#because He has forgiven us we can go to meet any would-be killers with love in our hearts and forgiveness on our lips | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

starryhyuck · 4 years

Text

falling star (m) | prince!hyuck

pairing: donghyuck x reader

words: 7k+

summary: you’re betrothed to the handsome prince donghyuck, but when your life is put in danger, you’re unsure if you can trust him.

genre: fluff, angst, smut

warnings: prince!donghyuck, princess!reader, soulmate!au, mentions of death, unprotected sex, public sex, sex in prison lmao, impregnation, little bit of voyeurism

basically i rewatched moon lovers and i turned this fic into a kdrama,,, thank you for 1k followers!!

terms to know:

gongju - princess

jeonha - king

seja-jeonha - crown prince (next in line for the throne)

wangja - son of a king and a concubine

daegun - prince, but not made to be king

You first experience heartbreak when you are only three years old.

You watched as your mother faded before you, her life escaping her body as she consumed the dark poison hidden in her tea. You remember all of the servants rushing to her aid, screaming for someone to fetch the physician. It wasn’t until minutes later that someone realized you were still in the room, carrying you away as you cried for your mother.

Since that day, you’ve carried yourself with a heavy heart.

There were numerous whispers roaming around the castle — most of them talking about how you were a witness to your mother’s death, and how you never recovered. They weren’t wrong.

Your mother’s killer was never clearly identified. All of the servants in the palace had been thoroughly questioned but many false accusations were made and your father, who was in the depths of his grief, decided to kill the wrongly accused. He never launched a full investigation and instead, attended to you and your siblings to prolong the mourning period.

Your father became a more gentle king after his wife’s death. Wars ceased and the plantation in the kingdom became more fruitful after your father diverted the kingdom’s expenses. He did not take on any more lovers and focused on his palace and his children.

You, however, became cautious as you grew up in the palace, afraid that your mother’s killer still walks before you.

“Gongju, shouldn’t you be carrying out your duties?”

You blink when Mark rounds the corner, taking a seat beside you. The both of you rest peacefully underneath one of the blossoming trees, but you should know that your brother cannot keep silent for long.

“Donghyuck arrives today.”

“Good for him.”

Mark sighs. “I know you do not wish to be married, but-“

“But nothing,” you hiss, standing up and brushing off the dust on your skirt. Chaeyoung, your attending lady, rushes to your side once she sees your movement. She bows deeply in recognition of your brother’s presence. “If Taeyong wants to marry me off so carelessly, then so be it.”

“You know that’s not true-“

You don’t allow him to finish his sentence, walking off with Chaeyoung in step behind you. She says nothing but you can tell she wants to interfere.

Chaeyoung has been your best friend since you were younger, assigned to be your personal lady when you both were only eight years old. Chaeyoung knew you better than anyone else, and she understood your hatred towards your upcoming marriage.

It was only days ago when Taeyong, your oldest brother and crown prince, decided to persuade your father into finding you a suitable marriage. You were of age to be married and if you did not find a suitable partner in time, the palace would begin to murmur.

Donghyuck was a prince from a neighboring kingdom, sent by his brother, Moon Taeil, to arrange a marriage between you. Since Donghyuck was a result of one of his father’s affairs, he had no chance of becoming the king of his own palace. Taeil still loved his brother dearly and wanted to find him a good match.

Unluckily, that match was you.

You run into Taeyong on your way back to your quarters, and you offer him a bow.

“Seja-jeonha, nice to see you.”

He smiles tightly at Chaeyoung and asks her to excuse himself as he pulls you aside.

“You are supposed to be on the palace steps to greet Prince Donghyuck. He traveled five days just to meet you, you know.”

“Such a long time for something so disappointing.”

It’s clear Taeyong is distressed by your blatant disobedience. It’s not often a princess rejects a marriage offer, but you can’t help but be displeased. You’ve never wanted a conventional marriage and you hoped your father would never set you up for one.

“You’re lucky that Donghyuck accepted the offer. You know that most of father’s advisors wished to send you off like we did with Naeun. I’m grateful for Donghyuck so we could still have you in the palace.”

You know deep down that Taeyong means the best. He hates when his family is separated, and all of you were particularly saddened when Naeun was married off a year ago, leaving the palace to be with her husband. Because of the long travel and royal duties, you haven’t been able to see her since she left.

You understand why he wants you to get married so quickly. If you don’t marry Donghyuck now, your father’s advisors would convince him to marry you to another prince from a far kingdom.

You sigh. Although you don’t want to get married anytime soon, you’d rather stay in the palace than be forced to leave. “I understand, Taeyong. I’ll play my part if I need to. Is he at least good-looking?”

Taeyong laughs. “Yes, he’s quite handsome.”

“Excuse me, seja-jeonha.” Eunuch Kim bows deeply as he stands in front of you two.

“You can just call me Taeyong, Doyoung. We’ve been over this.”

You know, however, that no matter how many times Taeyong says it, Doyoung could never go against the honorifics.

“Gongju’s presence is requested at the front of the palace. Prince Donghyuck is arriving soon.”

You purse your lips. “I’ll be right there.”

He nods, bowing before stepping away. Taeyong envelopes you into a hug.

He whispers in your ear. “This is what’s best for you, forgive me.”

“You don’t need to be forgiven,” you mumble back, feeling slightly guilty that you’ve made your brother think so.

Once you part, you smile at Chaeyoung, who has been waiting patiently for you.

“Shall we?”

You two make your way to the front steps of the palace, where most of the palace is eagerly waiting to see the prince.

“Jeonha,” you greet your father, occupying the spot next to him. He smiles at you.

“You look lovely today. Excited to meet Donghyuck?”

You offer him your best fake smile. “Of course.”

Soldiers announce Donghyuck’s arrival before the gates of the palace are opened up for him. He comes in riding his horse, stopping in front of the palace steps and dismounting. He’s quick to bow and you’re a little taken out of breath.

Taeyong was right. He’s very handsome.

“Welcome, Prince Donghyuck,” your father shouts for the palace to hear. You can spot your other two brothers, Jeno and Seokmin, murmuring with each other as they eye Donghyuck. “We’re grateful that you have made the long trip to our kingdom.”

Donghyuck is listening to the king’s words yet he hasn’t taken his eyes off of you.

“Yes, I appreciate that jeonha has so graciously allowed me into the palace.”

You stare at him the same way he stares at you, and your father grins happily.

“Eunuch Kim will show you to your temporary quarters.”

Jungwoo is pushed forward by Doyoung, who gives him a stern expression. Jungwoo was new to the palace and Doyoung often needed to take care of him since he was head eunuch.

Donghyuck is escorted off and your eyes follow his figure.

Your father chuckles. “You two will get along just fine.”

—

Contrary to popular belief, Donghyuck hasn’t visited you since his arrival.

You’ve spent days waiting for him in your room, working on your studies and watching your door in case it swings open. You’re disappointed by his lack of interest in you, especially because you can still feel the warmth of his gaze from your first meeting.

You find out later from Jungwoo what he’s been up to.

“Wangja has been having trips with daegun, did he not tell you?”

Your eye twitches. “Donghyuck has been with Mark this entire time?”

“Yes, gongju. They have been eating together in the dining hall. I apologize for not telling you earlier.”

Jesus, was Donghyuck trying to marry Mark?

“It’s fine, Jungwoo. I’ll find them myself.”

He bows and you take off in search of your brother and fiancé. You ask Chaeyoung to stay behind and she takes to arranging your room in the meantime. You find the two figures near the river, and you narrow your eyes.

“Having fun?” You call out, and both of them turn around. Donghyuck bows at the sight of you.

Mark chuckles. “Yes, we were actually just speaking about you. Come join us.”

“No, it’s alright. I’ll leave you two to be acquainted with each other. It’s not like I’m the one marrying him after all.”

Mark rolls his eyes at your tantrum but Donghyuck seems to be thoroughly alarmed at your distress.

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

You, however, are highly offended and turn the other direction. You hear footsteps quickly follow you.

“I apologize, gongju. I did not mean to upset you.”

You sigh at the sound of Donghyuck’s voice. “Why have you not come to see me?” You question in a small voice.

You can hear the smile in his tone as he walks alongside you. “In all honestly, I have never been in the presence of such beauty before. I hope you can understand that I was a little intimidated.”

You cough, slightly embarrassed. “Where did you learn that from? I know Mark couldn’t have taught you that.”

He chuckles. His eyes are once again focused intently on you.

“I’m afraid no one has taught me anything. I was telling the truth, much to your dismay.”

You two walk on the palace grounds as the moonlight illuminates your figures. The servants nearby whisper at the sight of you two together.

“Well, regardless of your fear, I would enjoy if you would take my company. We are going to be married in case you’ve forgotten.”

He grins at the clip in your tone. “I remember quite well. I would love to have dinner with you tomorrow if you desire my company so badly.”

You ignore the smirk playing at his lips.

“Tomorrow shall be acceptable. I hope you will be able to step up in the future, Donghyuck, as I am not content with marrying a man who doesn’t speak to me.”

He laughs. “I apologize for disappointing you.”

You turn to face him as you stop in front of your quarters. His eyes are locked with yours, and he seems intent on staring at you until you grow more and more bashful. You think he’s about to lean in until-

“Ah, there are the two lovebirds!”

You huff at the disruption. Seokmin slides next to you, throwing an arm around your shoulder.

“Has my sister been living up to your expectations, Prince Donghyuck?”

Donghyuck smiles and you can tell he’s a little upset by Seokmin’s arrival. His heavy gaze is still focused on you.

“She’s been exceeding every possible expectation if I’m being truly honest,” he murmurs.

“Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard someone say that.”

You elbow your brother’s side. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

“Nowhere else to be but with my lovely sister and her fiancé!”

You roll your eyes and shove his arm off of you. You step forward to open the doors of your personal area in the palace.

“Well, I’m going to bed.” You turn around once again to face Donghyuck. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

He smiles. “I’ll count the minutes. Sweet dreams, gongju.”

You enter your quarters in time to hear Seokmin say, “Smooth talker, aren’t you?”

You shake your head and smile, closing the doors behind you. You chew on your bottom lip and laugh. Who knew a prince would turn your insides into mush?

You greet the guards awaiting by your bedroom door and settle inside. Chaeyoung has made you your nightly tea, something you drink each night to help you sleep. You often had sporadic nightmares about your mother’s death and it was hard to fall into slumber most days.

As you raise the cup to your lips, the smell wafts through your nose.

It’s the same smell from when your mother was poisoned.

“Guards! Guards!” You call frantically, and they burst into your room, eyes scanning for any intruders.

You drop the cup of tea, watching as it shatters all over your floor. “Gongju!” One of the guards yells, rushing over to you and pulling you away from the scene.

It all happens frantically then — your father and brothers are all brought over when they hear that you’ve almost been poisoned. Jeno holds you as your father commands all of the guards to find the perpetrator.

The only thing you’re able to envision is your mother’s body lying on the floor, completely lifeless before your eyes.

—

“It wasn’t her!”

“How can you be so sure? She’s your closest servant and the only one who would have access to your room during those ungodly hours!”

“It’s not Chaeyoung!”

“Enough!” Your father commands, his voice booming throughout the throne room. You scoff and turn away from Taeyong.

He’s convinced that Chaeyoung was the one who put the poison in your drink, but you would never believe that she would bring harm into your life. You trusted her with every fiber in your being.

The rest of your brothers are oddly silent, and you presume that they agree with Taeyong. Your father is stricken by grief at the idea of losing one of his daughters like he lost his wife. His judgment is clouded, much like it was seventeen years ago.

“Please jeonha,” you beg him. All five of you are facing the throne and you almost sink to your knees. “Please do not allow this person to get away again.”

Your father glances at you solemnly.

“It has to be him,” Jeno speaks up. All of your eyes dart over to him. He stands proudly, eyes locked on your father. “Lee Donghyuck just arrived and our sister was almost poisoned. This cannot be a coincidence.”

Mark furrows his eyebrows. “It’s not him! I’ve been spending the past few days getting to know him.”

“He’s spent the past few days deceiving you,” Seokmin hisses at his younger brother. “I agree with Jeno. I was just outside of gongju’s quarters with him when she almost consumed the poison. It is too suspicious for us to not investigate, jeonha.”

“He wouldn’t,” you frown, coming to Donghyuck’s defense. You had only known him for a matter of days but you knew, deep down, that he would never try to maliciously hurt you.

“You trust too easily,” Jeno scolds. He turns his attention back to the man sitting on the throne. “I think we should launch a full investigation on both Lee Donghyuck and Park Chaeyoung.”

“It’s not them!” Your exclaim in horror, trying your best to undo your brothers’ words. “Please, jeonha! Please don’t convict the wrong murderer!”

You try your best to plead with your father, but he’s made up his mind.

“Jeno and Seokmin, I want you to conduct the investigation immediately. Find out who did it.”

You drop to your knees, sobbing in frustration at your father’s ignorance.

—

It’s late at night when you sneak into the palace prison.

You’ve managed to climb out of your window, hidden beneath one of your dark ensembles. Mark has been helping you unlike the rest of your family, distracting the guards long enough for you to enter the prison grounds.

You scramble against the cell door when you catch sight of Chaeyoung. She looks like she’s in incredibly poor shape — her face is completely drained of color and her body is limp against the wall.

“Chaeyoung!” You whisper, awaking her from her sleep. Her eyes widen at the sight of you, rapidly getting up and crawling to the door.

“Gongju, I did not do it, I swear-“

“I know you didn’t, Chaeyoung,” you assure her. She relaxes at your words. “I’m going to find out who did. Can you tell me what happened when you brought the tea into my room?”

“I just did my normal routine,” she explains breathily. “I brought the tea to your room, left a cup out for you, and went back to my own quarters. It’s the same thing I do every night. I didn’t notice anyone unusual when I left.”

“And the guards? What about them?”

“They were in their usual positions, standing beside the door and waiting for you to return from your walk with Donghyuck. That’s all I can remember, I swear.”

You nod. “Don’t worry, okay? I’m going to get you out of here. Just tell Jeno and Seokmin exactly what you told me.”

You hear a commotion outside and your body stiffens. You can hear Mark’s voice trying to distract the guards and you quickly stand.

“I’ll come back to see you again, okay? Don’t worry.”

Just as you’re about to exit the prison, you hear another voice calling out to you.

“Not even going to acknowledge your loving fiancé?”

You pause. Mark is slowly making progress outside, choosing his method of distraction as telling the guards a story about how he once ran straight into a wall.

When you turn, you see Donghyuck in his own cell, knees bent to his chest as he leans against the cold wall. You feel guilty that he’s put in this place but you’re reminded of what your brothers said — you barely know this man. For all you knew, his true intentions coming here were never to marry you.

“Did you?”

There’s a pause. He laughs. “Do you think I did?”

“I’m not in the mood to decipher your encrypted messages.”

“Gongju, when I confessed to you that night, I truly meant it. I’ve never been with a woman before and seeing such a perfect one become my fiancé took me by surprise. I thought we had a mutual understanding of one another.”

“We barely know each other,” you reply under your breath.

“But you felt it, didn’t you? You felt that connection between us. The astronomers say that when the timing is right and the stars align, soulmates find each other.”

You’ve heard the tale before. Your mother used to tell it to you when you were younger. Astronomers used to tell her that when there was a falling star, soulmates would align for each other. Your mother always liked to say the story of how you were born under a fallen star, your soulmate being brought to you by the universe. You believed her stories when you were younger but as you grew up without a mother and never feeling her warmth again, you could no longer believe in such tales.

“Do you think that’s what we are? Soulmates?”

He stares at you again, his eyes acting like dark hooks in your soul. He doesn’t get a chance to respond before the guards burst in through the door, and you can distinctly hear Mark shouting from a distance.

“I’m sorry, gongju, but you must be escorted back to your quarters. You are not allowed to see the prisoners.”

You glance at Donghyuck, who for the first time, isn’t looking at you. He’s merely staring at the floor.

“Very well then. Please escort me.”

As you trek back to your room, you question your head guard, Johnny. “Did you see anyone enter my room that night?” He immediately shakes his head.

“No one unusual, gongju. It was a very normal night, but I do not believe that Chaeyoung would bring something so vile into your place of comfort. I hope I’m allowed to speak on these matters.”

“You’re more than allowed, Johnny,” you guarantee him. “Thank you for being honest with me.”

“Of course.”

Before Johnny brings you inside, you glance up at the night sky. There are two stars huddled together, perfectly placed in the darkness.

Was Donghyuck your soulmate?

—

It’s only a day later when Moon Taeil arrives on palace grounds in search of his imprisoned brother. He’s clearly irate, dismounting from his horse and grabbing the nearest guard.

“Show me where he is!”

“Seja-jeonha!” You cry out, rushing over to him and pulling the guards away from him. He turns his attention to you.

“Is this how you treat my brother after I sent him to marry you? Excuse my manners, gongju, but I did not bring Donghyuck here for him to be put to death.”

“He won’t be! Please, seja-jeonha, let’s speak privately,” you plead. He finally comes to his senses, gazing around to see servants and eunuchs watching the scene unfold. He straightens his outfit and nods.

“Fine. Show me the way.”

You accompany Taeil to a nearby building, away from the prying eyes of the palace. You know you don’t have much time to speak before your father finds out of his presence and instructs a formal meeting in the throne room.

“My brothers suspected Donghyuck because of poor timing but I know he has not committed any crime. I need you to help me prove that he’s innocent.”

Taeil scoffs at your request. “What kind of game are you running around this kingdom?”

“Please, seja-jeonha. I don’t want Donghyuck to be convicted either.”

“Because you’re soulmates?”

You freeze. “How do you know that?”

“You two were born a month apart and on each of your birthdays, a fallen star was spotted in the sky. Our astronomers noticed it when they first came to visit your palace.”

“Wait, Yuta was your astronomer?”

Taeil chuckles. “Yes, he was. His father used to document star patterns and when Yuta visited and learned of your birth date, he informed Donghyuck immediately.” Taeil smiles at the thought of his younger brother. “Why do you think we arranged a marriage for you two so quickly?”

Your head is spinning. Donghyuck has known this entire time that you two were soulmates, and that’s the reason Taeil pushed the marriage between you two. The gravity of the situation dawns on you, especially now that your soulmate rests behind the bars of the palace prison.

You grab Taeil by the shoulders. “Tell jeonha immediately. He believes in this — he believes he and my mother were soulmates. He will spare Donghyuck if you tell him.”

The doors to the building swing open and Eunuch Kim takes a deep bow in recognition. “I apologize for interrupting, seja-jeonha, but jeonha is requesting your presence.”

Taeil gives you another look before following Doyoung back outside. It isn’t long until Mark finds you, his arms embracing you into a hug when he sees your stricken expression.

“What is it? What happened? Is Taeil threatening a war?”

You shake your head and bury yourself into his shoulder. He holds you steady.

“Donghyuck is my soulmate.”

You think Mark would be deep in thought or surprised by what you revealed, but he simply giggles.

“He mentioned that.”

You pull away and frown. “What are you talking about?”

“When we were by the river, he said you were his soulmate and that he was destined to be with you. I thought he was just trying to impress me since I’m your brother. Now that I think about it, maybe it wasn’t a joke,” he mumbles, scratching the back of his head.

You almost see red. You tackle Mark to the ground and he screeches. Some of the servants file in, attracted by the noise.

“You dumbass! You let me throw my soulmate in jail!”

“I didn’t know, I didn’t know!” Mark shouts, shielding his face as you slam your palms down on his skin.

Jungwoo rushes in, pushing the servants away and clambering over to the two of you.

“Gongju, daegun! Please don’t fight!”

You huff, separating from your brother and standing up. You straighten your chima and stare down at him with fire in your eyes.

One of your ladies ends up pulling you away while Jungwoo helps Mark off of the floor.

Seojeong, who has been your main attending lady since the accusation against Chaeyoung, looks at you worriedly as you storm off. She follows behind you along with the rest of your attending ladies.

“Gongju, are you alright?”

“I need you to do something for me, Seojeong,” you murmur as the palace prison comes into view. There are still ten guards blocking the entrance and you need to talk to Donghyuck before your father makes a decision about his fate. You fear that your father will feel guilty for imprisoning Donghyuck and he’ll send him back with Taeil.

“I’ll do anything,” she promises.

You turn her body so that she’s staring directly at Johnny. “Do you see him?” When she nods, you proceed with your plan. “I need you to go up to him and tell him that jeonha instructs for all of the guards to be in the throne room.”

She stutters at your request. “But jeonha never said-“

“I know jeonha never said. Tell Johnny anyways.”

You give her a little push forwards, ignoring the timid look on her face. You quickly dismiss the rest of your ladies and hide behind a nearby corner, peeking out to see Seojeong approach Johnny anxiously. You hear her small voice fill the air.

“J-Jeonha requests for t-the guards to be in the throne r-room,” she says, eyes glancing down at her feet.

Johnny raises an eyebrow. “Our orders are to stay here until a verdict is made.”

“Um,” she mumbles, trying to think of what to say next.

“Come on, Seojeong,” you hiss under your breath. You can see her gathering enough courage before she speaks, eyes ablaze.

“Don’t you understand? You have new orders! Hurry before jeonha gets angry at your blatant disrespect!”

That gets Johnny’s attention. He grabs his right-hand man, Jaehyun, and all of the guards scramble frantically towards the throne room. You smile at Seojeong’s work and once all of the guards have left, she gives you the okay.

You rush over and hold her hand. “You’re a lifesaver, Seojeong.” She beams at your compliment. “Keep an eye out for me, okay?”

She nods and you enter the prison building, descending down the concrete steps. You gasp when you see Donghyuck in his cell, body slumped over against the wall.

You fall to your knees and struggle to open the door. He wakes when he hears the commotion. His mouth slowly turns upwards when he sees you. You finally manage to throw the door open, swinging it to the side as you crawl over to him. You cup his face in your hands and he laughs.

“Excited to see me?”

You don’t waste a single second, pressing your lips to his. His hands fly down to your waist, pulling you in closer. He groans when you straddle his hips.

He pulls away, a little breathless. “Is she asleep?”

“Who?”

“Chaeyoung,” he murmurs, pushing his fingers through your hair. “Is she asleep?”

“I-I don’t know. I didn’t check on her.”

He calls out Chaeyoung’s name and when he gets nothing but silence, he pushes your body onto the floor. You gasp when he attaches his mouth on your neck, licking and sucking at the flesh.

“D-Donghyuck, we shouldn’t. We’re not married yet-“

“We’re soulmates,” he whispers against your skin. “Isn’t that enough?”

You moan when he reaches underneath your clothing to run a finger over your slit. You feel dirty on this prison floor, letting Donghyuck take you the way he wants. He brings his lips to yours again and you cry out when his tongue enters your mouth. He frantically undresses you and you’re embarrassed when he strips you down until you’re in your sokgot.

“Don’t be shy,” he speaks softly. “I’ll take care of you.”

You whimper when he fully rids you of your clothing. He sits up to undress himself and your mouth waters as he exposes himself to you. He discards the rest, throwing it to the side and leaning back down to kiss you. His hand cups your breast and your body twitches when he flicks his finger over your nipple.

“Such a good girl,” he praises you.

You gasp when his cock prods at your entrance. Your eyes dart down and they widen at the sight of him. He’s massive, and you’re unsure if he’s going to fit inside of you.

“Wangja, um, I don’t think-“

He snickers at your reaction. “Don’t think you can take it, baby? Don’t think you can take my big cock?”

You groan. “N-No, I can take it.”

“Good girl,” he smiles. He grabs his base and runs his tip over your folds. You moan at the feeling.

Both of your eyes widen when you hear voices outside, and Donghyuck pauses.

“Seojeong, I’m not sure what you mistake us for, but we do not enjoy being treated as fools.”

“Fuck, baby, we have to be quick. Can’t have anyone seeing their gongju acting like a whore,” he hisses.

You whine. “Hurry, Donghyuck.”

“I’m here, I’m here,” he assures before pushing his cock inside of your weeping pussy. You cry out at the burn, tears brimming at your eyelids.

He releases a long groan when he bottoms out and you close your eyes, trying to adjust to his length. You can faintly hear Seojeong’s voice.

“I thought jeonha needed you! I didn’t know, Johnny, really-“

“You good, baby?” Donghyuck speaks lowly to you, brushing stray hairs away from your face so he can properly look at you. When you don’t respond, he rubs your hip gently. “Baby, tell me how you’re feeling.”

Your eyes flutter open when the pain begins to subside. “Good, good,” you blubber incoherently. You reach out for him and he intertwines your hands. “Hurry.”

He starts thrusting into you and you whimper. He leans down to press a kiss to your lips.

“So dirty,” he hums. “What would the palace think of their graceful gongju getting railed in the filthy prison cells? Can’t wait until you have our baby, then everyone’s going to know how much you like to get fucked.”

“Want to show them,” you murmur, eyes rolling back as his thick cock abuses your small pussy. “Want to tell them I’m your whore.”

“Yeah? You’re just my filthy whore, aren’t you?”

“Yes, yes, I’m all yours, wangja.”

You feel the pleasure building inside of your tummy, feeling every ridge and vein of his cock as he pounds into you. You swear he’s going to split you in half.

Seojeong is doing her best to distract Johnny outside.

“I need to tell you a story!”

Johnny is far from amused. “I have to check on the prisoners, Miss Seojeong-“

“It’s about the princess!”

Jaehyun sighs. “Seojeong, we don’t have time for a story-“

“But listen!” She exclaims, the gears in her brain turning. There’s a long beat of silence. “Um-“

Johnny rolls his eyes, entering the prison building and moving down the steps. He briefly pauses when he hears your moan.

“Wangja, please, please, please!”

Jaehyun thinks that you’re in danger and runs past Johnny, stopping in his tracks when he sees you and Donghyuck. The prison cell door is wide open, fully exposing the both of your figures as Donghyuck plows into you. Jaehyun immediately diverts his eyes when he catches a glimpse of your breasts.

He hurriedly pushes the men away from the sight, although none of them are able to get a peek.

“Move back! Move back!” Jaehyun orders. The guards scramble on the steps as Jaehyun forcefully moves them.

You wail when your orgasm hits, stars exploding in your vision. Donghyuck soon empties inside of you, painting your walls with his cum.

You’re both left panting and he kisses you gently, hand cupping the side of your face.

“Got to explain to your guards what you were doing.”

You laugh. “I was getting fucked. What is there to explain?”

He growls. “Dirty mouth on you, gongju.”

“Only for my wangja.”

—

Jaehyun can’t look at you in the eye when you exit the prison doors. Johnny has an idea of what happened down there, but he doesn’t want to even picture the idea of you doing such a lewd act.

They both escort you back to your dwelling after Johnny gives you a light scolding for breaking the rules again. When you arrive at your bedroom doors, you turn around and offer them a small smile.

“Sorry.”

No other words need to be said, and the redness of Jaehyun’s ears say enough.

Johnny coughs. “Jeonha spoke with Taeil earlier today and Donghyuck will be released tomorrow. I thought you would like to know.”

You cough. “Um yes, that’s good to know. Thank you, Johnny.”

You walk into your bedroom and shut the doors, still feeling embarrassed that your guards caught you in such an intimate position. You turn around, frowning when you see that you have company.

“Seokmin? What are you doing here so late?”

Your brother smiles at you, sitting down at the small table near your bed and gesturing for you to join him.

“I thought we could have a talk.”

You shrug, wincing as you sit across from him. Your legs still feel like jelly after Donghyuck gave you a good fucking.

Seokmin pours a cup of tea for you and puts it in front of you. He gives you that friendly grin of his.

“What have you been up to all day? I heard you almost killed Mark.”

You roll your eyes. “He’s being dramatic. I barely scratched him.”

He chuckles at your dismissive nature. He eyes the cup in front of you and gives it a small push.

“Drink up. I know you like to have tea before bed.”

“Thank you,” you murmur, taking the cup in your hands.

Seokmin starts speaking about how Jeno lost in combat today and you hum, raising the tea to your lips. You pause when you smell it.

The poison — you could smell it from miles away.

You pretend to drink while you watch your brother. There’s no way it’s Seokmin, your loving and devoted brother who used to play hide and seek with you when you were feeling upset. The brother who protected you when the palace was invaded by rebels. The brother who cared for you so deeply.

But you didn’t have time to think. Only time to act.

You slam the cup down and call out for Johnny. Seokmin lunges across the table at you and you release a bloodcurdling scream.

Johnny and Jaehyun storm inside and Johnny pushes Seokmin off of you. Jaehyun pulls you aside, checking for any bruises on your body.

“Stupid bitch! Why can’t you just drink your fucking tea-“

“Daegun, daegun!” Johnny bellows, trying to get a hold of your brother.

You’re in a state of shock, attempting to register the sight before you. Your brother just tried to poison you.

Jaehyun gets you on your feet and pulls you away from the scene. Soon enough, the palace hears Seokmin’s screams and Taeyong is the first to rush to your aid.

“What happened? Is that Seokmin?”

“Daegun tried to poison gongju,” Jaehyun explains. You’re still rooted in place, staring at your quarters as multiple guards flood inside.

“What?”

Mark is the second to arrive but before he can ask what’s wrong, Seokmin is dragged out of the building, screaming and thrashing under Johnny’s hold.

“You’re traitors! All of you!”

You watch as your brother is taken away into the same prison where your fiancé sleeps soundly.

—

You swear you can hear crickets chirping. You and your siblings have been called into your father’s bedroom after Seokmin’s arrest. The room is eerily silent for no one knows exactly what to say.

Taeyong clears his throat. He’s been crying, and you know this hurts him more than you can imagine.

“Why? Why would he try to hurt his sister?”

Your father sighs. He’s been pacing back and forth, struggling at what to say. You need an explanation from him as you cannot accept that Seokmin grew to hate you overnight. It wasn’t in his nature to ever accept that form of hatred.

“Jeonha, please,” Mark begs, on the verge of tears. “Why has he done this?”

“We need an explanation,” Jeno adds.

Your father finally glances at all of you, troubled by the grief in your expressions. You look exactly as you did when your mother passed.

“Seokmin is not your mother’s child,” he explains. All four of your heads dart up. “He- he was conceived through a concubine, but your mother was gracious enough to raise him as her own. We’ve accepted it since then. Seokmin was raised no differently than the rest of you, and we loved him just the same.”

You blink, rubbing at your temples to try and process this information.

“I’m sorry,” he apologizes, but the damage is done. “I never wanted to tell him because I feared this would happen, but I guess he found out somehow.”

Something clicks in your memory.

“Where is his mother?”

He exhales, running a hand down his face exasperatedly. “She was a servant here in the palace, but she left shortly after your mother passed away. She didn’t want anything to do with raising Seokmin.”

Your mind starts putting the pieces together. “She was a servant — a servant who had access to mother’s residence?”

Taeyong’s eyes move to you, catching what you’re implying. You step forward and look at your father dead in the eye.

“Don’t you see, jeonha? She was the one who poisoned mother. She was the one who had access to her room, the one who brought her tea every night. She’s the reason why Seokmin tried to hurt me, she must’ve brainwashed him into believing that we no longer care for him.”

Your father stares at you, taking in all of the information you’re telling him.

“But Seokmin knows,” Jeno interrupts. “He knows we care for him. I refuse to believe this! He was probably put up to it by that nasty Lee Donghyuck!”

“Hey!” You swivel around, growling at your brother. “Do not speak that way about him.”

Jeno scoffs. “What? Have you fallen for him?”

“They’re soulmates,” your father explains.

“Come on. Tell me you don’t believe in that!”

“Lee Jeno, I swear-“

Mark quickly holds you back before you charge at your brother.

“Listen,” your father’s voice booms throughout the room. You all freeze. “I know you are all upset by what Seokmin has done, but we are going to do our best to reverse whatever his birth mother has done to him. I’ll have the guards and soldiers search for her so we can bring your mother justice. In the meantime, I want you all to remember that we are a family. You grew up together and only we know the faults of our family.”

You eye Jeno and he narrows his gaze at you.

“You all are siblings, blood related or not. Do you understand?”

“Yes, jeonha.”

—

Seokmin is released from his confines a week later.

He cries when he sees you, enveloping you into his arms and sobbing into your shoulder. He apologizes profusely for his actions, stating that he would never try to bring harm to you again.

For five days, you all spend time together as siblings in an effort to turn Seokmin back into his normal self. You hold no grudges against your brother, loving him with all of your heart despite his brief wrongdoings.

Seokmin’s birth mother is arrested and taken into the palace, where she awaits your father’s verdict. You have a feeling about what future lies before her, but you would rather not speak of it out loud.

Donghyuck is released with Chaeyoung shortly after the incident. You embrace him fully when he returns and Chaeyoung becomes your main attending lady again.

You and Donghyuck are arranged to be married tomorrow. Taeil is still a little hesitant on having his brother live in a place that treated him so cruelly, but Donghyuck finds a way to convince him that he’s safe. Taeyong says that Taeil’s only fine with it because he sees the way Donghyuck dotes on you. He’s attending the wedding tomorrow before he has to return back to his own kingdom.

Donghyuck is supposed to separate from you until the day of the wedding, but he’s been sneaking into your room every night, pounding you into the pillow until you cry for mercy.

It was more difficult for him to sneak out tonight as your brothers wanted to officially welcome him into the family with a special party. He managed to get away when Jeno stands on the table, trying to dance but failing miserably.

He currently has your legs bent to your chest, thrusting deep into your weeping pussy.

“Such a tight pussy,” he hisses down at you, wiping the tears falling down your face. “Made for my fat cock, aren’t you?”

You respond incoherently, drunk on the feeling of him. He reaches down to rub at your clit and you sob louder, muscles aching.

“Good thing we’re getting married tomorrow, baby. Would be too suspicious if you got pregnant so fast, wouldn’t it be?” He questions, smirking at your loss for words. “Is my gongju fucked dumb? Can’t remember how to talk, baby?”

“F-Feels so g-good,” you blubber. “You feel s-so good i-inside me.”

“Yeah?” He laughs, plowing into your pussy faster. “Baby likes when my cock stretches her small pussy? I wonder how your brothers would feel about me if they knew I dump my cum into their sister every single night. Jeno would probably hate me even more.”

“G-gonna cum, gonna cum!” You screech, hands flailing. He pins your arms down and snarls.

“Cum all over my cock. Show me how much you want your wangja.”

You cream his cock and your back arches in ecstasy, moaning loudly at the pleasure overtaking your body. Donghyuck shoots his cum inside your womb, hissing as he empties himself.

He collapses next to you and you whimper when his cock leaves your hole. He brings you into his arms and kisses the top of your head.

“Can’t wait to be married to you.”

You laugh, your chest still rising from your heavy breathing. “If you had only waited 24 hours, we would already be.”

He chuckles. “Where’s the fun in that?”

You bask in the silence as his cum starts to spill out of you.

“I think I’m pregnant.”

“Good.”

He attaches his mouth to yours and you moan when his fingers part your folds. He lines himself up to your entrance once again.

“Let’s make sure.”

And so Donghyuck fucks you until the sun rises, marking the long awaited wedding day with your soulmate.

You thank the heavens for giving you your falling star.

#nct smut #nct scenarios #hyuck #haechan smut

1K notes · View notes

nejibaby · 3 years

Text

Time

Pairing: Sanji x F!Reader

Summary: Time is such an essential variable for a pirate cook like you. But outside cooking, you try your best not pay attention to it, most especially when it comes to the past. And yet because of the unpredictability of the Grand Line, you’ve come across someone from your past who you desperately wanted to forget. This incident makes you realize that despite how much time passes, sometimes feelings don’t really change.

Song reference/inspiration: Don’t You by Taylor Swift

Word Count: 2.4k

A/N: It’s done! It’s finally done! I had this idea for quite some time now and I’m finally done with it. Imagine my relief. 😌 I liked how this turned out! But please let me know your thoughts about it… 🥺👉🏼👈🏼

There are a lot of oddities in the Grand Line. Among the concepts that are too complex to be explained are the drastic changes in the weather, the crazy magnetic fields of islands, and devil fruit powers.

What doesn’t change is the concept of time. In all technicality, time is what the clock reads. And regardless of your location inside or outside the Grand Line, it’s set on stone. There’s sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, twenty four hours in a day, seven days in a week, and so on. It’s a fact that’s definitive, irrefutable, and beyond dispute.

And as a cook of the Kid Pirates, time is one of the essential variables, alongside temperature, in bringing dishes to life. That much you learned and mastered from the years you’ve been observing chefs in a certain restaurant in East Blue before you ran away to the South.

However, outside the kitchen — or to be more precise, outside cooking — you don’t pay too much attention to the time and dates, similar to your Captain, Kid.

You and your Captain would need Killer to inform you about preparing banquets and feasts for birthday celebrations for crew members, or to remind you of other important dates.

While you’re completely capable of keeping track of time, you didn’t want to and wouldn’t bother. What’s the point, really? It’s just that you didn’t want to be reminded of just how long since you ran away from the chefs who took you under their wing. You didn’t want to be reminded of just how long since you’ve last seen a certain curly-browed cook who you fell in love with but unfortunately got turned down from.

You’re entirely fine by saying it’s been a while since you’ve last seen those people. There isn’t any need to label a precise quantity of time since that moment in your life. It’s all in the past, and you have long learned to keep yourself busy so as not to be reminded of them in any way.

After all, remembering them always leads to pangs straight to your heart, and as a member of the Kid Pirates, it’s highly discouraged to wear your heart on your sleeve and show vulnerabilities like that.

Since leaving Baratie, you moved along with your life. You worked at a local restaurant in South Blue and somehow ended up meeting Kid and Killer. With Eustass Kid being impressed with your skills in the kitchen and the air of authority you exude while working, he demanded you join their crew. And in all honesty, it didn’t take too much convincing on their part as you too wanted to travel the world, and perhaps find All Blue, a dream you shared with the man you fell in love with.

Pledging loyalty to Eustass Kid is one of the decisions you could never regret. Ever since joining the crew, they have become masters of being subtle in their ways of showing they all care for you. And it’s only evident by the way they’re all overprotective of you (even if you’ve pretty much mastered self defense and the art of using a gun) simply because among the group of brutes, you looked like a lone flower — splendid, precious, and delicate. And due to that, traveling the seas with the Kid Pirates is particularly enjoyable for you; dangerous, sure, but enjoyable nonetheless.

On account of the unpredictability of the Grand Line; more precisely the New World, you have learned to always be ready to face anything. But maybe you aren’t as prepared as you thought you are.

Because somehow, in between gathering food supplies alone for the crew and fighting against a group of Marines who found you, you came face to face with the cook you desperately wanted to forget.

And to make matters much worse, when you quite literally bumped into him, you’ve already been shot twice by the Marines, leading you to lose your consciousness right in his arms.

For some reason, with how huge the Grand Line is, you have never taken into consideration the probability of meeting him once again. And this unpreparedness unsettles you right away. So when you wake up in the Straw Hats’ sailing ship, all bandaged up and weak from the loss of blood, you’re quick to show hostility as a defense mechanism.

But that facade doesn’t last long, your mask easily slipping after a day with the crew, showing your naturally gentle and sweet side to everyone except to a certain man named Sanji. Ultimately, it’s quite impossible for you to remain hostile and aggressive in the presence of such nice and hospitable characters, especially when they kindly offered to drop you off to the next island and allowed you to contact Kid to let him know about your predicament.

You do, however, isolate yourself from the Straw Hats as much as possible. The only time you allow yourself to be in everyone’s presence is during meal times. As a chef, you know well enough that food is at its best when served right away and eaten in the presence of company.

But you aren’t dumb. You know the dishes served by Sanji aren't purely coincidental. With just one look at the table, you could easily recognize all of your favorite meals — meals that reminded you of the days when you had fallen in love with him. It’s blatantly obvious that some of the foods on the table are made especially for you.

This is where your reservations come in. After all, the reason why your favorite foods were your favorites was because they’re what Sanji used to cook when you’re upset. And because of your feelings for him, the food would always make your heart full and happy. And to be honest, you didn’t want to remember that feeling.

Moreover, you didn’t want to give Sanji the impression that everything’s fine between the two of you. You also didn’t want him to think that you’ve forgiven him for turning you down, and proceeding to step on your heart by letting you watch him flirt with other girls.

If you were any other person, you probably wouldn’t even touch the meals he made to prove these points. But you’re a cook, and it’s against your morals to let food come to waste. The most you can do so as not to give Sanji the upper hand is to stop yourself from eating as much as you usually would, regardless of how delicious the food is.

You can tell it’s working from the way Sanji’s lips are slightly downturned as he watches you only take a nibble of your favorites while consuming the other meals that are meant for the other crew members. This goes unnoticed by the others though; they’re too enamored with the new variety of dishes on the table to even pay attention.

This goes on for a few meal times, but you have to admit that despite only taking a few bites of the dishes you used to love, they’re still capable of bringing back the memories of your past with Sanji, maybe not in full force, but it’s enough to disconcert you.

On your third day with the Straw Hats, after seeing him fawn over Nami and Robin, the tension between you and Sanji becomes a little too overwhelming for you to the point where you feel the need to hide in the crow’s nest to calm yourself down.

When you get there, you’re surprised yet relieved that Zoro isn’t there. You instantly take a seat facing the window. You relish the silence. But it’s only momentary, broken by the sound of someone knocking on the door.

Rude as it may be, you don’t acknowledge the person. Whoever it is still enters the room anyway.

“Y/N-chan, can we talk?”

You hate the way your heart starts wildly pounding again just by the mere sound of Sanji’s voice.

“I thought we’ve established the fact that I don’t want to talk to you,” you respond coldly.

This doesn’t discourage Sanji though. “If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine. But will you please listen to me?”

You frown, but you remain silent. Sometimes, most especially at times like this, you wish you could hate him. But that’s just something you can’t do no matter how hard you try.

He takes your silence as a good sign, so he sits himself beside you.

You aren’t looking at him, but you can feel his eyes on you. This lasts for a few minutes, Sanji just gazing at you without uttering a word.

You didn’t mean to count, but by the second minute of silence, you snap. “What? I thought you wanted to tell me something? Why aren’t you talking?”

He looks away and clears his throat. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to stare. It’s just… it’s been five years since I last saw you.”

His statement takes you by surprise. Has it already been five years since you left Baratie? And more importantly, was Sanji keeping count?

For whatever reason, Sanji chuckles. He faces you once again and smiles, “It’s been five years but you still look as gorgeous and radiant as ever.”

As always, Sanji has a way with his words. The compliment makes your heart beat impossibly faster. But you know you shouldn’t fall for his words. “Sanji, don’t. Let’s not go there,” you say with a sigh.

He visibly deflates at your response. And it makes you want to take back what you’ve just said. “What have you been up to?” He tries asking, his voice low enough you almost don’t hear him, as if this conversation hurts him just as much as it pains you.

You didn’t really plan on responding. The agreement was to let Sanji do the talking and you do the listening, but you can see his sad expression in the corner of your eye and it tugs your heartstrings a little bit so you reply, “I’m a pirate now.”

“You are?” He perks up upon hearing you responding. “Who’s your captain?”

You finally face him, wanting to see his reaction. “Eustass Kid.”

His face instantly contorts into displeasure. “Kid?” He asks once again. When you nod your head, there’s a different look on his face, almost like he’s angry or he’s annoyed. “Why Kid? Don’t tell me he forced you to do it?! That bas—”

But before he could even finish his sentence, you pull out your gun and point it at his head.

He’s taken aback by your speed and the look of determination in your eyes.

“Watch your words, Sanji.” You cock your gun. “Just because we’re on speaking terms doesn’t mean I won’t shoot you. You can call me bad names if you want, break my heart like you did, but if you say one more bad thing about my captain, I won’t hesitate on putting a bullet through your head,” you threaten.

Sanji gulps, raises his hands in surrender, and nods his head.

Yet you pull the trigger anyway. Sanji could only close his eyes once he sees your finger move.

But there’s no impact at all. When he tentatively opens his eyes, he sees you putting away your gun in its previous location.

You’re well aware that you have no ammunition left, having used them all up when you fought the Marines, but sometimes even an unloaded gun is enough to intimidate and scare someone into submission, and to get your point across.

Silence envelopes the crow’s nest after that incident. Sanji isn’t afraid of you per se, he’s just a little bit surprised with the change in your attitude.

For a moment the thought of you having feelings for Kid passes through his mind, and he internally gets upset with the thought. In fact, he hates it but he doesn’t let it dissuade him from trying to make amends with you.

He allows you to have a couple more minutes of silence. But when he has decided that it’s time for him to talk, the first thing he blurts out is, “I missed you a lot when you left.”

His confession breaks something in you. You didn’t like the way you equally liked and hated hearing this from him. “Sanji, don’t…” your voice cracks and your vision blurs. “Don’t smile at me. Don’t ask me how I’ve been. Don’t you say you’ve missed me if you don’t want me. Don’t get my hopes up, because you don’t know how much I love you still. Just don’t…”

“Y/N-chan…” he calls out to you, his hand hesitantly reaching out to you. And when you don’t protest, he pulls you into a hug, rubbing his hands gently on your back.

Sanji hates seeing you like this — so defeated and broken, all because of him. He didn’t like seeing you cry. But right now he knows he needs to explain himself. “I liked you too back then…”

You pull away in shock after hearing his words, wiping the tears in your eyes. Just as you’re about to ask why he turned you down, he continues, “But the old geezer was against it. He says if I couldn’t stay loyal to you, then I’d only hurt you more and make matters worse.”

What Sanji was saying makes a lot of sense. Zeff highly respects women, which was why he couldn’t turn you away when you had nowhere else to stay. And knowing Sanji, you can tell just how much he looks up to him, despite him always talking back to the older chef. It’s only natural for him to heed Zeff’s words.

“I was young and I didn’t think I was ready yet, so I turned you down as gently as I could… and when you said it was fine, I was so relieved. But then you left without a word and I… I just… I really did miss you all these years.”

“What about now?”

“Huh?”

“Do you still… like me?” You ask meekly.

Sanji smiles, which makes you feel butterflies in your stomach. “I do, but…”

You sigh sadly, “But?”

He looks over the window, and you follow his gaze. The sight of Luffy being chased around by Usopp on the deck welcomes you. “My loyalty still lies elsewhere.”

You immediately understand what he’s trying to say, and for the first time since you arrived in the Thousand Sunny, you genuinely smile. “Someday, then?”

Sanji faces you once again, and reciprocates your smile. “Yeah. Someday.”

135 notes · View notes

whosaskingwrites · 4 years

Text

Forget You (Kuroo x Reader)

A/N: This one is told entirely from Kuroos pov except for the very beginning. Because, Reader's pov wouldn't have been sad. As she doesn't remember him by the time they see eachother again. Edit: Y'all deadass let me not have the theme in here since the 24th. The theme has been added as of the 29th.

WARNINGS: None really? Angst Kuroo is a sad boy. Tooth rotting fluff from Bokuto i guess if that counts as a warning. Kuroo yells at you in the beginning.

Date: Saturday October 24th, 2020

Details: 5.5 pages 2,040 words

Theme: Stranger- when you get heartbroken you have the option of forgetting the person who caused the heart break as long as you say the word stranger with enough conviction while thinking about the person you want to forget.

Angst masterlist

“I can’t fucking stand you! Why are you so Goddamn annoying!” I took a step back as I looked at Kuroo “All I asked was to meet your friends! Since you talk about them all the time!” I yelled back. I didn’t know what had made him so mad we had been dating for six months having been roommates previously.

“And I told you no so why didn’t you accept that?” I shook my head “Actually you just started yelling at me-" “God see! You always have to be fucking right about everything!” I flinched as his voice raised more “You know what? Get the fuck out,” I looked up at him “w-what?” I voiced “Get your shit and get out I don’t wanna see you again. I’m breaking up with you,” My other roommate Kenma had finally come out of his room at that “Hey Kuroo-" I held up my hand to stop Kenma “No…its okay i-i'll leave but I’m leaving my stuff here until I have a new place. Kenma I leave it in your care,” my voice was shaky as I turned.

“Y/n…,” I shook my head at Kenma “I…I’ll see you later Kenma. Kuroo,” I turned a glare on him to see he was already glaring at me “I hope I never fucking see you again,” I turned on my heel leaving the apartment with heavy footsteps. It was sunset and my feet carried me to the trains I took a random one and let my feet carry me as I ended up at park. I had no idea where I was but I couldn’t find myself to care as I cried.

I wiped my tears slightly thinking about Kuroo and I knew then I didn’t want him to occupy my thoughts anymore. I looked at the sunset and focused before saying the word with as much conviction and venom as I could muster. “Stranger,” I blinked a few times and rubbed my eyes.

More tears leaked out of my eyes when I recalled my roommate Kenma had kicked me out of our apartment. “Where am I?” I whispered sighing as I realized my phone was dead.

“Excuse me…Are you okay?” I turned my head looking at a guy who stood next to the bench. He had what appeared to be silver and black hair his head tilted slightly to the side casting half his face in the dying sunlight. I vaguely noticed that his eyes were gold and seemed to glow despite no light being cast on them. “I…I think so?” I voiced as I looked back at him.

“You think so? Why are you crying in the park then?” He got closer and sat on the other side of the bench. “My roommate kicked me out of our apartment and my phone is dead so…,” I looked away as he hummed “Um…You could stay at my place,” I turned back to look at him with wide eyes. “I don’t even know your name and you’re asking me to stay at your place? Do you know that makes you sound like a serial killer?” He laughed suddenly eyes crinkling in mirth.

“Sorry I’ve been told I’m too nice by my teammates. Im Bokuto Koutarou,” He held out a hand giving me a smile. I took his hand and mirrored the smile “Y/n L/n. You’re on a sports team?” His smile widened suddenly and in his excitement he pulled me closer still holding onto my hand “Yeah! Volleyball I play for the MSBY Black Jackals,” he puffed his chest with a sense of pride causing me to laugh.

“Volleyball huh? Sounds like fun,” He nodded rapidly “It is! You should come to one of my games- ah sorry! I’ve been talking about me when you’re the one who’s sad,” I shook my head with a smile as he let go of my hands eyes wide in panic “Its okay. I’m not sad anymore but I think I will take you up on that offer as long as you promise not to hurt me,” I held up my pinky towards him giggling lightly.

He smiled widely hooking his pinky with my own “I promise. This will be the best adventure of your life,” I nodded at him “I’ll hold you too that Bokuto,” He chuckled at me

“Deal Y/n,”

Two years.

It had been two years since I’d seen the love of my life. I regretted it everyday since our argument and Kenma never made me feel better about it. “No she never talks about you or asks. And I don’t bring you up,” was the last thing he told me when I asked about her. I never meant to yell or kick her out and I’d never forgiven myself for it. She had blocked my number fairly quickly and Kenma never told me where she was.

“Hey Kuroo pay attention to the game,” Kenma voiced causing me to zone back in and stop thinking about Y/n. I sighed “Why are we even here?” I asked watching Bokuto preform a cross-shot that had the audience screaming. “Bokuto said he wanted to say something and he wanted all of us there,” I shrugged “He’s probably just gonna tell us that he’s got a spot on the Japanese Olympics team,” I sighed out while Kenma clicked his tounge. “Sure…,” I looked at him “Kenma do you know something I don’t?” Before he could answer the whistle blew announcing the Black Jackals as the winners of the match.

Kenma stood “Let’s go congratulate them,” I stood with him as he walked off “Hey you didn’t answer the question!” He kept a quick pace ahead of me while I followed. We stepped onto the court Kenma immediately going to Hinata I couldn’t see Bokuto but my eyes caught sight of a familiar face standing by the Miya twins. She laughed at something Atsumu said and laughed harder when Osamu added something that caused Atsumu to glare at him.

I gasped as I looked at her she looked just as beautiful as she did the last time I saw her. H/l h/c hair cascaded down her back her e/c eyes sparkled brightly like gems she wore a Black Jackals jersey and a pair of jeans both of which hugged her figure in just the right way. I let my feet carry me towards her knowing I needed to apologize. I didn’t know why she was here but Kenma probably invited her so I could see her.

“Y/n!” I called when I was close enough she turned her eyes meeting mine. I expected many emotions to pass her face in all the times I pictured seeing her again. Anger, sadness, happiness, etc. But confusion was never one that crossed my mind. “I’m sorry…Do I know you?” she asked causing my eyes to widen in shock. “No…You couldn’t have…,” I voiced quietly. She stared at me offering a slight smile but nowhere in her expression did I see any form of recognition. And I knew then she had forgotten me entirely.

I smiled back realizing I could start over with her “Sorry I’m Kuroo Tetsuro…You’re very beautiful,” her face turned pink slightly and the Miya twins laughed. Suddenly I saw familiarity light up her eyes and I smiled thinking she remembered me. “Oh! I know you! You’re the friend that Kou always wants me to meet! He gets so sad everytime you blow him off,” she frowned slightly at the end. Causing me to frown as I realized she really didn’t remember. But I also frowned at the name it was vaguely familiar though I couldn’t place where. “Kou?” I mumbled quietly to myself.

“Excuse me! Can I have everyone’s attention?” the gym quieted down everyone knew Bokuto was announcing something so most of the audience had stayed to listen. We all turned to the source of the voice and I noted that he looked beyond nervous for whatever he planned to say.

“I’d like for my beautiful girlfriend to come here,” The twins suddenly shoved Y/n forward causing her to stumble a bit but she walked forward anyway. I froze as the name connected in my mind on why its so familiar 'Kou…Koutarou' 'She calls me Kou and its so cute!' I saw her stop next to him and they smiled at each other “Oh fuck,” I whispered to myself as Kenma slid over. Bokuto was fidgeting slightly and rocking on the balls of his feet a telling sign that he was anxious.

“I’ve got something to say and I’ve thought about it for awhile,” he sent a reassuring smile at her when he noticed she looked nervous. He took a deep breath before continuing “Two years ago I found you crying in a park. I remember you told me that your roommate kicked you out and you called me a serial killer,” she turned red as he and others laughed.

I realized then that the day they met was the same day we broke up. “I took a leap of faith that day and told you that you could stay with me even though I had no reason to,” He chucked lightly at the pink dusting her cheeks “At the time I never would predicted that by the six month mark I would have fallen in love with you,” I frowned at the collective aw leaving the audiences mouths. 'That should be me' I thought as I watched the two of them.

“And after a year and a half I’ve decided that I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy. I want to wake up with you next to me, I want to laugh at everything and nothing with you, I want to spend nights with you wrapped in my arms as we talk about whatever comes to mind,” a pink flush had taken over his face and from behind me I heard a sniffle.

“Tsumu are you crying?” I heard “Shut the fuck up Samu,” Kenma snorted next to me at the twins. “I want these things because I’m so completely and Irrevocably in love with you so…,” I watched Bokutos eyes flicker to Akaashi who nodded at him. He dropped to one knee and everything became a buzz as I zoned in on Y/n the audience gasping was barely audible to me as I watched her cover her mouth with her hand her eyes were bright and glassy and every fiber of my being screamed at me to stop this. ‘Get her back! Stop him!’ my mind screamed. I couldn’t move though I was frozen on the spot feeling like id just been doused with freezing cold water.

“Will you do me the honor of continuing this adventure and marry me?” I could hear Bokuto but it sounded so distant to me. ‘No! Say no!’ My mind screamed louder but I felt my heart crack as she nodded in response. He got back up to wrap his arms around her picking her up he spun her around a few times and buried his face in the crook of her neck pressing light kisses to her shoulder.

‘Get away from her!’ I shook my head as I watched him slip a silver band on her finger. I caught sight of the f/c gem attached to it. It was surrounded by small yellow gems that matched Bokuto's eyes. He kissed her cheek as everyone cheered and congratulated them. She pulled back pulling out a small envelope and pressing it into his hands. He looked at her and opened it before his eyes lit up even more. He whispered something to her to which she nodded at. His excitement couldn’t be contained as he picked her up again “I’m gonna be a dad!” He didn’t need the mic this time plenty loud enough without it but it reignited the audience’s excitement as they screamed again.

He placed her down wrapping an arm around her waist and finally I watched my entire world shatter and heart crumble as the love of my life kissed her fiancé and father of her children.

‘That should have been me'

————————————————————————

TAGLIST: @wonhomarshmallow

#haikyu #haikyu x reader #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu!!#kuroo tetsuro #kuroo x reader #kuroo angst #bokuto koutarou #bokuto x reader #bokuto fluff #WhosaskingAngst

150 notes · View notes

lilhawkeye3 · 4 years

Text

dead man walking

Character: Commander Fox.

Summary: Everything crumbles once Fives dies.

Trigger warnings: depression, suicide. It’s not happy.

A/N: please don’t read this if you’re having a bad day.

AO3 Link

~~~

His heart may keep beating the first time he pulls the trigger, but his life ends then.

~~~~~

He can only remember flashes of what happened that day, little snippets of the moment his world finally crumbled. The shout of his brothers, the shaky words of a dying vod, the recoil of his blaster.

He can’t remember, but no one lets him forget.

~~~~~

It starts out small, at first. Murmurs and whispers from visiting battalions and the shiniest clones in the Guard.

Murderer.

Brother-killer.

It’s followed by cold looks, by orders followed to the bare minimum, by shoves and tripped-up feet as he walks in the halls.

He manages to take it all without flinching, until the day one brother sneers back at him and calls him CC-1010.

“You’ve no right to a name, to call yourself a vod, 1010.”

The words fall from the lips of a drunk 501st trooper the Guard had picked up for disorderly conduct. Fox leaves his cell without a word to inform Rex that he has a wayward trooper.

~~~~~

Rex finds him in his office. He signs a form to collect his man, and leaves Fox with a brutal right hook and cracked jaw.

Stone finds Fox hours later sitting with his head in his hands and his back against his desk, mumbling about how he deserved every bit of it.

~~~~~

It’s no surprise the Chancellor finds out.

His words, while sympathetic on the surface, leave oily trails in Fox’s mind. They find his cracks and fill them with poison, saying how sorry he is to hear of Fox’s recent difficulties, but neither side can be blamed. The troopers, who are such basic, animalistic creatures that they would attack one of their own, or Fox, for completing his sworn duty to defend the Republic.

Fox can only stand there and listen to it all—

~~~~~

He leaves the office with a hazy mind, not truly recalling the events of the meeting, but feeling more beaten down than before.

~~~~~

She is the only good thing in his life.

Riyo holds him protectively in her arms as he shakes under the weight of it all, despite her being much smaller.

She accepts him despite not knowing what’s wrong. He can’t spill all his burdens onto her. They’re his to bear, to continue to roll up this incline even if they slip from his fingers before he reaches the top. This is his punishment, not hers.

He’s failed her, even if she refuses to hear him say such a thing.

He shouldn’t be near her. Shouldn’t let her touch him. She’s so pure, so precious— he can’t let his sins taint her light.

She says she loves him, but he knows that’s not true. A thing like him isn’t something anyone can love.

He allows himself to kiss her forehead one last time before he leaves while she sleeps.

~~~~~

There is a call to 79’s to break up a fight on his patrol. When he and his squad arrive, it is to find the matter at hand was him. One of his Corries stood up for him, and it was all downhill from there.

Fox remains outside while his squad handles it. If he goes in, he knows he’ll only make things worse.

All he ever does is make things worse.

He looks up as an armored figure approaches him. He doesn’t have time to register anything about them, other than it’s unmistakably a fellow clone trooper, when their blaster is drawn and a searing pain shoots through his shoulder. He falls to his knees as the shot is followed by two more: one to his right hand and one to his left thigh.

He’s left on the cold ground.

~~~~~

He comes to in the medbay. He wishes he hadn’t.

What a waste of resources. It could have been used on someone else.

“You’re awake.”

He turns his head to find Wolffe sitting beside him. His face is unreadable, but his brown eye burns with fury.

Fox doesn’t say anything. He simply returns to staring blankly at the ceiling.

“Vod—”

“Don’t call me that.” His voice is raspy, unused. When is the last time he spoke to anyone outside of his shifts? “I’m not a brother. Not anymore.”

Wolffe is silent. Maybe he’ll leave him alone now.

“Who did this to you, Fox?”

His smile is like broken glass. “Didn’t you hear? I did, of course.”

“We both know you didn’t shoot yourself.”

“Not yet.”

Wolffe’s growl draws Fox’s gaze again. “That’s not karking funny, Fox.”

“You know what is funny?” Fox laughs brokenly. “That you’re here. Rex broke my jaw. Bly blocked all transmissions from me. Cody was in a conference call and didn’t once acknowledge me. Just said, ‘Commander of the Guard.’” His eyes are tired as he meets Wolffe’s. “Bet you’re here so you can tell them they still have a disappointment in the batch.”

Wolffe sighs as he runs a hand down his face. “Fox... I lost a battalion of men. All of them, except for two. I heard them cry out to me as they were slaughtered one by one in what should have been their saviors. I listened to them scream as they were murdered, as they listened and watched their brothers die around them.” Here he leans forward, his hand reaching up to clench Fox’s uninjured shoulder firmly. “I can hear your screams too, Fox’ika. I will not sit and do nothing as I listen to a brother dying. Not again.”

Fox flinched and tore his eyes away from his batchmate, finding a fixed point over his shoulder to stare at instead. “You’re too late.”

~~~~~

The Chancellor calls for him once he’s released.

Fox idly wonders how broken he truly is when he finds himself back in his office, not able to coherently remember if he ever made it to the meeting.

~~~~~

Only his fellow commanders in the Guard interact with him now outside of what is required for duties.

A part of him wonders why Stone keeps asking when he last ate. It doesn’t matter anyways.

He’s not sure why Thire counts the hours he’s been awake. At least in the waking world, he can bury himself in work. When asleep, he’s left to the mercies of his ghosts, the ones that whisper that his time is far overdue, that he’s only causing more problems being alive.

He knows they’re right. It’s only a matter of time, he supposes.

~~~~~

So he writes.

He’s never been one for writing, thanks to all the reports he’s had to draft, edit, review and sign off on. But... he’s a clone. He’ll have nothing left to his name anyways besides these words. It’s selfish, yes, but it’s all he has left.

So he writes.

He writes to Rex about all the memories he has of them whispering quietly at night on Kamino, dreaming about their lives when they finally got to see the stars. He wonders where it all went wrong— probably somewhere at the start. He tells him that he’s one of the best commanders out there, even if he never formally received the rank yet.

He writes to Bly, saying that while he isn’t worthy of love... Bly is. He shouldn’t let it slip through his fingers.

He writes to Cody, outlining the lack of memories he has about the Chancellor. How he thinks he’s investigated something, but can never remember what. Files mysteriously erasing. Men sent on missions that didn’t exist. His blaster— it should’ve been set to stun. He gives him one last mystery to solve, knowing Cody won’t accept any weak, mundane attempt of an apology.

He writes to Ponds, even though he’s long gone. It’ll go to his general, because Fox knows his brother still lives on in him. He asks if he’ll be forgiven, if there’s an after where they’re all waiting for him. He asks if they’d welcome him, even if he’s broken and can’t remember what he’s done anymore. He says he’s glad Ponds had a General who cared, because he was glad that his brothers were taken care of even if the universe punished him with the Chancellor’s oily words in return.

He writes to Stone and Thorn and Thire, and says he’s sorry he couldn’t help them. He tried to keep the weight off their backs as long as he could... and he now had to pay the price. He tells them he’s proud of them.

...He writes to Riyo, his starlight, the one who taught him of a different type of love. He says he’s sorry. He hopes she keeps shining bright for everyone around her to see. He tells her how every smile, every laugh, every crinkle of her eyes in happiness gave him something to keep living for, if only for a while. She’s the most precious thing in the world, and he’s sorry to have ever burdened her with his inconsequential self.

He writes to Wolffe.

Well, he stares at the datapad for countless minutes, and then he writes to Wolffe.

He gives Wolffe every bit of spark left within him. He gives him every happy memory, every trying moment, ever second of calm he’s ever had. He tells Wolffe how everything went wrong, how his mind had betrayed him just as he’d betrayed his brothers, how he didn’t know who he was anymore. He tells Wolffe of the reason behind each scar and tattoo on his body, how his hair had become peppered with gray, how he’d done his best to live up to the name Wolffe had given him.

He thanks Wolffe for being his vod. He tells him he’s proud, and to keep fighting.

~~~~~

When he’s finished, he sends his words out across the galaxy. Maybe one of them will read his final thoughts, and keep him alive in theirs, even if he doesn’t deserve it.

He sets the datapad on his desk and reaches for his blaster.

The cold durasteel against his temple is fitting, he feels. It matches the emptiness within him.

~~~~~

after.

#commander fox #star wars the clone wars #drabble #foxiyo #commander wolffe #captain rex #commander cody #commander stone #commander thire #riyo chuchi #unhappy ending #angst and pain #no comfort #hawk's rambles #i’m tired #dead man walking

234 notes · View notes

quickspinner · 4 years

Text

Month of Miracles - Dressing Up 1

Okay, well, obviously this month didn't go anything like I planned, but I'm at least gonna finish the Hallmark AU! It's mostly written, I'm just finalizing it and taking care of all the boring stuff I always skip when I write the first draft! So never fear, we'll finish it before February. I think we have...three, maybe four pieces left to go (famous last words).

This is actually part 1 of 2--partly because I realized that what I had planned for this prompt worked better as two separate scenes and partly because I haven't quite finished part 2 yet anyway, so might as well split it so I can publish this part!

This was partly inspired by The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Find the prompt list here!

Marinette was sure she would never get used to this small town thing where people popped by without warning. She gave a slightly mournful glance at the pot of coffee that had just finished brewing, and went to get the door with a sigh.

Luka Couffaine stood on the other side, one hand in his pocket and the other holding a bouquet of multicolored flowers. He had that same look of longsuffering he’d worn when he’d come with his mother, but it softened into a smile as he saw her.

“Um, hi,” Marinette said, suddenly breathless. Why was she nervous? It was just Luka. She just...hadn’t expected to see him again so soon, after she’d cried all over him. She felt both embarrassed and oddly shy.

“Hi.” Luka gave her a lopsided smile and offered her the flowers. “Rose made me buy them and told me not to come home until you’d forgiven me for upsetting you last night.”

Marinette’s mouth dropped open as she took the flowers automatically. “But you didn’t do anything wrong,” she protested weakly, looking up at him.

Luka shrugged. “It was easier not to argue.”

Marinette giggled a little at that, and Luka’s smile widened for an instant before he looked down. “To be honest,” he began, shoulders curling inward slightly, “I wanted to see you anyway. Make sure you were okay, after all that. It got pretty intense and...I didn’t mean to put that on you.” He straightened and met her eyes again. “I am genuinely sorry about that. I wasn’t intending to upset you so badly.”

“You didn’t,” Marinette told him, laying a hand on his arm. “Really, Luka. It wasn’t you. And I appreciate that you showed me something so…” she hesitated.

“Raw?” Luka supplied, with a half smile, and Marinette hunched her shoulders a little in embarrassed acknowledgement. “Sorry if it was too much.”

Marinette shook her head, looking down to play with the stems of the bouquet. “I understand why you did it, and I feel...maybe flattered isn’t the right word, but it’s as close as I can get. I appreciate that you showed me that even though it was hard for you. I do feel like I understand you better now, and…” she shrugged. ”It was worth it.”

Luka glanced away, but he was smiling. “It wasn’t as hard as you might think. Not when it was you.”

Marinette blushed, not at all sure how to respond to that, and there was a moment of awkward silence before Luka cleared his throat.

“So, um…” he winced. “Rose kind of needs a favor, and so after I groveled at your feet,” he grinned, and Marinette huffed a quick giggle, “I was supposed to ask if you’d be willing to come over to the library and take a look at what she needs. I can take you now, or you can swing by later, whatever works for you.”

“Oh,” Marinette blinked. “Uh...sure, now’s good I guess. Just—let me put these in some water and get my coffee in a travel mug?”

“Yeah, sure, no rush,” Luka said, backing up a step. “I’ll get the truck warmed up.”

He retreated with quick steps, and then climbed into his truck and started it up, holding a hand over the air vent. It had gotten most of the way warmed up on the trip over, but the air blowing from the vents was still a bit chilly.

What am I doing? he asked himself, and then sighed. He really didn’t know. He just...he felt his expression soften as he glanced up, watching Marinette come out of Gina’s door. He hopped out to open the other door for her. It was a big step up for her into the truck, and when he took her coffee and held her arm to steady her, she turned a warm smile on him that he felt all the way down to his toes.

Okay, he definitely didn’t know what he was doing, but he knew he had to do something. These feelings weren’t going anywhere, and he was starting to feel like a liar, hanging out with her as friends without telling her he was beginning to have deeper feelings for her.

Way past beginning, if he was honest.

Well, he thought as he handed back her coffee and closed her door, I was always good at winging it.

“So what is it that Rose needs?” Marinette asked, as he got up into the driver’s seat and closed the door.

“Well,” Luka said, flashing Marinette a quick grin, “it seems that there was a mishap in the storage of last year’s pageant costumes, and Rose is hoping you can bail her out.”

Mishap, he called it. Marinette stared in horror at the costumes Rose had laid out. They were moldy, and stained, and moth-eaten—no, that couldn’t have been moths, did they have rats? Ugh. Marinette’s skin crawled just looking at them.

“Do you think you can save them?” Rose asked, hands folded together in a pleading pose, huge blue eyes staring at Marinette over them.

Marinette winced. “Rose...I don’t think there’s any salvaging these. I don’t know what got to them but…” She looked back at the tattered cloth and shuddered. “I think you’d better burn them.”

Rose’s eyes widened and filled with tears. “Oh no!” she whispered, both hands covering her mouth.

“But I can try to make you some new ones,” Marinette blurted, and then winced. Oh no, why did I say that??

“Really?” Rose squealed, bouncing several feet in the air. “Oh, Marinette, you’re the best!”

“Hold on,” Marinette cautioned, even as Rose threw herself into Marinette’s arms. “Rose,” she tried again, patting Rose’s back reflexively. “I said I’d try, but…”

Rose ignored her, seizing her hand and dragging her over to a small crowd of children and teenagers sprawled in, on, and even under some of the library tables.

“This is our cast,” Rose said, throwing out her hands with a proud grin. “So you can get whatever measurements you need right now!”

“I don’t—” Marinette began, but fell silent as Rose kept talking, making one-sided introductions that Marinette was absolutely not going to remember. Still, it made her look at the children and...

Marinette had to admit, she could see both why these children had not been picked for the traditional pageant and why Rose was offended about it. The two tallest wore black and slouched their shoulders, hands shoved in the pockets of long coats as they peeked at her through the hair falling in their faces. A shorter girl had pads on her knees and elbows and a sideshave with pink tips on the long side, and was listening with a slightly bored expression to a bubbly redhead who had piercings all up the shell of one ear. A boy sitting next to them, reading a book with his feet propped up on another chair, had pierced ears, killer eyeliner, and a multicolored ombre manicure that made Marinette envious.

The whole crowd was like that, and some of them looked more...mainstream, than others, but they all had something that stood out about them that didn’t exactly say ‘host of angels greeting the holy family’ in the strictly traditional sense.

“Normally nobody really cares about appearances, but they get stubborn about Christmas and the Christmas pageant,” Rose said with a shrug. “Nobody says it outright, but it’s no coincidence that the traditional kids get picked every year, you know?”

Looking at the little crowd of kids, Marinette saw a disparate set of personalities, both clinging to stereotypes in an effort to find an identity that worked for them, and breaking out of those stereotypes in new and interesting ways, and she would have loved to follow them each around for a day just for the ideas they sparked in her.

This wasn’t the time for that, though.

“I’ll need some materials,” Marinette said doubtfully. She’d already been to the only fabric store in town and it was closed, the owner having gone on vacation somewhere warm and sunny for the month.

Rose frowned as well, and opened her mouth, but was interrupted.

“I can help with that.”

Marinette jumped and turned, looking up as Luka gave her a smile. “Hi,” he said, amused, and Marinette blushed. She’d forgotten he was there.

“I have racks of clothes from my shows in the attic.” Luka shrugged, as if he didn’t notice her discomfort. “Jagged always has a clause in his contract about getting to keep his tour clothes, so it ended up in mine too. You’re welcome to scavenge it for anything you can find.”

“O-oh,” Marinette blinked. “Well...it’s a start, right? If you’re sure.” She frowned. “That’s probably some really expensive clothes though.”

Luka shrugged, indicating the hoodie and jeans he wore. “I’m not exactly using it. Might as well go to a good cause.” His gaze softened a little as he looked over her head at the kids.

Marinette smiled, and looked back as well. “Okay, Rose. Let’s go over what you need and who’s going to be using what, and I’ll get whatever measurements I need.”

“Great!” Rose chirped, bouncing as she clapped her hands.

The next little while was a bit of a blur, as Marinette tried to take notes on Rose’s chatter while meeting the kids a few at a time. They all looked a little hesitant at first, so Marinette put on her best, most reassuring smile, the one she used with inexperienced models who were nervous about their first big fashion show, and asked them cheerful questions as she took their measurements. She kept the topics light, asking them about their pins or patches or hair color, and most of them had mostly relaxed by the time she was finished. She surprised one or two with her knowledge of video games and laughed when one of them challenged her to a mech strike duel. She wrote her handle on a slip of paper and gave it to him with a wink, and managed not to laugh in the poor boy’s face when he blushed.

“I think that’s everybody,” Marinette said, waving to the last one, and turned around, blinking. “Where’d Rose go?”

“Hmm?” Luka had been sitting nearby at a table, chin in hand. He blinked like he was coming back to earth, and Marinette felt a twinge of guilt. No surprise he was zoned out, he must have been so bored just watching all of this. She should have let him know he could leave. Surely he had work to do and she could have walked back or gotten a ride with Rose.

“Oh, I bet I know where they are,” Luka said, rolling his eyes as he got up.

“They?” Marinette echoed, following him.

“Juleka showed up a little while ago,” he told her. “You were busy at the time.”

He led her around a bookshelf into a little reading alcove, and Marinette stopped dead, hands flying to suddenly red cheeks. Luka knocked on the bookshelf next to him with an amused, slightly exasperated smile. “Hand check, ladies.”

Juleka was standing there curled over Rose, her long hair partially hiding the shorter girl from view, but it was plenty clear what they were doing. The sprig of mistletoe in the middle of the decoration hanging over them removed any doubt.

“What?” Juleka said, annoyed, as she raised her head from a very kiss-bruised and blushing blonde.

“I’m, um, finished,” Marinette said, embarrassed, waving vaguely back the way they’d come. “You can get on with rehearsal now.”

“Oh, yay!” Rose perked up. “Thanks Marinette, you’re the best.”

“You have lipstick on your face,” Luka said helpfully, holding back a laugh. Juleka flipped him off, but Rose just linked her arm through Juleka’s and sniffed.

“Hmph. You’re just jealous because you wish you could kiss Marinette under the mistletoe. Come on, Juleka.” She dragged her smirking girlfriend off and around the shelves (though she did wipe most of the lavender lipstick off her mouth as she did so).

“Sisters,” Luka muttered. “Just my luck I’m gonna get stuck with another one.” He looked at Marinette’s blushing face and grinned. “You okay?”

She began to splutter, and Luka couldn’t help laughing. “I’m gonna take that as a no,” he teased.

“How can she say something like that!” Marinette groaned, ducking her head and covering her red cheeks with her hands.

“Well.” Luka licked his lips, and debated for maybe half a second before he went on. “It’s not like she’s wrong.”

Marinette’s insides froze. Her head snapped up to look at him. Luka gazed back at her, looking calm though there was a tint of pink in his cheeks that hadn’t been there before. He glanced up, and with a crooked smile, took her hands, pulling them gently from her face.

“I really would like to kiss you,” he admitted. He stepped back, tugging her lightly along with him until he paused and looked up. Still stunned, Marinette followed his gaze, up to the mistletoe decoration hanging from the ceiling. Oh.

Butterflies took sudden flight in her stomach. She dropped her wide-eyed gaze back to Luka, only to find he was watching her.

“Only if you want to kiss me, though,” he said, with a slight shrug. He threaded his fingers through hers and tugged her a little closer.

He held her gaze as he bent purposefully towards her. Luka bent until his nose was just brushing hers, head tilted just so, waiting, still watching her through half-lidded eyes. Heart hammering, senses suddenly full of him, of his rough hands in her and the evergreen scent that hung about him, his face filling her vision with those eyes so soft and yet so intense—

Impulsively Marinette raised her face just enough to let their lips brush together. He didn’t move away, and Marinette did it again, pressing in a little more this time, and then Luka leaned into her and they were really kissing...lightly, but fully.

It was...electrifying. Their hands untangled as they moved closer together, and he was so solid and strong and warm where she leaned on him. Her hands found his shoulders as his slid up her back, and it felt so good to be held, to feel wanted by anyone, let alone someone who was sweet and kind and down to earth while also being so... exceptional. But...even as his lips moved over hers she couldn’t push aside the fact that she was leaving. She had barely a week left, and then her whole family would descend on the town for Christmas dinner at Gina’s house and then...then she would be gone, and what...what would she do then? What was he expecting her to do? She had commitments and a career and he didn’t want that kind of life anymore, and—

Luka pulled back with a soft click, his eyes staying closed just a moment longer than hers, before he opened them and smiled softly at her. “You’re thinking awfully hard for someone who’s being kissed,” he murmured.

“It’s a terrible habit,” she said shakily. “I wish I didn’t.”

“Then don’t,” he said, his hand coming up to cup her cheek. His thumb caressed her gently. “It doesn’t have to be about anything but the here and now, Marinette. Just let the moment be what it is.”

“That’s all well and good,” Marinette sighed, “until the future is the now and you have to deal with the consequences. Luka, I’m leaving.” Unconsciously her fingers played nervously with the fine hairs at the nape of his neck.

“I know,” he said thickly, and cleared his throat. “Maybe I’m just not as efficient as you,” Luka grinned. “But personally, if the outcome is the same either way, I’ll take being deliriously happy for a week over moping around crying in my cheerios until you leave.”

Marinette burst out laughing at that, and Luka chuckled along. “I’m not trying to pressure you,” he told her, leaning back and lifting a hand to cradle her face, rubbing his thumb over her cheek. “I’m just saying...I’ve come to care about you a lot, Marinette. More than just friendship. I hear you. I know where you stand. I’m okay with whatever you’re willing to give me, whether that’s just this and nothing more, or a couple of dates, or...whatever. You don’t have to worry about leading me on or giving me false expectations. I just want to be with you while I can.”

Marinette sighed. “How can that be enough for you, though? If you really—I mean—”

“I do,” Luka told her softly, tilting her face up to look at him. “I really do, Marinette. Please don’t doubt that. And it’s really not enough,” he admitted, with a sigh to match hers. “If more than that were on offer, I’d gladly take it, but…” He shrugged. “What do we have to lose?”

Marinette looked at him, caught between conflicting realities. She liked him—she hadn’t even realized until now how much she liked him, but—what was he even asking her for? A week long fling? She...she didn’t do that kind of thing, she wasn’t sure she could, and...she didn’t know if she wanted to take on the pain of losing him, and wasn’t it better to just...just be friends for the time they had left? Could they even be friends after this?

Luka, watching her again, stepped back and dropped his hands back down to hers. He squeezed her hands gently, bringing her focus back to him. “Listen, we’re still friends. If you decide you’re okay with being more than that for the time you have left, you let me know.” He sighed, but cut it off and smiled. “Come on, if you’re done here, I’ll take you home.”

He dropped one hand, but kept a gentle hold on the other, squeezing it lightly before he dropped it so she could pack up her things. Marinette packed her kit mechanically, glancing at him. Luka appeared perfectly at ease, chatting with one of the kids, and he didn’t so much as look at her. Trying to make things easy, she supposed, as he always did. Giving her some space, maybe, to absorb the sudden shift in her reality.

The reality where Luka—who was also Luke Stone the rock star and that was definitely too much for her to think about right now—liked her, as more than a friend, and told her so, and kissed her, and oh my I kissed Luke Stone, Alya would freak —

She knocked a coiled up tape measure off the table and it bounced and exploded into a tangle on the floor. One of the kids scrambled over to pick it up for her, and she managed to thank her with a smile, and just stuffed the whole jumbled thing into her usually-immaculate kit.

Her hands were shaking as she snapped it closed and looked for Luka. He smiled at her, and made his farewells to the boy he’d been talking to. He walked beside Marinette to the door with his hands in his pockets, and opened it for her. It was a stupid thing to blush about but Marinette did anyway.

She still accepted his steadying hand to get up into the truck, and the smile he sent her was reassuring. She relaxed a little. He didn’t seem angry or hurt, and her nerves eased a little bit as he climbed up in his seat and started up the truck.

Neither of them said much on the way home, and Marinette was grateful, because she was sure she would start to babble if she opened her mouth at all. Luka turned on some music, and Marinette smiled slightly as she realized it was Jagged’s latest album. She ventured to ask a question about one song in particular that she had always wondered about, and Luka answered her easily with a tale about the night on tour when Jagged had been inspired to write the thing. Marinette felt a little better by the time Luka dropped her off at home. Maybe this was okay after all. Maybe he was right and they could still be friends from here.

“You can come look at the clothes whenever you’re ready,” Luka told her as he held her kit while she jumped down from the seat. “The farm’s effectively closed for the season since pretty much everybody has their tree now. Just come on over once you’ve got an idea what you need.”

“Okay,” Marinette tried to smile. “Thank you, Luka.”

Luka chucked her gently under the chin. “Don’t make me something else you’re worrying about, okay? You don’t have to tell me what’s going on but I can see you’ve got some things weighing you down, and I don’t want to be one of them. I’m just...I’m here for you. However you want me to be.”

Marinette’s smile was maybe still a little wobbly, but much more sincere. “Thanks, Luka.”

“Sure.” He let her take her kit back, and watched her until she was inside. Then he turned and climbed back up in the truck.

Luka was very, very good at keeping it all together. He didn’t freak out, he didn’t panic, and he didn’t get upset—on the outside. His hands shook a little bit right before he gripped the steering wheel, but otherwise he was completely normal, right up until he shut the door in his own room at home.

Even then, all he did was bury his hands in his hair, slide down the door to sit on the floor, and sigh heavily. It was done, after all. He’d made his move and now he had to live with it. Luka didn’t regret it, exactly, but...he wished things were different. He really did. Maybe he should have talked to her instead of going straight to kissing, but...

He let go of his hair and thumped his head back against the door. He needed something to do.

Well, the attic was probably a disaster. Might as well go up there and see if he couldn’t make it less of one before Marinette came over.

Fiction Master Post | Month of Miracles

#quickspins #monthofmiracles2020 #hallmark au #lukanette #endgame lukanette #lukanette endgame #luka couffaine #marinette dupain-cheng #miraculousladybug #miraculous ladybug

58 notes · View notes

jbuffyangel · 4 years

Text

The Bermuda Triangle: Arrow 1x13 Review (Betrayal)

Time to deal with this love triangle and all the ways it is awful.

Let’s dig in...

L*uriver vs. Merlance

I frequently say to myself as I rewatch Season 1 that the triangle makes sense in theory. The writers have all the components, albeit clichéd, that should create a love triangle full of juicy drama.

Man wrongs woman in another life thereby destroying any future together

Woman falls for secret identity without realizing it is the same man who hurt her

Man “gives up” woman for her own good

Man and best friend are in love with the same woman

Best friend changes his ways and becomes the perfect boyfriend

Woman no longer wants best friend and instead lusts for secret identity bad boy

And round and round we go. The problem is this doesn’t really tread any new ground. How many times have we seen this type of love triangle play out? MANY TIMES. Not saying a tried and true trope can’t be repeated, but if you’re going to use it then try to inject some new life into it.

Arrow stays stubbornly in between the lines on this one, which means there are no real surprises. We know exactly where this is headed. Everyone is just waiting for L*urel to choose Oliver. Hell, even Tommy knows it is coming someday.

This brings us to our second problem. L*urel choosing Oliver is so inevitable it doesn’t require a lot of character growth for either of them. L*urel and Oliver have not dealt with ANY of the issues that caused their demise. Yes, Oliver cheated on L*urel, but there were reasons why he cheated. Those have yet to be discussed.

We’re supposed to accept that since Oliver is wearing the hood and is out saving the streets as the vigilante then he is “worthy” of L*urel again. We’re supposed to be waiting with baited breath for L*urel to discover Oliver’s secret identity, realize he’s the man in the hood she’s been lusting after, and fall back into his arms where she belongs.

I think not. Don’t get me wrong. I love me a good triangle. I loved The Vampire Diaries. Two brothers in love with the same woman. Interesting. Woman looks exactly like the lost love that destroyed their bond a hundred years earlier? MORE INTERESTING. And kinky.

I enjoy exploring the varying ways love is expressed in different relationships and what it can reveal about the characters. There isn’t always a right or wrong choice. There’s just a choice and it reflects the kind of love you need to live.

But I understand the complaints about love triangles. Oliver, L*urel and Tommy are the PERFECT validation of those complaints. It’s a tired way to insert some drama that has a completely predictable ending. The even bigger problem is there’s barely enough heat to melt an ice cube. L*uriver is frigid. Merlance is better, but they certainly aren’t an inferno.

“Betrayal” does an excellent job of highlighting all the love triangle problems which plague Season 1. We’re all waiting for L*urel to see that Oliver is a changed man. If only she knew he was The Hood! Her anger and hurt over Sara blinds her ability to see those changes. He needs to wear the mask, so L*urel can see who Oliver truly is. God that sounds good doesn’t it?

IT’S NOT GOOD.

Sara was a symptom of much bigger problems between L*urel and Oliver. He did not want to be with L*urel, so he blew their relationship up in a fairly spectacular display of self sabotage.

Why doesn’t Oliver want to be with L*urel? Well... welcome to Oliver’s mind. He’s been asking himself that same question for the last five years. If he wanted to be with L*urel then he would have never left town. He would have never cheated on her with Sara. Then Sara would be alive. His father would be alive. EVERY ounce of guilt Oliver Queen carries is connected to that one single choice of leaving L*urel.

So, it’s fairly easy to understand why Oliver thinks being with L*urel will fix everything. If he can fix things with L*urel then he’s truly forgiven. It washes away the sins of the past. It’s like it never happened. At this point, this is what Oliver wants more than ANYTHING. He can’t bring Sara or Robert back. But he can resuscitate his dead relationship with his ex-girlfriend. Close enough. The man isn’t choosey after five years of misery.

Unfortunately, Oliver hasn’t changed at all when it comes to L*urel Lance. Oh I know BUT THE HOOD. Listen y’all, throwing on leather accessories and playing Robin Hood doesn’t equate to relationship therapy. Sorry writers. I need more than crime fighting to believe Oliver can be the perfect boyfriend now.

He continues to make all the same mistakes. OLIVER IS STILL LYING TO L*UREL. He lies to her every day. He lies when he’s wearing the hood. He lies when he’s not wearing the hood. LIES LIES LIES LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIESS. Oliver continues to hide who he truly is from L*urel. Different outfit. Same problems.

This brings us to SO. MUCH. MISOGYN. Lance is using the phone The Hood gave L*urel to trap him. Whenever we are looking at betrayal and the Lance family it’s important to grade on a curve. It’s a dirty move on Quentin’s part, but far from the gold medal of betrayals this family achieves.

Source: @laurelsource

Everyone finds out that L*urel is working with the Hood and by everyone I mean Tommy. Quentin follows L*urel with a battalion of police officers to her meeting with The Hood. He’s gathered information on a newly released crime boss, Cyrus Vanch. When Oliver realizes they’ve been busted he holds L*urel by the throat as cover so he can jump off the roof. BuT tHeIr LoVe Is iS hEaLtHy.

Source: @dinahlaurellancesource

As L*urel rants to her current boyfriend (yes I use the word “current” on purpose), he pieces together that she’s been lying to him about working with The Hood.

Source: THEARROWGIFS:

L*urel: He's been lying to me for weeks.

Tommy: Yeah feels like crap doesn't it?

Are we surprised L*urel fails to see the hypocrisy in her little rant?

We are not. This is why Tommy was always the better man for L*urel. He actually had a pair and would call her on her BS. Oliver was incapable of doing until well into Season 2, but I digress.

So, Tommy goes to his best friend Oliver for relationship advice. I know this is a television show, but why in the ever living mother of Zeus do L*urel and Tommy think OLIVER is the best person to ask for relationship advice?

Oliver: Tommy, every time you want to talk to me about something, and that something is L*urel, you look like you’re about to tell me you have some terminal disease.

Me: He does have a terminal disease. It’s called L*URIVER.

Tommy: She’s been working with The Hood guy.

Oliver: What? You’re letting her work with that crazy person? She could get hurt Tommy.

Tommy: I’m not letting her do anything. I only just found out about it.

I know this episode aired in 2012, but talk about some patriarchal bullshit. The entire episode is filled with language like this. Quentin, Oliver, Tommy and The Hood all act like L*urel needs their permission to go to the bathroom. New flash fellas: If L*urel wants to engage in nightly rendezvous with a serial killer that’s her business.

L*urel says something to similar effect, but is summarily blown off by whatever male she’s speaking to. She meets up with The Hood after he and Lance save her from Cyrus Vanch.

Source: BJ-HUNNICUTTS-BLOG

It seems The Hood didn’t think through all the ways talking to L*urel on a phone and meeting her secretly on rooftops would put her in danger.

Source: BJ-HUNNICUTTS-BLOG

L*urel: I knew the risks.

The Hood: Now I know them and I’m not willing to take them with you.

L*urel: What does that mean?

It means he wants to bone you, L*urel. Get a clue.

Holy hell, these conversations make her look stupid. L*urel, do you know a lot of six foot men with similar build and facial hair to Oliver Queen?

Maybe she would take issue with his infantilizing if she stopped speaking like a three year old whenever The Hood is around.

Source: LAURELSOURCE

She has this dazed expression too. I know L*urel is so overwhelmed with all the ATTRACTION and LUST that her eyes dilate and the bosom heaves, but I’m starting to think a taser gun is how they forced Katie do scenes with Stephen.

Source: @dinahlaurellancesource

The point is nobody is all that interested in L*urel’s agency – INCLUDING L*UREL. I understand “secret identity” is a very common trope in hero’s stories, but it never makes any sense to me. Shouldn’t the “true love” be the first person to know who the hero is and not the last? Oliver keeps saying he can’t tell the people he loves who he truly is because it will put them in danger. So, he doesn’t care if Diggle gets killed? His logic makes no sense. If this was truly about protecting people then why did he need a partner?

And no – you can’t use John can protect himself. We just watched L*urel throw down with that umbrella. She was lethal.

Source: @dinahlaurellancesource

Oliver is the king of compartmentalization. He does not know how to merge his two selves yet. He cannot fathom showing Thea, Moira, Tommy and L*urel his darkest self because that means being honest about what happened the five years he was away and what it did to him. That will be a hard pass from our leather clad hero.

My other issue with the love triangle (in addition to all the lying and misogyny) is Oliver comes off like an asshole. He manipulates Tommy with statements like, "L*urel is lying? That doesn't seem like her” and “ have an honest chat with her” like there is something in their relationship causing her to lie or that Tommy is responsible for L*urel’s behavior. He’s slowly pecking away at the Merlance walls until it crumbles. DIRTY POKER OLIVER QUEEN.

But then we arrive at this gross fest:

Tommy: There’s some sort of infatuation thing going on here. We both know that she has a pretty strong track record of being attracted to guys who are dangerous, who break the rules. Show me a more dangerous rule breaker than The Hood.

Oliver: I just think you need to have an honest chat with her. Find out the real reason she’s keep secrets.

Tommy: I just can’t believe that L*urel of all people would lie to my face. I guess that’s the way it is with the people you are closest to.

Oliver: I know, but talk to her anyway. And fix this before it becomes something that’s unfixable.

Did this conversation actually happen?

Does anyone else find it weird that Tommy and Oliver psychoanalyze L*urel’s dating preferences?

And even weirder they are ACCURATE?

Credit where credit is due. L*urel likes bad boys right up until they become good boys. Then she’s off to find the next asshole that will lie, cheat and disappoint her. (We could do an entire novel’s worth of L*urel Lance’s toxic dating choices).

Even worse, Tommy concludes she has the hots for The Hood like it’s nothing. Like it’s completely normal and okay behavior.

Holy hell man! Tommy, maybe L*urel has beaten any self respect into the ground, but IT’S OK TO EXPECT YOUR GIRLFRIEND TO NOT BE INFATUATED WITH OTHER MEN.

What’s really gross is Oliver lies straight to Tommy’s face (no differently than L*urel did) while using the secret identity to engage in inappropriate flirting with his best friend’s girlfriend. He uses the hood to say things to L*urel that he would NEVER say as Oliver Queen. And L*urel never tells The Hood she has a boyfriend or to back off. In fact, she encourages the behavior. THIS. IS. CHEATING. Maybe not physical, but it sure is emotional.

Let’s also never forget L*urel started sleeping with Tommy as a way to stick it to Oliver. She wasn’t expecting to develop real feelings for Tommy, and I do believe she loves him, but that doesn’t erase the toxicity of this cycle that somebody needs to end.

There’s just no good here, my friends.

Source: @dinahlaurellancesource

The writers are relying on an empty “they are supposed to be together” promise without providing any evidence why. Neither L*urel nor Oliver has changed in a meaningful way to support giving their relationship another try. The problem between them wasn’t whether or not Oliver fought street crime. The problem was honesty. Between all the lying and just-on-the-line cheating, I’d argue they bring out the worst in each other. Nuclear winter has better chemistry. Need I go on?

Ok. I will.

The only one who has shown any growth is Tommy. This is change L*urel encouraged in Tommy, but then he became dependable and honest, so she started lusting after The Hood. Both Oliver and L*urel are lying to him about a variety of things. With friends like these who needs enemies?

L*urel is treated like some prize, but is she a prize they really want to win? Neither man is given a reason to love L*urel beyond she’s who they are supposed to want.

Source: @dinahlaurellancesource

Don’t get me wrong. I am a Merlance shipper, but it is hard to root for their ship at this point. If the writers just left them alone and let them be adorable then it would be fine.

Source: @dinahlaurellancesource

BUT. THEY. KEEP. INSERTING. OLIVER.

And where is L*urel’s character? We’re thirteen episodes in and she’s too busy flip flopping personalities for me to nail her down to one specifically. For arguments sake, let’s say the hot and cold behavior IS one of her main traits. It only surfaces in relation to Oliver. L*urel flips on him which causes her to flop on Tommy. L*urel’s actions are simply a reaction to Oliver. That’s not agency. That’s a prop.

Source: @dinahlaurellancesource

It’s almost like the writers can’t be bothered with more. She’s a justice seeking, self sacrificing attorney who works pro bono. TA DA! Character is complete. Nothing more to see here!

Well, if that’s the criteria then why isn’t Joanna in the running for hero’s true love? Throw Annie Ilonzeh in a room with Stephen Amell. Let’s see if the chemistry is any better.

The writers haven’t constructed L*urel’s character beyond a hockey puck for Tommy and Oliver to pass to each other until we reach the inevitable conclusion of L*urel “choosing” Oliver. It’s like watching a train speed toward a brick wall. I know the crash is coming, but I’m not apprehensive about it or grotesquely fascinated or even scared. I’m just want out of this Bermuda Triangle.

Quentin and L*urel

The only real interesting facet of L*urel’s character is her relationship with her father. I love the raw pain between them. It is always just under the surface. The writers throw those problems like grenades in their scenes together. Katie isn’t given much to work with, but her best material is always with Paul Blackthorne.

Source: LAURELSOURCE

Quentin using his daughter as bait was brilliant, but shadey. Super shadey. It also had the unintended consequence of getting her kidnapped by a mob boss. Oops. I sort of love that Quentin had to eat crow and call The Hood for help once he figured out there was a dirty cop feeding Vance information.

L*urel is in a rage after being held hostage by The Hood. (He can use her as a human shield because he loves her. No problems here. Nope nope nope!) Quentin really hoped L*urel would appreciate his fine detective work, but she’s pretty pissed off about all the guns pointed at her. She feels her father has lost his perspective on this particular case.

L*urel: Are you gonna find another criminal? Someone else to blame for mom leaving, for Sara dying, for your drinking?

The gloves come off! Daaaaaamn. The booze? We’re going there? Meow.

I agree Quentin Lance has an addictive personality. He directs his rage and grief into an outlet he can control. Hmm… who else does that?

However, L*urel’s indignation is a little much. She is cavorting with a known criminal. The same criminal her father is investigating. L*urel does nothing to help the investigation and one could argue she impedes the investigation. This is called obstruction of justice, Counselor. L*urel actually commissioned the crime The Hood is perpetrating this week, so she could also be charged as an accessory after the fact. Maybe even aiding and abetting. So, her horror at the police pointing guns at her is somewhat ludicrous. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.

Source: LAURELSOURCE

L*urel spends much of the episode fighting the rampant patriarchy and misogyny of the men around her by firmly accepting the danger of working with the vigilante. She is prepared to take those risks.

Source: LAURELSOURCE

But then L*urel is appalled the second she’s put in any danger and holds all the men responsible for not keeping her safe.

She can be mad her dad lied to her, but stop clutching the pearls. If L*urel wants to play the vigilante game then she is going to be used as bait and occasionally get kidnapped. That’s what everyone means by danger, girl. You’re either in or you’re out. If you’re in then you don’t get to blame anyone else for danger knocking on your door. Own your choices honey. THY NAME IS AGENCY.

Oliver and Diggle

This is week 323 of Diggle arguing that Moira is guilty as sin and Oliver ignoring the massive pile of evidence supporting that belief.

Ok, it hasn’t been that many weeks, but it feels like it. Thou Shall Not Question Diggle. He is always right, but Oliver digs his stubborn heels in. So, John offers to drive Moira around for a week and bugs her. As one does.

Oliver: You bugged my mother?

This is how OTA shows their love, Oliver. Diggle knows Moira is a slippery snake and can wiggle out of any question Oliver asks her. She even burns the copy of the List Felicity gave him after Oliver confronts her with it.

Moira insists she never associated with the people in Robert’s book and knew it only as a list of people who owed him favors. Oliver believes his mother is trying to protect her children from Walter’s fate.

So, John gets Moira ON TAPE discussing The Undertaking with Malcolm Merlyn and the sabotage of Robert Queen’s boat.

We’re going to ignore that Moira’s voice is perfectly identifiable, but Merlyn’s is about ten octaves lower. The point is these are information diamonds Diggle unearths and Oliver FINALLY agrees to pay his mother a visit as The Hood.

Flashbacks

The best part of the flashbacks is meeting all the people who helped Oliver Queen become The Hood.

Source: @olivergifs

Hello Slade Wilson! He’s a massively important character in Arrow and it is fun to rewatch how he came into Oliver’s life.

Slade and his partner, the man who tortured Oliver, are Australian Intelligence who came to Lian Yu to free Yao Fei. Slade and Yao Fei have been monitoring an air field so they can escape the island, but he cannot take it alone. There is always a reason behind all of Yao Fei’s actions, but it takes Slade a minute to figure out why he sent Oliver.

Slade: You have no skill. No strength. No training. To say you fight like a girl would be a compliment.

I’m equally indignant and amused by that line. Slade doesn’t believe Oliver will be any help to him because well… he met him. If Oliver is ever captured again he could reveal Slade’s location. So, he decides to behead Oliver. It’s the nice thing to do. It won’t hurt a bit. What can I say guys? It’s Lian Yu! These are how the memories are made.

Oliver dislocates his shoulder and punches Slade in a vain attempt to defend himself. Yao Fei may be a softer judge of character, but he’s not wrong about Oliver’s survival instinct. Slade sees the fight in Oliver’s eyes and finally understands why Yao Fei sent him. They need Oliver to survive as much as he needs them. He might not be much to look at now, but Slade Wilson is just the man to harness Oliver’s will and turn him into the fighter they all need him to become.

Stray Thoughts

David Anders is like my personal Kevin Bacon. He's in everything I watch. #Arrow #TVD #Alias #OUAT

I was never all that jazzed when L*urel was the damsel in distress and I love that crap. Another clue I didn't ship it. Source: LAURELSOURCE

Do people on this show not realize you can’t touch evidence? JFC.

Twenty four arrows in the quiver. Good to know.

“It doesn’t mean I have to read the bastard his rights though.” IF YOU WANT THE CHARGES TO STICK YOU DO.

I am so confused on what type of law L*urel practices. Her firm works for a victim’s advocacy group, but she also prosecutes criminal cases. This feels like a radiologist performing heart surgery.

KC is just really bad at action scenes. It's always so awkward.

Musings of the Kiddo

Kiddo: Does he ever run out of arrows?

Me: He has extra in the car.

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me.

If you’d like to support the blog, please buy me a cup of tea!

#arrow #arrow review #arrow 1x13 #arrow reviews #anti laurel lance #anti lauriver #merlance #anti katie cassidy #quentin lance #arrow rewatch #arrow season 1 #season 1 episode review #season 1 episode reviews #tommy merlyn

35 notes · View notes

ashes-in-a-jar · 4 years

Text

Tma relisten Episodes 6-10

(Still really long)

Alot of really important details that are going to be very relevant later on. Very facinating how early on you find these out. Relistens are good.

Episode 6 squirm

It's a good thing tma doesn't do much of sexual encounters and their connection to entities. While I'm sure that's a thing that in any realistic universe would exist avoiding it was a good choice. This statement was *shudder*

Interesting that she had no visible mark on her. Also being repulsed by police stations because the sectioned officers could have helped.

Naked in the streets after lighting his apartment on fire. What an image.

So technically the worms were in the archives 3 times: when Jane made her first statement, when Timothy hodge made his and when Jane attacked. The worms are very familiar with the magnus institute.

"This story is concerning. Not because of Mr. Hodge’s experience, although I’m sure it was very upsetting." ace Jon talking very technical about "experiences"

" though obviously it’s a tragic loss of life, etcetera, etcetera." Jon being Jon.

Ecdc are aware of Jane and corruption typical attacks which is off the bat interesting world building.

He's skeptic here because of lack of evidence but does admit the existence of a threat in Jane Prentiss

Also! He knows of her from before probably when he was a researcher. This confused me on first listen because I was trying to remember if she was ever mentioned before this. But she wasn't.

Episode 7 the piper

Wilfred kind of sounds like martin in some way but maybe it's just me assigning poetry to anyone like him.

But he hated apathy which might be very Martin like

Gentle sadness and creeping fear from the music. For violence of war... Is that what it means to immortalize it?

It's really cool that the concept of music in this podcast is associated specifically with war and unwarranted violence. There's a very strong statement in there somewhere that needs to be explored.

God this statement was intense. Lying for such a long time in that trench surrounded by violent death. But what's most interesting is that this statement doesn't feel like a supernatural one and yet... The piper was with Wilfred throughout the various battles and bouts of violence until the moment it was officially over. But in a very subtle way.

The description of the piper is really intense with the 3 faces. I think I missed it the first time but hearing that representation of war and fear is something I'm going to look for in artistic depictions now.

Wait. Who is Joseph Rayner? I know of Maxwell but never heard of Joseph.a victim instead of Wilfred? Collaborator with the Slaughter? Hmmm

I wonder how Accidental it was that the statement from 1922 was filed in the 2000s. Maybe to show that the piper never really leaves and the war never really ends. Ever.

Episode 8 burned out

Wow Hilltop Road already! I forgot how many of the first episodes were so important to the plot later on.

"That side of the road backed onto South Park with fences marking the bottom of each garden." this is wrong btw. Hilltop Road in Oxford does not run along Sount Park but is perpendicular to it, meeting it in the corner with Divinity Road which meets with Morrell Avenue which is the road running along South Park. Just FYI because I had to look this up to get a good picture. But I guess Morrell doesn't sound as exciting as Hilltop (which isn't even at the top of the hill smh)

Ivo lensik describes Raymond fielding as white which makes me automatically think he is not. Just a thought that popped in my mind.

Huh. His family had a history of schizophrenia. And his dad was obsessed with fractals. Being followed by The spiral (all the bones are in his hands) was also part of this story really interesting.

Agnes had mousy brown hair and looked like Raymond! Not red hair ( at least at first) like I pictured. Also she was a hell of a creepy child...

So did he time travel? Seeing the moments of Raymond's end? Seems like time doesn't work right in that place anyway.

Web person being devout church goer is also an interesting touch

Father Edwin Burroughs! I forgot he was here too! The knock reminded me of Mr Spider *shiver*

The priest explaining that the church exorcized demons but what not decisive if ghosts exist was hilarious. Jon dismisses paranormal but asks Martin if he's a ghost is opposite of the church.

Hmmm the web pushing him to cut the tree to uncover box from antique table...

Apple full of spiders ugh. Maybe something web was trapped in there by Desolation and ivo managed free it as Agnes was dying.

"We cannot prove any connection, but Martin unearthed a report on an Agnes Montague, who was found dead in her Sheffield flat on the evening of November 23rd 2006, the same day Mr. Lensik claims to have uprooted the tree." wow that's an obscure thing to find well done Martin!

Jon still looks for credence for this story despite the schizophrenia that could leave him skeptical.

"while I trust Mr. Lensik’s testimony of his own experiences about as far as I can throw a bleeding tree," again Jon with his special brand of jokes.

Episode 9 a Father's love

The Montauk's story! I always thought their family had one of the most tragic ones. The hunt is a really cruel patron with its forced hunger and having other entities use them as tools.

Julia telling the truth of the story to the Magnus Institute instead of the police is also heartbreaking. How desperate and alone she must have felt drowned in that awful literally unbelievable story. The magnus institute feeds off of those people too.

So many of the hunt end up in police it's just... Such a strong statement against that establishment. What do we do to make that less of a horrible, unjust, all consuming system? That feeds on the hunger of some and the abject fear of others? And it doesn't have to be supernatural. It's interesting how season five, of all seasons, is the one that gave us that perspective. The non supernatural one on the subject while the world itself is so far away from the natural. God everything about this idea is so heavy and painful.

I kind of hate Julia's fate because of her background and how much alot of its beginning was out of her control. It's like Daisy. The hunt can never be forgiven no matter how compulsive it is.

The dark that took her mother turned her into part of it? Like the dark liquid?

A dark room to develop his photos of his victims huh? A play on words here.

Oooh they put a heartbeats in the soundscape really cool actually.

So Montauk killed other dark members that tried to leave? For the ritual? Like Julia's mother?

The hunt compelled him to keep the hearts as trophies? which is very self destructive of the hunt to do. Or is it part of the dark ritual with the sacrifices that the heart had to be kept?

I think Montauk was trying to slow down the ritual as revenge that night, rendering the sacrifices he helped create useless. Which is why pitch came after them that night and dissappeared once Montauk finished his ritual.

Sourcing the Serial killer enthusiast community. Love that the archives use whatever source of info they can access.

So Maxwell dissappeared in 1994 from public eye land yet the cult kept working towards a ritual. But now in secret? Their timeline always confused me.

Episode 10 vampire killer

I never noticed Trevor came right after Julia! Oooh this is so much connecting the dots so early on!

Vampires are so disturbing here makes you ever wonder how the hell media like twilight were ever created. But hehe the monster ****er community has always been a vibrant one. Not these vampires tho.

Trevor is so sassy I love his statements. Like Julia it really makes me sad how consumed he became at the end and how awful his death was. Once again the tragedy of the Hunt.

"I taught myself to read, I read as much on the subject as I could, and it isn’t covered often or clearly in those books I have found." can you imagine what kinds of books he might have found during the sexy vampire Era? This is a hilarious picture to paint.

So vampires feed off of blood and not fear which is an interesting creature to have in this kind of universe. Although hunters are also like that but there is still alot of fear and awareness involved with that while the vampires try to conceal themselves until the last moment.

There's alot of mosquito imagery in these vampires which is... Ugh

Also interesting how many time Trevor just uses the vampire's full name. Never shortened and never talked about in another title. Sylvia McDonald this Sylvia McDonald that. Also the other vampire. They always had a name that was psychicly imposed on the victims to be remembered fully. Very Stranger behavior.

Ahhhh the one vampire weakness... Drrrugs.

It's also very flammable which sets interesting precedence to setting unnatural things on fire to make them disappear.

Alard dupont comes in a later statement right? Yeah in 56

Martin was there when the statement was given which was 2010 and in 2016 he's 29 so he worked there for a while! At least since age 23 perhaps we'll find out even earlier. And he was still scared to be found under qualified after all this time! Oof...

I wonder how draining it is to give a statement that it kills someone who is sick.

The government is in on this! Looking for the teeth Trevor gave the institute... Somehow that strikes me as hilarious in the world building of this podcast. And it really leaves Jon no choice but to concede that there is something to the statement even if he refuses to use the term vampire like Trevor did so freely.

#Pfft i was so into this one i forgot to tag #Tma #jonathan sims #Tma hiatus liveblog #magnuspod #julia montauk #trevor herbert #Jane Prentiss #The magnus archives #hilltop road

23 notes · View notes

exoxobsession · 3 years

Text

Spring Days || Chapter 7

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Childhood FriendsAU!, Friends to LoversAU!

Warnings: Death

Pairing: Kai x Ji-Eun (OC)

Word count: 1.4K

Summary: Friends become strangers, trust is gone, he betrays their friendship, she moves on. What if they meet again? Will they become friends or stay as strangers with memories?

Part: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

“A marriage between you two, you and Junmyeon.”

“What? Don’t I get a say in this?” you asked, utterly shocked. As if right on cue, the doorbell rang. Your mother moved to open while you just stared at your dad and Chae-young, who looked as shocked as you. You heard shuffling from the corridor soon after you were seated. You did nothing, just played with the food, appetite long gone. Junmyeon was like your brother. Did he know about this? Was he okay with this?

“Junmyeon, I’m sure your father told you about the alliance?” your father said, but it came out more like a question. Junmyeon looked at you, “Uh- y-yes, but I never looked at her that way. So I’m not sure where that’ll go.” this made you look at him, finally! You were glad he didn’t want this either. “What do you-” your mother asked, but you cut her off, “Me neither if you and his dad are great friends, then shouldn’t you two be okay with whatever alliance you have without marriage?” you asked glancing, at your father finally getting your thoughts out. "Ji-Eun don't talk like that-”

“Plus, I have no interest in marriage and not arranged. I don’t want to be some contract,” you added. Everyone was shocked. “We’ll discuss this later, eat.” your father calmed you down. Fiddling more than eating, you gave up.

“Junmyeon, Ji-Eun follow me.” your father gestures to his office. “So you don’t want this?” he starts, which makes you both shake your heads. “Okay, reasons?” he raises his brows. “I’ve already told you my reasoning during dinner, Sir,” Junmyeon says to which your father nods. “Yours then?” he looks at you, gaze softening the second he sees your pout. “One: I don’t wanna get married yet. Two: Never to Junmyeon, no offense.” you say turning to him, “And three: I don’t want to be a contract!” you say firmly.

“Okay.” your father says shocking both of you. “Okay?” you repeated, “It was that easy!” you added, and your father just nods. You both left the room shocked. “Do you think it’s done? Would they leave it that quick?” he asked you. “Not sure. But… I hope so!” you said you pouted.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he said, going out. “The guys are having a movie night, you should join us.” he offered. “You too,” he said, looking behind you. “Sure,” Chae-young said from behind you. “You coming?” Junmyeon turned to you. “Yeah, I have another way. Oh, and could you tell Chanyeol and Baek to come to Jongin’s room? Just them both.” you requested.

Looking at you weirdly, he walked away. Grabbing Chae-young by the wrist, you led her to your room. “Why are we here?” she asked, confused. Noticing that Jongin’s bedroom window was opened, you saw two silhouettes walk in and turn the light on.

“Yeol, Baek!” you exclaimed to get their attention. “Ji-Eun? What are you- no don’t tell me you’re going to jump in?” Chanyeol shouted at your stupidness. “You’re what?” Baekhyun and Chae-young said at the same time. “All you need to do is pull me in, okay?” you said with the dumb brain of yours. “I’m not sure…” Chae-young sounded behind you. “It’s fine, it’s just a tiny leap. You’ll be fine, I promise,” you promised her.

“You better catch me!” you yelled before swinging your legs to the other side. Chanyeol pulled you by the waist and Baekhyun secured your arms. You yelped when you stepped on a toy car and you lurched forward, hitting the ground. “I’m coming…�� Chae-Young said from the other side as Chanyeol helped you up.

“I’ve got you,” Baekhyun said as he helped Chae-Young in. “Your so lightweight, do you even eat?” he asked Chae-young to which she just gave a weak smile. “Let’s go down.”

Taking your usual spot on the couch, you got hooked to the tv. Meanwhile, Chae-young looked around and the only spot was beside Baekhyun on the ground.

The killer was going to the main lead, the knife already stained with blood. The scene growing intense each second, there was going to be a jump scare as you prepared yourself for it. Shutting your eyes right at the moment, but you heard a scream, but it wasn’t from the tv, it was right beside you. It was so girly that everyone started laughing. Looking beside you, you saw it was an embarrassed Jongin.

You don’t know when you slept, but the shoulder looked so inviting, and the sleep was coming in. The next morning you woke up in your old bed, right beside Chae-young. She was awake, though. “Ji-Eun, where are we? Did we get kidnapped,” she questioned you. “No. We’re still in Junmyeon’s!” you said, looking at the time on your phone. “It’s 5 am. We should go back before mom and dad realize,” she said, stirred up and out.

“Let’s wake Chanyeol up,” you spoke, which she just shook her head. You raised your eyebrows as if questioning her. “We’ll wake Jongin.” You just gaped, slightly shaking your head. But you knew she would be wrong. It was impossible to wake him up.

As you said, he wouldn’t get up, and he wasn’t alone in his bed either. Chae has been shaking him up for 7 minutes now. “See?” you gestured. “You try.” she pushed you forward. “Jongin.” you called out softly, and he just stirred a bit and murmured something along the lines, ‘go away Ji-Eun,’ Sighing, “Jongin, just wake, hm?” and that’s when his eyes fluttered open. “Ji-Eun.” he sluggishly, and you stepped back.

“Can you help us go through?” Chae-Young asked. “Sure,” he said, still sleepily. He first sent Chae-young through. Then for you, you held your hand up to signal him you could alone. “Wait.” he caught your wrist, preventing you from making any more moves. Chae-young from the other side smiled and murmured ‘just talk’ and walked out of your room.

“What?” you asked, your voice slightly wavering. “Just let me explain,” he said, giving you the puppy eyes he knew which would tip you off. “Then explain, explain why you ghosted me for over three weeks.” your voice cracked, and you didn’t continue letting him take over.

“I was scared. Minji told me she loves me, she’ll go to any lengths to have me. I was naïve, and I got scared. Then she mentioned your name one day with her friend, so I thought-” his voice cracked. “-you thought that she’ll hurt me, and you thought-” you were going to finish when he cut you off. “I thought it would be good if I ignored you.”

“That’s stupid,” you said bluntly. “I know, I should’ve told you.” Jongin breathed as he looked sideways. “Then, why didn’t you call me for the past two years?” you asked. “It’s not something to talk about over the phone,” he explained. “You’re an idiot,” you said as you hugged him, finally content. “I know, but you still love me,” he said, wrapping his arms around you.

“I think I shouldn’t forgive you that easily for something like that.” you pulled back and declared. “Goddammit! You just made up Ji-Eun! Fight later.” Chen whined from the bed. “Help me through.” you smiled, and he lifted you over.

When you came to your side, you waved him a bye and fell on your bed, giggling like a teenager. You might’ve forgiven him too quick, but you were impatient. And Minji, you swore to yourself that you’d kill her when you see her next time.

Just as your eyes were closing, Chae-young came and jumped on you. “Looking at your smile, I think you guys fixed it?” she teased. Turning away from her, you buried yourself in your blankets and finally slept.

“Ji-Eun, Chae-young, wake up!” you heard someone call out, but you didn’t wake up, turning over to Chae-young you draped your leg over hers.

You woke up to no one beside you, so you woke up. After freshening up, you went down to get some breakfast, but the air was awkward. They all looked at you as you sat down, and Chae-young was in tears. You assumed the worse. You looked at your parents, tilting your head, silently asking what happened. They just looked down, and you understood. In an instant you wrapped your arms around her hoping to soothe her, now she can she’s lost everything.

Your parents held the funeral. Even you were affected, you tore up because you saw this woman as your grandma. You held Chae-young’s hand in your and she offered a weak smile. The one you knew too well, the fake one she would give, but you didn’t call her out. Nobody special came it was just you and your family, after all, she didn’t have any family. Just thinking about them made you angry.

7 notes · View notes

bluespruce25 · 4 years

Text

A Life for a Life to Balance the Scales

CW: Suicide/Self-sacrifice

Follow #L4LBS for updates | Up on AO3 | Previous Chapter

Chapter 2 of 5: We Go Together

Lena was working alone in her lab to destroy the last vestiges of Non Nocere and considering where to next apply her mind and energy. She needed a new project but had lost faith in her own ability to create and innovate for good. She stood in front of her lab table, tablet in hand, flicking through files and noting ideas. It was taking longer than anticipated because, despite her best efforts, she found her thoughts frequently turning to Kara, to Supergirl, to Kara Zor-El; to that infuriating blonde who almost ruined her life. The time for berating herself for not seeing it sooner had passed. Now, she was working to reconcile the three of them in her mind, hoping to find an answer there that would provide clarity and direction on how to proceed. She wasn’t sure if she had forgiven Kara, but she was finally ready to admit that she still loved her; admit to herself that is; this was not something she would ever admit to Kara. If the revelation of Kara’s secret had proven anything, it was that Kara could not possibly return her feelings. Kara could not be in love with her and yet lie to her every moment they spent together. The way Kara treated her, that was not love. Then again, Lena asked herself with a sigh, “What do I know of love?”

Lost in her daydreams, Lena almost missed the notifications that popped up on the screen of her monitor, then on her tablet, as they filled her displays with increasing urgency. Startled out of her reverie by a particularly aggressive alert in bold red text, Lena swiveled to her computer and started frantically typing.

“No. No no no no no, this can’t be right. This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Unless.”

“Oh god, Kara !”

Lena grabbed her tablet and her bag and ran out the door of the lab.

---

Alex was standing at the war table in the middle of the control room looking wistfully at the second floor balcony. She could just make out the tops of heads where the Superfriends were gathered around Brainy when Lena Luthor came crashing into her line of vision.

Alex was momentarily stunned because there was no universe in which Lena Luther crashed into a room. As Lena flailed herself into a full stop in front of Alex, the agent managed to close her mouth and regain her composure, if just barely.

“It’s Kara, the Sun. Have you seen these readings?”

“Woah, woah there killer. Slow down.” Alex put her hands out as if to steady Lena.

“Alex! Have you seen these readings?!”

“Lena, what are you talking about?” Alex asked as Lena pulled her tablet out of her bag and thrust it in front of Alex’s face.

From what Alex could tell, LuthorCorp’s satellites in deep space had picked up on a massive solar flare. These readings showed one of the most prolific solar flares ever witnessed on Earth.

“Lena, I know. We all saw this two days ago. It’s been all over the news ever since. We are still seeing the geomagnetic storms today. Power has gone out all over the city and half of the country’s servers are down. So much for cloud computing.”

“Alex.”

Alex, looked up. She had never seen Lena Luthor look this disheveled, even with about a dozen assasination attempts in her frame of reference. Lena’s expression was almost wild. Her hair was somewhat disheveled and she was still breathing heavily from running into the room. The flush was resting high in her cheeks and her eyes were wide, frantic. Alex cocked her eyebrow and grasped Lena’s elbow, waiting for her to collect herself enough to elaborate.

“Look at the energy readings. Look at the radiation signature.” Lena was jabbing her finger into the tablet hard enough to make an audible noise.

Alex went pale and looked down at the tablet with new understanding. She felt as the blood drained out of her internal organs. She suddenly didn’t feel quite steady on her own two feet.

“Lena…” Alex said, though barely a whisper. “Lena, these indicators... I don’t know anything that would show up like this...not unless.”

Alex looked up at Lena expectantly, waiting for Lena to tell her that she’s wrong; waiting for the prodigal genius to explain the real reason why the solar flare is giving off readings that would only be possible if a Kryptonian had flung themselves bodily into the sun.

“Alex. Where’s Kara?” Alex opened her mouth, “I...she-,” but she couldn’t finish her answer. Lena repeated, “ Where. Is. Kara? ”

Alex continued to stare unseeing at a nondescript point in space somewhere in the vicinity of Lena’s face.

“ALEX, WHERE IS SHE?! ”

Lena was screaming at Alex and tears were raining down from her cheeks onto the cool polished marble of the DEO floor, but Alex couldn’t move. Alex couldn’t think or breathe or move.

---

Eventually, the sound of Lena crying out wordlessly in pain snapped the agent out of it. She turned on her heel and addressed Vasquez at the control panel.

“Pull up everything we have on the solar flare two days ago. I want radiation signatures, energy readings, thermal imaging, EVERYTHING WE HAVE. And I need it NOW.”

“Yes, ma’am. Right away, Director Danvers.”

Alex was lost in her own thoughts while her agents worked, this cannot be happening. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t do that to us. She doesn’t even have powers in space. It’s not even possible. How would she even get there?

Alex’s body went cold as realization washed over her. Reaching for her phone, she dialed Clark. She turned to face Lena, as she spoke into the phone, “Clark, it’s about Kara. No time to explain. I need you to go to the fortress. Now. As fast as you can. Call me when you get there.”

“Thank you, Clark.”

Lena was standing with her arms down, holding her bag with both hands in front of her. She had regained her composure and the mask Alex was so used to seeing had slipped back into place. The only hint of thoughts hiding behind it was the flash of panic in the way she moved her eyes; the set of her mouth, her lips pressed so thin they may as well be nonexistent, as if she could press her mouth closed hard enough to keep her pain contained inside.

She opened it carefully to ask, “Alex, when did you last see her?”

“She was here two days ago checking on Brainy. She said something about making Lex pay for his crimes and…” Alex reached out and grasped Lena’s left bicep. “Lena, I think she was saying goodbye.” Alex turned to face the empty foyer, the balcony Supergirl used as a personal entrance. “Oh my god. Kara, what have you done?”

“Alex... Director Danvers! ,” Lena grabbed Alex’s arm and shook her as Alex tried to bury her head in her hands, “What did she say about Lex? What was she going to do to him? Does she know where he is?”

“I don’t know. She didn’t say. She just said that he had to pay. That she had to do it for all of us. Lena, I’ve never seen her like that. I think...I think Kara was going to kill Lex.”

“Lex hasn’t been to LuthorCorp in two days. It came up at a board meeting this morning. I assumed that he was skipping town because Brainy had been found and Leviathan defeated.”

Lena turned to Alex again, interrupting her pacing, “Alex, what if she did it? What if Supergirl killed Lex Luthor?”

“Supergirl does not kill.”

“Then where is she?”

***

One thing no one counted on, certainly not Lex, was that Kara had spent a lot of time thinking while she was at the Vanishing Point with all the other Paragons. She still had all her powers, including her superhearing. There was no time at the Vanishing Point, no sun to rise or set, no rhythm to life but the rhythm they gave it. Their bodies were frozen in a moment outside of time and space. The only cycle was the unending dance of sleep and awareness. It had been her little secret that when she couldn’t rest, couldn’t turn off her mind, she would listen to the heartbeats of the other Paragons. Just like she did with Alex’s in Midvale and Lena’s in National City. It was the soundtrack to her misery, her anchor in the void. It was a coping mechanism; meditative almost. It wasn’t too long until she had memorized the heartbeats of every Paragon; including Lex Luthor.

You see, he might have known every power she possessed through his copious research on Kal El, but there’s one secret she’d never given away to anyone. One trick that only she knew, and for once, she could be one step ahead of him in his sick game of chess. She would only have one shot to play this card.

So there she was, hovering high over LuthorCorp, sending out her hearing all across the city, looking for the signature heartbeat she had decided to stop forever.

It took longer than she expected; hours in fact. She knew it would be difficult. Lex traveled in lead-lined and soundproofed cars, and lived and worked in lead-lined and soundproofed rooms. He had built his whole life around thwarting Kal El. But even Lex Luthor had to leave his bubble of safety occasionally.

As soon as he stepped out of the car, she heard it. On the corner of 8th and Main. Using her x-ray vision she narrowed in on a barber shop. Of course his vanity would be his downfall. The beginnings of a smile lifted the corner of her mouth, but it didn’t last long as she steeled herself for what came next.

Lex was lounging in his favorite barber’s chair at the very back of the shop, a warm towel over his face in preparation for his first close shave since Crisis, and boy was he looking forward to it. Lex was a regular at Al’s Corner Shop. He had been relieved to see it still standing in the same place after his return from saving the universe, it was the one thing he hadn’t considered in his adventure with the Book of Destiny, but he was glad that his rare oversight hadn’t cost him the best shave he’d ever found.

As he sat there with a smug grin plastered on his face under a hot towel, he heard the bells on the door jangle against each other when another customer came in. He lost track of the footsteps as he ruminated on the pros and cons of bribing Al to work for him exclusively in the comfort of his own home. His smile faltered as he realized that the footsteps accompanying the new customer were still moving closer, too close. They should have stopped and deposited the offending stranger in a chair further down the row, closer to the door. Instead, the footsteps came to a stop right behind him. He barely had time to rip the towel off his face. He started to stand, ready to unleash a torrent of vitriol on the person arrogant enough to interrupt his only time of relaxation, when he saw the blue and red of the suit standing over him.

He froze.

“Supergirl, ” he hissed. He sat back down hard into the chair. His mind immediately started spinning his go-to villain speech, as he straightened his shoulders and smoothed his features into calm neutrality. He decided to start with, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Before he finished the lilt on the end of the question, he was airborne. It seemed that Supergirl was no longer tolerant of the melodramatics of villains’ speeches and heroes’ pleas. He would have found this an amusing discovery, were it not that he was currently being flown across the city at mach speed; his body thrown helplessly over Supergirl’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He lost consciousness as they broke the sound barrier somewhere over Saskatchewan.

***

They were gathered around the war table. Alex was bent over a tablet studying the latest readings, Nia was standing behind Brainy who, against everyone’s advice, was out of bed and sitting in a wheelchair looking up at the control room screens trying to piece together any other possible explanation for what Lena had already deduced.

Kelly was pacing behind them, on the phone with James who was at his gate waiting to board the first flight back to National City.

Lena was standing off to the side, her bag still held in both hands in front of her. She looked like a statue, so still that no one had noticed her in almost an hour. Lena remembered a time when she had been at the center of this camaraderie, when her advice had been sought and she had been intimately involved in reviewing the data and making the plans. Now she was just a witness to other people’s pain. “I will not let them be a witness to mine,” she thought as she checked her dispassionate mask vigilantly. Her hands went to the watch stowed in her purse, to the button she had been pressing over, and over again for hours. She knew that if Kara were still on Earth, she would have found a way to be there by now.

---

Everything stopped as soon as Alex’s phone rang on the war table. They all rushed to the table. Even Lena was stirred from the shadows to move towards the lifeline on the other end of the call. Alex put it on speaker for the Superfriends to hear:

AD: “Clark...”

CK: “Alex, she’s not here. Hold on, is that the crest off her suit? It’s just sitting here, like it’s on display or something. What is going on?”

AD: “What do you mean the crest? Does it look intentional? Did she put it there?”

CK:“Alex, I don’t know. Kelex said that she was here two days ago with a man and then. Hold on.”

[In the background, they heard Clark ask Kelex, “What pod? Show me.”]

AD: “Clark, what’s going on? Was that Kelex? Does he know where she went?”

CK: “Alex. [Clark’s voice was muffled. They heard him sniffing through his nose.] Alex, she’s gone. She took my pod. Kelex said she programmed it to fly into the sun. He tried to stop her but she commanded him.”

AD: “The sun? Clark-”

CK: “Alex, that’s not all. Kelex said that she brought someone here with her. He showed me the surveillance. It was Lex. She brought Lex here and she injected him with something. Alex, I think Lex...is... is dead. She put him in the pod and she flew off into the sun with his body.”

CK: “...Alex? Alex, are you there? Alex ?!”

Alex couldn’t hear him anymore. Alex couldn’t hear anyone or anything. Alex couldn’t move or speak or think. She barely registered as the phone dropped out of her hand and smashed to pieces against the polished concrete of the DEO floor. She saw everyone’s eyes on her, watched as they moved toward her in slow motion. She saw their mouths move, their faces twist in shouts, but she heard nothing.

“ Kara-”

The tilting world blinked in front of her eyes once, twice, and then everything went black.

***

Lex came-to a while later in what could only be the fortress. “You know, Supergirl, this isn’t quite how I imagined my next visit to the Fortress of Solitude, but I have to thank you for helping me get here,” he said with narrowed eyes and a smug lopsided grin on his lips.

Kara wanted nothing more than to wipe the smirk off his face with a backhand to the mouth, but she kept her composure. His time to taunt was nearing its end, and he hadn’t yet come to realize it.

Bound to his chair with the crystalline ice of the Fortress, Lex surveyed his surroundings. He noticed that his transmat portal watch had been removed at some point and he looked up just as Supergirl seemed to finish x-raying his body for any other devices.

“What do you want?” Lex asked, uncharacteristically lacking in snark this time.

Supergirl said nothing as she fiddled with a syringe full of clear liquid.

His eyes grew three sizes as she walked over to where he was sitting.

Without fanfare, without speeches, or explanation, Supergirl inserted the syringe into his carotid artery and depressed the plunger fully; only then did she speak.

“Lex Luthor, you have murdered countless citizens of Earth. You have been sentenced to 31 consecutive lifetime sentences. You broke out of prison while serving that term and promptly murdered again. You were largely responsible for the mass extinction event known as Crisis and are, therefore, responsible for the deaths of untold trillions. For these crimes, and those you will inevitably commit in the future, I cannot allow you to live.”

Kara turned her back to Lex and sighed, “You should have stayed dead when Lena killed you the first time.”

Lex raged against his bonds, “What have you done to me?!”

He felt his limbs getting heavier. It was getting harder to keep his eyes open. Kara leveled her gaze at him, her eyes full of pity and sorrow.

“It was the most humane way. It will be over soon. You won’t feel it; I made sure of that. If you calmed down, it might even be peaceful.”

Lex broke out into a toothy smile. “You’ll never come back from this. Killing me will haunt you until the day you die. And as a Kryptonian, you’ll have eternity to agonize over this choice. It will eat you alive. You may kill me, but you will never survive it, Supergirl ,” he spit the last word back at her; his eyes barely open, his head starting to sag off his shoulders, his posture slipping.

Supergirl closed the gap between them, slowly, deliberately. She reached one hand gently under his chin and raised it so his eyes could meet her own.

“You’re right Lex. This time, we go together.”

His eyes showed just the barest flicker of confusion before he went slack. Supergirl dropped to one knee, hanging her head as she listened while his heartbeat slowed, and eventually came to a stop. She x-rayed his chest, just to be certain and found it still, eerily still.

---

The one thing Lex Luthor never counted on, could never understand, was that not only would Supergirl sacrifice her life to protect her friends, but after Crisis, she would sacrifice her soul. It just so happened that she was destined to sacrifice both to kill him.

Kara let out a shaky breath as she knelt next to Lex’s body. She didn’t know how to feel. She’d never once killed on purpose. It went against everything that she was; everything that she believed in. Kara knew that as Lex’s heart stopped beating, Supergirl ceased to exist.

Kara stood and, without using her powers, she peeled the crest of the great House of El off of her suit. She couldn’t bear to wear her house crest any longer. Where she was going, she had to go alone. El Mayyarah had gotten her far, but it couldn’t go with her to meet her end.

Kara cleansed Lex’s body in the Kryptonian way and gave him full funeral rights in the only manner she knew. She gently placed his body into the back of Kal-El’s repaired pod and climbed into the pilot’s seat.

It was a tight squeeze for both of them, the pod gave Kara flashbacks to her time in the Phantom Zone, triggering what would probably be her last claustrophobia-induced panic attack. The dead body of her arch nemesis laying just behind her didn’t bring her any added comfort.

Once she recovered, she took a deep breath and sealed the pod. She raised her hand to the pad in front of her and began to key in the coordinates for their destination. Halfway through, she had trouble making out the Kryptonian glyphs through her blurred vision. She reached a hand to her cheeks and noted with detachment that it came away covered in warm wetness. She raised her eyebrows but couldn't reach deep enough to be surprised.

She wiped her eyes and carried on entering the coordinates. Once she was done, she turned to Kelex standing outside the pod at the command module. “Kelex, initiate the launch sequence.”

“I feel it is my duty to warn you that the coordinates you have entered - “

Kara mustered the last piece of courage she possessed. She raised her chin and steeled her eyes, and in a decisive tone Kara declared, “I am Kara Zor-El, Last Daughter of Krypton, and I command you to initiate the launch sequence.”

Taken aback, but bowing to her authority, Kelex replied, “As you wish, Kara Zor-El. May your journey bring you peace”

With that, Kara felt the pod rumble as the engine kicked on for the first time in over thirty years.

With one last look at Kelex, she was flung out into the atmosphere on a parabolic trajectory into space.

***

Small sounds started to grate against her consciousness. She could hear incessant beeping and murmuring. As she opened her eyes, Alex’s field of vision was flooded with the harsh, white lighting of the med bay. After a few moments of blinking her eyes into focus, she could make out the medical equipment and the dark blobs around the edge of her vision solidified into her friends’ faces. Nia & Brainy, James & Kelly, even Clark was there standing vigil over her.

As she blinked again and looked up to the tall figure looming over her, she let out a sob, not expecting to see J’onn’s worried eyes looking back at her.

“J’onn...Kara…she-”

“I know, Alex. I know.” J’onn whispered in a soothing tone, trying to keep the tears from spilling over, “just get some rest for now. We will talk more when you’re ready.” He carefully brushed her hair off her forehead and leaned down to place a gentle kiss on the top of her head. With that, he moved towards the door.

“Alex?”

The agent turned back to look at him as he paused on his way out, an earnest look on his face.

“I love you; so very much.”

Alex just nodded, pressing her lips together to stop the sobs from escaping.

The rest of her friends followed shortly after, leaving with soft pats on her knees and feet, squeezes of her hand, mumbling words she just couldn’t care enough to try to decipher.

As they funneled out one by one, only Kelly remained. Even Brainy wheeled himself away from the bed next to hers to give them their privacy. The idea that he shouldn’t be out of bed lest he compromise his recovery briefly flitted across Alex’s mind as she pursed her lips, but it just wouldn’t stick. She couldn’t bring herself to care about anything, or anyone. She closed her eyes against the torrent of feelings and memories that threatened to overwhelm her.

“Hey,” Kelly started softly, “talk to me. What are you feeling?”

Alex just shook her head, eyes closed and mouth shut firmly against whatever she might have said.

“Okay. Okay, it’s okay. Can I just sit here with you? Hold your hand?” Kelly asked.

Alex dipped her head just enough to be taken as acquiescence. The agent would’ve given anything to go back to the void of unconsciousness. She ran her fingers through her short hair, remembering the days before the DEO where she drowned her own feelings of failure in the bottom of a bottle. Somehow she knew that Kelly wouldn’t let that kind of self-destructive behavior slide this time. Alex sighed and dropped her chin to her chest. She might as well start talking because Kelly was nothing if not patient. They both knew who would win the waiting game.

Alex’s voice cracked as she attempted to untangle her thoughts, “I have always, always, had faith that the universe would bring her back to me. Through everything, when her brain was altered on Red K, when Cadmus and Lillian kidnapped her and Mon-El, when Mon-El left and Kara...” Alex choked back a sob. Now that she’d started, she couldn’t stop, “...when Supergirl tried to destroy Kara Danvers. Every single time she set off into the multiverse with Barry. Even during Crisis. I always knew that she would come back to me; that she would find a way back. She’s the god damn Paragon of Hope for christ’s sake.” Alex threw her hands up and out towards the end of her bed in an exasperated half-shrug.

“This time is different, Kel. This feels... real.” Alex looked up into Kelly’s eyes, trying to convey wordlessly the feeling settling over her, the finality of it. “I don’t think she’s coming back from this one and I don’t -” Alex sobbed uncontrollably so that Kelly just barely made out her next words, “- I don’t know who I am without her.”

Kelly took the hand closest to her on the bed in both of hers. She thought of a million things to say, a million ways to reassure Alex that there was far more to her than her relationship to sister, that she was her own person before Kara came into her life and that she would be her own person now. She considered trying to reassure her that everything would be okay, but immediately the therapist in her shot that idea down, hard . This would never be okay, even if someday Alex would be. Kelly sighed softly and eventually settled on silence. She crawled into Alex’s bed and held the red headed woman until she drifted back to sleep, spent from the grief spilling out of her in endless tears.

As she slept, Alex muttered the same thing over and over, one name, Kara.

It was Kelly’s turn to cry, softly so as to avoid waking Alex. She let the tears flow freely and tried to keep her body from being wracked by the sobs threatening to crush her resolve. She reached out to gently cradle Alex’s cheek, pulling her even closer. “I’m so sorry, Alex. I’m so sorry.”

---

“Alex, it is time. Enough of this. You cannot stay in bed like this any longer. We need you, Alex. The rest of us still need you.” J’onn implored Alex, but there wasn’t even a flicker of recognition across her face. Alex wasn’t there. She was awake, but the lights were off and no one was home. “Alex, it’s been a week. You have to get up and you have to get out of bed.” Still nothing, Alex just stared straight ahead out of the glass panels of the wall in front of her. She hadn’t said anything since her brief discussion with Kelly. She wasn’t eating, and for the time being they had been giving her IV nutrition, but if she didn’t eat that day they were facing a feeding tube. J’onn said as much, but Zombie Alex gave no indication that she’d heard him.

J’onn sighed. Hands on his hips, he turned away from her to face out over the DEO. He watched as Eliza held Kelly outside Alex’s room. He shook his head, mind made up. He had planned to wait until she recovered, but there was no sense in that now. If he didn’t tell her now, then she may never recover, and then, what was the point. He walked over to sit on the edge of her bed and Alex’s eyes flickered to his for just a moment before darting away again.

“She left you a message, Alex.” J’onn said softly. “She recorded her goodbyes on Sunstone Crystals in the pod. She sent the pod to Earth, but the solar flare knocked it off course. It landed on Mars. That’s how I knew to come back. That’s why I’m here.”

This seemed to rouse something in her. Alex looked at J’onn, the emptiness in her eyes breaking his heart, but he couldn’t force himself to break contact.

“Alex, you have to listen to her. You have to give her the chance to say goodbye. You owe her that much.”

Alex’s eyes snapped back straight-ahead. She opened her mouth for the first time in almost a week, “I don’t owe her anything.”

J’onn sighed and patted her leg, getting up to leave. He paused and said, “When you’re ready; I’ll keep it safe for you.”

He hazarded one last look back at her before leaving, her cheeks were glossy with tears as she cried silently. Alone.

***

Kara had hours to kill until they reached their destination. She had to do something to drown out the voice in her head, the voice of the dead man on the floor behind her seat; to drown out her own doubts and regrets.

She decided to use those regrets as inspiration; to use her last few hours to continue her work as the Paragon of Hope, even if Supergirl was no more. Taking out a handful of Sunstone Crystals - small, pale, and long, about the size and shape of a tube of lipstick, albeit more angular - she set to work saying goodbye. She knew that her friends would never understand, but at least it could bring her some peace on her journey.

Alex.

Alex would never understand. Kara was so grateful that Alex had Kelly. She knew that Kelly would help her sister navigate her grief. The therapist in Kelly would never allow Alex to fall into the dark, but that didn’t mean that Kara can’t try to do her part to help give Alex some closure.

What do you say to everyone who has loved you, supported you, and guided you when it’s time to say goodbye?

---

Kara placed the last Sunstone Crystal in the console as her destination loomed before her. She wiped her eyes, closing them before the last tear could fall. She powered down the engines of the pod to give herself a moment more time, to decide how to do this. She programmed the pod to hover in place while she made her preparations. She pulled out a small metal box and placed it between the empty, broken stitches where the crest of the House of El used to sit. Slowly, the enhanced suit that Lena designed for her unfurled, covering her usual suit and then encapsulating her face in a helmet-like design. If she was going to have enough time to finish her plan, she had to have some protection from the raw violence of open space. Kara placed a hand over the crest she knew she no longer deserved to bear. She had forgotten that Lena’s suit would also bear the crest. Apparently, it was her fate to be unable to escape the shadow of her family; of her lost world and her responsibility to Earth.

Taking a shaky breath, Kara opened the pod hatch, exposing them to the full elements of the sun. Kara couldn’t fly in space, but with the pod hovering in place, she could maneuver around it, as long as she stayed tethered.

She got to work extricating Lex’s body from the pod. A process that was much more difficult than getting him in originally. It wasn’t helped by how intensely she felt her powers, the energy of the yellow sun coursing through her. “ At least I can’t hurt him, ” she thought sarcastically.

Finally, she got him out of the pod. Then she grabbed a Kryptonian shroud, her old cape, originally a piece of Kal El’s baby blanket. She wrapped it around his supine body and whispered a Kryptonian prayer as she secured it to the best of her ability.

She turned toward her target and closed her eyes for a moment, soaking in the rays of the sun. As she opened them again she gazed upon it. The source of her power, of her identity on earth, was now closer than any human could survive. She turned Lex so the head of his body was facing the sun and she gave him a gentle send off. She watched as his body drifted closer and closer to the surface of the sun, gaining speed as the gravity increased, until suddenly in a flash of light he was enveloped in the surge of a solar flare. Kara continued to hover next to the pod for a few minutes, allowing this new reality to sink in, a reality where Lex was dead; where Supergirl killed him; where she, Kara Zor-El, personally escorted him to the sun where he was engulfed in this bright, glowing source of energy and life. It was poetic, she thought, that his body should return to the very thing that gave her and her cousin their powers. That he should return to the very thing that made the people he hated most in the world.

Kara sighed. She couldn’t delay the inevitable any further. It was her turn to return to the sun, to the source of her power. It was her turn to be cleansed of her crimes, to be cleansed of murdering Lex.

“I do not kill.”

She said it to herself, but also to Rao. She had violated her most sacred moral oath and she must now pay the price. Her purpose was once to protect Kal El, but since landing on earth so many years after him, it had transformed into protecting the citizens of Earth. Now that she had murdered a human, she could no longer be a force for good.

Kara tugged once on the tether to bring her back to the pod. Without getting in, she reached her hand up to program the coordinates of Earth. She programmed the pod with a delay so that it could record her final moments. She rested her hand for a moment on the console, taking a deep breath as she drew from the calming force of her home planet’s presence in the pod. Opening her eyes, she detached the tether and placed it back on the seat. She hit the autopilot button and pushed off as the hatch slid itself closed. Turning her back to the pod, she pushed off of it with one arm to float gently towards the sun.

As the sun got closer and closer, Kara spread her arms wide, bending her left leg slightly at the knee, like she used to do so often when hovering on Earth just before she landed somewhere. She closed her eyes as she felt the gravity pull her in, accelerating her towards her end. At the last second, she lifted her chin and met the sun as an old friend. She felt no pain, as in a flash, she was welcomed home.

***

Next Chapter

#L4LBS #Content Warning: Suicide/Self-sacrifice #Supercorp #Grief and mourning #Stop making Supergirl sacrifice herself for no reason #Exploring the toll her sacrifice takes on loved ones #Written before S6 plot announced #Was already mad about it #Stayed mad about it

4 notes · View notes

king-finnigan · 4 years

Text

Play With Fire - part 14

Jaskier: I am gay, I am homeless, I am a serial killer, and I’m new in town!

An extra long chapter! As a treat!

Warnings! Smut, CBT (not the therapy)

Masterlist!

***

They leave the motel early in the morning. There’s someone else sitting behind the counter now, an old woman as opposed to the younger man that was there yesterday, and Geralt has to fight to hide his disappointment.

The rest of the way to Los Angeles is fairly quiet, with Jaskier singing along to the music in the car, wearing the stolen sunglasses, feet propped up on the dashboard, and Geralt driving.

When they finally reach the bustling city, though, Jaskier sits upright in favour of gaping around at the tall buildings, at the sidewalks filled with people, and eventually, at the salty and warm ocean in the distance, flanked by white and soft beaches.

“It’s beautiful,” Jaskier breathes out at one point, and Geralt agrees, though his eyes are stuck on his love’s face. He’s never been a massive fan of the ocean, anyways.

They rent a motel room for the next week or so, near the beach. It’s quite expensive, but with his full bank account in his back seat, no care for the future, and the excited sparkle in Jaskier’s eyes, he can’t bring himself to really give a shit as he pays the bored-looking woman behind the desk.

After that, Geralt lets Jaskier freshen up in the bathroom, as he counts the money they’ve got. It’s several tens of thousands worth in cash, so he’s sure it’ll last them a long while - if not years, then definitely months. He stores it all away again, before tucking his gun into his waistband, some bills into his pocket, just in case.

He turns on the tv as he waits for Jaskier to finish up, but pales when he sees his own face flash across the screen. The news anchor tells the story of how he got killed by a serial killer named Jaskier and that any details about the location of his corpse or the whereabouts of his murderer would be highly appreciated and rewarded. He scoffs. Clearly, Jaskier’s plan has worked - they really do think his love killed him, burned his house down, and stole his money. Which is good, of course.

What’s a little less good, is that now it’s on national television, and the feds have basically put a price on Jaskier’s head. Worry coils in his stomach, but he quickly shuts the tv off when the door to the bathroom unlocks. (He’s not sure why Jaskier insisted on locking the bathroom door, since they’re well past that point, but he’s no longer complaining about it now, glad with the heads-up.)

Jaskier practically skips across the room, taking Geralt’s hand in both of his, basically pulling him off the bed. “Come on, I wanna go to the beach and look at the sunset.”

Geralt rolls his eyes, smiling anyways, allowing his love to pull him out of the door, having half a mind to lock it behind them, before Jaskier drags him in the direction of the beach.

And it’s a perfect afternoon, in every conceivable way, really. They walk across the boulevards, the sun shining down on them. He buys Jaskier ice cream, and Jaskier giggles like a child and forces him to buy some for himself as well, tells him he has to stop holding out on himself like that, tells him that he needs to treat himself more often, and that he deserves it. Geralt is almost inclined to believe him. Eventually, they make their way over to the beach, and they stand there together, feet in the warm water, as Jaskier watches the sunset he so desperately wanted to see, and Geralt looks at the person he would dedicate his entire life to, if Jaskier wanted it.

And he pushes the worries of what he saw on tv to the back of his mind, drowns out the realization that they can’t stay here forever with Jaskier’s soft humming and wild laughter, doesn’t allow himself to think about anything other than his love, his everything, his Jaskier.

When they eventually return back to their motel, he feels warm and soft and fuzzy, and he follows Jaskier’s advice - he lets himself. He lets himself feel warm, feel soft, feel fuzzy, as he holds his love to his chest that night, and for a moment, everything is perfect.

---

He wakes in the morning with a start, as Jaskier pushes against his shoulder.

“Come on, sleepy, time to get up. We’ve got so much to see around here, and I really wanna swim in the ocean today.”

Geralt groans, burying his face into the pillow. “What’s the time?”

“11.”

He blinks, then frowns, looks up at Jaskier’s expectant face. “Wait, what?”

“It’s 11, it’s nearly noon, now get your lazy, perfect ass out of bed!”

Jaskier, in his excitement, has already washed and dressed, Geralt notices, and he sighs softly as he sits up. “Alright, alright. Give me ten minutes.”

“I don’t wanna wait ten minutes!”

Geralt rolls his eyes, though he can’t keep a fond smile from tugging at his lips, as he looks at his - quite annoying - love. “Are you suggesting I go outside in just my underwear?”

Jaskier laughs, climbs into his lap, and Geralt’s hands settle on the younger man’s hips. “Well, not that I would very much mind. And I don’t think the rest of LA would either - trust me, I’ve seen weirder things than people in underwear already and I’ve only been here about a day. But no, love, I don’t want the rest of the world to see you half-naked. That’s a privilege for me and me alone that I hold close to my aching heart, my love.”

Geralt snorts, landing a small kiss on Jaskier’s lips. “You’re so dramatic, dear. But if you can’t wait, then go ahead without me, I’ll catch up later.”

Jaskier pouts. “But you won’t know where I’ll be.”

“But you don’t wanna wait for me to get dressed, either, do you?”

Jaskier sighs, then rolls his eyes. “No, I suppose not.” He kisses Geralt again, softly this time. “Alright, fine, you and your perfect, very boring ass can stay in here while I go have fun, then.”

He makes a move to get up, but the tightening of Geralt’s hands around his hips stops him, and he cocks his head.

“Promise me one thing,” Geralt whispers to him, fear and worry rising again in his chest.

“Alright, love, anything.”

“No killing.”

Jaskier pouts, lets out a whiny noise. “Why not?”

“Because we just got here, and I would hate for us to have to leave already because you couldn’t keep your knife in your pants.”

Jaskier laughs, then pouts again. “Can’t I just stab them a little bit? Just a bit?”

Geralt mock-glares at him and Jaskier laughs again. “No, you can’t.” He drops his voice to a whisper. “But seriously, promise me you won’t kill anyone. Please.”

Jaskier rolls his eyes, but nods anyways. “Alright, fine. No killing.” Geralt glares at him again. “Fine, I promise. There, all good?”

Geralt lets go of his hips. “All good,” he says, smiling when Jaskier leaps up, bounding for the door, quickly leaving with a: “See you tonight, love!”

He shakes his head, fondness blooming in his chest, as he stands up to take a shower.

---

Night has started to fall already when Jaskier finally returns to the motel room. He gives Geralt a quick, tight-lipped smile, before hurrying to the bathroom.

Geralt frowns. He knows Jaskier by now, and this behaviour is not like him - at all. “Jaskier, what’s going on?”

Jaskier smiles, breathes out a quick huff of a laugh, as he continues to the bathroom. “Nothing, nothing, love. Just need a quick shower to wash this sweat and seawater off me.”

“Jaskier, I know you’re lying.”

“What? No, I’m not, I would never.”

“Jaskier.”

The younger man already has the doorknob to the bathroom in his hand, and Geralt knows that if he doesn’t stop him now, he’ll probably never find out what’s going on. “Stop right there, boy.”

Jaskier does stop, luckily, a small shiver running down his spine at the word. Though, he doesn’t turn to face Geralt.

“Turn around, boy.”

Jaskier does as he’s told, his gaze flitting around the room, looking at anything and everything but Geralt. He almost looks... scared, even, he notices, and worry and panic coil in his gut.

That’s when he sees the small, dark stain on the front of Jaskier’s shirt - dark brown, though he knows it must’ve been deep red not so long ago.

He sighs, anger and annoyance rising in him. “Speak, boy. What did you do?”

Jaskier fidgets with his own hands, gaze still not meeting Geralt’s. He mumbles something under his breath, red rising to his cheeks.

“What was that?”

“I, uh... I maybe sort of, uh... stabbed someone?” He does finally meet Geralt’s eyes, guilt and embarrassment in his own blue ones. “Sorry?”

Geralt sighs again, pinching the bridge of his nose. This is exactly what they don’t need right now - extra attention drawn to them, the suspicions of the cops raised at what was probably a cold-hearted murder. But a murder nonetheless, he knows, because Jaskier doesn’t half-ass shit, especially murder. Hopefully that also means there are no witnesses.

“Why?” The question comes out flat in an effort to keep the annoyance and anger from his voice. “I told you not to. You promised me you wouldn’t! And now you come in here and you tell me you stabbed someone? Why’d you do that?” Despite his earlier resolve, he cannot keep the volume of his voice down, cannot keep his anger from shining through.

Jaskier flinches a bit, though there is defiance in his eyes. “He catcalled me!”

“So you stabbed him? Please tell me you didn’t kill him in the middle of the street.”

“No! I... I may have given him a little wink, and beckoned for him to follow me, and I may have led him into a shady alley, and I may have stabbed him several times there. But I covered his mouth! And I barely got any blood on me!”

“Oh, yeah, that makes it so much better, thank you for that, all is now forgiven.”

“Really?”

“No, of course not!” He takes a few deep breaths, steadying himself. Finally, he looks up again, at Jaskier, who’s still standing in front of the bathroom door, hands fisting his own bloodied shirt. “Obviously, I can’t let you just get away with this, boy. You have to be punished.”

Another shiver runs through Jaskier’s body, and Geralt can practically see his eyes darken from where he’s still sitting on the bed. “Yes, sir,” Jaskier whispers.

“Take off your shirt. I don’t wanna have to look at that bloodstain another fucking second, you hear me?”

Jaskier obliges with a soft: “yes, sir.”

“Come here, boy.” He pats his lap, and Jaskier walks towards him, knees shaking, wiping his sweaty hands on his trousers. Speaking of, Geralt can already see the outline of Jaskier’s hardening cock through the fabric, and he feels a small rush of satisfaction at the knowledge his words alone already have such an effect on the younger man.

“No,” he says, when Jaskier moves to sit down in his lap. “On your stomach, boy.”

Jaskier exhales a shaky breath, nodding as he lays down on his stomach, across Geralt’s thighs, one hand holding onto the nightstand, another to Geralt’s thigh, his legs stretched out behind him, the tips of his toes barely touching the floor.

“Hmm,” he hums, as he hooks the fingers of one hand under Jaskier’s waistband, the other snaking through brown curls, pulling on them tightly, eliciting a small gasp from the younger man. “I’d almost tell you you’re a good boy, but if you were, we wouldn’t be here in the first place, now would we?”

Jaskier shakes his head as well as he can with Geralt holding on to his hair, whispering out a “no, sir”, breath catching in his lungs when Geralt’s yanks his shorts to his ankles in one movement.

He softly taps one of Jaskier’s ass cheeks, making him shiver in his lap. “How many do you think you deserve, boy?”

Jaskier stammers for a few seconds. “I- I don’t know, I, uh... I don’t know?” His voice is high, desperate, pleading, and Geralt almost feels ashamed at the fact that he can feel his own cock fattening in the confinements of his trousers. Almost.

He swats Jaskier’s ass again, eliciting a soft yelp from underneath his hands. “Answer me, boy. How many?”

“I, uh... fifteen?”

“Hmm,” he muses. “Twenty it is, then.”

It earns him a small sound of protest, and he tightens his hand in Jaskier’s hair, basking in the small hiss of pain.

“Got a problem with that, boy?” He smiles softly when he can feel Jaskier’s already hard cock twitch against the side of his thigh, can feel the dampness of precome leaking onto the sheets and into the fabric of his trousers.

“No, sir,” Jaskier whispers, and Geralt nods, before letting go of his hair.

“Count for me, boy.”

Jaskier barely has time to choke out a “yes, sir”, before Geralt’s hand already lands on his left ass cheek, hard and fast and merciless. “One,” he whispers.

“Hmm. Good boy.”

He strikes again. And again, and again, and again. After five slaps, Jaskier is already a whimpering mess underneath him, the supple flesh of his ass tender, his creamy skin an angry red.

After ten slaps, Jaskier starts crying out after every strike, trying to move away from Geralt’s hand, though his other arm holds the younger man in place.

“Please,” Jaskier whimpers, squirming in Geralt’s lap, salty tears gathering in his eyes. “Please, enough.”

Geralt bunches the flesh of one cheek in his hand, kneeding it roughly, eliciting another whimper from the younger man. “This is your fault, boy. You promised not to murder, and you did it anyway. This is on you. Now, do you remember your word, boy?”

The word to end this all, the word to use if it gets too much or too painful. Jaskier nods, stifling a soft sob. “I remember, sir.”

“Alright, good boy.” The praise makes Jaskier shiver softly. “Keep counting.”

He lands the next slap slightly below Jaskier’s ass, making sure he hits skin that he hasn’t hit yet, that’s not as numb as the rest of his flesh - but it only earns him a soft whimper and a whispered “eleven”.

The four slaps after that don’t do much better, and Geralt knows that, by the time they reach fifteen, Jaskier has grown accustomed to the pain. But that’s not what he wanted - he wanted Jaskier to realize the full severity of his actions, wanted him to bear the full weight of his punishment.

“Bend your legs, boy,” he tells Jaskier, and though the younger man frowns in confusion, he obliges.

Geralt yanks his shorts from his ankles, telling him to lower his legs again with a soft push against his calves. Then, he kicks Jaskier’s legs open with his foot. “Got five more to go, boy.” And Jaskier shivers in anticipation, no doubt already suspecting where this is going. “Count for me,” he whispers, voice hoarse with want and need, as his own hard cock strains against the fabric of his jeans, only twitching more when he thinks about what’s to come.

He lands the next slap on Jaskier’s balls, and the younger man cries out in surprise and pain.

“Count,” Geralt hisses through clenched teeth, the friction of Jaskier squirming in his lap, his stomach brushing against Geralt’s cock over and over again almost overwhelming.

“Ah, fuck, ah, s- sixteen.” Jaskier’s panting by now, ribcage heaving.

Another slap on Jaskier’s balls, this time harder, though he softly caresses them while he waits for the younger man to choke out a “seventeen”.

Eighteen and nineteen follow quickly after that, and he waits for a few seconds, grants his love some respite before number twenty. He lands the last one a little lower, striking both Jaskier’s balls and painfully hard cock.

Jaskier cries out again, though even louder this time, his whole body shuddering underneath Geralt’s hands, as he pants. Geralt frowns - he really hadn’t expected that much of a reaction, but it all suddenly makes sense when he feels warm wetness seeping into the side of his pants.

He feels his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline, as he threads two fingers through the mess on his trousers and the sheets, humming out a soft “hmm” when they come back wet and sticky and white.

He looks to his left, as Jaskier hides his red face in the sheets, his neck and shoulders flushed beautifully.

“I didn’t give you permission to come,” Geralt says flatly.

Jaskier nods, turning his face to look up at him, eyes big and pleading and guilty. “I know. I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to.”

He sighs, all fight leaving him in one, big huff, as he softly pats the small of Jaskier’s back. “It’s alright. Just this once.”

Jaskier smiles up at him. “Thank you, sir.”

Geralt rolls his eyes, a soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Alright, alright, come on, up, dear.”

Jaskier pushes himself up, moving so he’s straddling Geralt’s lap, arms around his neck, foreheads pressed together. “I’m sorry, love.”

“You already said that, and I told you it’s fine.”

“No, I mean I’m sorry for... you know... stabbing that guy.”

Geralt sighs again, pulling Jaskier closer. “I know you are. It’s just... I worry. Every time you kill someone, the chances of us getting caught, getting separated, grow. I can’t let anything happen to you. That’s why I was so angry, I guess.”

Jaskier smiles down at him, pecking a small kiss to his cheek, to his nose, to the corner of his mouth, and finally to his lips. “I understand. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

Geralt lets out a quiet breath, his worry leaving him with the air. “Thank you, dear.”

He stands up, lifting Jaskier with ease, before turning around, lowering them both on the soft bed. It’s dark outside, already, and though he’s slept so long the previous night, he still feels tired.

Jaskier smiles at him again, all bright, blue eyes and rosy lips and brown curls and pure sunshine, as he softly traces Geralt’s nose, his cheekbones, the outline of his lips with one finger. “I love you, you know.”

Geralt smiles softly. “I know. I love you too.”

Jaskier bites his bottom lip, seemingly hesitant to say something, the steady course of his finger faltering.

“Come on,” Geralt whispers. “Spit it out.”

“Wanna get married?”

He breathes out a soft huff of laughter, before gently kissing Jaskier. “Yes, I wanna get married,” he whispers against his love’s lips, smiling when Jaskier’s face turns ever brighter, his grin ever wider.

“Alright, then. Guess we’re getting married.”

Geralt smiles again - or still. He’s not sure whether or not he stopped smiling in the first place. He supposes he hasn’t stopped since he and Jaskier ran away together, though, so he figures it doesn’t really matter now.

“Okay, love you,” he whispers, as his eyes drift closed. He’s never felt more content, more at peace, more in love, though his mind sure tries to, when Jaskier whispers an “I love you” back - the last thing he hears before he falls asleep.

---

He wakes up in the morning to the sound of a gun being cocked, and he instinctively tightens his arm around Jaskier. Something feels wrong, something feels very wrong.

He figures out what it is when he opens his eyes, finding 5 men dressed in tactical gear surrounding their bed, finding himself staring down the barrels of 5 assault rifles.

“FBI,” one of them says, “you’re under arrest.”

Tag list babey!

@just-a-himbo-and-his-feral-bard, @dandelionslute, @weakforjaskier, @the-blondey, @shipwrecked-nawtali, @bygodstillam, @rum-cream, @random-nerd-3, @allthethingshappening, @agentlewomanandascholar, @tschulijulesjulie, @foddle-the-fiddler, @thenameislion-dandelion, @skai6, @kerfufflezz, @hysteria347, @pensandknittingneedles, @freak-fee-blog, @whenrainbowsend, @flustratedcas, @negatjazzy, @bridgehampton, @lookinforsomeabsinth, @dandelion-and-the-wolf, @sweetieplum, @aimlessunicorn, @superpaperclip, @whats-this-months-hyperfixation

#play with fire #part 14 #geraskier #geralt of rivia #jaskier #the witcher #modern au #bonnie and clyde kinda au #smut #cw: cock and ball torture #the end!!!!!#*maniacal laughter*#this is the best day of my month

35 notes · View notes

magnumdays · 4 years

Text

Juliet Higgins is the Main Character of Magnum PI - An Argument

Now you’re all going; Huh? Did you miss the fact that the show is named “Magnum PI”? It’s obvious who the main character is; Thomas Magnum.

An yes, there is no question that Magnum is the protagonist; he drives the story, moving plot forward towards the conclusion of each episode.

But the question is, is he the main character in the sense that; is he the character who has changed the most because of the experiences he’s gone through in the series (so far)?

I’d argue he’s not and that this role actually belongs to Juliet Higgins. And that Magnum & Higgins, together (both as just business partners or something more), makes for a much more compelling story.

Don’t believe me? Let’s to a quick run down to where the characters start compared to where they are now.

Magnum: (pilot) Has 3 friends he trusts with his life, works as a PI, lives in Robin Master’s guest house and drives his Ferrari, recently had his heartbroken but still believes in love. Has a frenemy-ish relationship with Juliet Higgins.

Magnum: (2x14) Has 3+ friends he trusts with his life (Juliet takes Nuzo’s place here and maybe Gordon counts now), works as a PI, lives in Robin Master’s guest house and drives his Ferrari, recently had his heartbroken but still believes in love. Has a frenemy-ish relationship (Work) partner with Juliet Higgins.

Higgins: (Pilot) has about one friend on the island (the British dude that dies), works as Robin’s majordomo, disavowed by MI6, wants vengeance on the man who killed her fiance, emotionally disconnected from pretty much everyone.

Higgins: (2x14) has 3-4 close friends who she trusts (counting Kumu), found her fiance’s killer and chose to arrest him rather than kill him, chose to walk away from MI6 to work with Magnum as his partner to help people. Starting to open up to both Magnum & Kumu emotionally.

Basically, the only thing that has changed in Magnum’s life is that he now works with Higgins and takes her feelings more into account. And the girl he’s kind of heartbroken about is Abby instead of Hannah. But Magnum was never painted as totally closed off even as he was mourning/getting over Hannah and her betrayal. He’s grieving Nuzo, but this seems to have limited effect on his life (perhaps because we, the viewers, did not see Magnum’s life with Nuzo in it for long enough to notice the change.)

So compared to Higgins whose had much more emotional as well as actual stuff change (catching Viper + turning down MI6 + working with Magnum), Magnum has remained very similar.

This is, of course, partly a product of the medium; TV, especially episodic, needs a familiar hero and structure.

Still, it clear to see that Higgins has changed and Magnum has not.

It’s also interesting to point out that in season 1, Higgins is antagonistic towards him but he is not antagonistic towards her. I mean he gives as good as it gets, but it is largely Higgins who seems to be “attacking” him; changing gate codes, showing up at his house early with a bunch of kids to annoy him, setting the dogs after him and having his Ferrari towed.

Her version of this / explanation to this is stated well it in the “Blood in the Water” episode “It is as if your sole purpose in life is to needle me.” Starting out, she feels he’s coming into her life and changing it. And she initially resists the change by lashing out at him but this becomes harder to do as she at the same time is growing to like him.

Most of this early behavior is also filmed in a way, where while she’s not an “evil” bad guy, it’s a behavior that is wrong and should be “corrected” and as of lately it has been changing.

Compare setting the dogs on him for “stealing” wine in 2x01 to just 2x09 where she uncorks a bottle for them both to share. To the pilot when she barely will let him borrow the Ferrari to go find Nuzo’s killers to 2x11 when she flies to South America to save him and there is no question in her doing that what so ever. Actually got up on stage and singing karaoke in a bar at the end of 2x14 (I don’t see pilot Higgins ever doing that.) Telling Magnum in 2x03 that she’ll be his partner and “she’s found something she doesn't want to lose in Hawaii” and in 2x13 telling him she wants to be honest with him, compared to her nonexistent “emotional openness” in early season 1.

Juliet Higgins has changed a lot, mostly thanks to Magnum and always for the better (or so it is famed). Other characters (both the series regulars as well as clients and characters like Jin) influence her thoughts and views more than they do Magnum and thanks to this she’s becoming a fully realized character, dealing with her issues and letting herself care about people. And Magnum is the catalyst, the herald and sidekick (and even antagonist) all rolled into one, of her journey. He is impacting and changing her life but he himself is remaining very similar to how we see him in the pilot.

Meanwhile, Magnum’s tendency to ask for way too extreme favors from his friends all the time and being kind of reckless when on a case (and also never having any money/borrowing money from his friends) is poked at but is not (IMHO) framed as truly problematic, something that he needs to change or is even really that bad. There are no consequences for him always asking TC and Rick to help. Even if he temporarily loses Gordon’s friendship after lying about Hannah, that is eventually forgiven when he apologizes. Magnum has not changed nor is he portrayed as needing to change; internally, emotionally or externally.

Perhaps his progressing relationship with Higgins could be seen as change. He’s learned to work with someone (even if it was not established he had problems doing so from the start.) If the Miggy ship sails, they’ll both have had a satisfying relationship/ romance arch, starting off as kinda enemies, becoming frienemies, then friends and then partners and eventually being romantically involved.

Being alone in the pilot and ending up in a relationship by the end of the series (something we viewers love to see in movies and shows) is a good emotional arch. So I guess I could give that to Magnum. If it happens.

Only Magnum has not been shown to struggle with making emotional connections with people. He did have some random girls in season 1, but when meeting Abby he seems open to a committed relationship. Him entering into a romantic relationship with Higgins wouldn’t be as big of a deal to him, because it already been established he’s open to it, unlike Higgins.

Perhaps they will backtrack on this, having Magnum mention that maybe he wasn’t ready to move on and that might have been why Abby didn’t want to stay and fight for him (even if it was in-show heavily implied Abby ended things with him because she felt he had a stronger connection with Higgins than her.)

Change is part of why we like to ship couples, the positive differences in one's life that come from being with someone who truly completes us.

Something many (if not most) people want to find; be it a romantic soulmate or a best friend kind of soulmate. So Magnum getting with “the right girl” would be satisfying in a sense for his character.

BUT the one with the emotional baggage here is Juliet. Her hang-ups are bigger than his. She will have to change and develop more than him before she’s ready more of a serious relationship. Not only is there the Richard part, the I’m an emotionally suppressed Brit part but we got even more recent demonstration that she has trouble trusting and sharing the parts of herself she’s insecure about. I mean she wouldn’t even tell with Magnum that she’d dated the married guy, instead lying about it and faking an injury, because she was judging herself and fearing he would judge her too in 2x13. That’s some serious hang-ups.

Worth noting; main characters don’t have to change (especially not in action/crime TV shows). So even if Magnum never changes much he will always be the protagonist, whose eyes we view the story through. It’s his name on the door, after all, even if he changes it in-show to Magnum & Higgins Private Investigators, they won’t do that to the show in the real world. It’s through Magnum’s eyes the cases are framed. He is our point of view character.

But Juliet Higgins is the character that changes and her “flaws” at the start and their eventual realization and attempt to change, is what makes the story interesting. Characters changing, letting people in, doing the right thing, becoming part of something makes us, the viewer, want to change too, be part of something. Be better.

Because if they can do it, we can too.

And in Magnum PI, Juliet Higgins is the character who’s changed the most. The character with the emotional as well as external arch. The character who’s been shown needs to change and actually has. The outsider who has become part of something. Something I’d say makes her more of a main character than anyone else in this series.

This makes the relationship between Magnum and Higgins, the relationship between protagonist and main character the most crucial part of the show. Their relationship, as frenemies, friends and now partners, is crucial because of how these two factors work together. In the duality of this, things become much more interesting and gives us two-character with equal importance to the overall series and its emotional impact on the audience.

So, in conclusion, Magnum is the protagonist. He leads the story, frames it, narrates it at times. Higgins is the main character, she changes because of the other characters and the story.

#juliet higgins #character analysis #magnum pi #thomas magnum #miggy #it's just a bit of fun #think about it #character arch #magnum pi meta

62 notes · View notes

thatringboy · 3 years

Text

D&D Stories with Perseus (me!)

My favorite D&D campaign I’ve ever been a part of was when my girlfriend (our forever DM) asked me if I could help her out on a story she wanted to do. Basically it became a 1 Player campaign and my other party members would be NPCs created by my GF so that she could also test out other PCs

She had me make a level three character before we started and before I even knew the theme of the campaign, so I made a funky little Drow Bard who taught himself Illusion magic. I gave him a hermit background and basically wrote his backstory for him to be searching for the adventurers who helped him escape the Underdark and chase his dreams of writing music, unfortunately, those adventurers were all humans and died a few hundred years before my Bard actually escaped (there’s a whole thing with an enchanted sleep that I forgot to write down and yeah)

So now my bard is going around just trying to make a living and not get sunburned

We sit down to start the campaign and my character gets framed for murder right off the bat. That’s fine, I guess, Terran (my Drow’s name that he picked for himself) is Lawful Good so he cooperates with the Aasimir police captain named Persephone (she was based off of Percival King from Epithet Erased)

Persephone tells Terran that she knows that he didn’t kill anyone, but her coworkers still want him charged because he’s a Drow. So she makes him a deal: find the actual murderer before next Sunday (seven days) and all will be forgiven and he’d receive a reward

The reason the killer needed to be found in seven days was that on that Sunday, the current Aasimir King would be traveling through the town and the police can’t exactly have a serial killer on the loose

So Terran heads over to the Adventurer’s Guild to hire some help with some cash that Persephone gave him. He hires Daniel the level 2 Goblin Cleric (the poor kid is barely of age to become an adventurer and he’s so nervous) and Martix the Tiger Tabaxi Ranger (Level 2 Ranger, Level 1 Barbarian).

The three went back to a tavern to find info and Terran and Daniel get pulled aside by a Changeling who wants to help. The Changeling drags the two guys around the city for a bit before more Changelings show up and forces the two dudes to fight them. When Terran and Daniel beat them, the original Changeling reveals that there’s a cult of Changelings all around the city who are planning to overthrow the Aasimir King. These Changelings have been stealing identities from the townspeople and killing those who could be threats to their plans. One of these Changelings happened to impersonate Terran and that’s why he got arrested

Terran and Daniel (the poor kid) return to Martix and suddenly a bar fight breaks out between another adventurer (who has only been described as “The Red Pirate”, but has been seen around town for a while) and some guards. Things happen and the entire place blows up. Martix got hurt defending Terran, so the bard dragged him to the Adventurer’s Guild to get him patched up. Only problem is that now Daniel is missing and where he was standing was a note saying to meet his captors by the docks at sundown

So the two get ready and spend hours talking to each other. Turns out Martix didn’t trust Terran at all when they first met and was only helping him to get some money, but now the bard has his respect. (Terran also gave him a ball of yarn and Martix went all cat-mode with it, it was very adorable)

The two get to the docks and find three Changelings in human disguises standing around a tied up Daniel who looks terrified. Martix rages while Terran uses bardic inspiration to give everyone a boost. They easily kill two of the Changelings with some CRIT rolls and Terran chases after the third Changeling who happens to be the leader. Terran tries to get information out of the creature, but to no avail (I failed FOUR intimidation/persuasion checks! FOUR)

So Terran goes to stab the leader with his rapier to reduce him to Changeling sludge, but his blade goes through flesh and bone on it’s face. Terran just stabbed a real human in the face. Huh?!?!?!

Daniel is fine and Terran goes to report in to Persephone, who’s work schedule is just pure havoc. She still has to finish arrangements for the King’s visit, but she also has to take a band of pirates to the gallows. Terran volunteers to run them over to the gallows since it’s on the way to some stores that are owned by known Changelings (the party wants to gather some more info)

Persephone agrees and gives the party a very noticeable wink. We meet the pirates and their captain is a very large and muscular human who probably has some orc blood in him. Daniel uses “Zone of Truth” and the party learns that the pirates have committed no crime, but they too had their identities stolen by Changelings. Using his judgement, Terran decides to let them go and comes up with an excuse to explain their escapement. We find out later that the Red Pirate is the son of the captain and now he owes us for not sentencing his father and crew to death. Also, Terran and The Red Pirate find themselves being attracted to each other??? (curtesy of my girlfriend for giving Terran a love interest because he deserves it)

HOWEVER THE FUCKING CAMPAIGN HAD TO BE PUT ON HIATUS BECAUSE OF COVID AND WE HAVEN’T CONTINUED IT BECAUSE I LOST MY CHARACTER SHEET FOR TERRAN

I was so interested to expose this entire conspiracy with the Changeling cult and maybe a pirate adventure but neither my gf or I have any notes from last year and we’re so mad.

Anyways, I’m sharing this so that it can be of inspiration to other D&D players who need a homebrew campaign idea

(i still think that persephone knew that she had changelings in her police station which is why she put her trust in a fucking drow over other aasimirs and apparently martix had a whole backstory too and daniel was slowly becoming terran’s adoptive little brother like that funky little goblin was my LIFE)

#i'm gonna remake terran i swear on it he's been my favorite character #long post #d&d #Dungeons and Dragons #drow #homebrew #homebrew campaign #dnd #Dungeons & Dragons

1 note · View note

michelleleahhh · 5 years

Text

happiness is a butterfly

Summary: If Loki’s a killer, then what’s the worst he could do to a girl like you? One who is already hurt.

Pairing: Loki/Reader

Rating: M, Angst

Word Count: 2k

“Do you want me or do you not?”

Loki’s eyes dart to yours, “What does that mean?”

You lick your lips, heart pounding painfully in your chest. Is this aching from falling in love or from hitting the ground?

It’s just that… you’re so tired. So extraordinarily exhausted with how the night has turned out.

This morning you woke caged in his arms, bare chest pressed against your back, sinewy muscles nestled against your clammy skin. He trailed butterfly kisses down your neck, pulling you closer, his hands mapping your skin like it spanned continents. The valley of your breasts, the planes of your stomach, and the cave between your thighs until you both were spent to completion. Then, you got up, redressed, and snuck out of Avengers Tower just as dawn broke, treading back to your old walk-up in the West Village to get on with your day.

And now, you’re standing on the sidewalk, just outside of the bar you met him.

A bell chimes twice, marking two am. You should be freezing from the late February air of New York instead, the hazy hot air from the dive bar has left your skin overheated - with anticipation, with hate, with comfort.

“I felt one thing this morning, and now I’m feeling another,” you answer cryptically.

The live band’s strumming guitars creep outside, lulling patrons in to sway to the music. His eyes narrow, his face remains stoic. “It sounds like you are the one that is unsure.”

“You just spent two hours ignoring me and talking to her.” You argue, gnawing on your bottom lip, trying to not sound insecure.

He shakes his head, “Who?”

“While I sat in the corner waiting for you to come over to me, like-like I was some extendable, unwanted guest of yours.”

His lips pull down, “You are not making any sense. I asked you here.”

“Don’t do that, Loki.”

“Don’t do what?”

“Don’t sit there and pretend that I’m crazy, I know I’m not crazy.”

Loki pulls his head back, staring down at you over his pointed nose. He looks like a snake, weighing its options and ready to strike the venomous blow. “Well, you sound unstable.”

“Nice.” You snarl, crossing your arms over your chest.

They warned you.

They all warned you. All of the Avengers sat there leaving you to question your own sanity because you were trusting him with your heart. And they all warned you - said that Loki was not capable of loving anything but himself.

How did you get here?

“And who, pray tell, was I ignoring you for? The Assassin? Or perhaps it was Stark’s wife,” He snarls.

You look away, tucking your chin to your chest and looking at the sidewalk between you.

No, it was her. The new recruit, the one that everyone was in awe with - with her raw talent, witty banter, and bubbly personality. (And though you loath to admit it: her perfect body, flawless skin, flowing hair, and unique, sultry eyes.)

“Ah, Miss Carter, I presume is who you are referring to.”

You don’t answer him, instead, you hug yourself, the cold air starting to creep into you and regretting that you left your jacket inside.

He sighs and unzips the black sweatshirt he had on, wrapping it around your arms.

When you don’t move to put your arms through the sleeves, he scoffs. “Come pet, put on the jacket. It’s not exactly summer.”

“Don’t think this means you’re forgiven,” you bite out, pulling your arms through the soft cotton. It smells like him: crisp and clean and pine woods.

“I fear you’ve had too much to drink.”

Perhaps that is true, “Do you know what they even say about you?”

“Do you think I care what my brother and his little minions say?”

“I do,” you snap. “I think you care more than you pretend too. I think, in fact, you would change everything about yourself if it meant that you could be accepted. Even if that meant being with Ms. Carter,” you spit her name. “Not that you would mind being with Ms. Perfect Carter, with her long blonde hair, and crystal blue eyes, and delicate bone structure.”

Loki arches an eyebrow, “Careful, pet. Your jealousy is not becoming.”

“They say you’re evil- a-a- a sociopath, serial killer. Who never hesitated to double-cross his own brother, who wouldn’t hesitate to hurt me.” Okay, you’ve probably had too much wine. But the words keep coming, like some vile spew of truth. “And if that’s true, if everyone knows that’s true, what does that make me? Me. Someone who is still going with it, you, despite the warnings. Does that make me... some, some groupie? Like, am I a masochist? Or maybe I’m already hurt. So, what’s the worst that could happen if you are what they say you are?”

Loki visibly swallows but doesn’t say anything.

“Maybe, now, I am just expecting for you to hurt me, so that way it won’t hurt when it does? I’m expecting you t-to double-cross me too because that’s what your past has made me expect.”

You look into his eyes, seeing the green glaze over with something akin to pain. Like he’s trying to hide every emotion in a barrio that is unable to “It sounds like, you are the one that cares what they think.”

“Don’t be a jerk, Loki.”

The Demi-God lets out a bark of laughter, as the corner of his lips pull up. “I didn’t realize that I was the one being uncouth after your lovely soliloquy.” Your eyes skate to his lips, watching as they pull back like he’s ready to attack. If he’s as bad as they say, then maybe you’re already cursed. He sighs, runs his long, pale hands through his hair and away from his face. “Perhaps, I should just call you one of those cars that to bring you home.”

“I don’t need a taxi.”

Loki clicks his tongue, “Then should we go back inside? I can only imagine how cold you must be.”

You shake your head, “I’m not going back inside to see all of them.”

“Can’t face your silent departure?”

“It’s called an Irish Exit,” you tell him in a grumbling voice.

“Yes, aptly called, judging by the way you stumbled through the entryway and slammed the door shut.”

A shiver works up your spine, the warmth from the alcohol completely gone. You burrow yourself in Loki’s jacket, pulling it tighter around yourself.

He sighs. “Come,” he calls, pulling you to a car on the street. With the quick wave of his hand, it unlocks and he pulls it open for you to get into the backseat.

You pause, staring for two moments at the black leather. Then you get in, perching yourself on the edge of the seat as Loki slithers in beside you a foot between you.

“It’s not much warmer in here,” you protest.

Loki rolls his eyes and waves his hand, a blast of warm air suddenly flooding through the car.

“Better?”

You shrug, finally relaxing and crossing your legs, picking at the hangnails on your fingers.

“I…” Loki starts then pauses with an overly dramatic sigh. “I am not interested in Miss Carter.”

You bite your lip. “Yet.”

“Okay, now I’m calling you a car.” He pulls a phone from the thin air.

“Don’t call me a taxi,” you argue, wrenching the cell from his fingertips and throwing it down next to you.

“Then what is it that you want? I just made it quite clear I was not interested in her.”

“I don’t want you not interested in her, I want you to interested in me.” You finally admit, pulling on your nails viciously. There’s a silence that sits heavily in the car. A tear slips down your cheek as you burrow further into his sweatshirt. “I just want… to dance with you.”

Loki’s eyebrows furrow across his forehead, turning more towards you. “The music in the bar isn’t necessarily music I would dance to.”

You let out an unexpected bubble of laughter. No, you wouldn’t dance to the weird alt-rock music that was inside either. But as soon as the joke fades, you’re back to feeling that lonely, dark, silence.

“I mean,” you pause. “Every time I think I’m happy… it’s like a butterfly and escapes through my fingers. I can never manage to actually keep it. I just want to - you know - be with you, I guess.” You gnaw at your bottom lip. “I want to - you know - dance with you or hold your hand when walking down the street or just hold you tight regardless of who would see it. I don’t want to hide us because it is more convenient for you. You know? I guess… I just want you…”

Loki stills, falling back against the seat and staring out the windshield. He takes three breaths in, exhales them a little longer each time.

“You were the one who left this morning.” He notes, drumming his fingers against his thigh. “I thought you did not want people to kno-“

“I didn’t,” you cut him off. “But… I don’t want to-”

Loki scoffs, shaking his head. “It seems like you don’t know what it is you want. You do not wish to be seen with me, but you do not wish to be ignored by me either. Do you really want people to know that you are with me? The cursed one who tried to conquer this world.”

“I think…” You think you do. You think you want him. You think you want him to meet your family or friends or the people that actually give a damn about you. And you want to meet his people in that way, to joke with them, to tease him in front of them in a way that isn’t going to lead to snide remarks or people gesturing for you to stay away from him.

“Loki is complicated,” Thor whispered with bright, drunk eyes when you finished your fourth glass of wine in a long sip. “It would be easier for you, in the long run, to stay away from him. He is trying to redeem himself and if you aren’t completely committed to staying by his side, then I would suggest you do the best thing and leave him. He’s delicate - so if you are not sure - just stay away..”

You want to tell Loki what his brother said.

You bite your lip instead, another tear slipping down your cheek. “I think I just need time I guess, to figure it out.”

Loki juts his head in a sharp nod. His body pulling back into a frigid, statuesque rigid pose.

“I’m so confused,” you finally admit, when he doesn’t say anything as another tear falls. “God,” you mumble, wiping the tears. “I want you, Loki, but- I’m...” You trail off, unsure of where you were exactly going with that sentence.

“Well,” Loki begins bitterly, “You know where I stand.”

“Do I? I feel like you haven’t said a word,” you accuse.

“I am not interested in anyone else. I think it is quite evident that I do not often involve myself with women. I am quite… particular of who I desire.”

You hold your breath. “So, you… you want me too?”

“If I must spell it out, then yes. I am interested in pursuing you.”

“Pursuing?” You tease, with a watery smile, “What, like courting me?”

“Something to that effect, yes.” Loki deadpans making your heart skip a beat. “Though, I do not want to cause you to rush into something if you are not… sure.”

You study him, your eyes perusing his face when he finally turns to look at you. You imagine entering a relationship with Loki of Jotunheim would be somewhat of a scandal for most of the world. You imagine what people would think of you. Imagine the headlines blogs, newspapers, and websites would write of a woman who would knowingly enter a romantic relationship with an anti-hero.

You aren’t sure if you are ready for that, honestly.

So, you nod, pulling his hand into your lap and tracing his long fingers.

Loki’s eyes glance down at your hands combined, studying as you lift his fingers to your lips and place a soft kiss on his palm.

“Can I sleep on it?” You ask solemnly thinking you already know what your question will bring.

But to your surprise he just nods, his lips pulling down not an argument on his lips.

“You can call me a cab now,” you whisper, tightening your fingers on his hands.

Taglist: @fairlightswiftly, @javelinamilk, @wannabebr1t, @joyofbebbanburg, @schmidten17, @winterisakiller@addyliners, @iamverity, @kybaeza, @sherlokiholland

#loki fanfiction #michelleleahhh #one shot #drabble #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #reader insert #loki/reader #shit I write #loki/you #loki imagine #loki imagines #tom hiddleston #mcu #mcu fanfiction #tom hiddleston imagines

96 notes · View notes

bellemorte180 · 4 years

Text

Wanderlust Chapter Nine

If it was not for Enzo barking and wagging his tail at the sight of Klaus, the house would have been silent. Klaus bent down and petted the dog in greeting and avoided looking at Caroline. He was nervous. He knew she was angry at him and frankly, he did not blame her. She had every right to be fuming and Enzo was providing him with a nice distraction. He could feel Caroline’s eyes boring into him and only felt brave enough to meet her eye when Enzo ran off to grab a toy.

She did not appear angry but rather disappointed; a fact that surprised him. He was expecting to be met with fury, although, he supposed that if she was angry, she would not have let him into the house. He felt calmer than he had when she came upon him on the at the police station. He regretted how he had treated her earlier and wanted to make things right; seeing her angry eyes and hurt expression tore at him, even worse because he knew that he was the reason why she had felt that way. He detected no hint of redness around her eyes and the fact that he had not made her cry was at least something; that he knew of anyway. Their spat had been hours ago and the chances of her ending up in tears between then and now were high.

Caroline said nothing when he peaked up at her; Enzo nudging his hand with a toy pig. Klaus grabbed it and tossed it across the room gently. Enzo chased after it while his master looked at Klaus expectedly. She crossed her arms, being mindful of her cast and cocked an eyebrow at him. She was not going to make this easy on him and that caused him to fight down a smirk. If he started smiling now, Klaus had a feeling it would not go over well for him. Caroline was not a push over and he was not about to mess this up. Not now.

“I’m sorry.” Klaus started out, lamely. He honestly did not know how to begin and figured that was the best place to start. “I was in a foul mood when I saw you and I took my anger out on you. That was not fair, and I should not have said what I said. I regretted it the moment you walked away.” Caroline said nothing but just continued to look at him. “Last night was one of the worst nights I’ve had a in a while, and to be honest, one the worst I’ve ever experienced, but the moments we shared, here, it’s the only exception and bright spot that I cannot regret.”

“So, I’m not just a distraction that got your best friend killed?” Klaus winced. While it was not what he said exactly, it was clearly what Caroline heard between his words. Her tone was light which scared Klaus more than it should. The cold shoulder appeared to be Caroline choice of punishment and that terrified him more than listening to her scream and shout like Rebekah would have; or any of his ex’s. Enzo was nudging Klaus’s hand, but he ignored the dog, his focus completely on Caroline.

“No! Absolutely not.” Klaus looked as though he was walking down the plank to an open shark infested sea. “You bare no responsibility for Marcel’s…. for his death. It was not right of me to insinuate such things. You have so much to deal with that I cannot...” Caroline held up her hand, telling Klaus to stop talking; a bitter smirk playing on her lips.

“Okay, I get it. You’re sorry. You get a pass just this once because I get where your anger comes from. Your friend died and I cannot comprehend how you must be feeling right now.” Her voice was sympathetic, and she could not help but notice how his shoulder’s slumped. “I had a long time today to think about it and I came to grips with why you were lashing out.”

“So, I’m forgiven?” Klaus whispered, his shoulder’s sagging in relief. He genuinely felt horrible for how he treated her and was expecting a long session of groveling ahead of him. “I was expecting yelling, the cold shoulder or something first.”

“Well, like I said, I had a long afternoon to think about it.” Caroline stepped forward, taking the pig out of Enzo’s mouth and tossing it on the couch; telling the dog that it was not time to play. She looked at Klaus and gave him a rueful smile. “You were hurt and lashing out. I get it but you better hear me when I say this. I will not be treated like that again. I spent years in a relationship with Damon and then Tyler being treated horribly, and I refuse to be with someone who disrespects me. Okay?”

“I would never, ever, do what Damon did to you. Or Tyler.” Klaus whispered to her. The mere thought of him laying hands on Caroline in any manner that would cause her harm made him feel ill. Klaus had such a vehemence towards domestic violence, for it always reminded him of Mikael, that he just could not become that person. “I would never lay a hand on you. Ever.”

“I know.” She stepped close enough to him and placed her hand on his chest. She leaned upward and kissed his cheek gently. “I know that you would never, ever do that to me. I hardly know you but that has never been a question or concern in my mind. I just did not appreciate you taking your anger out on me.” Klaus couldn’t help himself; he pulled Caroline against his chest and buried his face in her hair, enjoying the feeling of holding her close. “Bonnie however, she is not your biggest fan right now. I spent a good portion of the afternoon defending you. Just so you know.”

“Well, I suppose that is to be expected.” Klaus muttered into her hair; still refusing to let her go. He remembered the glare Bonnie tossed him before stalking off after Caroline. “I guess I should thank you for being my defender.” Caroline chuckled lightly into his chest as a though occurred to him. Klaus looked around the small house and noticed for the first time that Caroline was alone. “Where is Bonnie?”

“Oh…” Caroline trailed off, pulling away from him slightly; biting her lip as she went. “Well. You see….I might have told a small fib.” Klaus said nothing but just looked at her; waiting for an explanation. “I told Bonnie that mom would be staying here tonight.”

“Right.” Klaus just looked at her in disbelief. “Except your mother was still at the station when I left and did not appear to be leaving any time soon.” Caroline nodded. Klaus wanted to tell her that she was insane for telling Bonnie to leave and that her mother would be there later, when Klaus was sure that Liz assumed Bonnie would be staying with Caroline. “I’m assuming if I point out that there is a serial killer on the loose, one that tried to break in last night is not going to be a welcome response?”

“Nope.” Caroline gave him a soft smile. “Not only that, but I have tweedled dee and tweedled dumb outside, or some counterpart of them.” Klaus snorted at the description of Rosza and Vanchure. “I get that you’re worried. I get that everyone is worried, because believe me, after last night, I’m terrified. I’m questioning everyone I’ve known since I was a child, wondering who could possibly behind this but if I force myself to constantly be babysat, I’ll lose my mind. I just wanted a few hours alone. That’s all.”

“I know.” Klaus told her, understanding the fact that she was feeling suffocated. He reached down and took her good hand. He could not help but bring it to his lips and kissed it. The memory of her kisses from the night before were the only thing keeping him sane as the muddled through the day. Even after their argument, Klaus wanted nothing more than to feel her in his arms again. “Do you want me to leave?”

“No. Stay.” Caroline replied in a soft tone. She linked their fingers together and pulled him towards the couch. Klaus settled onto it, his head dropping onto the back of it. Caroline curled up beside him, resting her head against his chest. Klaus, absent mindedly, began running his fingers through her blond curls. “If you want to talk, I’m here.”

“I know.” Klaus leaned down and kissed the top of her head, taking comfort in the fact that she was safe and in his arms. He had been so terrified of learning that she had been murdered, never considering the fact that someone else he cared for could be in danger. “I called my sister. She had to know about Marcel.”

“How did she take it?”

“Not well.” Klaus replied. “I could hear her tearing up on the phone. I hate hearing her cry, all of us do. She is the youngest and the only girl so we were always a bit over protective of her and because of that, she was always a bit much to handle; wanting to prove that she could take care of herself all the while finding herself in some blunder or another.” Caroline chuckled at that. “I thought that Marcel would be good for her.”

“Marcel had mentioned that they had dated?” Caroline asked and it made her happy to hear him chuckle. Klaus knew what she was doing, she was trying to get him to open up about his friend without pushing him for more than he would be able to give. “What happened there?”

“Distance mostly.” Klaus replied honestly. “They connected and hit it off really well. I could tell that Marcel really loved her, but Rebekah can be a bit much at times. She expects everyone to drop their own lives to match hers. Marcel is…. was… a devoted agent and refused to compromise that. She wanted him to move to England to be with her. He wanted her to come to D.C permanently. It would have made more sense. Rebekah writes for a fashion magazine and they have a branch in D.C., but she was refused. I think more on principal than anything else.”

“So, it didn’t work out?” Klaus shook his head in answer. He remembered how heartbroken Marcel had been when Rebekah and he ended their relationship. He was concerned that it would affect their partnership, but Klaus told him that he knew how his sister was. No matter what happened between Marcel and Rebekah, he wasn’t about to give up the one friend he had because his sister did not understand the concept of compromise. Rebekah was as equally heartbroken, but she hid it well; burying it deep down and refusing to discuss it with anyone. Yet, hearing her voice has he told her Marcel was dead, he knew that his baby sister never really mended that broken heart.

“No.” Klaus sighed. “I told Vincent, the agent and my boss who came down from D.C.” Caroline nodded, understanding who he was speaking of. “That once this case was over, I am done but the last thing I want to do is tell Marcel’s family. I know them. I’ve had Thanksgiving at his grandmother’s house the last two years. They should hear it from me.”

Caroline looked at him with a sympathetic gaze. Neither one had discussed what happens after. Neither knew what happened next. Klaus needed to go to New Orleans and pay respects to Marcel but after that, he just did not know where he was going. As for Caroline, he knew that she would have enough to baggage to deal with that he did not want to add to that. She needed heal; and in many ways so did he.

“Klaus.” Caroline moved away from his arms and moved to straddle his lap. She wrapped her broken arm around his shoulders and pressed her good hand to his face; pulling his gaze to her eyes. “You’re a good man Klaus. I know that you sometimes feel as though you’re not but the fact that you want to be the one to tell Marcel’s family what happened to him, just proves to me that you are. Not everyone would be able to do that.”

“He deserves it. He deserved so much better than a bullet to the head in his sleep.” Emotions welled up inside him. It was a mixture of so many different feelings colliding within him all at once. The stress from the case that had been weighing on him and the general burn out that his job had been providing in general was reaching its breaking point. Add in the events of the day and Klaus was truly ready to just give in.

The only thing that is keeping him sane was Caroline and the feelings he had stirring inside of him. He wanted to cling to that one positive emotion he had. He knew that it was not fair to her, to put that burden of his potential breakdown on her; but all he wanted to do was be selfish in that moment. He just wanted to hold her and feel something that wasn’t the blackness consuming his very soul. He was tired of grieving.

All he had done for years was grieve.

“We all deserve more than that. I think about Vicki and April and Andi and that woman Cami. I think about that cell and seeing their names written on the wall. I know what they suffered. The only difference is that I’m here to tell the tale, but I wish so much that they all were here.” Caroline leaned down and touched their foreheads together. “The only good thing that has come out of this entire mess is meeting you. You’ve been my anchor, keeping me grounded and strong. When the agents told me what happened, all I wanted was to comfort you.”

“I’m so sorry…for what I said.”

“Shh.” Caroline pressed her finger to his lips, silencing him. “I know. I know.” Caroline leaned down and kissed him on the lips gently. This kiss was different than the ones they shared previously. It was full of desire, but it was not heated like the night before; those had been passion filled and while those meant the world to Klaus, this kiss held the same amount of desire but held more meaning to it.

When Caroline broke the kiss, her eyes held a question that Klaus desperately wanted to answer. He should do the opposite. He should get up from that couch and walk out the door. He should go to the bed and breakfast Vincent rented out and not do what every ounce of his being wanted. He thought on Marcel and everything that was lost in this god-forsaken town and he knew his decision was made.

Caroline stood, leaving his embrace and held out her good hand; wiggling her fingers in the process. Not needing to think twice, Klaus mingled his fingers with hers, letting her pull him from the couch. She led him out of the living room, passing a sleeping Enzo who had curled up in his dog bed by the armchair. She pushed open the door to her bedroom, a room he had not been in since the day he came to check out her house. It was the same; clean and orderly. Yet, it was not the room or its decor that Klaus was focused on.

The look in Caroline’s eyes made Klaus’s heart flutter. There was desire, longing and most importantly understanding behind the orbs that had grown to fascinate him. He needed her in that moment, and he knew that this was not just about what he wanted but a connection she needed as well.

Caroline reached down and pulled the grey and rumpled Henley from the confines of his jeans. She pulled it over his head, his arms raised allowing her to do so and tossed it on the floor; not caring that it wasn’t folded neatly. His bare chest was exposed to her and she leaned in, kissing a light trail of kisses across it. Her lips made contact with black tattoo of birds on his shoulder. Her tongue peaked out and Klaus groaned at the feeling of it tracing parts of his tattoo.

Needing to touch her, Klaus trailed his fingers over her arms gently and placed his hands on her hips; this thumb tracing the part of her skin that peaked out from her tank top. Slowly, he pulled the shirt upward and over her head. Caroline stood before him in a simple white bra and it was the most beautiful sight Klaus had seen in a long time. It almost felt like coming home after a long time away.

Klaus leaned down and kissed her again. Their lips touched one another softly while Caroline’s hand ran down the length of his chest. Her nails left light marks that were not painful but made Klaus moan into her mouth. Caroline reached for his belt and began to undo it but in a moment of clarity, Klaus took her wrist into his hand; stalling her movements.

“Are you sure? I need to know if you want this.” He looked at her imploringly. He could not take advantage of her if she was not sure. He knew that she was in a fragile state and despite the fact that she clearly felt something for him, he could not have her regretting their time together.

“Yes. I want this. More than anything. Do you?” Klaus did not need to answer her but instead just kissed her a little deeper this time. He kicked off his shoes and moved them to the side. Caroline worked on his belt buckle again and pulled down the zipper of his pants; slipping her hand inside. She gripped his member, causing Klaus to hiss through his teeth.

“Caroline.” He rested his forehead against hers again, enjoying the feeling of her stroking him for a few moments before stopping her. He pushed his jeans down to his ankles, boxers following suit and Caroline chuckled lightly as he stumbled; not feeling even a little ashamed that she ogled his naked body. Klaus smiled widely and for the first time, Caroline got a glimpse of his dimples; ones that only shown when truly smiled. She leaned up and kissed each one on his cheeks.

Klaus reached behind her and unclasped her bra, knowing that it would be difficult for her to do it herself when one hand was in a cast. Much like their other clothing, Klaus tossed her bra to the ground and took in the sight of her breasts. He reached out to cup her, his thumb running over her erect nipple.

“Ahh…Klaus.” Caroline breathed out in a moan. He could see her legs press together as though trying to get some type of friction. The sight caused Klaus to smile gently at her. He kissed her again before dropping to his knees. He unfastened her shorts, kissing her skin at the top of the denim fabric. He slipped the shorts down her long legs. Caroline stepped out of them and Klaus took on of her legs and put it over his shoulder. He kissed the inside of her thigh, slowly heading towards her center. He placed a soft kiss on the fabric that kept her covered as Caroline weaved her fingers through his blond hair. “No.” She tugged on his head and following her command, Klaus stood. “Bed.”

Much like she had done in the living room, Caroline pulled him gently towards the bed. She laid down on it, her hair spreading out on the pillows and her arms rested outstretched beside her as though they were angel wings. Klaus crawled onto the bed and over her; Caroline spread her legs wide for him, allowing him to fit easily. Klaus leaned down and kissed her stomach as his fingers looped into the sides of her panties and pulled them down her legs. Gazing at her completely naked body, Klaus decided that he had never seen a more perfect sight.

“Beautiful.” He took his finger and ran it up her slit, feeling her juices and Caroline’s head falling back at the contact. Slowly, he inserted one finger and then another. He pumped them in and out of her, Caroline mewling and whimpering at the feel of him. When his thumb touched her clitoris, her good hand gripped the headboard behind her and her backed arched. “Let it out Caroline. Let go.”

“God yes.” She cried as her soft release climbed over her. Klaus took a moment to watch her and admire how the flush of the heat crawled over her skin. He leaned down and kissed her, allowing her body to relax again. “Condom. Bedside table.”

Understanding, Klaus reached over and pulled open the drawer. He bypassed the few sex toys and went for the condoms. He opened the unused box and took one package out. He ripped it open, knowing that Caroline would have some difficulty doing so with one hand. He sat up on his knees and tossed the foil aside. Caroline propped herself up on her elbow, watching as he pulled the latex condom over his penis. Once it was in place, Caroline laid back down on her back and Klaus settled over her. Taking himself in hand, Klaus aligned himself with Caroline’s entrance and slowly pushed in.

His jaw slacked and an undignified tone slipped past his lips; but he didn’t care. The feeling of Caroline surrounding him was more than he expected. She was warm, tight and perfect. When he was able to open his eyes and look down at her, he could not help but be taken aback by the intensity of her gaze. This wasn’t just about sex. It wasn’t about the relief or pleasure that they achieved by the act.

It was more than that.

It was the comfort the both needed in the hands of the other. It was the connection they both wanted. It was the sense that the entire world has not completely crumbled down around them. It was the knowledge that they both had found something in the darkness that surrounded them that was worth hanging onto. It was a need they both had and were willing to share with one another. Klaus leaned down and kissed her again; unable to help himself. He rolled his hips gently and slowly. The movements were long and angled. He withdrew completely before slipping back inside her; Caroline matching his every move.

Klaus never took his eyes off of her. He watched every expression that flashed over her face. She tossed him small smiles, ones that he could not help but return. Caroline’s good hand drew small invisible designs on his back before moving to rest on the small of his back. Klaus traced small caresses on her body, his touch fluttering and light. Klaus could feel his release building and knew that Caroline would need help getting to that point again. He reached between them where their bodies were connected and touched the place where her bundle of nerves were located. Much like his previous caresses, his touch was light and gentle.

“Klaus.” Caroline said to him as her body hit that release; her eyes looking at him through ever second. Watching how her lips parts and the relief flow through her blue eyes was enough for him to still over her. His own release overcame him, and his heart began beating wildly. He rested his forehead against hers, their breath mingling together. Once they calmed down and their breathing returned to normal, Caroline let out a happy giggle; a sound that Klaus knew he did not want to be the last time he heard it.

When Klaus woke the next morning, Caroline was already up and coming out of the shower. It was early and he knew that he would have to head into the station soon. When he pulled himself from the bed, the two shared a heated look and a secret smile; their minds traveling to the night before and the many times they had one another in that bed. Caroline flushed a beautiful shade of red before heading over to the bed and sitting down beside him.

“I’ll make breakfast.” Caroline leaned down to kiss his lips before heading out of her bedroom; Klaus’s eyes watching her as she went. Klaus smiled as he pulled his naked body from her sheets and walked over to the black bag he had sat beside her dresser at some point during the night; after their first round of sex. He grabbed his bathroom supplies and a change of clothes before heading into the shower.

As the hot water sprayed down his body, enjoying the pressure and realizing that the motel showers were far worse than he realized. Klaus groaned slightly as he thought back on that motel room and Marcel. Even though being in Caroline’s arms the night before helped calm him, the devastation over his friend’s death still lingered. It added another layer of desperation to find this psychopath; and it no longer was just for Caroline, but for Marcel as well.

Klaus’s thoughts moved towards the day at hand. He knew that Vincent was not going to be pleased with him and probably already knew that Klaus stayed at Caroline’s overnight. Between Vincent being a damn good agent and the fact that agents were watching Caroline’s house, it was bound to be obvious that Klaus was there. Klaus knew that if they did not have more pressing matters to attend to Vincent would be grilling him. Klaus paused in the sound and groaned, forgetting a key detail he did not mention to Caroline.

Elena.

With everything that happened the day before, Marcel, fighting with Caroline and then coming to her home, remembering that they had arrested Elena slipped his mind. He was certain that the attorney would be there first thing and they would begin to grill the girl, he wanted to ensure that Caroline heard it from him and not a third party.

Because she would. Either Liz would tell her, or Bonnie would pounce the moment she found out. It is bound to spread around town quickly that Elena was held in connection to the murders and Klaus really wanted to avoid fighting with her again. Plucking up his remaining courage, Klaus turned off the shower, dressed and made his way out to the kitchen.

Caroline was busy trying to make breakfast, but Klaus could see that she was having difficulty cooking with one hand. The look of concentration on her face made Klaus pause. She was determined to crack an egg with on hand and she was doing well, but when a shell obviously fell into the yolk, she gave out a huff of irritation. Her nose crinkled in frustration and she bit her lip with determination; doing the best she could to scoop out the shell.

Klaus was struck by how beautiful she was. Her hair was still wet from her shower and tossed into a messy bun. Her face was scrubbed and fresh, no makeup on and completely unaware how lovely she looked. Just seeing her made Klaus’s stomach twist and lurch into his throat. It was a feeling that he was not familiar with. A feeling he was not ready to name yet.

“Hey!” Caroline’s voice stirred him from his musing. Her smile was wide and happy. Klaus, unable to contain his own smiles, met her gaze. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist; kissing the top of her head. “I’m attempting to make breakfast, but it’s been a challenge.”

“Clearly.” Klaus teased and Caroline shot him a look of mock fury. “Let me take over. Take your coffee and sit down.” Caroline looked as though she was going to protest but decided that not to. Instead she picked up her coffee and went to sit on one of the bar stools as she watched Klaus take over making some scrambled eggs and bacon. “What are your plans for today?”

“Not sure.” Caroline shrugged. “I haven’t been to the office since…well, this started. My boss gave me FMLA and is giving me extended leave but part of me wants to get back to normal.” Klaus nodded, understanding her need for normalcy. Klaus piled up Caroline’s plate with food and handed it to her; Enzo coming over, realizing that Caroline had food. “What about you?”

“Well, there is something I need to tell you. I should have last night, but we got distracted.” Caroline shot him a look and her cheeks flushed bright red; their minds traveling to the previous night. Klaus coughed slightly before turning back to his own food that he was making. “We have someone in custody.” Caroline’s eyes grew wide and Klaus held up his hand. “Not the killer. We don’t think she had anything to do with murders or kidnapping directly.”

“She?”

“Elena.”

“What?”

“A few months ago, she was suspended for taking a large quantity of medication from the hospital she works at.” Caroline’s mouth was still agape, and she couldn’t look away from him. Klaus placed a plate of eggs and toast in front of her but she didn’t seem to notice. “The same type of medication that was used to drug you and the other woman.” Caroline slumped back against her seat, processing everything he just told her. “Damon all but paid off the hospital in order for Elena to keep her job. The drugs were never recovered.”

“Of course, he did.” Caroline replied with a bitter snort. Klaus watched her, moving around the island and sat down beside her with his own food in hand; his black coffee in the other. He could see the fury burning behind her eyes and with the shake of her head; he knew that Caroline’s good mood evaporated. “What the fuck is wrong with her?”

“I don’t know Sweetheart.” He took a bite of food, ignoring Enzo’s begging and continued to look at Caroline. “But it’s good. It means we are closer to finding who did this. Elena refused to talk, lawyering up but once she tells us what she knows, hopefully we can make an arrest soon.”

“A lawyer Damon probably paid for.” Caroline had a sour look on her face and Klaus could not blame her. Damon had done horrible things to her and here was someone who claimed to be her friend, digging the knife into her back deeper and deeper. After a moment, she reached beside her and gripped Klaus’s hand. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Of course.” Klaus replied. The two of them continued to eat in silence, Caroline picking at her food more so than actually eating anything. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, but Klaus felt that if he pushed Caroline to talk, she would snap. It wasn’t until they both were done eating and Caroline walked him to the door that she spoke again.

“Will you come by tonight? If you can?” Caroline asked in a vunerabale tone. Klaus wanted nothing more than to tell her that he would be there; but knew that he could not make a promise he could not keep.

“If I can. I will. If something happens and I can’t, I will let you know.” Caroline nodded and Klaus leaned down to kiss her. The kiss was gentle and full of promise; the memory of the night they shared passed through them. He wanted to stay with her and in the small bubble they created for themselves. He did not know if he could face walking into that station without Marcel being there.

“Okay. Be safe.” They shared one last kiss, before Klaus walked through the front door.

Neither realizing the chaos the day had instore from them.

As Klaus was walking down the lane to his SUV, he saw Vanchure leaning against his; a coffee in one hand and a phone in the other. Even from several feet away, Klaus could see the amused smirk playing on the other agent’s face. As Klaus climbed into his own vehicle, he knew that Vanchure was informing their boss that he was on his way to the station and it was only second before he heard Vincent’s yell as he stepped through the front doors.

“Mikaelson! In here. Now.”

Klaus sighed and headed towards Liz’s office that Vincent had taken over. Once he stepped inside, he saw the corkboard that used to set up in the conference room on the other side of the office and the files spread across Liz’s desk. Vincent was pacing the office, dressed in the exact same suit from the day before. Klaus wondered if he had left the station at all but from the looks of him, Klaus doubted it.

“Tell me right now, why spending the night at a key witness’s house last night was a good idea.” Vincent’s tone was hard, and Klaus could see that he was close to losing his temper. If this had been any other day, Klaus would have been worried that he just ruined his career but in the light of everything, he found he just did not care.

“What does it matter?”

“What does it matter?! Are you fucking serious right now?” Vincent looked at him as though he had lost his mind, but Klaus just glared right back at him. There really was nothing Vincent could do to him that would make him regret being with Caroline. “Did you have sex with her?”

“Not that it is any of your business but yes. I did.” Klaus was unsure how Caroline would feel if she knew that he just confessed to sleeping with her to his boss, but he knew he could not lie about that. It happened and he would not take it back, even if meant facing is boss’s fury. Vincent sunk down into his chair and massaged his head as though he was pressing a migraine away.

“Jesus Christ, Klaus. Do you not see the position you’ve put me in?” Vincent looked at him, but Klaus showed him no regret or sympathy, but he refrained from smirking at him or seeming to proud. “I should take you off this case immediately and send you back to Washington.”

“I already quite.”

“You turned in your resignation but are still my agent until then and if I deem it necessary to send your ass packing, I will do so.”

“I’m not leaving.” Klaus told him and by his tone Vincent knew that even if he removed Klaus from this case, there was no getting him to leave town until everything was solved. “Should I have not gone to Caroline’s last night. Probably. But I don’t regret it. I care for her. I was hurting, angry and I said some things to her that I needed to apologize for. I never intended to stay but I don’t regret that I did.” Vincent just looked at him, listening. “Marcel was just murdered. The man who I called a close friend is dead at the hands of this monster. Throw me off the case if you want but that does not mean I’ll stop working it.”

“You fucked up Klaus.” Vincent told him. “But taking you off this case would be stupid and detrimental. You were right yesterday when you said that you knew this case.” Vincent leaned back in his chair, eyes closed and appeared far older than Klaus had seen him. “I spent half the night on the phone with the director. He wants this solved. Marcel’s death makes the bureau look bad and he is concerned that reporters will get wind of it.”

“To be honest. I don’t give a flying fuck what the bureau looks like right now.” Klaus told him and Vincent snorted. “I take it that I’m not packing my bags?”

“Even if I told you to, it is not like you would listen.” Vincent replied and Klaus silently agreed. He wasn’t leaving town until the killer was apprehended. He already lost Marcel; he could not risk losing Caroline as well. “Ms. Gilbert’s attorney arrived a little over an hour ago. She wants to talk.”

“Then why are we in here?” Klaus asked him blankly and Vincent just shot him an annoyed look; telling him that he was on thin ice. The former of the two just shot his superior an antagonizing smirk and Vincent just shook his head before standing. Klaus followed Vincent out of the office and towards the interrogation rooms at the other end of the station.

“I’m taking the lead today. Got it?” Vincent told him and Klaus just nodded before pushing open the interrogation door. Elena was seated across the table, no longer in the scrubs from the previous day but instead a pair of jeans, a tank top and her hair was combed through. Someone had provided her attorney with a change of clothes; Klaus bet it was Damon.

Klaus’s eyes turned to the other woman who was seated beside Elena. She had short brown hair that reached her chin. Even though she was seated, Klaus could tell that she was tall. She wore a tight pencil shirt and a white blouse that he was willing to bet cost more than his weekly salary. When the two of them entered, the attorney stood and held out her hand.

“Rose-Marie Porter. Ms. Gilbert’s attorney.” Both Vincent and Klaus grasped it tightly. He was impressed with her grip and how she held Klaus’s gaze without flinching. She appeared young but also very good at her job.

“Supervisory Special Agent Vincent Griffiths and this is Special Agent Klaus Mikaelson.” Vincent preformed the introductions, seating himself across from Elena and Rose-Marie. Klaus followed suit, sitting himself across from Rose-Marie but he never took his eyes off of Elena; whose gaze was still down casted towards the steel table. “I understand you want to speak with us.”

“Yes, but first I want to offer my condolences on the loss of your agent. It is a tragedy and I am sorry for it.” Neither Vincent nor Klaus moved but they both could see what she was trying to do; build repour with the agents in hopes of lessening any charges Elena may face. “I’ve advised my client of her rights and any consequences she may face if she withholds information in a federal investigation. She has decided that there is something you need to know.”

“And that is?” Vincent asked her but Elena stayed silent. They both could see her thinking and wavering back and forth between confessing and staying silent. Rose-Marie placed her hand on Elena’s forearm and whispered something to her. “Ms. Gilbert?”

“You have to understand, I didn’t realize how deep this went. I never intended for those women to die. God, I didn’t even know that anything like that was happening. When Caroline was kidnapped, I never connected the dots or thought they were connected in anyway. What Caroline suffered and is going through, and knowing I played a part in it, I’m so sorry.” Elena pleaded, looking at Klaus and for the first time since meeting her, Klaus actually believed that she was telling the truth.

“You can help Ms. Forbes by telling us what you know.” Vincent implored her but Elena was still gazing at Klaus. There were tears pooling in her eyes and he could see the genuine regret eating at her. She made so many mistakes and now she was paying the price, but Klaus was beginning to realize that while Elena was selfish, she was not a horrible person at her core.

“Please Elena. For Caroline.” Klaus implored her, his eyes burning into her. Elena was reading him in a way that Klaus didn’t realize she was capable of doing. He could tell that even after everything she had done, she still cared for Caroline; Klaus just wondered if it was enough.

“You really care about her?” Klaus did not respond, nor did he look at Vincent who he was sure was resisting the urge to groan in frustration; the news of Klaus staying with Caroline still fresh in his mind. “Good. She needs that.” Elena took a deep breath as though she was gathering her strength. “Back in November, I was asked to steal a large amount of Dilaudid from the hospital pharmacy.”

“By who?”

“My brother. Jeremy Gilbert.”

“Why?”

“After our parents died, we were in high school at the time and Jeremy went on a downward spiral. He started doing drugs and getting into a lot of trouble. My Aunt Jenna and I did everything we could to get him clean, several stunts in rehab and it worked for a while; but not until he broke up with Vicki Donovan. He found out she had cheated on him and ended it.”

“He dated Ms. Donovan?” Klaus asked, the news sounded familiar and he wondered where he had heard it before. A flash of resignation came to him and the memory of Tyler Lockwood admitting that he had sex with Vicki in high school in the Lockwood cellars. Elena nodded her head in confirmation, Klaus’s thoughts running a thousand miles per hour. “Did he tell you why he needed the Dilaudid?”

“No.” Elena replied. “Even once he stopped using, he still hung around a bad crowd. He had trouble keeping a steady job and was picked up once in Richmond for dealing. Stefan and I had to go and bail him out. We kept it quiet because we didn’t the town turning against Jeremy and keeping him from having a normal life. He made a few mistakes and paid for them. When he came back to Mystic Falls, everything seemed to get better. He started dating Anna and she was good at keeping him on the straight and narrow. He got a job at one of the warehouses just outside of town, I thought he was doing okay. I thought he had stopped associating with his old friends.”

“Until…”

“Until in November when he said he was in trouble.” Elena crossed her arms and shook her head. “He said that he was back to dealing. He promised a certain number of drugs to a dealer in Richmond but wasn’t able to come through. If he didn’t deliver the drugs, the dealer was going to kill him.”

“Did he give you a name?”

“No. He wouldn’t tell me.” Elena paused, thinking before pressing onward. “Stefan was out of town on business, so I went to Damon. Told him what was going on and Damon tried to talk some sense into Jeremy, but Jeremy wouldn’t tell him anything. Damon offered to give whoever the dealer was money instead. When Jeremy proposed this to, whomever it was, he showed up at the boarding house pretty beaten up. He said that the money would not work, that it had to be drugs. Dilaudid specifically.”

“And he did not tell you why it had to be Dilaudid or who needed it?” Vincent asked her again and Elena shook her head. Tears were falling down her face and if Marcel had not been murdered, Klaus might have felt sympathy for her. While he could appreciate the hard situation she found herself in, but she made all the wrong choices. “So, you stole the drugs from the hospital.”

“Yes.” Elena admitted. “I had hoped that I wouldn’t be caught but these things are traced heavily. I gave the drugs to Jeremy in hopes that it would make whoever was threatening him go away and it did. I think. To be honest, it wasn’t long before the hospital realized that the drugs were missing and that I took them. Damon paid the hospital off and I faced a suspension but that is it.”

“You should have lost your job, at the very least. You still might and there is a good chance you will never be able to finish your residency.” Vincent told her and Elena nodded in agreement, knowing that her future suddenly became very unclear. Klaus wondered if Vincent was going to speak with the acting DA and have charges filed against Elena, but Klaus knew that a deal most likely would be made in exchange for Elena’s cooperation and testimony at trial. While she may lose her job, she could avoid jail time if she cooperates.

“I know.” Elena looked down at her hands but seemed completely unsurprised. Her attorney did a very good job at explaining the consequences and outcomes of such an investigation. Rose-Marie leaned over and whispered something to Elena, who nodded. “A few other details you should know. I don’t know if they hold any relevancy, but I want to be fully transparent.”

“Okay. Continue.”

“I never told Stefan about any of this. Stefan travels a lot for work. He is a sales representative for a company based in Norfolk. I just told him that I had taken some time off when he came home. He didn’t question it. I also started sleeping with Damon around then.” Vincent nodded while Klaus just continued to stare at her.

“Anything else?”

“Yes. Um, that day you and your partner came to my Uncles home.” Elena looked towards Klaus and nodded in remembrance. “Anna, Jeremy’s girlfriend, had stopped by to tell me that Jeremy was freaking out. Damon had told me that you were asking about the Dilaudid and of course I started asking Anna questions. She has been skipping work and a bunch of other things because she is scared that if she leaves, Jeremy will wind up dead. I tried asking her if she knew who Jeremy gave the Dilaudid to and she says she doesn’t. That’s everything I know.”

“Now my client has been very forthcoming. She knows that her confession does not remove all forms of guilt but in hopes that her corporation will be taken into consideration if charges are pressed.” Rose-Marie interjected, and Vincent simply nodded.

“I will speak to the DA but I make no promises.” Vincent replied and Rose-Marie nodded in understanding. Vincent stood and Klaus followed suit, his mind going a mile a minute. He knew that Elena had a brother and he had heard that name somewhere before but could not place it.

“Can I go home?”

“Not yet.” Vincent told her. “But soon.” With that both Vincent and Klaus left the interrogation room, staying silent; thoughts rolling around in both their minds. Without needing to be told, Klaus rounded up a few agents while Vincent called the judge, requesting a warrant to bring in Jeremy Gilbert and to search his home. When Vincent was off the phone, he looked at Klaus. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m wondering if someone really was threatening Mr. Gilbert or if he is the killer.” Klaus mused as they climbed into the SUV; several agents heading towards their own. Vincent drove in the direction of the courthouse, to pick up the warrant that was in the process of being signed. “Seeing that the Dilaudid was still in Mystic Falls, the part about him owing a specific type of drug to a dealer in Richmond is clearly a lie but to what extent is he lying to his sister?”

“Well, we will find out.”

#klaroline #Wanderlust #Wed update #morning post

21 notes · View notes

akfanficlove · 4 years

Text

“Navy blue” - #SeblaineWeek2020

Written for Seblaine Week 2020 – Dalton

The AU where Blaine returns to Dalton because let’s be honest, it’s what should’ve happened after the breakup. Plus, the steroids-thing never happened because how ridiculous was that? Check out all of my other Seblaine-stories here at AO3 :)

“Don’t you dare, Jeffrey!” Sebastian’s voice echoes through the halls. “Don’t you dare cry! I swear to God, man the fuck up and stop behaving like a little pussy if someone only as much as looks at you the wrong way.”

“Okay, okay, why don’t we all calm down a little?”, Nick says, stepping between a frowning Sebastian and Jeff whose lips are trembling. “Jeff, we know you try your best, just keep working, you’ll be fine. Okay? Maybe we should all take 5, especially you, Sebastian. You’ve been an ass all week.”

Sebastian huffs. All week? More like 10 days. Since the day his beautiful plan of luring a certain ex-Warbler back home, back to the group, back to his brothers, failed. His advances dismissed just like the navy blue blazer by hazel eyes that used to be light and sparkling but became more dull and sad during the past months. Sebastian hated it. He hated him. And most of all he hated how much he still cared.

Sure, to Hunter he sold it as a solid plan to win the next show choir competition, Blaine Anderson having more talent in his pinky toe than all of Ohio’s artists combined but in reality? If he was completely honest, he missed him, not that he’d ever admit that to anyone. He is no fool, Trent probably has a shrine build for, quote, “the Blaine Anderson” but he is not that desperate. He has plenty of fun without Blaine. Or, well, he used to. Back then when they bonded over awful coffee and navy blue with red piping, but enduring the bad coffee was okay because Blaine liked it, Blaine laughed about his usual rant and his eyes were warm and honest and lovely – wait, what? Lovely? Okay, he is not a blushing teenage girl, he cannot say things like that, or even think them, for that matter.

Besides that Blaine somehow was a blushing teenage girl or, well, boy, technically. That whole bashful schoolboy thing he didn’t know he was doing? Usually not Sebastian’s style. But on Blaine? Super hot. Sometimes when he was in bed late at night, he wondered how far down this blush went on, how it would feel if he traced it with his fingertips and that thought alone leaves him hot and panting as his own hand trails down his body and he imagines it’s Blaine’s. When it comes to that, he is every way the teenage boy his 17 years of life make him… Get yourself together, Smythe!

He made a mistake, he apologized and maybe Blaine had even forgiven him a little but things never went back to how they were before. Blaine never smiled at him like that again, he thought Blaine never really smiled anymore at anyone but that didn’t make it any less painful. Not that he could really make this assumption, they barely see each other anymore. Not since the mistake.

The only time he saw glimpses of the old Blaine, Blaine Warbler, king of Dalton, was exactly 10 days ago when they started singing “Dark Side” and Blaine buttoned up the blazer. Blaine who jumped on furniture. Blaine who sang his heart out standing in the center of the stage, or, well, their choir room. Blaine whose eyes seemed a little more vibrant, alive with each word and note. Blaine in navy blue with red piping – pretty similar to the Blaine who was leaning into the doorway frame right now, hands tucked in grey slacks, feet wrapped in black dress shoes, crossed one over the other at the ankle and what the hell?

Sebastian shakes his head and closes his eyes. He is going crazy, his fantasies sneaking into reality because, oh boy, how often did he imagine that tiny frame wrapped in navy blue, red and grey, bent over a couch, a dresser, a table in the library. When he opens his eyes again – it might’ve only been fractions of a second but it sure felt like minutes – Blaine is still there, all prim and proper, still dressed in Dalton’s school uniform. Their eyes meet and if Sebastian was into cheesiness he might’ve been tempted to say that it feels like time stands still. Then he sees the shy smile on Blaine’s lips and the hope and fear in Blaine’s eyes. It’s all it takes to shake him out of his state of mind.

“If you’re trying to spy on us, Killer, you are doing an awful job blending in, even with that uniform.” Sebastian gets up, casually making his way over to where Blaine is now standing straight, every other boy’s attention on him. “Everyone in these holy halls remembers the Blaine Anderson, you can’t really hide –“, Sebastian stops right in front of Blaine, towering over him, so Blaine has to look up to him with those eyes, gosh, those pretty, pretty eyes, full of uncertainty but also full of, what, hope? Fear? Hope and fear? “I’d recognize that ass even in slacks with a blazer trying to cover it up”, he says with his voice lowered.

The room is silent for a while, Blaine staring into Sebastian’s eyes until he takes a deep breath and says the absolutely last thing Sebastian would’ve expected: “I’m not here to spy on you, Sebastian. I’m not part of the New Directions anymore. I can’t be because”, another deep breath, “I don’t go to school there anymore. I’m back at Dalton, for good, and I’d like to audition for the Warblers.” Sebastian can only blink, his brain unable to cope with the information. Back at Dalton. Blaine is back at Dalton. And he’d like to audition. What?

After several seconds (minutes?) of silence, Blaine follows with a simple “Please” to the group standing behind Sebastian. He is not only asking Sebastian as Captain, he is asking the group he abandoned in favor of chasing a love that, in the end, shattered him again. He is asking his brothers who once picked up the pieces of his broken self when the broken bones had already healed, to do it again. He is asking to come home to a place where he always belonged and, more importantly, where he always felt like belonging.

“Oh my god, yes!” Trent is the first to break the silence and it’s like those four words break down all the walls, Blaine finds himself wrapped in friends and hugs and “Man, we missed you”s. Hunter smiles almost genuinely when he extends his hand, shaking Blaine’s and saying something, probably something like “No need to try out, Anderson, you’re in” but Sebastian doesn’t hear a word he says, still standing on the same spot, frozen.

And then Blaine turns around, looks up to him with a smile Sebastian recognizes immediately. It’s the same fond smile Blaine had when he told Sebastian about the secret Warbler traditions he didn’t know about yet. The smile when he finally agreed that, yes, okay, fine, The Flash is hotter than Superman, chill. The smile Blaine had when Sebastian complained about Lima Bean coffee again and drank it nonetheless. Something inside of Sebastian stirs, a warmth spreading from his stomach to his fingertips and toes, a wide smile spreading on his face he couldn’t stop if he wanted to. It’s his eyes, Sebastian thinks, his eyes so full of joy and relief and excitement that have Sebastian surging forward, hugging the boy tight. He stills sees the pain hidden behind wide smiles and relaxation, feels the way his body is still tense in some places but he also feels Blaine’s hands resting on his back, rumpling the navy blue fabric and he never wants to let go. Has the sudden urge to hold this beautiful boy, hide him from the world so no one could ever hurt him again, safe and sound in their own little world. It’s cheesy and he almost wants to vomit when he thinks it, but it’s true anyway. He slowly pulls back, reluctant to let go and maybe he feels Blaine hesitate, too.

“Blaine Warbler, our lost sheep, has returned home, guys! Welcome back to the team, B…”, he says and, wait, what’s with the nickname, but then Blaine blushes and averts his eyes and what exactly was he just thinking about?

“Thank you, guys... Damn, I’m glad I’m back, I missed this.” Then, Blaine is talking, something about Grease and superheroes, about filling out papers and explaining to his parents, about moving into the dorms soon and starting school at Dalton again in a few weeks after break. All the time standing so close to Sebastian that he can feel his body heat, smell his cologne and something like coffee and raspberries, all the time with Sebastian’s hand on his lower back, feeling the press of his fingers against the navy blue blazer, his plain white dress shirt, his tan skin underneath. And somehow, it grounds him. Both of them.

#seblaine week #2020 #seblaine #dalton #dalton au #what we all deserved because it made way more sense #blaine anderson #sebastian smythe #back to school #return home

12 notes · View notes