...to come with you?"

His hand found its way to your face, his thumb stroking your cheek. He smiled in a reassuring way. "Come with me, dove," he repeated. "I know you think I'll be happier there, and maybe it'll be familiar for me. But..." he reached over and squeezed your hand. "I won't be happy without you."

You searched his eyes. "Coryo, I can't-"

Coriolanus leaned in and kissed you softly, his hand running up and down your side. He pulled back slightly, that usual contemplative look on his face. "You've got no reason to stay here."

He was right. Your family was long passed or moved away. But that was beside the point. "This is my home," you murmured as he pressed gentle kisses to your neck. "I grew up here."

"But what does this district have for your future?" he asked, nudging his nose against the soft skin of your neck. He was clinging to reasons to keep you.

"I..." you didn't know how to counter. When he put it that way, he was right. But the idea of leaving here, the only home you'd ever known, was just so daunting.

Coriolanus met your eyes, both his hands coming to your cheeks. "What will you do here?" he questioned, shaking his head slightly. "I don't want you to marry some farm boy and make babies for the rest of your life darling." He heard how selfish he sounded, but he didn't care. "You deserve better, sweet girl. You deserve the world."

You felt yourself soften at his words. "Nobody could give anyone that."

He shook his head. "Give me a little time. A few years to move up. And I will be able to give you everything you deserve."

A little smile came to your face at his loving promises. And now you were actually considering it. Sitting back against his chest, you turned sideways so your cheek was pressing into it. "Is it even allowed? Bringing a girl?"

Coriolanus smiled reassuringly. "I'd send you a ticket once I got there. This is hardly the first time a soldier's fallen in love with a girl where he's stationed."

You nodded, then looked up at him. In truth, the idea was growing on you. To be with him, away from the slums, where you might have more opportunities to pursue the things you loved, sounded wonderful.

The other driving factor was the way he looked at you. The way he so clearly wanted you to come. He wanted you near him. He'd said you made him happy.

So, for these reasons, you sat up a little, and nodded, looking into his eyes. "Okay. I'll come with you."

The words were barely out of your mouth before he was hugging you tightly to his chest, peppering kisses all over your face. You giggled, cuddling into him and imagining your new life with him, far away from here.

He told you he'd be leaving in two weeks. Your train ticket would be sent about a month in, so he could get settled first.

You began to prepare, saving money and gathering together a few things you'd want to take with you. Living arrangements would likely be modest, but you were used to such things. As long as you were with him, you'd endure any circumstances.

In the weeks before he left, Coriolanus suddenly became very busy with his peacekeeper duties, and you didn't see him very much over the next bit. It was only when you heard awful news that you figured out why.

Sejanus, his peaceful, soft-spoken friend, was to be hanged. For conspiring with rebels, you'd been told. You were horrified. Sejanus was the last person you'd have thought to be caught doing such a thing. Your heart broke for him, but also for Coriolanus. That was his best friend. Even though their personalities were stark opposites, and Coriolanus was a little colder in affections toward anyone except you, you knew he was fond of Sejanus.

Since you knew him, you grappled with going to the execution or not. It would be horribly painful to watch, since he'd been your friend. But what if he was looking over the crowd, seconds from death, and he wished to see a familiar face? Someone who cared about him? Or would it be worse then? You went back and forth until you received a message from Coriolanus.

Don't come.

It was a hard order to follow, but you did. The whole day you cried for Sejanus. He didn't deserve this, no matter what he'd done. But like your mother would have said, he was in a better place now.

You didn't hear from Coriolanus at all after that. Knowing him, he wouldn't want to talk about what had happened with his friend, but you'd hoped to get something from him letting you know he was okay. The day he was set to leave came and went without anything.

During the month following, you practically slept by the mailbox, hoping and praying for a letter from him. Anything to let you know he remembered his promise. It was harder than you'd thought to live without him now that you knew what it was like to do so. You missed him desperately, trying to distract yourself but ultimately failing.

In a moment of desperation, you wondered if he really had forgotten you. But then you recalled the look on his face when he'd asked you to come. No. Coriolanus never made promises he didn't intend to follow through on. So, you kept your things packed and waited.

The day the letter came, you opened it eagerly, noting the heavy, fine texture of the paper. His initials were prominent in gold at the top. Maybe this promotion was better than you'd thought.

Sweetheart-

I apologize for not writing sooner. Things have been busy here. This ticket is for the twenty-eighth, at 9:00 am. I'll meet you at the station. I miss you.

Yours,

Coryo

Him closing the letter with the name you called him made your heart sing. He didn't forget you.

Then you realized: the twenty-eighth was tomorrow.

Leaping from your seat, you scurried to put what remained for you to pack in your small, round case (a pretty thing your mother had left you), making sure there wasn't anything you were forgetting. You hadn't renewed your rent on this house yet for the next month. The plan had been to send a letter to the owner from District 2, and you figured you could still do that. You'd thought Coriolanus would give you a little more notice, but it would be okay.

Waking early the next day, you donned your prettiest dress: a white thing with buttons to the waistline and little flowers embroidered on the bodice that tied at the bust. Brushing out your long hair, you checked your appearance several times before leaving. You wanted to look your best when you saw him.

When you presented your ticket to the stationmaster, he directed you to the first-class section. Surprised by this, you hesitantly settled, sure there'd been a mistake. But a few hours into the ride, nobody ordered you out. It was very in character for Coriolanus to do this. To make sure the long journey was comfortable. But first class? You hadn't asked enough questions about his new position apparently.

The train ride was long, but you hardly minded, watching the landscape whiz by through the window like a moving picture. Eventually, your eyes became heavy and it was clear your exhaustion caught up to you. You fell asleep, figuring it was okay since you were in a safer section. No need to keep guard over your possessions here.

Some hours later, awoken by the sound of the brakes screeching to a stop, you wearily stretched, sitting up from where you'd lain across the seats. You rubbed your eyes (not too hard as not to muss your light makeup) and looked out the window, expecting to see the rugged mountains of District 2.

Instead, the sight that greeted you was of a city, shiny and crisp. Buildings stretched tall; their grandeur surprising you. It was true you'd never been to District 2, but you were fairly certain that it had nothing like this.

Maybe you'd been sent to the wrong place? You reached for your ticket frantically. But no, it had your name on it. If this had been a mistake, it'd been a well-planned one. Looking back out the window, you saw a sign situated just on the outside of the train tracks.

WELCOME TO THE CAPITOL!

Blinking in surprise, you looked from the sign to the view of the city again. It certainly looked how you'd heard the Capitol did.

The conductor called for everyone to get off the train, and you stood, taking your case in your hand and hoping he'd really be there when you exited.

You stepped off the train, trying to see if you could find him amongst the crowd. People dressed very nicely here; you noticed as you observed the hoard of people coming and going. Then, as you made your way away from the tracks and into the station, you saw him.

Heart jumping for joy, you started to walk toward him. His appearance caught you off guard for a moment. You'd thought he'd be wearing his peacekeeper uniform, but he was in a red suit, a coat of the same color over it. His hair was longer too. He was studying something in the distance in his serious way. As you got closer, he noticed and turned to you, a little smile gracing his features.

You walked faster at the sight. When you were close enough, he held out his arms and you dropped your case, practically jumping into them. Coriolanus held you tightly, lifting you off your feet and burying his face in your hair.

"Coryo," you laughed, overjoyed to be with him again.

"I missed you sweetheart," he muttered into your hair. Coriolanus pulled back slightly to look at you, arms still holding you up around your waist. Yours were wound around his neck, and you searched his eyes.

"I missed you," you said softly, and he leaned in, pressing his lips to yours. The kiss was gentle, but there was a hint of hunger to it, and you knew when he got you alone there'd be more. For now, you smiled into it, nudging your nose against his.

Coriolanus set you down carefully, picking up your case and holding out his hand for you. You took it, the familiar feeling of his hand in yours lighting you up. As you walked hand in hand out of the station, you were overwhelmed by the sight. This was nothing like anything you'd expected.

He watched your reaction, smiling and squeezing your hand. "I'm sorry for not telling you darling."

"Why didn't you?" you asked as you began to walk down the street. "Did you know you were coming here the whole time?"

Coriolanus moved his arm to your shoulders as he guided you through the crowd on the sidewalk. "I thought I was going to Two until I was about to leave. They sent me here instead." He looked down at you, that little smile you loved so much making you melt. "As for why I didn't say anything about it; I wanted to surprise you."

You smiled at that. It was sweet of him. Then you tilted your head as you asked another question. "Is it the same position, just in the Capitol?"

He shook his head. "I've been discharged. I'm studying at the university."

Now that you were at a lightly less crowded part of the street, you stopped, looking up at him, remembering what he'd told you before about tuition and why he'd been sent out to begin with. "Really? But I thought-"

Coriolanus brought his hands to your arms, setting your case down for a moment. "Strabo Plinth- Sejanus' father- is sponsoring me. He was very grateful for my friendship to his son. And in addition to my studies, I have an internship with Dr. Gaul that pays. Extremely well."

All this information washed over you, and you stared at him in disbelief, trying to understand how you felt about this. Already everything was far different than you'd thought. But he looked excited, and you knew this was everything he'd wanted; to be back home with his family and you, a promising future ahead.

So, you smiled, winding your arms around his neck again and whispering, "I'm so happy for you."

He squeezed you once before you pulled back. Coriolanus lifted your chin with his finger, making sure you were looking at him. "It's going to be so much better than we thought, sweetheart. Just you wait." You nodded, unable to do anything but believe him. The two of you were attracting a few looks as you stood there with him, and you knew it was because you were dressed like the country girl you were. It may have looked odd next to his sleek appearance. You hardly cared though, too caught up in excitement that you were here.

Picking up your case, he took your hand again, leading you further into the city. You looked around at all the sights, excited by the buzz of it all. The structures were so distinguished, with their columns and pillars. It was also chilly. You shivered a bit, and he tightened his arm around you. Back home it'd been spring for a month. But here it still seemed to be winter. The cold, however, didn't stop you from gazing at everything in awe. The view quickly took your mind off the temperature.

Coriolanus watched you take it all in, a look of amusement on his face. He seemed to delight in your wonder. You looked over at him. "Are we going to where you live?"

He shook his head, squeezing your hand. "Not yet sweetheart. We're going to go somewhere else first."

Brow furrowing slightly in confusion, you let him take you to this mystery location, which turned out to be a tall building with lots of windows. He held the door for you, and when you stepped inside, you saw sleek decor, and a woman sitting at a receptionist's desk, looking like something out of a magazine.

She looked up as the two of you approached. "How can I help you?"

Coriolanus told the woman your name, his hand on your shoulder. "She needs to be...outfitted."

The woman nodded, giving him an impressed look. "I'll call someone in to assist."

"Thank you." Coriolanus turned to you, putting your case down beside you. He put his hands on your shoulders, thumbs smoothing over your skin soothingly. "I have a meeting at the university in twenty minutes, but I'm leaving you in-" he paused, looking over at the woman.

"Lyra," she affirmed.

He gave her a charming smile. "-Lyra's very capable hands."

You tilted your head. "What am I about to do?"

Coriolanus tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. "It'll be fun, sweetheart. Don't worry. We're going to get you something pretty. Tigris said this is the very best place in town." He referred to his cousin, who he'd told you was very fashion centric.

Feeling a bit confused still, you nodded hesitantly, and he smiled. "Good girl. And I don't want you worrying about price or quantity. The more the better. I'll see you in a bit." With that, he kissed your forehead and left.

You watched him go, then turned to Lyra, who wore a kind smile, seeming to understand how you felt. "Don't worry. We're here to help you. It can be overwhelming at first, especially here."

"Help me with what?" you questioned, returning her smile nervously.

She stood up as another woman walked in, taking her place behind the desk. "Shopping, of course." Lyra gestured for you to follow her, and you picked up your case, walking behind her through another door.

Behind it was a seemingly never-ending space. You saw racks of clothing, jewelry peeking out from behind cases, and shiny bottles of perfume on shelves. Lyra smiled as she watched you take it in. "Like I said, it can be overwhelming. But it's not as intimidating as it looks, I promise."

She led you to a room with wallpaper in a pleasing shade of blue. There was a three paneled mirror in the center. Two comfortable looking chairs were positioned against the wall in front of the mirror, a side table between them.

Lyra told you you could set your case down, and you did, a little warily. "Would you like some champagne?"

"No thank you," you declined sweetly, and she smiled.

"Now, I'm going to pull some things from the floor that I think would fit you," she said, studying you in an observant way. "Are there any colors you like to wear in particular?"

You thought for a moment, shifting on your feet. "I have a lot of blue things, but I'll wear anything, really."

Lyra took note of this, promising she'd be back in a few minutes with a few options. When she returned with two full racks, you realized you and her had very different ideas of a few. "I sent someone to get shoes."

She held out the first dress to you- long, silky, in a light blue color. "Go on."

There was no area to change in, so you hesitantly stripped down in front of her, avoiding eye contact. She didn't bat an eye, zipping up the dress from behind and nodding at the mirror. "Go see."

Gradually, as you tried on dresses, you began to get more into it, spinning to see yourself at different angles in the mirror. The things they were giving you were very beautiful. You liked how the fabric felt against your skin, so different from the dresses you were used to wearing. Lyra pronounced the best colors for you to wear as pink, red, black, white, and blue. "But honestly, you're so cute you could wear anything."

Another woman whom she introduced as 'Cassia' came in with shoes. You tried those on too, testing them out with different dresses and experimenting walking. You almost felt like someone else in these clothes, but in the best way.

Lyra and Cassia flattered you, adjusting the clothes, telling you the best ways to wear your hair with which ones and what accessories would look good. They hung the dresses you'd liked on one rack, separating them from the others, and did the same with the shoes.

You put the dress you'd worn in on and followed Lyra out to the different departments of the store. First to jewelry, where you picked a few simple pieces, much to her pleasure. "You'll be able to wear these with everything," she said approvingly, holding up a necklace to your collarbone.

She led you to an area with nightdresses and intimates next, which you'd balked at. "Are you sure about this? Nobody will be able to see them." You were looking at what she was suggesting: a set with a black lacy bra and panties.

Lyra gave you a mischievous sort of smile. "It's less for you, and more for him."

"Who?" you questioned.

"That handsome man who brought you in, if I'm not mistaken," she raised her eyebrows. You caught her drift and blushed, looking down. She insisted you pick out a few sleeping pieces too, lacy nightdresses and sets.

You selected a scent of perfume too; one you liked that smelled like roses. Lyra handed you a pretty black and white bag that she said would go with everything you'd picked out today.

Much to your surprise, that wasn't the end of it. Now she was sitting you down in a chair in front of a sink, telling you to lean your head back as she gently washed your hair with warm water and soap that smelled like flowers. "To match your perfume," she clarified, as if to explain the choice.

She rinsed your hair and dried it with heat, using her brush to make it fall in sleek, bouncy curls. You smiled at your reflection, amazed at how chic it looked. Lyra applied a little makeup too, not too much because in her words you "were naturally pretty and don't need it unlike some other girls I've helped before".

When all that was over, she took you back to the room with the mirror, handing you one of your favorite dresses you'd tried on (red with a long skirt and short sleeves), and a pair of black heels. Lyra turned her back when you put on your new intimates, only coming over to help you with the brassiere, which was held together by a ribbon tied in the back.

When you looked at yourself in the mirror, you were in awe. Somehow you looked brand new, but also yourself at the same time. Bouncing on your heels, you thought of Coriolanus, and what his reaction would be. Would he love it or hate it?

Lyra smiled at you through the mirror. "Very pretty." You turned around excitedly, thanking her kindly for all her work. She almost seemed surprised that you did, as if she wasn't used to it. Adjusting your hair behind your shoulder and smoothing the sleeves of your dress, she said that you were a sweet girl and she'd be happy to help you anytime.

You helped her carry your four bags of things, plus your case, to the front. Just before you got to the door, Lyra took the bags you were holding, hoisting them in her arms and giving you a knowing look. "You come out last. For effect, you know?"

She opened the door, an impressive feat with everything she was carrying, and said something you couldn't hear to someone on the other side. You followed her, and instantly saw why she'd wanted to go in front of you. Coriolanus was standing there, his eyes on you as you entered.

His face, in its usual serene position, broke into a smile when he saw you, all dolled up for him. Moving forward, Coriolanus took your hands in his, lifting your arms so he could see you in your entirety. "Look at you," he said in awe. He put one hand down, lifting the other, still joined with yours, up high. "Turn around for me."

You did so happily, doing a slow spin under his arm so he could see the whole dress. His smile seemed uncontainable. "You look beautiful sweetheart. So pretty." He brought your hand to his lips, kissing your fingers. "There's a car waiting. I knew you'd have bags." He nodded at a man in a suit standing near him, and he started to gather them, carrying them outside.

Coriolanus turned back to you, looking over you again with an adoring smile. "You look lovely, darling. Truly." His affections pleased you, and you looked up at him proudly. Then he seemed to remember something, rubbing your arms. "Did you get a coat?"

Lyra stepped in, holding out the white coat with fur around the cuffs and collar you'd selected earlier. He gave her an appreciative nod, holding it up for you to step into. You slid your arms through the sleeves, and he turned you back around, taking the edges to adjust it around you, making sure you were warm enough.

You watched him do all this with a soft look in your eyes. He'd always doted on you like you couldn't believe. Coriolanus closed the coat around you, chucking you lightly under the chin. "I forgot to tell you how cold it stays for a while, darling."

The driver poked his head in, letting him know everything was ready, and Coriolanus took your hand. You turned to Lyra. "Thank you again for everything."

She smiled appreciatively. "It was my pleasure. Come back any time." You could tell she meant it.

Coriolanus led you out to the car, his arm around your waist, and you could see that you were attracting stares from some of the passerby just like earlier. Only this time, you weren't sure why. You were dressed like a Capitol citizen now.

When you asked Coriolanus about it, he smiled, squeezing his arm around your waist. "It's because you're gorgeous. You were before, but now you're beautiful in a way they know."

He kept his arm wound around your waist the whole car ride, and you couldn't help but think what a pretty pair the two of you made. For so much of your relationship you'd been mismatched. The soldier and the country girl. And a few hours ago, the country girl and academic. But now you looked like you belonged together, like you were dolls that came in a set.

The car pulled up in front of a tall, grand looking building. It was clearly old, but in a majestic way. The sun setting made the white exterior appear nearly golden. Coriolanus exited the car first, holding out a hand for you. You moved to get your bags, but he shook his head, offering his arm. "They'll be taken up. Come with me, darling."

Every step you took, you were more unsure of what you were walking into. A man standing guard at the front nodded at Coriolanus, and he returned it curtly. All the way into the elevator, to what seemed to be the top floor, you wondered what it would be like. Living with him. You'd never lived with someone you were in a relationship with before.

When the elevator dinged, signaling your arrival, Coriolanus looked down at you, reaching his other hand to where yours was clinging to the crook of his arm. "Ready?"

You nodded in an assuring way, even though you had no idea what he was asking.

The doors parted to reveal a luxurious space, more elaborately decorated than anything you'd ever seen. One thing you noticed were the accents of red everywhere. And the roses. Both the color and the flower seemed to hold importance. On some unconscious level you'd known this, known red was his favorite color but not why. Known he valued roses, but not the reason. You were thankful for your choice in dress, the same dark, rich crimson.

Coriolanus helped you take off your coat, but he seemed to be looking for something as he did. "Tigris?" he called, removing his own and hanging it with yours in the closet. Or someone.

A pretty, stylish woman with blonde hair emerged from another room. When she saw you, her face lit up. "Is this her?"

"It is," Coriolanus looked down at you proudly. You felt as if he were showing you off, but you didn't mind it one bit. "Darling, this is my cousin Tigris."

She smiled as she looked over you. "You're just lovely...I can see what Coriolanus was talking about."

"It's nice to meet you," you offered shyly, letting go of his arm. She brought you into a warm hug, and a comforting feeling bloomed in your chest. When she pulled back, she looked over the details of you with great interest. "Your dress is beautiful."

"Ah," Coriolanus said pleasantly over your shoulder, and you looked up, seeing an older woman enter the room. His grandmother, you presumed from what he'd told you.

He introduced you to her and she smiled, albeit a bit tightly. "So, you're the girl he met in twelve?" Her tone made it sound like that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Tigris saved the day, swooping in and linking arms with you, asking about you, your interests and how you liked the Capitol so far. You told her a bit about shopping earlier, and she beamed. "I'll finally have someone to shop with! Maybe that's the real reason Coriolanus brought you home," she said teasingly, tossing a look back at her cousin.

He only smiled, holding out his hand. "I'm going to show her the bedroom, Tigris."

Playfully reluctant, she let go, smiling sweetly at you. "We'll talk more tomorrow." Then she hugged you again. "I'm very glad you're here. You and I are going to be great friends."

"I'm sure we will," you smiled, letting go and going to Coriolanus. He seemed pleased that you were getting along with her.

He led you to a pair of doors at the end of a hallway, standing like two white chess pieces. The king and queen, you thought.

Coriolanus took you through the door on the right. It was a rather pretty bedroom, decorated much the same as the rest of this floor, grandly with accents of red. Beautiful of course, like a palace.

"This is your room, dove," he explained, and you smiled at the thought of this elegant space belonging to you. Then, he opened a door you'd presumed was a closet. Behind it, you saw another bedroom, but this one looked a little more lived in. "And this is mine."

"A secret door?" you wondered in delight. He confirmed it with a nod.

"The washroom is just through here," he pointed to another door with a gold handle. "It connects to my room as well."

Instantly, you wondered how much time exactly you'd be spending in the room he'd pronounced as yours. He validated your thoughts, taking your face in his hands. No matter how many times he did so, you loved it, the feel of his big hands caressing your soft cheeks. "They've already brought your things in here. I'll let you freshen up." He chucked you under the chin lightly. "Meet me in my room."

Coriolanus kissed your forehead, looking at you in his typical fond way. "I'm happy you're here, sweetheart."

Your smile stayed on your face until he shut the door behind him, and then you leapt into action.

The bags of things you'd gotten today were set to the side of the bed, beside an open door that looked like a closet. You rushed to them, carefully pulling out boxes and trying to figure out what was in each of them.

Finally, you found the one with your sleepwear and rustled through it, trying to find something...acceptable to wear. He'd implied you'd be sleeping in the same bed. You wanted to be pretty for him, for your first night together in the Capitol.

You pulled out nightdresses and sleep sets, considering. Which one was the prettiest? Which one would he like the best?

Remembering the importance of red, you chose a nightdress of that color with white lace trim and a bow in the center. You would keep your panties underneath on, you decided.

Removing your dress and hanging it in the closet, you put the nightdress on, looking at yourself in the full-length mirror. It was pretty. It made your legs look long and your skin smooth.

You pulled your hairbrush from your case and ran it through your hair a few times, making sure you looked presentable. Suddenly everything about you looked wrong. You messed with your reflection, turning to try and see yourself from the back.

There was a knock on the door. "Is everything alright, darling?"

When you looked at the clock, you realized you'd been in there for nearly an hour. "Yes!" you called, adjusting the straps of your nightdress. "I'll be just a moment."

Looking at yourself one more time, you nodded, hoping this was enough.

Opening the door, you saw him standing at his desk, holding a file, reading the contents. He'd also changed, into a grand looking dressing gown that was open, revealing he was wearing nothing but his boxers.

Coriolanus looked up, grinning when he saw you, and putting the papers back on his desk. He came to you, reaching for your hands. "Beautiful." He looked you up and down, his eyes catching on your delicate nightdress. His gaze grew slightly hungry, and he pulled you to the bed, sitting and guiding you to his lap.

His large hands settled on your thighs, grazing the hem. You searched his eyes, trying to guess at his next move. Leaning in, he kissed you gently, pulling back to look at you. "Have I already told you how happy I am now that you're here?"

"A few times," you teased, and he gave a playful growl, grabbing you around the waist and rolling you over so he was on top of you. Coriolanus' lips trailed hot kisses down your neck, and you leaned back and enjoyed it, sighing softly and tangling your hand in his hair. He'd never had hair long enough where you could do that before.

As he ravished you with attention, you relished in your newfound position. Here you were, lying on silk sheets in a pretty dress being kissed by a handsome man who loved you.

When he pulled back to look at you, your smile was bright. Was there ever a girl luckier than you?

The second he'd met you, Coriolanus knew you weren't destined for the backwater slums of District 12. No, he knew you needed something grander, that you were born to live in luxury.

And besides, you deserved it too. There was a natural sweetness about you that made him protective of you, made him want to spoil you beyond belief. And until now, he hadn't had the chance or the means.

The second he'd spotted you in the crowd at the train station, his heart grew full. You were so adorable, a breath of fresh air in the windowless room that was the Capitol. He grew excited at the chance to spend money on you, and give you every comfort he thought you required.

Pretty dresses to wear, A grand place to live. Silk sheets to...well, he'd come back to that later.

Although the dress you'd arrived in was pretty, he wanted you to fit in here. Besides, you'd look absolutely beautiful in the classic style of the Capitol.

When he'd come back to collect you at the shop and seen you all dolled up, looking like you'd been born into luxury, he'd rejoiced. Obviously, he'd always found you beautiful, but there was something about the way you carried yourself now. You were every inch a lady.

He'd been slightly disappointed at how little you'd gotten, but remembering the way you'd lived in 12, he let it slide. In time you'd become accustomed to it. He'd send you shopping again soon, perhaps with Tigris since she seemed to like you so much.

It was only a few days after you arrived that the first social event you'd attend together came up. He was eager to take you out and show you off.

That night when you emerged from your bedroom in a black and white floor length gown of delicate tulle, a string of pearls around your neck, his breath was taken away. He took your hand in his, kissing it gallantly. "Beautiful darling. Absolutely stunning."

You smiled in your sweet way, and he offered his arm to escort you out. Tigris fawned over your dress, looking lovely herself in pink silk. The three of you made your way down to the car, and he could feel your giddiness at the prospect of tonight, though you kept yourself composed in a way he admired.

Walking in with you, he could feel everyone's eyes draw to the pair of you. As a new face in the Capitol, they'd likely be curious, and he relished in the unspoken interest.

Instantly people came to you. He introduced you to person after person, and you greeted them shyly, but politely. It was obvious after a while that people were becoming enamored by you. The sweetness of your being captivated them just as it had him, just as he knew it would.

Women fawned over you, complimenting your dress and asking where you got it. Men eyed you appreciatively, but saw that you were on Coriolanus' arm, so didn't get too close. Good, he thought, looking down at you. You were his. Anyone who got too close in the wrong way would be buried.

You chatted eagerly with anyone who crossed your path. He kept you close, but still greeted those who approached him. There were certain people he was required to talk to after all, but he wasn't going to let you go for it.

When you went off to get a glass of champagne, an older woman whispered to him, "She's absolutely darling."

Coriolanus' mouth twitched into a smile. "Isn't she?" He was pleased that society seemed to have accepted you, finding you as charming as he did.

The night progressed smoothly, and soon you were caught up in a group of women alongside Tigris, talking about fashion. He excused himself, deciding you were alright for the moment in the company of his cousin.

Making his rounds, he greeted senator after senator, oozing politeness. These events could be tedious but having you here with him helped greatly. He'd look over at you every now and then, just making sure you were okay. Every time, he'd see you caught up in conversation, looking like sunshine in a physical form.

He wasn't worried about your social graces. You were unusually well educated for where you were from, and by your own choice too. There was plenty in your pretty little head about topics Capitolites could discuss for hours. Both intellectuals and opposite. His angel could bewitch anyone she wanted.

You came back to him shyly after a little bit, and he wrapped his arm around you, pressing a kiss to your temple. He could smell your perfume. Roses. His favorite. "Everything alright, darling?"

You nodded, looking up at him. "Who do we talk to next?"

That made him smile. You were so eager to please. He rested his hand on your face, thumb running over your cheek. "We don't have to. We can go home now, love."

You looked nervous. "Just a few more? I don't want to be rude."

Coriolanus looked over you, considering. "A few more." He thought it was adorable of you to worry about manners; you really were too sweet.

He led you over to a group of colleagues, greeting them politely. The group of men looked at you with interest, showering you with compliments. Of course, these compliments were a bit more sexual in nature than the women from earlier, but he let it slide, keeping his grip on you tight. You were oblivious to it, chattering with them and winning them over the same way you had with everyone else thus far.

One of the men made a comment about the way your dress hugged your body, and his fingers splayed on your waist possessively. It's not her fault, he reminded himself. He made a mental note to keep you even closer at the next event.

You excused yourself for a moment, whispering to him that you'd be right back, and he was left alone with the group of men. Back to talking about what he considered to be uninteresting affairs, especially when compared to you.

Twenty minutes passed, and you had not returned. He was growing concerned, looking around the room to see if you were with Tigris, perhaps. But no, his cousin was talking to an older lady in a blue dress.

His brow furrowed as he looked, still trying to stay engaged in the conversation but failing. Where on earth had you gone?

Finally, to his relief, you returned. Your smile was tighter, wearier than it had been before. When he got a closer look at you, he could see dried tear tracks on your face.

Immediately he took you under his arm, nodding a brief goodbye to the men in front of him. Leading you out into the hallway, he searched your eyes, brow furrowed. "Sweetheart...sweetheart, what happened? Are you okay?"

You were trying to stay composed; he could see it. Breathing deeply so you wouldn't cry, you said, "Who else do we need to talk to?"

Coriolanus shook his head, pulling you into his arms. "No one. What's the matter?"

The second he had you against his chest you broke, tears slipping down your face like rivers. He held your head against his shoulder, letting you cry there. "Shhh, I've got you angel. It's going to be okay."

He kissed your hair, rubbing your back lightly as not to wrinkle your dress. "What happened?"

You sniffled, shaking your head against his chest, words muffled. "Nothing. It's nothing."

"It's not nothing if it's making you cry. What happened?" he demanded gently.

Turning your head so your ear was over his heart, you sighed softly. Then, "I heard someone talking about how I'm 'district' and I should go back to Twelve."

His blood ran cold, his arms tightening around you. "Who?"

"I don't know," you said honestly. You were so new to this; he should have figured you wouldn't recognize who did it.

Coriolanus inhaled softly, burying his nose in your hair. "Pay them no mind, darling. They're fools with too much wine in their systems."

"I don't even know how they found out," you muttered, pulling back to look up at him. "I didn't tell anyone where I was from. Did you?"

"No," he said, trying to think if he might have let it slip. Not that being from Twelve was anything to be ashamed of, but he knew the socialites at the Capitol would take it too far in a negative light.

You leaned your forehead against his chest. "I don't know how anyone found out," you repeated.

"It's alright, sweetheart," he promised, his voice a soothing coo. "High society feeds on gossip like this. They'll forget all about however scandalous they think it is in no time."

You nodded, unable to do anything but believe him, leaning back into his chest, safe in the cocoon of his arms.

When the next event approached; a gala to celebrate the president and his wife's anniversary, he watched you build yourself up to attend. You selected your dress carefully, trying to infuse confidence into your appearance.

Coriolanus had known it would be a hard transition, going from living in a poor district to the upper-class world. You were doing wonderfully on your part, and he reveled in that. It was the people around you that were having a hard time getting used to it.

Perhaps he shouldn't have involved himself so much in the world of parties and dinners so soon after returning in anticipation of your arrival, but he couldn't help himself. He finally had money and influence and he wanted to use it. It was like giving a man dying of thirst water.

Anyways, the both of you were stuck in this position now. You were making the best of it, enjoying the life he'd given you despite the whispers heard everywhere you went. His sweetheart had a gift for seeing the light.

Tonight, you looked especially beautiful, in a floor length white, sheer dress that Tigris had assured you was the latest style. You seemed very eager to please, checking your reflection a dozen times before you followed him out the door.

He watched you enter the party with an air of pure confidence. Here you were, beautiful as ever, determined to make everyone like you. It broke his heart a little, that you sook the approval of others so much. But he stayed quiet, letting you do what you pleased.

It started well.

You greeted everyone you'd met before, a bright smile gracing your face. Coriolanus felt a twinge of pride. That was his girl.

He looked up at a group of women who were eyeing you, whispering among themselves, and his eyes narrowed just slightly. Then he turned to you. "Darling, let me introduce you."

Walking you over to them, he put on a polite smile as you sweetly told them your name. "It's lovely to meet you."

"Pleasure," one of the women, a blonde, said, pursing her lips as she peered at you over her glass of champagne.

"Likewise," you gave her a genuine smile and Coriolanus thanked the higher powers for your innocence.

As you began to speak to them in your special you way, he relaxed a little. Maybe he need not be so protective. Maybe you could handle yourself.

After a few minutes, you leaned into him, whispering, "You can go greet whoever else you need to, my love. I'll be fine."

He furrowed his brow a bit. "Are you sure?"

You nodded assuredly. "Of course." Tilting your head up to kiss him briefly, you said, "I know you have people to talk to. Go on."

Coriolanus stood still for a moment, deciding if it was a good idea. Eventually he concurred, giving you a parting kiss on the temple and going off to talk to a nearby official who greeted him heartily.

You watched him go, then turned back to the women, smiling. "I love your dress," you told the blonde who'd said it was a pleasure.

She softened a bit, giving you a squinty eyed smile. "Thank you. It's from the new boutique on Third. I can direct you there if you'd like."

Before you could answer, one of the other women, a brunette, said, "Your accent is so unique. Wherever are you from?"

You froze at the question, keeping the smile on your face. "Up north."

The brunette looked amused, a little smirk on her face. "Oh, so like Seven? Or Nine?"

Another blonde cut in, laughing a little. "Oh no, I bet she's from Twelve. Their accent is very similar."

Feeling tense and not much like lying, you nodded. "I am."

Blonde number two seemed rather pleased to be correct, and she raised an eyebrow as she looked you up and down. "How did you wind up here, then? In the Capitol, I mean."

You ignored the pang in your chest. "Coriolanus brought me here."

All three of the women's faces lit up at the mention of him, now looking interested. "How kind of him," the brunette said, sipping her drink. "The Snows have always been known for their charity. First with the Plinth boy and now with you! How lovely."

It was a jab, but you brushed it off. She probably didn't mean anything by it, you decided. Straightening up, you responded, "Yes, it was. I'm very grateful to be here."

"But how long are you here for?" Blonde number two asked, her eyes wide. She seemed about your age, but you could nearly physically feel the difference between you two.

"As long as he wants me to be," you answered honestly, fidgeting with the sleeve of your dress and looking to see if you could spot Tigris. She was nowhere to be found.

"Ahh, I see," the brunette gave you a smile that almost seemed condescending. "Well, that's very nice for you. A little trip to the Capitol."

"Yes, quite," you smiled politely, feeling like a bug under a microscope. "Excuse me, I'm going to go get a drink."

Once you were away, you took a deep breath. At least they weren't being outright awful. It was better than nothing, you supposed. Grabbing a glass of champagne, you took a sip for courage.

You can do this, you told yourself silently as you made your way back over. Make them forget where you're from, make them-

"She's rather naive, isn't she?"

The words of the first blonde woman pierced your ears, and you halted to a stop, just barely in earshot. The crowd was thick, but you could both see them and hear everything they said.

"Well, she is from Twelve after all," the brunette laughed. "Did you expect anything different?"

"Such a shame for Coriolanus," the second blonde mused, swirling her drink. "I wonder if he felt sorry for her. Or maybe he got her pregnant!"

The brunette gasped, hitting her in the arm lightly as she giggled. "That must be what it is. He's such a gentleman, of course he'd do the right thing even if she's a whore. I've heard most pretty girls from Twelve are."

"Poor man fell in love with her and she's just using him," the second blonde shrugged. "Oh, my word, we have to tell Jenny and Mary!"

You were rushing off into the hallway before they could say anything else.

Hot tears burned your cheeks as they fell, and you leaned against the wall, hand covering your eyes. Why did I ever think I could do this?

You caught sight of your reflection in a mirror on the opposite wall, and it only served you worse. Before tonight it had shown a girl who fit in, who could be every bit as good at society as the women in the next room.

But now all you saw was an imposter. Nothing dressed up all pretty.

Squeezing your eyes shut, you tried desperately not to cry. You didn't want to ruin your makeup and have to go back out there with blackened eyes. Taking deep breaths, you tried to focus on the positive. Everyone else seemed to like you, that was good. The dress you're wearing is pretty.

Opening your eyes, you breathed in and out shakily, smoothing your hair and still harvesting good thoughts. You're in the Capitol. You don't have to worry about money. Coriolanus is-

Right there.

You caught him in the reflection of the mirror and slowly turned your head. His face was solemn. Silently, he held out his arms.

Like a magnet, you were drawn to him. His arms felt like a shield around you, and you could've welded yourself to him in that moment. As a peacekeeper he had always been protective of you, and you were happy that hadn't changed.

No words were said. He knew. Instantly he knew. And you loved him for it.

You were still trying not to cry, and he looked down at you, lifting your chin with a single finger. "Darling."

The single word broke you. Biting the inside of your cheek, twin tears rolled down your cheeks, and his face softened. He pressed your head against his shoulder, holding you to him.

"I'm sorry sweetheart," he breathed, holding you against him.

"This was a mistake," you hiccupped, lifting a hand to brush a tear away.

"What do you mean?" he frowned, hand running through your hair.

"I shouldn't have come here," you whispered in shuddering tones. "I know it looks bad for you, being seen with a girl who's 'district'."

Coriolanus pulled back, looking down at you. He looked determined. "Darling, if anything you make me look better. You've charmed just about everyone in that room."

Shaking your head, you choked, "I'm an imposter, Coryo." Your hands were shaking. You'd jumped into the river of Capitol society, and now the words of the women were stones tied to your wrists, holding you down at the bottom when you desperately needed air. "You should just let me go back to Twelve."

"No," he said instantly, tone sharp. Coriolanus held you tighter to him, as if you'd disappear to Twelve any second in a puff of smoke. "You're not going back there. You're staying with me."

"There is absolutely no reason to keep me here," you begged, searching his eyes. "You have so much ahead of you- you don't need me dragging you down."

Coriolanus heaved a sigh, looking firmly at you. He thumbed a tear from your cheek, studying you for a moment. Then, he reached down for your hand. "Come on. We're going home."

"You don't need to-"

"No," he cut you off, looking over you. "Come with me, sweetheart."

You trailed behind him, his hand in yours as he pulled you back into the ballroom. Flushing red a bit due to your slightly disheveled appearance, you kept your eyes on your shoes, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

Hearing Tigris' voice, you looked up. She looked concerned, looking between you and Coriolanus like she was at a tennis match. "Is everything okay?"

"We're going to head home," Coriolanus said smoothly, letting go of your hand and moving his arm to your waist, holding you in a protective way.

"Okay," Tigris said confusedly. "I'm going to stay a little longer. I'll call a cab." It was sweet of her, to let you go. You didn't want her evening to be ruined because you couldn't handle what other people said about you.

"I'm sorry," you said quietly, and she shook her head.

"Nothing to be sorry for," she said kindly, reaching out and smoothing the sleeve of your dress. "Feel better, alright?"

You nodded, and Coriolanus guided you away, through the crowds. Their whispering irked at you. You were convinced they were talking about the naive country girl and the Capitol's newest up-and-comer, and what a mismatched pair you were.

The car ride home was quiet, and you sniffled the whole way. Coriolanus kept close, his presence a rock in your panicked ocean of insecurity.

All the way up the stairs and into your room he was silent. It wasn't until he sat you down on the bed, and knelt before you, his hands grasping yours, that he said, "You're not going back."

"You have to let me," you responded dryly, your voice hoarse both from crying and lack of use. "I'm no use to you."

"Darling-" he looked away for a moment, seeming frustrated. "What did they say?"

"I don't want to talk about it," you mumbled, looking at your lap.

"You're going to talk about it," he said firmly, lifting one of his hands to take your chin between his fingers, forcing you to look at him. "What did they say? Don't leave anything out because you want to be nice. I know you, dove. Repeating what they said about you doesn't make you any less of a sweetheart."

Feeling trapped, you avoided his eyes. "It doesn't matter." What the women had said had hurt you, but you didn't want to be the one running to your boyfriend every time someone hurt your feelings.

"It matters to me," he insisted, forcing you to meet his sharp blue eyes. "Don't leave a single word out."

You bit your cheek so hard you tasted blood. Then, seeing no way out, you said in broken tones. "They said...I must be pregnant, or..." you didn't want to say whore. "...or a girl who sleeps around to have gotten you to bring me back here." His eyes darkened, and you quickly tried to smooth it over. "But it's not-"

"Don't defend them," Coriolanus stopped you, squeezing your hand. "Don't. Trust that they'll be dealt with, but do not defend them. They wouldn't do that for you."

"That's not the point, Coryo," you shook your head, scrambling so you wouldn't be the cause of anyone getting hurt. "They also...said I was pretty...?" you tried.

Coriolanus paused for a moment, then laughed lightly in disbelief, bringing your hand up to his lips and kissing it. "You really are an angel, you know that? Always so worried about everyone else. I'll bet it was a backhanded compliment and you're leaving something out."

He'd gotten you. You were quiet.

He nodded in confirmation. "Right. But sweetheart-" he came to sit by you on the bed. "Come here." Coriolanus pulled you to sit across his lap, your head resting on his shoulder. "They didn't say anything true. Women in the Capitol are jealous creatures."

"That's likely all they know," you said softly as he rubbed your back soothingly. "The poor things...growing up competing with each other like that."

Coriolanus kissed your temple, chuckling ironically. "You're too sweet. It'll be your downfall someday."

"They were right, though," you said softly, your fingers hooked on the buttons of his shirt.

"Baby," he muttered against your hair. "No."

You looked up at him, and he exhaled softly, his fingers running through your hair. "I don't want you talking about yourself like that. Especially when what those women think is in the minority."

Furrowing your brow, you tilted your head. "What do you mean?"

He scoffed lightly, in a fond way. "Sweetheart, do you know how many people have asked me about the charming girl I brought home with me? How enchanting everyone finds you?" Coriolanus squeezed your arm. "You've entranced everyone that matters."

"But-"

"There's always going to be someone who can't find it in their heart to admit they like you," he assured, nudging a kiss against your temple. "But you, my angel...you're perfect. And you're staying right here. With me."

The possessiveness of his words did not escape you, but it made you feel safer. "I don't want to hurt your position."

"You are the last thing that would hurt that," Coriolanus stated, and the way he said it made you believe it too. "If anything, you're an asset. The way you draw people in, you're a born higher-up's wife. And you're a thousand times sweeter."

He put both hands on the sides of your face. "I have never found you anything less than radiant. Never. And I do not want you do go back to Twelve. You deserve better. I want you here with me. Do you understand?"

Moved by his words, you nodded, and he wrapped his arms back around you, tucking you into his chest. "That's my good girl." He kissed the top of your head, rubbing your back. "I love you. I'm not about to let you go for anything."

"I love you too," you breathed, eyes closing as your body melted against his. It was safe here. And in that moment, you saw forever with him, here where he wanted you.

Seeing you in distress was agony. Coriolanus never wanted that to happen again.

He had to be careful with how he handled things, however. You were innocent, unknowing. And that was just the way he liked it.

Holding you there in his arms that night, he vowed not to let anyone who made you cry walk the planet. Someone who'd hurt a creature as sweet and good as you were didn't deserve to live anyways, he justified.

Coriolanus had big plans for the future. As he rose to power, it'd be less and less of an issue getting you what he thought you deserved.

And it'd be even less of an issue hiding from you what he had done to get there.

You would never find out that he was the cause of Sejanus' death. You would never know what became of the women who spoke so illy of you tonight. No, he'd continue to distract you with the shine and luster of the Capitol. Tomorrow, he'd send you out for a day with Tigris and then leave his internship early to spend the evening with you. Maybe armed with a gift or two. It likely wouldn't even be as hard as he was thinking, given your tendency to focus on the light.

He would do everything over and over again because he adored you. The love, the light of his life. Too good for this world, his alone to protect and cherish and dote on. He would live for you; he would kill for you.

This was only the beginning.

come talk about coryo here!

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court-jester-stuff · 7 months ago

Text

Sharing a room with a not so stranger

Azriel x reader

Warnings?: reader is shorter than Azriel, not beta we die like suriel, kinda rushed? idk it's 23:54 so meh enjoy

Note: the library is based of off the acropolis and what I image Olympus would look like, so is all the rest of the Day Court. pictures from pinterest

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"So sorry to bother you," a voice said from behind you. "Can I ask you for a favour?" Turning around you came face to face with Elain. She was dressed beautifully, a light pink coloured dress with a corset with flowers embroidered onto it, sleeves of the shoulders with on the shoulders and wrist embroidered the same flowers as the corset. Her hair was loose with a few braids which all had flowers in it. Truly you’d be lying if you said she didn’t look pretty.

“That depends on what the favour is of course.” You answered her with a smile. In all honesty you hoped it would be something entertaining, these past couple of days have been fun here at the Day Court but you were slowly growing bored. This whole event was to celebrate summer solstice, the Night Court was specifically invited by High Lord Helion as a means to grow a stronger alliance. A full two weeks of celebrating and getting to know each other.

Elain looked behind her and when you followed her gaze you could see Lucien standing in the doorway smiling at her and giving her an encouraging nod.

“Would you, by any chance, …” she trailed of looking at me with an air of hesitance. Giving her a little push you asked:

“Would I…?”

Elain sighed a little but finished her sentence. “Would you mind if Azriel and I switched rooms?” She paused to let the words sink in. “I would really like to try giving this a chance and we already asked Azriel and he’s fine with it, but only if you are. And I know you two aren’t all that familiar with each other but I would really appreciate this.”

At last she stopped talking to gage your reaction only to see a little smile on your face. “My dear, I would not mind at all. You two deserve this moment to try and see where this all leads you.” She perked up at your words and you could see Lucien visibly relax in the corner of your eye. “If Azriel is comfortable with this all then I do not mind.”

She thanked you and said that they would be sure to inform Azriel of you agreeing before they both took their leave.

Once they did take their leave you started thinking about what you just agreed to. In all honesty you and Azriel hadn’t really spoken in quite a while. As members of the Inner Circle it was kind of inevitable but that still didn’t change the conversations you had had with him.

He never seemed to speak much, especially not to you. Only during the rare times that he would ask for help with an injury would you two really talk. And even then it was mostly you talking to him about how to take care of the wound even though he has probably done so a million times.

You’d always find him looking at you with deep eyes whenever you’d look up from your work. He never really seemed to take his eyes off of you while you were working. Whether he was guarded or something else you couldn’t quite decide.

Outside of that there were a few conversations you had had with the spymaster. But lately that had started to change. You were in the habit of sneaking away during each social event to lend yourself a moment of fresh air before stepping back into the crowded rooms. However these last couple of, hell, years you always seemed to get the company of a certain shadowsinger wherever you had decided to sneak of to.

Not that you mind, in all honesty you couldn’t deny the pull you felt towards him. Each conversation, each interaction left you yearning for more. You wanted to hear him speak to you, you wanted to know who he was outside of this persona he had been given.

Deciding that you should try to make things easier for the both of you lead to you walking back to the room you previously shared with Elain with the goal in mind of tidying up a bit. Once there you put away any clothing that was lying around, noting that all of Elain her stuff had already been moved.

The room wasn’t big by any means, in fact you and Elain had specifically requested a smaller sized room. There was a wall with a huge window opposite of the door with the bed against the left wall and a couch on the opposite side next to the window.

Once you deemed the room clean enough you realized that the room might be cozy for you and Elain but Azriel would have trouble getting comfortable in the bed were there someone else in it. Deciding that there wouldn’t be enough space on the bed for both you while allowing his wings to rest comfortably and without the fear of accidental touching, you made the decision to move a pillow and blanket to the couch. Moving that what was on the night stand to the little table next to the couch.

A knock on the door made you pause. Assuming that it was either Elain or Azriel you went to open the door, only to be surprised by a smiling Helion.

“High Lord.” You said with a small bow of the head. You’ve always liked the man, he was polite and kind. A bit of a flirt maybe but still aware of boundaries. And he ruled his court exceptionally well. All people were well taken care of and very rarely did they find themselves in conflict with other courts. Compared to the Night Court which carried the looming darkness of The Court of Nightmares and Hewn City that was very admirable.

“Oh you, there is no need for such titles. Call me Helion, please.” He chuckled a bit at the formality of it all but still kept a smile on his face as he corrected you.

“Well then Helion, is there anything I can help you with?”

His smile widened a little at your question. His eyes sparkling a little. “I heard that you take care of a large portion of all the knowledge that is stored in the Night Courts library, I must say it is quite the collection. One to be proud of.”

Mirroring his smile you replied with a hint of proudness to your voice. “Yes, indeed. I travel a lot and when I do I can’t help but try to take at least one book with me to further the collection you speak so highly of.”

“Well, the Day Court does have quite the library as well and I thought that I could interest you in taking a look around.” He gestured with his hand down the left corridor.

Your gaze followed the direction from his hand before looking back inside the room. Everything seemed in order for when Azriel would arrive. “Is it just down the hallway?” You ask.

He shakes his head with the same smile on his face that has been there since you opened the door. “Why don’t I show you there, it’s a bit of a maze in here.”

You nodded and walked out into the hallway, closing the door behind you before making your way to the library. The empty hallways were filled with easy going small talk between the two of you before you eventually reached the library.

To say that it was beautiful would be an understatement. It was truly breathtaking. It looked like a place where gods would walk, the high ceilings and windows with no glass allowed as much natural light in as possible. The walls were a cream colour with beautiful paintings on the ceilings.

You should remember to tell Feyre so she could come get a look.

The bookcases were white with golden accents, they crowded the entire room except for the space right before the window. Leaving enough space for several couches and a table surrounded by chairs. Even the wood of the furniture was a light colour.

You don’t know how long you simply admired the space but when you turned around Helion was looking at you with a proud smile and a look of admiration on his face.

He clears his throat and says: “It’s beautiful is it not?” You weren’t really sure what to say. It was beautiful but outside of the beauty of it you were also surprised by its sheer size. Maybe it was the lighting but it looked so much more spacious than the library at the House Of Wind.

“It is very beautiful, I honestly don’t really know what to say. The lighting and colours are so much brighter than those of the ones we have. Even the books match the pale colours. And the amount of books here is admirable. This truly is a fine library.”

“Well, I am more than happy to have shown it to you. Please, feel free to look around and spent as much time here as you please. I’m afraid I cannot stay with you for much longer, duty calls, but rest assured that you are more then welcome in this library. Or even my court.”

You smiled slightly at his words and told him you would keep it in mind. It wasn’t for long before he excused himself and left you to your own company.

You roamed around looking for any books that peaked your interest and finally settled on a handful of them. You found another window with seating space, albeit this on smaller, and settled down on the plush couch facing slightly away from the window.

You don’t know how much time you spend sitting there but when you finally looked up from the third book that you were reading you realized that the sun had set and the sky was now adorned with stars. Granted, there weren’t as many or as bright of ones as in Valaris but it was a sight none the less.

Deciding to call it a night you got up and realised just how long you had been sitting in that same position you stretched and gathered the books you had laying around you. Walking up to the desk you left the books there for someone to find in the morning.

The hallways were quiet now, beside your own steps and breathing there as nothing to be heard.

Ones you had made your way back to your room you were very careful while opening the door as to not startle or wake up Azriel.

When the door was open far enough to slip inside you did so carefully, the room was bathed in moonlight and given the light you could see Azriel’s sleeping figure on the bed. He had moved himself fairly far to the window leaving enough space for a second person to lay down next to him if needed.

But you didn’t need to and getting in the bed would mean having to move his left wing out of the way and you weren’t about to touch the one place that Illyrians loathed to be touched.

Quietly making you way to the bathroom you quickly changed into night clothing and treaded very lightly to the couch. You laid down and when you finally settled you felt something twirling itself around your fingers. Looking down you realised it was a shadow. You smiled at it, mouthing good night before it parted from you to return to their master and with that you went off into slumber.

When you woke up again there was not yet any sunlight in the room. You looked over at the clock on the wall above the door and noted that it was almost time for sunrise. You looked over at Azriel realising he was still fast asleep and decided to take one of the books of your little makeshift nightstand before shuffling to the open balcony.

It must be a dream for winged people to be able to simply fly up to their rooms from the outside without having to first enter and walk both the hallways and stairs.

You sat down on a sofa that was located opposite to where the bed stood so you could keep an eye on Azriel in case he were to awake.

Before long the sunrise started, it was truly magnificent. The colours weren’t simply red, pink and yellow. No, you were sure you could make out nearly the entire rainbow from the sky.

You once again felt a little coolness around your fingers which finally prompted you to look away from the scenery.

“Hello you, we meet again.” You smiled softly at it while speaking in a whisper, mindful of the early time. “What are doing over here, hm? Shouldn’t you be guarding your master?”

It moved around your fingers and palm before deciding to return to the figure on the bed. Looking over you realised you had been caught making small talk with a shadow.

From the bed a tired looking Azriel looked at you with eyes of wonder. “Good morning.” You greeted. “You should go back to sleep, it’s still very early.” Which granted it was. Looking at the clock once more you saw that it read six.

He hummed as if in thought before turning his head into the pillows and stretching. His legs coming out from beneath the blanket and his wings stretching wide. They nearly hit the wall on his right from how wide they were.

He relaxed again before letting himself fall back into the mattress. For a bit you thought he had taken your advice but alas he started turning so he could sit up in bed.

His hair was frizzled and stood a little upright. He had dark circles under his eyes and a sleepy look covering his face. He blinked a few times before moving to sit with his legs over the side of the bed. The blanked had fallen and you couldn’t help but look at his chest, the muscles well defined, quite a few scars, some bigger than the others and a tattoo covering the entirety of his upper chest. It looked just like the shadows that had started swirling around him again.

Curling through his hair and around his ear, likely whispering little things they noticed or deemed important enough.

Deciding the stop gaping at the male you moved your eyes back to the other side, the sunset nearly over by now. Even though only a matter of two to three minutes could have one by the sun had risen fast. Likely a Day Court thing. It shone brightly and you could feel it’s light gently ceres your skin.

Feeling a presence nearby you noticed that Azriel had started moving towards you, yawing in the process before settling down next to you in the sofa.

You sat in comfortable silence for a bit before he spoke. “The sunrise is likely the only thing I enjoy about this court.” You smiled gently at his words before looking over at him.

He was looking at the sunrise with a small smile on his face before he turned his attention to you. His eyes seemed to soften a little bit more when they met yours.

“How did you sleep? I heard you come in quite late and you were up early.” He noted with a small furrow of his brow. Although the gentle smile stayed on his face.

“I slept pretty decent actually. I had lost myself in a book in the library so I was back rather late, I am sorry if I woke you.” You replied back, spoken in soft voices.

He assured you that you had not awoken him, rather he himself were still awake.

“I noticed one of my shadows with you this morning, they don't usually do that. Have they done that before? Because I’ll tell them off if they make you uncomfortable, although I must say that it did not seem that way just now.”

You beamed slightly at his words. “I don’t mind at all, in fact they are rather nice.” You smiled a little brighter as some of them immediately darted towards you, some playing with your fingers other roaming around, a few even went into your hair.

Azriel looked slightly startled as they did this. “I think last night while I went to lay down was the first time. Whichever one it seemed to have wanted to come say goodnight to me.” You thought for a bit, admiring them before realisation hit you. “Wait, actually, I think they might have done that before. Back during Solstice a few of them curled around my arm when I passed you. I completely forgot about that.”

You looked over at him and he seemed to be deep in thought, his brow was really furrowed now and his smile was no longer. When he didn’t seem to snap out of it you placed your hand on his wrist.

He blinked in surprise before looking at you hand on him which had him frowning once more.

You removed your hand before clearing you throat. “Sorry, I would have taken your hand but you seem to always shy away when people do that. I shouldn’t have assumed that your wrist would be any different.”

He looked up at you expression unchanging. He opened his mouth to say something right as a knock sounded from the door. You looked over at it before deciding to go over and see who it was. You looked back over at him to see him still staring. You gave him a little smile, after apologizing again you stood up and made your way to the door.

You opened it just after another knock sounded and were surprised to see your own High Lord.

He looked slightly surprised by you before giving a smile. “Well good morning, it seems our dear Azriel is in good hands then.” He chuckled softly, mindful of those still sleeping.

Just as you were about to ask him what was wrong or what he had meant you felt a hand on your waist. While the other grasped the door besides your head.

“Can we help you Rhys?” Azriel sounded kind of agitated, a clear difference from simple moments ago. You couldn’t help but wonder if it was because Rhysand was here or because you touched his wrist.

“Not necessarily, I simply wanted to check in on you both. I had heard from Feyre that Elain and our dear Azzy here had switched rooms.” He said the last part while grinning at you.

Before either of you could say anything else Azriel decided that the High Lord and his brother had overstayed his welcome. “If you aren’t here for a decent reason could you let us be?”

He surprised you with that but the high fea before you seemed unbothered, maybe even pleased.

“Of course, of course. I wouldn’t want to bother you two. Remember that meeting we have at nine.” He barely finished speaking when Azriel pulled you back into him begore closing the door.

You both stood there for a moment until you decided to turn around. Only then did you notice how close he really was and how very bare his chest still was.

After a second of standing in a daze staring at his chest and tattoo you seemed to come back to reality when you moved backwards a step, which in turn caused your back to hit the door. You looked up and Azriel followed your step until his arm was pressed into the door above your head.

He leaned in slightly while you tilted your head upwards to try and look at him properly. If you didn’t know better you’d say he was blushing.

“I don’t mind you touching my wrist. Or my hand.” He paused while looking at you. He leaned in even more, noses nearly touching. “I never mind when it’s you.”

You both held eye contact between each other until his gaze flicked over your face as if searching for something. Eventually he pulled away and you smiled at him, hoping he couldn’t hear the loud drumming of your heart.

Later you found yourself once again in the library. Azriel left at eight, presumably for the meeting Rhysand was talking about. And given that you were once again alone in your room and that you could read the books you had with you you could read another time you decided to return to the library.

A good portion of the day had passed, before you knew it the empty plate upon which the dinner that one of the helpers had given you had been cleared and replaced with coffee.

You finished yet another book and decided to try and find a book you had been looking for for a while. While strolling through the aisles you couldn’t help but have the feeling that you were being watched.

You wondered if it was something alike the House or Byraxsis. Although you doubted that something as ‘terrifying’ could be found in the Day Court.

Not to lie you had always enjoyed the presence of Byraxsis, you would read to it after a long day. And sometimes, just sometimes they would ask a question or ask for a book you could read.

You missed them sometimes, although the same cannot be said about Cassian.

When you reached for a book you noticed that you were once again joined by a little shadow. You smiled at it before returning to looking for your book.

When you were about to enter another aisle the little shadow decided to pull you a different way. You ended up three aisles down from where you were going. The little shadow kept going before stopping before a specific bookcase. You looked around it for a bit, curious at what the littlz thing would want to show you and that’s when you saw just the book you were looking for.

When you went to thank the little one, you realized that it was nowhere to be found.

Shrugging it off you decided to focus on the matter at hand. To get the book that was placed about a meter and a half above you. You tried to reach it by standing on your tiptoes before someone reached out above you to take it of the shelve.

You immediately recognized the scars on the hands, the siphons and the little shadows that had once again decided to dance along your skin.

Lowering your hand you turned around to see Azriel leaning over you in the same way he had been that morning. Except this time he was smiling softly, it tugged on a heart string to see him smile like that. Gods what you wouldn’t do to see him smile like that more.

“A bit short aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question as much as it was a tease. You huffed but smiled and thanked him for the book. But just as you went to reach for it he held it out of your reach. The smile on his face widened at your playful glare. You reached for it again but this time he held it above his head. So you decided to step closer until you were practically chest to chest and place one hand on his chest and raise one to reach for the book.

He seemed surprised by your boldness and movement that his arm went slack and you managed to lower it and grab the book.

You smiled at the look on his face and patted his chest. You took a step back.

“I’m surprised to see you here. Wasn’t expecting it.” You said softly to respect the space.

He shrugged and smiled. “Maybe I wanted to read and saw a damsel in distress.” You laughed a little, denying being a damsel or in distress. He leaned in closer with is head and upper body and added. “Or maybe I just wanted to see you.”

You flushed at that and he laughed quietly, deciding that you were red enough he gestured for you to follow while he offered his arm. Which you took.

He led you to where you had sat yesterday and took a book of his own. He sat down besides you on the couch and started reading.

You finished your book rather fast and decided to read another and another. As did he, only he didn’t read nearly half of what you read.

Once it started getting late, and both of you began to get hungry he announced that you should be retire to the bedroom. You obliged, still you toom the books with you to the front desk so they could be placed where they needed to be. He smiled at you once that happened and once again offered his arm.

Back in the room, you both decided to wear something more comfortable. Azriel had once again ditched his shirt and opted for loose black sweatpants instead of his leathers.

The food was delivered to the door and you both ate in silence until he spoke up.

“Why did you sleep on the couch tonight?" You raised your head from your food and blinked at him. “I mean there was enough space for us both and as much as it is pretty that couch does not look comfortable.”

You smiled perhaps a bit sheepish and said: “I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, you had already moved so for to the right and still there was little space. I definitely would have touched you, which I thought you were uncomfortable with. And I would have had to move your wing and even now that is a boundary I will not cross. Especially not in your sleep.”

He smiled softly at you and his eyes softened. “I wouldn’t mind you sleeping in the bed with me. Not at all.”

And so that’s how you ended up next to the shadowsinger. It was well past midnight and it appears that Azriel had found sleep, the same could not be said for you.

The blanket had little weight and was very thin. But getting out of the bed would mean waking Azriel zo you bared with it.

After a count you turned your head to Azriel to find him already looking at you. Startled at first your eyes widened before turning into a smile to match his own. You turned on your side to look at him better and did he look good.

His sleepy smile paired with that dammed look in his eyes.

“Why do you look at me like that?” you asked.

A beat passed, then he sighed and said: “Because you are simply stunning.”

A blush crept up your face. “So are you, dammed handsome truly.”

You thought that he would laugh or say something back but instead his face faltered. It hurt to watch that, you frowned and wondered why that happened. Did he not believe you? Does he think you’re lying?

No, that’s not possible, I mean look at him. But his smile went completely and you felt such dread seeing it ago, and that’s when it happened.

Snap

…

“You…. You’re..” You weren’t sure what to say. It’s like your entire world got flipped upside down.

“Wait, you can feel it?” He said, leaning on his elbow. Your mouth opened and closed before you nodded with disbelief. He knew?

His smile started returning before he started reaching for me. Although he stopped abruptly, he looked at his hands and before I knew is I had taken them in mine and placed a kiss on the knuckles, the back of them and both palms.

His eyes glossed and his voice sounded so little as he asked: “You don’t mind? You don’t mind that it is me that is your….” His voice trailed off at the end.

“I do not, truly I am utterly delighted.” You took the side of his face in your hand while guiding him to lay back down. “I am more than happy to be your mate, Azriel.”

His eyes scanned mine for a lie, a single hesitation and when he found none he said upright and brought both wings to the correct sides. He gestured for me to sit up so I did. He laid back down with now the wing beneath me.

I hesitated and he told me once again: “I don’t mind when it’s you.”

So begrudgingly you laid down on his arm atop his wing while the other draped over you, along with his arm and shadows. The added weight was welcome and so was the warmth against the chilly air.

“How long have you known?” You ask.

“Remember Solstice two years ago, when we were having one of our conversations again?” You nodded. “And how all of a sudden I had to make the worst excuse ever to leave?” You nodded again.

“Well, you had said that my shadows were adorable and you called them ‘little ones’ ande then it just… snapped. I panicked cuz I did not know what to do, I almost spilled it all right then and there but I felt like you deserved better… or at least for it to be natural. Honestly even before the bond I really liked you, you should ask Rhys and Cass. They have some stories of me trying to impress you and it going terrifically wrong.”

You laughed and stared in wonder, you mate is a dork. And you love him. So you told him just that.

“I would love to het to know you better, truly. But know that even before and now still, I love you. My mate is such a dork and I’d love to hear all the stories.”

His arms wrapped around you tighter and the shadows seemed to do the same. And so you both laid there in each other’s arms.

#azriel x reader #azriel imagine #azriel fanfic #azriel shadowsinger #azriel x you #azriel #acotar x reader #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #my writing #i did this around midnight don't judge me #good night now

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xxblairexxss · 1 year ago

Text

Subjectivity in art

Pairing : Charles Leclerc x artist!painter!reader

Theme : fluff

Requested!

This is so much fun to make thank you for the request, anon! 🩷

﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎

f1gossip has added to their story

ynusername

Liked by charles_leclerc and 528 others

ynusername 🖼️

username1 charles is so fast slow down no one’s beating your record as her 1st like 😆😂

username2 is she the new gf?

username3 he’s just liking her posts

username4 will you ever post your face

username7 can we see your face

username5 leave her alone guys

username6 you guys be attacking every girl he was ever rumoured to be with

charles_leclerc has added to their story

ynusername

Liked by charles_leclerc and 728 others

ynusername 🤍

charles_leclerc you are an art

username1 ariana what are you doing here

username2 i just know she’s gorgeous af

username3 the dresss is to die for

username4 so is charles looking at the art or he’s looking at you bcs i don’t think he even paid any attention to the work 😂

username5 how cute is it that charles went with her to the art gallery 🥹🥹

username6 charles come on how could you pull her with that horrible rizz 😤

ynusername has added to their story

charles_leclerc has added to their story

ynusername

Liked by charles_leclerc and 4290 others

ynusername the pancakes were yummy! username1 you are so talenteeed!

username2 i couldn’t even draw a straight line

username3 have you ever had your drawings in an art gallery?

ynusername one day, I wish! 🥹

username4 you are so talented!

username5 you are like living in a pinterest 🥰

charles_leclerc

Liked by joris__trouche, ynusername, and 1,825,386 others

charles_leclerc coffee and art makes her happy

ynusername You make me happy too!

username1 SHE’S BEAUTIFUL???

username2 i knew she was stunning even from her back

username3 you bagged her with that horrible rizz of yours? what did you even say? username4 She’s soooo prettyyyyyy though my heart is a little broken

username5 woah wasn’t expecting charles to be the one who upload her face

username6 finally! someone who is not an instagram model as a wag

charles_leclerc

Liked by pierregasly, ynusername, and 1,926,027 others

charles_leclerc a little celebration ❤️

username1 WHAT CELEBRATION?!

username2 y’all getting married?

username3 omg no slow down you proposed already???

username4 She slay every outfit 🥹🩷

username5 I need her wardrobe 😩

ynusername

Liked by charles_leclerc and 27,625 others

ynusername I don’t really want to post this but my boyfriend said I look pretty in white 🤍

username1 and your boyfriend is right you look the prettiest in white

username2 are you getting married to your boyfriend

username3 ppl need to chill not you guys assuming they are getting married just because she’s wearing a white dress??

username4 they are just on a date like normal couple what’s the big deal

username6 I loveeeee your outfitss!

ynusername

Liked by charles_leclerc and 5285 others

ynusername Had my first work to be displayed at an art gallery in Paris! 🤍✨

username1 Lol charles probably had something to do with it 🙄

username3 get the fuck off

username2 omg you deservedd itt! 🥹

username4 WELL DESERVEED! 🩷

charles_leclerc So proud of you, my love ❤️

username5 need the tutorial on the hair

charles_leclerc

Liked by arthur_leclerc, ynusername and 1,995,427 others

charles_leclerc the proudest boyfriend

ynusername I love youu!

username1 living the pinterest boyfriend life

username2 parentssss 🩷

username3 it’s just so obvious how in love charles is based on the photos he uploaded

username4 the second pic?!?! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

✧.* general tag list! @i83andrew @cltrlne @karmabyfernando @ohthemisssery @ru-kru @tastebaldwin @f1obessed @love4lando @shinrjj @ietss @leclerc13 @darleneslane @buckybarnessweetheart @xcinnamongirl

If your usernames were crossed, meaning I can’t tag you! Let me know if you would like to be removed or to be added to the tag list! Or if I missed anyone!

#charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc imagine #f1 imagines #charles leclerc #charles leclerc imagines #f1 imagine #f1 x reader

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whytheballs-mars · 8 months ago

Text

Date Night pt. 2

Minors DNI, or you're going to be blocked

Jasonxfem!reader

tw: smut, oral(f!receiving), fem!reader, overstimulation,

Part 1:

After the waiter had dropped off the bowl of chocolate, Jason was soon shooting daggers at the man. 'The absolute gall of this man. first, he can't keep his eyes off my girl, we gave him and everyone here a free show, and now he wants more?!' Jason thinks. He gets up and leaves enough cash to cover the bill (literally just enough, this man brought out coins, making sure to only pay the exact about and not a penny over. why would he tip? didn't everyone just see something better than a tip??) on the table, grabs your arm, and drags you out of the restaurant, into your car.

You don't really put up much of a fight. You can't tell if Jason is angry about the scene that just happened or not. You can't seem to find any anger in his eyes... or anything for that matter.

The drive was silent besides the rev of the engine every once in a while. You couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. Were you in trouble for sucking him off? Did he not want to and just got carried away?

As soon as the two of you got home, he picked you up bridal style. He couldn't help but suck and bite on the bit of your exposed shoulder as he carried the two of you to your bedroom, his neck bowing down so his lips could meet your shoulder. He sets you on the bed so gently, which is a stark contrast to the way his now nipping and sucking along your shoulder, to your collarbone, and up your neck until he reaches your jaw. Jason presses a few antagonizingly slow kisses to your cheek.

"Don't wanna mess up anymore of that pretty makeup you spent so long applying," he mumbles before his lips find yours, kissing you softly. His hands roam all over your body, groping at your breasts before sliding them around your ribcage, to the back of your dress. He unzips your dress and gently tugs it down so the top scrunches together around your hips. He places his hands on the small of your back as he kisses you.

(side note: he definitely wants to fuck up your makeup. If he had it his way, he'd reaply your lipstick, just so he could have it all smudge off when his cock in your mouth.)

He pulls away from your lips to take your nipple in his mouth, causing you to let out a soft moan.

"you just had to act like a little slut tonight, huh?" He mumbles before letting his teeth sink into the skin around your nipple. it was hard but not hard enough to break skin. "Couldn't keep my cock outta your mouth for an hour."

"Jay, im sorry" You whine, and try to speak up in protest before he reaches up just slightly so he can put his thumb over your lips in a rushing motion before parting your lips and resting his thumb in between your lips, not daring to go any further. Jason begins to leave sloppy, wet kisses down your stomach, and he pulls the rest of the dress off your body, throwing it somewhere, with no need to take off your panties.

"on your stomach, baby" Jason says, and you comply, turning onto your stomach, putting your ass in the air on full display for him, your back arching as you lay your chest down the silk sheets. Soon after you've situated yourself two sharp slaps land on both your ass cheeks. "dont be sorry, that was such a good show. So fucking gorgeous"

Jason honestly didn't know what to do. He was so upset, and so jealous at the thought that that damned waiter brought that bowl out. thinking you're some kind of slut, and even the audacity of thinking he could get more. Could see more of you. No, what you did was enough. Jason didn't know if he should punish you for that little stunt, or praise you for some of the best head he's gotten... and how turned on he was in that restaurant.

Whatever he was thinking, you couldn't tell. But you were, ohhh, so grateful when you felt Jason's hands on your ass, soon followed by his tongue licking a stripe up your slit. He licks a few mote times, teasingly slow before getting to work on your clit. His tounge working kitten licks on your bud, then sucking it harshly into his mouth. It's obvious he just wants you to cum.

He laps at your cunt until you cum, moaning his name as your face burries itself into a pillow (ruining the makeup he feigned concern about ruining). While you're still recovering from your orgasm, he flips you onto to your back once more, and goes right back to his favorite place in the world.

As he continues his assault on your poor, slightly overestimated clit, his hands are finding their way to under your knee, and pulling your legs over his shoulder. Occasionally, he'll mutter something about how pretty or how good you taste or how youre all his. All his, not that damn waiter, not anyone at that restaurant, and how absolutely no one else could make you feel so good. But most of all, what falls from his lips are moans. He's so fucking loud, he's almost louder than you... which- well he's making you loose your fucking mind. You're a moaning mess for him as he pulls another orgasm out of you, just with his tounge. and another. And another.

You don't know when he added his fingers to the mix, but he did. His middle two fingers are inside of you curling up to meet that one spot inside of you, that makes your hips buck up into Jason's mouth. With his free hand, he wraps it over your waist, caging you down.

You end up placing your hands in his hair, tugging at it harshly because he's not giving you a break. He moans in return, obviously not letting up.

Normally, he'd make some snarky comment, but he's all too focused on you. The way your head tilts back, exposing your neck. The way your chest rises and falls as you breathe, trying to catch your breath, but Jason is set on pulling orgasm after orgasm out of you. The way your hair was so neat at the beginning of the night, and now it's spread over the pillow cases in a messy way. He's so enraptured by this sight of you. It's been 4 orgams for you... well, 5 if you count the one at dinner, and he thinks you get more and more impossibly beautiful after each one. He doesn't know how to explain it, and he doesn't need to explain it. All he cares about is seeing you layed out like this all fucked out for him.

Once he's finished, having deemed youve had enough, he pulls away and says,

"That's so much better than that damn bowl of chocolate, don't ya think?" He asks. You can't help but nod as he comes up and kisses you lovingly.

Jason runs you a hot bath and puts bubbles in it. He lays lays you in the bathtub so gently, pressing kisses to every part of you that isn't under the water. He helps you take off whatever is left of your makeup, and then he insists on doing your skincare routine for you, telling you sweet nothings. He carried you back into bed, and you guys say nighty night !

(help i didn't know how to end this💀💀😭)

#jason todd #dc #jason peter todd #jason todd is the love of my life #jason todd smut #jason todd x reader #red hood #dc comics #batboys #dc universe #dick grayson smut #redhood smut #red hood imagine #red hood x reader #jason todd x you #smut

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fibula-rasa · 2 months ago

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A Vintage Halloween Experiment

Maybe because I play cinema-inspired dress up all year as a hobby, recently I’ve been drawn to less specific costumes for Halloween festivities.

This spooky-season look was a mix up of inspirations from the first two decades of the 20th century. I’m not much of a pinterest girly, but I’ve had some adorable (context-less) 1910s and 1920s costumes of bats, moths, and butterflies saved for years and have always wanted to make one of my own. I love the practicality of pairing a simple tunic or one-piece with decorative wings. Lucky me, I had this old spiderweb tablecloth that was just the right size! The next time I break out this costume, I’ll definitely make little bat ears to match!

Costume inspiration collage

As for the hair and makeup, the Italian silent-film star aesthetic is still very much my ideal, so I loosely based my hair and makeup on Pina Menichelli. Since the eras of Menichelli and the costume inspiration roughly align, I think they paired pretty well!

Pina Menichelli hair/makeup inspiration collage

Of course I had to complicate matters for myself and experiment with lighting to capture the costume. What that resulted in was a handful of photos that have a distinctly 1980s vibe… Definitely not what I was going for, but fun photos to take nonetheless.

Happy Halloween all! If you dress up, what are you more inclined towards: specific people/characters/topical gags or more general Halloweenie costumes?

——— ——— ———

☕Appreciate my work? Buy me a coffee! ☕

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saym0-0 · 2 months ago

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tmxtma marius in a dress i found via scrolling randomly through my pretty dresses pinterest board and clicking lmao. his arm is based on an open bionics hero arm (a company that makes really frickin cool prosthetic arms) which. timeline wise i believe they came out in 2018 but shhhh dont even worry about it

#honestly he doesn't look super marius-y but whatever i was getting bored i cant even lie #my art #the mechanisms #the mechs #tmxtma #marius von raum #a lot of my tmxtma designs are suuper similar to my versions of their regular mechs designs #and i cant decide if i want to keep or change that #bc it is a future au #grah ill make that its own post

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starlikesyuri · 2 months ago

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wow it is so embarrassing to actually post abt stuff I like agagaghdhd…

based this on a pretty dress I found on Pinterest

I had one for the other three main characters and I might draw mochis later but I don’t like moxie or tricks as much

#my art #art #artist #lonely wolf treat #treat #lonely wolf #lwt #??#im kinda not sure what tags I can use for this #wolf treat #another piece of candy #nomnomnami #nom nom nami #agagaghdhd I’ll get better at tagging these as I start posting more….

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runningfrom2am · 1 month ago

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moon river // part one

summary: people in lincoln county are dropping dead alongside their livestock, the wells are running dry and children are prompted from their beds to wander unconsciously in the night. billy has been hired as a last resort by the lawmen as a bounty hunter, charged with the task of hunting and killing the witch responsible in exchange for a reward and the clearing of his name. how could he turn that down?

pairing: william h. bonney x fem!reader

wc: 7.6k

masterlists / nav / requests

tags/warnings: witch!reader x bounty hunter!billy, warning for like,,, witchcraft and stuff i suppose?? mentions of death, minor amounts of gore and animal mutilation. devil worship and other supernatural/biblical tea. also angst. probably.

a/n: impulsive new series dw ab it. i'm thinking this'll be only a few parts but based on how long part one is, i don't think that means much lol. buckle in.

my asks are also open to talk about this series! (i do have emoji anons open now too!)

send me any and all of your thoughts! here!

series masterlist // pinterest board // playlist

The reward had been posted for weeks, and any man who dared to set foot in the woods on the hunt for the witch who had been cursing local crops and killing livestock didn't return at all. Billy was confident, though. He could draw and shoot quicker than anyone, and he had not only been offered the reward, but also the clearing of his name and a clean slate- and damn if that wasn't an impossible offer to turn down. Even if the sheriff was pretty damn desperate in order to seek Billy out unarmed to beg him to go after this witch.

Rifle in hand, he walked for hours hunting for a girl he'd only heard rumours of. Of her pretty hair that fell in enchanting waves and her bright, sparkling eyes that were deceptive in a way that could suck a man in and kill him with nothing more than a quick flick of her wrist. But he'd met plenty of girls like that before. He also heard she was horrid, scary and old and plucked straight from everyone's mother's horror stories passed onto them as children to keep them in their beds at night. In truth, he had no clue what he was walking into.

The forest was quiet today, eerily so, without even the chirping of birds or the wind in the trees to keep him company on the foot journey. Nothing. He wasn't welcome here and something deep inside of him knew it. Walking into a clearing, he gets only the mildest relief as the wind brushes the long grass against his boots and the woods isn't suffocating him any longer. Until the breath is vacuumed straight out of his lungs when he sees the first sign of life in miles.

This girl must be his age, of all the things he heard he didn't truly expect that. It was hard to tell as she was crouched over one of many graves in the open clearing, the sun making her hair glow like it had hand picked that surface to reflect off of. She can't be the witch everyones afraid of. He can even hear her now, the subtle humming of a tune coming from her lips as she laid out flowers from a basket below the shoddy cross. This was just a girl taking care of a forgotten grave, that was all. Despite his better judgement, he wants to believe that.

"Hello?" He calls, tilting his head slightly as he takes a hesitant step closer across the clearing.

You already knew he was there, of course. You could feel the shift in the air when he entered the space a minute or so prior. You turn your head, standing up straight again and brushing off the front of your dress.

"Hello, there." You reply, offering him a small smile as you pick up the basket from your feet. Admittedly, he was the youngest (and handsomest) of the men you assume had come to kill you, but you're surprised the woods had even let him get this close. The forest can see something in him you could not, clearly. Who are you to deny its very will?

The power in your skin thrums like a second heartbeat in your fingertips and against your ribcage, and you bring a hand up to grasp at the crystal hanging around your neck.

He notices the way your hand tightens around the necklace in your fingers almost anxiously, and it makes his own hand subconsciously itch to raise his rifle as he takes another step closer towards you. He swallows, trying his damndest to not show even a flicker of fear behind his eyes. There is none. She's just a girl, he has to convince himself, but you can see it. Feel it in the air around him even as he stands perfectly steady and strong in front of you.

"Who are you?"

A pretty girl, alone in a forest that no-one else dares tread into. It's a curious sight, and it only serves to make him more on edge. No one in their right mind would be in this forest of their own will.

You tilt your head slightly, watching him as he steps closer but making no attempt to move away yourself.

You answer with your name, soft and sweet as honey as you twist the chain around your neck slightly, eyes locked now on the gun in his hands.

"You're..." You pause for a moment to think, taking a deep breath and closing your eyes. "Billy. That's your name, right?"

His hand tightens on his rifle. The feeling of being somewhere he was never supposed to have entered made beads of sweat roll down the back of his neck as he felt the air thicken all around them. "How do you know that?"

You hesitate on how to answer. You can't very well tell him that you felt it, that you just knew. That you just knew he was here to kill you. You are far from the most social of girls, but you had to save face.

"You look like a Billy." You smile softly. "And it's a common enough name, is it not? A safe guess."

His eyes narrow slightly as his grip on the rifle relaxes. You were hiding something, that much was blatantly clear just from looking at your face, but still, he couldn't imagine someone like you to be the reason the townsfolk kept their doors locked and children well away come sundown.

"I suppose." He finally says, a hand coming up from his rifle to pull his low brimmed hat off his head- a small show of reluctant respect. Though, he still keeps his distance.

Your smile relaxes a little bit just as the subtle sounds of birds chirping and the wind through the leaves surrounds you again in background noise. "It suits you." You tell him, grabbing the basket handle with both hands now.

A hint of surprise flickers across his face at the odd compliment, but it fades just as quickly as it appeared. He lets out a hum of acknowledgement, watching you carefully. If he was being honest, he didn't want to believe that the woman in front of him was a witch. You are far more delicate than that.

"What are you doing out here anyway?"

"Oh, well, I was passing through and saw all these graves. I couldn't help but feel they were lacking some flowers." You explain, lying easily and glancing down at the ones you had already spent time laying lavenders over, five or six of them still looking fresh, without as much grass regrowing over the dirt just yet. "Lavender helps with sleep, you know. It ensures a peaceful rest."

He takes a moment to look at the surrounding graves, his stomach twisting at the sight of how many there were. Ten, at least. He'd seen graveyards before, many times, but something about the lack of proper head stones and the makeshift crosses that were just wooden sticks shoved in the dirt made this feel so much darker.

He frowns as he turns his eyes back to you. "Aren't you afraid of what people say about this place? That it's cursed or something."

"Cursed?" You ask, brow furrowing slightly as you look back at him with a slightly confused smile. "It isn't cursed. It's just a forest."

You knew as much as he seemed to that what you were saying wasn't true, but "cursed" was definitely not the right word to describe it. Though, if the townspeople were saying it was cursed, well, it made more sense as to why people came in here intent on killing you more and more recently.

He can't help but notice the way your smile tightens ever so slightly at the comment, like it was forced to remain on your lips in an attempt to keep up appearances when in reality you wanted to do anything but. You were nervous.

"It don't take a genius to figure out that no one goes in these woods alone for no good reason. A lot of people get lost in here. A lot of people don't come back." He can't help but look back at the headstones of people who most likely went missing, forever lost to the forest. To you. "And I ain't ever seen you in Lincoln."

The two of you stand in the clearing for another moment, neither of you speaking. Neither of you moving as the world around the two of you seems to hold its breath. He feels himself wanting to reach out and touch you, like he was in a trance of sorts. He wants to know what you're hiding, he wants to know who you are. A large part of him already knows, subconsciously wishing it wasn't true.

He tears his eyes away, shaking his head. He wasn't here to make friends, he was here for the reward- not to start sympathizing.

"Oh," You reply quietly, unsure what to say as you force yourself to keep your eyes on him instead of looking over at the fresh graves. "I... I am sorry to hear that."

He studies you for a moment, trying to decipher your carefully worded reply. He can't tell if you actually feel sorry for those who came here and never made it out alive, or if you're just trying to cover up the fact that you may be connected to it.

"It's a shame, really. A lot of good men have gone missing out here, never to be seen again."

He looks like he's about to ask another question before he notices the way your knuckles start to turn white from gripping the basket so hard.

"Your hands are shaking." The observation is formed more like a question, an accusing tone you pick up on easily.

You look down at your hands, eyes widening a bit before you tuck them behind your back with the basket. "Oh, uh... sorry. I can't control it sometimes." You admit sheepishly.

He watches the way you try and hide your hands out of view, and it only serves to make him more suspicious of you. Why would the thought of him seeing your hands shaking make you so anxious?

He doesn't call you out on it, though. "What do you mean can't control it sometimes? Are you nervous?"

"I-I just... I haven't eaten yet today. And it runs in my family, you know. Shaky hands." You explain, trying not to sound as nervous as you are.

"You're lying." He accuses, watching your reaction carefully.

As he speaks the previous chirping of the birds and the wind in the trees and in the grass halts in an instant, like the forest itself was tensing with you. You knew what that meant. Your gaze flickers from his face down to the gun in his hands and back quickly as you take a small step back. "I- I'm not, honestly." You reply with a slightly nervous laugh, trying to lighten the atmosphere again and delay the inevitable. Either he wasn't going to hurt you, or he was the one meant to hurt you. It was a mystery of the universe you were less than eager to discover the outcome of.

His eyes flick over to the surrounding trees as the forest goes quiet, as if it was listening- waiting. He grips the rifle a little tighter when you take a step back, his shoulders tensing slightly.

"You're a very bad liar." He responds, his eyes back on you again. The change in your behaviour doesn't go unnoticed by him, as he slowly starts to lift his rifle to an almost aiming position.

"Don't-" You urge him quickly, your eyes going wide again with more urgency as you hold a hand up to try and stop him. In the same moment he starts to lift his gun, the clouds seem to cover the sun and the beautiful beams of light entering the clearly through the trees is all but gone to gray.

His eyes flick up to the sky as the forest is cast into darkness. He isn't an idiot, he doesn't believe that clouds could move across the sky that quickly- only one other thing could make a place this dark this fast.

"...You did that." He points out with an accusatory tone, his eyes back on you as he adjusts the rifle, aiming the barrel straight at you.

You drop the basket, raising your hands as the still air picks up a somewhat electric buzz to it, the sky darkening further. You didn't know what the forest had done to the other men, but you suspected you were about to find out.

"I-I didn't, I haven't done anything. I swear." You promise him, voice shaking a bit.

He holds the gun steadily as he watches you closely, the way your eyes dart around the clearing as if searching for a way out, the way the air is now thick with something that he can't put his finger on. It's something that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up, it's something that feels dangerous. He's always been attuned to it.

"Don't bullshit me." He says, cocking the rifle with a click. His eyes watch you like a hawk, the barrel of the gun now pointed directly between your bright, enchanting irises.

"I know why you're here." You stammer out quickly, slowly moving your hands out to your sides toward the trees on either side of you as the leaves start to rustle more urgently in the wind. "I mean... I don't know why but I know you're here to kill me, right?"

He tenses slightly as you begin to move your hands toward the trees, his finger hovering dangerously close to the trigger of his rifle. "You have the townsfolk scared shitless. They put a damn price on your head, and word spreads fast." He tilts his head, continuing to watch you intently as the air becomes more and more electric.

"What?" You ask, to him looking genuinely confused as you watch his finger graze over the trigger. "I-I've never even been into town. I've never done anything to them."

The wind picks up then, blowing wickedly through your hair and ruffling the skirts of your dress.

His body tenses at the feeling of the wind blowing so fiercely, the trees beginning to sway with the force of it. The air is thick, almost electric in a way that can't possibly be natural, and he's beginning to realize just what he's gotten himself into.

"You expect me to believe you?" He responds, the barrel of the gun still aimed at your head. He doesn't know why he hasn't fired already, he knows he's staring down the sights of his hunting rifle directly at the witch he was meant to kill. Who has killed six of Lincoln's bravest men and is currently standing over their graves.

When he moves the gun you wince, and the sound of the trees shifting becomes almost more intentional now as you hold your hands up higher at either side of your body. "I-I'll explain... Just... just put down the gun. Please."

"Why should I do that?" He asks, keeping his aim on you despite the trees that now seem so alive all around you- like they were whispering.

"You just have to trust me!" You call out, now that the wind was getting louder and louder, the sky darker as the trees closed in on the two of you, more specifically, the branches reaching for him.

He clocks it quickly; the branches slowly creeping down, the leaves reaching out towards him. It was like they were going to reach out and grab him at any moment, and the idea is making the hair on his arms stand straight up. It wasn't real, he knew better than that.

"How... how are you doing this?" He asks, his eyes flicking back to you, his rifle still raised.

"I'm not!" You shout, hands pushed out on either side of you as you squint against the wind, expression tense as the air pushes in on you from every direction. "I'm trying to stop it, just drop the gun!"

His eyes dart between you and the trees, noticing the way the branches are slowly inching towards him, and how you seem to almost be trying to push them back, your entire body tensing with some unknown effort.

"And if I drop the gun and you try something, huh?" He yells back, his finger still resting against the cool metal of the lightened trigger.

"You'll end up dead either way!" You shout, squeezing your eyes shut now as a couple small roots start to slowly coil around his ankles. "I don't want to bury you! Just drop it!"

He glances down at the roots slowly making their way up his lower legs, and his eyebrows furrow as he tries to comprehend how in the hell something like this is even possible. Finally, he grunts, clicking the safety back on his rifle and dropping it to the dirt. As soon as the weapon is out of his hands, the atmosphere in the clearing changes.

Even with your eyes shut, you can feel the pressure get taken off of you as soon as he drops the gun.

You drop your hands back down to your sides, winded from the exertion of keeping him alive. It seemed to have moved quick, the forest in its efforts to eliminate the threat, but you have to imagine it was much slower than it was when it set its sights on the other men who set foot in here to kill you.

"Are you okay?" You ask, gasping to catch your breath as the roots remain wrapped loosely around his ankles, incase it needed to grab him again quickly. Though, the skies had mostly cleared and the wind had stopped now.

He stands frozen in place for a moment, his breath heavy in his lungs as adrenaline courses through his veins and his heart hammers violently in his chest. "I.... I'm fine I think..." He responds, looking down at the roots still clinging to his ankles. He's at a loss as to how the hell something like that can even happen, even more so how you could make that happen.

He tries to get his legs free from the roots, but they cling to him stubbornly, even when he pulls with his full weight. He huffs in frustration, dropping himself to sit down on the ground. "Are you gonna get those things to let go of me? I dropped the damn gun."

They tighten a bit as he talks to you like that and you watch as more vines slither across the ground and wrap around his rifle, dragging it away while also doing the same with the revolver on his hip.

"I... I can't." You admit quietly, wringing your hands nervously in front of you. "I told you, I'm not doin' it."

His eyes widen as the roots from the ground pull his revolver off of him, and the vines drag his rifle towards some far off tree line. He realizes promptly he's being toyed with- like a mouse to an un-hungry cat.

"The hell do you mean you can't?" He asks frustratedly, his eyes locked on you as you fidget in place. His heart is still pumping faster than it has in years. "Do it!"

"I-I, well-"

You start, ready to try and explain but you don't get very far before he's quickly hoisted up off the ground by his feet, being hung upside down as bullets and coins rain from of his pockets. He curses loudly over your yelp of surprise as the forest tosses him up into the air, leaving him to hang by his ankles nearly twenty feet above the ground. He can feel the blood quickly rushing to his head, leaving him dizzy as the items in his pockets come tumbling out. As he tries to reach for something, he loses his balance and starts to swing back and forth like a pendulum.

You wince in sympathy as you hesitantly reach out toward him before pulling your hand back quickly. "Sorry, sorry..." You say through clenched teeth, a guilty expression on your face.

"Could you... please... get me down?" He asks in a strained voice, trying his hardest to keep what was left in his stomach where it was.

You frown, taking a small, hesitant step closer. "I... I told you, I'm not doin' it." You repeat, glancing down at the small objects that fell from his pockets.

"Do you... always carry that many bullets?"

This is the first time in a forever that he's felt so defenseless, hanging from his feet in some clearly, definitely cursed forest. Still, he tries to ignore the humiliation he feels at being in this position, trying to keep his cool while also trying to keep in his breakfast.

"I like to be prepared." He responds tightly, his eyes staring at the ground as he continues to swing back and forth slowly above you.

"For what..?" You ask, knowing that now probably isn't the time, but you truly are curious. And it's not like he could hurt you at the moment.

He pauses for a second, thinking it over before shrugging awkwardly in his hung up position. "You never know when danger might come knocking." He explains, his eyes continuing to be locked on the grass below him. This was a damn embarrassing position to be in with an audience, especially a pretty one.

"Yeah I... I guess so..." You agree, unsure what to do as the vines circle him further, searching inside his clothes for more weapons, no doubt.

He lets the forest strip him of his weapons in silence, his pride already bruised for the day anyway. He only lets out a small grunt as a particularly sharp branch pokes him in the stomach, searching for anything else that might be hidden.

"If I ask you something, these things aren't gonna try and strangle me or anything, right?" He calls down, gritting his teeth as his blood continues to rush to his head.

You can't help but giggle a little as you look up at him, his arms dangling below his head and his shirt starting to fall a little bit as well.

"I don't think so." You say, tilting your head slightly and squinting against the sun as it comes back with your quiet laughter, surrounding you in more warmth and lighter air.

He watches you as you laugh, watching the way your eyes crinkle and the way your smile spreads across your face. He's starting to realize that he's pretty unfortunately attracted to you, especially with the way the sunlight hits you the way it always seems to. Taunting him, tempting him- you were a gift from the trees he doesn't think he would do very well to try and pluck away from the stem.

He takes a breath, swallowing hard and lifting his hands to try and swat away the vine digging into the waistband of his trousers to get at the dagger he had there. "Why aren't you scared of me?"

You giggle again, lowering your hand as some of the tree branches grow up and out in the perfect spot to shield only your eyes from the sun.

"No offense, but you're not exactly very fear-inducing at the moment." You reply, watching in slight amusement as he dangles from the roots, spinning slowly without an ounce of control over it.

He watches you shield your eyes with the branches, finding himself a little surprised at how the forest seems to bend to your will. Despite that, a small smile appears on his face, his arms crossing in front of his chest. "What're you talking about? I'm terrifying."

You let out another laugh as he tried to cross his arms over his chest, and then the birds are singing again. The roots start to lower him just a little bit at his lighthearted joke and the way it made me smile, and he finally stopped resisting.

"Yeah, I'm quakin' in my boots."

He rolls his eyes as he lets the plants lower him down, still trying not to look completely humiliated. "Very funny, smartass. Mind telling them to lower me the rest of the way?"

The roots quickly jerk him back up again at the comment and your smile drops as you wince again. His lips form into a tight line when the roots yank him back up again, his head spinning as all his blood shoots straight back to his brain. "I can't tell them what to do, unfortunately." You remind him, head still tilted back at a mildly uncomfortable angle to look up at him.

"They seemed to listen to you just a minute ago to give you some shade." He mutters, feeling like an idiot just hanging there.

"I didn't ask for them to do that." You reply, another small smile tugging at your lips that seems to bring the sun back just a bit.

He watches as your lips pull into a smile again, noticing the way the sun seems to come back just a little every time it does. He's starting to get it, even if he was far from a comprehensive or even realistic understanding.

"Oh, so this stuff is just what- a coincidence now?" He asks, gesturing to a nearby tree that had pushed its branches out to act as your own personal umbrella.

You look up at the branches over your head before back at him. "Okay, well, I never said that." You chuckle, standing on your toes and reaching up to one of the leaves, letting a ladybug crawl onto your fingers.

He watches you stand on your toes and reach up, nymph-like in the most graceful of ways- a sight if he's ever seen one. He can't help but notice how the sun seems to break through the trees a little more now, lighting your face and hair up in a way that's almost angelic. He can feel his mouth starting to go dry as he watched you play with the ladybug. "So... you talk to bugs too?"

"What? No." You giggle, letting the bug crawl up your arm and into your hair. They did really seem to like your hair, something you had always picked up on. You didn't like it much, but they never stayed for long. Just explored for a few moments before continuing on their merry way. "It's... it's more complicated than that. More like a feeling. Not with bugs," You explain quickly. "Just like... the space, if that makes sense."

He lets his eyes linger on the small red bug that was currently making a home in your hair, trying to distract himself from the way a few strands of it seemed to fall against the exposed skin of your collarbone.

"I'll be honest... not really." He responds, a small smile on his face, "I'm not much acquainted with stuff like that."

When you look up at him again, smile widening a bit when you see he's smiling too, the roots start to lower him another foot or so again. "That's alright. I don't really get it either." You shrug softly.

He lets out a small huff of laughter as he's lowered down again, finally feeling like he's starting to get used to hanging upside down. "Well, I guess we're two peas in a pod then, huh?" The sun breaks through the trees even further, casting a golden glow on both of you and the plants surrounding you.

You grin up at him and his flushed red face as you step out of the little umbrella and pick up his hat from the ground, dusting it off before starting to gather all his things and setting them inside like it was a bucket.

"So... what did you say was happening in the town? Livestock are dyin'? People gettin' sick?"

He watches you dust off his hat and collect his belongings as you speak, trying to ignore the flutter in his chest that he felt when he saw you handling his stuff like it was the most casual thing in the world.

"Yeah..." He responds, his voice sounding a little distracted, "No one's been able to figure out why for months now. They tried blaming it on all sorts of things, but nothing's worked so far... that's why I'm here."

"They think it's me." You comment, nodding slightly, picking up the last of his things before standing up again, looking up at him.

He watches you brush down your dress, his eyes lingering longer than they should on the gentle curve of your waist and how your seemingly soft hand smoothed over the surface. With the sun lighting you up like you were an angel sent from heaven itself? Maybe you were just as dangerous as they said. "Well... are you?"

Your brow furrows slightly and you shake your head, a small frown pulling at your lips. "No... I... Like I said I've never even been to the town. Okay, well, maybe once or twice, but I just like to go to the farmer's market every once in a while. I'd never want to hurt anyone."

He watches you look down sadly, noticing how your expression shifts to the sad one he saw when you were tending the graves not too long ago. He feels a pang of guilt in his chest, realizing his comment had been a little thoughtless.

"Hey, I didn't mean..." He starts, pausing for a moment as the vines slowly let him down even lower, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed."

"It's not your fault." You reply, watching him get lowered a little bit further. "If everyone believes it, I wouldn't expect you not to."

He's finally almost on the ground now, hanging just about eye level with you. At this point, looking at you from the upside down view makes his head spin a little.

"Yeah, well... I guess I still shouldn't have jumped to conclusions." He responds, watching as a soft breeze blows in through the clearing, messing your hair up for a moment and filling the air with the scent of wildflowers.

Your smile grows a bit at that. "Well, thank you. I appreciate that."

Then the roots are suddenly turning him upright again before he has the chance to even consider what to say, lowering him quickly to the grass and thrusting him forward into you. "Whoa..!" He stumbles forward, suddenly upright again, only to be flung forward at full speed straight into you. He grabs your arms by instinct, trying to keep from knocking you both backwards but failing as both of you land on a soft area of moss. The two of you fall back onto the ground, him landing on top of you with a soft thud. He can feel his heart racing in his chest as he looks down at you below him.

You're shocked at first, getting your bearings quickly though as you look up at him and into his blue eyes. It feels like you're looking straight through him at the beautiful and now clear sky above you, and you can't help but giggle when you've realized what happened. Clearly, the forest didn't see him as a threat to you anymore; stripped bare of his weapons and armed only with an apology for making assumptions.

His heart skips a beat the moment you start to laugh, the sound like music to his ears. He'd never heard a prettier sound than that. His heart hammers against his chest as he looks down at your face, the sunlight streaming through the tree tops to perfectly light up your face, giving you a golden glow. He can feel his mouth going dry again, just like it did earlier. He had never found someone so beautiful before, and for a moment, he's scared he's fallen victim to your rumoured enchantments.

He realizes after a moment how long he's been staring, and how close the two of you are. His face was so close he could see the individual lashes framing your eyes, the freckles spread across your skin, the light flush across your cheeks. His eyes fall to your lips, realizing how soft they looked... and how he badly he would like to taste them... Oh, he must be enchanted somehow.

"Are you quite alright?" You giggle, shifting a little bit, unwilling to outright ask him to get off. "I didn't expect them to throw you like that."

The giggling helps snap him out of it, and he suddenly realizes just how embarrassing the situation looks, and how strange it is that the forest would even do that to begin with. He scrambles to get off of you, sitting beside you on the ground.

"Yeah.. yeah... I'm fine...." He responds sheepishly, a flush on his own face as a few stray pieces of moss stick onto his clothes.

His face was still burning, and he couldn't get the sight of you laughing out of his head. The way your eyes had sparkled, how your hair had been splayed out around you against the grass... he shakes his head, trying to dispel the thoughts. He didn't have time to be getting all distracted like this. He glances over to you, noticing how your hair was still messy from the fall, a few blades of grass sticking out of it as a few flowers from the surrounding area are caught in the strands too.

You close your eyes, letting out a soft sigh as he moves off of you, smiling a little to yourself as you feel the sun on your skin. Just for that, it seems to burn a little brighter.

After a few moments you push yourself up so you're sitting as well, your gaze finding him again. "You must really believe me."

He tilts his head slightly, watching you push yourself into a sitting position beside him, your back against the tree and the sun still shining through the branches onto your face. He can feel his heart skip a beat as he stares.

"How do you figure that?" He blinks, trying to snap out of it and trying not to think too hard about how he was starting to feel towards you so quickly.

You nod over to the roots and vines retreating slowly back into the tree line. "They wouldn't have let you down otherwise."

He glances back over to the trees, watching the roots and the vines disappear back into the underbrush. He'd almost forgotten they were there, so distracted by you. A frown tugged at his lips, he should never be this distracted.

"I guess you're right..." He responds.

"You were the first to even get that close." You admit quietly, a thoughtful expression on your face as you glance over at the makeshift crosses and mounds of dirt a few feet away.

He lets out a soft breath of disbelief, his eyes flickering back and forth between you and the little burial site, a wave of guilt washing over him as he realizes just how rude he'd been when he first got there. You had been taking care of something really important to you and he had just thrown accusations at you without even knowing you. And for some reason the forest had even allowed him to get that close... there must be a good reason.

Even in these past few minutes of speaking to you, he'd been able to tell that you weren't dangerous, and hell- you were honestly one of the nicest people he'd ever met, and by far the prettiest. Not that that mattered.

He finally looks away from the crosses and focuses back on your face, noticing the grass and the flowers, and he can't help but think that they look kind of cute on you.

"Who are those for? ...If you don't mind me asking."

"The men who came before you, I assume." You tell him, looking down and picking at the grass. "You mentioned that people were hunting me, and no one came back. And I was wondering why bodies kept turning up here..."

A lump lodges in his throat as you confirm what he already knew deep down inside. He swallows hard, trying not to let the realization that he could've been just as dead as them show on his face, but by the look on yours, he knows you can tell what he's thinking anyway.

"You... didn't kill them?" He asks, trying to sound strong, but not quite keeping the trepidation out of his voice.

Your eyes snap up to his and you quickly shake your head. "No! No, I-" You defend quickly, sitting up a bit straighter and pushing yourself back a bit. "I... Like I said, they just turned up here. I come out here often to check on the older ones and lay flowers, I started coming back and there would just be someone laying there dead. I didn't... I just buried them."

His face softens slightly as he sees the panicked expression on your face, how defensive you were at the accusation, how you quickly scooted away from him as if you would run if you had to. He knew you were telling the truth. He curses himself for letting his imagination create the image of you again, standing over a corpse with your hands covered in blood- that thought alone made him somewhat nauseous.

He lets out a slow, shaky breath, his eyes glued to the little crosses. He could've been there too, no better than carrion for the animals. Of course they were the men who came before him, and he's sure the forest was much less forgiving than just hanging them by their boots and taking their guns.

"Why do you come back here every day?" He finds himself asking.

"I... uh... I don't live far." You explain, glancing back over your shoulder. "And... um... my parents are here. And my brother." You add quietly, fiddling with the crystal around your neck as you look briefly over at some much older graves at the edge of the clearing.

His eyes follow your gaze over to where a group of older, smaller crosses laid on the other side of the clearing, and the realization finally set in that you were here every day to tend the graves of your family.

"You're an orphan...." He says it like a statement instead of a question, not realizing he'd said it out loud until a moment later.

You nod softly in response, leaning back on one of your palms.

"You are too." You reply, tone gentle in the observation.

He freezes, his eyes going wide as you call him out so delicately. The way you say it, it was almost like you had looked inside and had seen him for exactly what he was.

"How'd you know?"

"I can feel it." You tell him, knowing how vague it sounded- but you didn't have any better understanding of it than he did.

He blinks, looking down at the ground as he processes that. An uncomfortable feeling settled in his stomach, knowing that somehow, you'd seen straight through every front he put up in seconds."What do you mean by that?"

You shrug slightly. "Exactly what I said. I can just... feel it. Like you can see or hear things, you know? I just... know. It's hard to explain."

He was silent for a few moments as he nodded slowly, still watching the way your fingers fidgeted with the necklace around your neck. He knew something was up with you, with how the forest seemed to welcome him when it made everyone else run. But he was starting to get the feeling he was only just scratching the surface.

He took a moment, looking up again at the simple crosses and mounds of dirt littered around the clearing, the thought that you'd had to bury your family by yourself and continue tending to their graves for who knows how long was making his heart ache in a way he didn't know was so familiar to him until he was faced with it.

"I'm sorry." He finally speaks after a few stiff moments, his voice sounding a bit softer and more tentative than before. "How old were you?"

"Fourteen." You answer quietly, looking over at him again and offering him a weak smile.

A lump forms in his throat as he takes in your answer. You'd taken care of them at only fourteen years old. The realization settled heavily in his stomach like a rock, how impossibly unfair the world was, to be dealing hands just like his out to others. To sweet girls with soft skin and perfect smiles. "Jesus ...." He mutters quietly, rubbing his hands over his tired eyes.

Picturing you as a reflection of himself, nothing more than a child, all alone in the dark forest trying her best to dig a hole for all her loved ones overturning into a vision of the last he had seen of his family. Year after hurtful year, standing over graves and tossing in handfuls of dirt to send them on their way. It made bile rise in his throat.

He looks over at you silently, and his heart aches again. He knows what it feels like to be all alone. You, in the cold, dark woods for so long with no one to look to and him, in the cold and bright lights of being hunted for his actions. You, sitting next to him on the soft forest floor, were his only chance at leaving that behind. Of looking to the future, burying you and the harm you supposedly caused behind him with his wanted posters left to blow inconsequentially in the wind. He wonders how long it had been since you had seen another face other than his in this little graveyard, and he realizes he couldn't stomach carrying your corpse back into town. If the trees would even let him take your body so far without leaving your cold skin covered in the claw marks of it's efforts to keep you here with it, nestled in the safety of its tree cover.

"No one should have to live like this... all alone." He says quietly, the words leaving his mouth before he even realizes it.

You pull at the grass in front of you mindlessly as you shrug. "I'm not alone. Not really." You say quietly.

You look over at him again, studying him for a few moments. "You're a lot more lonely than I am, I think."

He pauses at that, his heart panging in his chest again at the truthfulness of your statement. He knew you were right, he was lonely. No family, no friends. Hell- before today, he's pretty sure no one's ever looked at him the way you are now. With something like kindness. He lets out a rough sigh as he rubs the back of his neck.

"Guess we've got that in common, then."

"I guess so." You agree quietly, giving him a small, slightly sad smile.

You lean over and pick up his hat from the ground next to where you'd both fallen, checking inside that it still held all his pocket change and bullets before holding it out to him.

He stares at the hat in your hands for a moment before looking back up at you, studying the way you sat beside him with your head tilted to the side, the way your dress clung brunched up around your hips and the way your hair fell over your shoulders in messy waves in the afternoon sunlight.

He swallows hard as he reaches out and takes the hat from you, his fingers brushing yours for a second. "Thank you..."

"Of course." You hum, tucking your knees up to your chest and brushing some of the stray grass and moss off of your calves and arms. "Thanks for not killing me."

He lets out a short laugh, setting the hat back onto his head after shoving its contents back into his pockets. "I'm not going to kill you." He says firmly, his eyes following your fingers as you brush off your skirt.

A small smile twitches at your lips as you look over at him, and you feel that familiar pulsing of power in your fingertips and chest, running through your skin again.

You can feel that he means it, and you felt safe before, but even more so now.

The two of you sit in a comfortable silence for another moment, listening to the sounds of the forest around you, and he feels a sense of peace in this quiet space he'd stumbled into.

There were a hundred different ways he could be spending his afternoon. There were bounties to be collected, townsfolk to cheat at poker, and cards to be dealt and drank to. But instead, he was sitting in the middle of a makeshift graveyard with a lonely, beautiful, witch in the middle of the woods and he'd never been more at peace in his entire life.

"Are you... hungry?" You ask after a minute or so, glancing up at the sky to see whereabouts the sun was. It was likely mid to late afternoon by now, and you still hadn't eaten yet- that hadn't been a lie. You had to get back, but you didn't just want to let him go without making sure he would be able to make it back safely.

He was actually a little surprised that he hadn't thought about it. After all, he'd been walking around in the forest for hours. Now that you mention it, he can feel a hollow emptiness in his gut and a sharp pang of hunger go through his body.

"Yeah.. I could eat." He says, rubbing the back of his neck as he tilts his head up towards sky and squints against the sunlight streaming down.

You push myself up from the soft moss you were sitting on, ignoring the bits of it that clung to your dress and hair for the time being.

"Alright, well, c'mon then." You grin, glancing back at him over your shoulder as you go to collect the basket of drying lavender from the grave you were tending before he interrupted.

His eyes widen a little as he watches you stand up, his eyes lingering a little bit too long on the curve of your hips again. He shakes his head before getting up himself, gathering his things and brushing himself off before following the witch deeper into the forest that would inexplicably kill to keep her.

no taglist this time around!! my fics usually get over a hundred requests to be added to the taglist so instead i made a library! follow me over on @runningfrom2am-library and turn on notifs to get updates when i post new parts!!

#billy the kid x reader #billy the kid x you #billy the kid #tom blyth #william h bonney x reader #william h bonney x you #billy the kid 2022 #billy the kid fanfiction #billy the kid imagines #tom blyth x reader #tom blyth fic #william bonney x you #william bonney x reader #william bonney #william h bonney #billy bonney

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pernesophe · 2 months ago

Text

"Flufftober" Hybrid Halloween

(Minors, Ageless and Blank Blogs DNI)

Master List (I have no rights to these characters, the works they come from, or the art/screenshots/manga panels used in this post. Screenshots taken from pinterest, so if you know the creator please lmk!)

Synopsis: A lab accident led to a mutation occurring in Japan 150 years ago that created hybrids. Reader moved to Japan to make it as a cosplayer, and is still somewhat unaware of their existence. At her best friend's Halloween party she meets a guy dressed as a cat and immediately thinks he's a cosplayer. Except he is not a cosplayer. (13,185 wc) (This is not my usual "genre", pretty cheesy in some parts and only somewhat edited, so forgive me in advance).

TW: All characters are 21+. I deemed this "flufftober" because it's more accurate, but there is some smut: cunnilingus, fingering, vaginal penetration, biting / marking, slight dacryphilia if you squint? Idk lmk if I missed anything. Also some angst. MDNI

Song: Nonsense by Sabrina Carpenter (I just enjoyed listening to this while editing etc) Sakura's Scent is based on Incarnate by Scout Dixon West Black Iris by Amouage* Reader's Scent is based on Coven by Andrea Maack

{I wrote this after 100% being inspired by @candycandy00 Suo x reader x Sakura hybrid au fic, so if you enjoyed this at all please go check it out and show it some love! Also! I read @hayatoseyepatch Hybrid / Breeding fic while writing this, which I loved and highly recommend if you enjoy this one!}

October had cooled off earlier than you expected, so it was a tad brisk as you made your way to the Halloween party at your friend’s house. Your costume consisted of a black, leather band around your waist that came down to the hips with an ankle length, black cotton skirt stitched just above the hem of the leather. A roughened, black leather string laced down the center starting at hip height that hooked around small brass hooks all the way up to the waist were tied in a neat bow. At about mid-calf height on the skirt were brass rings stitched into the fabric.

The top of the costume included a black cotton corset cut straight across your bosom with a ‘V’ shaped dip in the valley of your breasts. The sides of the corset rose up around your ribs but came lower over the leather of your skirt to lay over your stomach and lower back. Wide straps slung over your shoulders, and poofy burnt orange off the shoulders sleeves that cinched at your elbow and wrist spilled from under the straps of the corset. A fluttery piece of orange fabric extended from the cinch at your wrist to lay over your hands and accentuate your sharp, black nails.

Over the corset itself, you wore a black leather harness with thin straps that laid over top the wide cotton ones that had a brass buckle in the shape of a victorian woman’s hand to secure it around your waist. Four small brass clips were stitched onto the base of the corset at the front where you were able to clip the rings of the skirt to vary the length. One piece of dark cotton hung about your knees in front of where your thighs parted, with the pieces to either side clipped up so your plush thighs and thick orange thigh high socks were on full display. The skirt was left to hang low in the back so the hem was only an inch higher than the ground thanks to your shiny, chunky-heeled Mary Janes. Finally, atop your head sat a black, pointy hat with a wide brim that the wind was threatening to blow away.

Though you felt being a witch was a little generic, your friend insisted that you always go all out since you were a really talented cosplayer. So, you clutched your black pointed witch’s hat as the wind whipped you in the face while you half walked, half jogged to the two story row house. Though it wasn’t in view yet, you could hear the heavy bass half a block away.

As you made your way up the stone walk, some party goers were already wasted and clinging to each other in the front yard. Rather than get caught up in their drunk cooing, you ushered yourself inside and closed the old wooden door with a shiver as you kicked yourself for not including a cloak in your costume.

“Y/N!!” Hana, your friend who hosted the party, cried drunkenly from the kitchen as she waved you over. Grinning wide, you walked straight into the inebriated embrace with a giggle.

“Is it worth trying to catch up at this point?” You teased her lovingly as she guffawed and shoved a local cider in your hand.

“And here I got your favorite!” She pointed with all the air of saying ‘j’accuse!’ to which you tittered and opened the cider before trailing behind her as she introduced you to some new faces. Hana recently started attending the sister university of Furin U, so unsurprisingly you saw several black and green jacketed men milling about. The two of you went to find a game of beer pong and socialized with different party goers between the rounds.

Eventually, Hana paired off with a rather attractive young man in a black and green coat with short blonde hair, puppy dog eyes and a pair of dog ears as his costume. Silently you cheered for her win, and then made your way to the back porch for some air. You expected a few smokers out back, but it was eerily empty except for one guy in a Furin coat with two toned hair dressed as a cat. The realistic ears and tail immediately drew your eye, and you half hoped he was as into cosplay as you. With the liquid courage of your cider, you called over to him.

“Hi!” you offered kindly from the door, he turned and stared at you in shock for a moment - face turning beet red. “Is it alright if I hang out here for a bit?” You asked cautiously, and he just nodded silently before facing forward again.

“What’re you doing out here all by your lonesome handsome?” You inquired while clasping your hands behind your back and arching your brow at him. Without him turning around, you could already see the red creeping up the back of his neck. “Not waiting for your girlfriend I hope?” You added teasingly as you took a slight step closer.

“N-no! I don’t have a girlfriend,” he whipped around to face you before biting out the words. A carmine hue dusting his cheeks as you giggled softly at his reaction.

“Okay, good!” Chirping happily as you came to stand next to him, and immediately he turned his face away from you again. “I’m Y/N L/N - Hana’s best friend. What’s your name?” You asked welcomingly, and again his cheeks began to burn but eventually he spoke.

“Sakura Haruka,” he muttered quietly, still refusing to look your way.

“Well, Sakura Haruka, I wish I had known you were coming - we could’ve coordinated,” you said jokingly as you gestured between your witch hat and his cat ears. Sakura turned to face you directly with a shocked expression and a blush creeping up to his forehead, and for a moment you almost saw the tips of his cat ears turn red, but you were too focused on his bicolored eyes.

“Oh wow!” You cried out instantly, causing Sakura to jump, but then you faced him with the brightest grin and biggest moon eyes he’d ever seen. “Are you wearing contacts?” You followed up enthusiastically.

“No.” He stated curtly as his face pulled into a scowl, but you barely noticed his change in demeanor. Sakura could feel his tail puffing out as his confusion deepened as to why you were gushing over all the parts of him that people usually disdained in a cat hybrid.

“Seriously?!” You gasped out as you leaned in to be nose to nose with him - the scent of balsamic vanilla invaded your senses - but before Sakura could snap, you added, “You might have the coolest eyes I’ve ever seen!” Sakura’s hair stood on end, and his tail swished cautiously as he glowed bright red.

“Why are you so weird?!” He snapped suddenly as his breathing turned uneven, wide bicolored eyes searched your face for hidden intentions. Notes of creamy, smoked amber enveloped him and produced a reminiscent image of aging barrels from the rickhouse he worked in a few summers ago. He had to shake off the memory as a foreign, yet warm and fluttery feeling took over his stomach.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” You apologized and quickly took a step back, finally noticing that you stepped right into his personal space. “I didn’t realize I was making you uncomfortable… this is just how I am when I’m excited to meet someone, or get to know them. I’m a little tipsy, but I should’ve noticed I’d gotten so close. I’m really sorry…” You explained awkwardly, terrified that you ruined this interaction. Sakura just stared at you flabbergasted for a moment while his ears twitched and his tail flicked haughtily. A pregnant pause passed before he averted his gaze to the grass below the railing as he shoved his fists in his pockets.

“It’s fine, sorry, I’m just not used to strangers being like you,” he muttered quietly. Still you stood there awkwardly for a moment before he met your gaze. “I don’t dye my hair either,” he offered in a grumble as he waved a hand at his two toned locks. All at once your jovial demeanor returned tenfold as your hand flew over your mouth.

“That’s amazing!” You cried, and Sakura could feel his palms start to sweat as your moon eyes studied his tresses. “I’ve never known anyone who can get hair that white without some serious toner - I love that your ears match too! It really brings together your whole look,” you said quickly before your gaze returned to his wide eyes.

“Th-thank you,” he offered meekly, and then his eyes drifted from the tip of your witch hat down to your Mary Jane clad feet before meeting your gaze again. “I like your costume too. You obviously put a lot of work into it,” he said awkwardly while his ears twitched and his tail flicked.

You beamed at him before telling him about your costume and what pieces you bought and which pieces you made. Throughout your explanation, you babbled about Sakura’s appearance, how cool he looked, and the specific pieces of his look that you liked. Sakura blinked rapidly as you spoke, but didn’t interrupt you since being a cat hybrid usually meant being met with disdain. But it seemed like you couldn’t run out of good things to say about him, and as you went on he could feel himself drawing closer to you and catching hints of smoky peppered pine. Suddenly, you felt something soft brush against your calf, and you half jumped before peering down to see the tip of Sakura’s tail brushing your leg involuntarily.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to,” he rushed to say while stepping back - fully expecting you to freak out on him. But then you reached down and gently grabbed his tail, causing him to tense completely as he fought back the reflex to pounce on you. Then you looked at him, mouth agape and eyes stretched wide in wonder.

“Your tail is so soft!” You mused excitedly as his tail twitched wildly in your palm. Suddenly, you brought it up to your face and brushed it along your cheek experimentally as it flicked causing you to giggle softly. Old fashioned sugar and rich leather tickled your nose and spurred you to inhale the intoxicating fragrance.

Sakura felt your breath puff into his fur as traces of wood fire smoke, fresh mint and ivy invaded his senses while his pulse thrummed in his throat as he stared at your awestruck expression. Never had anyone reacted to, or touched him like this before. He wasn’t sure why, maybe due to his own liquid courage, but he suddenly felt a surge of confidence while he desperately hoped he hadn’t been misreading your signals.

Stepping forward, eyes cutting to his tail still in your gentle grasp before meeting your gaze heatedly causing a fire to ignite in your lower belly. Grabbing your hips, he pinned you against the railing as you let out a quiet squeak, and then closed the distance before crashing his lips into yours. Completely stunned, you stood stiller than a statue with his tail flicking wildly against your cheek and his mouth moving hungrily against yours.

Releasing his tail you wrapped your arms around his neck as he snaked his arms around your waist, his tail dropped only to twitch and curl around your ankle. Nipping at his lips desperately elicited a groan from Sakura before he slid his tongue past your lips dominantly. His wet muscle cascaded against yours, bringing with it the flavor of rich, spiced musk. As air became scarce, he parted from the kiss and regarded your flushed skin, heaving bosom and swollen lips. Along with the smoky scent before was a sweet, headier scent that made his mouth water.

“Wanna go back to my place? I live around the corner.” He offered between pants as his tail flicked uncontrollably against your calf and higher up under your skirt. Sinking your teeth into your lower lip as you estatically bobbed your head, because not only is this very attractive guy potentially gonna nerd out with you about cosplay - you might actually get lucky on top of it!

“Absolutely!” You chirped giddily, and Sakura turned three shades redder before grabbing your hand tightly and leading you down the back steps to the alleyway that let out onto the street. It was only around the corner, so it was a short walk.

Though you didn’t notice, Sakura eyed you as the two of you approached the small abode set farther back from the street in the center of splattering bushes growing close to the walls. The walkway up to the porch was broken and with pieces of cement sticking up, which caught the toe of your shoe and sent you falling face first towards the ground. Slamming your eyes shut as your arms came out in front of you, but instead of cement you felt two strong hands grab your arm and waist before pulling you upright again. Sakura released you after you were righted on your feet, and went to apologize for the shabbiness of his home, but you turned to face him with a wonderstruck expression.

“Oh my god you’re so fast!” Exclaiming in awe before you smiled up at him, “thank you for catching me.” You murmured with a grateful nod. Sakura’s cheeks reddened again before he awkwardly gestured for you to come inside. Once through the door you expected some fandom memorabilia, a cosplay workshop - something - but it was eerily empty. Sakura watched apprehensively as you peered around his home, expecting you to pass some form of judgment, but you just looked back at him inquisitively.

“Do you work somewhere else?” You asked curiously, and he cocked his head in response.

“Uh, yeah. I don’t work from home…” he said slowly which only made your eyes light up more. He must have an extensive collection to need to work on them outside the home, and then you wondered if he works on costumes professionally. But you decided to ask about that at a later date. On to the main event! You thought to yourself with a shrug as you faced him purposefully.

“So,” you began while looking up at him through your thick lashes expectantly, “where’s your bedroom?” You punctuated the question with a sharp arch of your brow. Sakura gulped before taking your hand and dragging you to the room in the back.

The moment the two of you were in his room, you grabbed him by the collar, slotting your lips with his, as you walked him back into his bed and pushed him down on the bedspread. You giggled as he bounced slightly, tail swishing playfully to your left, as you climbed on top to straddle his hips. His hands drifted under your skirt and over your thighs where he squeezed the plush fat appreciatively.

Bending over him, you pressed open mouthed kisses along his neck towards the collar of his shirt as you maneuvered both hands under the hem to ghost your fingertips over the hard planes of his abdomen and chest. He released a hissing breath that sounded more feline than you expected, but you barely noticed as you leaned back and tugged at his shirt expectantly. Wordlessly, Sakura leaned up and pulled his shirt over his head. Even though you were excited to see the rest of him, you were also a little sad to see his costume come off.

But as his shirt hit the wall on the other side of the room and he looked back up at you with blown pupils and twitching ears, you cocked your head to the side in question.

“Okay I have to ask,” you blurted out, causing Sakura to blink up at you in confusion, but he nodded for you to continue anyway. “How did you get your ears and tail to move like that? It’s so natural!” You said in an astonished tone with a slight shake of your head. He just stared at you for a moment, ears twitching and tail swishing sporadically.

“They’re my ears and tail,” he said with an equally confused cock of his head.

“Well, yeah but I’m asking how they work?” You clarified with a small huff, and the crease in his brow only deepened.

“They work how ears and tails work,” he said with an annoyed huff of his own, as his face turned impossibly red. Releasing a thoughtful hum, you tilted your head this way and that to peer over his twitching ears. Then, without much thought, you reached forward and gingerly stroked his white ear. Sakura tensed completely under you, but then a soft… purring rumbled from his chest as his eyes fell shut peacefully.

“Oh my god you can purr too? I’m so jealous!” You said with a small pout as you continued to stroke his ear. “But I still don’t get it, so did you base the mechanics on real cat ears and tails? Are they battery powered, or?” You asked while still absentmindedly stroking the tip of his ear. Suddenly he grabbed your wrist firmly, but not enough to hurt you, causing you to jump slightly as you peered down at his grave expression.

“Neither. I’m a hybrid,” Sakura threw the information at you abruptly. Unfortunately it wasn’t the first Halloween that some ditsy girl followed him to his bed because of his ‘costume’, and both of them were too oblivious to realize. The last girl ran away screaming, so he expected much the same from you.

“A what?” You asked with a small chuckle, completely clueless as to what he meant.

“A. Cat. Hybrid. Do you seriously not know what that is?” He asked, incredulous. When you slowly shook your head, he pulled out his phone to show you an advert that you recognized hanging up in the airport when you first moved here.

The advert was pink and blue with people who had cat ears and tails plastered in the margins. It was a simple PSA about how a mutation occurred from a lab accident about 150 years ago that created animal hybrids, and how Japan led the way to introduce them as citizens in our society. This specific PSA was about cat hybrids, though you remember a similar style being used for dog and bear hybrids as well. Where you came from there were no hybrids, and Japan had a lot of fun kitschy things (like people wearing animal ears and tails), so you weren’t sure they were even real. Until now.

As your eyes poured over the screen, you still not moving from Sakura’s lap, his hands remained awkwardly glued to your thighs while he watched your expression closely. When you looked back down at him and handed him his phone, he pulled both hands off your thighs and didn’t put them back. He just stared up at you apprehensively, waiting. Of course you noticed his change in demeanor and started feeling hot and prickly from his intense gaze.

“Um, well…” you started quietly as you slowly clasped your hands over the black cotton skirt pooled on his abdomen. His eyes flicked to where your arms pushed yours breasts together in the corset as he gulped thickly before his gaze returned to your face.

“Do you still want to…?” You asked timidly, and Sakura just blinked at you as he sat up suddenly - almost sending you falling off the bed if he didn’t catch you around the waist, your hands grasped his shoulders securely.

“Do you?” He asked, surprised more than anything as his ears twitched and tail flicked curiously.

“Well, yeah. I mean don’t get me wrong, I feel like an utter imbecile,” you laughed out loud at yourself and Sakura was stunned silent at how breathtaking you looked. Especially when you met his gaze again with the moonlight reflected in your eyes. “But that’s not really your fault, so if you still want to…” you posed expectantly.

The next thing you knew you were laid out flat on your back, the air knocked out of your lungs, with Sakura positioned above on his hands and knees - your thighs still straddling his waist. Anamalic cocoa and resinous caramel invaded your senses as the moonlight shone on his ears twitching excitedly and his tail swishing behind him haughtily. From here, he looked very much like a tiger who just pinned its prey.

Bending forward, he captured your lips with his as he deftly unhooked your skirt from your corset, and then untied the lacing at the front of your skirt. His tail curled around your calf as he moved his hands under your back to unzip the corset after undoing the harness. Honestly, you were pretty amazed since it was a hidden zipper and your hair covered it all night. How did he even see it?

When he leaned back you noticed that his pupils had become thin slits while he smoothly peeled your top off first, and then your skirt. Bicolored, feline eyes drifted from your flushed face over your bare chest, down to your black lace panties and thigh high socks. Purposefully he wrapped his hands over the tops of each of your thighs and squeezed your legs appreciatively as he rolled the socks to your ankles before pulling them off.

Without meeting your eyes, he slipped his hands under each of your thighs and yanked you down the bed so your core was flush with his bulge. Only when a gasp tumbled past your lips did his eyes flick back to meet yours, and then a predacious smirk turned the corner of his mouth before he bent down to slot his lips between yours.

Peppering kisses over your jaw to your pulse point where he nipped gently, and then pressed open mouth kisses down your neck to your collarbone. Woody amber swirled with marine musk and mixed with the heat radiating from his skin to your gooseflesh below. Keening your head back into the pillows, you mewled delightfully when his soft lips trailed over the tops of your breasts to your pert nipple. Sliding one hand under your shoulder blade, he held you tightly against his mouth as he sucked and lightly nipped at your nipple. Balsamic vanilla spilled across his tongue, quickly followed by damp, spiced pine. His other hand snaked over your ribs to squeeze the pleasantly plush fat of your breast and pinch lightly on your other nipple.

When you started grinding against him desperately, Sakura released an amused breath that fanned over your already sensitive skin before pressing light kisses and bites down to the band of your panties. His hands ghosted down your torso to the top of your waistband, where he gently caressed the sensitive skin causing you to fist your hands into the sheets. Then, he dipped the tops of his fingers into the band before shooting you a pleading look - his ears twitched with excitement and his tail swished with anticipation.

Pulling your bottom lip between your teeth, you nodded silently at him with a begging gleam in your eyes as he oh so slowly peeled the black, lacy garment down your legs. The second his bicolored irises landed on your glistening folds his tail puffed out and stood straight up behind him. Stooping lower, bringing his lips just inches away from yours, he inhaled deeply and was immediately submerged in your buttery, camphoraceous musk. Then he exhaled a deep, low groan that fanned air over your core sending shivers through your torso and down your limbs.

Pinning you with a hungry look as he leaned forward, licking a slow stripe up through your folds to your sensitive bundle of nerves. A stilted whimper caught in your throat from the sheer intensity of his gaze as he swirled the tip of his tongue around your clit. Pulling back slightly, his slit pupils dipped down to your sopping cunt before he dove back down and slid his tongue through your entrance.

Sweetened, musky earth preceded a resinous camphor that transported him to an evergreen forest with a damp earthen floor, mossy roots and lichen-covered bark. His eyes rolled back while he groaned desperately into you as his tongue plunged in and out of your fluttering core as more of your arousal gushed over his taste buds. You could feel his ears twitching delightedly against your inner thighs as they shook in return.

Suddenly, you emitted an obscene gasp as Sakura’s wet muscle was replaced by a lithe digit sliding through that ring of muscle to nestle in your velvety walls. He wasted no time latching his mouth around your clit as he pumped his finger in and out at a moderate pace.

“Sa-Sakura, th-that was sne-sneaky!” You stuttered out between labored breaths as tears collected in the corners of your eyes. It had been so long since you’d been with someone, and it felt like he already knew where to touch that would have you seeing God. A low chuckle escaped him as those breathtaking bicolored eyes cut up to meet yours over your heaving breasts.

“Sorry,” he breathed over you before placing a chaste kiss against your clit. “I’m gonna put a second finger in now, okay?” He asked in a low timbre, but you could see the teasing glint reflected in his irises as well as the haughty flick of his ears and tail. Wordlessly, you nodded as he was already positioning his second digit at your entrance.

A sharp cry was torn from your throat as he pushed both fingers in and immediately resumed his previous pace while stretching you out - his mouth was back on your clit not even a second later. Lewd squelching filled the small room, accompanied by your breathy moans and Sakura’s occasional grunts and groans of pleasure. Just as you felt yourself teetering over the edge, he pulled back completely - leaving you shivering under the lack of warmth.

“Wha-” you sat up and stared at him in shock as you began to ask why he stopped, but then you got too distracted by the sight of him. Greedily, you drank in the hard planes of his shoulders, chest and abdomen that lead down to his pelvis.

“I’m gonna cum soon,” Sakura explained as you watched him undo his trousers and slide them off as well. Leaving him in nothing but a pair of black compression boxers. “And I’d really like to feel you at least.” He explained his reason, but at this point you couldn’t care as your eyes drank in all that was him.

“I-it’s fine, um,” murmuring softly as your eyes focused on his sizable bulge before drifting back up to his half-lidded gaze. “Can I… taste you?” You asked cautiously, to which Sakura turned a furious shade of red.

“Absolutely not,” he snapped and you immediately stifled a laugh at his obvious embarrassment. “I wanna feel you before I cum.” He spoke purposefully as his eyes cut down between your legs and then shot back to yours.

“Then let me be on top at least,” you urged as you sat up to be nose to nose with him. Sakura’s face flushed as he gulped loudly, but still he gave you a curt nod before laying on his back. A fine dusting of pink clung to his cheeks as he watched you straddle his waist and line his leaking tip up to your entrance.

As you sank down his length, his ears flattened to the sides of his head slightly as his eyes fell shut. His twitching tail, puffed out, caressed along your calf, ghosting up your thigh to curl around your hip. As he bottomed out, you splayed your hands flat across his chest while you adjusted to his thick cock twitching deep within your gummy walls. Strained breaths passed your lips as you straightened, bringing your hands up to curl around his forearms, and parted your thighs more to take even more of him. Sakura stared in awe as your head hung back, tresses tumbling down your back, while he gripped your hips with bruising strength.

Finally, once you’d grown accustomed to his size, you snaked your hands up to his and grasped his thumbs lightly before you rose up his length until only his tip was nestled in your folds. Then, you slid back down at an experimentally ardent pace that pulled an animalistic groan from deep within Sakura’s chest. Bicolored irises peered up at you as if you were a threat and prey at the same time while you threw him an innocent smile, and then you tightened your grip on his hands before increasing your pace.

A satisfying plat plat plat bounced off the walls as you rode him with abandon. Sakura’s breathing became uneven, but otherwise he studied you wordlessly as your hair, shining in the moonlight, fluttered around you with each of your movements. Insatiable moans burst from your mouth, interspersed with salacious ah ah ah’s when you managed to hit that spongy spot just right with his tip.

Still, Sakura could feel your inner thighs trembling against his hips, see your uneven breathing and the sheen of sweat on your forehead. Patiently, he waited for the moment that you sheathed him fully again, eyes shut, wanton mewls filling the room, and then he sat up and grabbed you with such speed you barely had time to yelp. The room spun around you as air whipped past your face, and suddenly you were under him - one arm braced along your lower back while the other forearm was braced above your head. Spiced-sugared leather mingled with musky, peppered caramel like incense smoke hanging in the air around both of you. His thick, hard cock was still pressed snug to that spongy spot that had your vision going blurry, and his nose was brushing yours. Feline eyes triumphantly scanned over their prey.

Then, with a slow, deep thrust you were keening your head back into the pillows and scrambling desperately to grab hold of him. Looping your arms around his back, you immediately dug your nails into his shoulders as his tail curled comfortingly around one of your wrists. Once it seemed you had adjusted to the change in position, Sakura pulled back until his tip was kissing your entrance and then oh so slowly pressed back into your warm, velvety walls. Panting against your throat, he did everything he could to maintain control and an ardent pace. He wanted this to last as long as possible.

But that string deep in your belly was growing more and more taut with each deep thrust until your core was spasming as more of your arousal gushed around him. Your nails were finding purchase in his lithe shoulder for a sense of grounding as he continued his frustratingly slow pace. Just before you clamped down on him, Sakura pulled out rapidly leaving you crying and squirming against the bedding as you clenched around nothing.

Before you could even accuse him of being cruel, he had maneuvered you onto your hands and knees in front of his mirror at the end of the bed. He kneeled behind you, the white of his two toned hair reflecting moonlight like it were the moon itself, while his ears twitched with concentration and his tail flicked back and forth excitedly. Then, he lined his bulbous tip up to your still gushing entrance before sliding in with one quick thrust. He wasted no time grabbing your hips in a vice grip before immediately starting a brutal pace that had your ass jiggling against his pelvis each time they smacked together.

In the mirror you could see Sakura’s eyes reflecting in the moonlight and the darkness, so his slate gray eye was clearly visible while his amber eye had a reflective glow that gave him a bestial air. Then, he pressed his palm between your shoulder blades to flatten you to the bed before pulling your legs out straight and straddling your thighs. He laid over top of you, his face next to yours in the mirror as he held you under his animalistic stare. Wrapping his arms around yours, and then his hands around your wrists, he pinned them to the bed in front of you.

When he began thrusting again, you could feel the bed shaking underneath you as the frame clacked against the wall. His strong form rippled and flexed around you as he continued pistoning into you - ripping the lewdest ah ah ah’s from you than you’ve ever produced before. Clawing into the sheets as you begged him to make you cum again, to which he just growled guttural and low in response. Even through your fucked out gaze, you could see he’d become much more tiger than man at this point as his ears laid back against his head, tail swishing wildly behind him, and his expression downright possessive.

Suddenly, as if to drill the point in further, Sakura brought his lips to the crook of your neck where he bit the sensitive skin, hard, as he emitted a bestial growl. His canines stayed pressed firmly to your skin, hints of iron flooded his tongue as his hot, balsamic breath fanned down your neck and over your collarbones. His breath dampened your heated skin with each brutal thrust until he stilled behind you - hips flush to yours - while your creamy cunt milked him for all he was worth. Hot, white ropes painted the insides of your slick, gummy walls as he finally released your throat and collapsed over top of your, heavy panting still moistening your neck with his hot breaths. Hints of buttery, animalic cedarwood drifted from Sakura’s flushed skin and warred for dominance with the ambery, wood smoke emanating from you before permeating the room completely.

Eventually, he pulled you back up to the pillows and folded you into his arms before drifting off to sleep. As a dreamy abyss slowly claimed you, Sakura’s tail caressed your hip until finally curling around you for the night.

Morning light crept through the bedroom window and bathed Sakura’s face until he awoke to the spot where you were laying, cold and empty. Instantly he shot straight up, feline eyes scanning the room and ears pricked for any sign of you. Clinking and soft footsteps from the other side of the house alerted him to someone still being there, slowly he crept out of bed, slid into his boxers, and stealthily walked down the hallway to peer into the kitchen.

What he saw was you standing at the counter with your back to him, wearing nothing but your black lace panties and his white t-shirt. Still you hadn’t noticed him as you absentmindedly hummed while pouring coffee grounds into the brewer. Despite the strong smell of freshly ground coffee, Sakura could still smell you over it which silently drew him closer until he was just behind you. Wrapping his arms around your waist, he buried his nose in the crook of your neck. In the exact spot where he marked you last night.

Releasing a startled yelp as you jumped in his secure embrace, but he just tightened his arms around you. Tail swishing against your calf as he inhaled the traces of his scent still emanating from your soft skin. Wordlessly, he turned you around and walked you back to his room - ignoring your protests for coffee along the way as he promised he’d make you some later.

This was probably your first indication that last night wasn’t just a one night stand. Especially after you and Sakura went your separate ways later that day, and yet you ended up running into him all around town. It would have been odd, except for the fact that he was just as surprised as you whenever the two of you would run into each other. Almost chocking it up to a coincidence, but at some point it seemed like he was being drawn to you somehow. Proven by his pupils that would always be slit-like until they landed on you, where they would dilate with surprised delight. Or the fact that his ears would constantly be twitching - searching - for something until he’d catch sight of you, and then they would subconsciously prick towards you. At first you thought it was cute, but he honestly seemed a little perturbed by it.

After about a month, he started bringing you coffee and a baked bun while he walked you to work - seeming to just relent and lean into whatever was drawing him to you. Eventually you offered him your number and the two of you started having a weekly breakfast or lunch to catch up. The two of you started texting daily, you often sending him photos of the costume you’ve been working on, and him often asking if you’ve taken a break, eaten or drink enough water today. It seemed to make him feel better at least, and lessened the frequency in which the two of you were “running into each other”. Sakura seemed to be able to focus on his life more now that he was pretty consistently up to date on you and your whereabouts.

Though many of Sakura’s friends seemed to already pick up on what was going on, you still had no idea. About three months in Sakura, Nirei and Suo accompanied Hana to one of your cosplay competitions. Your two toned friend surprised you with a bouquet of Orchids, Snapdragons and Asters for all the hard work you’ve put in. Ambling towards your apartment with the bouquet in hand and your newfound friend at your side, you reflected on the past few months. Only then did you start to consider that maybe that Halloween wasn’t a one night stand.

When you brought up Sakura and your friendship to your best friend, she immediately asked if the two of you hooked up. Wide eyed, you admitted that yes you did, and she instantly followed up by asking if he bit you. Stunned that she could possibly know that, you just silently nodded at her. She sighed heavily and confessed that Nirei - the guy she’s been talking to since the party - was good friends with Sakura, and mentioned that he was a little freaked out for imprinting on you in the heat of the moment.

Of course you had no idea what that meant and unfortunately her information was limited, so the two of you huddled in a booth together at the cafe while Hana googled everything there is to know about hybrids and imprinting. The very first disclaimer spoke of the difficulties of dating between hybrids and non hybrids because of imprinting. It wasn’t something humans needed to do, while hybrids struggled to have fulfilling relationships without it. Though your concept of it still wasn’t extensive, you seemed to get the gist that it was a way of committing in a hybrid relationship - but in a much more intense way.

Basically, what the article illustrated was that when a hybrid imprints on a non-hybrid and isn’t imprinted back, then they may end up feeling insecure of themselves and extremely overprotective of the person they’ve imprinted on. Often this presents as the hybrid seeming “clingy” is what the article stated in layman's terms (though you really hated that terminology).

After the two of you were finished pouring over the article, about five cups of coffee drank between the both of you, Hana finally asked what you were going to do. Peering into the last dregs of the thick, brown liquid settled in the bottom of your cup, you pursed your lips in thought. After several agonizing moments of silence passed, you finally told her that you honestly weren’t sure how you felt about imprinting him back, but you definitely hated that he was left feeling this way.

Unfortunately, Hana let your conversation slip to Nirei who mentioned it to his two toned friend, so you suffered radio silence for him for a few weeks. You also didn’t see any sign of his dual toned locks during that time - the walk to your work having grown rather lonely without him. It took about three weeks to pin Sakura down to talk to him about it (and much convincing from his two friends). Finally you just showed up at his house. When he opened the door he looked a little stunned, but you walked right past him without an invitation.

“Wh-what do you think you’re doing?!” He all but shouted at you as you shrugged off your coat and hung it up in the closet by the front door.

“You imprinted on me.” You stated point blank before turning to face him with your arms crossed. He sputtered for a moment as his face grew redder and redder until he clammed up completely and looked to the other side of the room.

“I want to imprint you back, if you’re agreeable to it,” you continued matter of factly. Instantly, he whipped his head back to face you - eyes wide and pupils already thin slits as he regarded you incredulously.

“Do you even know what that means?” He asked coldly, and you nodded firmly in response. He was stuck staring at you for a long, long moment before he spoke again.

“Why.” He stated more than asked, tail swishing intimidatingly behind him.

“You’ve been feeling insecure and overprotective of me, right?” You inquired with one measured step towards him so you were staring him down. After a beat, he nodded. “And you’ve been feeling that way since Halloween, correct?” You queried, and this time he nodded without hesitation. “And it’s because I haven’t imprinted you back?” You asked simply.

“Y-yes…” he breathed out, completely ashamed.

“Then I’d like to help you stop feeling that way,” you explained gently, and immediately Sakura huffed out a sigh and all but threw his hands up in the air.

“That’s what I mean! You don’t understand,” he shot at you, ears flat against his head and tail swishing dangerously behind him. “It’s not gonna just stop! I’m never going to stop feeling this way about you, because I fucked up!” He growled, angry more at himself than you at this point. When you tilted your head in confusion, he sighed even deeper and walked past you to flop down on his couch. Slowly you followed him and gingerly sat on the cushion next to him.

“I wasn’t supposed to imprint on you, or anyone,” he admitted in a defeated tone. “It was supposed to be a one night stand, but then I got carried away.” He muttered miserably. Silently you settled into the back of the couch and listened. “Imprinting means that I… I chose you, that I want to be with you… that I depend on you.” He admitted as he slowly rested his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.

“If I let you imprint on me, then it just means that you agree to all of those things,” he said as he finally lifted his head to look at you out of the corner of his eye. “You had no idea about any of that, so I can’t just let you imprint on me if you aren’t up to that. It would be worse for my mental state,” he stated.

“But what if I am?” You ask quietly, to which Sakura immediately sat back against the couch and stared down at you in disbelief.

“It’s nowhere near the same, but humans choose their partners too,” you started gingerly and Sakura’s brow creased as he listened intently. “It’s just not so physical… It's a commitment. You choose each other every day despite the fact that everything else in life isn’t really guaranteed - you get to decide to show up for the other person through it all.” You murmured quietly. Sakura just continued to stare at you silently.

“So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that you’ve been showing up for me for months now,” you murmured earnestly, “and I’d like to show up for you if you’d let me.” You offered genuinely. Sakura stared at you in silence for several minutes before breaking the silence.

“Okay,” he uttered simply, distbelief still clearly etched into his features. That night not many words were shared between the two of you, but you stayed and made dinner. After a quiet meal, you asked if you could stay on the couch - knowing that if you went home now Sakura would insist on walking you. Again he was shocked, but agreed before awkwardly turning in for bed.

Over the next few months you took the time to really get to know Sakura, visited him around Furin, and you took it upon yourself to text him when you were going outside of your routine or wouldn’t be able to contact him. Mostly so he wasn’t a nervous wreck throughout the day.

Eventually his lease came to an end, and you offered for him to move in with you - a two bedroom apartment on the ground floor. He was apprehensive at first, but took you up on it and ended up getting to know more of his friends from University since they helped him move in.

Over the next several months you and Sakura became much more comfortable around one another, though you two chose to keep your relationship platonic so as to not complicate things. Still, most days you were reduced to a hot, prickly, blushing mess every time you saw him step out of the bathroom shirtless with water droplets flicking off his twitching ears. Or when you would walk into the kitchen and see his broad back turned to you while making himself a cup of coffee. The morning light from the little kitchen window always illuminated him, and when he’d turn to look at you his one amber eye would be shining like gold.

Despite your difficulties with remaining just roommates, you were able to learn a bit more about Sakura and his struggles in general. It took him a while to open up about just how bad people were to him before he came to Furin, but when he finally did he talked more about how welcoming everyone was to him. He said Furin was home to him, and it’s been difficult to adjust to the ‘real world’ as a cat hybrid since graduating university.

Even after months of listening and learning about him, you didn’t fully understand how terrible life could be as a hybrid until he told you about some of the ones he’s met. It took him a while to touch on the hybrid situation in your home country - something you hadn’t really considered since meeting Sakura.

Cautiously, he had asked you about how hybrids were received back home, and without missing a beat a notch formed in your brow as you shook your head and said, “I don’t think we have any where I’m from… I’ve never seen them at least.”

Sakura had looked perturbed by your answer, and was careful in the way he explained the reality of the situation. Specifically he told you of a wolf hybrid he met who moved to Japan a few years prior, alone. When Sakura had asked him about family or friends, the hybrid explained that he was the only one who got away. You sat in horrified silence as Sakura regaled the other’s life of running, hiding, and being told time and again that he wasn’t even real. That he shouldn’t exist. Finally, he told you that the hybrid made it to Japan, alone, because his family had been taken by the military for testing. But they made sure he got away.

The apartment was awkwardly quiet and tense after that conversation, and into the next few days. Sakura was thoroughly stressed out thinking that he had scared you away, or made you uncomfortable with the reality of life as a hybrid. Truly though, you were ruminating on what you could do. At heart, you were an office assistant by day and cosplayer by night, so you hadn’t gained much experience in advocating for others.

After several days mulling it over, you finally approached Sakura and asked what he does for work. A little stunned after days of awkward tension, he quietly offered his job history. Mostly physical labor jobs that weren’t public facing, and when you asked if that was by choice, due the extent of his experience, or because those are the options hybrids are offered, he told you it was the latter.

From there, you decided to start with your own place of work. Come Monday morning, you marched right into your boss’s office and asked if hybrids were allowed to work there. Awkwardly, he said that they don’t discriminate against anyone, but there aren’t many hybrids that have the education, experience or training. Without missing a beat, you asked if a hybrid who was a right fit for the position applied, then would they be given a fair shot. Again, awkwardly, your boss admitted that they would have to…

This conversation led you to creating a small teaching program for hybrids to learn administration skills like filing, computer programs, answering phones, etc. The program also helped them get certifications in their respective fields, and then assisted them to apply for positions where they knew there would be agencies to follow up with if they were discriminated against.

After that, your cosplay position blew up somewhat, which led you to seeking out hybrid cosplayers to collaborate with. You worked with your new allies and old cosplay friends to gain support in speaking up for hybrids trying to make it in the cosplay world. From there, your little group of cosplay-activists started a PSA program that basically spread the word about how limited resources lead to stagnant career options for hybrids. With a bit more traction and money, you and your fellow cosplayers started an advocacy program that has set annual goals to not just maintain hybrid rights, but to expand them as well.

The point of the program was more so the public could take over pushing for expanded rights, and not just the founders of the program (you and your cosplay friends). From there, you and the other founders worked with the teaching program you originally created to start a college scholarship program for hybrids to try to close the education gap somewhat.

As the months passed since that conversation, Sakura was shocked to see how much change had occurred in real time around him. Truly, he never expected you to be able to go so far, or that you actually cared that much. What he had expected was sympathy or pity, but the more people you talked to and coordinated with, and the harder you all worked led to the job market opening up to hybrids in a lot of ways. Especially proven when Sakura no longer had to work in Rickhouses or assembly lines, but could actually use his education to attain an office position.

Eventually the Hybrid Advocacy Program really took on a life of its own, and allowed you to focus back on cosplay which had become your full time job at this point. Though you had stayed busy, you had of course been able to keep up with Hana over the past year. Which gave her the opportunity to sprinkle into the weekly conversation between the two of you about if or when you would imprint Sakura back.

“Living together is still so new…” you’d hem, “and I want him to feel comfortable, since I’m the first roommate he’s had, so I don’t know…” then you’d hah. “I just don’t wanna complicate things right now.” You would respond with an awkward wave of your hand, or some variation to that effect.

You and Sakura remained platonic friends so as to not exacerbate the imprinting issue, but at the next Halloween party it finally came to a head. This year Sakura chose to go as himself again, and you decided to branch away from being a witch - though Sakura said you could’ve definitely worn it again - and decided to go as Karen from Mean Girls’. Even though you made Sakura watch the movie, he didn’t quite get it, but Hana thought it would be hilarious.

Despite being used to wearing skimpy garments for cosplay, you felt a little out of your depth wearing straight up lingerie, knee high white socks, your Mary Janes, and mouse ears. Still, you felt comfortable knowing the guys at the party would mostly be Sakura’s old university friends. Even Sakura, who was usually shy to so much exposed skin, didn’t bat an eye at the thin fabric that barely covered your thighs or your bosom.

The moment the two of you walked into the party, several Furin jackets swarmed Sakura as old faces started hugging and joking with him. Almost immediately one of their girlfriend’s approached and asked what you were and right on cue, you pointed at the ears and said.

“I’m a mouse, duh.” In the ditsiest way you could, to which she burst out laughing.

“Karen?! From Mean Girls?!” She squealed, and both of you fell out laughing at the reference as you bobbed your head. Though you were absolutely oblivious, it was pretty hard for the other Furin alumni not to notice how their friend was entranced by you. Bicolored eyes drank in your wide grin as his ears subtly twitched in tune with your melodic laugh.

The party was shaping up to be quite a blast - you even got Sakura to play a few rounds of beer pong, and of course he was unsurprisingly apt at the game. Much to the chagrin of others. Though eventually he was pulled into a private conversation with some of his old buddies, so you went off to find Hana. As you passed through the kitchen in search of your friend, out of nowhere you were stopped by a rather tall guy with dark brown hair and a cheshire grin.

“Hey, I like your costume,” he said as his eyes raked down the lingerie you donned for your costume, and for the first time since you arrived you felt like you should’ve brought a shawl or something to wrap up in.

“Uh, thanks… I like yours too,” you offered half heartedly as you looked over his bowtie t-shirt and casual jeans. His grin broadened as he took a step closer to you. “Ac-actually, have you seen Hana? The girl who threw the party?” You blurted out as you took a step backwards to maintain distance.

“No I haven’t, but I can help you look for her,” he offered as he took another step towards you.

“N-no that’s okay!” You said with a bright smile, “I’m sure I’ll find her around here somewhere.” Then you turned to go back the way you came, but he stepped in front of you - blocking your escape route.

“By the way, did you come here with anyone?” He asked, completely ignoring your obvious attempt to leave.

“Yes I did,” you said immediately while peering over his shoulder for your two toned companion.

“Oh yeah, the hybrid,” he sneered slightly. “But like, are you here with anyone? A boyfriend? Anyone you’re interested in?” He asked pointedly, stooping down to be closer to your face while awaiting your response. Unbeknownst to you, the word ‘hybrid’ had filtered out of the room, but Sakura ignored it - not wanting to start a fight here. But Hana walked right into the group of alumni and grabbed him by the sleeve before dragging him to the entryway of the kitchen in time to catch your response.

“Yes I am here with someone, and yes I am interested in someone,” you spat back at him - your blood pressure rising from his sheer audacity. The guy's grin faltered slightly before he plastered it back on. Sakura almost stepped between the two of you upon hearing your tone, but Hana held him back while glaring daggers at the back of the guy’s head. Still you hadn’t noticed them.

“Oh really? Who?” He asked, tauntingly this time.

“The Hybrid - Sakura Haruka.” You stated while crossing your arms over your chest, and this time when the guy’s grin faltered he didn’t try to put the grin back on. Instead he took a menacing step towards you - forcing you to step back into the counter.

Before he could move any closer though, a black and white blur flew from the entryway of the kitchen and collided with the brunette man. The next thing you knew, Sakura had the guy’s torso bent over with his face pressed into the tiled island. Blinking rapidly, you looked from where the guy was pinned to the entryway of the kitchen where Hana was still standing, and looked absolutely pissed at the guy currently restrained on her kitchen island. When she did meet your gaze, she flashed you the brightest of smiles.

“No notes!” She called to you as she clapped her hands together. “Sakura, could you be a dear and show him the door?” Hana asked kindly and without missing a beat, Sakura yanked the guy off the island and dragged him through the house to the front door already being held open by Suo. After tossing him through the doorway, Suo swiftly shut the door, and then Sakura returned to the kitchen where you were still standing against the counter, a little stunned. Before you could speak or even apologize for the nature of the conversation, Sakura gave you a pointed look.

“Wanna go home?” He offered quietly, and you nodded gratefully - feeling embarrassed and very exposed at this point.

Hana threw you a knowing smile as Sakura led you out the backdoor. The two of you walked across the porch where you two first met, past the railing where he first kissed you, and down the wooden steps toward the back alley that led out to the cement sidewalk. The whole way home, his tail curled possessively around your lower back.

Though you didn’t mention it, the two of you had remained staunchly friends since that last Halloween, but the way he was touching you now didn’t feel platonic at all. When the two of you entered the apartment, his tail didn’t leave your waist as he let you hold onto his shoulder while you unstrapped and kicked off your shoes. Like he usually did after your competitions. As soon as you let him go, Sakura turned and raked his eyes over your costume. Heat pooled in your lower belly as his pupils became slit like before meeting yours again.

“I really like your costume this year,” susurrating as he stepped closer to you. Air hitched in your throat as his scent enveloped you, the heat radiated out from him over the short distance to where you stood. “Y’know it’s been years since I’ve played cat and mouse,” he murmured with a serene smile as he gently flicked your mouse ear with his pointer finger. His ears twitched and tail flicked over his shoulder, his expression had become downright predacious.

Truly, even Sakura a year ago hadn’t been this forward or hungry, but for some reason it quelled your nerves and spiked your heart rate in an exciting way. A slight smile tugged at the corners of your mouth as you subtly peered around the apartment - mapping out your route. Sakura’s tail flicked expectantly - his keen eyes already clocking the way you intended to take.

Suddenly, you lurched to the left and Sakura followed your movement, before you spun to the right and dashed by him, shrieking with laughter the whole way. He was right on your heels though, until you made it to the other side of the island in the kitchen where you spun to face him. Sakura was positioned on the opposite side, ears pricked and tail swishing as he watched intently for your next move.

Crying with laughter, you faked to the left only to stop short and shoot to the right towards the hallway. Sakura followed your fake, only to spin around at a speed you honestly didn’t even realize a hybrid was capable of, and then sprinted after you down the hall. Once you burst through the bedroom door, your options were limited as you moved deeper into the room and then spun to face your “attacker”. But apparently Sakura could be absolutely silent when he wanted to be, because he was already standing right in front of you.

Before you could make another move, he grabbed you by the waist and tossed you on the bed - you spilling giggles the whole way onto the bouncing bedspread. Not even a second later, Sakura was on top of you with your wrists pinned above your head. Creamy, resinous leather mingled with hints of damp, balsamic smoke permeating the silence with your mixed redolence. Nose to nose now, the two of you were locked in a staring contest as your uneven breaths fanned each other’s ruddy cheeks.

“Next year you should be a bunny,” he suggested with a smirk. Your brows creased slightly through your giggles, but before you could ask what he meant he reached down and laid a wide, warm palm over your racing heart.

“Bunny heart,” he taunted softly, feline eyes gleaming down at you. At that, you couldn’t help but throw your head back into the pillows with laughter.

“Can we still play cat and mouse even when I’m a bunny?” You asked with a mischievous grin.

“Absolutely,” whispering as he leaned closer and slotted his lips between yours. It’d been a year since you had last tasted Sakura, and he was just as intoxicating as before. As sharp canines nipped at your bottom lip, eliciting a gasp from you, his tongue slipped between your lips to intertwine with yours. Old fashioned, sugared fruit swirled with buttery, spiced musk before bursting across your taste buds. Soft mewls cascaded from you into Sakura’s mouth, where he drank them down greedily as he pressed his hips in between your thighs while his tail caressed and curled around your ankle.

Parting from the kiss, Sakura inhaled deeply along the column of your neck until his lips hovered above the imprint mark that still showed lightly along the sensitive skin. Warm breath fanned over your neck and collarbone, gooseflesh broke out over your body as his teeth skimmed across the mark lightly, and then he pressed a chaste kiss to the center of it.

Moving down, he continued pressing chaste kisses along your collarbone until his lips were just above your hammering heart.

“Bunny Heart,” he repeated as a pair of bicolored, feline eyes cut up to meet yours before he nipped the top of your breast, and then pressed another chaste kiss above the wildly beating organ. This time you didn’t laugh though as that string deep in your core tightened slightly while a soft whine escaped your trembling lips.

Ever so slowly, he curled his fingers under the straps of your lingerie and pulled it down your arms and torso, as the valley between your breasts was revealed his lips swiftly attached to your sternum. Your lingerie now pooled around your waist as his fingertips ghosted back over your black lace bra and followed the band to the clasp in the back where he deftly unhooked, and then removed the garment. His slit pupils suddenly expanded until his irises were blackened as his gaze roamed over your bare chest, pert nipples and then up to your wide eyes accentuated by the mouse ears still atop your head.

Pulling your lingerie down your body, followed by your black lace panties - leaving you completely nude except for the mouse ears - his eyes shot back up to your face. Sakura had never looked so predator-like before as his pupils had subsided to partial slits, his ears pricked towards any movement or sound you may make, and tail swishing back and forth behind him in anticipation.

“Can you keep the ears on?” He asked in a low tone you’ve never heard him use before. With a small nod of your head, his ears twitched and tail did a triumphant flick before he descended upon your sensitive nipples. Nipping gently, and then taking one nipple completely in his mouth as his eyes rolled back, his palm wrapped around your other breast.

Sweet, earthy amber swirled across his tongue as he groaned delightedly against your chest. Gasping at the sudden sensation, you carded your fingers through his hair and held him close, your fingertips tickled and rubbed at one of his ears causing him to grind pleasingly against your core. Growing impatient, he released your plush mounds to delve lower to your already dripping folds where he grabbed the backs of your thighs and pushed your legs up towards your chest. Protests formed on the tip of your tongue, but then you felt him nuzzle your clit with his nose and inhale deeply eliciting a small squeak from you.

Sakura almost chuckled at the similarities between your costume and the sounds you could make, but he was far too absorbed in your aroma - wet, sweet musk - filled his senses. Latching his mouth over your already thrumming cunt, he wasted no time plunging his tongue through your glistening folds to taste you thoroughly. Creamy, sweet camphor spilled over his tongue, urging him to groan and bury his face deeper between your thighs. His wet muscle glided along your gummy walls, only to slide up and swirl around your clit before plunging back in to lick up more of the arousal flowing from your core.

The position you were in, the sounds echoing around the room, the sensations you were feeling, the way Sakura was groaning directly into you… It was all so much that you had to cover your blushing face as even more lewd and salacious moans poured past your lips. That is until Sakura’s grip on your thighs tightened enough to make you peek through your fingers at his slitted pupils.

“Don’t hide from me,” he growled against you, causing your hands to shoot down to fist in the sheets at your sides. Overstimulated tears collected along your lash line as his merciless tongue worked you closer to the brink. Just as the euphoric abyss was coming to claim you, he pulled away completely and let your thighs drop onto his folded legs.

“Sa-Sakura,” you sobbed in betrayal as the tears began to plop and then run down your cheeks. Soothingly, he rubbed your trembling thigh as he studied your frustrated tears intently through half lidded eyes.

“Sorry - I didn’t want to get carried away,” he murmured softly as his eyes roamed over your flushed, heaving bosom. His wide palm ghosted up your torso quickly thereafter until he lightly wrapped his hand around your throat and bent down to capture your lips. Flavorful notes of your own arousal mixed with Sakura’s rich animalistic musk swiped across your tongue with every one of his movements. Too absorbed in tasting him that you didn’t notice Sakura slyly undo his jeans and shuck them as well as his boxers off before lining his tip up to your fluttering entrance.

With one quick roll of his hips, Sakura bottomed out completely. A strained breath puffed past his lips into your mouth as you clenched around him and adjusted to his girth. Occasionally he would twitch, the bulbous head of his cock nudging that spongy spot that had you arching your back off the bed and your nails scrabbling against his biceps.

Then, canting his hips back so his veiny length dragged so slowly across your gummy walls - allowing you to feel every inch of him - before slamming back into you. Immediately he started out at a brutal pace, the satisfying plat plat plat of his hips meeting yours along with the lewd squelching of your sopping cunt sucking him back in over and over again… it was enough to push you towards insanity.

As the tip of his length began kissing your cervix over and over, the string in your core grew taut until it completely snapped. The heat pooled in your lower belly was electrified as it shot through your veins, over your hips all the way to your fingertips and curling toes. Euphoria washed over you as satisfied tears trickled down your flushed cheeks. Sakura could only watch in stunned silence as he first felt your velvety walls clamp down on him and pulse with fervor, and then your trembling thighs that turned into shivers running up and down your body until you fell limp beneath him.

Smoothing your hair away from your dampened forehead as dual colored irises flitted over your face until you finally cracked your eyes and peered up at him. A smile tugged at your lips when you saw his ears prick at the sight of you coming to, and the feeling of his tail gingerly tracing your upper thigh and over your hip. Gently, you reached up and cupped his face before touching your nose to his, causing his tail to flick haughtily against your hip but otherwise his ears twitched in delight.

“I need a break,” you murmured tiredly and Sakura nodded in agreement as he lifted off of you and wandered towards the kitchen to grab some water. “I wanna be on top when you come back though!” You call out into the hallway, immediately you heard a plastic cup clattering across the kitchen floor and Sakura cursing lightly.

When he returned, his face was bright red and his tail was puffed out slightly as he handed you the cup of water. Stifling a giggle, you sipped the water with a mischievous smirk as Sakura settled next to you - his tail flicking against your calf repeatedly, though you were sure it was a subconscious tick on his part.

Setting the cup down, you made sure your mouse ears were straight before swiftly moving to straddle Sakura. Surprised, he immediately grabbed your hips and stared up at you wide eyed, pupils dilating and turning back to slits before dilating once more. Throwing him a grin as you lined his tip up and ardently sank down the length of his cock - allowing yourself to feel every inch until he was bottomed out completely.

A desperate whine emitted from somewhere deep in Sakura’s chest as his fingers sank into your plush hips bruisingly. Just like last year, you gingerly wrapped your hands around his thumbs before lifting off his lap until only his tip was nestled in your folds, and then sank back down at a marginally faster pace than before. Your two toned partner was left a panting, whining mess below you as he begged you to go faster.

Instead, you kept that same, agonizing pace as he pleaded with you for more. Just as it seemed he was about to teeter off the edge into insanity himself, you delicately cupped his cheeks and brought your lips a breaths away from his. Silence filled the room as everything seemed to still, even his and your breathing. Until you broke the silence with one simple question.

“Sakura,” you started and his ears pricked up, “can I imprint you?” Susurrating the words, your sweet breath fanned his lips, replacing the breath you stole from his lungs with hints of vanilla and aged whiskey barrels. Slowly his tail curled around your ankle and flicked softly against your calf. A pregnant pause passed as bicolored eyes searched yours for any sign of deceit.

“Please,” he murmured and though that’s about the only thing he had been saying for the past several minutes, this time the desperation and need was far more genuine.

Resuming your gradual pace as you turned Sakura’s head to the side and brought your lips to the crook of his neck. Inhaling him deeply, then you exhaled your breath over his damp skin sending a shiver through his lithe body. Then, as you threaded your fingers into his hair on the opposite side of his head, you sank your teeth into his neck as he began bucking his hips up into you. Bouncing back against his pelvis sent shock waves of pleasure through your core as you continued to bite firmly while sucking a purple mark into his neck. Suddenly, Sakura started moving your hips down his length for you as a desperate mewl passed through his gritted teeth.

“Harder,” he pleaded desperately, but when you didn’t get it at first he brought one hand up to grip the back of your head and growled, “bite me harder.”

Determined, you sank your teeth in until you could taste iron on your tongue, and for a moment you were afraid you went too far, but then Sakura released a guttural groan. Then, you felt his hips still as he held you flush against him in a vice grip as his cum filled you and mixed with the creamy ring at the base of his cock.

Releasing his neck, you gently licked the broken skin as Sakura wrapped an arm around your lower back, his panting filled the room. His tail was completely smooth now as it delicately caressed the back of your calf. After several minutes you pulled back to peer down at him, his dual colored irises peered back at you through half lidded eyes.

“I love you Sakura Haruka,” you murmured while gently stroking his jaw with your fingertips. Instantly, his tail puffed out and his ears laid flat to the sides of his head as a bright red blush broke out over his face. A deafening silence filled the room as you patiently waited for him to speak.

“I-I lo-love you to-too,” he averted his eyes to the other side of the room as the phrase stuttered through his teeth. Even though his voice was timid, his arms tightened around you and his tail curled possessively around your ankle as he gripped the back of your head and brought your lips to the crook of his neck again.

The two of you remained like that for quite some time before he rolled on his side and pulled you even tighter into his chest. His tail flicked over your hip until it laid flat over your waist and along your lower back as he drifted off to sleep, you following not far behind.

The next morning arrived with you laying in Sakura’s bed, alone. Shooting straight up, you peered around the room for your two toned roommate as you grabbed his white t-shirt and threw it on. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and the gentle clinking of ceramic drew you towards the kitchen. Peering around the corner of the hallway, you spied your roommate, clad only in his black compression boxers. His wide back facing you, but by the twitch of his ears you could tell that he already knew you were there.

Still, you stealthily tiptoed across the linoleum until you were inches away from him, and then looped your arms around his torso before burying your face into his back. Gingerly, his tail wrapped around the back of your thigh and flicked at the back of your knee as a serene smile spread across his face. Taking a slight step backwards, you began tugging him towards the hallway.

“Hey,” he chided you playfully as he shot you a look over his shoulder, “I thought you’d want coffee.” He said as he gestured towards the waiting ceramic mugs.

“Later,” you said in a commanding tone as you continued dragging him back to bed. Tittering softly, he let you lead him away for a lazy day in bed.

Maybe a week into November, Sakura asked you officially to be his partner and of course you agreed - much to the relief of his friends. Only a couple of short months later he was able to branch out with work, and moved to an extremely hybrid-friendly office. There, he met a ton of people who were passionate about raising the quality of life for hybrids.

With some trusted colleagues, he worked to create a program that assists foreign hybrids with home and job placement. The program also covered investigative duties towards crimes against hybrids - since the law and court systems were still behind in treating their cases fairly. Often he would credit you for inspiring him to create the program, but you just laugh him off every time.

“But you’re the one who originally inspired me,” you’d remind him with a prideful grin. Per usual he’d turn three shades redder, but now he’d smile serenely at you and accept your genuinely kind words.

Come next Halloween, the two of you were not only officially a couple but also living in a house together. Of course that meant that there were no pet restrictions or fees, and even though you should have expected it, turns out your partner adores cats.

Currently, the two of you made your way to Hana and Nirei’s Halloween Party - you as a bunny and Sakura as none other than himself, once again. Sakura’s tail curled with a comforting possessiveness around your lower back as you peered at him out of the corner of your eye.

“So, I was thinking,” you started quietly, and his bicolored eyes flicked to yours to show you he’s listening before you continued, “we should open a cat cafe.” You posed with an arch of your brow and cautious tilt of your head.

“Really?” He asked incredulously with a small puff of laughter past his lips.

“Well yeah! After we took in Jax, Steph, Liz, Big Tonka and Larry…” A pair of gray and amber irises threw a sideways glance at you over all the furry friends that just so happened to follow him home. “Look, I love all of them. Dearly.” You began gravely, “but they gotta start pulling their weight around here!” Crying out jokingly as you threw your hands up in the air.

”The biggest one is like 12 pounds and the smallest is like 8… they're pulling less than 50 pounds between the four of them - max,” he said in a deadpan tone.

”Every ounce counts!” You retorted decisively with an airy laugh.

Sakura couldn’t muster a response as he drank in your carefree expression before raking his eyes over your skimpy bunny costume, including the fluffy tail and long ears atop your head. Two toned ears twitched appreciatively as his tail flicked along your back and then wrapped around your waist, followed by his arm tucking you tightly into his side. Wrapping your arms around his torso, you grinned against his chest while a soft purring vibrated your cheek as that familiar row house came into view.

*Sakura's Scent inspiration was changed due to Scout Dixon being a very not a good person (I found out recently / am new to the perfume world). Though I kept Incarnate in there because so much of his scent is based on it and it feels weird to edit it out without an explanation, but Black Iris basically has the same profile barring one or two notes.

#wind breaker x reader #windbreaker x reader #sakura haruka x reader #sakura x reader #fluff #ns/fw #soft sakura haruka #sp’s headspace #pernesophe #kinktober #flufftober2024 #halloween #haruka sakura x reader

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